The answer is 42.

I sat down to play some late night poker and ended up dropping a little over 2 buyins at my uber lowness on PokerStars.  Rammed everything into the middle preflop on one of my four tables with pocket Kings.  Called by an AJs.  He hit 'em both... So there went 1-1/2 buyins (since I was up on that table at the time.  Then pocket J's got me slapped, when my read was that the player was pushing my buttons from last position.  I guess he thought AA was good button to be pushing.  Seat open table 1! No waiting!  Sigh.  I remained oddly calm, but won't deny that old familiar feeling was at play, tilt was bangin' on the door, and I really did want to get even.  So, I played on for a while longer, but just recognized it as being tossed around by the waves.  So, I called it a night.  I'll get 'em back... like usual, but I just tire of counting those same damn nickles and dimes again!  To those of you who may have won 'em from me, could you at least shine 'em up a little before sending them back across the ole virtual felt!?!  : P

Heard last night that there is a poker tournament this weekend, being hosted by the Shriners which Big Red and I may drop in on.  It will be at the Eagles Aerie, where we usually play, but this is supposed to be a different crowd.  Who knows, we might get to meet some new people...AND take their money!  What could be better!  They're playing Sunday afternoon at 2:00pm.  I'm not sure on many details though.  So, we may be winging it.  HAH, winging... eagles... get it!?!  : )

In other news hmmm, oh there was something on my mind, oh yeah... today's my BIRTHDAY!  I'm 42.  Yet another year above ground is ALWAYS a plus, I'm fond of it.  Recall the importance of the number from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, as "the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything." 

Hope all is well with each and everyone of you!

Regards,

cheer_dad

Cross Lanes last night

A little +EV and positive outcome last night at the Mardi Gras Poker Room in Cross Lanes, WV. The tight game and aggressive when necessary paid off in the end. I even got spanked around a bit with pocket Kings. Man there are truly some horrid players out there in the wild! Action junkies get paid off far too often than should be legal! I made a nice pot with pocket Aces for once, so I can't trash talk them in the future. I thought I'd announce it here to tell it to the world. Anyway up a couple of hundred after a good night at the tables. Hope to do it again soon. Nice seeing some of the typical morons getting pounded by their own sloppy play for a change.

Tonight, dinner with my lovely wife, for her birthday (Sunday.) Lotsa friends coming along. See you all soon. Happy Birthday Big Red!

Regards,

cheer_dad

NDPT 2009 begins tonight

The new NDPT poker tournament year will officially get under way tonight at the house when the 25 signed up miscreants and malcontents show up and we get the cards in the air! Uncle June has predicted victory for us, in the form of him in 1st place and me in 2nd, as it was last year. And I think the year before (at least for him.) This has been a trend for him/us since we started celebrating our birthdays at the first NDPT gathering of the year. Today is his birthday, yesterday was mine, and we got in some serious celebrating last night. We even had a shot called a "Chocolate Cake" that was VERY tasty! I'm gonna have to find out how to make it. After drinks and appetizers at the Outback we headed to the Eagles for the weekly drawing, which none of us won. That's okay, though I'm saving up my luck for tonight. : P

Today has been long and I'm sorta dragging, but there's no time to let up now. There's a lot to get done! I leave work at 3:00pm. Pick up my daughter at the high school at 3:20pm and take her to the house. I'll have a few spare moments to maybe set up the tables for tonight in the basement, and count out some of the chips. Leave to pick my son up by 4:30 from basketball practice, and take him to the bowling alley, so he can pre-bowl tonight, in advance of Saturday morning, since he just learned that he's in a basketball tourney all this weekend. He must finish 3 games by 5:30, since another league starts. Then I get him home, and changed and packed up because he also plays the first basketball tourney game tonight at 9:00pm! Thank goodness, the mom of one of his friends is taking him, since we already had the card game scheduled. So she will be stopping by later to pick him up.

Then, if that weren't enough, Whit has a basketball game to cheer at tonight at 5:15pm, then immediately following that one of her girlfriends is having her Sweet 16 party, so Whit is driving a friend and herself to the party. Who knows when she'll return! I'm kidding, she's a responsible young lady, when she wants to be.

Somewhere in the midst of all this turmoil and rushing around, I've got to get ready for the tourney and all you happy people. So, if I'm running a little behind cut me some slack. Regardless, there will be a card game running at the house TONIGHT!

Oh and another thing... drunken online poker is somehow profitable to me. I three tabled latenight again on Bodog and moved up another $35 at the .10/.25 NLHE level. Was 500 hands too many? : )

Regards,

cheer_dad

What a night!

Thanks to ALL of you who made it out last night to help celebrate the 40th birthday of my wife, Teresa. You all made the time very special and she really enjoyed herself. The band, JINX'D was great and really put on a terrific show for us. We killed the first keg and headed into a second one. And Santana, our bartender with the the bottomless bottles, really helped to get the party going! Teresa really enjoyed all the gifts, including the "over-the-hill" variety which we all got a good laugh out of. She recalled this morning that at some point during the night she started selling "kisses" for a buck! I don't know if Laura will ever be the same!!! Too bad I don't have pictures of that to share... (if someone does I'd love to have 'em.)

I hope each of you had a wonderful evening. Thanks again for making it so special for her.

Regards,

cheer_dad

Happy 40th Birthday Big Red!!!

In just a few short minutes we'll be heading out the door to go to Big Red's 40th Birthday Party up at the Eagles banquet room. The room is decorated, the cake picked up, the band's all set, and the kegs been chillin' since this afternoon. There's no "old age" to be concerned with here... there's gonna be one helluva party tonight! So, put on your dancin' shoes and we'll see y'all real soon.

Teresa, I love you! I hope you have a great time on your big night... Even at 40... you're still lookin' good to me!

Regards,

cheer_dad

Tri C Opening Day

It's Opening Day for Tri-C Baseball folks!

Cole and I just got back from our pictures session. But we have to be back down in less then an hour to get ready for our first baseball game of the season. We will be playing Vienna Team 1. I think if we can keep the boys focused we will do fine, and hopefully win our first outing for the year. The big thing is to get the pitchers just tossing across the plate in this league. More often than not, the batter is scared out of his wits and doesn't want to get hit by the ball. I can't tell you how many times I've watched in our scrimmage games so many batters stepping out of the batter's box as soon as the pitcher releases the baseball. This kid pitch thing will take some getting used to. So the trick to taking advantage of it is to pitch 'em right down the middle and if a couple of 'em hit it we just have to let the fielders take 'em down. By and large the strikeouts will be because the pitcher clinches up and doesn't swing. Cole I don't think will have that much trouble. He's been swinging...he just has to connect. When he does it'll be in the grass, if he can just drive it instead of launching.

Whitney also had tryouts for Southern Belles for the past two days. She's not overly confident that she'll make it. There are only like 4-5 spots available. All other past members are returning. They've ALL worked really hard, and I'm proud of Whitney for guttin' it out. Despite popping her hip out of place yesterday...she continued on. She was able to do that by popping it back into place herself! She's a friggin' animal. She's into that whole "pain is just weakness leaving the body" thing! Like I said...friggin' animal!

Anyway, not much time left now, maybe I'll have a chance to give another update, who knows. Later this evening a bunch of the NDPT crew and etc... will be heading to the Eagles to see the band Slammed 6, (Nikki's family's band.) We're also getting together to celebrate Laura's birthday. Happy B-day Pookie!!!

I might even bring along a deck of cards. See you all soon.

Regards.

cheer_dad

Weekend wrapup, and Happy B-Day MEGAN!

Tournament night at JR's last night was once again a lot of fun! I cannot complain at myself for any poker move that I made all night. No mistakes, some good cards when it counted, but all that still was not enough to take it down. You can do everything right in this game...and still lose. And I'm okay with that. Play the game... play it right... hope for the best.

I received further confirmation of my old addage in one hand in particular. When you have a pocket pair at the table, invariably someone else will too. In an uncharacteristic move for me, I limped into a pot from middle position with KK, figuring that someone would raise it up, and it happened. Unfortunately, it was Big Red who raised it up...but then there was more. Robert shoved all in, and it comes back to me. Now I pause. Does he have 'em? The Accursed Bullets? This is gonna leave a mark, is stuck in my mind... but these are the hands for which we wait. I shove, over him... in hopes of isolating to just him, which worked out for me. He tabled his pocket 10's, so I breathed a sigh of relief. I nearly put him on the Aces... I hit a set of Kings, and took it down. Big Red revealed that she'd folded pocket Queens. WOW! That was a phenomenal lay down. I'm really proud of her. Robert... I always end up in situations like this with you...ALWAYS.

In the end I made it only to 7th place... sans a payout. Big Red made it to 4th! The big one... went to Steve "All-In" Allman! Congratulations man!

Some of us ended up at the Eagles. I know, what a shocker! Had a great time as always. Glad to share yet another evening with each and every one of you.

Oh and in today's news, SEVERAL of us headed to Pizza Place today, to wish lil Megan Brothers a Happy 1st Birthday!!! Congratulations and many happy returns. Thanks Chris and Laura for letting us share in the Big Day!!!

And with that, I'll wrap it up.

Regards,

cheer_dad

Happy Birthday To Me...

Yeah it's quite a crew isn't it... Happy Birthday to me!!! It's the BIG 40! Funny doesn't feel much different. It hasn't been the winningest time in Vegas, but hey as always we came to pay the light bill. Bring nothing you plan to take home. Live in fear and arrogance, or is that in fear in ignorance. Hmmm, I know I get that one mixed up A LOT!!!

Hope all is well back home. I've heard it's cold and we're not sorry to be missing out on it. Just remember "cuddle for warmth."

We're headed back out today, to go casino hopping. I want to check out the Palazzo...and continue grabbing up some chips for the collection. Seems to be the only way I can accumulate 'em anyway. : )

Time to go...yes another late start. Actually considering the hours we're keeping, it's kinda early to us.

Regards,

cheer_dad