Damn that was fun

It was 11:45 on Sunday night. I was tired, kinda drunk, and had a belly full of a stuffed cheeseburger. At that moment I realized I had reached my saturation point. I had had enough of Las Vegas. It was time to say the goodbyes and make the sad walk out of the casino leaving behind friends but feeling rich with more memories. Another year and another great time. I can't begin to say how lucky I am to have so many great friends. Friends who like to bust loose, have fun, and tell the world to bugger off for a weekend.

Where to begin with all of them? I guess the beginning make sense. Once I had checked in I was trying to get in touch with Special K to let him know he wouldn't have to wait in line when he got into town. Problem was I didn't have his phone number. But I did have Falstaff's so I sent him a text. I received a response asking who I was. I thought John should have my number but maybe he didn't so I identified myself. In return I was given this:

I don't care who you are cause I am notifying the police cause I have your # don't have to know your name don't text this # anymore.

Interesting. I guess he changed numbers. I was hoping he was playing a prank cuz that would have been funny. Whoever has that number didn't have to be such a bitch about it.

Other things that happened:

• got a bit blitzed the first night. Was comfortably number by 2:30
• Table 16. This is a who story in its own right. Those G-Vegas boys know how to make a poker game a blast. It was like playing in their home game.
• The Mark. Thanks for paying off my quad deuces.
• Slow rolling the Mark on those deuces. It was Iggy's idea and it was worth it just to hear the table erupt. Sorry man. No hard feelings?
• Steel Panther. Great time as always. The playlist in Pauly style: Dr Feelgood> Youth Gone Wild> I Wanna Rock >Asian Hooker >Cherry Pie >Home Sweet Home> Satchel Solo >Every Rose Has it's Thorn >Lick it Up >Sweet Child o' Mine >Turn Out the Lights >Don't Stop Believing
• Donk poker at GVR after the show. Watching Dr. Chako and Drizz battle it out for who had the most chips on the table. Bought in that is. Impressive Wall of Death by Chako.
• Nice job by AlCantHang in the tournament. I think he is still on tilt because he didn't win it.
• Watching Iggy eat food court calamari.
• Watching the UFC fights with Iggy, Cali Jen, and Caity. Can't believe I was stupid enough to make bets on the Sanchez/Penn and Guida/Florian fights. Damn dogs could do nothing but get bloodied up.
• If I don't go back to Palace Station again I will be happy.
• Lagasse Stadium at the Palazzo was awesome. Nice job Venetian! I hope he did run the waitress ragged. She did one helluva job!
• Hijinks at the Geisha bar, of course.
• FeltingDoubling through CK (thanks for the correction) in a hit and run at the IP poker table. I did announce I was going to make one big move. Go long or go home. AJ dominates her A 4! Then others showed up and looked too serious. It was an easy decision to hit and run.

I was profitable until the final day once again. I should learn to never gamble on the day I am leaving. I never win. Never. So what had been up a couple hundred became down about a hundred. If I had all the money I spent on booze, food, and cabs I would have more than I left with. But the money spent on the booze was worth it. Can't say the same for the food as I ate a lot of crap. Did not have a good meal all weekend. Good company but not a great meal.

It was nice seeing everyone again as well as meeting some people for the first time. I am not going to name names because I don't want to leave anyone out. But you know who you are.

Is it wrong to watch this lady at the airport trying to buy something on eBay? You can't wait until you get home to buy that knick-knack?

I can't wait to read Derek's recap. It is among the best. Thanks again everyone at the Venetian, at PokerStars, and the staff at the Geisha bar. Hope to see you all again sooner rather than later.

Table 16

I survived Table 16


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Uh...what happened to the snow?

The forecast started at 8 to 14 inches. It then became 6 to 9. Last night it was heavy snow after 7 with at least 5 inches by the lake. And this morning…..nothing. My cat woke me up at 4:25 so I figured I’d take a look outside to see the damage. All I saw was wetness. No snow just wet pavement. I live 3 blocks from Lake Michigan and apparently the lake kept the area warm enough which caused it to rain and not snow. Sounds good to me and my back.

But I am not out of the woods yet. It is wet out and the temperatures are expected to plummet. As into single digits. The precipitation is not over and I will end up with some snow. I will need to clean up later today. That is after a potentially treacherous ride home. There is a lot of snow where I work and it is still coming down along with branches from the trees. I am hoping the freeway and city streets are not one big ice rink by the time I leave work.

I have seen a number of itineraries floating around. Here’s mine:

Thursday- Say a prayer that Milwaukee’s airport runways are not ice rinks and that my plane leaves on time. Arrive in Vegas around 11. Hope the reservations at New York New York have been updated and Special K was able to get my name in their books. If not, curse, plead, and attempt to bribe the hotel staff. If I can check in, dump bags, get a beer, and walk across to the MGM and see who may be around. Think about grabbing something to eat. End up at Geisha some time that night. Find method of transportation back to hotel that does not include a wheelchair.

Friday- Wake up. Figure out where I am. Go do something. Later go to Green Valley Ranch for Steel Panther. How is that for planning?

Saturday- Grab Bloody Mary, Screwdriver, or some other morning alcoholic beverage to wake myself up for poker tournament. Find Caesars. Play poker. Find bar that has the UFC Pay Per View on. As Iggy says, I gots to see Penn vs. Sanchez.

Sunday- Time for some football. This Lagasse Stadium thing sounds pretty cool. Drink beer, make bets, eat wings, drink beer, watch Cowboys win, drink beer, maybe get the ribs, drink beer. Maybe take a trip to the Gold Coast for some Pai Gow. The icey pit boss who doesn’t smile sounds interesting. Drizz is confident he can make her grin without taking his pants off.

Monday- Feel melancholy as the weekend is over. Catch plane back home to the cold.

The snow better not stop me

The weather report calls for maybe 3 inches of snow today. My house by the lake may get spared the brunt of it. I am expecting just a dusting. But tomorrow night is a different story. The early call is 8 to 14 inches of snow, with high winds. The good news is that is Tuesday night and not Wednesday. Things should be cleaned up so I can escape on Thursday morning. Looks like I will be watching the weather quite closely for the next couple of days.

I continued to go through my warm up rounds. Been mixing in some NL Hold Em with the PLO8. I am beginning to feel comfortable again though I am not cleaning up. Yesterday was the typical result for me. Grind my way up by hitting some cards and making some good reads. Then make the right move and get K K vs A J just to see the A hit the flop. Drop half of what I was up and then move downward from there as nothing seems to connect. I end up winning a little bit but not close to what I was up. If I wasn't on a nice little run in PLO8 I would be getting frustrated.

I played in the Justin Shronk Memorial last night. Went out when I had K Q up against A K. All the chips went in on the flop that was Q high. The A promptly hit on the turn. Seen quite a bit of that lately in the tournament I have played. Good news is I am making the right move. Bad news is that luck ain't on my side. I have a couple of days for that to change.

I think Tarheels should be buying me a beer next weekend

The rocket-like roar rose up from the floor of the Kohl Center on Wednesday night, drifted out over the streets of Madison, across the Big Ten Conference and perhaps to every corner of the nation.

Duke's unblemished record is history, this season and in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. JSOnline, 12/3/09

The Wisconsin Badgers beat the Duke Blue Devils last night. I figure that made many a fan in North Carolina- if not around the country- pretty damn happy. Me? Meh. I am not into basketball but I am into celebrating Badger victories.

Thus I think anyone who hates and despises the Duke basketball team should buy me a beer in Vegas next weekend. I know the Duke loss makes you happy. Share the happiness with a home grown Badger fan and laugh at the Dukies.

Beside, you may gain an advantage in the tourney on Saturday. Team Wheelchair likes its drink.

Go Team Wheelchair!!!!

The greatest metal band you never heard

From the sordid streets of Hollywood, 4 brash and not too bright young men came together to form the greatest metal band you never heard.
-Steel Panther, Behind the Music

And again, the legend grows. What started with BadBlood at the Hard Rock Hotel has progressed into the must see show of the WPBT. Steel Panther at the Green Valley Ranch on Friday night. Click the link above to view the story of Steel Panther.

Then watch the video. Hopefully you won't shit your dick off.



Join the entourage Friday and head over to GVR. If you don't like the show you can always hit up the poker room. Word is it is soft.

Turkey Cup 2009

I was mediocre in Pauly's Turkey Cup yesterday. Finished 39 in a field of 80 something. To an extent I feel I did ok considering that my pc froze up about 15 minutes into the game. It took my at least another 15 to get things shut down and back up. I returned just in time to see Derek go down in flames and Pauly egging him on to harass me from the rail. Man I love those McGrupps!

I busted when I got too frisky with A 9o. Yeah, you read that right. I call a standard raise from the BB. Flop was A 3 4. I went for the check raise and lost to A Qs. I have thought about this play for a bit now and still feel it was the way to go. I was seeing some loose play from the table and a lot of people making moves with A rag. I was willing to bet that my opponent didn't have an ace there and that my kicker would be good enough. I could have folded with 2600 behind and blinds at 75/150 but a double puts me into contention for the long haul and I felt it was time to go yard or go to bed. I guess the bed beckoned louder.

I played some more SnGs over the weekend to bad results. Those buyins were balanced by cash game winnings. I am trying to find my tourney game. I am playing either too tight or too loose and not getting too far. Now that PokerStars has added $2000 to the Up for Poker last longer bet, I need to figure out where this game of mine is at.

The dipping-my-toe-back-in-the-poker-waters-before-Vegas post

Got back into the game somewhat on Saturday. I like to call it the 3 week boot camp. Play some tourneys and ring games in anticipation for Vegas. Learn enough back to handle the MGM 1/2 games and not embarrass myself in the tournament or so I hope.

I tried to figure out what level of NL ring game would be most like the MGM small game. I even stayed smart and figured I shouldn't dump a lot if I went on tilt. I had a PLO8 game up for that. I settled on .10/.25. It seemed like a nice shake the rust off level and losing $25 bucks wasn't going to have any effect on me.

I found myself doing a little chasing early without hitting. I could feel the flow coming back. The intuitions on what people may have and whether I had the right odds to go for it. In the end it came down to one hand. A A vs. K K. No K hit the board and I doubled up. It got me to thinking about whether I would have pushed to a re-raise like my opponent did with K K. I think I would rather see a flop there because I didn't have any read on the guy. It then made me chuckle when I thought of people that say how much they hate A A.

I donked my way out of a 54 player SnG at 16 when I thought the guy on my left was being a bully. I completed from the SB with A 5 and then called his push. I had seen him do it before with two face cards and figured he was doing it again. He had 7 7 instead and even though I drew more outs on a flop of 2 3 6, I could hit any of them and was done. It left me wondering if the 54 player SnGs are that aggressive nowadays.

I will have to get some more time in this week. Hopefully I will remember to sign up and play in Pauly's Turkey Bowl on Thursday. I would link it up but Blogger is not working with me today.

Team Wheelchair is born

If I hadn't been on that Twitter thing I probably wouldn't have seen The Challenge. CJ actually posted to Up for Poker the traditional last longer bet. Later Captain Drizz would put out some feelers about getting together. Reverend Al chimed locked it up and proposed the team name in honor of Drizz.


And thus Team Wheelchair was born.


I am sure you can find us at the bar talking strategy before the tournament. And by talking strategy I mean doing shots and other assorted beverages. You can find us by our logo.

Go Team Wheelchair!!!!

For the background on the wheelchair story, check out my other blog.

I tried to add to the mantle

I am disappointed. I had a chance to add another trophy to the mantle by becoming the Skittles Champion of Green Bay. But I came up short, running a lesser two pair. I was so close to dominating the Candy Poker Tour. Now I need to regroup.


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What are those Cackalacky boys up to?

I am won't be able to listen to a bit later today but I can't wait. To say this should be interesting is an understatement.

“Press release” from bloggers Falstaff and Special K

Gambling Tales Podcast is now available. Join Falstaff (John Hartness) and Special K (Curtis Krumel) as we take you through the best in lies and legends about gambling today and through the ages. . Show #001 with Badblood and the origins of gambling is available immediately. New shows are scheduled to appear every two weeks. Guests scheduled to appear in future shows include Dr. Pauly, Lee Jones, Dr. David Schwartz (UNLV – Roll the Bones)


The podcast is available at http://www.gtpodcast.com


RSS Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/GamblingTalesPodcast


Available on iTunes at http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=339814710.

It will be searchable on iTunes by the weekend.


Email address for Questions, Comments, and Suggestions: gtpodcast@live.com

Close to perfect sports weekend.

It is Monday so of course I am tired. Sleep was elusive once again last night. Besides drinking beer and watching some bad football during the day, I did get to enjoy a very satisfying Dallas Cowboys victory last night. If only the Badgers had won on the ice Saturday night, I would be clutching Drizz's mobneys, gettign ready to taunt his varmint hockey team. But it wasn't to be.

I have tried to put my finger on what made the game feel so good. What it a win against a tough team on their home field, a place the Cowboys have been knocked around consistently? Was it Tony Romo winning a big game? Was it the defense coming up big by stuffing McNabb for no gain on 4th and inches. Was it unknown receiver Kevin Ogletree making two big plays on screen passes? Was it Marion Barber and the offensive line delivering the needed yardage to close the game out with over four and a half minutes left on the clock?

It was a little bit of it all. Sure the Cowboys didn’t look perfect but they didn’t need to. They just needed to play their game, prevent the big play, and not get down on themselves. They kept the crowd out of it. The Philadelphia fans seemed shellshocked and quiet for chunks of the game. I know they felt the Eagles were going to unload at some point. When they scored the go ahead touchdown to start the third quarter they probably thought the game was over.

But the Cowboys defense thought otherwise.

A big interception and soon the game was tied. A last grab for an ankle by rookie linebacker Victor Butler prevented McNabb from gaining at least 20 yards and whipping the crowd into a total frenzy. Then the running back said he the game was done. Coach Phillips challenged the offensive line to go win the game. Barber told the D thanks for the job and go to the locker room.

Yes the victory feels good and makes for a tired Monday to be bearable. But that is only the halfway point of the season. The Packers getting embarrassed in Tampa makes the game at Lambeau that much tougher. The Cowboys will need to keep their heads clear and not get ahead of themselves. They need to continue to play well.

After all, December games have not been cancelled.

Damn varmints on ice

Thanks for the advice on the mac vs pc purchase. I will be going the mac route and now need to decide whether to keep it simple with a macbook or go for a bigger screen on a macbook pro.

Anyone have advice on where to buy? The Apple store may seem like the easy route but I have seen some other sites that offer discounts on what appears to be the same machine. Do people usually buy their mac straight from Apple?

Drizz: You and your dirty varmints on ice are going down this weekend! It is on!

Do I get a Mac?

It has been a couple weeks since I last played some poker. Work and other responsibilities have been getting in the way. When I have had some time I just haven't been interested in playing. When I have been interested I have arm wrestled with my pc to keep the game flowing. Too many times I have been playing 2-3 tables where I try to play some music just to have the system go into total lockdown mode. It pisses me off when it happens and I can only think how it perturbs the others at the table.

The pc is around 10 years old. I have tried to clean it up the best I can (read: best I know how) but think it is time to put it out to pasture. Especially now that the monitor seems to be breaking down as well going into a yellow screen mode. Seriously, how can I play poker and watch porn if the screen goes yellow?

So do I make the big jump to a Mac? I am leaning that way. Would rather spend the extra dollars and have something that I can rely on. People I know with Macs rarely have anything bad to say. But pcs are so much cheaper. Word is Windows 7 is much better and reliable.

Do I go laptop vs. desktop? Laptops are convenient but I get more with the desktop. Considering the iPhone is like a little laptop makes me lean to a basic iMac.

One thing I have considered is how easily I can play poker on a Mac. According to PokeronaMac.com, Full Tilt and Poker Stars have access but Bodog does not. It is enough to keep me going while plugging in the pc elsewhere when needed.

Given the option, what would you smart people do? Mac vs. pc? Lap vs. desk?

Maybe it was the Badugi

I was killing time on Saturday before going to the bar to watch the Badger football game. I had logged in to PokerStars to play some 2-7 Triple Draw. As I plodded along shaking off the rust, I started to play a little bit of Badugi as well. I stuck to the play money game to get a sense of what was going on.

I ended at a small profit on the TD game when my mind started wandering. The Badugi game was kinda fun but worthless as everyone stayed in and kept drawing down no matter how bad their hands were. Just what I expected for play money.

Before I would log off I had to slide over to check the lines on Sunday's games. There were two games I was interested in. I took a look at the line for the Panthers/Redskins game first. Carolina was giving 3.5. Looked good as I expected the Deadskins to get trounced.

I then stared at the other game. I looked and felt strong about it but in the end couldn't pull the trigger.

Dallas Cowboys -8.5 vs the Kansas City Chiefs.

I wanted to take the Chiefs and the points. But went against the core of my beliefs. I logged out instead of placing any bets. Like many others, I don't bet on my own team no matter how tempting it may seem.

See, in the end the odds are against you. No, not any kind of gambling odds. Odds of staying sane. Let's think about the outcomes, of which only one is good.

1. I take the Cowboys and they lose outright. I am pissed off that they lost to the Chiefs and out the money I put on them.
2. I take the Cowboys and they win, but don't cover. Happiness is offset by the hole in the bankroll.
3. Take the Chiefs and hope they cover. The only spot that is a true winner. Cowboys win and cover netting me a profit in the head, heart, and wallet.

1 of 3 chances leads to pure joy. Not worth it.

I felt the Cowboys would have problems in K.C. It was this nugget that started it. The visiting team had never won in this series. Not once. Now granted they don't square off against each other too often but that led to nugget number two. K.C. is the type of team that gives the Cowboys trouble. It doesn't matter what their record it. They give the 'Boys problems. Same with the Detroit Lions. I am glad the Cowboys are not playing the Lions this year because once again the Lions would give them fits. Cincinnati does it to Dallas as well.

Nugget #3 has more sanity to it. Injuries. WR1, RB2, and SS were all out. RB1 was still not 100% and C was iffy. Too many holes to fill after a rough loss. Thus I felt the Chiefs and the points looked good.

Oh and I forgot. Someone needs to tell the Dallas Cowboys that the fourth quarter is like the other 3. It lasts for 15 minutes. Not 13. Hopefully the defense can figure that out on the bye week.

Instead Cowboys fans are left with a small sense of relief. But that relief isn't good. This win feels like a loss. And with just 16 attempts at feeling good on a Monday (or Tuesday or Friday) it hurts to not get that good day after when you should.

Sabbatical

I have been on a bit of a poker sabbatical. Things are busy at work with quarter end and I haven't had the time to sit down and play. Of course that doesn't mean I haven't ended my degenerate ways.

The NFL has been good to me. Won a pool the other day which means I am freerolling for the year. The Bucs and Colts covered for me today. All I need is a certain team to come through today and I can rest easy.

Who knows, I may then play some poker.

Testing 1 2 3

Just downloaded the new BlogPress app for Blogger and seeing how well it works. Like the fact the keyboard changes when you turn the phone. So far so good.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Old school game music

No poker, just video I found amusing. I know of people that will play the actual music from the Super Mario game at bars so when I saw this I thought it was funny as well.



Especially after seeing this gem a year ago.

Gone fishin'

I had some nice time away from the tables last week. Did the "unplugged" thing and went halfway across the state to go camping. While out there, I also did some fishing, something I hadn't done for about 20 years. Best thing was I really enjoyed it. Though the fishing wasn't very bountiful, I found the lake to be the perfect place to relax and soak in the peacefulness of a morning fog burning off as the sun rose.

It took me a couple days to decide to log back in to play some cards. I thought of taking some time off but I then recalled a comment Drizz had left last week about the streaks he has had in PLO8. I thought about the comment while I was camping. Someone much better at the game had been through wilder swings than I have. It has been a rough couple of weeks but the weeks prior to that were pretty damn good.

After thinking about the downswing I am on, I began to think about why it was happening. Was it bad cards or bad play? Am I the victim of a bad playing nit who got lucky or am I the nit playing bad and just not catching? I think too many times poker players want to blame another player for "getting lucky" instead of realizing they played poorly. There were a number of times where I played poorly, like last week when I thought I could kill a bottle of brandy and play PLO8 at the same time. 3 buyins later I gave up and focused on the brandy. I failed at that too and only drank just under half of it.

But beyond that I don't think I played that bad. I was changing up my game and playing a bit looser when the table got tight and tighter when it got loose. I played good hands that had 4 cards working together. I folded when I didn't have a great draw. I didn't chase too often. Yeah, I did some chasing but not much.

If anything, I wonder if I played too cautiously. This became evident over the last week and was personified tonight. With hand of A, A, 3 4, I raised from the button. There were 3 players seeing the flop. It came 2, 8, 8. I checked to me and I bet half the pot. Only the small blind called. I didn't like that. I instantly knew I was behind to trips. But the turn was an A. Sweet. I bet just under the size of the pot and was just called again. River was a 6. I bet pot and was instantly raised all in. I was shocked. First thought was the guy slow played quads. I took my time and began to think about my bad luck. I even typed in "quads?" and "I can't fold this". I knew there was no way I could, or was going to, fold this hand. Then I realized I had a very strong low and called. I scooped the pot as he had a lower boat and no low.

I was then berated by another player who wasn't involved in the hand. He said I slowrolled the guy. I thought for a bit and realized that yes, it did appear that I did inadvertently slowroll the guy. Didn't mean to but I did.

Once again I am thinking I am up against quads? I need to get that out of my mind. In the end I doubled up at one table and was up 50% at the other. Hopefully it is the start of an upswing.

PLO8 pain

There are times I wonder why I play PLO8. The kicks to the nads seem more painful than a suckout in hold em. Sure the nits will pay off more but it doesn't make the bruises less painful.