My wife is right...again

I have to hand it to my wife, when she's right... she's right. It seems with the advent of social networking site Facebook and other notification methods, although I did "post" results from the NDPT 2009 Year End Tournament elsewhere I failed to do so HERE on the NDPT blog! I even need to get the original website updated to reflect that too. (Hmmm, wonder if I can even remember the account information for that!?!) Been awhile since I've even touched that html!

BUT without further delay, the results of the tournament which we hosted on December 12th, 2009 are:

Eric Freed 1st
Teresa "Big Red" Murray 2nd
JR Ruble 3rd
Vince Post 4th

A "loser's" honorable mention goes to yours truly cheer_dad, for bubbling in 5th. : ( Yeah, thanks DEAR!!! Now you know why she wanted to see a post, dontcha, AND likely why I "forgot." hehe!

But, it was a great night, with great friends and some great card play. Thank you all for continuing to feed this poker degeneracy in me!

Regards,

cheer_dad

Good friends, good times...

Good friends and good times last night at the Yanok's and I'm glad we all shared the time together. Before we even played cards, Uncle June said that he and I would return to our winning ways, and tonight was the night. And like some strange self-fulfilling prophecy some good pokery luck came our way. In game one, I won the top spot... with the help of a couple of perfectly timed suckouts there at the end. Sorry dude. : ) So, he had to settle for 2nd. Big Red cashed out in 3rd. So, there's cash in the pocket and we stay on for game two. Well Red and I didn't win in that one, but we certainly gave it a helluva try. My "go-for-broke" shove on my final hand with KQs, in retrospect was ill-timed. Particularly since I lost! But no the correct move was to have dropped and waited for a better spot. I just got weary of watching the double and triple up that were happening all around me, while my stack was being blinded away. Still, 2 big chip stacks at the table going up against each other for a pot, isn't the best course of action...

Uncle June ended up going on a real heater for the rest of the game, and he texted me later to say that he and scottyb had opted to chop. Despite the fact that Yanok told him "chopping" is for pussies. Regardless, I had a great time, and made some cash and got back into a winning frame of mind. Uncle June took it to the extreme, with his winapalooza last night... great job, and hopefully this'll be a return to normalcy that we've hoped for at the poker tables! As for the rest of you... sorry 'bout your luck. : P

Thanks to the Yanoks for hosting another great night of poker and general mayhem!

Regards,

cheer_dad

Luck be a Lady...

Last night's Credit Union banquet was a good choice for me last night. Not only was it a good night with friends and libation. But Lady Luck decided to grace me with her presence. Chris, JR, and I left the banquet when they started to break out the Bingo cards, and went next door to the Eagles. And as the night went on of course the drinks flowed. While sitting at the bar, just hanging out I look up to see Santana running from the other side of the bar. To those of you who know her... well that in itself is a sight to behold! But no, she's running toward me... and yelling that I'd just won the Quarter Jug drawing. Now, me and Lady Luck have ourselves a strained relationship at best and so I tend to err on the side of subdued optimism. I mean how good could it be, being a "quarter" right? Well try $429 on for size, cheer_dad! And I'll be damned, I'd even remembered to register that night. At the same time on the other side of the bar, I spot my wife, whose waving like mad to tell me that she had just hit the "rip-off" tip for $100. To top it off, later on I end up splitting the next $100 tip prize with another person who Big Red had decided that we would split since we each had even numbers of viable tickets in the drawing. All in all, not a bad night. I think I'm gonna give up poker altogether and stick to true games of chance from here on out. Oh wait, I can't make that promise just yet... there's an NDPT game tonight at the Wolfes house!

I'll see several of you real soon.

Regards,

cheer_dad

Goody, goody gum drops!

It was a crazy weekend. Saturday night Big Red and I headed out to meet JR and Nikki, and what seemed to be a cast of thousands of other family and friends, from Nikki's side... All great people. The evening started out at the Eagles, of course. : ) We quickly migrated after the band just wasn't "doing it" for the younger ones among us. We headed over to Six Pence where there was an enormous crowd crammed all around the central/sunken in bar. The band was good, and did an on-going jam-style session, which just never seemed to end. They were a talented bunch. Anyway, pitchers, buckets, shots (chocolate cake) and sundry mixed drinks rounded out the evening. I'm sure everyone had a helluva time, a few might even remember. Big Red and I took our leave from the group, late... and as you'd know it I fired up the Bodog client for a little late night drunken poker. As I posted last time, this session didn't go well either. To the tune of a higher dollar amount unfortunately. Okay, so it was only like 23 bucks, but I hate to lose. The loss came at the hands of Queens. The table is tight, too tight for its own good, and it was hard to generate any action at all. I call from LP with Q-10os, and hit trips on the flop. Bet... called by one other guy. The board fills in a couple of bricks, and we get it all in there on the river. He turns over a Q-5os, for a "turned" full boat. Oops, maybe cheer_dad should call it a night. And I did. So, the two losing online sessions, were for under $35 total. Still I don't like it.

The next day, involved sleeping in. Then taking care of the laundry and getting the kids situated. This was the day of the Eagles Poker Tournament. We were concerned about numbers early on, but then surprisingly we had several new faces show up. I think around 22 in all, despite having a number of our regulars absent. The first hour or more was frankly a yawn-fest for me as the cards weren't there at all. I looked down at Q-7os AT LEAST 8 times, I kid you not. I had pocket rockets once and barely got paid at the first table. The majority of my money came either from pushing hard with a high card, or in one case 2nd pair, to a guy who called me down with 3rd pair. That helped. I headed to the final table with like $1,600 in chips. Part of that came from my buddy JR, who called my all-in raise, when I was holding A8c. He had A-10os and I was dominated. Unfortunately, "puppy paws" always seems to get there, or at least so I've heard somewhere out there in the blogosphere. Yes, it was Suckout City, but we all need the sucker bite from Lady Luck every now and again.

The blinds escalated and I went card dead again. I stole a couple of pots, with late position raises with absolute air. I was nearly out of the game when I shoved from early position, with nothing more than double the big blind, as my bet. My bounty chip must've looked scrumptious and I garnered two calls. This time though, I wasn't nearly as full of shit as I can be at times, I had Big Slick on this occasion. I hit trip Aces and I was back in it. A few rounds later... another hand that got a lot of attention. The table folds around to me (on the small blind.) I barely glance at my cards and shove. The Kwazy Kowean (as he calls himself,) John, is left staring at me from the bb and looks upward for divine intervention. After a long time, and a lot of discussion he still can't decide to call or fold it. I finally offer up, "will it help if I show you after we're done?" That seems to do it for him, and he folds his pocket Jacks up to me. Unfortunately this hand got in his head for the rest of the game, I flipped over my horrendous hand Q2h. He really did think I had a good hand. I hadn't even considered him having anything before making my move to steal. In the future I'll need to be wary of this move, against my old friend. He is very liable to ram those Jacks where the sun don't shine next time! Of course it wasn't all that bad, he and his wife gave me a ride home.

The final table, finally dwindled down to a heads up match, with Del and Me still in it to win it all. It was back and forth. Big hands were obvious among us, and there was just a lot of jockeying for position. Then, the final hand of it all, Del open raises it to my BB. I reraise, he shoves, and I insta call. Del turns over pocket Queens... I turn over pocket Kings. They hold and I take it down for the day. Nothing he could do, well played Del. The tournament ran longer than expected but I still had a ball.

So, buy-in for $25 cash out for $240 (including bounty chips.) That took some of the sting off the Bodog loss from earlier. It also infused some strength back into the offline bankroll. The money clip in my dresser drawer was feeling neglected. The next time I play any cards will be next Sunday, early evening. But I'll be changing venues baby!!! Our flight from Columbus, OH departs at 2:40pm destined for the bright lights of Las Vegas! I've got WOOD just thinkin' about it! I cannot friggin' wait! Win or Lose... there's just nothing like Las Vegas!

Our plan at this point is to head downtown to old Vegas on our first night. Some of the group has never been down there, and in the past every time we've planned to head down there to show it to them, we've just never got around to it, so this time, it is part of the Day 1 plan! Maybe some poker, but cheap Blackjack and Let It Ride will definitely be part of the plan. The 2nd day we will be doing some casino hopping on the Strip. We'll spend a lot of time at Paris (where we're staying) and Bally's I'm sure. Gotta blow some of the money where you're staying to get 'em to comp the room this time and again in the future. Yes, I'm a cheap bastard. Our poker playing plans are going to include the Venetian on high recommendation from bwop and others. As well, for the "fun atmosphere" we'll definitely end up at the Imperial Palace.

As I wrote in my last blog post, I have mobile blogging setup, so I'll be able to post to the blog from my cellphone at anytime. I'll try to keep it relatively current, if any of the Las Vegas resident bloggers would like to insert themselves into our plans, please feel free to. It would be a welcome encounter! I'd be more than happy to meet you all!

You know, this doesn't feel like a Monday at all! : )
Hope you're all having a great day!

Regards,

cheer_dad

NDPT #1 2009

The first tournament of the year for the N Debt Poker Tour is now over! Nice turnout and a lot of fun was had by all. Prolly some more than others! Anyway 23 players in all showed up to play, and when the dust settled and the smoke cleared Matt Hensley stood a top the mountain of chips to claim the victory. Congratulations! JR (the birthday boy) cashed out in 2nd to continue his winning ways on the birthday tournament (cheer_dad did not fare so well.) TJ came in 3rd, while Mike Westbrook grinded out a very respectable 4th place finish. Dennis rounded out the winners in 5th. All of these fine players have assured themselves a place in the year-end tournament, with their win. I will work on putting together the points totals on a new and improved spreadsheet that I'll reference here on the blog and website. I hope everyone had a great time. With one tournament in thus far, the year-end pot that will be battled for is already at $110.

Congratulations to all the winners!

Regards,

cheer_dad

I'm a WINNER...

Despite the fact that somebody said I was a "woozer" last night, I'm a WINNER! In last night's NDPT End-of-the-Year Extravaganza I miraculously took down the top spot. Although turnout was light we still played and had a great time. (14 players showed up to flaunt their poker prowess.) For a while there in the beginning, I was getting spanked by an unforgiving river card at my first table, and Jody was all too willing to stick it to me. She drew out on me a number of times. TJ commented on that, and it helped me keep my sanity in check for a while. But I managed to get myself back up to treading water level and I just hovered around the original buy-in level for a while. When the table got extremely short, I hit a few hands, which pumped me up a little higher than I'd been all night. I do have to say that a late position call into a family pot with Q-9os did wonders for my stack, when I hit QUADS and got paid with them. We went to a single table, when we went down to 9 players. I just don't like collapsing to 10 players, it seems too crowded. At any rate, I drew the small blind and it turned out to be the best place to be. Although, it didn't feel like it at the time. I nearly bubbled the tournament in 5th place. A couple hands before I got tangled up with Steve, when I looked down at pocket Queens, and I pushed hard preflop, for around 5X the BB. Steve called my all-in, all-in himself for less... His A-5os found a lucky Ace and had me reeling from the feeling! So, there I was with only one option left in the arsenal. I had only 375 in chips left and the blinds were 150/300. I had dismal cards until the BB rotated back around to me. I didn't even bother looking and just sat my total chips in front of me on the cards and declared that it would cost 'em the additional 75, as I was going all-in blind. I got two callers! The cards came down, and Steve missed, and TJ flipped over a pocket pair of 5's. So, now I had to look, and found a K-8os, but I had hit the 8 on the River! That helped... Scott finally went out in the bubble position, so now it was just time to see who would get paid the top spot. I started hitting cards, and some fantastic position bluffs too. There was some good fortune involved there... I guess Lady Luck thought I had it coming after the beat-down on the pocket Queens. Anyway, Steve, and then TJ went out leaving it down to Mike R and I. Mike had a chip lead on me, and at first when the cards were far below average there for a few hands, I thought I was going to fold my way into 2nd place, but then things turned around. I started hitting 2 pair on the flop. The final hand, I held J-8os and hit two-pair. Mike bet out on me, and I went over the top for all of it. Mike called with his J-4os, and was basically drawing dead. So, finally I put a good game in the "W" column and end the year on a positive note. Wahoo!

Thanks to all of you who showed up to play, and thank you for the great times that we've had throughout the year. I look forward to many more NDPT poker in the coming year.

Regards,

cheer_dad

Big Red Strikes Again

Back on Friday, October 3rd of this year, I typed out a post for the blog (http://ndebtpokertour.blogspot.com/2008/10/it-really-must-be-red-hair.html) which detailed the luck and winning nature of my lovely wife... the enigma that is Big Red. In it I informed you, dear readers, that the night before she had hit the "winner-take-all" drawing at the Eagles for $1,400. Since then I'm certain I've posted a time or so of her other winnings on the slot machines. It's uncanny, her luck. Last night Lady Luck slipped her the tongue again. Last night's drawing at the Eagles went to none other than Big Red!!! She adds to her treasure cache an additional $1,100. (Attendance was down, she had to settle for a few hundred less.) Awww! Oh and now a new superstitious ritual will probably be in play from now on, she was wearing the same outfit both times. Hell, I may start wearing the damn thing now.

What must it be like to walk around and be so lucky? It's a thing I shall never know. Congratulations baby!

There's a line in the movie Let It Ride starring Richard Dreyfuss, in which he reads his fortune cookie. It says, "You could be walking around lucky and not even know it." But in the case of my wife... I think she knows it!

Tonight is the Yanok's December qualifier poker tournament(s). I'm hoping desperately to pad my year end stack, with a couple of good finishes tonight. I may even play a little sober. Then, on in to Saturday for the actual year ending tournament, which the Yanok's are hosting beginning at High Noon. (It's a 2-day poker-palooza!) This one is a freeroll, for all of us, probably 15-18 players or so, with $1,000 in the prize pool. It all comes down to this boys and girls. Bring the "A" Game, and let's get it on!

Regards,

cheer_dad

Cole made the Basketball Team!

My son, Cole was SOOOOO proud last night, when I picked him up from basketball tryouts! It was a little strange at first, since none of the boys was telling whether or not they made the team as they exited the gym one at a time. In fact, Cole and I headed outside immediately for the truck. I was a little cautious, and didn't want to ask him if (you know) it was bad news. Then, I caught a glimpse of him out of the corner of my eye, and he was sneaking a peek over each shoulder to see that no one was around. Then, he said, " hey dad ask me if I made the team."

I said, "oh I didn't know for sure if they were going to tell you tonight. So, did you make the team?"

He smiled really big and said "Yeah, I made it!" He went on to tell me that he didn't know who else made the team yet, since the coach had told each kid individually as they left the gym. And they were instructed not to talk about it in front of anyone else. I thought that was right decent of the coach! Also, he was honest with each boy that made the team as well, and gave them an indication of how much playtime they could expect. Obviously, the older boys and those who have greater skill are going to be playing. This isn't like REC league. This will be Cole's first year, and so he will likely ride the bench more than the others, but he said he didn't care. He recognized that making the team, he would be practicing and warming up at games, and would get some late game play time as well. He understood, they he has room to improve his skill in basketball and he openly admits that there are people that are better than him, BUT he saw this as an opportunity to get better. He said he tried his absolute best, and tried to show the coach that he could hustle and that he really wanted it, and I think in the end it showed. Of the 33-ish kids to show up for tryouts only around 13 kids made the team.

I'm really proud of the level of effort and intensity that Cole put into this and I told him so. I only look for him to improve throughout the season, and very likely continue on and make the team again next year, where with his size and power, he will be a formidable player. Great job son!

We're taking him out to dinner tonight to celebrate...

In other news, Big Red hit for $450 on the slots last night at the Eagles. Her luck on those damned things is just insane! And really she doesn't play them all the time. Usually just on Eagles night, and other times when she takes off with her mom. But most certainly she has won much more than she's lost. I on the other hand, am just staying away from the accursed contraptions.

Have a great weekend all.

Regards,

cheer_dad

Things that caught my attention today

A wasted work day winds itself down, once again. I spend most of the day dealing with a virus alert on my laptop. After a few scans, reboots, research, and sacrifice of a virgin (the most difficult) and hours of effort; it was determined that my "virus" was in fact a false positive. Corrupted scanning engine and/or pattern file continued to identify a Trojan although no file(s) were identified, just an entry in the Risk History. In short Symantec had it out for me. On the plus side, during the course of the effort my PC Support buddy Mike was here to figure out what was going on. So while we watched scans crank and little else, we talked poker. He's a long-time member of the ole NDPT. We talked about Tri-State and various home tourneys, and the ever popular Shuman Cash Game. It was also good to hear some additional perspectives on how the WSOP Final Table looks. So, despite the downtime in the computing world, a good poker discussion filled the void! Thanks Mike!

I came across the following post by AlCantHang http://www.fulltiltpoker.com/poker-from-the-rail/bloggers-on-the-rail/railing-big-cash-game (which cited a write up over at PokerNews.com.) It covered a high dollar game on Full Tilt, in which I'll never find myself, but put into perspective some of the "bad beat" tales I have told and retold here on my blog. In short I think I should fess up and admit that "things ain't so bad for me." Talk about ouch!!! Go read it for yourself. And thanks to Al for posting it.

And while I was out there reading his blog, he reminded me of something else that I read yesterday but got sidetracked. My sincerest of apologies go out to MY GIRLFRIEND!!! Clonie Gowen won the 2008 World Poker Open Championship in Tunica, MS!!! The event had only 107 players (at $5,000 each) and was held at the Gold Strike Casino. Clonie, took it down for $183,224, further winning my admiration. : ) According to the post this win inches her closer to the magic number of $1 Million in career tourney winnings. Congratulations Clonie! (pssst, call me!)

Tonight is Eagles Night. We go up every week for the winner take all drawing, along with the whole gang. Yes, Robert... this is what "degenerate gambler feels like." Hope to see you all there. Tomorrow night is a South home football game, so Whitney cheers, and we'll cheer her/them from the stands. Hopefully things'll warm up a bit. I know how cold it was on Monday for the JV game. I lost feeling in the toes there for a while. Saturday night some of you fellow degenerates will converge with me on the Yanok's Tournament. There's always a good time to be had at this game, and this one is uber important as "both" games of the night will be qualifiers for the year-end game. I REALLY need to put one in the WIN column to beef up my meager chip stack for the final game. Can I get a little luv!

The online grind has returned to what passes for normal. I've been showing a profit for the last several hundred hands on Bodog, I'm happy to report. Meager sums here people, don't plan on rolling me in the parking lot for some extra scratch!

Hope all is well with each of you... and happy bankroll building.

Regards,

cheer_dad

Let's GOOOO Patriots!

A picture is worth a thousand words...



But sometimes you know, video just does it even better... click the image or the link to visit the Football Frenzy Report from WTAP.com:

http://www.wtap.com/footballfrenzy/headlines/30829044.html#

The Parkersburg South Patriots dominated Parkersburg High Big Reds throughout the game last night and really made the Patriot fans on hand to witness the action VERY PROUD! Final score was South 33 PHS 14!!! The power of the South running game proved too much for PHS along with the ability of the South defense to subdue PHS's ability to effectively move the ball. It should be said that after the half the Big Red's did put together an impressive passing game, that threatened to turn things around. But in the end the deficit and the clock were just too much to overcome. Congratulations on a fantastic, and well-deserved victory!

Regards,

cheer_dad

Return to poker

My return to pokerdom has been good! Friday night at the Yanok's I finished in fourth place, to get my money back... and also qualified for the year end game. Hey, I was lucky on several hands up to that point and was happy to break even. Last night, at JR's (NDPT #2) I made the final table, where honestly the game began for me. In the end Vince Post and I squared off against each other in heads up play. After a half dozen or so hands, we opted for a chop. Since Vince had a chip lead on me at that point, I was happy to let him have the 1st place bragging rights! Remarkably on the trail to the finish, I only took out a total of 3 people. Two of those were on the most memorable hand of the evening to me.

I'm in late position, Sally is all in from the blinds for $600. Julie calls, Dennis makes it $800 (all-in for him.) I look down at the Hilton Sisters QQ. I shove all in for an additional $2,300. Julie goes in the tank and finally calls it down, and flips over AKos. I flip my Queens, then Sally and Dennis each flip over a KJos. My odds have improved, with some of her outs disappearing. I end up flopping my set...which makes me shake for a while, when on the turn, all that is needed is a 10 for me to get screwed beyond belief. I dodge the 10. Take down a monster pot and am able to run over smaller stacks until we get down to heads up. Profit on the night is $140. I'll take it. Also JR reminded me that I'm now the "theoretical" chip leader. A 3rd place cash, and now a 2nd place...I'm good and consistent. Let's keep it that way.

After the game several of us went upstairs and Brady put in a movie for us to enjoy, Jackass 2. I hadn't watched it or the first one before, and although much of it was gut wrenching there were just parts you couldn't turn away from. I laughed so hard I was cryin'. I still can't get over the claymore mine with the rubber beads in it, that they shot off, at the guys. Very brave, very stupid...just WOW!

Now, we're just havin' a quiet evening at home. I'm tired and am glad I'm off tomorrow. Not sure I'll ever get back into the grind of work. We'll see. Time to hang it up.

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