Tournament weekend whirlwind

I wasted a great deal of the day. Sleeping in, then trying to tackle an issue with this laptop I'm typing on now. This evening I get another clue... when my daughter tells me her iTouch isn't connecting to the internet either. Which for the first time makes me think there might be a problem elsewhere, other than my wireless card. Hummmmm, maybe the frackin' ROUTER!!! Power off and on and POOF, all is well with the wireless world again. As much a part of my life and work is technology, sometimes I just hate it!

The weekend, as the title of this post implies has been a real whirlwind. Friday, I had time to get home from work, do a quick 30 minute run on the treadmill...shower, eat, and then it was off to Yanok's for their first tournament of the year. Actually we usually play two games, and in this case the second game was the monthly qualifier. I did well "early on" in the first game, and headed into the final table. Thinking things were going my way. There in was my demise. I bubbled! FRACK! Strange hands and oddities, through the night. I pushed with AKos, from late position, and ran into Shelley's pocket rockets...but I bounced back from that one. When we got down to the last four players (three getting paid) I had to drop a hand when the board rivered four cards to a straight, and all I had was top pair, and I got pushed. Some questioned why I folded, that I had the right "odds" to call, but when I KNOW I'm dead...I know it. I was. I mucked it. Then, there was the hand where I was the small blind and still stacking chips from the previous hand, and I hadn't even got or seen my cards and it was folded around to me, I reached down for my cards, which weren't there. Turns out that everyone had tossed their cards to the center, where I had never retrieved my cards in the first place. I didn't argue, and the big blind Robert offered to hand my $25 back to me...but I technically had failed to protect my hand. No sense whining or bitchin'. Moved on. Then, I saw the Big Blind fold to the Small Blind when the blinds were at $50/$100, by mucking, when no one else was in the hand. That's a good return on your money if you ask me. Finally, my last hand. I'm in the BB, look down at 10-8os...wahoo... but I get one caller the small blind. I flop top pair, SB bets out minimum, I raise all in, get insta called, Shelly gives me the sheepish grin and turns over her pocket kings. Cheer_dad's run comes to an end. She went on to win it. Congrats Shell!

Tourney #2 was a write off for me, I went nowhere fast, and my horrific play was punctuated by my "failed" attempt to bluff Jerry off his hand on the river. Of course, his friggin' BOAT 10's full of 3's was plenty to call my idiot ass. Oops! On a positive note. The lovely Big Red took down the TOP SPOT in the 2nd tournament thereby turning our losing night into a winning one. And don't forget this tourney got here qualified for the year end tourney. All the rest is GRAVY! Go Big Red!!!

Next day had the whole family hoppin'. Whitney and Cole both had basketball games at conflicting times. So we divided to conquer. Then, later Cole had hockey from 4:30-5:15, and Teresa and Whit had several errands to take care of. Cole and the rest of the kids had a ball playing, as usual. I'm glad to see them out there and active. I'm hopeful that the lessons of sports and fitness eventually take root, and never allows either of them to become the over-weight sloth I've become. Okay, that's harsh. Anyway, we finish hockey and rush back to the house, pick up Whit and Teresa and head over to the Wolfe's. Tournament #1 for the NDPT, River's Edge, and SmartAss Poker combines crews. (We really need a new nickname, since we consolidated.) I had a lackluster start, and miraculously made it to the final table, with a tiny stack. I began to loosen up as I saw everyone else ratcheting down TIGHT! I began to rebuild the stack. I got sucked out on once, which hurt, but soon after got it all in again, but found myself behind and returned the suckout favor! : ) Give some, get some. In the end I found myself at the final table with only two others! I was still the short stack, but hey I was getting paid back and then some for the night of fun. I finished third...and shortly thereafter JR and Jamie opted to chop the 1st and 2nd place. Jamie had a slight lead and therefore got the 1st place finish points in the first qualifying tournament of the night.

We all headed home, I stayed up for a while and sat at a cash game on Poker Rewards for about an hour. I was doing very well, until I was faced with holding AQspades, and the flop came 8s 9c Js... I had raised it to $4.25 preflop by the way. My lonely caller to the right, shoved... I'm looking at straight draw, nut flush draw and big overs. Yeah I make the call, he shows two pair Jacks and Nines. The river brings me SPADE!!! Unfortunately the NINE of SPADES. You do the math, I'll sulk about my lost $28. Another "frack-worthy" moment!

Time to call it a night, hope all is well with each of you.

Regards,

cheer_dad

For cryin' out loud, cheer_dad FOCUS!

Welcome to my blog post of the day, fueled and inspired by The Pretenders...a singles triad, Tracks 7, 8, and 9, specifically "Message of Love," "Back on the Chain Gang," and "Middle of the Road." It's been in like forever since I've listened to this album. I've been blowing the dust off of a lot of my old stuff, and just quit before you start asking about my fargin' 8-track player. I've got your "olden days" right here, biyatch! Hey, this stuff is older than the stuff they're typically playing on 96.9 FM around here, the station which my daughter typically refers to as that "oldies station," when she rides in the truck with me. You can always walk little girl... Of course it makes me grin to watch/hear my son going through the house humming/singing "...mommy's alright...daddy's alright, they just seem a little weird..." courtesy of the Guitar Hero II game he got for his birthday, and of course to one of the best bands of all time Cheap Trick. Can I get a Hell Yeah! Okay, you there in the back, pipe down! Reminds me Frank, wasn't Cansas's fave song "Cherry Pie"!!! Many a day of misspent youth gone by. Ah memories. Some damn sure BETTER left unsaid.

So, we're into November now. You can feel a sense of urgency and tension beginning to mount, at least in the Murray house you can. Just going over things briefly with Big Red, and it looks like our weekends are nearly ALL spoken for from here on out through the remainder of the year. Starting with poker at the Wolfe's on the 3rd, for an inaugural River's Edge Poker Club event. I'm leaning toward the 9th as NDPT #11, and I'll have to send out the notice soon! The 10th, is Cole's football banquet. Which is during the Veteran's Day weekend. Hey, weren't we planning a lost weekend to Wheeling again! Dance competition season gets crankin' for Whitney on the 17th, in AKRON, OH, of all places. Who knew!?! The following week is the Thanksgiving holiday/Black Friday/Big Red's -n- Angie's early b-day celebration at the Eagles. Yeah, I didn't know anything about it either, just found out a few minutes ago. That's right people, hang on tight this Merry-Go-Round's a spinnin' real good. Oh, and what's that about 11/29, being the birthday Big Red will be hangin' on to for dear life, for year's to come. The backend of her 30's? Then of course December is competition central for dance and cheer. A Credit Union dinner, Whitney's 15th b-day! (ugh, I'm old.) Christmas of course, and New Year's too, and not-to-mention the fact that I'll have to squeeze in NDPT #12, and then the End of the Year Blowout $50 PokerPalooza, prolly for December 29th (Saturday?) Then Vegas is around the corner in January the hallmark of which will be the JR/yours truly birthday bash. Round it all out with Valentine's day on Feb 14th, and OH, you get the idea, it's going to be a long season!!! I'm sure my liver will be crying "Uncle" very soon.

Anyway, that about catches you all up with what I've got in store for the foreseeable future. Oh and back to that last paragraph, in which I mentioned Christmas. Big Red, do you think you could limit your "wish list" to items I can easily locate on Amazon. You know how much I really hate the mall during the holidays. I remember only 1 truly good holiday season, up there. Der Doghaus was still located up there, and had just started serving beer. I've never seen so many drunk husbands in all my life! If they'd had a full bar, the bottle of Crown would've gone dry, and I know for sure I'd have got a lump of coal, and a few lumps on top of my head too. But really that was the happiest shopping trip I've ever had. Okay, my gift wrapping skills left a little to be desired after that, but let's try and focus on the positive here people, work with me.

Anyway fellow NDPT'ers if not before, I'll see you Saturday. Bring your A-game! No, of course not for me, but for someone else who is still recognized as someone who knows how to play the damn game! : )

Regards,

cheer_dad

P.S. After review...maybe this rambling post laid it on a bit thick! NAH!!!!!!!!!!!