WSOP 2009 update

At the moment... there are 10 players remaining in the $40K buyin (Event #2) in the WSOP! They will play down until on 9 remain, and then break for the night. Currently Alec Torelli is on top of the chip count, but we ALL know things change. Greg Raymer and Justin Bonomo remain very much alive. Hang in there guys!

Regards,

cheer_dad

WSOP 2009 Events #2 and #3 updates

Players called it a night, or morning or something like that when the fields were sufficiently whittled down. There are 23 players left in the $40K buyin NLHE event, all of which are in the money. Four places have thus far been paid, as they were recently eliminated: Vannessa Rousso, J.C. Tran, Sorel Mizzi, and David Pham. Although, probably not the cashout they had hoped for, they did better than some of the other 201 starters. Top prize will eventually be paid out to the tune of $1,891,012! Currently, sitting on a small lead is Justin Bonomo.

As for Event 3 - $1,500 Omaha Hi/Lo 8-or-better, there are only 197 of the initial starting field of 918 players. The top 90 get paid out on this one. According to the chip estimates by the fine folks blogging/reporting for PokerNews, Thang Luu (defending champion in this event) is currently in the lead with in the neighborhood of $70K in chips! This is still far from over.

Scheduled to get underway today is Event 4 - $1,000 No Limit Hold'em obviously the field will be so large that this is already planned to have a Day 1a and 1b. Stay tuned... Thanks to the great coverage by the PokerNews writers. Follow along yourself, if you can at http://www.pokernews.com/live-reporting/...

Regards,

cheer_dad

WSOP Event #1 winner, Andrew Cohen

The first bracelet of the WSOP 2009 was awarded a little over 5 hours ago. Congratulations are in order to Andrew Cohen, for besting the field of 866 casino employees in the 1st Event of the series. Aside from the coveted jewelry, he takes home $83,778. Not a bad payday huh... The Day 2 battle lasted for about 12 hours total, weeding down the final 81 players to an ultimate victor.

As well Event #2 (40th Annual NLHE $40K buyin) got under way yesterday, and the field was whittled down from its start of 201 players to just 89 in all. Of those who still remain only 27 will see any sort of payday. Currently, in the chip lead with 812,500 in chips is Bruno Fitoussi, followed closely by none other than Chris Moneymaker with 805,000. There are still just too many big names left in the field to even bother naming them all here. I urge you all to point your browsers on over to http://www.pokernews.com/wsop/2009/event-2/ for the full scoop. The bloggers working for Poker News providing the world with these updates are to be commended as well for a job well done. The action will get started back up today at 2:00pm PDT.

Also, slated to begin today at 12:00 is Event #3, the $1,500 Omaha Hi/Lo 8-or-better.

Time marches on... ever so slowly. I could most definitely go for a nap!

Regards,

cheer_dad

Keith Urban Concert, Charleston WV

This is just one of the many pictures that were taken at the Keith Urban concert last night. This one wasn't bad for being taken by my cellphone's camera. Uncle June says he's got a lot of good pictures, that he has to get to me. Teresa, Laura, JR, and I ALL had a great time last night. Teresa claims to have pawed Keith Urban as he made his way through the floor crowd. The man may never be the same, after gettin' just a little of Big Red! We had great seats, although we abandoned them for the 2nd half of the concert, and hung out with the whole mob in the aisles. Very entertaining show to say the least. And the confetti you see flying around... that stuff ended up in some very interesting places. I'll get some more pictures uploaded soon.

Imagine me at a concert and drunk. The girls beside us, bridge generational gap! Doh...
Man, I'm old!

Uncle june... On the make! Shoots and scores!

So we got to charleston.... Beer and all! Zac brown on stage now. Seats on floor. We shall see! Did i mention beer???

WSOP 2009 Event #2 is underway

This is the 40th Annual NLHE (4-day) event which has a $40,000 buyin, as a sort of celebration of the WSOP's 40th year. According to initial player counts by the folks over at http://www.pokernews.com/wsop/2009/event-2/day1/ "change100" and "Shamus" there are 184 players registered to play; however they clearly note that players can join in through the first two blinds rounds! I'm not sure I can imagine sitting down at a $40,000 buyin event, much less showing up late for the thing! The reporters have made mention of a "Table of Death" which most of the time would be the table you want to avoid, but with so many pro's and heavy hitters in the room for this event, they remark that nearly every table is fraught with disaster! I really can't do this justice by commenting further. Reading through the list of names on the chip counts tab reads like a Who's Who of Poker!

That's really all I have time for, as it's time for me to head for the house and get ready for tonight's Keith Urban concert. See ya!

Regards,

cheer_dad

Obama in Vegas

My boss, the President spent some upscale time in Las Vegas at Caesar's Palace according to this article: http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20281479,00.html?xid=rss-topheadlines. He was in town for a fundraiser for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. He is said to have stayed in a 20,000 sq ft suite... hmmm I wonder if they'll make that available for my next seminar attendance. Can I get it for per diem?!?

Okay, maybe not. Still as "luck" would have it, President Obama was in town at the same time the WSOP 2009 was kicking off. Now THAT's planning.

Regards,

cheer_dad

WSOP 2009 Event #1, and a concert

A grueling 13-hour day of poker kicked off Event #1 of the World Series of Poker. As "FerricRamsium" puts it the Casino Employees NLHE Event is a "sea of relative unknowns." My buddy JR takes issue with that, saying that we degenerate gamblers would likely recognize various dealers and casino employees from our trips to Sin City. A total of 866 players ponied up the $500 entry to play in Event #1, and at the end of the day, only 81 remain. All of those remaining are in the money. We'll have to stay tuned to see who walks off with the $83,778 first prize and the coveted WSOP bracelet. Action resumes today.

Also slated for today is the 40th Annual NLHE (Event #2) which has a whopping $40,000 buyin! The event was added to the mix as a celebration of this the 40th anniversary of the WSOP. The field will obviously be limited to the heavy hitters and perhaps a few wannabes. It's going to be a long 7 weeks or so folks while the series plays itself out. I for one will be glued to the live-reporting, blogs, and forums. Do I have a problem? Like last year, I'll continue to provide some blurbs on the action, from what I gather out there, and write it up here on the blog. I know a number of you are "proxy challenged" and you may not be able to follow along. Fear not, your ole buddy cheer_dad's got your back.

In other news, we're going to a concert tonight in Charleston, WV. Big Red, Laura, Uncle June, and I are all headed down this evening to see Keith Urban and the Zac Brown Band. We've seen Keith before in concert with Kenny Chesney and he puts on a really good show. Red just couldn't pass up the tickets, when she found floor seats yesterday. Way to plan ahead. So sad is the fact that because of work the next day, we won't be able to drive on down to Cross Lanes to play a little live poker afterwards. Sad indeed! But it's gonna be a lively road trip as usual when this group gets together. I'll try to get pictorial evidence. See ya!

Regards,

cheer_dad

I'm just so excited!

The day of days is here once again (sniff, sniff) and I haven't been able to prepare myself for the coming information overload that the fine folks over at Pokernews.com will soon be providing via their Live Reporting. I'm of course speaking of the beginning of the 40th Annual World Series of Poker. I think I feel tears welling up as I type this post out. One of these days, I'll just be there to watch the spectacle for myself... but until then these great writers/bloggers will allow me to truly live vicariously. I thank you all for the thrills of last years coverage... and for all the joy you will bring whilst you cover the WSOP 2009!!! You guys and gals certainly ROCK!

The long weekend was mis-spent on honey-do projects and cookouts and such, instead of knuckling down for the coming poker onslaught. But never one to shirk from a fight... I'll do my best. I may be black and blue but I ain't gonna quit! Good luck to all of you who will be partaking in one of the many (57) events. May your dreams become reality. And don't forget your lowly ole buddy cheer_dad was sending you positive vibes and chanting incantations throughout your ordeals. : )

Are you all as excited about this as I am? Hello, is this thing on? Does anyone even read this thing anymore? Read or not... I'll be updating as often as I think I can, without rilling up the Bureau Overlords!

Happy WSOP'ing!!!

Regards,

cheer_dad

Good times w/ the Kress clan

Teresa, Cole and I all headed out to Bob and Cassy's for a cookout today, from an invite of Matt and Jody. Great food, big crowd of folks and all the kids too. Great time was had by all. I really enjoyed just hanging out and just relaxing for a while. Of course, a card game ensued for a few hours. I bought in for $100 and cashed out up $89, in this $1/$2 nlhe. Played tight and waited. Most other instances I had little to even think about. Preflop raises made it easy to fold my crap hands. Only a very few marginal situations that I had to deal with... and in all cases I made the right call. We just made it home... and it's nice to put a win back under the ole belt. But actually it was just a lot of fun hangin' out, playing some cards, drinking a few beers and just laughing it up.

This was a good day.

Regards,

cheer_dad

Meeting up with an old friend

The work week is nearing an end. Less than an hour remains of the day, and then only Friday remains... and it'll be casual of course. There will be shorts on the cheer_dad tomorrow... ladies you may now begin to swoon. Oh yeah, I'll flex the calves! Okay, I'll stop now, I think even I threw up a lil in mouth there. Right after work, I have to rush home, change and get Cole motivated to do the same and away we'll head to Vienna to play some more baseball. Rumor is that the team we're to play isn't very good, BUT tonight... I'm bringing in my younger players from the far reaches of the outfield and their butterfly chasing ways to "play in the show" as it were. So, who knows how it'll all go down. This game, which is outside our usual league, and therefore doesn't count toward the tally of win/loss. Not that I care so much one way or the other, but it's an all-important issue for the other teams in the league. We haven't won all of our games... but I can say this, that when the boys are "on" they can play with the best of them. The beginning of the season there was definitely some struggle. But since then, we've faced off against the best of teams and hung with them. Beat the undefeated team 5-3 one evening AND lost by only 1-run to the other leading team at this point. So, the boys have learned some baseball. I've discovered a diamond in the rough, in a pitcher that no one had ever given a chance before. He's got some attention stuff going on, BUT all that seems to go away for him when he's on the mound. The boy's found something to be proud of within himself. That's important. I'd rather my boys learn those things than win every game... and poor sportsmanship. Last game we lost, was further irritated by the opposing coach trying to pull a fast one, by deliberately trying to pitch a boy for more innings than the league allows. He knew it and so did everyone other idiot in the crowd. They were all willing to look the other way. I felt bad for the kid when I called time and informed them that the pitcher on the mound was done, and asked who they were putting in next. For all the prickish things though that I've let slide by me, from some of these other guys though... it didn't bother me that much. I don't like angle shooting in poker... and I'll not accept it in baseball either. (Whew, had to reach to get in a poker mention on the ole poker blog.) Sorry, just too much other stuff is going on. Although, I will mention that my cashout appears to have been totally successful from Bodog! 3rd party company, with a Canadian Bank's check, backed by a New York bank... all in U.S. currency. So, unless it goes boing-boing later it was a quick and painless process. Now where to move the money to.

I mention in the title of this post that I'll be meeting up with an old friend. And that's true, tonight after baseball and a quick cleanup. I'll be off to meet my ole pal Jack Daniels!!! It's been a long hard week, and I just can't wait the extra day til the weekend to throw back a few libations! Hope to see (blurrily) you there!

Regards,

cheer_dad

Aw c'mon...

I mentioned it on Facebook this morning, but it bears repeating. What's with the friggin' frosted windshields that I've had to scrape for the last 2 days!!! I mean, c'mon it's May!!! What gives?

Work has already made the blood boil this morning. I've been trying to get a replacement server properly provisioned now for over a week. And the last and final hurdle to get things working was a network port request. Let alone the fact that I had asked for this server to be setup in the same groups, with the same ports, and to be damn near a mirror image of it's counterpart... I have had to request from the network monkeys a ruleset review, which I had to sign for and then fully review the 3 page printout (no electronic copy.) Then, finding that the things I needed were covered by 2 distinct groups, at the high level, which included a subset of ports and additional server, I asked the question... How do I transfer that simple request onto their complex form which is required. The answer was... you don't. I need to submit every single port that I want and specifically enumerate each and every single one of them. All three pages worth. Then, they'll review it and decide what groups if any it needs to go in. There is no other way. So let's just say, f-bombs were lobbed and now would NOT be a good time for me to have my blood pressure checked. It was loads of fun wasting time, typing up the three pages worth of ACLs instead of identifying the 2 groups to add the single server to. Thanks guys... luv ya, mean it!

Many other matters beginning to get under my skin. I've only been trying to get this post out since like 7am...

Regards,

cheer_dad

Break even only

No action preflop. Me... in the sb raies to $5 preflop in a .25/.50 nlhe game...
Reraised by Uncle June. Ooops! Know I'm done, but another caller makes the pot ripe and squishy! I call and miss... Dan hits his crazy river straight.

Seriously considering giving it all up! Seeing as I am just a break even Playa.

Regards,

cheer_dad

Along the way_1

whatever... post didn't make it from the cell...

But here you go...

Have said before... Still hate this game! Thru 3 blind levels and not a single hand won at the Wolfe's. I such a woozer! Uncle June even confirms it... Now heading to cash game.

Regards,

cheer_dad

Facebook is evil

Facebook... is evil! Something that could so quickly begin to occupy my time, and have me turn all obsessive compulsive can be nothing other than evil... Wow, I've reconnected with people that I haven't seen or heard from in the last couple of decades. I had resisted diving in to Facebook and MySpace and all their ilk thinking it was "just for the kids" and that it would interest me. I mean honestly I've got this here blog as a presence on the intertubes. What more could I want. I was wrong! There's a big shocker huh? Anyway, I'm on Facebook now, posting up pics and commenting around on the pages of friends new and old. I'm sure the newness will die down at some point, but right now it's a lot of fun. I'll hold off on the MySpace thing. There just aren't enough hours in the day for me to build a whole new existence. Find me on Facebook here: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/profile.php?id=639437439&ref=name.

NDPT Poker tournament starts tonight at the Wolfe's at 7:00pm. Prolly 20-30 folks will be there... hope you're one of them! Gotta get going, if I'm going to get my errands done before it's time to go.

Regards,

cheer_dad

At the risk of alienation...

From time-to-time I wander out on a limb and express an opinion, in the realm of politics/world affairs. It's usually in response to some article that I've stumbled across, that finally just sent me over an edge of sorts. In this case, I came across this CNN article: http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/05/14/iraq.torture/index.html?eref=rss_topstories, entitled Powell aide says torture helped build Iraq war case. Central to the story are the allegations made by Lawrence Wilkerson, chief of staff for then-Secretary of State Colin Powell against the Bush Administration and former Vice President Dick Cheney, that the "abusive interrogation program's" primary focus became to find a "smoking gun" linking Iraq and al Qaeda. As opposed to "preventing future attacks against the U.S." Let me say that... I don't really think those two goals are necessarily at odds with one another. But here's the thing... The U.S. has taken a lot hits (translation shit) from the international community, militant terror groups, foreign press, and domestic as well; on interrogation and torture tactics that have been used particularly related to Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison. But, you know what... I think I heard it said before... WAR IS HELL! I don't recall anyone standing up and saying that kidnapped or detained American's were served milk and cookies on a daily basis. I doubt things were all champagne and caviar on the hijacked airplanes of 9/11... How about the victims of the grisly beheadings that "news agency" Al Jazeera was all too willing to help sensationalize? I don't think if a stray missile or several had wiped those broadcasting stations and facilities off the face of the planet, that I would have lost any sleep over it. There were days when the thought of making that whole troubled, Taliban, terrorist, jihadist, whack-job of an area, into a giant parking lot seemed like a good friggin' idea. But that's just the anger and hatred talking... But to all you liberal, finger-pointing, interrogation/torture is "mean" types out there... this hasn't been a war fought with pop-guns and harsh language. It's ugly and brutal and bloody and we weren't trying to make nice along the way, cause dammit neither were they. It seems to me some are all-too-quick to point out the "evil" done by the U.S. whilst glossing over a whole laundry list of despicable acts by the "other side." So, in summation, or to wrap it up before I really go off on a rant and alienate someone else... Cross us and we will be on you like a pack-of-dogs on a 3-legged cat! And as Toby Keith put it, "We'll put a boot in your ass it's the American Way!"

Now... I'm putting the soapbox, back under my desk for the rest of the day... please don't make me pull it back out again! I mean it... I promise F-BOMBS will fly!

Regards,

cheer_dad

Fat Bastard

So, I'm a fat bastard... I mean here for a while now, I've been trying to get my 41 year old frame back in shape. But round is a friggin' shape isn't it? I thought I'd been making progress. I have had a bit of a plateau here for a little over a week now, due to some pain/injuries. Between the bad kink in my back and what feels like spike being driven into the side of my knee, I have had to skip 2 or 3 running sessions. Others, I've suffered through the pain, and just kept moving. Now fast forward to today... this morning to be more precise. Since I'm a lead here at the ole Bureau, there seems to be an interest in keeping me healthy (or maybe they just wanna know my weaknesses so's they can apply pressure in the right areas!) Anyway, so I go down to the Health Unit this morning at 6:45. I'm subjected to a battery of vision, and hearing test, medical history questionnaire, both personal and familial. Blood pressure, lung capacity and force, heart rate and heart rate recovery following exertion. AND the grandaddy of ALL great reckonings... "step up on the scale!" (You there in the back, stop with the snickering!) Hey, I'm actually all happy at what I'm looking at when the scale finally stops its digital teetering back and forth. It actually shows that I've lost in the neighborhood of 23 lbs, since I got off my backside and started running again. Go cheer_dad!!! Then, we start with the crunching of the numbers. I'm somewhat vertically challenged at 5' 9 1/2" (not an oompa loompa by any stretch of the imagination.) But pit that with the 207 lbs I'm carrying around... and measure it up against this here Body Mass Index chart: http://www.consumer.gov/weightloss/bmi.htm. And what ya got yourself there, is an obese male of the species. Following along if you will. The height puts me at 70 inches-ish (they round up) thank goodness for the half inch! Then, throw in the weight, and you get yourself a BMI of 30. Not just overweight... obese! I so depressed... I A WOOSER! Still I suppose there's hope.

Despite the gloom and doom report on my physical well being, I think I'll live to see the sun rise again in the morning. My goal has been all along to get back down to 180. You know where I'll only be half the degrees of a circle. (Sorry my daughter's geometry homework is showing through.) I'm getting there... dealing with some aches and pains, associated with someone in my advanced years! : ) And the creator of the BMI chart can kiss my obese ass if he's so inclined. If not, let me get back to the business of living. Undeterred during the lunch break, I headed down to the gym and put in my standard 3.5 mile run( which I do at least 4 times a week!) So stick that in the ole BMI chart!

The weekend so far...

Last night I umpired a game for 4 innings, until the lightning flashes started and they called it. Before that happened though I took a few hard knocks from a baseball. Despite the guards and pads, the pitchers with the rocket arms definitely got a piece of me. I took a shot to my shoulder that made my whole arm go numb for a little while. Then not five minutes later, they hit the other arm, just above the elbow. Today the bruises are getting colorful. But anyway, I finished at the ballpark, and then got cleaned up and headed over to the Yanok's for the 2nd tournament of the night. I also drank HEAVY to kill some of the pain in my arms. I know, I know poker and alcohol is not the proper approach... but hey I ended up chopping it with Jerry at the end of the night. Yes, kids, cheer_dad wins MOBNEYS! Yeeeahhhh ME! We each got $150. Of course let's not forget Big Red, who in game one took down the top spot of $180!!! As a follow up to her success tonight (Saturday) she and I headed out with Rummer and Matt to a game we'd never attended before. I bubbled in both of them, BUT once again Red chopped in BOTH!!! She took down another $180! She gots her some crazy mad pokah skills! The game tonight could be a VERY profitable venue. A bunch of weak fishies. Lots of bizarre rules (or really a lack of them) that created some interesting circumstances. But I didn't argue with anything, and didn't try to turn into the Rules of Poker Nit, but wow they should pick up a book every once and a while. But as Matt put it... "when in Rome!" We traded looks and laughs throughout the night. It was a really good time, despite the fact that I merely donated my $40. Red carried us for the night! If I can't win... at least she does, so the evening isn't a total washout. Congrats baby!

But the weekend hasn't been ALL about poker. The baseball team had practice today at 11:30 for a couple of hours. It was a good time, and the boys really performed well for us, on the recent heels of a victory a few days ago. I'm hoping they continue to learn and grow as a team.

It's been a long couple of days, and I'm tired and actually starting to nod off a bit, so I should wrap up. Oh, but I will also mention that I finally hit the cash-out button on Bodog, to go look for some greener poker pastures for a while. Try my luck elsewhere, maybe chase a bonus or so.

Hope all is good with all of you!

Regards,

cheer_dad