"Drowning in Someone else's Pain"

Last night I decided to play some tournaments at Poker Time. First tournament I definitely felt the pain. First I entered a 15 player SNG. I was dealt pocket kings. I had an average stack and there were six players left. I made a nice raise. I got re-raised. I popped him back. He re-raised me again. Geez the only hand that can beat pre-flop us AA. Does he have it? My gut says he is pressing with QQ or JJ. I push all-in. Doh! He did have AA and I am out in sixth. Oh the pain!

I then played a 10 player SNG. Nothing really eventful other than I finished on the bubble in 4th. Oh more pain!

I capped the night by playing in another 15 player SNG. I played well and I do not think I risked any chips unnecessarily. We were down to 4 players. I had $4K. Two players were hovering around $1K and the chip lead had $9k. The chip lead was leveraging his stack and stealing chips.
I thought certainly if I am patient one of the short stacks will be eliminated and I would be in the money. I even folded AKo when the chip lead was in the big blind. I knew he would pop me for a large portion of my stack. Finishing in the money was my goal, so I would at least end up even for the night. The chip lead called numerous all-in plays by the short stacks. Every time he did they would suck out and win. The two short stacks grew to over $3K and my stack dwindled to around $2K. The chip lead was around $5K now. I could tell he was a bit on tilt, especially after his AK got walloped by T5o.

I went from "yes I am going to finish in the money and at least second place" to "Oh Crap am I even going to make it in the money!" I was patient and defended my blinds as best as I could. Soon it happened! The player who was the chip lead went all-in against the new chip lead and was eliminated. Off he went in a cursing storm. I went from drowning in his pain to shouting with glee!

After that I got a little crazy and sat in a 5 stud pot limit game. After some high stress and losing most of my stack with KK to a set of dueces, I managed my way back to win a couple of dollars.

This morning I discovered the ME channel on Time Warner. It is nice to hear Austin artist. Heck they played a Reivers video. I was a Reivers junky in the day.

Today I pray the freaking plumbers come back to finish their job. I got screwed yesterday! I still need to battle the shopping scene one more time. I think we should simply stop exchanging gifts and every family MUST place what they spend on Christmas into a savings account. Or better yet donate more to their favorite charity.

Bah humbug!

Oh one other thing - in my previous post I stated that was April sitting next to Mr. Mac. Couldn't be cuz that chick is wearing a dress! Just kidding April! :o)

Play on!

"Look Alike"

I have read stories about Mr. Mac sneaking out to win tons of cash. What I did not know was that Mr. Mac modeled for a player at Check N raise poker. Here is the evidence. Look at the player on the bottom left. Hmmm! That could be April sitting next to him.

How much does Mr. Mac get paid from Check n Raise poker for using his likeness? Does he like cigars?

I have been playing a little to much poker since I am on vacation. I have eeked my bankroll back up, but it is not as healthy as it should be. Again my down fall is my addiction to Omaha-8. That game has huge swings, especially why you bet aggressively on the turn with the nuts and hammered when the board pairs on the river. Soon it will be my turn to get those big pots.

Currently I do not have much to post. I am waiting on the plumber to get here again. Yesterday he installed one of our pedestal sinks, but the faucets we bought leaked. Two lessons to share:

1. Never permit your significant other to start a remodeling project during the holidays!

2. Do not buy cheap faucets if you are paying a plumber by the hour!

I did learn a ton doing this remodel. I did the demolition, removed and installed tile, and repaired the wall. So far the wife is happy! Now we just need to get the sinks installed. Since I could not install the sinks we are looking at being close to $1000 over budget.

That translates into I need to pay Mr. Mac to teach me how to spin straw into gold!

Hopefully one more post before Ho Ho HO, but just in case all 5 persons who read this crazy blog have a very Merry Christmas.

Play on!

"In the MONEY"

Well I needed to do a quick post. I have been busy grinding at the tables and attempting to remodel our master bathroom. Remodeling is definitely putting me out of my element.

My wife was kind enough to let me take a break and play in the CNR $10,000 challenge. There were 179 players I believe competing for a total purse of $10,000. I think I was supposed to be in this tournament a year ago. Any rate I sat down this afternoon at 2:00 PM.

Interuption - I just saw on the news how the Texans lost. Geez maybe I can take the job as their placekicker. April I feel the pain!

Any rate I was playing in the tournament. I played extremely conservative. If I decided to get in the mix I made a decent raise, which usually resulted in stealing the blinds. The tournament pays the top 30 players. It was 4:00 PM and still around 60 players. I was in the middle of the pack. I told my kids that I needed to win a couple of hands in order to make it in the money. I got AA and KK exactly when I needed them. I only won the blinds, but I was not going to let anyone suck out on me. At around 5:00 PM. it was down to 31 players. I was staggering around 19th place, but for the past hour I was at a table with three of the chip leaders bullying the table. I had to be patient. For awhile I had #2 on my right and #4 on my left. I could not make any moves. One player at our table ended up making it to the money with only $134. he was patient and I think said numerous prayers that the blinds would not go up! I really had no clue how much the payouts were. So I happened to peek. To my amazement I had just won $100. I would have to make it to the final table to really increase the winnings by much. I found myself on the button with AJ. I went all-in for my last $6K. Of course I got called by the big stack, who had me by the seat of my pants with AQ. I ended up finishing 26th place.

Now it was time for me to install some tile. I figured I had better earn my keep. I borrowed wet saw. I made my first tile cut and it was off. I should have doble checked the measurements on the cutter. After that I could not get another piece of tile to cut. The blade kept binding. Of course I got very frustrated. I called Lowes and it turns out they will cut the tile for me for $.25 a cut. Shit I wish I had known that earlier int he morning. Tomorrow I am off to Lowes to get my tile cut. We will be down to one bathroom for a little while longer. We have grandparents coming on Friday, so I had better get busy.

I should be asleep right now, but I am wired.

I couple of other mentions before I play a few more hands. I ended up making a mistake at Party Poker. I lost almost all of my stake and was down to $4.75. I had to take the kids to a party, so I exited. Well now I can not even lose my last $4.75, because it takes a minumum of $5 to sit down. I will wait another 6 months and maybe they will give another freebie. I am a great "fish" for Party Poker. I still have $8 at Poker time. I am still playing at Paradise with my original $2 stake.

I big thanks to CNR for hosting the tournament today. I am now $100 richer.

I hope April and the other bloggers had a safe journey to Vegas and all come back with huge bankrolls.

Play on!

"Free Money"

I am only posting a quickie, so Mr. Mac does not smack me around. I do not know why they do it, but Party Poker gave me another free $50. Iggy swears this site is full of fish. I conclude I am a BIG FISH. The suck outs on the river simply amaze me.

So lets go right into the details of back to back hands. I found this to be funny! Wine, tequila, and beer help with the humor.

I had pocket 4's in the BB. The flop comes A4x. I bet and I get raised. We cap the betting every time. Hmmmmmmm! Does my opponent have pocket aces. Normally this girl calls with anything, so I keep pressing with my set. The river brings a 4. I believe quads are good. Yes she did have pocket aces.

The very next hand I get pocket aces. Again maximum betting to the river. Yup the lady filled her straight to take her money back. I thought for sure I could retire ahead for the evening.

I have not lost my free money yet, but I have come close a few times. I think because it is free money I play a little crazier than normal. We will see just how fast I lose this bank roll.

Two more quick comments then I had better get my butt to bed. Fortunately I can sleep in until 6:00 AM!

I am truly sorry I could not play Friday at Adam's. I think I would have been the winner. Yeah right! I wanted to host a tournament, but man this time of year fills up fast. Especially if your better half decides to remodel the master bath. The demolition was fun!

My final comment of the night. How about those HORNS!

play on!

“Oh Yeah!”

It has been way to long since my last post. My only excuse is that I have been way to busy losing my bankroll. I have been grinding hard, but unfortunately not heading in the correct direction. I typically play two tables at a time. One is Omaha-8 and the other Limit Holdem. Most of the time I win at one table and lose at the other, breaking even for a session. Occasionally I will bust through with a nice win. Anyway I will spare you the sorrow.

I did go to Houston for the Thanksgiving holiday. My brother hosted a poker tournament. I get there in time to play the third tournament. I got knocked out by my sister-in-law when my top two pair were smacked on the river, when she hit her flush draw. She won twice against me on the river and another hand I made a stupid call out of frustration. The game was progressing just way to slow for my taste and it was already 2:30 AM.

There were two controversial topics that came up during this evening that I would like to toss out for discussion. In the end I think we got it right, but lets see.

The blinds are $25/$50. Player A goes all in for a total of $90. Player B calls. Small blind folds and the big blind raises $100. Player B calls. The question is how much should be in the main pot for Player A to win. What initially transpired was that I stated move the $200 from the Big Blinds raise into the side pot and lets go. That was met with resistance. The second opinion was that the main pot should have $270. I stated well what about the small blind. We ended up with the main pot having $295 and the side pot with $250. Did we end up in the right place?

The next argument that came up a couple of times was when playing heads up who should be the small blind. I stated that the dealer should always be the small blind. How can that be? I stated well this came up at another game I was at, so I paid close attention to the WPT. The dealer is the small blind and is first to act. After the flop the dealer has position and the other player is UTG. Well “I watch the WPT too and that is not how they do it!” “What you are saying makes absolutely no sense!” “Dealer should not never be the first to act!” I will watch more poker soon, but what is the correct procedure for heads up play?

"Man on a mission"

CNR gave me a bonus. In order to earn the bonus I must earn 1000 CP's within 90 days. I am playing like a mad man. In the past two hours I have had pocket aces at least 4 times and witnessed others have it twice. Seems like the algorithm is a little off. But I did win 3 out of the 4 times. The last time I got sucked out on by a flush on the river. I am playing two tables. One .25/.50 holdem and the other .50/1 Omaha-8. So far I have played about 4 hours and I am still even, which is not so bad if all you want to do is grind out points.

I just got quad aces in Omaha-8. A nice hand but it sux to have to split the pot! Oh well I am grinding like a mad man.

I am watching Rules of Engagement, which is a decent movie. I watched Star Wars Episode III earlier. They had some cool fight seens. Now what to watch as I grind away.

Three more soccer games this weekend. Our daughter's team lost their first game Thursday night under the lights. It was a great game, ending 1-0. Soccer team party after the game. Yes another busy weekend. i want to host a poker tournament, but I have not a clue as to when I could fit that in.

I have once again joined a gym. I really like the 5:30 AM work out. it gets the day started off right. I am going to try my damndest to lose that 20 pounds, AGAIN!!!

What else has been going on. Oh yeah! I can no longer write a quick blog during lunch or before work. Big brother is now watching. I can not even enjoy my lunch and read all the wonderful poker blogs. It makes sense but when you put in 8 -10 hours everyday you should be permitted to take a 15 minute break and enjoy a good blog. Oh well! I will just reduce my sleep even more in order to stay in touch with the great blogs.

hard to blog playing two tables! Perhaps more later, cuz I am on a mission.

Play on!

“Nightmare”

I decided for a night of poker and scary/bizarre movies. I rented “the ring two”, which I am watching now and Constantine. I must say “the ring two” is bizarre, but not nearly as bizarre as the hand I just lost. I am playing $.50/$1.00 Omaha-8. On the river the board paired aces, giving me tens full of aces. I lost to quad aces. Lost half my stack!

I wish I could have made it to April’s poker bash this evening, but it was ladies night for my better half. It is also a big soccer weekend. Two games tomorrow, starting at 9:00 AM, then two more on Sunday.

I have AA44 and the flop was 23T. Yeah a 7 on the river for nut low. Normally this week when I have good starting hands I get horrible flops. I believe for the most part I have been extremely patient and waiting for premium hands. Hopefully things will turn around and I will win a few hands.

I am also playing $.02/.04 limit Holdem on Paradise. I am up $1.70. Very strange in that three hands in a freakin row I got pocket queens. They only won once! I think the algorithm needs some tweaking!

I think I need to start documenting my dreams and turn them into movies. I rarely reach a deep sleep. Perhaps I can get some ambion, then I can write a really bizarre movie.

I have not been motivated recently to post. I recently had a situation that required a ton of deliberation and reflection. I am reasonably sure I made the correct decision. Only time will tell. Hopefully my brain will get back to normal.

I think I am about to join LifeTime fitness. I have not worked out in over a year. I need to get my stuff together and lose some weight.

I will say that I am glad I did not pay big dollars to see “the ring two” at the theatre.

Have a super weekend!

Play on!

"Birds and I"

I am a little disappointed that my entry from Friday did not get saved in blogspot. Oh Well!

Friday morning I had the pleasure of playing poker on the upper deck at Whole Foods downtown. There I was with a bottled water, bag of pretzels, and a computer. I was playing NL holdem and CNR and my only witness was the birds. Not the most attractive birds mind you, but they were a friendly lot, because I had pretzels. One poor bird had a crooked leg. Of course I felt sorry for him. The birds eyed me as I won this hand. I had a king high flush at the turn. I simply made a modest bet to see if anyone had the nut flush. A player to my right went all-in. I pondered for just a second and I called with my $8.50. He ended up having a flush as I suspected, but not good enough. The birds scattered as I shouted with excitement.

Thursday night I had a good night winning about $35 on CNR. I was a little bored with Holdem, so I played some 5-card and some Omaha-8. In draw I was losing my shirt. I was dealt two pair Qs & 3s. I did not take any cards and raised the maximum. Fortunately everyone folded and I was only down $.30, so I got up from the table. I won several large pots in Omaha-8.

Go Astros! The just tied it! I thought they were doomed after giving up the grand slam in the 7th.

I need to recap a terrific weekend, then I will quickly summarize my Blogger tourny experience. Our daughter's soccer team was in a tournament this weekend. Their first game was Sat. morning at 9:15 AM. Our daughter was put in as goalie and the game ended in 0-0 tie. She boomed some punts. We were so proud of her. Unfortunately I missed the next two games because I got to go to the Longhorns game. We put a whooping on Texas Tech. The pre-game warm up at the Dog and Duck was great! After the football game we went to the Sierra Nevada tailgate party and had a beer. Back to the Dog and Duck until traffic calmed down. I called to see how our daughter's team did in the other two games. They lost 3-1 in game two. She gave up two goals, but she said they were really good shots. The third game they won 1-0. They played in the semi-finals this morning and unfortunatly lost 2-0. Alex gave up both goals. One of the goals should not have happened. Another soccer ball rolled onto the field and several players were disrupted. The ref should have stopped play. Regardless they played a great game. Our daughter did a super job on defense.

Man! Lidge just gave up the game winning home run. Damn!

After the Horns victory I went to a Halloween Party. There was an amazing spread of food. They had poets, then the grand finale was a flame dancer. I had a good time and got home before midnight. I played a little bit if poker before turning in, but I pretty much broke even on the night.

OK! The blogger tournament was fun! It lasted 5 hads and I was out #1442. First of all I had know clue there would be that many players. I was at the table long enough to get the URL's of my opponents. Everyone was really super nice. The players at the table were

Morlith - pokerwolf.blogspot.com
Maudie - kebzweb.com
KAP_Player - kickasspoker.com
Alceste - the-misanthrope.blogspot.com
bbzghost - bbzghost.blogspot.com
ekillian - ekillian.blogspot.com
smoke404
Kwils21 - caught upinthe craze.blogspot.com

Sorry I do not have time at the moment to convert these to links. I will try to edit this post later.

My first hand was AK suited. I raised $80. Everyone folded, so I was won the blinds.

Second hand was AQ. Flop came T6Q. I bet and was raised. I ended up calling the other player to the river and lost to a set of tens. I did not even take the time to attempt to evaluate what he had.

Now down to $600 I play my fifth hand. I look at the screen to see AK suited (spades) again. Definitely need to go all-in. The big stack calls me and turns over TJ of spades. I like the odds. Damn if a jack hit on the flop and I got no help. I would have liked to play longer, but I knew with that many players I need to play good hands and build a stack quickly. I checked in on BurntOrnge and he was doing well. I could not find April or any other Austinites. I think I did see Poker Ninja.

It worked out just fine, because I got to take the kids to hit baseballs.

I should be in bed! I caught a second wind. We watched the movie, "The Interpreter". It was a little slow for my tastes, so I think I got in a couple cat naps. I am going to play a little Omaha-8, then turn in. It was a great weekend!

Tomorrow I get to go to our new office only 6 miles from my house.

Play on!

"The River Loves you!"

I was playing $.05/.$10 on Paradise Poker last night.

First a brief sidebar. Unfortunately I have let my bankroll get super low due to a crazy move Saturday night. I decided I needed to take a shot at quickly increasing my bankroll, so I joined a $.50/$1.00 Limit Omaha-8 game. In three hand I lost my $5 investment, putting me down to $1.84 at paradise.

Back to the story - I started getting the hands. I hit a boat on the river and two flushes. next thing you know my bank roll is up to $4.35. I got interupted in order to give my better half a massage, so I left a juicy table and my affection for the river.

Man sometimes I hate computers. I just lost a perfectly phrased paragraph with a flash of the screen. Arrgh!

After lathering my wife with icy hot I went back to Paradise poker. I sat down at a table where it was mostly 3 handed or even heads up. My companion, "the river" had left me for another man. Twice I had the nut flush only to have the board pair on the river, giving the lady stealer full boats. At least four times I knew I had the top pair or top two pair going into the river. Yes all four times the river gave him a higher two pair or filled a gut shot straight. Rather than tilt all I could do was type into the chat utility, "the RIVER loves you man- NH". This continued where he would hit his miracle on the river until my $2 was gone. Fortunately I had the snap to stop playing and go fold clothes.

My other site should be back online today, so I can move up in stakes or at least play some no limit. I tried joining Full Tilt poker Saturday night after losing that $5 at omaha. I thought I had about $75 in my Neteller account. When I attempted to make the transfer it was rejected. "What the ..." Well it turns out that I only have $42 in my account. Unfortunately the site and neteller require a minimum transfer of $50. With CNR down for maintenance I had no other bankroll resource. I was sad! It was 2:00 AM, so a decided a little sleep would not hurt. Is Full Tilt a good sight to play or should I venture somewhere else?

Now with the poker content out of the way I turn your attention to soccer and football.

We had four soccer games this weekend. On Saturday the U6 Bobcats can stomped. Our kids seemed totally asleep at 3:15 PM. Oh well! Our son did play well and had some excellent defensive plays. Just before the U6 game our daughters team, The Clash, played a great game and remained undefeated. She played goalie the second half and made a couple of solid saves. Oh yeah! There was this one gal who was constantly yelling at her team mates. What a brat!

On Sunday the Bobcats started our soccer day at 2:15 PM. The team played much better. I believe the game ended in a tie, but we are not supposed to keep score. Again our son played aggressive and assisted on two goals. Go Bobcats! At 3:15 the Clash were supposed to play, but the previous game was running late. It was an exciting game. Our daughter just happened to score the first goal. The most interesting part was that she used her left foot. The Clash went on to win 4-0. This weekend the Clash are playing in a soccer tournament. My wife is a little miffed with me, but I am going to the Longhorn game. Go Horns! I certainly picked a great game to go to. We can only hope "the river" does not show up at that game.

Only Wednesday and I am looking for an action packed weekend. A house warming party in Friday (hopefully I can make a late or brief appearance). On Saturday there are at least 3 soccer games and I hope to make it to at least one. The around noon off to the Dog and Duck for pre-game warm-up. Then to a pumpkin carving party and finally a late appearance to a Halloween Party.

Potentially on Monday I am off to Atlanta for 3 weeks! Yikes!

Well Play on friends!

"Fold Dummy"

My sincerest apologies for not publishing more frequently. I have numerous excuses, but you shall be spared the details.

I really have not played much serious poker lately. In fact the site that has most of my bankroll is shutdown. Check N Raise poker is apparently moving its affilation to I think Poker Nation. Hopefully it will mean more players and more profit for me. I would like to play some low limit Omaha-8 again. We used to have so much fun on TNT. Lately there has been very little chat at the tables. I have been playing $2 buy-in NL Holdem ring games on Paradise. I have been doing OK, but occasionally I just can not lay down the cards.

Example 1 - 8T (Spades) - Flop is 69 (spades) and a red card

I have an inside straight flush draw. Modest betting around the table with three players. I call. River is a Q of clubs. My attempt to isolate I raise $.25. One player calls. River is 4 of spades, making my flush. I bet $.25. I get raised, putting me all in for another $1.35. I know he has a larger spade than the ten. There is about $3 in the pot. I called knowing damn well I was beat. I do not know how to efficiently calculate pot odds, but betting $1.35 on a prayer I would win $3 was just plain foolish. I need to increase my discipline and lay this one down.

Example 2 - K9o in the BB - flop comes 35T (all spades)

I am holding the King of spades, so I make a decent bet to isolate. Of course I get two callers. Turn is a King, so now I have top pair. I make a decent wager. I get one caller. The river of course is a spade. I make a modest bet at the pot. Yup! I get raised putting me all-in. Does he really have the Ace of spades. But of course he does and I again lose my stack.

I am really going to work on my discipline. My gut was correct both time and I gave away money. I know there will be times when folding a decent hand will be to a total bluff, but there are times when is better to live another day and wait for the NUTS. I know when I do get the NUTS at this site it is usually lucrative. Well as lucrative and a $2 can be!

I do have another small poker dilemma. I have about $75 burning a hole in my online bankroll. What would be the best site to invest these monies? Of course I am looking for a deposit bonus and I am also willing to use someone's code so you too can benefit. I am just not sure what site will be fun! I am looking for some low limit ring games with some fun people. I will take any and all suggestions. I am ready for a change of pace.

By the way April your puppy is adorable, especially in the Longhorn jersey! Daddy Scott I must say you have been blessed with a beautiful child. Let's hope he follows the career path of Mom!

Four soccer games this weekend, so we will be busy! Hopefully the Horns will mop the stadium with some Buffalo hide on Saturday. I most likely will miss the game due to soccer games. Perhaps I should invest in a portable radio and some batteries. It looks like I have a chance to go to the Texas Tech game. I would love for both teams to be undefeated. We can show those Raiders what football is really like!

Have a super weekend! I will try my best to get back to posting a couple of times per week. My other blog is keeping me busy too!

Fold Fold Fold

"Caving In"

On thing I promised myself was that I would not pollute my blog with advertisements. Unfortunately playing in the Blogger tournament sounds like a ton of fun! So out the window my promise goes. Fun must take priority!

If' Momma Mac is going to allow her husband to play, then I can play! I think Scott is going to be changing a ton of diapers in order to earn the priviledge of playing.

I am looking forward to a great time. Since it is on a Sunday hopefully I can play.

Busy weekend ahead! Hopefully I can post some poker happenings later.

See you at the tables!

I have registered to play in the
Online Poker Blogger Championship!

This event is powered by PokerStars.

Registration code: 9269473

"Bubble Bubble toil and Trouble"

I just finished playing in a 6 person SNG. I had a lucky suck out with AK. I was all-in and up against pocket kings. The board brought 4 spades and I had the nut flush. I felt I played flawlessly until this hand.

I had A9s. The flop came 459. Now I have four on a flush and top pair. I raise. I get put all-in. The player turned over AA and I got no lovin! Out on the bubble! Net loss for the night was $11.

Last night I played in a NL ring game here in Austin. It was very entertaining. I think in 4.5 hours of play I had 6 playable hands. The good news is that I played patiently and pocketed $20. Not a huge windfall, but a win is a win. Here are some of the hands I remember.

I am in the BB with 53 hearts. The hosts raises. I need to defend the BB, so I call the raise. It turns out the host skipped a player when he raised. She said what about me. We pretended as though she checked and let her call the raises. The board came 537 spades, which gave me two pair. I figured the host (Puppy Feet) had an over pair. My gut was telling me though that another spade was about to hit the board. I mucked two pair. My gut was correct in that the fourth spade hit on the river. The lady Puppy Feet skipped had the nut flush. He was not happy and lost half his stack.

I remember raising with AJo and AQo only to get reraised. I was correct to muck both times when the flop brought no emergency assistance. I also had pocket tens once and pocket sixes once.

Once I limped in on the BB with J3o. The flop came JJ4. I bet only to be raised. I called. Turn did not improve my hand. I thought I was up against another J with a better kicker. I called a modest bet on turn. The raiser checked on the river. I thought about popping back for more money. In hind site I should have, but it was a decent sized pot and I took it down with 3 hooks.

Another hand I had QT of diamonds in the small blind. I was able to limp in. The flop came 8d9d and and Js. Flopped the nut straight. I raised $5 and got one caller. I had a flush draw, a straight flush possible and the nut straight. The turn brought another J. A little scary but I continued to press with $5. I got called. The river brought the 2 of diamonds, giving me the flush. I thought I might be in trouble, but I popped back for $5. He folded and I raked about $30 in one hand. It was sweet. At this point I went in to super conservative mode. I was listening to Scott and only moving with the nuts. I really went card dead. I did not get another hand the rest of the night. I took a couple shots from the BB and button, but my raises always got called or popped back. I had good reads everytime and mucked.

Once I was in the BB with K9 of clubs. The flop brought K78. I bet $5 and got raised $28. I figured he had two pair or a made set. I mucked! Hey showed his cards 78. Whew!

Funny thing was that I never showed my cards. The only lady at the table wanted us to show cards. I kept my play a secret, which is the smart move.

One interesting hand happened and I was not involved. One player went all in with a King on the board. Their was an instant call from a player. The player had pocket kings and had made a boat on the turn. The river brought the fourth King. Sweet.

The Guinness was great! The host was great! All the players were fun and courteous. A few flipped cards from the fan, but other than that a great game. Hopefully I can do that again!

I am taking the day off tomorrow to play golf with my parents. I am pumped! We are playing Star Ranch, which is a new track for me.

Play on!

"I Never Learn"

I am playing great poker tonight. I am up $5. I get dealt AA. Bet is $.40, player to my right calls, and I raise $1. Player goes all in for $6.50. Player to my right calls, I call. Flop is KQ7. Player to my right checks. I check. Next card is an 8, Check check! River is a 4. Player to my right raises putting me all-in. Is he really holding 56? Why the F*** did I not raise all-in after the flop. Should I call? Debate debate! I call! Sure enough he has 56o and rakes in a huge pot.

My mistake is not raising all-in post flop. Correct Dr. Mac?

Oh it is so frustrating when I make stupid mistakes. Up until this point I only raised when I was sure I was ahead or had the nuts. If I had folded to that raise I would have been down only $.90 for the night. I only have two brain cells left after years of partying, but why could I not rationalize laying down AA?

I think I am going to kick the dog. Just kiddin Ash!!

I need to post my football bets for the week. Of course I do not bet money, but Sound of a Suckout has a good site for talking smack and making bold picks. I won just one bet out of three last week. I need to study the lines a bit more.

I just watched Travis Tritt call $5000 raise with an ace high. It made me feel a bit better. Then he goes all-in with a pair of threes. Eddie wins with a pair of tens. April - Penny Marshall did comment on Phil's gorgeous blue eyes!!

I also watched Big Break IV, US -vs Europe. Europe put a whooping on the Americans on the first episode. I liked the very first Big Break show where the did some tricky shots. The played poker by hitting golf balls through glass panels. I remember correctly the winner had 5 aces.

Hmm what to watch now. Eraser or Hamburger Hill. I think "Eraser". It is 10:00 PM and if I go to bed I will be up at 3:00 AM. Perhaps I need a Rx for some Ambion? If I saw a papaya sitting next to me right now I would eat it!

I can't play any more poker cuz I am on TILT. I may go to the other computer and play 7 card stud for $.02/.04. Am I addicted or what?

Huge weekend at the church festival. If you want to entertain your kids please come by St. Vincent De Paul on Sunday between 11:30AM and 6:00 PM. You will find me running the Coconut Bowling booth. Great food and lots of fun.

I read Sound of a Suckouts pep talk. So I will conclude this mindless post by stating.

"I'll be BACK" Winning that is!

Ciao

"Therapy needed"

I must say Scott is correct in that I need an intervention or a long session of therapy. Last night at CNR I sat down with $4 at a $.05/.10 table. I have AK. Flop brings KJ8. I make a decent bet but I get raised. I pushed all-in. The turn is a T and the river is a 7. Yes my opponent happened to have K9.

I plopped down another $4. I believe I go as low as $2 and battled my way back to $9.50. It was almost time for bed, then I had another brain "fart". I am in the BB with A9s. I raise to $.30 and get one caller. The flop is AK7. I bet out $.30 and get raised $9, putting me all-in. I called. The opponent had pocket 7's. I lost my entire stack.

Why? Because I am insane! Seriously the reason I lost my stack is that I did not put any thought what's so ever as to what potential hands my opponent might have. I am so used to people bluffing and bullying online that I made an instant call. I need to slow down and think about what could my opponent have. I also need to have the nuts before immediately committing to all-in. I believe I may end up calling 1-800-SCOTTMC.

I know I am playing with free money, but dammit I want to increase my bankroll not toss it away.

Tilt on!

"Soccer Great, Poker not so Great"

The U6 Bobcats played great on Saturday and had fun! The U9 Clash played great and won their first game. The soccer experience was great!

Saturday went to some friends for steaks and tequila. Yes that is a great combination. We watched the Longhorns win the big game. I got home and was ready for some poker action. I popped open another beer. Of course I was already feeling no pain. I plopped down $4 in $.05/.10 NL table. There was a bully at the table. I knew I would catch him. I was dealt pocket 8's in the small blind. He raised, so I went all-in. I knew he was possibly playing over cards. An ace hit on the river and I was correct he was playing AKo. Quickly down $4. I reloaded. I get dealt pocket Q's. Flop brings 69T. I raise all-in. Turn is 8. The river is a 7, placing a straight on the board. I believe I am going to chop. Wrong, the other player had J7o. Now I am down 8 bucks. Somewhere in this story I sat down at a $.50/1.00 limit game and promptly lost another $8.

I decide to play in the NL tournament, which I buy-in for player points. I was down to about $800 and I go all-in. I lost, so I did a rebuy for $3. I held my own for a long time. I was dealt a pair of J's. The flop came 36T rainbow. I go all-in. I get called by a player with a pair of ladies. I finish in 5th place. Geez! If I could of held on for 3rd I would have broken even for the night. Instead I suffered a large loss. At least large for me!

I am sure there is a lesson in there somewhere, but I do not think I played poorly. Perhaps it was the overwhelming confidence I had after the Longhorn victory and the fairy dust our friends daughter gave me. I mean who can lose with "fairy dust"!

Play on!

“Austin WPBT”

In summary I had a great time. Adam did a super job hosting this event.

The tournament started out by me arriving completely on TILT. I hate being late for anything, so I left the house at noon. I should be able to travel 28 miles in less than an hour, right? I live near Round Rock, so I head down 620. Traffic is backed up from I-35 passed Round Rock High School, so I take short cut number one. I get to McNeil road and traffic at the light near I-35 is at a complete stand still. I commence the rapid U-turn and head for short/detour #2. I make it to 1325 where traffic seemed normal. I then proceed on my journey down South I-35. Keep in mind my wife banded me from I-35 in August 2002 after a near death experience with an 18-wheeler, so I am driving cautiously around 75 mph. Of course I had to slow down for one speed trap. I am doing great and the Google maps state to take exit 226B. That is strange I just passed the exit for Slaughter Lane, but I proceed to follow the directions. I am now lost on 1626 heading west. I make my first call to Adam at 12:50 PM. He had no clue where 1626 was. I keep heading west and the entire time I am starting to get on tilt. I finally decide I was to far west and turn around. I pull into a little gas station. The two gentlemen snicker at me and say “you just take this road here and down by the Albertson’s is Slaughter Ln.” Cool I head down that road. I get to Slaughter lane and now for the big decision, East or West. I turn west. I make yet another mistake. I get to Brodie Ln and decide it is time for a second call to Adam. Dude, I am at Brodie Ln. have I gone to far West. Of course he says yes! Another mile down the road I finally make a U-turn. I am thinking “Man this sucks!” It turned out that the road the two gentlemen sent me on was Manchaca. If I had only turned east I would have been one light away from the final destination. I drive right passed the house, but quickly turn around. There on the front lawn flagging me down was Scott. Geez! I had told Adam to just blind me out, but they graciously waited for my arrival. I am truly on Tilt at this point.

I draw my seat Table 2, seat 3. Going around the Table I have Jennifer, Jan, Jeremy, Marcus, and Mike. My first two cards are pocket pair of 6’s. I raise, then get re-raised. I let the pocket pair go. Two hands later I get pocket 8’s. I raise, then get re-raised again. I let this pair go. I am thinking to my self am I a wus or what. Now I am down a little over one third of my stack. I had poured myself a nice Guinness and placed it under my chair. Adam’s tables were so nice I definitely could not set a beer on the table. About the fifth hand and after only two sips from my beverage it is my turn to shuffle. I stand up and quickly kick my entire beer onto the floor. Tilt factor doubles. Adam quickly provides a towel and the beer is cleaned up. It was a good thing the home has stained concrete floors.

The first person busted out immediately left. I thought that was a little strange. Oh well! This is supposed to be a fun social event.

I settled down a little bit. At this table I only recall three hands. I had pocket 7’s and made a decent raise. Russ had moved to our table. He raised another $500. Damn! I had not seen his play. I thought he might have two high cards, but my gut said he had an over pair. I folded. The flop brought a 7, J, Q. I cringed a little bit for folding, but I felt Russ had a strong hand. At this point I realized there were coasters, so I opened my second Guinness. I needed it to calm the nerves.

I am now getting short stacked. I hate to get out of any tournament, but needed to start making some moves. I went all-in with A3s. Marcus calls me. He turns over Ax and I am way behind. A three hits on the turn and I double up. A couple of hand later I have AJ suited (spades). The flop brings two spades. I raise all-in and get Russ to call. The river brings my fifth spade. I again double up. At this point we draw again for tables.

I draw table one seat 3. At my table are (to my left) Lindsey, Jeremy, April, and Slayre. All I recall about this table was that I kept getting 42o. There is not much you can do with 42o. The only other thing I recall is the quad 5’s. Lindsey needs to audition for a major motion picture, because she definitely had Jeremy baffled. There was one hand where I had a pocket pair. April made a nice raise. I pondered was she making a move or did she have me. I folded. In her blog she states she had a ten. Unfortunately now I do not recall the board, perhaps KQT. She had me!!

Soon we were down to the final table, which I believe was 8 players. To my left were Adam, Russ, Madroxx, Jeremy, April, John, and Lindsey. Scott was the dealer. Soon after the table formed Jeremy and Slayre were eliminated. The realization came that we were down to the bubble. I believe my chip stack was close to Adam’s, but we were definitely short stacked. Adam went all-in with I believe a pair of nines. Madroxx (chip lead) called. Madroxx caught a ten on the river and knocked Adam out on the bubble. Madroxx had numerous outs, but it was a bummer the host finished on the bubble.

I did double up when my A9o was called by Lindsey and A6o. My final stand came with A9s (clubs). April did the instant call, so I knew I was in trouble. She turned over pocket Cowboys. No ace magically appeared and I finished in 5th place. It was an absolute blast.

By the way April did make some awesome chocolate chip cookies. I tried to be good and only eat one, but soon it turned into 6 cookies. She also made rice crispy treats.

Mark did offer me a Heineken, but I stuck with my diet Mountain Dew. When I have a cough the hops in the beer can aggravate the cough. I must admit the Guinness hit the spot and I wish I had not spilled a full beer. I think that was the only alcohol abuse at the tournament.

General observations –

Everyone was nice!

Adam runs a great tournament!

I finally met April, who almost causes as much loss of work production as Iggy. I feel lost without all of her links to Austin blogs.

I finally met the famous Jeremy, who used to work for the start up company that was bought by my current employer. I loved his style of play and table banter. The legend at Whisperwire lives on! He definitely made the table fun and got me to relax a bit.

I did not realize that a player sitting at the final table was the author of Slayre’s Poker Quest. I had the impression that he had to work and would not be there.

I met other bloggers (sorry to those I do not remember):

ScurvyDog, BurntOrange, Mike, Jaxia, and Madroxx.

At times I played way too conservative. I need to learn to push when someone shows signs of weakness.

I folded the hammer twice. I did see April play it successfully into a raise. It was beautiful when she showed the cards. The only other hammer I saw was the last hand of the tournament. Unfortunately it came up on the short end.

I need to purchase the long version of “Freebird”, because two tournaments in a row I heard at least part of this song and I placed in the money!

I am also incredibly superstitious as to what I should wear to a poker tournament. I did include my Grandfather’s necklace, so that may have been the extra boost I needed.

Congratulations to Madroxx for a tournament well played.

I had a fantastic time and it certainly beat yard work. I wish I could have stuck around and obliged Scott in a cash game. But he of all people knows what it means to promise your wife something. I made my pit stop at Fiesta to buy coconuts, then proceeded to Lowes to buy paint. I then met my lovely wife at Sam’s and I helped load the groceries into the van. I was starving so we listened to the kids and had a wonderful dinner from McDonalds (NOT!).

Play on!

"Thieves"

I just had to fire off another quick post. I just put 15 gallons of gas in the van at a cost of $50. Here is what is puzzling me.

Monday the local 7-11 has a tanker truck fill their store with gasoline product. For this argument lets assume that they paid $2/gallon and are charging $2.50/gallon. On Tuesday there is a hurricane in Louisiana. Now on Thursday they are charging $3.10/gallon. Seems to me that the profit margin doubles. Do stations get a tanker truck daily? I don't think so. It is probably weekly. So next week another tanker arrives to fill the station, but this time the 7-11 pays $2.80/gallon. Now I think they might have the right to charge $3.20/gallon, maintaining a consistent profit margin.

I have no clue if these numbers are real, but I find it amazing that stations can raise and lower their prices simply based on what happens in the media and the stock market.

Yes my prayers go out to all the people impacted by the hurricane. I saw a photo from Atlanta where a store was charging $5.95/gallon. Is that gouging or what?

Yes we need to get off our dependency on oil. Perhaps it is this type of catastophe that will cause everyone to think of a creative solution. I would certainly at some point love to drive a safe car that gets 50+ mpg or take efficient public transportation. For some reason I doubt I will see that any time soon.

I am really pumped about the poker tournament tomorrow. Althought it will cost me $10 round trip (he-he)! Bitch, bitch, bitch! I am bummed in that I have a cough, which means I may end up drinking diet sodas and not consuming all of Scott's Patron.

Ciao!

" A Quicky"

I just wanted to make a quick post. Ok so it is a new definition for the term "Quicky"!

Everything went well in Ohio. I damn near missed my return flight. My sister is still laughing at me for all the cus words I was blurting after driving 16 miles past the airport. Saving grace was the fact the clock in the rental was WRONG! Gambling with airports is not fun!

Speaking of gambling I had a revelation last night. I was playing $.05/.10 No Limit. Twice I got a good read on the other player when heads up and won some decent sized pots. I did not let them bully me into folding. The revelation came when I was forced to go all-in with one caller to go. The third person called. Once again I had a good read on the player who put me all-in and I would have beat him; however, the other caller had the nuts. So the revelation for me is to think more carefully about going all-in if there are other players that could call. It is all about 'position". Oh and that applies for a "quicky" too!

I am looking forward to playing in the Austin blogger tournament on Saturday. Hmmmm! What strategy will I deploy? Definitely a bunch of tough players! I am definitely hoping to "Crack the Hammer". I think a little experimenting is in order. It will be a long drive to south Austin, so I must place in the money in order to pay for the gas. I am betting it will be $2.89 by Saturday. Sheesh!

I sure wish we had mass transit planned for Austin and not toll roads. Soon no one will be able to afford to put their cars on these roads.

Party on!

"Blowing Off Steam"

I got home from RCIA and there just was no way I could go to sleep. The 5:00 AM alarm will be rude. I thought I would play some cards and catch up on some blogs. Definitely some good write ups from the event in South Carolina.

Scott - thanks for your kind words.

I must say I just got screwed royally in a 6 person SNG. There were four players left. Two of us around $2k and the other two at $4.5K. I get dealt JJ. The flop comes Q35. I do not recall the river, but I go all-in. I get called by one of the larger stacks from the SB. He called half his stack with 34o. A f'n 4 hits on the river and I am out. I read him correctly and played it correctly. That is the way the cookie crumbles.

Looks like I will not be leaving for Ohio until late Thursday. I need to load up the poker game my Brother in law got me for X-mas on my laptop. Won't be the same as playing for money, but mindless on the plane none the less. Do they have wireless net on planes yet?

I am going to chug my Guinness and see if I can fall asleep. For some reason my brain will not let me. Perhaps another Guinness is in order.

I am looking forward to the Austin Blogger event. It is way south, but I will manage. My better half keeps trying to make other plans, but I reminded her that I am booked.

Play on!

"A TRIBUTE"

At 7:5AM EST a great man passed away this morning. He is my grandfather, Charles A Leet. I am very sad and uncertain as to the near term future. I will make it to Geneva Ohio to pay tribute to this great man. Not sure how yet, but I will make it!

I am very sad! In my sorrow I must pay a tribute to my Grandfather. I also must ask that God hold my mother and care for her! Dear God please guide our family through this time of sorrow.

"Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen!"

Charles A Leet was the kindest man. In my lifetime I only recall him raising his voice once in a negative way. It took a miraculous golf shot to raise the ire of my Grandfather. My brother and I had been hitting golf balls on the course where my Grandfather's home backed up to. My brother took careful aim and hit a 9 iron toward the house, which was protected by huge trees. We looked in amazement as that ball traveled the height of those huge trees and headed for the house. The little golf ball managed to dodge one billion branches and find its way to the large sliding glass door on the back of Grandpa's house. He was not happy and rightfully so!

I remember at a very young age my Grandfather would host parties at his house on Bathgate. One specific time he served Mai tai drinks to all of his guests. With me being a deviant child, I spent the day drinking down half full glasses of the delicious nectar. Yes this was the first time for me to get drunk. It was not pleasant at the age of ten vomiting and making my Dad pull over on the way home. This was either an omen or a first lesson in the life ahead of me.

I do not recall my age, but I do recall twice when my Grandfather went out of his way to surprise my brother and me. Once he took us horse back riding. He nervously watched us ride around the corral. The horse my brother was on was a bit feisty and bucked a few times. I am sure it made Grandpa a nervous wreck, but I know my brother and I appreciated every last second of our first time on a horse. One day he really surprised us by taking us up in a small airplane. I do not recall what kind of plane it was, but as a kid I always wondered how my Grandfather could spend so much money for us to be up in this plane. We flew along Lake Erie and I vividly remember seeing God's handy work and a rainbow of colors along the shores of a murky lake.

I am not sure I ever let him know how much he inspired me with those generous trips. I was around 12 or 13 years old and I was all about making money. I would rake leaves, shovel snow, and mow lawns to earn extra cash. My Grandfather was a realtor and asked me to mow some of his properties. I was glad my Dad had to tote me around, because some of the yards were huge. At least as I remember them. Receiving a check from my Grandfather was like receiving a pot of gold. I recall one day he asked me to mow his yard. Or perhaps I begged to mow it since it required a riding lawn mower. He showed me how to operate it and off I went. Of course I was going about it all wrong. He quickly came out to correct my technique. It seemed like it took forever that day to mow the grass, but heck it was on a riding lawn mower.

Holiday's at my Grandparents were always great. The one thing you could safely gamble on was the fact that at some point during the family gathering, Grandpa would play his electric organ. He loved experimenting with the drum beat and usually would play a peppy upbeat tune. I really wish he had the chance to hear our daughter play the piano. She plays beautifully and I hope his spirit fills her heart, so that she may continue to take on the challenge of practicing everyday. Yes I am crying at this point. It is Ok to grieve I guess, but I am trying to reflect on all of the wonderful things Grandpa provided us.

I am not just talking material things. His spirit was much much more than that. He traveled to Austin Texas for our wedding. My wife's family spoke very little English, yet he tried his best to fit in and make everyone comfortable. He went to El Paso Texas for the baptism of our daughter. Again he tried to fit in with everyone, despite the language barrier. Grandpa was fortunate and was able to travel to many places in the world. I believe he got along with everyone.

I am not sure how old I was, but either in High School or College. He told me an amazing story how he wanted to learn more about his family history. He started at the library. Either by word of mouth or via the library. He heard that there was a book somewhere in New York about the Leet family. He made the journey to find this book. Sure enough it was about his family. I believe it dated back to something like 1608. The really cool thing about it was the fact that his name was the last name in that book. The book ended with the birth of Charles A. Leet. I truly hope I can get access to that book. I am not sure I have the strength or the wisdom, but I think it would be truly great to continue that book and expand the legacy of Charles A. Leet.

The man was amazing and I am not sure I expressed often enough how he touched my heart. I am so glad that both of our children got to meet him. One hot summer we took him to Fredericksburg. It was extremely hot and it was difficult for Grandpa to keep up in the heat. He stopped in at a little store where they spun there own wool and made blankets etc... That day he ordered himself a handmade blanket from that little store. As usual he hit it off with store proprietor. I am sure he got a good deal on that blanket.

As I try to bring this tribute to conclusion I am in the middle of great debate. Do we take the kids out of school and make the long drive to Geneva Ohio or do I simply go and see this wonderful man alone? I know my Mom deep in her heart would want the kids there. I also know she understands the logistics and the cost to make that happen. I am confident that the Holy Spirit will guide me to the correct decision. I know I want my kids to remember him for his smile and caring demeanor. I am blessed in that I have had a lifetime of memories and our children only have a few brief encounters. I look forward to telling our children about my times with Grandpa and I hope they are blessed with some of his great traits.

We love you Grandpa! Thanks for everything you have provided this family. Your battle with Alzheimer's was a gallant one. I believe you are in good hands now. Please continue to fill us with your spirit and your guiding light. I hope you take the journey into heaven, knowing you have been a great influence to us all.

"Dear lord - please embrace my wonderful Mother. Hold her and hug her in this time of need. I will hold her and hug her, but she needs your strength to guide her and heal the loss of her father. I ask this in Christ our Lord! Amen!"

“Sailing Away “

“Well it’s not far back to sanity, at least it’s not for me
And if the wind is right you can sail away and find serenity
Oh, the canvas can do miracles, just you wait and see
Believe me”

Does anyone remember this Christopher Cross song? Well wind and miracles are two key words from this past Saturday.

Friday night I took our daughter to piano lessons. I decided to go to a near by bar called Hanover’s to study for my class and have a cold beer. I arrived and ran into an old friend (So much for studying). I was not quite in the mood for Guinness, so I compromised with a Black and Tan. My friend and I started conversing when one of his co-workers arrived. Very pleasant conversation; however, my friend made a rude comment to me. Last time I had seen him he had done a similar thing. I calming let it roll off my shoulders and ordered a Bass. Needless to say I am not sure this individual falls into the category of friend.

I left in a rush to pick up our daughter. She was a little upset because she was missing open house at her school. We quickly headed toward the school, but I knew we would not make it in time. The cell phone rang and it was my better half. I think she is psychic. “Honey we are going to go out to eat” with the K family and the H family. “Sounds great honey”! We went to Serrano’s Mexican Café. The main reason I mention this is for all of you parents out there in Austin land. Kids eat free Wednesday through Sunday with the purchase of an adult meal. This ends August 31st, so enjoy. Six adults drinking and 6 goofy children made for a great time, especially since I had an early start with 2 imperial pints.

OK Now to Saturday! I got up reasonably early because I had a long list of honey-do’s. I had permission to go sailing in the afternoon, but I HAD to accomplish certain honey-do’s. I cleaned the gutters! Now that was fun hanging on to the eve’s of the house for dear life and getting poked in the rear-end by spirea bushes. Yee-Ha! Next I did the normal yard beautification project of edge, mow, and trim. Finally I did my most favorite chore of pulling weeds for 2 plus hours. In total I spend about 4.0 hours in the hot Texas heat. Oh wait there is more! I come in from the hot sun and wet mop the floors. I did win the prize in that I could go sailing.

Remember the last time I went sailing there was no wind. This time there was wind and we are going to race. I had never participated in a regatta and I had no earthly clue what is expected of me, but here I am part of a three person crew on a 26 foot sailboat called Vitamin Sea. It is quite an amazing site watching 40 or so boats tacking back and forth across the lake vying for position and perfect access to the starting line. Mr. D our captain definitely had a plan.

The horn blasts into the air from the starters boat and 2 seconds later we zip past the starting line and the race is on. I believe there were 5-6 boats in our flight. I quickly learned my role with respect to the tacking maneuver. Back and forth we went, heading for the first buoy. We are battling it out for first place. The other boat cut directly in front of us twice. If you ask me just a little to close for comfort, but I was informed that that was part of the adventure. Around the first buoy we go, then we head toward the dam and the second buoy. We are still in a very tight race, but things are looking good. The other boat gets around the second buoy just ahead of us. At this point the wind is at our backs and we need to use the spinnaker. Check it out I know some sailing terms! FYI – Spinnaker is the huge and colorful sail. The other team got their spinnaker up with out a problem. Let’s just say we mucked up. First mate M was cursing and there I was not having a clue as to how I could help. Finally we get things straightened out, but now we are way behind.

We head to the third buoy. As we rounded this buoy we mucked up again. This time I had a little part in the fiasco. Captain D had asked me to steer the boat. Heck I did not know you move the rudder right to go left and left to go right. I think that is correct, but I was so confused. I did not do a good job, so I did not keep the wind in the sails like we are supposed to. I think somewhere in this chaos I received a rope burn on my middle finger. I was even wearing gloves! Another mistake and even further behind, but now we are in third place. Captain D is not happy!

You think this is fun! Just wait!

We head back to the buoy by the damn. This time we are ready for the spinnaker move. We executed it flawlessly. Got team! Soon we are back in second place. The really cool part is that we have to go the entire length of Lake Travis on this leg of the race. We got to relax a little bit and have a drink. I was not up for beer after Friday night. I slammed down a bottle of water. It was hot out on the lake, but we were to busy to really notice. Let me tell you working a sailboat is no picnic.

We seem to be making up some ground on the first place boat. I learned that we have to actually spot that team time, since we have a larger keel. I think the keel is the thingy under the boat. We are relaxing and enjoying the ride and it was a beautiful day. The third place boat was nowhere in site. We prepare to round the final buoy, so the spinnaker must come down. Captain D had given me some pointers. My role was to grab the spinnaker and get into the boat as quickly as possible. I stretched out and grabbed the proper rope and pulled handfuls of sail as fast as I possibly could. Then I grabbed the rope for the Genoa (smaller sail) and hoisted it up as quickly as possible. We did it flawlessly as we rounded the final buoy.

Then this look on my face appeared! “Holy shit!” Looking toward the finish line we see this wall of grey clouds. I mean a huge wall! Before we had time to breath the sky opened up, dumping buckets of giant rain drops. The wind increased at least by 3 times. The sailboat is almost on its side. I am clinging on for dear life. Captain D starts yelling “Get the Genoa down Get the Genoa down!” Instinctively I climb up onto the deck of the boat. The damn Genoa will not come down. If feels like we are about to flip over. First mate M and I are frantically trying to bring down that sail, but the wind was not cooperating. I grabbed onto the mast. I leaned out as far as I possibly could. I was able to grab onto the bottom of the Genoa. We tugged and pulled. Finally the sail came down and we stuffed it onto the front deck of the boat. Next thing we know Captain is yelling “Get the Genoa up! Get the Genoa up!” The storm had ended and by some miracle we are only a couple hundred yards behind the lead boat. We quickly jump into action and get the sail back up. We are now heading for the finish line. There was a beautiful rainbow in the sky and it was almost a complete rainbow. Wow that is also a miracle! And I am thinking to myself it is a miracle that my fat butt did not end up in the lake. It is a miracle that the boat did not capsize. One boat in the regatta apparently was not so lucky and it had been flipped over. The regatta sponsors had to pull someone out of the water. Everyone was OK!

The wind on the Lake was now tranquil and almost non-existent. We finished in second place about one minute behind the first place boat. Needless to say the Vitamin Sea would remain in first place over-all. There are six races total. I certainly hope to race again. The second half of the race was nearly flawless.

We ended up meeting my wife and kids at Johnny Carino’s, where I quickly slammed down 3 huge glasses of water and to huge root beers. Man I was thirsty!

What a great time! I can not help but think someone was watching over us. I got one message very loud and clear. “Wear a life jacket next time you idiot!” I probably will not listen to that voice, but it is probably sound advice. Give me that next list of honey do’s, because I am ready do experience it all over again! The other lesson I learned is that “Yes Honey, I am out of shape!” Let’s just say I was a little sore in the legs and arms on Monday.

Sunday we had some friends over for a light dinner and dessert. We had goat cheese and roasted red bell pepper sandwiches. We had a great visit!

Kids started school this week without a hitch. Our son started kindergarten and is really excited. He eagerly wakes up to get ready to go to school. Soccer season will soon be upon us, so we will have something going on every night of the week. For the first time in 9 years my wife and I do not have to work split shifts. It is really nice to have all four of us sit down to dinner every night. We still might have 3 different means, but that is a different story.

I have managed to play a little poker her and there, but nothing exciting. I do get tired of people complaining about the flaws of a given site or the way you played a hand. I guess that comes with the territory. I did manage to get a straight flush on my cell phone video poker.

Sail on!

"Amazing"

Congratulations to my wonderful parents! Yes it is AMAZING in that they have been married for 46 wonderful years. Y'all are truly amazing!

It was also amazing last night when I went on a hot streak at CNR, winning 5 hands in a row. I tripled up, then it was a good thing it was bed time!!

Friday night was also pretty amazing. At one point I was playing 4 tables concurrently, two on CNR and 2 on Paradise. On paradise I was just having fun and remained even. On CNR I joined the midnight NL Holdem tournament, using half of my check points. On the .10/.20 NL holdem table I won a huge hand and I was up $20. The tournament started getting tense, but I was holding my own until this hand. I am on the button holding AA. The flop comes 22T. I bet 3000. I get called! The turn is a K. I bet another 3000. The river is an Ace. I put the caller all-in. Absolutely the correct thing to do right? Wrong! The other player had pocket dueces. He had flopped 4 of a kind and hung me out to dry. I still had a decent chip stack. Around two in the morning I had managed to gain the chip lead back and was in the money. I wanted to win really bad. I was heads up against another player from Texas. We duked it out, exchanging the chip lead back and forth. Finally I got a decent hand AJo. I bet a nominal amount. He raised. I went all-iin for $27K. He immediately called. I have AJo and he has A6o. I liked my chances. A six hits on the flop. I had to settle for second place and $31. The cool thing was I never had to re-buy.

The main lesson I learned here was that there was no way in hell I could play four tables and concentrate on the tournament. After I earned enough check points to get my $25 bonus on CNR. I had stopped the ring game to focus on the tournament. I made a couple of good lay downs and two great bluffs, but other than that I really got the cards. Net profit was $75 for the evening, which is not too shabby.

Saturday I did my honey do's, because I had been invited to be part of the crew on a sailboat, Vitamin Sea. I had permission to go, but it depended on the honey do list. I packed up some Guinness, water, and sun screen. I arrived right on time. There was no wind at all. I ad a feeling that once again I would not get to race. Last time I went there was no wind. I am beginning to see a pattern. I did jump into the lake and help clean the bottom of the boat. It can be a little eerie swimming under the bottom of the boat and popping up between the boat and the dock. We did have the captain and his lovely wife over for dinner after the race was cancelled. My wife cooked three recipes from he El Ferrol cook book we got on vacation, spicey potatoes, firey shrimp, and lemon-rosemary flan. Add a little bit of syrah and a temparnillo and it was a great time. The great news is that my better half gave me permission to try again this Saturday. I hope the weather is perfect and I will definitely be praying for at least a little wind.

Congratulations to April on her new puppy, Vegas. What a perfect name! When we got our puppy we named her Ash. It was great when our three year old would run around the house yelling "Nice Ass!" and "Bad Ass!"

I am really looking forward to playing in the Austin Blogger tournament on September 3. I have permission but I have not seen the honey do list. The honey do list can sometimes be "Amazing"!

Oh I forgot one quick rant! Texas House and Senate should proclaim Happy Anniversary to my great parents. Hell last Wednesday you spent your entire hour in session making proclamations about anniversaries and math school awards. Please serve the people of Texas and get off your asses and hammer out a school reform bill. Toss your special interests aside and focus on the quality of education for all children. Your procrastination is truly AMAZING!

Play on!

"Battle of the Aces"

First of all I need to apologize to those persons using RSS. I obviously have to continue my education regarding these applications. As soon as I have a better understanding I will try to implement something. Thanks Adam for pointing this out. April's links should also be of some help. Added to my list of to do's!

I am so glad I was not involved in this hand last night, but I thought it might be worth some discussion. I do not have all the details, but I can create a quick summary. The game was .10/.20 NLH on Check N Raise poker. I was not getting great cards, so I folded as usual. Two players raised each other pre-flop for a couple of bucks. After the flop there was some healthy betting and raising. Same thing happened at the turn and the river. I believe there was close to $20 in the pot. Player #2 was actually put all-in. Both players turned over AA. The irony here is that the board had four spades. Doesn't that suck to hold the same powerful hand as your opponent yet lose. The winner was indeed remorseful. :)

I had a similar experience on one of the few hands I got involved with. I believe I had A4. The
flop brought me a shot at the wheel. The turn brought me my 5 for the wheel. I bet $2 and got called. On the river brings a fourth spade to the board. I did not have a spade, so I mucked.

I have been taking a beating lately, but I am only 40 check points away from a $25 bonus. That will certainly help. I have been chasing a bit to much lately, so I am reeling the game in a bit. Hopefully I can play in a tournament tonight, but players on CNR are getting scarce. I may make the plunge tonight and join Full Tilt.

I am looking forward to playing in the Austin Bloggers tournament on September 3, but I must seek permission from my goddess. :)

Scott - If you happen to read this little excerpt I have a question for you. Did you go to Deer Park HS? I graduated from J. Frank Dobie HS. Perhaps it truly is a small world!

Party on! Oh wait! I mean play on!

"A Tall tale"

I just received these photos from my wife. I thought it would be a good time to try the new blogger utilities.

Check out the size of these sunflowers!!

Another view.

Did my wife stand on the shed to get this one?

All I know is the blogger tool works and that we will be planting these giant sunflowers again!

Enjoy!

"Cracked"

Once again not overly inspired to post, but I did play a little poker last night at Paradise poker. Yep, I am still living off the $2 they gave me a long time ago. I do not have a huge bankroll, but enough to have some low limit fun. I have been playing a bunch of .02/.04 Stud lately and I also play .05/.10 Limit Holdem.

I am playing 7 stud and my very first hand I get a full house only to lose to a larger full house. Ouch!

I am in middle position on the limit holdem table and I am dealt pocket aces. I had just won a nice pot with two pair and ace kicker. Seems like the entire table is in and we make the betting. the flop comes 66x. Again maximum betting. Turn comes no help. Again maximum betting. Of course I believe someone has a 6, but I continue to fire away. There was not flush or straight draw. Four of us showed out cards. AA, QQ, and of course a raise with K6. One person folded on the turn who had TT. Three pocket pairs got "cracked". I just said nice hand and continued playing. There was some joking afterwards, but it was fun!

Now I think I will just toss out some randomness. My two brain cells are being pulled in multiple directions. That is correct in that I only have two brain cells left from all of the partying during my youth. Amazingly enough they usually fire at the same time resulting in a little bit of thought and creativity.

My brain is being pulled back into the world of development at work. Writing code certainly puts my two cells to the test. I have never had any formal training, so it really can be a struggle.

Outside of work my brain is on a totally different tangent. I have started taking RCIA classes. I am not sure this blog needs my thoughts on religion posted, so I am debating about creating a new blog. The spiritual side of me has not been greatly tested. Joining the Catholic church truly feels like the correct thing to do. It is a huge commitment and will take my two brain cells to the maximum. There may be some random spiritual posts on this blog, but I will try to keep it to a minimum. One thing I strongly believe is that I shalt not push my religious beliefs onto others. It is an individual journey!

Finally my brain is fried trying to determine how much poker to play and where to play it. I am tempted to join a new site, but I am not sure which one. Currently I am leaning toward FullTilt. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I am looking for a good bonus that does not take a decade to earn. I am looking for a reasonable number of players and some low buy-in tournaments.

Perhaps I should just be smoking crack instead of getting my "aces" cracked! Definitely would make for an interesting religious experience. Hee Hee

I did have one more poker point to ponder. Lately on Check N Raise poker there have been numerous players going all-in early. This is a .05/.10 table and they go all-in for $20 only to win 40 cents. I know in certain situations you want to isolate the chasers, but man if you have a good hand at least attempt to make them earn you some dough!

Play on!

"Five of a kind"

I have not been overly motivated to blog lately. Work has been taking a toll on me. Things are beginning to settle down, so I thought I would share this little story. Sorry but this story has nothing to do with poker.

This Saturday my entire family met at SeaWorld at San Antonio. My sister's family from Phoenix. My Mom, Dad, Brother and his family, and my other Sister and her family from Houston.

I know we had a great time, but hurding five families, containing 9 grandchildren around a crowded park is not an easy task. We decided to top of the event by seeing Shamu Rocks Texas. Our 8 year old insisted on sitting in the splash zone. Myself, our daughter, our son, and 4 cousins all took seats in the front row right in front of the glass. At least I had the foresight to hand my backpack to my sister. I wish I would have handed her my Texas Longhorn cowboy hat. Oh well!

The music began and Shamu comes zooming out and does a huge flip in the center of the pool. The full house rocks with excitement. Next I look through the glass to see "5 of a kind". They were black and white, but definitely not spades or clubs. Then I look above the pool to see another "five of a kind". Five large white tails. I started laughing my ass off, because I knew what was about to happen. I grabbed my Longhorn hat from my head and tucked it under my chest. What a waste of energy. Those five tails pushed so much freakin water over the glass barrier that they need to change the name from splashzone to Tidal Wave. Instantly soaked only to have two more walls of water come right at us.

The Tidal Wave subsided. I look at our daughter and she is bawling her eyes out and screaming at the top of her lungs "It hurts". "What hurts?" "My foot!" "Why does your foot hurt?" "My blister." I then look at our son. Now he is crying too. "We want out of here." I lead them up the stairs through the crowd. knowing that for us the show was over. Our daughter cried the entire time. All I could do was worry about my nieces and nephews whom we abandoned. I had to trust the fact that three of them were old enough to know what they needed to do to find us after the show. We left them laughing almost as hard as I was.

This put a little negative on otherwise what I thought was a fun day. Thanks to Grandma we saved $24 on the tickets. I did not appreciate the pile of puke in front of the ticket booth. The event definitely did not start off on the right foot. It also took us 1 hour to get out of Austin. TXDOT needs to only work nights.

Lessons learned are:

If you have children under 10 years of age and they want to go to the splash zone, just say no!

If you want to want to smell like a salty fish, then sit in the splash zone.

If you wear your favorite hat do not worry about protecting it. Note: Plan to air it out to get rid of the fish smell.

If you have a blister and salt water gets in. It burns! Wear socks! Or insist your children wear socks even if they do not want to.

You can not beat "5 of a kind"!

Play on!

"Miscellaneous"

Due to work and life I have not had a chance to complete the Arizona trip report and my demise on Party Poker. I thought I would quickly post a couple of miscellaneous items.

Toast to Mr. Lonnie Zwiener - Mr. Zwiener is the father of one of my best friends from college. Mr. Zwiener passed on July 1, 2005. I will forever appreciate his humor and kindness. His legacy is a fabulous family of 4 boys and 13 grandchildren. Our hearts and prayers go out to the Zwiener family. I was fortunate enough to maintain their yard during the early 90's. Mr. Zwiener gave me an open invitation to enjoy a cold beer everytime I worked in their yard. The boys did a fantastic job honoring their father and I raise a beer in honor of Mr. Zwiener.

Microsoft software sucks - Our daughter has been beginning for this game called Zoo Tycoon 2. She scratched and clawed and saved her money. I agreed to cover the taxes. She spends $30 of her money, which is a ton for an 8 year old. She tries to install in on her computer. Sorry your driver does not have the correct speed to support this game. We tried to install in on her brothers computer (although I doubted it would work). Sorry but you do not have enough processing speed. We tried to install in on my office laptop, which is reasonably high end. Sorry but this package is not compatible with the Radeon 7500. I look up this game on the internet only to find that it is not compatible with about 100 video cards. What kind of crap is that? I decide to return the game at Target and exchange it for the older version which should work. Sorry sir, but you can only exchange it for the exact same item. What the f***? I basically let a couple of target managers no I was very angry. The sited copyright law. I agree that some persons would go home copy the game and try to return it. Would I be this pissed if I had done that? My apologies to the Target managers they should not receive the brundt of my frustration. Microsoft deserves the slam! Upon contacting Microsoft they apparently have a 100% satisfaction garuntee policy. I have not heard back from them since leaving them a message on Friday. If they refund our money I will apologize and move on, but until I get a refund Microsoft Sucks!

Play on!

Arizona trip report and Casino Adventure


Warning if you are looking for poker content please scroll down and read the sections labeled in blue. This is definitely an Uber post for me, but unfortunately not Guinness fueled.

June 18 - drove to El Paso. We made it to Ft. Stockton before we stopped for sandwiches. We did make a quick pit stop in Stonewall TX to pick up some fresh peaches. We made it to El Paso in about 9 hours. Otherwise uneventful.

June 19 – We had a great brunch, consisting of Machaca and chiliceles. Drove to Scottsdale and after Tucson I believe our son pointed out every cactus along the way. He does now know the difference between cactus and cacti. Stopped at a gas station outside of Tucson, where some goofball almost ran over my wife and kids. The gas pump took 20 minutes to pump 10 gallons. I stopped pumping because it was so damn slow. We made it to our resort, which is nicer that we imagined. They had a beautiful 4500 sq foot pool area with a huge waterfall and hot tub. Kids and I went for a late night swim. Let’s just say the water was a little cold.

Funny moment – We were trying to get our five year old to read a book on the trip. We kept saying “I do not know how”. Of course we know he does. We keep pushing him to read a book. Finally he says I do not know how to read “Giggle Giggle Quack”. “Oh we thought you did not know how to read.”

June 20 – We decided to go to a Desert Botanical Garden, Papalago. We saw cacti from all over the world. We saw lizards, quail, hummingbirds, and ground squirrels. We stopped for some prickly pear iced tea, which was very refreshing. Afterwards we went to the old section of Downtown Scottsdale. We did some window shopping and had lunch at a place called Rusty Spur Saloon. There was a singer named Jimmy who had a great voice and was very entertaining. His mother was there and had to prevent him from singing certain songs with our kids there. We had a buffalo chicken sandwich that was really good. Grilled chicken breast smothered in Buffalo wing sauce. We wrote our names on a dollar bill and placed it on the wall in a predominate place. At the end of each year they take down all of the dollars, have a poker run and donate the money to charity. We finished the day at the pool. At least some of us did. I went on to play poker at Casino Arizona. I am now off to the TPC Desert course, so the poker write up will have to wait. Let’s just say I left the casino a lot lighter than when I entered it. Stay tuned.

It is now Wednesday June 29th and I am sitting at my in-laws in El Paso Texas. I have a bunch of things to report, but I need to first continue my first trip to Casino Arizona.

June 20 (cont…) After we had lunch at the Rusty Spur we got in the van. Let’s just say the van did not cool down in that 113 degree weather. The misses was not too happy. I tried to explain to her that it has always acted that way in this type of weather, but she was having nothing to do with it. We got back to the condo and I took off to see if I could find someone to look at it. The only place I found was finished for the day. The recommended I get Jiffy lube to put in Freon. Well I did not trust them because they had no means of diagnosing if a problem existed and I was not about to pay $100 to end up with 0 Freon.



*** Poker Content (Part 1) ***

The kids finally fell asleep around 10:30 PM. I kissed the wife and off to Casino Arizona. I really did not have a clue as to what to expect, but I had $200 of mad money burning a hole in my wallet. Casino Arizona is split into two locations, but I went to the Talking Stick location, which I knew had the poker room. I walked in and I was overwhelmed. I liked the fact that this was a smoke free poker room; however, my table was right at the edge where smoking was permitted. Despite the occasionally smoke it really was not bad. I had never played holdem in a casino before. Another cool aspect was that you did not hear the constant clanging of one-armed bandits. I wasted no time and signed up for the $3/$6 tables and I was quickly assigned to table 3. I bought in for $50. I got crap cards the entire time, but this is where I learned about the “Kill” pot. Twice I got involved in a kill pot only to get nothing on the flop. Let's just state for the record that “KILL pots can be expensive”. I won a few hands here and there, but for the most part money was flying out of my hands. There was one kill pot where I flopped a pair of kings. I believe I was holding KQo. The flop came JKA. I bet the $6 only to get raised. I folded. It turns out that the raiser was holding QTo for the flopped nut straight. I made a comment to the table that I folded 2 pair. They made comments like “nice lay down”. Truth is I did not have shit, but I wanted the table to think I dropped a big hand! (Hee Hee)

There were two other hands worth mentioning. There is a bad beat jackpot and from 10:00 PM to Midnight the Jackpot for holdem was around $56K. I was in the BB with 56s (spades). The flop brought me an open-ended straight flush draw. I just had to see it to the river. It was expensive and of course it did not hit. Had it hit I would have won 25% of the jackpot, because the winning hand was quad 7s. Damn! About 30 minutes later the table got excited again. The board showed three aces. To win the Jackpot Aces full of tens needs to be beat. Unfortunately the jackpot was not to be ours. I did meet a couple of Longhorn fans. Most of the players at the table were solid. There were two players that were bigger fish than me. The decent pots I won were off of them. Before I called it quits at 2:00 AM, I had burned $120 of my bankroll. I was not happy and I believe I had some tells. Oh yeah! Once I played the hammer from the BB. The flop came 7KJ. I caught a piece of it, but just could not play it. I did chase a few times, but felt I had to since I was not getting any cards. I did have trip aces once only to have the board show four clubs. You guessed it that I did not hold a club. Sigh! Oh yeah! I did not win a hand until I had bought a beer. I much prefer the free drinks in Las Vegas, than paying $5 per beer and they did NOT serve Guinness.

*** End of Poker content Part 1***

June 21 – I got up at the crack of dawn and headed out to find a place called Fletchers, which was recommended by my brother-in-law. I got there about 7:25 AM. They stated it would take about 45 minutes to take a look at the AC. I asked if there was a place to have breakfast. They stated that there was an IHOP a little ways down the street. I started to walk. I did not see an IHOP and I quickly made a decision that it was to hot and the return trip was going to be even hotter. I stopped at a gas station and got a Code red and a bag of pretzels. Breakfast of champions! It turned out that our AC had about 12 ounces to much Freon and could not cool in these temperatures. They tested for leaks and set the amount to the correct levels. Now even a penguin would like out van! My hat is definitely off to Fletcher’s service. They treated all of their customers with respect and appeared to be efficient. Once again our van caused us money on vacation, but $144 was much better than $1000 plus.

I made it back to the condo by 8:45 AM, so we decided to continue with our original plan. We packed up the cooler and set out on a drive via the Apache trail. I will spare most of the details, but it was a beautiful drive. One key fact we were not quite in tune with was that 28 miles of this journey would be on dirt road. At times it was like riding a bull. We had to creep along at 10 mph. The strangest part was that a thunderhead appeared out of nowhere. I saw a bolt of lightening hit a ridge. I turn to my wife “did you see that bolt of lightening?” She replies “No, but I see smoke!” We witnessed the start of one of the fires that was to burn over 60,000 acres of desert. It started to rain and we got behind two bikers. They did not look like happy campers. They finally waved us around them. Finally we arrived at the Roosevelt damn. Next we went to Tonto National Forest. We informed the ranger about the fire, but they of course were already aware. She recommended that we not go up to the Indian ruins, because of lightening, the heat, and numerous swarms of bees. Besides we were too hungry anyway and the kids do an hour long hike. Yeah right! As usual we concluded the day at the pool.

June 22 – This was a fun day for me in that my son (5 years old) and I planned to play golf. The TPC was a couple of blocks from our condo, so we opted for that one. The stadium course was expensive from my point of view ($75), so we opted to play the Desert Course. Unfortunately the Desert Course greens had just been plugged and sanded. I expected to get a discount, but there was none offered. I did not press the issue because we were dropped off, so really had no choice ($50). As expected the course was fairly empty. Our son got to hit a ton of golf shots. It was a challenge to him to try and drive the ball over the desert. He was successful a few times, but did result in 3 lost balls. On the back nine I decided to let him play an entire par three from tee to green. It was an amazing in that he actually got on the green in four and three putted for a seven. I think that is pretty good for a 5 year old. The remainder of the day was spent relaxing at the pool.

June 23 – Finally we get a chance to spend the day with my sister and her family. We decided to go to the Phoenix zoo. My sister had some free passes! Thanks Sis! The kids were great and we had a good time, but it was hot! The one cool think was that we were standing there watching the giant Galapagos turtle. I opted to move to get in some shade. Well right where I was standing came slithering this 6 foot gopher snake. The snake would have probably totally freaked me out if I had not moved. The turtle keeper apparently had experience with snakes and picked it up. The kids were thrilled. She released it on the other side of the turtle cage in the shade. Nature meets the zoo! We spent the remainder of the day at my sister’s doing the slippery slide thing, an apartment pool, and grilling some delicious steaks. After getting slightly lost Peoria we made it back to the condo around 10:30 PM.

June 24 - Today my sister and family, including Uncle D, who had been out of town on business, were coming to the condo to enjoy the pool. I took the kids for a morning swim, and then in order to kill time we decided to find a place to eat a good lunch. We headed toward downtown Scottsdale with a couple of places in mind. Unfortunately the one place was only open for dinner. We settled on a place called Grimaldi’s. It turned out to be an excellent choice. We had an oven-fired pizza topped with sun dried tomatoes and ricotta cheese. Ok half had those ingredients and the other have of course was pepperoni for the kids. We enjoyed ½ carafe of Chianti. Around 4:30 PM our guests arrived. Uncle D and I had a few drinks. We thoroughly enjoyed the pool. The kids were all great. We grilled some hamburgers and hotdogs. The visit was short but an absolute pleasure. Hopefully Uncle D and I can do some business together. I plan to conduct some free quality assurance on his web site when I return to Austin.

*** Poker Content (part 2) ***

My last trip to the casino only left $70 burning a hole in my pocket. It was all money won on the internet, so I figured so what if I lose this found money. For the record my wife will never understand! Everyone was tucked in around 10:00 PM. I decided to check out the other casino, Ft. McDowell. I mean this is a casino adventure. It was a longer drive, but I was there in about 30 minutes. The place was pretty full. The differences were numerous slot machines all ching chinging and clank clanking. The poker room was very small and way in the back. I sat down at the $3/6 table and bought in with my $70. The first dealer I had seemed to be sick. I lost one decent sized pot when my opened straight did not fill. The next dealer sat down and complained about his back, stating that we had to make sure we pushed the cards and chips far enough for him to reach without hurting his back. “My chiropractor is not available until Monday.” I did not have much sympathy. A couple of hands later I thought I was the big blind so I put out the $3. Of course I continued to get crap cards, so after a raise I mucked the cards. The very next hand I was told that I was the big blind. I stated I had just been the big blind. Dealer’s response “To bad you made a mistake, you are now the big blind.” I did not need a dealer being rude to me. I played three more hands then grabbed my chips and headed for the door. The sad part was I had donated $30 in that lame casino. First impressions are everything, so I will not be returning to the Ft. McDowell casino.

I headed back to Casino Arizona where at least I was treated with respect. Now with only $40 left of my bankroll I needed to play smart. Well not if you get great cards. I sat down and found ATo. The flop comes with TTA, giving me a boat. I bet it hard all the way and had two callers until the turn and one caller at the river. A couple of paint cards came on the turn and the river, so I was worried about the guy having an over pair and a larger boat. I took down a nice sized pot. I tipped the dealer and stacked my chips. There was a lady at the table that was a bit crazy to play with. She was 32 years old and told us how she was divorcing her husband of three years who could never give her an orgasm. She now had a man that that could and was able to please her 8 hours at a time. I had a few comments, but held my tongue. There for awhile she would bet to the river blind. The funny part was for about 30 minutes she won every hand. I took one large pot from her with her silly antics, but I did lose to her set of tens, when I had top two pair. She did not appear to be drunk, but she was a little obnoxious, especially when she started to tell the orgasm story a second time and that she pays her soon to be x-husband $2000/month in alimony. As expected her crazy play caused her to lose her stack. I certainly did not mind. I ended up calling it a day at 2:00 AM with $80 in my pocket.

*** End of poker content Part 2***

June 25 – Today was the day for laundry and R&R. We went to the pool a couple of times. The evening trip to the pool we had margaritas and smoothies pool side. Not to much exciting happened until I told my wife I was going back to the casino. I just had to go for it.

*** Poker Content Part 3 ***

I was determined to play smart and win some of my money back. The place was packed since it was a Saturday night. I put my name on a long list for the $3/6 tables. I got placed at table 44, which was quite different from the other areas of the poker room I had played in. There was one player with a large stack of chips, but he did not stay long. As usual I did not get any cards. Mucking the cards gets pretty old. The lady to my right had just won a nice pot with pocket queens. I make a comment loud enough for most of the players to hear. “So what is it like to get a face card?” She laughs and says, “They are nice if you win!” The very next hand I drag the pot with A7, where my 7 was the high kicker. Imagine that! The very next hand I look down to see big slick suited. I raise it up although this is a dangerous hand for me. I lose more often than I win. I kept raising. The lady to my right goes “I guess you finally got some face cards” and mucks her hand. The flop and turn bring me nothing, but I keep pressing the bets. Whew everyone folded to my aggression. I think my comment about face cards set things up to play aggressive. I had turned my $80 into $110. I contemplated getting up and leaving, but wait I came here with found money. I have only been playing 45 minutes. Press on!

It was about 1:00 AM. One side note that I thought was interesting. One of the dealers noticed that some cards were marked. It was interesting in that they had just brought a new set up as I arrived to the table. The cards were indeed marked with a small faint white line. My theory was that the card shuffler was causing it. FYI – every poker room needs card shufflers. He called for a new set up when he noticed on the other deck that one of the aces had a thumb nail mark in it. Hell I could barely see it, so I am not sure how a cheater could see it. The dealer also talked about how the “eye in the sky” now detects chemicals professional cheats used on cards. Apparently they would put a powder on the cards that could be viewed with special glasses. This brings a whole new meaning to the reason everyone wears sun glasses at the tables.

OK back to my final three hands. I limp in with pocket 5’s. Inside I am praying for a 5 to hit the board. I think I only had a set once in three days and I was ready to win bug. The flop comes 5sQhKs. I raise. I get re-raised. I raise again. There are two other players. The turn does not help, but I keep firing. Everyone calls! The river brings another spade and I did not improve. The guy to my left hit the river flush and the lady at the other end of the table had hit a set of queens on the flop. I was dead meat without getting another five. At this point half of my stack is gone. A few hands later I am put all-in with A4s. It was my turn to hit the flush on the river and I drag the pot. I think I am now at $16. Should I leave? How do I explain the loss of $80 to my wife? Man this is found money and I came to gamble. The next hand was perfect. It was a family pot. Everyone called the BB, so the pot was already large. I was holding ATo. The flop comes ATX. I get all of my money in and the pot is close to $60. The turn brings another spade. I am chanting no flush, no flush. Of course the guy next to me stayed in with 56 of spades. I was sure the AT was going to bring me back to life. I am broke! I wish everyone good luck and head back to the condo pondering the words I will say to my wife.

I think in all I played very solid poker. I have mentioned this before, but I need to work on my strategy when cards run dry. I did chase the nut flush a couple of times only to come up empty handed. After the first day jitters I think I erased most of my tells. I am definitely going to work on my reverse tells and my table banter. I also feel it is time for me to buy a poker book in an effort to raise my game to the next level. I blew $200 in 11 hours at the $3/6 holdem tables. I do not think that was too bad. Fortunately for me the second two sessions did not bring many kill pots. Thanks to Casino Arizona for being a gracious host and I hope you spend the rake wisely! I definitely can not wait until I find a way to Vegas. I like to drink a little when I play, so free drinks would add to my banter. Texas legislature needs to hear this loud and clear. Bring poker to Texas NOW!

*** End of all poker content ***

I am going to post this for now. I will finish the Arizona trip report in another segment and I will write a report of my demise on Party Poker.

Play on!