Wow, does time fly! It's hard to believe it's Thursday already.

The Christmas holiday weekend was great fun, as I did nothing but eat and drink and play poker. I kept to myself with nary a visitor. Without sounding too much like Mr. Scrooge, it made my day when my Mom called a couple weeks ago and informed me we weren't doing anything for Christmas, and she and dad would be on a cruise. Perfect!

This gave me time to play at my leisure, and I made the most of it. I won a little at Razz, won a little at 100NL, and then... I won a 50(9) SNG, was 2nd in 20 (18) SNG and then won a 200 (9) SNG. It was a sweet run indeed, and was made more fun in that a few friends witnessed some of the party. I went back to the ring games for a day or two with mixed results, and then got slapped in the 3/6 triple draw. I was almost ready to write a bad beat post about my 300 dollar shellacking, but the next day my buddy Piers reminded me about the freerolls at Pokerstars for us old-timers.

So I played. I cashed. Fifth place for around 1500 bucks!

I was at the final table with Shirley (Pokerbabe) and said hi...I am sure she had no idea who I was, but I had sent her a congratulatory E-mail after her first big tourney score and I have been reading her blog for so long, I felt like I knew her anyway. She finished in 3rd, so way to go Shirley! I have been so lucky (healthwise) in my life, it's hard to fathom the strength that some people have. She is a tough one, and it was great to see her do well.

As long as I don't get hit by a train, this should be my very first 3K month and I couldn't be happier. For the year, I have been spinning my wheels, so now I feel like I'm over the hump and playing well. Of course having the deck hit at the right time has helped, but I think I'm making more out of those good situations.

Later all ....

Random poker thoughts

I have been thinking, which is always a very dangerous proposition for me. For whatever reason, I have been following the results at the Bellagio fairly closely (once a day?), and started to do some thinking...Justin Bonomo seems to be doing quite well...

ZEE JUSTIN

The name alone brings many different emotions to the table, most of which are negative and hateful. Those emotions and opinions are (or were) the same as mine. I have no room in my life for cheaters or scammers, and in my opinion even angle shooters should die in a painful fashion. So I was thinking...

I don't know the guy, and possibly never will...

When he was caught multi-tabling in the tournaments, he was 18 or 19 or 20 years old. His comments (excuses) after the fact were ridiculous, and hopefully as he matures he will be embarrassed by his rationale. This isn't easy for me to write because I hold honor and truth above all else, but the bottom is, I was a major league fuck up at that age. And everyone I knew was the same.

So I have to give him a break...So kick ass kid, and NEVER ever fuck up again.

Bloggers and me

Leave it to me to make a rare visit to Las Vegas two weeks before the Bloggers get to town! I really have no complaints since the guys I met while there have been online friends for quite awhile and I had a blast. Having said that, it would have been cool to meet (and drink) with all the folks I have been reading for the last couple years. Having (many) drinks with Iggy, Pauly, and the infamous AlCantHang might have been good for several posts that someone might actually have read. I haven't tried very hard to be part of the blogging community and I'm not sure why, since everyone is pretty nice, at least half-crazy and likes to drink. I believe part of the reason is I got to the party a little late which is not rare for me. Hell, I have been playing online as long as anyone (can we say Planet Poker), but it was only 2 or 3 years ago I even knew there was such a thing as rake back! It seems like all the "regular" bloggers had been around for quite awhile before I even knew what a blogger was. I just remember asking my office partner( a couple years ago) "Hey, what's a blog?" I also rarely post comments, so I sure could work a little harder getting to be known in the blogging neighborhood. Or, since I have no idea why I write this thing anyway, I can stay invisible and lazy.

Poker

It has been an awesome run!! I kept trying to work off the Full Tilt bonus, but their software or server does not get along with mine and it's impossible for me to play ANY game there without getting timed out at least 25% of the time. It was extraordinarily frustrating, so I said to hell with it and started playing some SNG's over at PStars. I was met with great success (and never got timed out once) which is always fun. I played a little bigger than usual, the players were pretty weak and I have been catching enough cards to prevail. I even played a 200 buy-in which was a first for me, and took it down for a little over 900. It has been a sweet little run, which while quite satisfying and rewarding, has done little to rekindle the poker passion of last year. I am not good enough to just sit and win...I need to get a lot better and continue to work on my game, but I am lacking the motivation to do so. I wonder if I can find that poker magic again?

Food

I actually left the safety and comfort of home last night to visit friends who were in the middle of their annual "Tamale Making Party". Since I am a kitchen guy, I am usually pretty handy to have around, so when I saw Papa wrestling with a massive hunk of beef I attempted to help out. I took one try at cutting the beef into large chunks and quickly announced that "I would be right back". I drove home and picked up a couple of sharp kitchen knives and saved the day! I suppose it wasn't that dramatic, but how people can have crappy (and dull) knives in an otherwise modern and well-stocked kitchen is beyond me. We ended up with a great tasting product and had a nice time doing it. Since I was offered, I was forced to accept a couple different Belgian beers; one was apple flavored and the other was raspberry. They were a little sweet and without any alcohol overtones, but not too bad.

I think it's time for a whiskey and a SNG...Later all

Poker

I actually pulled it off and won a tournament on Sunday, which gave me the championship crown. All the guys at BTP are good players, and only a handful play all the events, but a win is a win, and I will gladly take it. I think we played a total of ten different events, ranging from Razz to PLO, HORSE, etc etc. So once and for all-here is the brag line!

2006 BTP WCOOP Champion

It was pretty cool as a bunch of guys congratulated me, and actually got a couple E mails.

I am still slacking on putting in the hours, but I have to get to the FT bonus before time runs out---I think I have 2 more weeks before it goes "pfffft". I did lose 200 in the 8/16 Razz game the other night, but I must say it was nice getting my money in with the best of it about 99% of the time.

Stuff

When I was a kid, I used to listen to Dodger baseball on the radio. Normally, the only time I would listen was when it was getting late, and we were supposed to be asleep; I guess I was around 12 years old or so. I had an old Philco short wave radio that my Grandpa had given me, and it had this wire for an antennae that if I connected it just right on my metal bed frame I could hear the game. With that unmistakable voice, I can hear it like it was yesterday... Vin Scully calling the play by play..."Sandy Koufax with ANOTHER strike out"....

I was never much of a baseball card collector, and I have never asked for an autograph in my life. I am certainly not a huge baseball fan these days and rarely watch sports at all, which makes it a little difficult to explain why I was so touched by reading this. Awesome stuff from a class act and a good guy. Thank you Don...

As I was posting this, I had was boiling some pasta for dinner. Writing anything always takes me longer than expected, so this pasta was NOT "al dente", more like mush! Yuck, but I ate it anyway. I am only a part-time food snob, and I was hungry!