I can't quite put my finger on it...

The family and I are back from our nation's capital after a fun weekend of doing the tourist thing. We visited the White House at 8:00pm on Friday, for a quick tour. It was great to actually visit... but honestly they really need to spice things up a little on that tour. Not that I expected to see the Prez wander out into the hall in his boxers or something, but I'm just saying... Following the tour we headed down to the Lincoln Memorial, to take in the view of the Reflection Pool, then walked along to see the Korean and Viet Nam War Memorials, which are on either side of the pool. I absolutely love the Korean Memorial. If you've never visited it, I highly recommend it. It is beautiful, eerie, and makes me feel humble and proud all at the same time, every time I visit it. Also, take it all in at night...

The following day we went on a whirlwind tour of a couple of the Smithsonian Museums, the National History and Air and Space Museums. We spent hours in each, and even took in an IMAX movie, which was spectacular. The kids clearly favored Day 2 of the trip. Of course, Cole would have been content to have rode around on the Metro all day and night. I'll remember that on future vacations! CHEAP! I did manage to snap several pictures though, including the one of Cole hamming it up with the Washington Monument.

We got back late and collapsed into bed early Sunday morning. We slept in a little, before heading to the football field at Warren, OH. Our boys played great and won their game 18-6. Cole played on the line offense and defense for the whole first half, and most of the 3rd quarter, when they started subbing in our other players. He did great and I was proud of him... We always check out the new "colors" on his helmet after every practice and game. There was lots and lots of new blue after this one. Those big boys hit big too!

Today, I spent mowing the lawn and catching up on the vacation laundry, ugh... Okay it was a day off from work, spent working nonetheless. Hope all is well with each of you.

Regards,

cheer_dad

A trip to the White House

This is going to be a pretty cool week! Well at the least the end of it will be anyway... The whole cheer_dad clan is going to DC on Friday. Thanks to the quick thinking of "Uncle June" and a special invitation a group of us is making the trip to our nation's capital Friday morning. We have been included in a private tour of the White House. Maybe that's not such a big deal to some of you, but hey it makes me feel pretty special, so let me have my little moment, okay?

We've decided to make a weekend mini vacation out of it. We are getting a hotel, and taking the kids along, despite the fact that they will have just started school on Wednesday. I figure anything that requires a background investigation by the U.S. Secret Service to attend should probably be considered worthy of missing a day of public education. Am I right?

Of course we'll do additional sightseeing while we are there, but despite the fact that some of us have been to DC a number of times before, we've never been to a White House tour. I think years ago, this was a much more common thing to go on this tour, but now it requires some preplanning and special permission. If I'm wrong, let me keep my delusion.

So, other stops on the sightseeing tour I want to make sure to hit for the sake of my kids are the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, and possibly a stop at some of the Museums of the Smithsonian. Of course the Viet Nam and Korean War Memorials are also close by. Lots to do, lots to see, and just a lot to experience. We're all really looking forward to it. I'm sure there will be plenty of pictures taken that I'll post up here to the blog. Even Cole says he wants to take a lot of pictures. He's excited about the trip. He said he was going to take pictures in the White House, but I had to tell him that that is not permitted. His words, "well that's stupid! Who does the President think he is?" My answer was "... well it's just the rules son, and the President didn't make 'em, but he IS after all the President, so he probably could have anyway..."

But enough about that for now, I'm sure I'll post up a full trip report later on. For now, I've got to head off to training. I'm once again in class, the Bureau seems to want to make me into some kinda leader. Go ahead all of you, laugh it up, get it out of your systems now... Glad I could add a little humor to your lives.

Have a great day!

Regards,

cheer_dad

Las Vegas Welcome Sign Vandalized

Is nothing sacred? http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/jul/13/vandals-hit-fabulous-las-vegas-sign/ Thanks to Uncle June for the link.

The family and I are still beachside at Myrtle Beach, SC, soaking in sun, surf, and lotsa suds! Hope all is well with all my blogladytes...

Regards,

cheer_dad

WSOP 2009 Main Event Day 2a done, 2b today

Day 2a of the WSOP's Event 57 - $10,000 World Championship No Limit Hold'em concluded a little over 3 hours ago. 1,476 began the journey yesterday but only 630 survived to play another day. The current chip leader is Eric Cloutier, sitting on 384,000 in chips. The best known name currently in the top 10 (7th) is Greg 'RBT' Mueller with a sizable stack of 311k. However, a much larger field will begin Day 2b today, and stacks may certainly swell. Patience, we'll just have to wait and see!

Other notable names who survived 2a are: Andy Black, Mike Sexton, Sorel Mizzi, Chris Ferguson, Jimmy Fricke, Thor Hansen, Pamela Brunson, Vitaly Lunkin, Tom Schneider, Kara Scott, Greg Raymer, Joe Sebok, Jason Alexander, Sam Farha, Van Nguyen, Dewey Tomko, Erik Seidel, Rolf Slotboom, Carlos Mortensen, Joe Serock, Bill Edler, Bruno Fitoussi, and Roland de Wolfe.

Casualties include: Eli Elezra, Juha Helppi, 'Amarillo' Slim Preston, Mike Matusow, Gavin Smith, Todd Brunson, Alex Kravchenko, Michael DeMichele, Mel Juday, Erik Cajelais, Hoyt Corkins, Beth Shak, Micheal Craig, Shaun Deeb, Jason Mercier, Barry Greenstein, Jennifer Tilly, Tony G, Phil Laak, Mike Caro, Katja Thater, Brian Townsend, Barry Shulman, Jon 'PearlJammed' Turner, Johnny 'frickin' Chan, and Gus Hansen.

There's still lots of poker to be played here people. Day 2b as I said returns today after which we'll be to the point at which the entire field of remaining players will be part of one big pool, which will be playing simultaneously. Players will get a day of rest, on Thursday, while instead a media event will take place, beginning at 1pm. Then, the action gets going again on Friday for Day 3.

I leave for family vacation Friday night, to Myrtle Beach, SC. So, yes the laptop will be packed and the idiocy that is my blogging will continue. I wouldn't want any of you to miss me! I'll be thinking of you all as I pickle my liver... and slowly turn myself into a Chicken Nugget while lying on the shore. Hope they don't mistake me for a beached whale again and try to roll my ass back into the ocean.

Right in the "brow hole!"

Regards,

cheer_dad

Getting back in the swing

Since returning from the beach it's been rough to get back in the swing of things. It's kinda like detox, and needing a vacation from the vacation. On Thursday I had to pick Whitney up from cheerleading, right when we got home, and then turn around and head up to Parkersburg South High School for her Orientation. Yes, my baby girl is now in high school, stop reminding me. I'm still struggling to understand how there's going to be enough room for all these kids at South, in spite of all of the renovations and additions to the school over the past couple of years. Of course, I'm not sold on the whole "middle school" concept either. But we'll just have to wait and see. I wish the kids and the administration the best of luck!

Later that evening Big Red and I headed for the Eagles and met up with JR and Nikki and Frank also showed up after a while. I drank a few, and then a few more. We both had a little slot machine time and came out on the plus side, including our bar tab!

The next day, Big Red had to head back to work... haha! : ) I slept in a bit, but then got started on the pile of laundry. Later in the day I took Whit to practice between other chores. The evening was a quiet one and the whole family spent it together in front of the tv, reading, and listening to Cole play with his wrestling action figures. No they are NOT dolls!

Today, was South's Meet The Team festivities at Erikson All-Sports Facility. Long drawn out process, that should really be condensed. But I did get to see my daughter perform and so that was a good thing.

Since getting back today I've been wading through the blogs. Wow, I had a lot of catching up to do, since there were nearly 400 "unread" items to check out. It felt nice to get back in to the frame of mind of reading through these postings again, and sharing out some items and skimming others.

I did talk to Frank today, who didn't in fact head to Tri-State "Casino" on Thursday, but settled instead on Friday. He and Vince and Theresa all headed down to see all the goings on. Frank let me know that he made like $350 and that the place was full of fishies! He's trying to talk the wife into letting him go back tomorrow (Sunday) for another go at 'em. He did tell me that the management of the room left a bit to be desired, and wasn't up-to-par. He was upset by the chaos, particularly since they've had so long to prepare and could have easily taken some pointers from Wheeling and Mountaineer to the North, but it appears that would have been too much to ask. I'll wait for Frank's trip report on his blog to see what other goings on he encountered. Eventually I'll make the trip myself and offer up my impressions as well.

Time to get back to the pile of laundry folks...

Regards,

cheer_dad

Sure honey let's go on vaction...NOW!

My wife, the lovely Big Red... will one day send me to my grave. Probably sooner than later! When she gets an idea, damn the girl can run with it! You've all obviously been up on current events in my life, which I've inter mingled in the words about the WSOP and other pokerosity. I'm talking about All-Star baseball and my life as a dad, coach, husband, blahblahblah... Well we're playing again tonight in Belpre against South Parkersburg "B." Plus a couple more games tomorrow.

Here we gets tricksy.

The Morrison clan (including Jeffrey who's on the team with Cole) have a beach trip that starts tomorrow. So, we've known he wouldn't be there to play, but no prob, we've still enough kids to play. Then, somehow the conversation emerges about, "hey, why don't you guys join us in Myrtle Beach, SC?" That conversation fired up maybe a day and a half ago. It was sheer talking out loud. I wasn't even involved in it. Fast forward to this morning... and I'm checking with my boss about taking a week off beginning NOW, shuffling some other duties, sorting out baseball since I won't be here to coach, and a million other things. Meanwhile, my wife's on the phone booking a room for yup tomorrow night. She's already figured out we'll stay for tomorrow's game (maybe) and then get the hell outa Dodge! Yes, she's worked all this out in her head while on hold with the Beach Realty company. AND she got dropped on the call once, put on hold twice, and one lady tried to charge her about $500 more for the room than she quoted, when the "system" mysteriously crashed in the middle of the transaction. Sadly, said lady had NO IDEA she was dealing with Big Red. Not only did a demand for a manager ensue, and when she was conveniently disconnected and left dangling on hold for 20 minutes, she grabbed a 2nd phone line, and gave 'em what for and got a room for the price originally quoted. And this lady in the same office, said yes it was a madhouse, but she wasn't aware of any system crash. Hmmm. Manager's Special, my ass!

So anyway, I went from Thank God It's Friday, to feeling like I'm going into OVERDRIVE!!! So, thankfully this is my short day, and I get off work at 2:45pm. I can rush home, and break out the lawnmower and get that done, before changing and going to the baseball game in Belpre, gotta be there by 5:15pm. Hopefully, done by 8:30-ish. Go home, clean up, eat, attack the laundry with a vengeance, pack, organize, make a couple of plans, check up on the status of the WSOP Main Event. Get to bed, get up the following morning at the crack of dawn, and get ready for baseball game, be there by 8:30am! Finish that, and then we'll either hang out for the other game at 1:00pm or say fuggit and head SOUTH! Oh I haven't mentioned, that we're also taking along JoJo, at least my daughter Whitney is checking on that right now. No wonder I'm fully medicated for stress and anxiety.

Oh and let's get one other thing outa the way, I am not prepared for the beach. I'm likely to have a herd of Eco-Tree-Hugger types trying to help coax me back into the water when they find me laying on the sand (if you get my blubbery drift.) My man titties may actually lactate in the heat. I dunno...

Someone sympathize, just a little. Maybe I'll follow the lead of SirAlCan'tHang and go to a bar when I get to Myrtle Beach and just do dial-a-shots all day! I just hope I don't need a vacation AFTER this vacation to recuperate!

Well that's all I got folks, I'm tapped, spent even. I wonder if this complex will have wi-fi? Laptop, balcony, mass quantities of alcohol and an already dwindling online bankroll. Oh yeah I see great things happening! At least there'll be some great bad beat stories to be told after the fact!

I'll try to continue to blog, even if I have to drive around w/the laptop to find a hotspot!

Regards,

cheer_dad

tick...tock...

It won't be long now. We are now SUB-FIVE HOURS from taxiing down the runway headed for Las Vegas!!! Just killing time, waiting for the Wolfe's to get here, and then it's off to the airport. Palms are sweaty, heart is racing, generally jittery. I'm ready. We're all ready! This is going to be a great trip, I can "feel" it. If I can get the Red Snappers in that "I can 'feel' it" zone of thinking, you just know it's gonna happen. How many of you have been busted out of an NDPT tournament by one of them when they called you on a friggin' FEELING! I rest my case.

Can't wait to visit the new Palazzo Casino, which I mis-understood/reported earlier in the blog. This is the latest/greatest addition to the strip. Another one of the uber decadent destinations that you just have to see. Today is the last day of their Grand Opening Event. So, I'm sure we're going to miss some of the beautiful people, but you never know who might be out and about.

Big Red's been scurrying around here, with more cleaning power than Mr. Clean! But I had sense enough to stay out of her way. I stuck to laundry...I was lucky that she didn't have me washing the curtains. But this is her vacation prep. It's all part of the system. We'll get her good and liquored up soon!

Like I said before, keep an eye on the blogs, I'll try to keep it up to date with commentary, pictures and video.

...tick tock...

Regards,

cheer_dad

Proposed Vegas Itinerary...

Itinerary for Viva Las Vegas 2008
a.k.a…Birthday Debauchery Vegas Style!
Includes “affordable” tournament listings

January 19th Saturday

3:00pm Get in, sit down, shut up…this vehicle’s heading for the airport in Columbus, OH! The Wolfes and Murrays pile in with a few of our worldly possessions, and every last dime we’ve got to start the 1st journey to Las Vegas by the crew for 2008.

5:00pm Arrival CMH airport. NDPT 1st Wave arrives Las Vegas Airport, baggage claim and then shuttle to the strip

5:45pm Shuttle ride over, baggage checked, shoes retied, KY jelly squishing in my nether regions following airport security anal probe. I rejoin Frank and the Snappers and head immediately to the closest bar. Pound drinks to sufficiently numb for the 4 hour jaunt across the country.

7:05pm Stagger to gate to board plane.

7:06pm Big Red now more than a bit tipsy begins to "worry" about flying on the same plane again. She-Wolfe assists by distracting her whilst I slip her a Mickey!

7:10pm Plane begins its assent, Teresa slides into her comma, Frank settles in for a power nap, Brian begins sawing logs (loudly), Julie screams for the frackin' drink cart!

8:40pm (now on VEGAS time) Plane touches down at McCarran International Airport. Instantly wide-eyed we begin the long sprint to baggage claim, pausing only long enough to dial JJ's number back home so he can hear the beautiful Vegas medley of slot machines. He mutters something in Kowean, and slams the phone down. We claim our bags and then barter for shuttle service to the strip. Consider posing as the "Smith" party when we see a "not-too-bright" limo driver holding his sign upside down at the bottom of the escalator.

9:30pm Packed like sardines into the shiny metal box which they call a shuttle, we head for the bright lights of the strip.

11:00pm Arrival and check in process at the Imperial Palace. Big Red's already cramming her second $20 into a Wheel-of-Fortune machine. Julie's already making small talk with the Let It Ride dealer. Frank and Brian already drinking double fisted are talking amongst themselves at the Geisha Bar. Phrases such as "...I guess the bloggers were right..." and "...ya think those're real..." dominate the conversation.

11:30pm Bags stowed successfully in room, we return to the casino floor.

11:31pm Firmly entrenched at a low limit hold 'em table for the remainder of the night, the beer flows like rain, chips somehow climb to the ceiling.

January 20th, Sunday

3:00am We consider the possibility of the need to eat, when we hear a voice from a walkie-talkie proclaim, "...SNAPPERS DOWN!"

?:??am Recalling the lesson learned from JR's example we call it a night...or morning, and stumble off to bed.

8:00am (EST) Back east Vince and Theresa (sadly minus JR) are taxiing down the runway following their arrival at CMH. Vince informs flight attendant he has no need of her $5.00 bag of honey roasted nuts!!!

8:01am Theresa pretends not to know him, and wishes flight was over!

10:00am (PST) plane touches down in Burbank, CA, and this second wave of gambling warriors, get their rental vehicle and embark on their drive to Vegas.

?:??am Meanwhile back at the Imperial, Wave One stirs from their drunken slumber, does a quick 3 S's and heads for the strip.

11:00am The Snappers have their first Hurricane of the morning, and smuggle them into Denny's for a grease laden brunch. Bally’s $80/15, Harrah’s $60/15, Mandalay $50/10, Sahara $42/14, TI $65/15

NOON Imperial Palace $60/15, Luxor $35/10, Rio $60/20, Strat $60/15

12:30pm Harrah’s $60/15

1:00pm Excalibur $35/10, Riviera $47/7

1:30pm Head off toward NYNY, looking for the crazy, little Asian Sensation Frank! Brian finds his favorite “gay-ass-unicorn” machine. Paris $65/15

1:35pm Snappers are in line at Coyote Ugly, offering to dance on top of the bar, for the extra shot! Frank gets lotsa good footage of the scene, for the blogs.

2:00pm PlanetH $60/17, Trop $60/20

3:00pm Caesars $65/15

3:30pm Harrah’s $60/15

4:00pm Monte Carlo $60/11, Strat $60/15

5:00pm Wave #2 gamblers take Las Vegas by storm, well okay they begin their check in at the front desk anyway. Call JR to tell him what he’s missing. Caesars $65/15

6:00pm Flamingo $60/15, Monte Carlo $60/11

7:00pm Wave’s 1 and 2 finally hook up, somehow, still in NYNY, at same blackjack table… PlanetH $60/17, Sahara $42/14, TI $65/15, Trop $60/20

7:30pm Paris $65/15

8:00pm Leaving NYNY, Frank bumps into a stranger…and an empty money clip that looks “oddly familiar” falls to the floor, as the startled stranger makes a break for the door. Harrah’s $60/15, Imperial Palace $80/15, Riviera $47/7, Strat $60/15, Venetian $125/20

8:30pm Luxor $35/10

10:00pm By now, far beyond drunk and disorderly…we decide to give Pai Gow a try! TI $65/15

10:05pm That’s enough of that shit!

MIDNIGHT Strat $60/15

January 21st, Monday

?:??am Stumble off to bed

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

1:00pm Head to downtown Vegas

2:00pm Binions $70/20

3:00pm+ Enjoy Freemont Experience…visit Golden Nugget and Lady Luck etc… do the Japanese tourist thing. Visit Gambler’s General Store. Try not to go broke.

8:00pm Binions $70/20

8:01pm Frank tries to explain the dead button rule, from Wheeling Island, to the locals. Security is summoned!

10:00pm Return to the strip, find comfortable chair at a lowly $2/$4 Limit table and commence heavy drinking. If luck running terribly bad, opt for the Deal or No Deal Penny Slots near the entrance.

11:00pm Sahara $42/14

11:30pm Beer Pong Anyone!!!

January 22nd, Tuesday

Midnight Happy 40th Birthday Brian!!!

10:00am Visit and perhaps play at the newly opened/renovated Venetian Poker room “Palazzo”

1:00pm Head down toward Mandalay Bay and Luxor areas, gotta see ‘em all. Excalibur $35/10

4:00pm Luxor $50/11

4:05pm Someone needs to begin taking pictures and videos, since Brian will likely begin losing “time” at this point.

5:00pm Julie does her pickle trick in Jimmy Buffet’s again, someone at the bar sends offers to buy her a drink.

8:30pm Evening at the Improv, Stop in a Toby Keith’s bar…

11:00pm Spearmint Rhino, yeah right. I’m tellin’ you folks it’ll never happen.

January 23, Wednesday

10:00am Go to Stratosphere

10:01am Get player’s card this time!

NOON Call for tomorrow’s departure shuttle and time. Strat $60/15

1:00pm Snappers feel the need to ride the Stratosphere elevator…’cause they like it on TOP!

4:00pm Strat $60/15

7:00pm Strike up conversation with Mexican’s handing out fliers on the strip. Scream INS when the crowd draws in.

10:00pm Legend’s show at the IP?

January 24, Thursday

?:?? Sleep wherever, whenever…

9:00am Count $$$, see if enough remains to get home

11:00am Check out

11:01am Drink, Play, Spin…etc… await shuttle

?:??pm WeeWeeWee, all the way home!

Are we there yet..are we there yet...are we there yet!!!?

Regards,

cheer_dad

Myrtle Beach 2007

Well all good things must end...but let's recap the Myrtle Beach 2007 trip.

We stayed here:

We did a lot of this...

I saw a COOL waterspout!!!

We took time out to do this...

And even some of this (twice even)

We looked a little silly at times

Suffered some minor casualties...

But in the end...

We all survived, got along, had a BLAST, and all made it back in ONE PIECE! All's well that end's well. (We even managed to get in a few hands of poker to pass the time.)

Regards,

cheer_dad

Fun in the sun

This looks like a crew up to NO GOOD doesn't it! Actually they've gotten along very well while we've been on vacation here at Myrtle Beach. We're getting ready now to head down to the beach for another day of sun worship. Well at least MOST of us are up and are moving around.

The other two members of the party are still down for the count, huddled in their bed.

This is what they look like under normal circumstances:

BUT, so they don't get mad for having pictures posted of "just" them, I'll show one of group too, minus BIG RED of course, who took the picture.

Note the fact that Whit although "holding" the beer bottle, was not being permitted to "drink" it. What kind of parents do you take us for!? Time to hit the beach.

Regards,

cheer_dad

Myrtle in the morning

It's Tuesday morning on the Jackson/Murray vacation in Myrtle Beach, SC. Things are going great, the sun keeps shining, the waves keep rolling and the beer...well it's wet and cold! As usual Big Red opted for the less than wise approach to the art of sunbathing. She will never learn. Yeah, Big Red's a little red. : ) Cole got a little extra sun on the first day as well, but just on ONE shoulder, so he's surviving. Yesterday we opted to skip the beach and go instead to Broadway At The Beach. We all got henna tattoos and wandered around and actually had a good time. The shopping excursion didn't last too long. Cole started to get restless and I was able to convince Teresa it was time to head back to the condo. I think I owe the boy! Then we ALL headed out that evening to Murrell's Inlet and a restaurant called Nance's. Nice seafood restaurant, non-buffet...but it was very good. Afterward we walked up and down the boardwalk that connected a number of restaurants/bars. The boardwalk also led into a marina, with some enormous boats that the boys really liked. The boys have gotten along very well. You know how that's not always true when you have 3! Right now they're sitting here on the coach, playing Mario Kart on their DS's. The "gamer" chatter is entertaining to me! If it was a FPS...or a poker game, it'd be smack talk.

Speaking of poker, we've played cards a couple of nights already. One night a cheap game of TONG. Last night we started out with TONG and moved on to Hold 'em. Bob joined us, so a five person game is where it started until Jody busted out and headed to bed. Then the four of us continued. Big Red and I each started with $10 and each cashed out at around 1:30am for $40 and $37 each. I'd like to pretend that I was just playing well, but Matt was just hitting a run of bad cards. Now, having not played with Bob before, I didn't know what to expect. Of course he was in the same boat! Observations...a bit loose, but aggressive. He could be the type to blindside you with junk...which he did to Matt once, when he played the Shuman hand and nailed the straight. Matt got stuck with AQos, when he hit his two pair on the flop. Ouch! I played tight for the most part, and they remarked that it was the uber tight variety, and said I was incredibly patient for a 4-man game. I took the hint slowly, and opened up the game a degree. It worked for me. I was able to capitalize on Bob's misplaced aggression against Bob, when he made a move on Matt. He had discounted me staying in the pot when he made it $11 to go after the flop. I had hit two pair and I couldn't put him on the straight or flush draw possibility. He had top pair only, I later learned. I didn't get to see it immediately. I pushed all in for an additional $10. He dropped after going into the tank. All in all, it was a good time. And I hope to do it a few more times this week. We'll see.

I'm preparing for sitter duty today, so I'm going to wrap this up. Matt, Dillon and the Bob's are all going golfing. The ladies are all heading to the flea market, for a few hours. Whit and JoJo are still in bed, but should be beginning to stir soon. I'm staying here with the 3 boys and taking them down to the pool to worship the sun god and let them run amok in the pool.

Anyway, hope all is well in P-burg, we'll back in a few short days. We'll all get together again soon.

Regards,

cheer_dad

Back to reality...slowly and sluggishly

I'm jet-lagging badly. The harsh reality of the return to the workplace A.V. (After Vegas) has hit me head on. I'm sluggish, my eyes have circles under the dark circles, and I'm finding it incredibly difficult to survive this day. Las Vegas is just a memory now. She beckons for me to return soon. Hopefully I will! I would like to return in October/November, but I just don't know where the bankroll will be by then. Just as I was able to stick to my guns this go around, by playing the $2/$4 table...next trip I want to step it up a notch and play harder/ smarter/ sober/ and definitely MORE poker. I got lucky in Vegas. I played BlackJack and Let It Ride and just couldn't seem to do anything wrong at all! Nothing...I ran hot for 3+ days! Then I "felt" the cooling off, and had sense enough not to blow it all off trying to catch and make it back. I was able to hold off my losses to around $200 in the last 2 days. I still came back with a lot of money in my pocket. Between us, Big Red and I brought back more money than we left with, including the souveniers, food, drinks, etc... It was a VERY GOOD trip. I have a number of great memories, and I thoroughly enjoyed being a railbird at the WSOP, snapping pictures of and WITH the pros. Even Big Red really got into it, pointing and telling where to snap a picture from time to time. THAT was a very good day indeed. I still need to get the pictures from everyone to post up to the blog and website.


But of the ones that I took while there THIS one of Scotty Nguyen is my favorite! I happened to see him as we were heading back toward the Amazon Room at the RIO where the majority of play was being held. He was on a break...and headed out for a quick smoke. He put his head in one of the "Cool Zone" fans to cool off, and I politely asked...do you mind if I snap a quick picture and I'll leave you alone. He mustered up a smile and gave me this fantastic pose. Thank you Scotty, you're a class act! I can only guess how many times you've had to undergo the flash of an amateur's digital camera on this and every other tournament. Thanks again! You made my trip.

I also got this quick picture of T.J. Cloutier as well. The man was in a hurry...but I said please and he complied as well. Again, I really appreciate you taking the time to pose for yet another flash bulb that day. Hope the cards treated you well the rest of your day.


Some of my other buddies on the trip scored a lot of other pictures, which made me envious. I only wish I had been there to snap some of them too. Just happened to be that while I was there, one of the events was on break, while another continued. I'll get their pictures posted up here as soon as I get them. One of the most cordial and pleasant pros that I came across that days was quite a surprise to me...and came in the form of Humberto!
I spotted him just out of nowhere on the floor. Impossible to miss really. He had me pose with him holding his signature SHARK card capper.







He even waited around patiently and allowed us to snap another picture with my wife. I saw him again later in the hallway, posing with yet more fans, shaking hands and smiling ear to ear. Really nice guy! Thanks bunches!











I didn't get to speak to these last two pros at all, but the picture is very special at least to me. I admire both of them and to have them seated side by side in an event was a great thing to see, and although you didn't know I was there (actually walking around on the wrong side of the pseudo rail) I got this picture...which is GREAT!

Doyle and Annie next time I'll try for the handshake, but at the time you seemed otherwise engaged!

I'll post some additional pictures and commentary of the trip later, over the next few days. Hope you'll bear with me. At that time I'll start posting some of the pictures of the Brew Crew and the Red Snappers!!!

Hope everyone had a blast in Las Vegas, and we hope to do it all again REAL SOON!



Regards,


cheer_dad

Soaring with eagles...

The Eagle is being removed from the Endangered Species List. That seems like an incredibly proud accomplishment. Back in the 40's the national symbol was next to extinct. Now it seems to be thriving, and soaring proud! Congratulations and big thanks to all who had a hand in saving this remarkable species.

All of this information is courtesy of the Times Picayune

Speaking of soaring with eagles...hopefully that's how I'll be flying in Las Vegas!!! The time is nearly here folks! I'm here at work for a few short hours til Noon, and then I head home to square away a few last details, and then it'll be off to the land of dreams, and bright lights. I'm planning to continue to blog the whole time we're there, and try to post lots of pictures out here as well. Primarily for JJ's benefit and harrassment. Sorry buddy, I couldn't resist. Wish you were going, maybe we'd have that run at the BlackJack table again like we did with the Jersey Boys. Even though we both know that game is EVIL!

I'll continue to post, as time permits. I particularly hope to head over to RIO and see what pro-watching I can do at the WSOP!!! Stay Tuned!

Regards,

cheer_dad