“A Blonde Moment”

It is 4:46 AM. In theory I should be in a hotel room sound asleep. I had a flight scheduled to leave for Cincinnati Ohio yesterday at 3:40 PM. A co-worker picks me up at 2:00 PM to get to the airport. It was a smooth ride in a brand new Nissan Titan V8. We park in the park and ride. The shuttle bus takes us to the terminal. I get out of the shuttle bus only to realize that I do not have my wallet. Holy shit! Let me tell everyone very clearly you can not do shit without some sort of ID at an International Airport.

I rescheduled my flight for 6:05 AM this morning. There were no other flights last night permitting someone to bring me my wallet. The really sad part is I knew right where my wallet was. I was hungry so I went to Jack in the Box for a sandwich. I paid for the sandwich and left the wallet sitting on the front passenger seat of the car. Damn! Definitely a blond moment!

Here were my options:

1. Take a taxi home and get my wallet then fly out later. Not!
2. Have my wife bring me my wallet. Not! She was 45 minutes from the house.
3. Just take a taxi home or to my office. Not! How would I pay? Besides rumor had it that it would cost $70 to get me home. Yikes!
4. Sleep at the airport and have my wife bring my wallet. I thought that would be good punishment.
5. Wife come get me and my son miss his soccer game. That would not work because I was the one who insisted he play in his game.
6. Take my friends truck and go get my wallet. Are you kidding ask him to drive his new truck. Besides I already told him to go board and tell the others my fate.
7. Call a friend! I did this and had a great friend ready to come pick me up. I felt so guilty, but you know you have a great friend if they are willing to sacrifice their day to come rescue you from the airport.
8. Finally my brother-in-law offered to come get me. I called my friend back and cancelled her generous offer.

Here is the really cool part. I get picked up from the airport in a beautiful blue Porsche. He took me to the soccer game where I got to watch our team play. It was cool because we only had three players. I am so glad our son made it. They had fun! We then went out for dinner. Least we could do was buy my wife’s brother dinner. We also had my wife’s mom and grand mother with us. The check came for dinner and abuelita grabbed the check. We insisted that we pay. She finally gave us the check. What we did not realize was as she passed the plastic thingy to us she had slipped the bill out. She is a very sneaky lady, but clearly wise. I would have offered to pay, but NO WALLET!

Next my wife wanted me to fill up the van. Ok! May I have your credit card! Again, I had no wallet. At this point I am thinking new should have microchips implanted in our thumbs or something that could be used as ID and perhaps even a credit card. My brother-in-law clearly pointed out that then people would chop off your thumb to steal your identity. Ok! That is a sick thought, but probably true.

Now the challenge was to get to the airport on time. I set two alarms. I woke up every hour almost on the hour. I woke up at 2:15 AM. I decided to shower and shave and head to the airport. I stopped and got a coffee at 7-11. Thank heaven for 7-11! Oh hopefully I turned off both alarms. I made it to the airport with little traffic. I get inside the airport at about 3:45 AM. Of course most everything is closed. I realized I still did not have my boarding pass. The kiosk was not open yet. I drank my coffee and watched a cool episode of The Highwayman. I finally got my boarding pass around 4:30 AM. I go through security. Well as luck would have it I am selected for the extra search. I am a suspicious character. I guess claiming to have forgotten my ID and changing my flight put me high on the profile list. The initial screener did not see that I had been selected for the special treatment. I am sure she got in trouble for not issuing me the orange ticket.

Here are a couple of times.

Empty your pockets
Place your computer in a separate tray from your computer bag
Taking off your shoes is option (wear flip flops!)
Do not over pack your bag – security does not know how to fold!
take your own coffee at 4:00 AM because there is nothing open!

Here I set using airport power to recharge the battery on my laptop. Perhaps I will continue this adventure on the plane. Throughout this entire ordeal I keep convincing myself that this is the way the good Lord intended it to be. I will miss some of the training this morning and I am sure I will be subjected to tons of ridicule. The adventure is just beginning because I will need to arrive safely. Catch a cab to the hotel! Catch a cab to the office. Find a way to obtain a security badge. Find my way to a class in progress I am sure. Perhaps I will make it just in time for lunch and no one will notice I had not been there all morning. Not!

Ciao for now! 5:15 AM

“Change the Freakin Law”

I was reading a fellow Austin blogger, Love and Casino War. Always good content and it is ironic that I believe he used to work for the company I now work for. Any rate he keeps up with the legal battles in Texas over poker. I will add his link, so you can read the original post. Basically the post is about the legality of business establishments hosting poker tournaments. Here is my spin on!

A bar owner purchases a trip for 2 to Las Vegas and a promotion for his business. He is going to decide the winner of the promotion based on the following. There will be a dart tournament. Each player is given 500 points with their FREE entry. Players may play against anyone or as many people as they choose and when they decide to play. They must play at some point. The players that win collect points from the other players. The player who collects all the points wins the promotional prize. Would this be legal for my business to do?

Change the freakin laws! Oh wait maybe we are trying to create to many laws! My blood pressure increases every time I think about how much money this state could keep within its borders if we legalized poker. Hell everyone is now playing TEXAS Holdem.

Government really infuriates me. For instance I heard on the radio this morning that they are proposing to require high school students to participate in 30 minutes of physical activity per day. What the ??? are our representatives doing messing around with something so ridiculous? You do not need legislature to handle this. The parents, PTA, teachers, school boards and the kids themselves should set these policies. I mean for the current (79th) session of the Texas Senate there are 2607 bills.

Why does the below need to be part of our Senate Bill process?

SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 670

In Memory of

Johnnie Martinez Lopez

WHEREAS, The Senate of the State of Texas joins the citizens of Austin in mourning the loss of Johnnie Martinez Lopez,who died March 18, 2005, at the age of 79; and WHEREAS, Born October 12, 1925, in Austin to John Lopez and Maria de Jesus Arredondo, Johnnie served his country in the United States Navy; and WHEREAS, Known as "Powerhouse John," he served as a sponsor to many East Austin softball and baseball teams, and his invaluable support of these young people will be greatly missed; and WHEREAS, The proprietor of the Powerhouse Lounge, he gave back to the community by serving needy families on Thanksgiving Day;he also helped organize scholarships for students at Johnston High School with funds donated from the Old Timer's Athletic Association; and WHEREAS, A man of courage, strength, and kindness, Johnnie gave unselfishly to others, and the lives of many in his community were improved immeasurably by his generous spirit; and WHEREAS, Johnnie Lopez was a devoted father and grandfather, and he leaves behind memories that will be cherished forever by his family and many friends; now, therefore, be it RESOLVED, That the Senate of the State of Texas,79th Legislature, hereby extend sincere condolences to the bereavedfamily of Johnnie Martinez Lopez: his wife, Tommie Lopez; his children, Barbara Godoy, Jo Ann Lopez, Johnny Lopez, Kenneth Lopez,Adam Lopez, Roy Rivera, Jose Rivera, Melinda Magaña, James Moncebaiz,Jo Anna H. Ramos, and John Albert Herrera; his sister, Mary Lopez; and his 34 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren; and, be it further RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution be prepared for the members of his family as an expression of deepest sympathy from the Texas Senate, and that when the Senate adjourns this day, it do so in memory of Johnnie Martinez Lopez. Barrientos
________________________________ President of the Senate I hereby certify that the above Resolution was adopted by the Senate on April 21, 2005, by a rising vote. ________________________________ Secretary of the Senate

I also grieve for those who pass on to the heavens. In fact I think I will quickly pay tribute to Lenny Izzarelli, who passed on a couple of days ago. Senators can you please write a resolution for the great Iz? I regret you suffered until the end, but it was an honor to know you and your family. Rest in peace my friend!

Sorry to rant! Hey I am also upset that I will miss two great poker tournaments. Saturday night here in Austin is a local blogger tournament hosted by the Degenerate Gambler. The tournament price ($20) and no rebuys sets up a perfect environment for a ton of fun. Good luck folks!

Also Mr. Guinness, Iggy, set up a great online tournament to qualify for a seat in a WSOP satellite. Thank you for all of you efforts, but unfortunately I am going to be on a plane to lovely Cincinnati.

Finally I wanted to give some kudos to Check N Raise poker. The other night I had a boat with two persons raising into me. I was ready to push all my chips in when the freakin controls vanished. This is a known defect, but I was pissed! The pot was around $7 in a $.10/.20 NL Holdem ring game. I complained to the Pit Boss, who absolutely was gracious and placed an amount equal to the pot into my account. They really should fix that defect; however, as a Lead QA engineer, I can really relate to those hard to resolve/ replicate defects. Most likely they are battling something within the browser or Java Virtual Machine that is somewhat out of their control. Good luck fixing that one, because it is a nasty bug! Thank you for doing the right thing!

Now my challenge is to find a place in Cincinnati where I can get free wireless, a cold beer, and play some online poker. What can I say! I am addicted to the pursuit of winning money for nothin’!

Izzy – I am listening to “Somewhere Only We Know” by Keane. It is an upbeat but peaceful tune. I send out a prayer to your family and your many friends.

Keane - Somewhere Only We Know Lyrics
Album: Hopes & Fears

I walked across an empty land
I knew the pathway like the back of my hand
I felt the earth beneath my feet
Sat by the river and it made me complete
Oh simple thing where have you gone
I'm getting old and i need something to rely on
So tell me when you're gonna let me in
I'm getting tired and i need somewhere to begin
I came across a fallen tree
I felt the branches of it looking at me
Is this the place we used to love
Is this the place that i've been dreaming of
Oh simple thing where have you gone
I'm getting old and i need something to rely on
So tell me when you're gonna let me in
I'm getting tired and i need somewhere to begin
And if you have a minute why don't we go
talk about it somewhere only we know
this could be the end of everything
so why don't we go
somewhere only we know
Oh simple thing where have you gone
I'm getting old and i need something to rely on
So tell me when you're gonna let me in
I'm getting tired and i need somewhere to begin
And if you have a minute why don't we go
talk about it somewhere only we know
this could be the end of everything
so why don't we go
somewhere only we know
(Instrumental)
this could be the end of everything
so why don't we go
somewhere only we know


Play on!!

"Down for the Count!"

Sad to report that I have finally lost all of my deposit at 24HPoker. I am very saddened that I lost this bank roll without cashing in on my 40% bonus. Basically I learned a couple of lessons. Read the bonus rules very carefully. Personally I think their bonus rules were misleading, but I will take the blame for not asking more specific questions. I thought I would receive $10 of my bonus for every 100 VIP points. I guess that was true; however, they claimed I had to earn the entire bonus. The next lesson I learned is that it is very hard to play low limit tables when there are many extremely aggressive players. Here are my final hands:

I am in the BB with J3o. I check and the flop comes Jxx. I bet. Turn is a 3. I bet more. River is another 3. Hey I have a boat. My opponent of course has a pocket pair greater than my threes.

I am UTG with 66. The flop comes 9455. Maximum bets by three other players. I fold! Of course the river brings another 6, but I had already folded.

I have K9 in the SB. Flop comes K9J. Maximum betting. I did not fill my boat and the winner was holding QT, so he had flopped the nut straight.

QJ, when the flop comes QJ3. Turn and river come ten then another ten. Hey I actually won this hand.

Final straw - AT in the BB. Flop comes AJ3. The turn is a ten. I am all in. The river is a J. You guessed it my opponent had KQo.

I think I played these hands well, but would welcome any comments. Down for the count on 24HPoker. Most likely I will not play there again!

READ THOSE BONUSES CAREFULLY!

The worst part is a could have provided Chicken Feet a $50 bonus if I had joined the site he invited me to. Unfortunately I used up my bankroll to join this site.

Time to move money from other sites. I am going to delete most of one of my account at one site for some vacation cash. I am looking forward to playing in some cash games at some casinos in Scottsdale.

That is it for now!

Play on!

“All Along the Watchtower”

I thought I would do a quick post. I just heard U2’s version of “All Along the Watchtower”. I thought it rocked. I am now listening to “Hero” by Chad Kroeger.

Man I have a great view from my office!

I have watched a little bit of poker this week. Wow, there were some bad beats. Howard Lederer going all in with two pair on the flop in the 2004 Poker Championship. Opponent gets a King on the river to eliminate him. I watched the WPT last night and unfortunately I do not recall their names. Pocket kings and the opponent hits one of only two outs on the river, an Ace. I think I would melt on the spot if I was at the final table with a $1 million at stake.

Here is what happened to me just last night! “I feel so lonely and I know I am not the only one to every feel this way” some good words from Tesla that apply to the world of bad beats.


Hand #1 – I am holding A6o on the button. The flop brings QQ6, which is looking OK for the home team. This is Pot Limit by the way. I bet ½ the pot. I get two callers. The turn is a Q. I bet ¼ the pot. Once again I get two callers. The turn is an Ace. I am thinking is someone slow playing the 4th queen. Nah! I bet half the pot! I get raised. Chit! I just had to call! Once again I get smacked by the ladies, all four of them!! Basically I was all-in and lost my $4. Ouch! J

Hand #2 – I am in the BB. I am dealt A9o. The flop is A9T, which is once again good for the home team. I bet the pot. I get two callers. The turn is a J. I bet the pot and get one caller. The river is a K. I bet the pot and I get raised putting me all-in. I had to call, but I knew deep down the SOB had a King. Down another $4.

I think it is time to quit. Not!

AC/DC song applies here “Kicked in the Teeth”

Hand #3 – I have K9 of clubs. The flop brings two clubs. My gut told me another club was coming. I was put all-in, but I had to listen to my gut. The cool part was there were other callers. Yes sir the club hits on the river and I rake in $10, making my net loss for the session an entire $2. I can live with that!

Let’s see perhaps I can throw in some off the wall comments.

I have never found a person’s finger in my chili!

Gas prices are outrageous, yet Texas lawmakers want to add more taxes. Can you say very bad timing?
I did remember to file our taxes! That reminds me Taxes SUCK!

I will close with a little Jane’s Addition – “Jane Says”

Play on rock stars!

My apologies for posting this late, but Blogger seemed to be down last night!

“Grady Rocks”

I just wanted to make a quick post. Thanks April for posting the lyrics to the Grady song! Everyone should catch their high energy show.

I have to say that I watched WPT last night. I must say Mike Matusow is a true ARSE. I would have to have head phones and Grady blasting full volume to sit at a table with him.

I just got in a hand at CNR that was a total hoot. I had just sat down at a NL .05/.10 Holdem table. I get dealt big slick. I limp in. Person raises $2. I put him on small pair. I call. We get a third caller. Hmm! My gut says the best they have is pocket queens. The bettor raises and puts me all-in. Huge pot so I have to call. Flop is a rainbow of small cards (852), turn is a 4, and the river is an eight. No help for me, but the raise had pocket 8’s for quads and the other player had pocket 10’s. I read them right, but got smacked.

A few hands later I had ATo. The board brought AT. A player to my right raised. I reraised, putting him all-in. I won my money back from the quad hit.

OK! Now that we have the hammer theme song, I have to ask the obvious question. Is playing 27 really wise? Personally I think it is a horrible play and I muck it every time. I fully appreciate a good bluff, but it does not have to be 72. I have played in a couple of local ring games where people played the hammer. I say keep on playing the hammer. More often than not, the hammer will lose! I know there is the challenge of pulling it off and showing the cards in victory. I am going against the grain and I will continue to muck it every time. Unless of course everyone limps in when I have the hammer in the big blind. I just might raise!!

For all you Austinites who might stumble on this humble blog. During the month of April ThunderCloud Subs is rolling back their prices. I got a fresh 10 inch ham sandwich today for $1.40. Amazing! Visit there website and enjoy!

Tomorrow I have a meeting at a local Austin coffee house, Flight Path. I have never been there so stay tuned for a review. I have an eye appointment. Oh Joy! Finally I have a lunch date with a former co-worker. We are going to Mike’s Pub. If you have never been to Mike’s you are missing out on extremely cold beer mugs and delicious burgers. Check it out! I believe the owner and his son also play poker!

Rock on!

“Drawing Dead Sort of”

Occasionally I get in the mood to return to my punk days in the early 80’s, so I listen to a station on Live365.com called “Loud Like it Should Be”. I heard this song today. I thought it was funny! I must apologize to my parents who are my most avid readers for posting this song. Sorry Mom!! It was just one of those songs with a lyric makes you stop and go “Did they really just sing that?”

"Code Blue" by TSOL

I never got along with the girls at my schoolFilling me up with all their morals
and their rulesThey'd pile all their problems on my headI'd rather go out
and fuck the dead'Cause I can do what I want and they won't complainI wanna
fuck I wanna fuck the deadMiddle of the night so silentlyI creep on over to
the mortuaryLift up the casket and fiddle with the deadTheir cold blue flesh
makes me turn red'Cause I can do what I want and they won't complainI wanna
fuck I wanna fuck the deadAnd I don't even care how she died...But I like it
better if she smells of formaldehyde!Never on the rag or say leave me
aloneThey don't scream and they don't moanDon't even cry if I shoot in their
hairLying on the table she smiles and she stares

Chorus

I also heard a song by the SuperSuckers – “Born with a Tail”. I thought we could easily relate this to poker and change the title “Born with a Tell”. Hee Hee

I did manage to make it to that poker tournament on Friday. It was pretty funny in that I got there just in time for a NL ring game to start with Blinds $.50/$1 and a $20 buy-in. The conclusion for the night was that I won about $12. It was also funny in that a card player that I play with a group from central Austin was there.

The other reason for the title of my blog was that a player in the ring game gave a totally new meaning to the term drawing dead.

Well I did no finish this post as intended last night, so I thought I would quickly do it this morning. There is definitely a theme going on “Loud Like It Should Be” this morning. SO far in about 10 minutes three songs using the “F” word.

Hot Water Music – Radio
UnMutuals – F--- Guitar Center

Not sure yet if this is motivation or not.

Ok to continue with the player in the ring game. Here is the new definition of drawing dead. The board is showing 4 spades. I am holding the King of Spades. I just made a small bet to make sure the ace was not in the game. Player to me left goes “Crap I have a spade, but I think you have a bigger one!” Mucks his hand. The next player calls. Final player mucks! We turn over our cards. The caller had two clubs, no pairs, and no straight. Dude! Thanks for the donation!

Classic song – “I want to be sedated” by the Ramones

Other than that hand I played in 4 other pots. One I had pocket Kings and the flop brought a king. I bet $5 and got one caller. Turn was no help! I bet another $5 hoping to get a call. He folded, but I won a decent pot. Another hand I thought I hit a king high straight in the BB on the turn. The cards were at the other end of the table. My contacts were on there last legs and for some reason I could not focus on the cards. I stared and double checked the board. Rechecked the board! Stared some more. I bet $3. Player to my left raised me $5. Again I stared at the board for the longest time. If he had AT, then he had the nut straight. Nothing else was there. I should have raised but did not. He ended up having a pocket tens for a set of tens. I won a nice pot. The other hand was disastrous for me. The board brought a flush and straight draw. I decided that I was going to bet aggressively as if I had hit on the flop. I bet $3. A blank on the turn and I bet $3 again. They guy was calling me down. Do I go all-in? Do I check? Well I decided to stay consistent and bet $3. He called my bluff and I lost a decent pot. Oh well! Net profit was $12. A profit is always good in my book. They did start a second $20 buy-in tournament, but I felt it was going to be going on until 2:00 AM. I had to get up for the garage sale.

We did manage to make $100 at the garage sale. My better half already spent it! So much for adding cash to my poker bank roll.

Saturday we had a couple of soccer games after the garage sale. Little did I know I would end up coaching my daughter’s team. They girls did really well against one of the stronger teams (At least a well coached team). I ended up having to leave with 6 minutes left in the game so I could go coach my son’s team. The Tigers lost 5-4. The bad news was I missed our daughter scoring a goal. After soccer we had some friends over for steaks. I love last minute get togethers. The margaritas were wonderful. It is my simple recipe, but it works every time.

6 oz can limeade
6 oz tequila
3 oz triple sec
One fresh lime
Ice to the top of the blender

If you do not have triple sec add a little orange juice and 9 oz of tequila is better, depending on the tequila. Hee Hee!

Saturday night although I knew the time was going to change I entered into a $5 Omaha H/L tournament at 10:00 PM. Turned out to be a great choice in that I won! The best part was I used check points to enter, so a nice $40 profit. More importantly I completed my last $25 bonus and my bank roll is well above $200. Pretty good since not to long ago I was down to $14.

The tournament was really fun! When it got down to the final three it was an epic battle. The chip lead was constantly changing. I think the three of us battled it out for almost an hour. As normal with Omaha H/L it took a couple of lucky hands where you win both high and low.

Most likely I take some of this bank roll and do some bonus whoring. Or I will just save it and take it out for our trip to Scottsdale. It looks like there are a couple of nice casinos in Scottsdale.

OK I am going to get this posted.

Man I hope that dude who played two clubs against an obvious board returns to take more poker lessons!

I also added a couple of links to some more poker blogs.

Blog on!