Goody, goody gum drops!

It was a crazy weekend. Saturday night Big Red and I headed out to meet JR and Nikki, and what seemed to be a cast of thousands of other family and friends, from Nikki's side... All great people. The evening started out at the Eagles, of course. : ) We quickly migrated after the band just wasn't "doing it" for the younger ones among us. We headed over to Six Pence where there was an enormous crowd crammed all around the central/sunken in bar. The band was good, and did an on-going jam-style session, which just never seemed to end. They were a talented bunch. Anyway, pitchers, buckets, shots (chocolate cake) and sundry mixed drinks rounded out the evening. I'm sure everyone had a helluva time, a few might even remember. Big Red and I took our leave from the group, late... and as you'd know it I fired up the Bodog client for a little late night drunken poker. As I posted last time, this session didn't go well either. To the tune of a higher dollar amount unfortunately. Okay, so it was only like 23 bucks, but I hate to lose. The loss came at the hands of Queens. The table is tight, too tight for its own good, and it was hard to generate any action at all. I call from LP with Q-10os, and hit trips on the flop. Bet... called by one other guy. The board fills in a couple of bricks, and we get it all in there on the river. He turns over a Q-5os, for a "turned" full boat. Oops, maybe cheer_dad should call it a night. And I did. So, the two losing online sessions, were for under $35 total. Still I don't like it.

The next day, involved sleeping in. Then taking care of the laundry and getting the kids situated. This was the day of the Eagles Poker Tournament. We were concerned about numbers early on, but then surprisingly we had several new faces show up. I think around 22 in all, despite having a number of our regulars absent. The first hour or more was frankly a yawn-fest for me as the cards weren't there at all. I looked down at Q-7os AT LEAST 8 times, I kid you not. I had pocket rockets once and barely got paid at the first table. The majority of my money came either from pushing hard with a high card, or in one case 2nd pair, to a guy who called me down with 3rd pair. That helped. I headed to the final table with like $1,600 in chips. Part of that came from my buddy JR, who called my all-in raise, when I was holding A8c. He had A-10os and I was dominated. Unfortunately, "puppy paws" always seems to get there, or at least so I've heard somewhere out there in the blogosphere. Yes, it was Suckout City, but we all need the sucker bite from Lady Luck every now and again.

The blinds escalated and I went card dead again. I stole a couple of pots, with late position raises with absolute air. I was nearly out of the game when I shoved from early position, with nothing more than double the big blind, as my bet. My bounty chip must've looked scrumptious and I garnered two calls. This time though, I wasn't nearly as full of shit as I can be at times, I had Big Slick on this occasion. I hit trip Aces and I was back in it. A few rounds later... another hand that got a lot of attention. The table folds around to me (on the small blind.) I barely glance at my cards and shove. The Kwazy Kowean (as he calls himself,) John, is left staring at me from the bb and looks upward for divine intervention. After a long time, and a lot of discussion he still can't decide to call or fold it. I finally offer up, "will it help if I show you after we're done?" That seems to do it for him, and he folds his pocket Jacks up to me. Unfortunately this hand got in his head for the rest of the game, I flipped over my horrendous hand Q2h. He really did think I had a good hand. I hadn't even considered him having anything before making my move to steal. In the future I'll need to be wary of this move, against my old friend. He is very liable to ram those Jacks where the sun don't shine next time! Of course it wasn't all that bad, he and his wife gave me a ride home.

The final table, finally dwindled down to a heads up match, with Del and Me still in it to win it all. It was back and forth. Big hands were obvious among us, and there was just a lot of jockeying for position. Then, the final hand of it all, Del open raises it to my BB. I reraise, he shoves, and I insta call. Del turns over pocket Queens... I turn over pocket Kings. They hold and I take it down for the day. Nothing he could do, well played Del. The tournament ran longer than expected but I still had a ball.

So, buy-in for $25 cash out for $240 (including bounty chips.) That took some of the sting off the Bodog loss from earlier. It also infused some strength back into the offline bankroll. The money clip in my dresser drawer was feeling neglected. The next time I play any cards will be next Sunday, early evening. But I'll be changing venues baby!!! Our flight from Columbus, OH departs at 2:40pm destined for the bright lights of Las Vegas! I've got WOOD just thinkin' about it! I cannot friggin' wait! Win or Lose... there's just nothing like Las Vegas!

Our plan at this point is to head downtown to old Vegas on our first night. Some of the group has never been down there, and in the past every time we've planned to head down there to show it to them, we've just never got around to it, so this time, it is part of the Day 1 plan! Maybe some poker, but cheap Blackjack and Let It Ride will definitely be part of the plan. The 2nd day we will be doing some casino hopping on the Strip. We'll spend a lot of time at Paris (where we're staying) and Bally's I'm sure. Gotta blow some of the money where you're staying to get 'em to comp the room this time and again in the future. Yes, I'm a cheap bastard. Our poker playing plans are going to include the Venetian on high recommendation from bwop and others. As well, for the "fun atmosphere" we'll definitely end up at the Imperial Palace.

As I wrote in my last blog post, I have mobile blogging setup, so I'll be able to post to the blog from my cellphone at anytime. I'll try to keep it relatively current, if any of the Las Vegas resident bloggers would like to insert themselves into our plans, please feel free to. It would be a welcome encounter! I'd be more than happy to meet you all!

You know, this doesn't feel like a Monday at all! : )
Hope you're all having a great day!

Regards,

cheer_dad