Johnny Sez..."How about 2?"

OK, so that's not what he's saying there, but for me, it sounds good enough. League game this weekend, and I will hunt for my 2nd win of the season. I played a bit fast and loose last month, a feat which I do not plan on repeating.

Played a nice 7 handed game Sunday, with rebuys. I busted on the bubble, and I deserved to. I didn't play very well throughout much of the night, but went on a nice rush and before I knew it, had a bunch of chips. Lost a chunk here, and a chunk there, and finally got it all in (again--I survived 4-5 all-in's before), with Q-9 off, vs. AK off. Hit a Q on the flop, but turn and river brought spades, putting 4 on the board. AK held a spade, and I was sunk. Ack.

Been working a bunch--really feeling the effects of this fall routine, with NFL Sundays, our annual Fall trip to the Speedway. Been running ragged, and need a break. I get one this weekend--no NFL game. Good chance for us to get the little guy's birthday party in. He turns 8 on the 22nd, so party time is Sunday. Taking a group bowling, so I will be doing some keggling.

I just hope that I have a pocket full o' cash from the night before!

Good luck and good cards!
~M

I am SO good

I can't even begin to describe it. I STEAMROLLED the table at Irish Jim's, playing flawless poker, running bluffs, raising with the nuts. My reads were dead solid perfect, and man, I just know that I can run with the big dogs.

OK, that might be a bit of a lie. In fact, the only truth in the above statement was that I won Tuesday night.

I busted TWICE (thank heavens for the 2 max rebuy rule), and was severely short stacked at the end of the rebuy period. I did use some very well timed aggression to win some pots, but overall, this was by far the luckiest I have ever been at the poker table. Hands down. I really didn't start "playing poker" until I was in a zone where I could actually play. I was so short stacked that I was in all-in or fold mode for nearly 3 levels. I did pick my spots pretty well, but got lucky when I outflopped a better hand once, and held a better hand in an all-in.

Once we got to 4 handed, paying 3, I had this hand UTG: K-10o. I was still the short stack, so I push, and get called by the BB who has KJo. Flop comes Q-J-10, ugh, but with 2 clubs, I have the Kc. Turn is 10c, giving me a set, river is 4c, giving me a flush. Lucky. Not a string of skill in that, just plain ole luck. That doubled me, and had me on my way. Flopped 2 pair with A8, and was able to trap my buddy Klownboxer, and that broke the bubble. Tracy knocked off Jason to get us to heads up, and in HU, we saw the blinds hit the 2000, 4000 with 400 ante level. Lots of chips in the middle before you look at a card. Gladly was able to outlast him there, even though he did double through me one to make it interesting.

Track this weekend, cards again on Sunday.

Maybe sometime in the next month, I will sleep.

Good luck and good cards,
~M

20 year reunion was a lot of fun. I know I would have had even more fun if the wife had come along, but circumstances, etc. Saw and caught up with a lot of old faces, that, unfortunately, I will likely never see again. I got the sense that 10 years from now, there won't be much interest in gathering as a group, but who knows. For the few hours we were all together, it was nice to kick open the doors of those days at our alma mater, and relive some of the moments we had long forgotten about.




I will say this--there are several of my fellow classmates who look very much like they did when we got dressed up in cap & gown. There are many that do not. Still, the people are still the same, and THAT was most enjoyable. Some conversations picked up where they left off at the 10 year reunion. Others had to be jumpstarted. No biggie.



A big thanks to Ron and Jacki (our organizers), as they were the ones that put this whole thing together. I got to see their kids play in the JV and Varsity games (by the way, we got smashed 56-0 on Homecoming-Ugh), and I saw a side of them I didn't see in high school--the parental side. These 2 had a baby in HS, but never did I see them as parents until Saturday. They are very good at raising their kids--very respectful, and very nice. Good to know good people.



POker--back on tonight--Irish Jim's--I head over there in about 45 minutes. Cards Sunday. League next Saturday. I got the itch, and Imma gonna scratch it!

~M

One thing that won't be said about me...

...is that I welch on bets. If I make a bet, I honor it if I lose, or collect if I win. If I shove my chips in the middle behind, and lose--you get my chips. If I push with the best and win, I get your chips. I am an honest person, and when I agree to something, I follow through.

In June, I pushed all in that a certain baseball team would not make the playoffs. I had the best hand at the time. My opponent was drawing very thin. He had a starting rotation that was shaky, they had an offense that wasn't lighting the world on fire, and a first year manager that hadn't exactly been the second coming of Joe Torre.

Once the river card of the baseball season peeled off, it was obvious that I was the one drawing dead. They had done the unthinkable, in my eyes anyway, so, now it is time to pay up.

Nice hand, sir.

This sucks.



























Its sucks because I am a Chicago WHITE SOX fan. I hate the Cubs. My head is burning in that picture, and what's worse is I have to wear that hat ALL DAY during the upcoming CANUSA Cup matches in October. Good thing for me is, the magic of the Cubs run appears to be running low, as they trail Arizona 2-0 in the best of 5 series...but don't think I am counting them out. They went runner-runner on me to win the NL Central....they could suckout on Arizona too.

~M

Goin' Old Skool

In honor of my trip to Chicago for my 20th reunion, I went to pokertube.com and dug up these beauties. They don't have the 1987 WSOP on the site, so I went deep into the wayback machine for the 5 installments of the Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder narrated documentary of the 1973 World Series of Poker. It's definitely worth the 40 minutes, or so, of viewing on your computer.

Enjoy!
Part 1


Part 2


Part 3


Part 4


Part 5

Enough! Enough!!

OK, the lull has turned into craziness. I need to get back to a table. Been away long enough, need a game. Likely won't get a game until Tuesday night of next week, which is fine, considering today is Thursday. I have a busy weekend ahead, and then the function Monday night which will be fun also. The break felt good, it was nice to get away--mind you it was only really about a week and a half--but still, time away is good. Now it's time to get back.

I just realized the next 10 days are gonna be very whirlwind-ish. Work Thurdsday, and Friday. Friday the biggie with the 2 shows in one night. Up early Saturday to fly to Chicago for my reunion. Fly home Sunday AM. Monday day-shift at work, followed by charity night. Golf Tuesday, rounding Tuesday night. Day shift Weds, which starts at 9am with a function. Host the Jeff Gordon Foundation event Wednesday night. Thursday night, qualifying at the track. Friday, normal 2 show night. Saturday, race night at the track.

Inhale....exhale....

There will be a game Sunday at the house with Klownboxer being in town. Must get the shopping and other details finished, but likely 5pm start. Will conflict with Panther game, but until they show me something, I'm not getting too worked up over them. We'll see how they handle New Orleans this week.

More later,
~M

Quick Hitter

It's Tuesday. Meh.

Haven't played poker in a bit--kinda maddening, but at the same time, the break has been good (believe it or not). I know in my last post, I bemoaned the "lull." It's actually been kinda nice not thinking about poker as intensely as I have. I needed a break--a chance to decompress. I'm about there, and I suspect I will complete the journey this weekend. HS reunion on Saturday, and then fly home Sunday to watch football and do some odds and ends. I'll get back into my "Vegas" mode on Monday night at an NFL Alumni Charity night. Oughta be fun, just gambling with monopoly money, all for a good cause.

Gonna finally get to play some golf on Tuesday--the 2nd day of the NFL Alumni function, and then Wednesday, I'll be hanging out with NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon with his Foundation dinner. I think this makes 3 straight years I have worked with Jeff on this project, and I can't say enough how super a person he is. I know he is hated by tons of NASCAR fans, and that's fine. The person I know is the same guy that drives the car. He's very cool, and his PR director has said he wants to play some poker with us sometime. I told him, Jeff has to come along too, and said sure--but that was before Jeff and Ingrid (his wife) had their baby. The invite still stands.

Keep watching the WSOP Main Event coverage on ESPN. With all due respect, Humberto Brenes needs to be muzzled, and Hevad Khan needs to take his meds. Brenes and those friggin sharks are embarrassing. I don't care if he uses them to "help him make his decisions," but when he starts the whole routine of shouting and crap in front of players who are about to hit the rail, that's nuts and very disrespectful. I have said alot of things at a poker table, but NEVER taunted a player when they were about to be busted out of a tourney. It's just wrong.

As for Khan...wow. Too many red bulls, and not enough interaction with humans as a kid explains a lot of his goofy behavior. Not as annoying as Humberto with the sharks, but shouting "BULLDOZER" when he drags a pot, the idiotic looking monkey dance (or gorilla dance--I forget)....deserving of a smack to the chops. There was one hand I did enjoy watching between Khan and another player who was either partially or totally deaf (advantage to that guy playing Khan). The hearing impaired player had KK, raised, Khan with A6o re-raised (he had the big stack at the table at the time), hearing impaired guy shoves, Khan has to call, since he's priced into the pot. Hearing impaired dude scoops the pot, and then....this is the part I loved....places his left foot on the rail, and begins imitating a fisherman as he is reeling Khan in! The guy isn't yelling, or screaming, and while I would frown on such antics, it makes me happy to see the loudmouth guy get a taste of his own medicine.

Other thoughts:

* VH1 Classic in the morning-solid. "We are the 80's" is quality music in the morning.

* Wife and I painted the bedroom in anticipation of my parents visit over Thanksgiving, and my daughter's possible visit this month. Sorta sage green. It's bad ass. Pics will follow once the room is completed with furniture and stuff. Wife and I managed to not strangle each other during the project--another project where it went smoothly. Convincing me even more that we are perfect together.

* CANUSA Cup Golf--part 3 for 2007 on tap for Oct. 27. Gonna be a quick trip for me--up late Friday night, back Saturday night with NFL commitments on Sunday. Couple poker league boys gonna play in this one, as we are short handed on Americans for some reason. Very weird, but I hate to think the CANUSA is losing its lustre. You can check out the website by clicking right here.

Good luck and good cards,
~M