"Victory is Sooooo0o Sweet!"
 
Well someday I will complete the vacation adventures!  Other than my parents there might be one person out there looking for some poker content.

Last Friday night I got invited back to A's house for a little poker action.  They wanted a piece of me since in a drunken stupor I walked away with their money.  Unfortunately the Mrs. had a dinner party, so I had to spend 3 hours of my life at Chuck E Cheese.  Oh what fun!  It was actually fun in that our 4 year old sat on my lap and we played this street luge game for about an hour.  At about 11:15 PM I decided to just go check out the scene in hopes that they might have a consolation tournament.  I showed up two minutes late.  Oh well!  That game ended rather quickly so they decided to have another mini tournament.  Nine players bought in for $10 for $500 in chips.  We decided we would pay the top 2 finishers $65/ 25.  It was like I was clairvoyant.  I knew when I had the best of it.  Everyone at the table was timid, so when they checked I would come over the top.   Early on one player went all-in.  I had KTo and was in the Big Blind.  I read him for a QJ or something weak.  I called!  I think it was $150, which would not have crippled me.    He turns over Q5o!  The flop brought a 5 and no help to me.  Oh well I thought.  Well a King hit the river and the second player was out!  I had a decent stack so anytime I smelled weakness I would raise $300.  I felt like a thief! :o)

We were down to 4 players and I had a slight chip lead over the host.  I was on the button with pocket deuces.  The small blind was short stacked so he was all-in for about $100.  SB checks.  BB check and I bet $300 with BB calling and SB folding.  The board was something like J5A.  Check to me and I bet $300.  BB called.  An Ace hit the turn.  BB checks!  I go all-in!  BB folds!  I turn over my pair of ducks to go head to head with the small blind.  BB shouts a couple of expletives because he folded a Jack.   I lost to the small blind who had a pair of 5s, but stole $600 from the BB.  He was HOT!  I continued to play aggressive and eliminated the other two players.  I was head to head against the host with approx. 2 to 1 chip lead.

I went all-in with ATo!  I was called with Q9o.  He started to shake my hand when I pointed out that he had filled a straight.  He took a large pot and we were even in chip count.  The next hand I hit a pair of Kings on the flop and again he hit a straight on the river.  Fortunately for me I did not go all-in.  The next hand I did go all-in and won most of the chips back.  Finally hand of the night he goes all-in and I say to him "You are not going to like this!"  I got pocket aces!  So Victory is Sweet!

Gotta tuck the kids in!  Tomorrow I am playing golf.  Hooky from work, but it looks like it will be last opportunity.  Playing a local course that I have not played!  Normally it is to expensive.  Iggy - I will drink to Guinnesses before we tee off!  Beer and ibuprofen and golf will be fun!

Good night!

Finally the Vacation Continued...

I believe I left off in Edgewood Maryland. The kids did love the indoor pool at the Hampton Inn. Personally I found it boring, but we made the best off it. On Friday we headed off to DC. We were following the directions from Mapquest. I exited according the directions only to quickly realize I had exited to soon. What the heck it was a scenic drive. Oh No! The traffic comes to a screeching halt. Almost 40 minutes later we discover that the two lane highway was reduced down to one lane because they were trimming trees. You would think they could do that at night or during off hours.

We made it to our destination, JW Marriott. JW Marriott is located on Pennsylvania Blvd. What a treat! For a second I thought about trying to find a place to park that did not cost $25/day. After that one second of thought I concluded we would not find a better deal nor one that was convenient. Valet parking it is!

Now I am such an astute traveler that I know all about tipping. Not! A man takes the luggage out of the van and puts it on a luggage dolley. He wheels it into the lobby then says someone else will take it to your room. I tip $2. We check in then someone takes our luggage to the room. I tip $5. I am thinking that I am going to be nickeled and dimed to death. The room is very nice! We check out the view from the 10th floor. We are staring right at the Washington Monument. Incredible! We did have a 3:00 PM appointment with Congressman Ron Paul's office for a Congressional tour of the Capitol. HINT: Call you congressman and arrange for this tour. We decided to walk! It was drizzling, but no big deal. We walked a couple of blocks and the kids begin "I'm hungry!" We stop in the old post office building. Security is incredible! Everything must go through the metal detectors. They had a food court downstairs and we enjoyed sandwiches while the kids had hotdogs ($30).

After lunch we continued on our journey observing the architecture. All the kids wanted to do was walk on the stone garden edging, fighting the entire time who was going to lead. Par for the course.

We made it to Ron Paul's office where we were greeted by Amanda and then meet our tour guide, Corey. We were able to leave our things in the back office so we did not have to tote anything but the camera. That is nice because there are numerous security check points. We got to travel through the underground tunnels to the Capitol. Pretty cool having a personal tour guide for the four of us! I think we spent two hours on the tour. We learned a bunch of interesting tidbits. I was fascinated by the architecture and the paintings on the ceilings. Little did I know the Rotunda would become a significant place the following week.

After our tour I got my picture taken sitting in Dr. Paul's chair. They gave us each a souvenir pocket constitution. I think the kids really enjoyed it.

Next we walked to the Natural Sciences Building. Kids loved it! We spent 2.5 hours looking around. I really liked the collection of meteorites and the gems. The Hope diamond was on display. There was so much to see. Everyone was hungry so we headed back to the hotel. We knew the food would be expensive at the hotel so we were looking for a place to eat. We came across the Reagan Building and decided to go in. They had a very nice food court. This location became our favorite dining place. The kids and I capped off the evening at the pool and we turned in for the next days adventure.

I will continue day two in another post! My brain is fried! :o)

"Winning is GREAT"

Well I have not continued our vacation adventure, but I hope to some day. At this moment I am playing Paradise .05/.10. I am up about $3.

Here is why winning is great! Friday night I got invited again to play in a tournament. I had decided I was just going to have a good time. I had four bottles of Indio. Great Mexican amber beer! Plus a bottle of tequila. I arrived and immediately had 2 shots and a beer. I drew a table with one really solid player and one maniac. Fortunately for me the maniac had not arrived yet and was being blinded out. I call him a maniac because his play is unpredictable. He won the last time we got together. I thought I had a tell on him, but I am still not 100% sure. More analysis is needed! He showed up just after losing his small blind. I was on the button and I happened to get pocket Kings. Blinds were 50/100. Comes around to me I confidently raised $200. The maniac was to my left goes all in. Player in the 4S also goes all in. I was not going to be eliminated, but severely crippled if I did not win. Pocket K's though! I had a feeling Mr. Maniac was just trying stir things up. There was also a $20 rebuy for the first 2 rounds only if you lost all your chips. Three players in, we turn over the cards. Mr. Maniac has pocket 5s and the 4S had 89 suited. Somebody commented "That is a greathand to go all in with!" I was like huh? Really you would risk all of your chips with 89s.

The kings help up and I was the early chip lead. The funny thing is that I do not remember any other hand at that table. I eliminated 4 players, but I do not recall with what. When I had good starting hands I made reasonably sized bets. We moved to the final table. I only knew one of the players and in my opinion was the player to beat. I was a little shocked in that he had almost twice the chip count of me. I remember one hand I had AQ and I was on the button. I put in a 500 raise. The chp lead called me. The flop came J2T. I bet $500. The chip lead raised me. I let the hand go! It was a good thing to because he had a set of dueces. It was nice of him to show me.

Pretty soon I was heads up with the chip lead. I was excited just to be in the money. I am not even sure I knew my name at this point. Just kidding! I was not sober though. I had not eaten dinner! That was a huge mistake. I must have played really well heads up because shortly I was the chip lead and I put him all-in twice with marginal hands. He won the first battle. The next hand he went all in and I called with Q8. An eight arrives on the river and I win my first tournament. I had no clue how much. It was a $30 buy in and paid the top 3 places. I almost passed out when he counted out $384. I immediately had 3 more shots of tequila. Whoa I did not need those! My ex-neighbor offered to follow me home. I should have just left the car and let him take me home. I did manage to make home safely. Bottom line is I should not have been driving, but it was only .5 miles.

In celebration I took the family to see Shrek2. Insane that it costs $54 to take a family of 4 to a matinee. Usually we sneak stuff in for the kids, but this time I was splurging. Next time we will sneak stuff in!

Man it is great to win! Next time I can just act drunk and I will have an advantage! Maybe or maybe not! I did have a great time and I did execute my strategy exactly the way I had planned.

Play on! Oh and Shrek2 was a fun movie!