Viva Las Vegas!!!

It's official...the tickets have been purchased, and I'm rollin' up a stake and goin' to Vegas! There's a whole flock of the NDPT'ers going along for the trip TOO! So, far we've got Big Red and I, Frank and Julie, JR and Tabby, Jim and Mel, and Erik and Sara who decided on a whim just today. Hell, he bought his ticket before I did today. Jim started it all off today, when he emailed his confirmation to us all. I had mentioned the day before that the rates had dropped to $198 per person round trip from Columbus. That's cheap folks, real cheap. Too Good To Pass UP! Several of us are leaving on June 28th, Thursday, while Big Red and Jules will be coming along with some others the next day, due to work schedules. I told them we'd save 'em a seat, and leave the BRIGHT LIGHTS on for them. I'm excited already...and it's still a long way off. We'll be staying at the Imperial Palace, but I plan to play the poker rooms at Caesers this time and the Venetian. More later...we're leaving to go out to eat!

Regards,

cheer_dad

A little rereading...

I just read back through the last post and the one before, and it should be noted that I breathed that sigh of relief, when things looked to have swung back my way, but that doesn't appear to have been the case judging by the weekend's report. What I had made "back" was largely if not completely friggin' destroyed by the losing weekend. Somedays I really hate this game! All too often I find myself embroiled in the "monster pots." Is this because I'm only playing premium hands? Why is it that a table will chug along dabbling in the shallow end of the betting spectrum, until I get involved, and it escalates and blows out the top of the betting pattern and the pot. For instance yesterday's $162-ish pot that I lost. I went in, way ahead. Got my money in with the best of it, and came up lacking! I know this is a bit of a "feeling sorry for myself" question but, why do I have to always be involved in the friggin' Day Ender plays. And almost ALWAYS come up short. My online and offline winnings are generally modest, small runs at it, and pocket a few bucks here and there. But I watch others catapult up in $$$'s and generally at my expense, and not because I donked it off, I'm just getting sucked out on oft times. How to turn that tide? How to "fix" if it is even broken in the first place? This is going to have an affect on my play. I don't want it to. So, I'll give myself some time away from the game. I'm in no way going to be able to look past this for a while. Because I'm apt to start playing scared, and some numb nuts at the table is going to pick up on it, and badger me, until I fume, and experience a blow up, that dumps off my bankroll. I'd just like to get back even for a while, and sit there. Heck, I wouldn't even mind just going stagnant for a while. It'd for certain be better, than this continual downward spiral that I seem to have encountered. I really used to enjoy my poker time and look forward to whiling the hours away, but lately it has been a death march.

Before I get to feeling any more downtrodden, I think I'll leave it at that.
Thanks for listening...

Regards,

cheer_dad

Why yes, that is my ass...

I went with that title since I got it handed to me. I donked away $25 in NDPT Tourney #4 last night and got busted out first. My A-Q lost to A-J when he Mike flopped top two pair on me. Stellar year cheer_dad, stellar year! I followed that up with a venture into the cash game. I bought in for $20, like most everyone else. At first I climbed up to $29, then took a turn for the worse, and donked it all off in a few short hands. Final hand was my A-J coming up against two players, who both as it turned out were holding A-Q! It was kind a like that hand was saying, "Hey douche bag, remember me!!! But I cooled off, and have thought through my donking ways from last night, and figure, ehhhh, there's always next month, and the next, and the next one after that. However, I had free time to kill today, so opted to logon to UB and play some .50/$1.00 NL. I bought in for $100. I was doing well and was at $120 for the session, when I get dealt K-K! From Middle Position I bet pot, making it $3.50 to go. I get one caller. Oh goodie! Flop comes out Jack high...and I bet out 11.00. Player pauses for a long time. He calls. Turn comes out another obvious BLANK. I bet pot, for around $40. Player pauses again...long...then pushes All-In for another $24-ish. I pause slightly then push in the call. On UB, you don't see the other guys hand until after the River. But an Ace hits on the River, and you guessed it he had one. He had flopped top pair (JACKS) with an Ace kicker, and despite my advertising a superior pocket pair, he called me down. I got my money in with the best of it...and got SPANKED. He replied, wow my reads are really off. He was assuming I was putting a move on him. Hmmm, now I'd only played premium hands, and was rarely in the game at all, but he thought he had a READ on me. Maybe his read was that the poker gods liked him better than they did me. But it was a suckout... I guess he hit 1 of his 5 outs. He took down in the neighbor hood of a $162.xx pot on that hand. A quick review of the ENTIRE chat window since I'd sat down, showed only the closest pot size to be in the range of $30. How do I ALWAYS have the History Making Hands! WTF!!! So, I hung out for a few more rounds, and found my heart to be lacking. The game had beat me down. I was a loser all over again. So for the session I bought in $100, and cashed out $34-ish. No, you can't play poker like that for very long. Insult to injury, I dropped back below $400 on UB again. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!! This has not really been my year. So for today and last night I'm down $109! FUCK! Here we go again. I know bad word...but wow this has been a rough swing. And if you (dear reader) knew some of the things that I 'd really like to say, you'd admire me for my ability to resist. I stumbled across the picture I uploaded with the post on another blog http://pokerkat.blogspot.com/. I liked what I read, so I've bookmarked and added it to my Favorites for later perusal.

Anyway, thanks for reading. Hopefully it'll all come to an end soon, and I don't mean my playing completely, just this bad run I've been on. I'll continue to re-analyze what I'm doing and make corrections as needed. Ranting about poker here on the ole blog really helps me think it all through.

Thanks all for dropping by, if there are any of you out there.

Regards,

cheer_dad

Sigh of Relief!

I know it always seems to take me a while to get out here to post about my weekend goings on, but thanks for bearing with me nonetheless. Friday, Big Red and I went to the Yanok's to play. We "dragged" JR and All-In-Allman along for the ride. It turned into a late night. Well it didn't get started until 9:00pm. And we promised ourselves that we wouldn't stay for game number 2...but we break promises from time-to-time, and this was one of those times. 14 players started out the first tournament, buy in of $20+ $5 for the year end entry. I finished 2nd and won $70. I got beaten by a guy who I had earlier crippled at the table, when my pocket Q's held up against his A-Kos. He was down to 3 green chips at the point, but somehow managed to come back from the brink. I got into a heads up with him at the end. I don't remember the hand, but I do know that I got in with the best of it preflop, but it went south on me. I'm not sour about it. Scott B's a GOOD player, and nothing he did, no move was wrong, and I respect that. Since I won, Big Red was all for staying for Game #2. Neither of us cashed on that one. I need to find out how much I added to my year end standing. Mr. Yanok devised a points system for the year end game, that takes into account your finish place and the $5 entries for the night. I've cashed 2 times now so far this year, in 4 qualifier games (one per month) Your finish place will determine your chip stack for the end of the year game. Yes, that's right, dissimilar chip stacks to start. This may be a very interesting game! I think I'll need a few more cashes to keep the natives honest...okay to at least be on an even playing field. At any rate, I think we got back home in the 3:00am-ish neighborhood. I admit drinking...I admit having a shot of something or other, but the following morning, afternoon evening and on and on I had a headache. The weather had changed outside and brought on a coldfront, that wreaked havoc with my sinus passages. No amount of Tylenol took away the pain. Despite the ache, we hosted another game the following night. We had 16 people show up for a two table tournament. $25 dollar buy-in in this non-NDPT-points tournament. When the dust settled on the night...I WON!!! We ended up playing another smaller tournament for $20 after that one, which I could have done without! I didn't drink a thing that night, but the headache lingered on into the night. I didn't place in the second one, but I was very happy with the 1st place finish on the first one. Even though the WIN on the first one, was due to a suckout on my part. I was just tired. The second game, I got sucked out on, when I was holding the Pocket Rockets. But the winner of that game was the one who I'd sucked out on in the first so I guess what goes around, comes around.


So, the weekend tally just for me (sorry Big Red, you're on your own when I'm counting up earnings) I bought in for $25, $20, $25, and $20 ($90 total.) The Winnings were $70 and $195, for a profit on the weekend of $175. Now I officially give myself permission to stop kicking myself for the recent online loss. I think my profit and loss has swung the other way. Now if only the money weren't going for other things. But it's okay, I climbed out of the hole I'd dug. And now, I breathe my sigh of relief!

Now, back to battle...

Regards,





cheer_dad

Friday the 13th

Despite the fact that this is an unlucky day, things have gone remarkably smoothly. (knock on wood) I finished up over a 1/2 day early on the WebSphere Administration class that I've been in all week. SWEET! I'm not nearly as focused anymore when it comes to classes. I don't know if it's age, or if it's just general disinterest. Either way it's over now.

Tonight my daughter has a dance to go to at school. So, it'll probably be Big Red, the boy, and I left to fend for ourselves this evening at home. He is getting over strep throat, so doubtful we will go anywhere. Yes, I'll be missing a game tonight with the Yanok's. But sometimes family does have to take top billing. Besides tomorrow morning, I have to coach baseball practice, and the thought of doing that with even the hint of a hangover just is NOT all that palatable.

But on another note, I just sent out an invite to the NDPT membership to attend an "unsanctioned" event tomorrow night at our house. No points tournament, just the usual Poker Goodness. No reason, other than for love of the game. It may be a light turnout, but we'll try to get a game together if possible.

I'm getting anxious for Vegas. June 29th, is just so far away. I'm already planning where I want to play, and debating Low Limit, $1/$2 No Limit, and even some tournament action as well. I just don't know. I'm struggling for focus. Looking for the stugots as it were. As the debate rages on I'll keep you posted.

I will put together another tournament listing from AllVegasPoker either way, since it makes it nice to know what's going, and the where and when.

Anyway time to get back to the grind.

Regards,

cheer_dad

Conflict

Yesterday was a "bonus" Monday. Not only was it the first day of the workweek, I got work over, and ended up being here until around 9:00pm last night. Did I ever mention that I hate Mondays? Did I mention that I didn't need another reason to dislike them at all. I was doing fine all by myself, finding enough reasons to hate the beginning of the week. To add to the frustration of the day, we were troubleshooting a problem with a set of server restores. I was winding down on the day at around 2:30 when Big Red called to inform me that one of the guys from another department said I was supposed to be available for application testing that night at 8:00pm!!! GRRR! Oh, okay, sure I'll be there. And I was, and it was a relative waste of time, other than providing my login credentials. Finally I got to leave at 9:00. During the course of yesterday I was informed that TODAY I would begin a class on WebSphere that would keep me tied up from 8:00 -- 4:30 through FRIDAY! Oh yeah, guys...I wasn't doing a "flippin'" thing! I've got plenty of time to give away for a class. Not to mention the fact that the team is still on the verge of implosion! As in the picture, we are stretched to the limit, beyond it even.

Tonight I get to go to baseball again. Cole may or may not depending on how he is feeling. He is still on his medication that he got on Saturday for Strep Throat. Coupled with the crummy weather, I think he may miss this practice. And it is still going to be cold tonight...at least I think so. I won't know till I get there. So that'll be about an hour and a half shot tonight, without my kid even being there. Then Wednesday night we've got a bunch of server maintenance work to accomplish. To round it out further is that there may be even other unplanned work to accomplish. THEN, Saturday is the Disaster Recover Test, and Sunday is our scheduled maintenance window, and frankly there is much to accomplish.

Hate to say it but it's only 11:00 am and I am already convinced that I'll be falling asleep in this class Way to irritate me .

Then there's the infighting in the team as well, and I just don't get it. I scarcely have time to deal with my own issues, let alone the petty outbreaks.

After this week I'm going to be deserving of a poker night. Really, no lie!

One bright spot in yesterday was that Bryan Devonshire "Devo" dropped by MY BLOG to post a comment! I read his blog frequently, and made a comment on his last post. He not only visited the NDPT website, but also followed on out to the Blog as well and then commented and thanked me. Thanks for dropping by DEVO, look forward to reading of your next poker adventure. I continue to live vicariously through the poker pros! :)

Well time to get back to the business or class at hand. Thanks all who've stopped by.

Regards,

cheer_dad

It won't be long now...

It won't be long now. The final season of "The Sopranos" begins in just 2 days people. Only 9 episodes are left in the life of this outstanding HBO Crime Drama. I'm very curious to know how they will tie up loose ends, and even what ends they choose to tie up. What sense of completion will be experienced? What feeling and emotion will be portrayed? With so much time to have prepared for this...I absolutely expect to blown away by this finale! I don't think they will be letting me down. Not at all. Still, very soon we will know. Not sure there are many among my fellow NDPT'ers who are avid fans of The Sopranos. Just seems like someone who likes poker oughta like a good mob story! I'll try to keep you posted on the final season progress. Particularly who gets whacked!

Tonight, Big Red and I are having a few players over for a game. We may run a quick tourney, followed by a cash game, or we may just make it a good long cash game. Either way there will be cards and chips on the table and the company of good friends.

The week has been long and trying. Still more work than is humanly possible. Which means that management expects twice that much. We're losing a team member...again. Mr. EP makes his departure from the crew, bound upward...at least outward! :) Suffice it to say, he will find a greener pasture in his next endeavor. I wonder if there are other/greener pastures for us all.

I think I'll stop, before I wear myself out here. I'm not going to dwell on work and let it bring down a good day, the beginning of a good weekend.

Anyway, enough for today. Short day and all, poker game to prepare for later.

Regards,

cheer_dad

Now only the TILT to pay for...

As you read in my last post...in closing I mentioned that I was up about $50 from when I bought in. So then I was only down $250 from the session before. Then there was a couple of tourneys at the house one night in which I made a bit...maybe $30. And now last night Big Red and I went along w/Frank and Julie, and JR to a tournament in Leachtown. Wild night, wild game... I hunkered down, and played strangely honest poker, no bluffing, just betting the hands that I had...and betting them hard. I was an anomoly to them at the table, they didn't quite know how to deal with me, or what to think about me. Strangely the hand that made me the most money was monster vs monster, and I came out on top. My pair of Jacks in the hole hit another Jack on the flop. I bet out again, following what I'd done preflop. I was reraised another $200. I shoved 'em all in and got called down. He flipped over J-Q which gave him two pair on the flop. I understand why he couldn't get away from it. It could have happened to me. The only other hand that really catapulted me to a second place finish, was a pair of Nines which again I bet enormously preflop. I got one caller and I busted him with my 9's to his 8's. SWEET! As I said I took down 2nd place worth $122. So, I made $82 in the process, less my buy in... So had I not gone on tilt in the previous session, I would have my money back, by now. Online blackjack will do that. I just gotta play it nice and easy. Suffer through my own stupidity! Actually I really only lost $100 in poker, it was another tilt $200 in blackjack. The "swing" was not that great, I've already surpassed it, except that like an idiot I blew it on "gambling." In the future, I'll try to remember that moment, and draw strength from it. Don't make the same mistakes twice.

I'm getting tired, difficulty keeping my eyes open, and not making much sense, so I'll see you.

Regards,

cheer_dad