I'm done...

I won't be turning the other cheek. Don't ask... Maybe it's not personal, but I'm taking it that way. Did they mean it this way, maybe not, but they're still all a bunch of mutherless fucks. Let me be very clear, I'm done. You've insulted my son, and indirectly some other very good players on my team and for that matter, me too. I will not be taking on the Coaching Spot of the "B" All Stars Baseball Team for Tri-C, which they will very likely be asking me to do tonight. My son will not be playing on the "B" All Stars, or for that matter at this point (if it were offered) on the "A" All Stars either. We are both through. Furthermore, we will not be back to Tri C Baseball next year. I'll find somewhere else for my son to play next year, or he won't play at all. Also, the organization can not only kiss my ass, but can very likely kiss goodbye, two of their team sponsors for next year, since for 6 years now, I have secured first one sponsor and now two for Tri-C Baseball, because I fully supported youth baseball. Now, I will do whatever I can to block these sponsorships from happening again in the future. People it takes a while to light this fuse... but congratulations you did it, and this fire won't soon cool. So, in summation, if you've not got the point: Fuck 'em, I'm done. Don't ask me for anything more, and expect even less.

Regards,

cheer_dad

WSOP Day 4 up to the dinner break

Once again, posts such as these prove that the guys playing in the Main Event are a lot like the rest of us twisted poker degenerates:

Posted by MeanGene Refer to Your Tournament Director's HandbookNo doubt quite a few players were out last night celebrating the fact that they cashed in the Main Event. One such player is sitting at Table 6 and looking a little green around the gills, and he asked the dealer, "If I throw up on the table, is that a penalty?"

Just over 5 hours ago Robert Mizrachi's Main Event journey came to an end. He got in in with the best of it but was rivered by his opponent.

And not long after he made his exit, Mountaineer qualifier Brian Schaedlich made his final stand with A-9os, he was called down by Darren Grant with a Q-7os. A queen came up on the turn and Schaedlich makes his exit in 456th place and $27,020 in his pocket. Not a bad return on a $135 tournament entry fee back at the Mountaineer Casino in Chester, WV. : ) Congratulations to him!

According to postings at PokerNews.com the first level of play on this Day 4, has taken its toll on the field. They have averaged a bustout a minute throughout the level.

Wow, Table #6 in the green section doesn't sound all that fun, at all! Five hours ago, Jeremy Joseph found himself there, with two empty seats that were filled by Alexander Kostritsyn with 900,000 in chips, and Johnny Chan joined soon after. ESPN setup shop, soon after!

Oh there's a surprise, Phil Hellmuth has a blow up after losing a hand with a great big pot... and openly berates his opponent.

Just as Round 17 was about to begin, the T500 chips are no longer required and the color up took place just before a quick break. The price of poker is going up! 350 players remained.
Maya Gellar-Antonius was eliminated in 331st place for a $32,166 payday. Congratulations, and hubby Patrik should be proud!

Hevad Khan was busted by the lovely Tiffany Michelle, and makes it up to 660,000 chips! Did I say lovely? Okay, yeah... I did.

Just over an hour ago another lovely and talented lady makes her exit from the Main Event. Evelyn Ng has been eliminated, but congratulations on her deepest finish yet in the Main Event!

An hour ago, Gus Hansen was moved to Mike Matusow's table, amid cheers from the spectators.

And oh look another blowup by Phil Hellmuth. You know he really is an ass...

And the stack of Jeremy Joseph just keeps growing and growing, an hour ago, he was at 2.5 Million!

And with that, or there abouts, the players head off for dinner break. Upon their return at 9:30pm PDT, they will play one final level before calling it a night.

The field now stands at 218. Still much poker yet to be played, but with that I'm calling it a night. We have 2 baseball games tomorrow, the first of which is at 9:00am. By the way, tonight the boys won, against "Tubby's" Team, Nate and Kevin know what I'm talking about. We pounded them, 30-6 before they finally cried uncle at the end of the 3rd inning. That is the boys first win in tournament play, against a team that beat us previously, that we just knew we could beat! : ) Cole may not be of much use in the games tomorrow, since he was injured running to 2nd base. His ankle is pretty swollen and stiff, but he seems to be getting around, albeit slowly and a bit tender. Sorry buddy.
As soon as the games are over, cheer_dad and family will start the drive SOUTH to Myrtle Beach!

Regards,

cheer_dad

P.S. Oh and one other really cool item of interest, Big Red's mom (the original Big Red) called us while we were at the baseball game all excited. Seems she was at BINGO, and playing the tips, and she was playing my son, Cole's birthday numbers, and she hit for a COOL $9,000!!! $6,500-ish after taxes!!! Since it was his numbers, does that mean he gets splitsies?!? Yeah like he wouldn't anyway from his Mamaw!

And they're off...

Cards are once again in the air at the WSOP Main Event (now on Day 3,) with blinds at 800/1,600 with a 200 ante. The schedule is to play 5 levels to the bubble. In other words, get it down to everyone who's in the money before calling it a night.

Play immediately turned into an All-In-A-Thon...with those in need of chip life support going after it with all they've got left. As I write this, former Main Event Champion Chris Moneymaker has been eliminated.

And just a few minutes later, Patrik Antonius has been sent to the rail. Sorry Big Red his KJos lost to A-10s!

Vanessa Rousso just chipped up, after an all-in with a pretty pocket pair of ladies. She's now got a little more breathing room with 61,000 in chips.

I'm checking in on the series now, since I'll be headed for the ball fields of Belpre for our next All-Stars Tournament tonight. Game time is 6:00pm. It's going to be a LONG night... I'll check in at http://www.pokernews.com/live-reporting/2008-world-series-of-poker/main-event/day3/ when I return and start wading through all that I've missed. Maybe I do have a problem.

Regards,

cheer_dad

WSOP Main Event Day 1a is over, 1b begins today

The 39th Annual World Series of Poker Main Event Day 1a began yesterday with 1,297 entrants and that field was whittled away down to 636 after five levels. The chipleader is currently Mark Garner. But we all know that's a fleeting title which will change hands more times than I've been sucked out on when I was holding pocket aces.

I started skimming through the list of names of the players who were still in the race, but I realized something. I watch a lot of poker and a lot of these names, whether sponsored or not, look quite familiar to me. That and there are still a whole bunch of them in the running. So instead I just decided to focus on the names of the players that have busted out of the event already. There's quite a laundry list there too. Sadly, here's my incomplete least of the notable bust outs: Tom 'durrrr' Dwan, David Benyamine, David Pham, Freddy Deeb, Allyn Jaffrey Shulman, Eli Elezra, Mori Eskandani, Taylor 'Green Plastic' Caby, Katja Thater, Jason Alexander, Roy Winston, Dan Harrington, Gavin Smith, Roland De Wolfe, 'Miami' John Cernuto, Josh Arieh, JJ Liu, Erica Schoenberg, and Dave 'Devilfish' Ulliott.

Day 1b is expected to have a turnout greater than yesterday. Hang on folks it's gonna be a bumpy ride. My hat's off to the bloggers covering the madness. Thus far, they've done a terrific job! More coverage will be on the way as soon as it happens over at http://www.pokernews.com/live-reporting/2008-world-series-of-poker/main-event/.
Back here on the homefront, today's tournament baseball games were cancelled (or rather postponed) until tomorrow. Too much rain. We did play last night though, despite the rain, which at times was heavy. I'd like to report a win, and by all rights I should be reporting one, but heading into the 4th inning, the bottom just dropped out from under the boys. The melt down was epic, there's just no other way to put it. The first few errors just fed the others. Pitching and hitting have been killing us. But the emotion of the thing, the wave of the inevitable win being plucked from their grasp has been a thing which almost appears tangible in that you feel like you can touch it, and feel it. It's a thing to behold. Somehow we've got to find a way to get them past it, and pull out a win in this season. It'll come together for us...we'll work on it best we can.

But it's time to call it a blog entry, and get on with the day.

Regards,

cheer_dad

WSOP continues, Main Event tomorrow!

Event 52 - $1,500 No Limit Hold'em has concluded with David Daneshgar having bested the field of 2,693 players. He takes home the WSOP bracelet and $625,443 for his efforts. Congratulations.

Event 53 - $1,500 Limit Hold'em Shootout the battle rages on, even now. They are down to the final 2 in the event, and seemingly no end in sight! The bracelet and top prize of $278,180 remains to be won. Matt Graham and Jean-Robert Bellande continue to battle it out. According to blogger "compncards" over at http://www.pokernews.com/live-reporting/2008-world-series-of-poker/event-53/day2/ they expect to go on until at least 7:00am PDT, if not later. I'm thinking later!
***UPDATE***
Jean-Robert Bellande has been eliminated just after 7:00am PDT and Matt Graham takes down the bracelet!!! Congratulations on a long fought battle.

The 39th Annual World Series of Poker Main Event Day 1a will begin at NOON today. It's gonna be a long and winding road people. Pace yourself.

Meanwhile back here on the home front... the Vienna All-Stars Tournament began yesterday. Our team had its first game last night, beginning after 9:30pm! Yes, it was friggin' late. Playing under the lights was nice, but as in many things in life it's more fun when you're winning. To put it softly... we weren't having much fun, ahem. We played Worthington, and their lead off pitcher really put it to us. You can't score runs, without a few hits. Our pitching staff has some promise, but at this point lacks maturity. But the season is young, so are the boys, and our greater objective with this team was to continue to develop the players.
I was tough on my son, more so than I should have been. I wouldn't mind it all so much if he had more hustle. I just don't think he has the desire or drive yet. I don't know how to motivate him, and I find myself utterly frustrated. I don't know how to fix it, maybe it's not mine to fix. So, my strategy for tonight... and the rest of this tournament will be to try not to be such a dick. Find some way to be positive. Whatever bullshit approach you've been trying thus far with your son, well, it ain't workin'. If it's not... it's time to try something different. I deserve to catch some shit from my son for being meaner than I had intended. I didn't help matters any. Fuck, this wasn't in the manual. Maybe I missed it in Fatherhood 101. Once again a mistake. Continue to repeat it, or make it right; it's your choice.

Well my shrink tells me it's time to get off the damn couch...and get back to it.

Regards,

cheer_dad

P.S. After a "forced" conversation I just had behind closed doors I have a new thought for the day. Get your own damn house in order before you come messin' around in mine.

Happy Hump Day!

Event 50 - $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha World Championship has ended with Marty Smyth taking down the win, having bested the 381 entrants to the event. He takes home his first bracelet and a smooth $859,549 for his efforts. Congratulations. Former chip leader Michael Mizrachi entering into the final table finished in the number 3 spot and takes home $331,279.

Event 51 - $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. finished up as well, crowning James Schaaf as its winner. He takes home his first bracelet on this, his first trip to the WSOP. It is reported over at http://www.pokernews.com/live-reporting/2008-world-series-of-poker/event-51-1500-H-O-R-S-E/ that he was down at one point in the tournament to only 200 chips, and was able to make a comeback and take down the win. He takes home $256,412. Congratulations. Recall that Phil Hellmuth was chasing his 12th bracelet in this event. Unfortunately, this was unrealized for him and he takes down the #3 spot for $93,168. My earlier joking (okay half joking) comments aside, it was noted by blogger "shorton" over at PokerNews.com that Hellmuth's "...performance this time certainly proves a point. Hellmuth can play non-hold'em, and it appears to only be a matter of time before he'll add #12 to his wrist."

Event 52 - $1,500 No Limit Hold'em will enter Day 3 today, having just recently finishing up for the "day/night/whatever." They are down to the final 9, having started at 2,693 entrants. The top spot will payout $625,443. Stay tuned.

Event 53 - $1,500 Limit Hold'em Shootout is down to 72 of the original 823. Play will resume today at 2:00pm PDT.

Read My Lips... NO NEW EVENTS BEGINNING TODAY!
Honestly, do you really need to ask me why?
If so, you need to get out more...
Everything else needs to get wrapped up in order for the MOB to converge on the Amazon Room at the RIO for Event #54 people! I'm talking 'bout the 39th Annual World Series of Poker Main Event.

JR, this is your 2nd warning. As of this writing the Main Event begins in 1 Day, 7 Hours, 4 Minutes. You can safely view the blog up to that point. Beyond that I will ruin your day with as many spoilers as I can get my hands on!!! You have been warned.

Now a little closer to home... Vienna's All-Star Tournament gets underway tonight. Our boys hit the field, under the lights at 9:15pm EST. Win or lose guys, I'm proud of the effort you have put forth!

Regards,

cheer_dad

A little WSOP, a little baseball, yaddayaddayadda

Event 49 - $1,500 No Limit Hold'em has completed and J.C. Tran has emerged as the winner, having outlasted the field of 2,718 players. He takes home his first bracelet and a $631,170 payday! Congratulations.

Event 50 - $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha World Championship is now down to the final 9 having thinned the field from the initial 381. Michael Mizrachi will enter Day 3 of the event as the chipleader. Still up for grabs is the top prize of $859,549!

Event 51 - $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. will enter its 3rd Day today, with 21 out of 803 players remaining. Currently Phil Hellmuth is on top of the pack with the chip lead. Of course it's far from over, but if he wins this one, there'll be no shuttin' him up! Okay, okay... sorry Phil. This event (if he ultimately would take it down) would be his FIRST bracelet in a "non-hold'em event!" $256,412 remains to be claimed as well as the WSOP bracelet.

Event 52 - $1,500 No Limit Hold'em will enter Day 2 with 223 of the initial 2,693 starting field. It's still much to early to make any speculations on this one. The top prize of $625,443 remains to be won.

The only event on tap to get started today is Event 53 - $1,500 Limit Hold'em Shootout. Which will usher us into Thursday's wondrous chaos, also known as Day 1a of the Main Event. I'm already excited and nervous and I'm not even there! Maybe I should tweak the meds or something.

JR, if you're still reading the blog, you should probably CEASE AND DESIST by Thursday, if you don't want to read any spoilers about the Main Event. While I hate to lose any of the regular readers to the blog I also don't want to diminish any of your viewing pleasure, for when ESPN televises it all for you. Me, I'll just borrow that "flashy-thingy" from Men In Black and get to enjoy it all over again!

In All-Star Baseball news, I was just informed last night of a portion of our schedule for the Vienna All-Star Tournament. We begin on Wednesday at 9:15PM! Yes, I said frackin' PM! Who was the brainiac who put together a schedule that has 9 and 10-year-olds, starting a baseball game at that hour? Can I get a WTF from someone?!? Beyond that all I know is that we play another game on Thursday, two on Friday, and at least one on Saturday, and beyond that it'll depend on our performance. So much for a nice laid back holiday weekend.

Regards,

cheer_dad

Saturday update WSOP

Event 34 - $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha w/Rebuys has been won by Layne Flack. The bracelet and $577,725 are all his. I know there's plenty to dispute about it being the year of the "big-name" pro, but there are an awful lot of them climbing to the top of the poker pyramid this time around! But this is still a game of the individual and therefore, congratulations Layne! The temptress Clonie Gowen continues to put her name out there for me to see among those who cash out. She finished 34th in the event. She knows I read all these results... Shameless. : ) But now I refuse to acknowledge you unless you're higher in the cashout listing.

Event 35 - $1,500 Seven Card Stud has crowned its winner Mike Rocco, for a cool $135,753. He bested the field of 381 players to take it down. Congratulations.

Event 36 - $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em will resume today at 2:00pm PDT when the final nine come together competing for the first place prize of $610,304.

Event 37 - $10,000 Omaha Hi-Low World Championship will also reconvene today with the remaining 18 of the original 235 fighting it out for the top prize of $535,687. A whopping 7 of the 18 are Full Tilt sponsored, including Mike Matusow, who is currently in 2nd place.

Event 38 - $2,000 Pot-Limit Hold'em enters Day 2 today with 63 of the original 605 players remaining. Pssst although short-stacked Clonie's still in there!

Getting underway today will be Event 39 - $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em and Event 40 - $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw.

For all the latest stay tuned and be sure to check out the in-depth coverage over at http://www.pokernews.com/live-reporting/.

Currently Cole and I are doing the bachelor thing while Big Red and Whit are off on their bus trip to New York City. We didn't get to sleep in at all, when I was called to come into work for an application restart, before 8:00am this morning. In other excitement today... laundry (shudder.)

We had our 2nd All-Stars practice last night and the boys look really good. I'm really looking forward to seeing how they perform. Good Luck boys. Our first tournament is scheduled for next weekend down at Tri C.

Regards,

cheer_dad

Tick...Tock...

It won't be long now. I'm excited, but holding it in to everyone else. I'm already unfocused enough as it is. The last thing I need to do is make it worse for myself at work. Just 2 more days and I'll be in Las Vegas!!! Plane leaves from Columbus, OH at 8:25pm! I've got a busy few days before it gets here though, so I'm hoping that the time FLIES by. Cole has All-Stars practice tonight. Tomorrow night I have to work server maintenance, for a little OT. Leave home at 4:00pm the next day bound for the airport. Big Red will be leaving the following morning...which is ACTUALLY a very good thing this time. She will be able to attend the first game of Cole's next tournament in Vienna. Unfortunately we won't be there for him for the rest of the weekend's activities. He will be well taken care of by Stephanie at the games, I have no doubts. Ellen, Libby, and my mom will be there for everything else. I'm hoping the Whitney steps up to support her little brother during these tournament games. Had we known that Cole was in All-Stars, we would have opted for another time to go to Las Vegas. But I'm hopeful that all will go well for us all.

I'm still debating what I'm going to do in Vegas. What I'm going to focus on. $2/$4 Limit, or $1/$2 No Limit. How patient do I really want to be while I'm on vacation. Do I want to have fun...or do I want to play my game. Maybe somewhere in between. I know I'll play blackjack, and some Let It Ride. I just want this to be a trip to remember! I want to spend some time with my wife. I do enjoy her company, and she deserves attention for having put up with me for all these years. But she may be carrying me all week, like she's done lately! : ) I'm a kept man...and hey it ain't all that bad, guys! I want to take my computer along and hope to post to the blog daily, and upload pictures while I'm there. I also want to be able to stay up on all the goings on at the series! I could just buy time on the computer in the coffee shop downstairs at the Imperial Palace and forget about lugging my own along. I'd probably be spending $12-20 bucks a day for internet access anyway. Nothing comes for free in Las Vegas. There is a pricetag to everything. Somethings that you can't get anywhere else. : ) Either way, I'll try to keep the blog posts rolling out.

Tick...Tock...




Regards,


cheer_dad

First tourney of the year...over for us : (

Well gang, the Murrays are back in town, having spent the weekend on the road to Athens and back...and forth again...and back, for our first All-Star Tournament of the season. Sadly, it did not go well for the boys. Out of the four games we played, we only chalked up a single win. I think I feel more dejected than the boys do. I'm definitely more hoarse than anyone else, players or parents. They tried, I really believe that they did. Just weren't focused enough to get the job done. So many of the top players were hitting poorly, popping up and getting caught. And remarkably we were striking out from time to time. This team of boys just didn't look like the same group that had been tearing up the practice field. I guess everyone can choke from time to time. But we're getting together this evening to practice...and hopefully iron out some of the wrinkles that really killed us out there yesterday and today. Baserun errors, and infield fielding were KILLING US!!! I'm racking my brain to figure out how I can help the boys to do better. I'm not one of the coaches...I'm just one of the guys helping to keep the dugout organized and herding the boys. : ) But I feel the pain and stress just like everyone else. I want to see all of them do well, not just Cole. And I know he's not as good as some of the others. But I want more than anything for this to be an enjoyable, positive experience for him. I want him to look forward to this, and strive to achieve it again next year. So keep your fingers crossed about the rest of our season. Win or lose...we'll do it as a team.

I'm here at the house alone now. Cole's up the street playing at Nick's house. Big Red and Whit, headed for the mall, so I'm working on laundry and catching up on email, and stealing a few moments for online poker. Going okay on Carbon Poker so far. Bonus Chasin' once again! Live play at Shuman's on Friday night was not good...but I did it to myself. Although I got busted off of my A-Ksoooooted like 5 friggin' times. I ran in to JR's Aces to go out the last time, but I had a garbage hand that time, and was just trying to steal and suck out. By that time...having bought in for the final time (in for $60 total) I was on mondo tilt, and I knew it. I got busted on Big Slick once by AQsooted by JJ, when he flopped the NUT FLUSH! I just couldn't bring myself to believe him. Luckily, Big Red true to form as of late was on a ROLL!!! She carried me (us rather.) She bought in for $20, and cashed out for just over $100! ATTA GIRL! Of course I can continue to play poker poorly. When the cards just don't come your way, particularly in THAT game...I need to sit back and wait. Unfortunately, I'd vested too much interest and desire in this game, since I know I'm not able to play as often as I'd like. I need to focus on playing well when I get the chance, instead of seeking out the rush of winning, I played too many hands even for the loose level that I play in that game. Of course, maybe I'm getting all the "losing" out of my system before I hit VEGAS! Thursday Night People!!! I'll be staring at a big bright spot in the Desert! I'm excited and ready to go. While I'm spacing out mulling over this trip, I'll bring this post to a close.

Regards,

cheer_dad

On your mark, get set...

I've got a BUSY DAY on tap for today!

I did manage to sleep in until 8:00AM, which I really needed, but the rest of this day is going to be an absolute blur, people. I have to have Whitney at Godbey Field at 9:45 for pictures. Then leave there and head to Mineral Wells for her softball game at 11:00. Around NOON, Teresa will get there with Cole to take over, and allow me to drive (with Cole) for his All-Stars practice at 1:00 way down at Tri-C fields. Then, Whitney has to leave the ballfields (game over or not) by around 1:15, so she can get to Dance Clinic and tryouts with the Ohio Valley All-Stars. Yes, you'll recall that name as O-V-A, from her previous lifetime of cheerleader and dancer. This go around she just wants to try the dance thing...sans cheerleading. Either way, I'm okay with it!

Cole and I will likely finish up All Stars practice at around 3:00. Then, I'll head home, get him fed...and cleaned up (self as well.) I'll have to make sure everything is ready here at the house, get ice (and beer) and get ready for tonight's NDPT Event #6, and the 25 players that will be converging on the house tonight! I'm hopeful, no confident... :) that tonight's MY NIGHT! Okay, as long as I'm not first out, and am having a Good Time.

Thought for the day is "Missed Opportunities Are Worse Than Making Mistakes." That was the title of a post from the Probloggers Blog that I have on my iGoogle page. It has a double meaning at least for me. They were referring to making money on their blogs, and marketing themselves. Which I wouldn't mind doing either, but to me it has a greater meaning in my Poker playing. We are all going to make mistakes at the tables, but the even bigger problem is not capitalizing on the opportunities in front of us. Making the next bet, betting higher, stealing the pots, observing reactions, surviving the round...all these things affect your bankroll and you would be advised to seize every opportunity like a ravenous dog. So, tonight NDPT'ers if I snarl at you and growl a little...you'll understand.

See you tonight!

Regards,

cheer_dad