It went downhill

You see a few of the mobile texting posts from yesterday, as I had joined Frank and headed south to the Cross Lanes Poker Room. The tournament brought me stale cards, but I had glimmer of hope briefly when a stolen pot beefed me back up. Unfortunately the blinds and antes just slowly chipped me out. No pairs, connectors, or face cards for that matter. Busted out 33 out of 95 players. sigh...

Then, on to the cash game. It was VERY loose. Suckout city... So, I played cautious. First hand I got involved in from the button, was 7-8os when it was only $5 to the flop, with EVERYONE in. Why not. The board shows two sevens on the flop. Ooooh goodie for cheer_dad. It checked around to me, so I fumbled around and threw out what looked like a steal for the pot. I got a couple callers. The turn was an 8. I think the table rose a little on my end of it. But the guy in front of me throws out a $20 bet. I feign to throw away (yes, transparent to most players but not these guys.) Then frustrated looking I throw in a raise. He called very slowly... more shrewd than I gave him credit for. He tables his 7-9s for trips. I table my 7s full of 8s for the win and a very nice pot. He had called from early position with a 7-9, in fact I think he's the one that made it $5 in the first place. Hmmmm. BUT, life is good, cheer_dad's actually up for the trip now, despite busting out of the tourney. I order a beer... You can see where this is going. Then, comes the hand. I'm in the small blind, and the whole table is limping in, it rounds back to me, and I finally look down at my cards. I have AQos. I make it $15 straight to go, just content to take it there. Instead I get 3 callers. Oh goodie...BUT as luck would have it, the flop comes out Q-6-4 rainbow. This is a great flop for me. So, I bet out $60, still just wanting to get this done and over... 1 fold, then 2, then wait... WTF, he pauses and looks doubtingly at my cards seemingly challenging that I have a queen in my hand. So much so that he grabs a boat load of greens (far more than enough to put me and my measly stack all in. I think he threw like $200 out there, where I had a lil under $100 left. Everything here pointed to him buying it, the pot had swollen now, a call by me is going to make it in the $360+ neighborhood. I've lost track, my mind, and as you can tell, I'm about to lose all my chips too. I make the call with my top pair top kicker, convinced that he's bullying me, like I've seen he and the other players doing so far tonight. I call it, and he says immediately I "just" got middle set... 666, the mark of the beast. I've just been owned. Nice hand sir, I'll call it a night after that. No, sense throwing good money after bad.

To any of my readers, where did I go wrong on this... other than actually showing UP in the card room in the first place? Did the chips inevitably end up in the pot, no matter? Anything I could've done? Was I just destined to lose it all here? Should I just suck it up, and quit the bitching, or what do I actually "learn" here? I await any comments you may have...

Regards,

cheer_dad

Adding Insult to Injury

On the heels of Frank's trip to the new Tri-State Racetrack Casino's Poker Room, JR made his maiden voyage trip to the place and sends me the following picture from deep inside the den of iniquity!!! Frank is there again too, and I believe Vince made the trip as well. I suppose I deserve being sent this taunting picture for not tagging along with them. But honestly I've been on the road too long from my vacation. I promise guys on the next trip I'll be there... and I'll probably be losing money.

Thanks for the picture... but where the hell is the poker chip to add to the collection... or are you making me collect it for myself? Have a good trip guys. Come back with big cash and bigger stories.

Regards,

cheer_dad

To all you nay-sayers...

Well you thought the day would never come. Two outa Three ain't bad huh!?! Well what's been nearly a year in the making is finally going to happen. "What's up, cheer_dad," you ask, "what's the earth shattering news?" Well according to this article http://www.herald-dispatch.com/news/x1846891047/W-Va-racetrack-given-OK-to-offer-poker/index.html?printview=true Tri-State Racetrack & Gaming Center will FINALLY be opening its doors to offer poker to the masses! That's right people the third West Virginia casino will finally be offering something other than slots and dogs. This comes nearly ONE YEAR after the initiative was passed by Kanawha County to allow the casino to open poker and table games at the existing casino. Wheeling Island and the Mountaineer jumped on that bandwagon long ago and has thrived at least as far as my personal observations and the various articles have thus far suggested. I wish Tri-State Racetrack & Gaming Center good luck, and yes eventually I'll be down to give it a go, but I'm still a little irritated that it took so long to make it happen. The people of Kanawha County were none to happy either, and even the Governor weighed in on it you'll recall from a previous post I threw out here on the blog. But anyway, today's the day following 2 days of successful "charity" poker tournaments to get the ball rolling, the Lottery Commission gave their blessing and a quiet sigh of relief which says, "sheesh, it's about friggin' time Tri-State!!!" Anyway, read the article, and make plans to visit this new poker room when you can. My buddy Frank, was headed down to indulge in the madness of the first day/night, this evening. I haven't talked to him since I left for vacation so I'm not sure how all that's panning out.

I'm back in town now, having just arrived home after that long drive back from Myrtle Beach, SC. It's good to be home, but as usual there's already a lot to get done after a vacation. So rather than sitting here pecking away at the keyboard, I better get to it.

See some of you later this evening at the Eagles drawing, and others I'm sure over the weekend. It's good to be home.

Regards,

cheer_dad

Mission Accomplished

I got it done. The cheer_dad household once again has a functional oven! A trip to Allied Appliance, $58 for an ignitor, and a lot of crawling around on the floor, shoving my head into the bowels of my oven, and swearing only a few times, and it's all working again. I was more than a little anxious when I first fired it up, ready to run for the door. Then, after that I tackled the job of putting together my son's heavy bag. It has a fixed stand, that had to be filled with water...a lot of water. I really don't want to have to move this sucker around much. Oh wait, didn't I set it up where all you NDPT'ers will soon be gathering...in my basement?!

Speaking of that, don't forget folks this Saturday, December 29th, at 6:00pm, is the End of the Year Tournament for the NDPT. Julie Wolfe as you will recall earned her entry into this event by finishing on the top of the pack in the Point Race. Go She-Wolfe! The rest of us will be pony-ing up the $50 buy-in. I should have in the neighborhood of 26 players. A few of you were tentative. I understand with the time of year. I'll see you all real soon.

Tomorrow will be a special day in West Virginia. In Chester, WV at the Mountaineer Casino and Racetrack, the FIRST EVER poker tournament will be held. Registration starts at 9:15 tomorrow morning. Limited to 300 players, with a $100 total buy-in which includes 20 to the house and 5 to the dealers. I had planned to cover the event with my fellow blogger Frank, from River's Edge, but the holidays in general have stretched the ole wallet pretty thin. And with the Vegas Trip being only 23 days (and some change) away it's hard for me to justify "blowing" another $100. Yes, I know I 'could' win. But I only show up planning that I'm not coming back with it. It happens, and it has been rather par for the course for me lately anyway. Why throw caution to the wind... I don't want to be playing so down on my belly as that. It makes for poor play, that others are able to sense and exploit. There'll be another game, another day.

Also, wanted to give a big thank you to the Brothers household for their hospitality, and lots of alcohol and food on Christmas Eve. We had a great time, and wanted to thank you for all the hard work that you put into the night, and for welcoming us, as always into your home. And that Wild Turkey American Honey is REALLY good SHHHHHHHTUFF!

See everyone real soon...

Regards,

cheer_dad

Wheeling site follow up...and other plans

Hmmm, now I'm hopeful that the picture shown here, is actually the Wheeling Island website redesign... Now the bigger question, was it complete before? Were they still working on it? Or is this another friggin' site that the accursed PROXY servers are shredding before displaying?! Say it ain't so, Del!!! Frank have we merely been duped by surfing at work? OR...did your screenshot come from home? I'm still not really all that sold on the idea of the Ford F-150 dwarfing the rest of the home page... maybe a DODGE!!! : ) Blush, is that my hemi showing? Anyway, it is an improvement over what I was seeing earlier. If it was that way earlier today, I guess I'll look foolish again. But after 39 years on the planet, I've been getting used to it by now. I did browse through the rest of the site, and it is better looking than it used to be. It has a little more glitz, and some pictures, and I'm hoping they'll quickly fill in the "blanks" for the other table games as soon as they open on the 20th. BUT, keep in mind that up until this change the news posts on the website were usually at least a month old. Until some time passes, the jury will hold its verdict. Maybe, just maybe I spoke too soon. We shall see.

In other topics Big Red says this Friday night a "bunch" of us are going to dinner and a movie. Adults and children this go 'round. Quickie dinner after work, I'm guessing it'll be somewhere Mexican (think quick.) And then we'll all head to the mall, and the adults are going to indulge ourselves in I Am Legend, while the kids check out the new Alvin and the Chipmunks flick. I've got to confess, I will probably end up watching that one too, later, in disguise. I grew up with these rodents, and honestly the commercials look pretty funny. Now back to "Legend." I read the book by Richard Matheson at Frank's urging. It was short, and I enjoyed it...and I'm curious to see how HollyWeird will modify it to their liking. Nonetheless, the previews look good, and they may make an exciting, interesting film in their own right. Again, jury's still out. I'll let you know later, and this won't be an Ebert and Roper critique. I genuinely love movies...but I'm not all about the director/actor intention and vision. I EXPECT to be entertained. Get it done, and the popcorn better not be stale. End of story...

Regards,

cheer_dad

Games people play...

So, I've resisted playing cards now for a few days. Punishing myself for donk play. I'm referring to my play the night of the Eagle's gathering with more than a few of you! How frackin' stupid was I pushing when I did. Hell, I was drunk and just out for the action. See the flop, drag a pot mentality. Losers remorse! No real damage to my finances. My pride and ego are a different story, and those are things which the game of poker is NEVER supposed to be about. When they do join in...there will be less money in your roll, and honestly once pride and ego sit down at the table with you, the two bastards are hard to get rid of! Take this for example: My buddy Frank described a hand over at River's Edge Poker, that was a part of the "Eagle" evening too. He was in the hand with... let's call him "Jack." Jack is uber wild and aggressive, with purpose. When the hand Frank describes occurred however it was early, BUT the outcome of this hand was merely a springboard for the rest of "Jack's" evening. Jack called the preflop raise with a 3-7os... After the flop he was on a gutshot straight draw...a 6 away from his made hand, although in truth one of the 6's was going to make a flush possible. So, theoretically he's got 3 outs in the deck, to call the bets post flop. No good reason on Earth to call the belly buster. One reason...to pray you'll hit it, to squash an opponent, to get in his head, and destroy his confidence. It's an in-your-frackin'-face play. It lacks finesse. It lacks subtlety. It lacks class in a way. It's a legitimate playing style, but I tend NOT to like it. It is a style which is employed most often by "Jack's" crew. If you win a hand against them when they're playing this way against you, you'll likely increase your bankroll, BUT still be left with the impression of "shit, they'll play anything, so I need to be careful." If you lose, you're devastated, and simply want revenge. Frank, made the smartest play, and called it a night. While Jack grinned and put in a few verbal jabs...what he should have realized was that some of the wind just got sucked out of his victory sails. Frank was leaving the table. Another person... ME... reacted differently, in my drunken state. I made a brief attempt at the same stupidity, and got it thrown in my face. Had I sucked out against Robert in either hand, that I outlined earlier, I can't help but think that Jack would have later pulled me aside and patted me on the back and said..."see that's how you gotta play, and make those gambles at those big pots." As it was though...I lost, and like Frank made my move for the door as well. Later when we got to the house, I did rejoin the game briefly, but the liquor finally caught up to me, and I made a retreat. I vaguely remember hugging the porcelain for a few minutes, to "clear the gut." But that's not important... funny, but not important. It would have been pointless for me to play well that night, after how I'd first started off. My image was damaged right from the start. Jack lucked out, early on, and it fed him well later, when everyone assumed he was still playing like a fool. He wound up with rockets once...and spanked his callers with them, because they made him for nothing. The strategy works, in this instance BUT what is important is that Jack had to hit the initial suck out play, for it to work. Had he busted for the first $20, he would have re-bought, and re-bought again, without hesitation. Frank, you and I can afford to do it, but our willingness to do it is something entirely different. Intelligence tends to get the better of us. The idea of throwing good money after bad is (to me) a losing proposition. Being drunked up...wasn't going to help, and it's a wonder I was able to get away from the game at all.

I say all that to say this. Frank I get it, you're taking a break from poker. And yes, I hate this frackin' game too! I understand...and have been there too. Suckouts are going to happen, but why do they always happen to us. But it's not just individual card games...it's all one long game. Take your break, but not for too long. We'll keep a seat open for you. When we're finally able to turn the tables on Jack, let's just make sure it's for one helluva BIG POT! Smile real pretty, think KARMA.

I started writing this post...intending to head in a very different direction. I wanted to avoid playing online for one : ) , but I was actually going to cover my attempts at downloading, installing, playing Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare. I successfully downloaded, and installed but never got to play. It seems I've developed video card envy. Well it just kinda happened. It seems in order to play this beloved game, I need to drop in the neighborhood of $300 for either an Nvidia Geforce 7800 or ATI Radeon X1800, video card. Information I could have used BEFORE downloading, both the game, Daemon Tools to mount the image, and surfing the crack channels for a while, and then installing. Here's a thought, maybe the game makers could have alerted a little earlier in the installation to my weak ass system. Of course, I guess I shouldn't complain, since I didn't lose anything other than my time, in the endeavor. So, as you can see, I suck at THIS game too. And honestly with the $300+ price tag for the card, and 50-60-ish for the game, legitimately, maybe I should stick to poker. It might actually be cheaper! : )

BUT, there's still hope for us all. The RED SNAPPERS have decided they want to get together to play something other than poker. Board games, like Scattergories, Dirty Minds, Cranium, hell maybe even charades. Maybe we can be just as terrible in these games. I might even play, on the inebriated side at these games too, but one things for sure, NONE of these will be effecting, or negatively impacting my bankroll! GAME ON!!!

Regards,

cheer_dad