A catch up post

Once again, I'm behind in my blogging, so I'll once again call upon the work of others. First, over to Lou Kreiger's Blog http://loukrieger.blogspot.com/2007/12/annette-obrestad-wins-tournament.html where he covers Annette Obrestad's winning of the Tournament Performance of the Year Award from the European Poker Awards, in Paris. At only 19, the little lady is tearing up the poker world. I wish her continued success!

There has been extensive coverage of the gathering of poker bloggers in Las Vegas (WPBT, World Poker Bloggers Tour) for their "Holiday Classic at the Venetian. I'll refer you to the following blog post http://www.lasvegasvegas.com/pokerblog/archives/006018.php for pictorial and written coverage of the event, in which 120+ bloggers came together for the 4th Annual Poker Bloggers Holiday Event. I recognize a number of them by name, and some by photo. One day, maybe I'll be able to join their ranks at one of these gatherings.

I also wanted to take the opportunity to thank the Yanok's once again for their hospitality on Friday night for their tournament(s) as always it was a great night. I made one donk move...which cost me a money spot in the tournament. That's what you get when you fail to pay attention. I had the stack to sustain me to a 1st or 2nd finish, but blew it on my mistake. Rather than dwell on it, I'll learn from it, and not make the same error in the future. I guess in the interest of moving things along I'm inclined often times to "rush" to act in a hand. Unfortunately, this has led me to act too soon, and in this case I gave away my stack. Ouch!

Also, thanks to JR for hosting his tournament on Saturday. Thank goodness I was able to make a 3rd place showing in game 1, and Big Red the same in game 2. There was a lot of good times to be had. A lot of drinking and utter mayhem ensued throughout the night. Jr's got the pictures to prove it too! AND, Nikki it was nice to meet you. Hope despite all of our antics and poker playing, that you had a good time. Once you get drawn in to all of our insanity, it'll be a long road back.

NDPT #12 is coming up on December 15th at 6:00pm. This will be the last "regular (points)" game of the year. Only the Year-Ender remains, which I'm still sorting out a date for. We'll discuss and finalize this Saturday. I will have to make sure not to conflict with the Yanok's year ender on the 21st. AND, I have to attend it, since I'm currently the chip leader, for this event! This game will present a strange situation in that, everyone starting will start out with different chip stacks. I think I'll have in the neighborhood of $385, while some will have around $30. Strategy here is going to be VERY IMPORTANT. I'll need to think this through. I'll also need to fully acknowledge the other big chip stacks, and avoid a devastating hand, which could mean the end of my tournament life.

I attended my daughter's basketball game last night, at Edison...and I was not real happy about it. Once again, I watched as my daughter, Heather, and even Laura, got to ride the bench throughout the game until the last 29 seconds at which time the schmuck of a coach finally decided to put 'em in. By this time the game was a lost cause. Frankly, the game was going the direction of Hamilton, since the end of the 1st half. There was at one point an 18 point deficit, that the girls just never recovered from. The coach could very easily have begun putting in the other girls. I think one major flaw in what he is doing involves playing on his starters, and he's absolutely wearing them out. They are beginning to lose steam, and the score begins to show it as we go along. I noticed this week and last that the opposing team's coach was keeping the team fresh, by substituting often. Our coach could learn a thing or two. Whitney and Heather complained, and the coach noted my presence waiting in the wings, and knew I was pissed. Me going up to him, would have been a BIG MISTAKE. Frankly, he didn't want to hear all of the words that I had in mind.

Wish there were more substance to my comments today. A quick re-read makes it all look like a lot of pointless drivel. But there were a number of things I wanted to cover, but just don't think I covered it all very well. I'll make a better effort of it next time.

Regards,

cheer_dad

Under the Weather

I'm only just now, beginning to come out from under the weather, or the sickness (funk) that I've been dealing with. Wow, what a cold, or flu, or fargin' something I've had. Ever since Sunday, I've been sick. The group of us still went to Wheeling, but it was a chore. As bad as I looked that day, as Frank pointed out, on his blog, I would have taken that day, over a couple of the others I had since then. I haven't been this sick in a while. I've been suckin' down Mucinex, anti-biotics, Hall's, Zyrtec-D, Tylenol, etc... You name it, I've ingested it. While in Wheeling I hit the Jack Daniel's pretty hard to sooth the throat, as well as try to numb myself up pretty good. I guess the good news is, that I seem only to go through one of these uber-colds once per season, so maybe I'm done now, for this Winter. KNOCK-ON-WOOD!

I would have blogged more, except for the fact that during a drug-induced attempt to logon to my laptop, I locked my PointSec password. Farkin' security! This also cut into my poker play to a degree, until I downloaded Bodog onto Cole's laptop. : ) All in all poker was kept to a minimum, which was a good thing, and let me rest up and begin to get well. I'm not over this cold, but I don't think it's localized to my lungs anymore, and confined to the upper respiratory system now. I swear I think part of my brain came out, in a Kleenex yesterday.

I did get to read a lot of my latest CardPlayer Magazine, with Annette_15 on the cover, following her WSOPE victory, and EPT final table appearance (2nd place.) What a girl! The article they had on her, really caused me to raise an eyebrow though! She was quoted as saying she wasn't overly impressed by the play of any of the pros, against whom she played. She also very pointedly mentioned NOT being at all impressed by Ted Forrest! She was very critical of his play in fact. She detailed bluffing a lot of folks, and particularly Ted on a hand in which she had a 6-2d. This was in "near bubble time" of the tournament. She bet with no pair, no draw, he raised her to 140,000, with like 300,000 let behind it. And she shoved All-In with her nothing, and he dropped it. The little girl's got BALLS! Her approach is very Balls to the Wall throughout her stay in any given tournament. I would like to see a complete rundown of her entire tournament play. The boring hands, the bluffs, the blind steals, the donk moves, the whole enchilada. I'd like to put myself in to the mindset. I'm really beginning to believe that this is how a lot of people really do play, and that my good cards, slow, methodical approach is from a dying breed of player. The books all lie, and the pros who right them don't even come close to playing by the methodology that they outline within their own books. Hypocrisy! The Emperor has no clothes!

Also, worthy of mention is the fact that this issue of CardPlayer magazine, mentioned West "by God" Virgina! In a "very" short article, they mention the opening of 2 new poker rooms, here in the Mountain State, taking us for the time being to a total of 57 tables, rising from 0 the day before Wheeling and Chester, opened their doors! Yes, I know, we still need to get up to Chester. I need my collector chips...and wanna watch horsies run! If there's one named for anything related to poker in a race, I know I'll bet it, just as I will if there's one out there named, "Sniffin' Glue!"

I did make it back to work today, oh joy...and brought the laptop in, and PC Support guru and poker bud Eric S, got my PointSec dillemna taken care of, after much wailing and gnashing of teeth. Too bad about the sacrificial chicken it took to seal the deal! But you know how technology goes!

No home game's scheduled that I know of this weekend. But don't forget that at the IBEW on Saturday at 6:00pm, there is a Benefit/Fundraiser Hold 'em game for the PHS Girls B-Ball team. Shout-Out to Ms. Miller!!! I know some of the NDPT crew will be joining you, and in fact Big Red mentioned that perhaps the two of us will throw our $50 each into the mix as well, for some card playing, and general entertainment purposes, oh yeah and to support the youth. (Remember it's for the CHILDREN!)

That's enough of a catch-up uber-post to tide over even the most hard-core blog readers among you.

Regards,

cheer_dad

Less than 2 hours away

Poker night at the Wolfe's is less than 2 hours away people. And in the words of SpongeBob SquarePants... "I'm ready!" I was up late last night, waiting for Big Red to return from the Eagles after her SPA party, here at the house. She came home a winner, cashing out for $200 on the dreaded machines. She does well on them usually, me...not so much. I think they can smell the fear! I got up a little late this morning, and immediately headed down to do my 30 minutes on the ole treadmill. Then, it's been a friggin' Laundry-Palooza around here. Sheesh who's wearing all this shit! But it's nearly done now. I got the kids fed, kitchen cleaned up, I have to drop off Whitney at Jordan's for the night. Cole of course in tow. Teresa will be coming back (late I'm sure) from a day at the mall with her mother. Yes, the dreaded Monster-In-Law, guilted her into a day of shopping, since they don't spend enough time together. Guess she never did the math on... time spent with her, is time away from me. Aw...who am I kidding I got a lot done today. Albeit, Martha Stewart-ish...and if I can just get these frackin' panty hose to stop riding up. And hold the jokes about me making someone a good little wife one of these days.

Anyway, game plan for tonight...there is no game plan, other than me consuming mass quantities of cold and wet drinks, containing a lot of barley and hops. There could be the occasional Jello Shot and/or shot of Crown. (Big Red you better remember to pick it up!) The Jackson's will be absent from tonight's game. I'm wondering what affect that will have (if any) on how I or anyone else for that matter plays. I'm sure JR, will notice fewer suckouts! Maybe I could invite "Call-Station-Carl" over for S and G's! Where the frack is my boy KIMA?! Wait that's frack or some derivative of it now twice in this post. You could probably guess I've been watching the Battlestar Galactica series. I had not been watching it since it first aired back in the first season. So, I rented Season 1 from Blockbuster and have been watching it in its entirety. Anyway that explains the frackin' frack of it!

I read today that "annette_15" had made the final table at the the EPT Dublin. Is there no stopping this "little-girl?" Best of luck to you. It just dawned on me, she's just a bit over 4 years older than my daughter! Who among you can picture my lil blonde girl at the tables? Although she did used to make the most of the trash talk when she played my freerolls for me on UB! Depressed smart-ass punks to no end to hear they were getting beat by a little girl. HEEHEE!

Well, it's time to wrap it up, and herd the kids together, and get Whit to where she's heading for the evening. See you all very soon. See a very few of you at the final table, and then you can all watch me take down the top spot tonight. How's that for the power of positive thinking!?!

Regards,

cheer_dad