I've shared this news item through my Google Reader Blog tie-in, but it was just too good not to dedicate a post to it.

According to this article http://www.cardplayer.com/poker-news/article/4937/wheeling-island-offering-playboy-tournament-series by Kristy Arnett of CardPlayer.com my "thus far" favorite West Virginia casino, Wheeling Island will be playing host to a "Playboy Poker Open!" That's right boys, stop yer grinnin' and drop yer linen!

According to the article players will have the opportunity to enter weekly satellite events for $65 every Sunday at 2:00pm beginning on September 7th. Winners of these Satellites will advance to compete in the "Main Event" which takes place on November 9th at 12:30pm. Players can do a direct buy-in to this event as well but the entry at that time will be $550! In the end ONE lucky winner will find himself on top and claim the "$52,800 purse AND perhaps more importantly a trip for two to a VIP Party at the Playboy Mansion on Nov. 19." Thank you Kristy for pointing this out! You would think that I'd have heard about this before now, seeing as it is in my home state and all, but the local media has been slow to pick up on poker, casino, and gambling related news.

The article as well goes on to discuss the "Playboy Series of Blackjack" as well, in which the top prize will be $25,000 AND the coveted two tickets to the aforementioned VIP Party at the Playboy Mansion on Nov. 19. The $75 satellites for that event begin September 3rd, Wednesdays 6pm and Saturdays 11am. Again that "final" event to be held on November 8th, will offer players the ability to buy in directly for $550.

I do see now that the information is posted on the Wheeling Island website here: http://www.wheelingisland.com/Sites/WIRT/GreyhoundRacing/Promotions.aspx, but unfortunately that information isn't going to be widely received. Hopefully, an advertisement campaign with a little more fanfare is in the pipe already.

Will I find myself there in the thick of that competition? Well, I won't be making any "special" trip up to Wheeling Island or anything... but let's just say I'm rescheduling what I've got on the calendar for November 19th. : P

Regards,

cheer_dad

Sitting at the airport

Well folks it's about time to wrap up this Las Vegas trip. I'm sitting here at McCarran Airport in Las Vegas and honestly I feel tired. It's been a long week. Big Red played today at Blackjack and Let It Ride and climbed a little out of the hole for us. No we still didn't finish up but it was a great time.

This time at Frank's urging we headed downtown to "old" Vegas. I was pleasantly surprised. The casinos were older, but nearly all of them had been updated and looked just as good as the others. Granted there was no Wynn or Bellagio down there to rival the strip but compared to Imperial Palace and Harrah's type properties, which is more "my" class they were just fine. Table games were alot cheaper. We even found a $3 table at the Golden Gate, and it wasn't a free-for-all, either. We signed up for lots of player's cards for the innocuous crap that they were handing out. Well undoubtedly receive lots of mailers as a result. It was funny on the 22nd to stick a card in a slot machine and have it tell me Happy Birthday Brian!!! I did note already receiving a number of emails from the casinos wishing me well on my big day, although none included any money savings.

Talked over lunch today with Frank and told him it just wasn't one of those "lucky" feeling trips to Vegas. So rather than throwing additional money out I opted to wander around sight see and drink mass quantities. Don't anyone go reading anything into it. Nothin's wrong, I'm not depressed, just goin' with the gut from time to time.

Frank says the only was he won this trip was losing. From 8 to 11am each morning when he played and got Aces and/or Kings cracked he of course lost, BUT made the bonus dollars from the casino at $100 and $50 respectively. He generally hit both, so those were winning sessions.

He also talked to the Imperial Palace Poker Room Manager and told him that he and I were bloggers from WV, and he comped him on the spot for some buffet tickets, which wasn't what Frank was looking for, he was just making small talk. He also mentioned that he had friends who used to work here in Vegas who went back "home" to WV to manage the poker room and blackjack pit area at none other than Chester, WV's Mountaineer Casino. Small world, isn't it.

Of all the casinos we visited, I'd have to say that drink service was best at the Palazzo. When you're sitting at a bank of penny slots, drinking double fisted already and the waitress hands you another and asks if you want another on her next trip, she's either made you for a serious alcoholic, or maybe we were just situated near the waitress/bar station.

We picked up several new $1 chips to add to the collection. Also stopped by the Gambler's General Store again on this trip and got some cool little trinkets, including some cut cut cards.

We've got about an hour before takeoff, and we're hoping that it'll be less than full and allow for some stretching out room. I'll sort through some of the pictures later and start getting them uploaded, and shared out to the blog.

Hope all is well back home and we'll see you all soon!

Regards,

cheer_dad

ouch

After one helluva day in downtown Vegas we made it back to the Imperial Palace. At first I play a cheapie Let It Ride table. I quickly drop $80... I hit nothin'. Absolutely nothin'. Decide to hit the Poker Room. I sit at the $2/$4 Limit table for a while waiting for the list to go down. Finally the NLHE table opens. I sit...and once again look like the fuckin' tight bastard that I am. Play it straight...no bullshit...no nuthin'...the only hand I see is with a 67s when I flop the open ended straight flush draw. I missed...and show to the guy who continues to bet. I continue patience play... From the BB I look down at Q6 of hearts. No preflop raise. Flop comes 669...Lookin' good cheer_dad. I check, knowing the guy on the other end has been betting all night with nothing. I call. The turn is a Q... For those of you not payin' attention, yeah...I've got the BOAT. I check.. He bets out for $10. I make it $30 to go he calls. Regardless of the river we all know I'm going all in. Like a good little poker player. The river brings an ace, I shove. Insta call from the "guy" that was there from the start. He shows his...pocket ACES! I slink away from the room, feeling rather squishy in some very awkward areas. Ouch! Okay, friggin' ouch...no...FUCKIN' ouch! $120 down on that hand. Ouch! I find the cooler.

Oh well...that's poker. Ah bullshit...still sucks.

ANyway, very good day downtown today. We all made money on free sign up money today. Many drinks, many comps, and lotsa fun... Thank you Vince for driving us around. You rule. All of us are more than willing to stay downtown on the next trip after what we've seen there. Very nice and much cheaper. Go figure.

It's late, I'm tired...I'm drunk...time to call it a night.

Regards,

cheer_dad

So, what brings 'em in?

I've been paying a lot more attention to my stats lately, no not my height, weight, and age (although I really should) no what I'm talking about is what attracts ye "surfers of the web" to the NPDT...n debt poker tour blog. I've been using Google Analytics to get a better picture of who is visiting my blog, and where they're from, as I've previously mentioned. But I've also been looking into the reason for your visit, how you found me, and how long you stick around when you get here. Granted I'm not packing them in by any means, but there are some things which seem to have attracted more traffic than others. So, with that opener, here are the "search terms" that landed folks on the ole blog and my accompanying comments:

Keyword:

1. wheeling island - Well this one's pretty obvious, the huddling masses wanted to know where to get their poker on!

2. carpe viam - This one caught me off guard. I only used the Latin phrase once on my blog, but I forgot about the oh so large Dead Runner's Society contingent out there in the world. I used to subscribe/belong to both the Dead Runner's Society and the Penguin Brigade, back in my full tilt running days, and "Seize the Road" is a true battle cry of both! It is fitting that I'm trying to reclaim my running roots, and shed the excess tonnage that this tie-in presents itself.

3. mountaineer "poker tournament" - Yet, again, rather obvious, poker freaks (such as I) jonesin' for a game.

4. wheeling island commercials - Similar, but this time folks looking for word of the commercials that started hitting the airwaves shortly after casino gaming opened in West Virginia.

5. wheeling island poker - I'm seeing a trend here...

6. "kwazy kowean" - This one FLOORS me!!! So much so that I did a search on it myself from Google.com and found that only two pages match the criteria! Of which I was #1! I guess I have to give credit to my buddy JJ on this. After all he is the one, and original Kwazy Kowean!!!

7. "phil ivey" debt - hmmm talk of "good" poker pros gets me found. I'll not be confused and start mentioning Jamie Gold. : ) Sorry Jamie, if you're reading this, I'm just kiddin'!

8. "poker room" + tri-state - Those of you searching for Tri-State (Cross Lanes, WV) poker are for the time being S.O.L. BUT take heart they'll be dealing out the first bad beat in the coming months!

9. "wheeling island" - uhmm users of Boolean operators...with such a simple search terms, I wouldn't have thought you would have narrowed your results much. But, I thought wrong. wheeling island without the quotes on Google, yields you 230,000 results, while using the quotes brings in a paltry 39,900!

10. "wheeling island" "minimum" "blackjack" $5 - this Boolean string yields only 104 results, or which the NDPT blog comes up as #5 thank you very much! Oh and the fact that the ACCURSED frackin' BLACKJACK is mentioned so very often in my more whiny posts, it's appropriate as all hell isn't it!?!

Anyway, in a nutshell that's what's bringin' you in, day in and day out. Now if only there were a few more of you and maybe I'd really feel like I was accomplishing something! Ah what does it matter, I'd still be out here yakkin' it up like a Chatty Cathy Doll. Remember the blog is cheaper than the much needed therapist!!!

I'll be seeing some of you Friday night at the Yanok's for the first tournament of the year 2008! And then on Saturday I'll be seeing even more of you at the first tournament of the year 2008 for the combined poker groups NDPT, River's Edge and SmartAss Poker (a.k.a Murray's, Wolfe's, and Ruble's respectively.) I'm looking forward to it ALL!

Oh and did I mention lately that the "Countdown to Vegas 2008" is getting SHORT!!! : )

Regards,

cheer_dad

A day at PokerRewards

Today was a lost day... It was my AWS, and I had only a few errands/tasks to accomplish, including trip to the dentist, and going to the DMV. Dental went off without a hitch, the DMV as is usually the case was a disaster, but at least I didn't waste much time. I went to renew my license. I got one of the "take a number" numbers and waited for my turn. When I was called and headed to the window, I handed over my paperwork and dug out my money. She typed in my information and ...waited...ad nauseum! "Oh no...well our computer system has been down all morning but we've been trying it everytime..." Information I could have used when I walked in, but whatever. To her credit she told me the system was down statewide, and I could call in first before wasting a trip (you know in addition to the one I'd already made.) C'est la vie... So, I head back home and get started on the mound of laundry and then fire up PokerRewards. I sit down at a couple of .05/.10 NLHE tables and just feel the life and chips being sucked out of me. I think I lost time there somehow. I know a few IQ points went down the drain. No cards, no wins, no opps to steal even a couple of paltry blinds. Just frackin' dismal. I join a $5 SNG, realizing only too late that it's an Ultra-Turbo. Oh the donkey parade. Ugh...it was horrid, and I of course got sucked out on, blahblahblah... no one really cares about that one hand I had the one time (I know Frank.) Frustration enters, not quite tilt, but close enough. So close in fact that I fire up the accursed BLACKJACK. Yes, JJ it is fuckin' evil. Yes the F-Bomb boys and girls. In matters of the BLACKJACK, the terms of my self-censorship do not apply. Deal with it! Anyway that wretched game sucks about $30 out of me, and leaves me with very little dignity. With the paltry remainder of my PokerRewards bankroll, I throw caution and my mind to the wind. Fire up a .50/1.00 NLHE table, and seat my dumb self with my last $80. Stupid...I know. Early on I make a call based more on a feeling than analysis. It really felt like my opponent was buying it after the flop came up. In his defense he was on a flush draw with his K-10 of diamonds...but my AQos had connected with the Queen on the flop as well. He had made it $4.50 to go preflop and I went along for the ride, He INSTA-POPPED it for all his chips...which I had covered. I called after some deliberation. I at first thought he wanted to prevent ME from hitting the flush, not the other way around. I need to remember this in my other games. Sometimes they put too much stock in that potential flush draw. Learn it...use it... That win, put me up around $130-ish. Now there were some additional ups and downs, but none of them were the evil BLACKJACK induced! I lost $20 on a hand with my AQ0s (as luck would have it) when my opponent turned over his AKos for the win. Say it with me...ACTION DRIVEN ALGORITHM! I saw more pocket pairs run into other pocket pairs than I care to remember. Luckily I wasn't normally involved, since pocket pairs were something that just weren't comin' my way. BUT I saw 3 pocket pairs go at it for all the marbles once... AA vs KK vs JJ...and the JACKS laughed all the way to the bank! Ooof, that'll leave a mark. But since I was logged on and playin' I saw a couple of freerolls firing up. The first was NLHE, semi turbo-ish, and like 10,000+ players to start. I finished in the low level money, for a buck, or so, which was pretty impressive, considering the donk field...and the idiocy that ensued...and generally so many people playing for so little actual money. It was fun nonetheless and gave me another table to watch. But then I got involved with the 5-card-draw PL game. I've played draw before, I guess, but I can say that PokerRewards does offer up some oddball tournaments to wet your whistle on. I did, and had a ball with it. As you can see I finished 29th out of the initial 892 players. Sounds cool...and profitable doesn't it. Well cool...but profit ehhh, not so much. They don't get as many fools to play these lesser games, and so the prize pool is diminished. But I'll be back. All in all, despite the BLACKJACK losses, and a few of my bad calls, I managed to move up a few dollars on the site, while increasing my number of raked hands considerably today. I started with $126. Now, I'm at $141.02. I know tiny baby steppin' cheer_dad. But let's remember that I was down to my last $80, and the poker gods did look down, and for once took pity on my miserable existence. They threw me a bone of sorts the first time with the AQos. They simply reminded me who was boss when they didn't let me win with it the second time. : )

I believe the Yanok's are hosting on Friday night...and Big Red and I will be there for sure! And then on Saturday it's off to do battle with the whole crew courtesy of the Wolfe's...and again Big Red and I will be there. Man we've got issues. But you gotta have a hobby right?! : )

Time to go watch the rest of the OSU vs LSU game. Big Red is getting much too much enjoyment out of watching bad things happen to the Buckeyes. : P See you all soon!

Regards,

cheer_dad

No love for cheer_dad : (

Well, the Yanok tournament is over and there was no love for cheer_dad. The poker gods spit in my general direction! I can't say completely card dead, but very card inconvenient. I was folded to in the Big Blind once with pocket aces, without even seeing a flop! I got clobbered with Big Slick, even when I hit my King. My opponent rivered a backdoor flush on me. I had pocket 7's once and flopped K-K-7! and everyone checked to me, and I bet out a measly $5 and all 4 folded to me. Later again with pocket 7's with 3 people in, flop comes all low (highest 8) and of course someone had it. In all of these cases, I never lost a great deal, just "enough." I simply watched my stack dwindle away. The only 2 short stacks at our table were able to effectively snipe chips away, when folks were mildly interested, by pushing all in. You knew they had nothing, but your nothing was smaller than theirs. Hey, it happens. I can't really fault my play with "maybe" the exception of the Big Slick example above. I could have saved $45 there I suppose. Also, late in the tournament, when I had pocket 8's in the small blind, it was raised and reraised before it got back to me, the reraise was an all in by Julie M. Scott B was the original raiser. I mucked to get away from the coin flip (a call would have put me all in.) In hindsight, I would have taken it down, but I thought I might get a better opportunity. The original raise was by Scott with a pair of ducks. Julie, of course never to be trifled with had A-Q. She did not improve and the ducks waddled away with it. My snowmen would have been good after all. Sally was right for slapping me in the back there. : ) But then again, I'm in to the pain thing! The blinds skyrocketed soon, and I ended up getting it all in with A-9 suited. Jenny hit a Jack with her K-Jos, and the rest is history. Cheer_dad became the bubble boy! On a positive side, Big Red played well, and managed to profit at the other table, early on, and came to the final table with a good stack. She was able to take down the #4 spot and $70, yes she went out right after me! I guess I took one for the team huh. (Yeah, that makes it feel SOOOO much better. ) Chris S took 3rd, Jenny 2nd, and congratulations to Scott B for taking down the top spot! His pocket 4's turned into a monster against Jenny, when 4 CLUBS showed up on the board, and he was the only one who had another. I enjoyed it...despite being a big loser. It happens. It was good to get together with good friends. I'm sure we'll all do it again real soon. Even Frank, Julie, JR, Nikki, and Sally came over to spend time with us, despite the fact that they weren't playing. I guess they just can't get enough!

Tonight we're heading over to the Wolfe's for dinner and games, no poker this time. I'm thinking Scattergories, charades, and pictionary. It's prolly not going to be a naked twister kinda night! : ) (OOh look how bendy!)

Heard last night from Brian Y that he played and lost in Wheeling yesterday at the blackjack and craps tables. He didn't care for the continuous shuffle blackjack and did I hear correctly that the minimum bet was $25 at the blackjack table!!! Recall casino operations that this IS West Virginia, sheesh!!! Maybe it's just because it's all so new. I didn't expect $5 tables, but hmmm $25 minimums rivals some of the upper crust Las Vegas casinos in minimums.

Time to go get motivated.

Regards,

cheer_dad

Drum roll please!

According to reports in less than 10 minutes, the dice will roll, and the cards will be dealt from the shoe, at Chester, WV's Mountaineer Casino, Racetrack & Resort. According to the news release on their site: http://mtrgaming.com/news/07/12_19_07.html, the West Virginia Lottery Commission gave them the go ahead to go live with full casino gaming on Thursday, December 20th. The ribbon cutting will be at 10:00am.

As more is posted, I'll let you know!

Regards,

cheer_dad

Some grease for this grind...

The Bodog account is now up to $117.xx. No that's not stellar, I realize, to have moved from 110-ish to 117-ish last night BUT if you'd seen the majority of the cards that I was seeing in last night's session you'd give me credit for moving up at all. Lots of dismal cards from every position last night. And when I would get some feeble little pocket pair, like 3's or 5's from late position, there would invariably be a raise and a re-raise if not more before it got to me. There were nut-jobs at the table pushing $10+ preflop to steal the blinds, which I'll remind you were 5cents and 10cents! I was seeing 3 and 4 people move all-in preflop, with absolute crap hands. So, it was time just to lie in wait. I made some colossal good lay downs too. I waited for better positions, and better days, and watched my statistics take a nose dive. I'm down to a 10% win when dealt cards. I'm seeing the flop only 31%, winning at showdown 60%, and winning when seeing the flop at like 27%. I find that when a table temporarily disintegrates that these uber fast hand cycles tend to skew the stats something fiercely. You're in every hand, raising and bluffing to steal, and dropping when you feel your beat. A few of these rounds will start the stats to spinnin'. Anyway, I did have some good hands too. But there were a number of times when after the flop I was forced to lay down pockets, and AK and AQ. I was beat and knew it. I resisted the urges most of the time to get in there on coin flips. The outlandish play was liable to hit whatever crap boards were coming out. There were times that I kicked myself when I'd folded preflop, when I would have hit BUT more often than not, had I stayed in with my hole cards, I would have gotten coolered by the nuts that someone else was holding. It was uncanny! But put a smile on my face, since I stayed out! I made one mistake as far as I can tell and it wasn't overly costly. I tried to slow play flopped trips, when two 10's hit the board, matching my 10-J nicely. My opponent hit runner, runner, runner flush on me, and I got off easy, only having to pay him off an additional 75cents-ish for it. Lucky there. If he'd popped it, I'd have passed, and I believe that. I did hit a straight flush on a hand, and it took me a while to figure that out. I had to double take on it. The pot had grown to like $4.80 with me and a couple of other guys in the hand. When I realized I'd rivered the SF, I had to do a double take. Then, thinking (hoping) that one of them had the ACE, I popped it hard, hoping to get paid off. Someone must have smelled the rat, but I did take down the pot. Surprisingly to me, I resisted getting into coin flips most of the time except for twice! I was being slapped around at the table, by guys who thought I was week, but I really wasn't getting the cards. Then for some reason, I "felt" something and decided to go for it on a hand. Granted it was AQc, but the $2.00 preflop bet put me off a little, since I'd been seeing this stupidity too much. Granted it's just 2 bucks but this is a LOWLY BUY-IN table folks. That's 1/5 of the BI! But I felt it was time...and also wanted to diffuse my chicken little image at the table. I called him down, and he flipped over pocket 10's I hit two Queens before the dust settled and took the pot and sent him to the rail. Now the other hand felt even better. There was this guy with some "camel-jockey" type name, with the face of some wild-eyed Arab as his avatar, who was playing like he'd declared a jihad against every stinkin' American at the table. (Granted he was probably some high school punk, stateside, but the whole thing left me, wanting to bust his ass.) He kept raising preflop, playing his position at times, other times, just for kicks. He wasn't getting that many winning hands that often. He was just a punk, trying to be table bully. So I'm the big blind, and look down at A-2 sooted! : ) Meek little, play me fer cheap hand! Of course, it gets around to him and he pops it, for his usual amount, and I hesitate for a moment, and decide WTF, just once! I flop two pair...and coyly check it. He fires $1.50, which I double, which puts me close to all-in at that table, which I'd been running horribly on. He mashes the button, for all-in. If he's made his set, then so be it...hang on kids, here we go. Well he didn't...he'd hit the Ace with a 10 kicker. Not a terrible hand, maybe I should have given him more credit. But he didn't double pair, and I took the pot...and he had to rebuy. He stopped his "raisy-daisy" ways, and I got a handle on the table, got back to even + the aforementioned $7-ish, and made my exit stage left. Thankful to be up...more thankful not to have gotten stuck for both my table buy-ins. I'm sure some would not approve of my tighter-than-tight approach, but I'm rebuilding...and frankly I'm climbing albeit slowly. However, these paltry little sums are significant when weighed against the $10 max buy-in. So, I'm trying to think in terms of chips, or units of betting, and not the "true" dollar amounts. It's keeping me sane, and improving my play, I think. Others would argue I'm not seeing enough flops, and I'm not gambling enough. I'm not sure how I feel about that anymore. I still don't like to think of poker as gambling. Calculated risk yes, but not out and out gambling. I'm more apt to try and avoid the coin-flips. There are MUCH better opportunities which present themselves at the table. I'm trying to seize upon these moments for now. Hey, if I can get the Bodog roll up to $400-$500, sure we'll talk, but until then I really can't and won't grant myself the luxury. This is a new disciplined approach to the game. And you can be damn sure there will be NO ONLINE BLACKJACK in the mix again...ever! I really mean that this time. I'm not going to forgive that indiscretion. It cost me in terms of blackjack losses and the tilt factor that compounded poker losses, well it was just fargin' stupid...just bad business. Time to play on the belly for while, and literally GRIND it out. Some of you aren't willing to grind out this low and slow...I am, get over it. It'll pay off, further on down the line.

Until then, I'll be the one rolling change to take to the cashier's window!

Regards,

cheer_dad

Weekend and the next

I wanted to personally thank the Wolfe's for hosting their House Warming party. I think everyone had a great time. I know I for one helped as much as I could to put a dent in the keg. There was so much food that a group of us returned the following day to continue the grazing, all the while loosening the belt by yet another notch. Of course there were cards to be played. Big Red was the winner on the night. 14-players started, she came out on top. This is beginning to be an all too common occurrence for her. Congratulations. I on the other hand continued my donkified ways, always attempting a steal at the most inopportune times. Trying to steal against Jody with trip 7's, with an obvious flush and straight on the board, but being greeted by her FRIGGIN' BOAT! WTF!!! Later I tried to make a move on Big Red, from last position, with my King high, preflop. Of course in retrospect...she had the chips, and an ACE. So the call was inevitable. So was my exit!

Now let's talk about another issue...BLACKJACK. You'll recall that I've espoused the evils of this method to reduce my bankroll in previous posts. I went on a bender. A fuckin' tilt-a-whirl, marred with 20's and double downed 11's turning into wondrous hands like 14 and 15. Needless to say, I no longer need to worry about finishing the play through requirements on CarbonPoker, since I have NO BANKROLL on the site, thanks to my own stupidity. I had lost about $50 before leaving for the Wolfe's. I was just fed up with bullshit poker. Playing hours of Hold 'em only to cashout up or down a few measly ass cents. Fuck this fucking game. So I fire up the BlackJack engine, and do very well, up until the time that I don't! Then at the House of Wolfe after busting out of the tourney...and doing shitty at the cash game, failing to hit open ended straights way too many times, I fire up Frank's computer and proceed to BlackJack it up again. I think for the evening the score was me 0 blackjack tables $200. Meaning my bankroll on Carbon is no longer in existence. Actually I think there was like $30 left, cause I fired it up again when I got home...and since I was still awake, and destined to sleep on the couch because of the snoring issue, I find a $22 tournament, and figure I'll give it away as well. I made it #5. Payout of course was Top 3. I was knocked out holding AQ from last position. When the SB insta-fuckin'-calls, and flips over his COWBOYS. Cheer_dad, exit stage left. So, I've donked it off AGAIN, folks. Maybe I just need a new hobby huh!!!? Well back to the ole drawing board. Okay, so I'm sitting at around $1,000 in the bankroll. I think...I'll need to take inventory tonight. Come up with a new game plan. Hey, it's only money right. I need to get my head right. Sometimes, just ignore that little voice that says "What the Fuck!" I gotta figure out how to get in the bigger game, and stay there. Well that and stop being such a fuckin' moron. Okay I've used my quota on the F-bomb, and should stop now.

Cole's football game was Sunday vs. Warren White. It was a scoreless game until the last 20 seconds, when Warren punched one into the endzone. We had failed to capitalize on a 1st and Goal from the 8 yd line earlier. The worst part of the day, aside from chalking one up in the losing column, was Cole. He got pulled off of center, when he blew the snap on a couple plays. Whether the coaches knew or saw it, he got his clock cleaned a couple times by Warren's #45, and he got skiddish, then went back to old habits of trying to get up quicker to fend off the tackle, instead of getting the ball hiked. He's upset. I didn't help matters, really, but I later told him I was sorry, and that we'd work it out. I'm worried though that the coaches aren't even gonna let him try it anymore. He's still on 1st offense and 1st defense. Plenty of play time. He's just needs more aggression. I'm debating about what to do if they decide to dole out punishment in the form of "laps." Since I trained him on the snap...and fixed it for him...I may do the laps with him. We're in this thing together, or at least that's the mission I want for him to see. It's not just him on his own. I'm his wing man...and really am still his biggest fan. I just wish I could express it all a little better. Keep the fingers crossed that he'll get a second chance to shine, otherwise it's going to be a terrible blow to his ego, and may devastate his game altogether. So much shit for an 8-yr-old to deal with. Sorry little guy!

The Yanok's game is scheduled for this coming Friday night at 7:00pm. It sounds like it'll be lively. I think the Wolfe's are tagging along. The Millers, and Sally and Scott are also confirmed already. JR will probably be there too. Incidentally, JR will be leaving Tuesday destined for a freeroll at the MotorCity Casino. Money and work schedules just aren't going to allow me to go with him. He will going up against 50 total players, for a prize pool of $5,000. Everybody wish him luck...good cards and big pots.

This weekend is a 3-day weekend with Labor Day falling on Monday. Which Big Red has already decided that our Labor Day extravaganza is a go as usual, including the Volley Ball Game From HELL. I think I still have bruises and dislocations from last year's game. So, again, it's going to be a busy weekend. Cole has a game tonight at Godbey, something called the Novice Game(s.) Bad part is they just started school today. So he'll be tired either tonight, or tomorrow at school. Then there's practice at least on two other nights this week. Thinking of it...I'll try to have pity, and be extra nice to him. Good kid, I want the best for him.
In other news of my life. I'm struggling with some things. Non-poker, non gambling...and no further discussion here. I'm just struggling.

Regards,

cheer_dad

...motherless... !

I donked it up last night. I mean I stunk it UP something fierce last night! It was only a net $33.xx loss but that's a substantial amount to my online CarbonPoker bankroll. Especially since I was basking in the glow of my reaching the $241 mark! Now, I did catch a case of 2nd best there for a while...but my wins were few and far between. And when I had a hand the world folded to me, nearly every time! I made a whopping 73 cents on Aces Full of Kings for Pete's sake! The worst part was the little BlackJack interlude. Wow, that game really is EVIL, online!!! And I even knew it...I just wanted some instant gratification! But all I got was just BUSTED UP! Thank goodness I was only betting $1 a hand! "Why?" you may ask...why was I even playin' blackjack, after having sworn it off. Well it was intended to be a comfort game to me. I was on tilt last night, before I even started playing cards at all. Baseball game hadn't gone well. I'd been yelled at before the game, which was still stuck with me. I wanted some peace and quiet when I got home, but no one was cooperating. Big Red went on a cleaning rampage...and well I was just being selfish. I desperately needed ME time...although I don't know why. I thought I'd feel better winning a few measly bucks. Well losing the 33 didn't help my mood any. I finally went to bed and was glad when sleep took me. I didn't want to talk or listen. I just wanted to stop feeling so lousy. These are the times when I lose money, thankfully not much. But it's these times, when I desperately need my poker diversion, that I shouldn't play. Whether the poker gods are with me or not...it will NOT be a useful, profitable or at all enjoyable session. I think I've taught myself a lesson on this point...at least until the next time anyway. Sometimes you know I just get pissed off at the world. I think we all do, but I've been doing it a lot lately. It can't be a good thing when it's so obvious that your 14-year old daughter recognizes it and tells you to get happy! Your kids aren't supposed to see that. How can you lead and guide with a chink in the armour? Anyway, it's back to the ole drawing board online. I'm now sitting at $208.xx on CarbonPoker, up over my initial deposit...but I've now pissed away $12.00. So yeah, it's less than break friggin' even poker. Although the $12+ is thanks to the motherless BLACKJACK MONSTER! I'll do better, I promise.

I'm really leaning more and more, to wanting to play at higher levels, in ring games, maybe at $1/$2 NLHE...but the online bankroll is what it is...with it being so very difficult to get money out there anymore. I just really believe that the donk fest...6-7 players to the flop will be reduced at least slightly. I've gotten in the habit of not betting or raising nearly high enough, because I'm feeling like I'm witnessing AutoCalls. I had two insta-callers at the table last night, a HEAVY bluffer...and one or two guys that were slow playin' EVERYFRIGGINTHING! And each time, luckily against those last two, I was holding my losses to a minimum. But these guys were smooth calling with AQ and KK with multiples in the pot!!! WTF!!! Trap yes...but so many times, I came SO CLOSE to suckin' out on them. And they didn't even acknowledge their good fortune. Then there were the guys at the table who would go on an ALL-IN binge for a few hands at a time. All-In for $10-$25 bucks to win.35-$1.00. Other than to be a complete dick...what for. I'm getting angry and down just thinkin' about it. I could recognize when most of these guys were full of shit...but I just NEVER had the cards to do ANYTHING at all about it. I mean what am I gonna do push with my monster 3-6os? These guys were calling it all, folks...almost like they knew what was coming up next. I hope that's not true, for the sake of poker, but I'll probably never know for sure.

I've ranted long enough here, and can feel my bloodpressure and heartrate continuing to rise, so I better bring this to a close.

Regards,

cheer_dad

Good to be home...aw who am i kiddin'

We are back from Las Vegas. We rolled back into town last night at around 2:00am. Teresa and Julie were a bit behind us, since they took a later flight. I think everyone had a good time, really! Lots of cards were played, lots of alcohol was imbibed...boy was it ever. Of utmost importance...I came home UP! No kidding around, I did VERY WELL this time, at least for me...a lowly bankroll kind of guy. I left home with $750 in my pocket. I returned with just under $1,300. I even gave Big Red $120 one day when her luck wasn't holding up. I also bought food, and did a lot of shopping. So to have come back dead even would have been an amazing feat. Coming back with in the neighborhood of $550 over and above the starting point, was simply AMAZING to me. I did well on the first few days. Starting the ball rolling with $2/$4 Limit Hold 'em, as planned at the Imperial Palace. There were a couple of other poker sessions while I was there too and I thoroughly enjoyed them...but realizing that I would be drinking heavily I opted for games that wouldn't be affected too much by alcohol. Enter BlackJack and Let It Ride. Let It Ride I consistently won, taking down steady sums which added up over time. BlackJack on the last couple of days took back some of the profits, but not all of them. Of particular importance in the returning bankroll was the day (Sunday I think) we started Casino hopping, hitting a few, including Paris along the way, before we ended up at New York New York. Here I hit the motherload! A bunch of us sat down at a $10 BlackJack table, I sat with $100. I played and played so long and drank so much, that I eventually lost time I guess. Or maybe I was just having too much fun. Frank later told me that he believed that we had been sitting at that same table for nearly 6-7 hours! When it finally dawned on me that I was beyond incoherent, I said I need to leave and asked for a cashout. When the stacks of checks were arranged and colored up, I had right at $650!!! WOW! I don't think I've EVER done that well. I also recall at least 2 Full Houses while playing Let It Ride which paid out like $150 each time they hit. Heck I even hit on a couple of slots, and the Roulette table too. This was a great enjoyable winning session. Teresa was also able to turn her luck around as well, and started on a winning run as well, primarily at the tables, including BlackJack and Let It Ride! I'll have to get a final count from her to know the exact total of her winnings.

Anyway, we are back...and I'm still a little jetlaggy. I would like to post more, and regret that I failed to post the whole time I was in Vegas, but I promise to make it up to you soon, with posting our pictures to the blog and the website. As well as compiling a list of top quotes, happenings and things to remember. This may continue to be added to, as others in the group help to pull other things out of their memories as well. Alcohol has blurred some of the details!

Anyway, I have to head to bed a little early, so I can get up for work tomorrow. : ( More about the trip later...

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

Self Aware

"The world is made for people who aren't cursed with self awareness." I heard this line in Bull Durham for the first time. How true... It seems there's always some donk at the table who's just livin' life right. Despite the fact that luck loves an idiot, I finished up last night playing. (Yes, I got to play online, cause Big Red went out!) But early on I was seated with a guy who crushed my Kings, when he played his sooted cards to the river. Yeah...you guessed it. He did his LOL, that was funny, crap, which nearly sent me over the edge. But then I decided simply to watch the game unfold and play the hands I was dealt, and steal when the opportunity presented itself. I actually made money last night. Then, I went and pissed a chunk of it away at the blackjack table. What was I thinking? I was up like $45, not rich, but up nonetheless. Then I friggin' donated $20 of it chasing, chasing, chasing. Bad part was, at one point at the blackjack table I was UP to an amount that would have put me ABOVE the level that I had been at before the big turn of events. SO STUPID! The profits don't come fast. If at all... Slow steady is sometimes VERY slow.

This is my short day, so it won't be long now. There's a game tonight at Yanok's, that Big Red and I are going to play. We may even drag JR and Tabby, and Frank and Julie along for the ride. This is a good, enjoyable, fun game, that I think they'll like. Who knows tonight, if things go well, maybe I can afford to play the Crush Game tomorrow. The $50 price tag is large, when half the proceeds are going to the fundraiser. BUT, I have played for more now haven't I.

A thought's been crossing my mind, something I read a while back. In poker, most players want to call, and they're looking for reasons to call, instead of looking for reasons to FOLD. They should be focusing more on why the other guy is involved in the hand. Focus on why they're in the hand in the first place. Don't let the blind luck factor play in to your game. Get your game face on. Bring your BEST game, whether it is online, B&R, or a home game...they are all opportunities for profit. Never play, just to pass the time. Every time, involves your wallet. And that money, is yours whether you won it from someone or whether you worked for it. Either way it is yours, and you choose to put it in play. Don't dump it off to anyone. Make 'em work for every penny of it. Be an agressor when you can. Tighten your game in some ways, loosen it in others. A donk will play anything, and hold it all the way down. Use your ability to cut loose from a hand to your advantage, don't get in deeper than you can swim back out again.

Well that's enough of my own poker ego oozing out. See you all real soon.

Regards,

cheer_dad

Oops I did it again

This was my alter-ego over the weekend, during the Saturday tournament. The anger from within boiled to the surface and flowed out over the folks present, I'm currently trying to make amends for my behavior. But, we'll just have to wait and see how it all pans out in the end. I've given enough lip service to this otherwise, in emails to the group, postings to various forums and a lot of phone calls, so I won't beleaguer the issue here anymore. Suffice it to say, I had a meltdown at the tournament and I wish it hadn't happened. So that was my Oops I did it again moment for the weekend. BUT mine didn't hold a candle to this one...

Brit what's up girl? Is life so bad with K-Fed gone? I can't really believe that would be true. I'd have to think it'd be an improvement. What are you doing to yourself. Get it together! Then again, that whole bald look has worked for a few other beauties. Like Demi...and Sigourney. Skip the ode to Sinead O'Connor thing though. Never worked for anyone that I knew! Anyway, I guess what I took away from this was that as bad as things seem to get for me, apparently they just aren't all that bad! I'm keeping my hair! It's trying to leave me gradually, but I'll keep it for as long as I can without trying the comb-over!

I played a little $2/$4 today after doing lousy at low level No Limit earlier, and being screwed again by online blackjack. It really is evil. I'm back up to $788 as a result of moving up. I hit a few phenomenal hands that got me out of the cellar. So I'm about $60 off of the level I was at before taking the big hit. So that's something. Maybe the variance will come to an end. Although, my tilt move of moving up is the only thing that saved the night. :)

This has been a long weekend for me, and tomorrow is the first day back to work for me. It'll be a long one I'm sure! But it'll be a Wednesday already! HUMP DAY, PEOPLE!!!

Maybe we'd should round out the week, with another Poker Game on Friday or Saturday. HMMMM, now there's a thought!

Enough rambling for tonight, save something for another day.

Regards,

cheer_dad