As we usher in 2010...

Take a few moments to reflect on the year that has been 2009 as we pass joyously into the new year. I'm grateful for family and friends and time well spent among them all. I'm thankful for our individual prosperity in troublesome times. While like most of us I could use to shed some additional poundage, I've been blessed with continued good health, and I remain active.

I think about those who've gone on before, and are no longer a part of my daily life... but I recall the manner in which each touched my life, and have contributed to who I've become and even will be in the future.

Tonight, is indeed a time of great celebration and good will as we usher in the new year. Look forward to great things if for no other reason than to bring about self-fulfilling-prophecy! There's a picture/sign that my wife has hung here in our home, which aside from all the others speaks volumes to me... and I hope I can strive to achieve its message throughout the coming year and through all my remaining days:

...live...laugh...love...

Happy New Year to one and all!

Regards,

cheer_dad

In 3D Where Available...

On the heels of my 3D Avatar experience I've already started craving to see another 3D movie. I've seen them before, but on vacation of course where it was usually also in IMAX. But for the most part those were documentarian in nature or thrill ride-ish. Avatar however was a movie, with plot, and effects, and things that blow-up too. The movie was enhanced by being shown in 3D. It wasn't just thrown together and some effects inserted for folks to gawk at. The added dimension was thoroughly embraced... and I for one enjoyed and appreciated it! Anyway, I've digressed... I started looking around for other 3D movies on the horizon for the coming year. I stumbled across http://www.3dmovielist.com/list.html, which provided a number of other links which to visit for specifics about each of the movies I've listed below:

http://www.howtotrainyourdragon.com/ We saw the trailer for this one on the beginning of Avatar, and everyone expressed interest in coming back for it. Clearly the family is on board with my 3D fascination.

http://www.thehotticket.net/kennychesney/ Oh yeah, this goes without saying that at the very least Big Red and I will definitely be going to see. Hell, we might even be in the footage for all I know!

http://www.shrek.com/ Well duh, of course...

http://disney.go.com/toystory/ And uhhhh, ditto!

http://www.despicable.me/ This one, I don't know, we aren't exactly members of Steve Carell's fan club.

http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/tron/ I may have to see this one by myself... this is all uber geek for the rest of the cheer_dad clan. But the original movie was strewn with effects and you know a new one would be as well. Also, many a quarter was sacrificed to the almighty Tron arcade game back in the day! If I'm really quiet, I think I can still hear the music blaring from the machine's speakers! Oh wait maybe that's my tinitis acting up again.

But I've found something new (to me) to hold my attention for a while, at least until someone installs a 3D IMAX theater somewhere close to home! : )

Fear not this momentary fascination will not erase my love (or hate) of poker! Nor will it skew the focus of the blog. Game on! There will continue to appear all manner of pokery goodness!

Regards,

cheer_dad

Avatar

The family and I just got back from watching Avatar. If you haven't seen it yet, what're you waiting for?!? Run, don't walk! The movie was absolutely amazing. The effects, scenery, plot, cgi, it was all amazing. Also, if you do decide to go, please see it in a theater which offers it in 3D! You'll thank me. I was really blown away by this movie, and so was the rest of my family. We talked about it all the way home from Athens, this evening. Kudos to James Cameron on an epic vision realized!

Really why are you still reading my crummy blog, go see Avatar already!

Regards,

cheer_dad

Some days...sheesh

It just doesn't pay to sit down at the online table. While waiting for Big Red to get ready, I set down for a quickie PokerStars session. I called it DONE after 250 hands (i was 4 tabling.) During the session I just couldn't put anything together on any table, I posted the following Facebook, as a comical rant:

"needs the 'L' tattooed on forehead... quick online cash session. set of K's busted, then, A9 (flop 2 pair, but he hits set of 9's), AA vs K4os, he hits boat KKK44, KK vs K5 he hits straight w/his 5, and finally AQ vs KQ, and he hits flush. and i play this game for fun! : )"

But there are just those days that you feel like you can't hit water if you fall out of the fuckin' boat! Still, remember Doc Schoonmaker's mantra to look at yourself for the reasons for your losses. In the latter part of the session, after most of the damage had been done, I got loose, and my open attempts to limp were hammered by those paying attention. That cost me a few extra nickles and dimes... I notice that when I get behind that my thoughts do drift toward just liking to get even, but I try to resist, and don't allow myself to play on through a "bad luck streak." They are inevitable. They happen... and most certainly to me! : ) Now, now... in time, those 3 buy-ins will find their way back to my lil poker fold! Just sucks to lose 'em and I'll miss 'em whilst they are gone.

It wasn't bad luck, star alignment, sun spots, or anything else, it's just the way the cards felt. Well and I think Lady Luck mighta given me a "wet willy!" : )

Heading out to meet Uncle June at the club... and I'm sure there will be others.

Merry Christmas to you all!

Just a quick note to say Merry Christmas to everyone. May your holiday season be filled with joy, family, and friends.

Here at the house of cheer_dad, I think we've actually got everything wrapped up and ready to be ripped open in the morning. I can't wait to play with some of this stuff too! : )

We're heading out the door now, to make the Christmas party rounds, next stop the home of Chris and Laura (and Megan too!) See you soon!

Regards,

cheer_dad

Follow up to the Eagles Game

I guess I never followed up with anything more about the Eagles Game, on the through the night as I continued to imbibe... : ) Eric Shuman takes down the top spot in the tourney with a nice payday on his return to tournament poker play after a bit of a hiatus. Congrats to him! I of course busted out when I got called by the guy with the monster 10-6! I swear he actually looked everyone at the table in the eye and said, "but they were suited, I had to call!" and he wasn't kidding, having called my $250 allin. He was amassing quite the chip stack... only to give it all away, leaving him to wonder, how he came up short... and why did he lose... To be honest I got a kick out of it all. Although, I wish some of the rest of you at the table weren't instructing him on how to play better, sheesh! Okay, tips on dealing and etiquette, and not being an obnoxious douche-bag are fine to relay to people... but not how to play the game well. Let a donk, continue to be a donk!

But, I moved on to the cash game, where I found myself seated across from Harry Knopp. Then, there was the other guy, whose name escapes me, who was absolutely bleeding money! We were all buying in for $20. But he did so, several times, and even bought for $40 once or so. When he finally had enough and left... the game started to whither. I cashed myself and the rest out not long after. Harry left with over $300, having bought in for maybe $40 (maybe $60.) I cashed out for $80, having bought in with only $20. So, made back my tourney buyin, and cash, and made some spending money for Cole's basketball tourney for the rest of the weekend. : )

Among other things on the weekend, Sunday evening I was called to drive Uncle June and Chris home when an officers' Christmas party at the Eagles found them both unable to spell car let alone drive one. But that was good times for me. But how sad of a day is it when you have to call on ME to be the DD?!?

Played some cards online yesterday on PokerStars. I cleared a teeny tiny profit of a few measly cents... but felt okay, having recovered from an allin preflop with Aces, and got beat by pocket Kings, when he flopped another cowboy on me. I won't complain... since later in the session I was a set hitting fool and pounding some opponents' over pairs into oblivion. Had it not been for the early hit... it would have been a profitable session indeed.

Back at the grind today, working for the man. I've got some late afternoon meetings that will likely put me on tilt! But, hey, what could possibly go wrong? Hope all is well with each of you. Stay warm and safe, and get that Christmas shopping completed! Buy me sumpin' nice!

Regards,

cheer_dad

Oddly enuff right here in WV at our usual eagles game we r graced by WPT final tabler harry knopp! Enjoyed it...and he's a good guy too!

regards,

cheer_dad

Now i go on a suckout rally! Hitting absolute shhhhtuff on everybody on my steal attempts. Game on...

regards,
cheer_dad

Mr bucholtz takes one of my legs out from under me in this december eagles tourney. My ak hits the ace on the flop but not nearly as good as his set of 6s!

My wife is right...again

I have to hand it to my wife, when she's right... she's right. It seems with the advent of social networking site Facebook and other notification methods, although I did "post" results from the NDPT 2009 Year End Tournament elsewhere I failed to do so HERE on the NDPT blog! I even need to get the original website updated to reflect that too. (Hmmm, wonder if I can even remember the account information for that!?!) Been awhile since I've even touched that html!

BUT without further delay, the results of the tournament which we hosted on December 12th, 2009 are:

Eric Freed 1st
Teresa "Big Red" Murray 2nd
JR Ruble 3rd
Vince Post 4th

A "loser's" honorable mention goes to yours truly cheer_dad, for bubbling in 5th. : ( Yeah, thanks DEAR!!! Now you know why she wanted to see a post, dontcha, AND likely why I "forgot." hehe!

But, it was a great night, with great friends and some great card play. Thank you all for continuing to feed this poker degeneracy in me!

Regards,

cheer_dad

That time of year

It's that time of year again, in which despite our best intentions and my warnings at work that WAY TOO MANY PROJECTS get put off til the end of the year, or had planned to culminate with the "first of the year!" Do the buffoons not remember this from year to year? It's always the same. A limited staff struggles to perform in the absence of a lot of people trying to do their Christmassssy type stuff, and use up all of that "use or lose" leave before January 1st! Stressful situations ensue. Tempers flare, and fuses ignite... I have all that to I suppose but this year an added bonus is that the projects I have on my plate all have additional idiots who are stalling the overall progress. Yes, the ones who remain on site... and slowing things down this year. Go figure.

So, I'm opting to burn some leave up myself and get myself in the holiday spirit. Or drink some spirits around the holidays... errr, oh you get the picture. There's always misery to love company with!

In other news don't forget this Friday, December 18th at 7:00pm at the Eagles... we're playing Poker again. Last months attendance record of 54 could get shattered, and I'd like to be there to witness it all over again. Hope to see you all there!

Regards,

cheer_dad

brrrr! sitting here waiting for cole's bball practice to end and the temp reads 23... and i'm not talkin' celsius.
regards,
cheer_dad

NDPT Year End Tourney Dec 12th, 7pm

Seeing as there are so many things going on this year, I've made the decision to forgo the December qualifier for the NDPT Year End Tournament and instead just have the Final Tournament. Below is the listing of EVERYONE who accumulated points throughout the 2009 NDPT Poker Season... Congratulations! The money that each person paid in to this qualifier has yielded us a pot of $550 that we'll be playing for. The number next to each of your names, signifies the number of chips that each of you will of course will be starting with. The blinds will be in line with the original NDPT blinds schedule (where everyone would normally start out with $1,000 in tournament chips.) This tournament will be held at my house, where it all began. This is a smaller group and a little easier to manage here...

The date will be Saturday, December 12th, 2009 at 7:00pm. (YES, that is THIS weekend!!!) Please let me know as soon as possible if you will be attending. If there are conflicts I may have to make a change, but I'll let everyone know as soon as possible. Depending on the actual number of people that show up to play, we will be playing for either 3 or 4 payouts.

JR Ruble 2,940
Teresa Murray 2,280
Eric Freed 2,130
Brian Murray 2,040
Del Minturn 1,985
Julie Wolfe 1,930
John Johnson 1,700
Steve Allman 1,625
Vince Post 1,550
Matt Hensley 1,050
Mike Westbrook 953
TJ Sellers 630
Julie Miller 480
Dennis Rempel 315

Hope to see you all here!!!

Regards,

cheer_dad

We are the Champions...

Uncle June and I seem to be making this particular outcome into a habit! December 5th, 2 tables of poker miscreants gathered at the Yanok's house at High Noon, to play out the Year End Tournament. Over five hours of play ensued...With lots of ups and downs for us all. This tournament has people starting with dissimilar chip stacks in proportion to their level of wins throughout the year. We had each paid in $5 for every tournament we had participated in throughout the year. Usually 2 per month, since Yanok began holding "double" qualifiers for the whole year. Matt finished in 4th, Steve in 3rd... and Uncle June and I chopped 1st and 2nd... To determine the winner of the championship and the coveted YSOP (Yanok Series of Poker) bracelet, we played it out and I ended up with the BLING! It all sort of erases any and all bad poker mojo throughout the year. Don't think I'll be able to claim anything like "I never win" or that "I'm running bad" without having someone laugh at or slap me in the face.

Great time, great friends, and an incredible hosting job by the Yanoks. Thank you for inviting us into your home time and time again! I look forward to many games to come with you ALL!

Regards,

cheer_dad

Poker night at the Yanok's! Wrapping up the rest of the week's chaos... ready for the lost poker weekend ahead.

Regards,

cheer_dad

The REAL bad "wobot"

Okay, so whomever the Numb Nuts is who has setup to drop his links on my older blog posts... I've resorted to inconveniencing the rest of my visitors who opt to leave legitimate comments. I hope you're happy Asshole! I've grown tired already of removing your "comments" (which are nothing more than porn links to your website) in the short time that I've been removing you. So, to help flush out the problem, when someone comments they will from now on be required to copy verification text into a box. That way if Mr. Numb Nuts is a spam robot, then he can go bang a toaster for all I care. As for the rest of you, sorry for the added step!

Of course if this doesn't work, I'll have to begin moderating all comments, which flies in the face of how I've always treated the blog. But sheesh at least stay somewhat on topic.

Not that I'm opposed to the beauty of the female form in all it's wondrous glory... you have all oft seen/heard my battle cry of "Yeah Boobies!" In short... I'm for them! But hey, this is my blog, my choice, my links, my shit... No means NO big fella! Go away, bad "wobot!"

Regards,

cheer_dad

Long week and we've only just finished hump day. Same time it's been good, and somewhat gratifying. Purposeful is a good word for it.

Regards,

cheer_dad

A little cleanup is necessary

I'm just getting started, wading through the blog clearing out all the garbage postings left by the various spamming scum of the "undernet" who have latched on over time to the ole NDPT. Yes, I've noticed you posting (if you're even human) but haven't had the time to cleanse your filth from my little blog. I'm getting started and won't likely stop. I'd hate to have to lock down my commenters... I'm a free speech, free love kinda guy, but I'll do it if the current wave of garbage continues to plague me. The funny part is most of these leeches are tagging on to OLD posts. Even last year's WSOP. That is like SOOOO last year!!! To all who have remained faithful to my ramblings, thanks... to the blood-sucking-ne'er-do-well-ish-leeches. BITE ME!

Regards,

cheer_dad