That'll be a cold day in hell....

Or at least in Florida. Had to ref a game last night and man it was chillllllllllly out there. First time I've worn long sleeves to do a high school game ..... ever. Of course I don't do playoff games most years and I heard last year's first round games were COLD. Refs wearing gloves, cold weather gear, etc. Not a fun scene for guys whose blood has been warmed by the sun all year. I'm sure you northerners would laugh at temps in the high 40s and 15 mile an hour winds but to us, that's nearly mid winter weather.

Luckily the game wasn't one of those grind it out, 3 yards and a cloud of dust, stand around games. That would have just left us out in the cold. Instead there was a lot of action, big plays, etc. The home team, Seminole, had a chance to go to the playoffs with a victory. That would be the first time in a good number of years for them. Unfortunately they were denied. Gibbs had some close losses early in the year which left them out of the playoff picture. Too bad because later in the year they put it together. And they did again last night. Seminole was a grind it out run the ball on you team all year. But they couldn't stay with Gibbs' speed and that was the end of that. 3 bombs for touchdowns, the last one on a 3rd and 20 play did the trick. Final score was 40-9.

Other than that, not much is going on. Went to pick up the girl at school on Thursday after work. She was feeling homesick and wanted to spend the weekend at home. Only played a little online poker with a bit of success as I won an Omaha tourney and placed ok in a couple of holdem tourneys. Not sure what I will be doing the rest of the weekend except for the kitchen floor once I post this. I do have to ref a couple of youth playoff games on Sunday afternoon/evening. Since it will be after the time change, it will probably be pretty cool again as this cold front should be sticking around a few days. First game is at 5 and second at 6:30. It will be dark completely for the second game and possibly in the first game. Assuming I get through these games ok, this will probably be my last of the season. Maybe another kids game the following weekend and it is possible I'll work a game Friday with the same guys I did last night as their umpire is out for the rest of the season, which is one more week anyway. We'll see. Still it's been a good season and I'm pretty satisfied all in all.

Well the kitchen floor is calling. I'll wrap up this exciting post and get to work. Hope everyone is having an exciting weekend too.

Its in the Cards

It must be going around. I see Josie had a nice score this weekend and though mine took a lot longer session to achieve, it also was a good bit larger score so it all works out in the end.

This is the city, St Petersburg Florida. Friday was a warm day in St Pete, the kind of day the Chamber of Commerce uses to attract more visitors. We were working the night shift out of Derby Lane. There was an 8pm tournament my wife wanted to play in as she had done well in it before. The buy in was only $50 with a $47 rebuy/addon. We got there about an hour before the tourney. I wasn't sure if I wanted to play in the tourney or not so I decided to join the 4-8 Omaha hi/lo game and see how that went. If I was doing well when the tourney rolled around I would probably keep playing omaha or some hold em while the wife played the tourney.

Fortunately Omaha was not kind to me. Every good hand got crapped on when the flop came and I got a fair number of good hands. Had the goods a few times by the turn only to get killed on the river. Before I knew it I was down 75 bucks in 45 minutes. I decided enough was enough and went to try my hand at the tourney.

The tourney started much like the Omaha game ended. Early on I got into a hand in an unraised pot from the big blind with J9. Flop was 9 high and I put out a bet only to get called by the guy to my left who had played every hand so far. He had already played some crappy connectors into a couple of bad beats on some other players. I was hoping it wasn't my turn. Turn was an 8 which made a straight and brought a possible flush to the board. I bet again and he called again. River was another 9. Unfortunately it was a club putting both a straight and flush possibility on the board. I checked wondering what kind of bet I'd be facing next but he checked too. Then flipped over Q9 to out kick me for the pot.

After that though, I was the one doing the outkicking. I went at it a few times with better hands than some people who overvalued Ace 3 against my Ace 10 and King 9 against my King Queen when we both flopped top pair. I was up over 2 grand on my 4000 starting stack when I got JJ in the big blind. 4 limpers to me but I made a healthy raise and 3 of them dropped out. Unfortunately one limper decided to call. Flop had an ugly Ace with a 9 and 6. I wondered if he was playing ace rag but put in a 2/3 pot bet and he gave me a disgusted look and folded. Table was playing pretty passive loose with a lot of pre flop calling and showing down some weak hands so I got a little more aggressive and pushed some hands in position. By the time we broke I was up over 10 grand and near the leader at my table. I was undecided whether to take the add on then but remembered an article I read which suggested if the add on was for more than 1/3 your stack you should do it. 4K against the 10,600 I was holding added up to me making a reluctant add on. Didn't want to spend another 47 bucks on top of what I had already put in today but my wife said she had already rebought herself and I probably should as well. So I did.

Let me break in here with 2 other hands I forgot. First one I caught pocket queens in early position. I made a standard raise and guy across the table jams all in for about half my stack. I didn't put him on AA or KK (I could be wrong of course) and called him. Flop is a Q and turn is another for quads and good night Irene to him. Only person I busted the whole tourney. Other one was ugly. I checked in the big blind with J2 of diamonds with 5 limpers. Flop was nice, J hearts, 4 clubs & 2 of spades. I put a pot sized bet out as I knew I was vulnerable. Lady across the table was a real calling station though she generally played good cards, she would stay with just about any pair. She pushed all in for about 3K, about 750 more than my bet. I was sitting at 11 at the time and was sure she only had a jack. Guy to my right calls her all in and I can't reraise him because of her all in bet size so I have to call. Turn is 8 of hearts. I push in and the guy to my right folds. Lady flips over QJ of hearts, about what I expected but didn't like the hearts with the 2 on the board. River is of course a heart and I lose. The lady then gets on a heater and whacks a few people before I was moved off the table. She ended up busting 14th, about 50 places later than she should have. Ok end of break

Good thing I did as the cards went pretty blank after the break. I got a few chips busting a short stack when my pocket 3s flopped a set against AK. I was surprised he didn't make a big preflop raise but I guess he didn't want to commit himself preflop which he would have done with any substantial raise. Thing is I probably dump the pair if he does push unless a couple of others call and when the flop came A34 he was a cooked goose. He wasn't too happy. After that more deadness. Another table was broken taking us down from the original 7 to 4. Soon after that I was moved to my wife's old table (she got knocked out shortly after the break was over) but my bad card run kept going.

I didn't want to wait until I got too short stacked to do anything but I was getting junk. Best hand was A10 suited. I raised and the guy to my left pushed all in. We had about the same stack size and he had been playing tight. I figured him for either AK or a pocket pair between KK and 88. Most of those hands I am a dog to a big dog so I tossed it. Only other hand I tried anything on was reraised by another guy at the end of the table. He had been playing a fair amount of hands but since I was on a pure steal I tossed that. Before I know it my 14 K is down to 8K and the blinds are heating up. With blinds at 3oo 600 and a 50 ante I pick up AJ in the big blind. Folded to the button who raises to 2k. I push all in and she calls with 77. Flop had a jack and I double up and am back in business again.

I picked up a couple of small pots but still wasn't getting much. Blinds kept going up and we are up to 800-1600 with a 200 ante. I'm sitting at 19K in the big blind when the guy 2 seats to my left raises to 4k. Not a big raise for the blind level but he has raised my blind 3 of the last 4 times and I had already seen him suckout a huge pot against another guy when he made Broadway with KQ and cracked a guys set of aces so I didn't give him credence for huge hand but I look at my hand and see 10-8 of spades. Flop is J53 all spades. Can you say BINGO? I check and he checks behind me. Turn is a queen of clubs and I bet 6K. He pushes all in and I can't say call fast enough. "You got a flush?" he asks as he turns over KK, no spades. "Why yes I do" as I start stacking up a big chunk of his chips. Thank you very much.

Now I'm sitting at 40K in chips which is about twice the average stack. Our table breaks soon after and we're down to 2 tables. I keep it tight, make a couple of position raises to take down some blinds until I get AA. Kid to my right calls preflop then calls my raise. Flop is J43 rainbow and he makes a bet. I figure he has crap but caught part of the flop. Hoping he puts me on AK I push back and he eventually folds his 4-2 power hand. I show him the aces to set up my next confrontation with him cuz I'm sure we'll meet again as much as he is playing. Next hour is pretty blah and so are my hands. We get down to one table and I'm average stacked at about 50K. Top 7 are in the money so I am working my ass off to get there now.

Couple of shorties get knocked out and we're on the bubble. I'm down a bit from raising AK and dumping it after the flop and turn were no help and my opponents were both staying in. I'm grinding it and get AA again. A couple of people limp but fold to my button raise unfortunately. Finally a guy gets knocked out when he runs JJ into KK and we are in the money. I'm close to the shortest stack now but not getting much. Chips start flying around the table and the guy in seat 1 is flying the most. He takes a hit then eliminates 2 guys first when his AJ out draws 88 then his KK beats AQ.

We get down to 4 and its the guy in seat 1 with the biggest stack, gal next to me in seat 4 with a decent stack, the 4-2 kid in seat 10 with about 70 K and I'm bringing up the rear with 30K. I'm looking at $512 for 4th place and thats fine by me. We play a few hands and I'm now with a little over 20K with A7 in the big blind. The kid and big stack fold and the gal next to me raises me all in. I got no choice here and I call. I figure her for a small pair or a decent ace but she has Q-10. Not bad though it seems I lose these a lot. Not this time as a 7 flops and an Ace turns. I double up to a little over 50K. Then it gets surreal. Two hands later on the button I fold and the kid raises to 30K (blinds are 3k-6k with a 600 ante). Big stack reraises all in and he calls with A9. I guess he felt some pressure since I doubled up and wanted to get some more chips. Unfortunately the big stack has 66 and it holds up. Yes up to 3rd! Very next hand the gal next to me pushes all in with QQ and big stack calls with AK sooted. Flops a king and she's gone.

I've got no illusions trailing 50K to 400K but I'm hoping to get close to even and then split the 1st and 2nd money. But no. First hand I get 10-8 of spades again and big stack pushes in. I call but he has A-10 and gets an ace. No flush for me though it's close, and I'm out second. $1170 and I'll take that any day. I look at my watch and its 2:45am.

Winning isn't everything.....

it's much more important than that.

So when last I posted I had just made $100 for sitting next to the luckiest poker player in Florida. Hitting Quad queens and winning $500 didn't make him the luckiest guy yet. Later on he did more. The poker room was running a new promotion after midnight. Each person who hit quads or better got paid off. The first guy got $50, the next $100 right up to $500. Didn't have to be the best for a half hour or anything, just needed to catch the hand.

Well Mr Luck certainly earned his name then. 2 guys had already won that promotion when he calls a raise in the small blind. Flop comes out K Q 10, all clubs. This guy pushes all in immediately. Everyone had the good sense to fold after that. He flips over his cards and there for all to see is AJ of clubs. Yup the man flops a royal. He went all in just to force everyone out as he didn't want to take someone else's chipstack away from them. So he wins $150 for the hand plus another $250 since he hit a royal and all royals get paid 250. So in the space of a little over 2 hours, Mr Lucky has won $900 from promotions at the poker room. He was also up about 300 from chips won from his opponents. He wasn't only lucky with promotions, he also played pretty aggressively with some pretty shall we say marginal holdings that hit big.

While he was doing this I was playing my normal tight self though a bit more aggressive than usual. Most of the players seemed to be pretty loose. I was surprised at some of the raises. But that's how it goes, some tables are really tight and some really loose. This one was pretty loose. I got some hands that somehow held up, hit a couple of nice draws, and some people just didn't believe me when I bet. So I had to prove it to them. And got some more chips. Before I knew it I was up about $300. A little later on I raised on the button with QQ. Flop is A-8-5 rainbow. Everyone checks and I make a 2/3 pot bet. Fold, fold, fold. Guy to my left said he had A rag so I showed him my queens. Surprised him a lot but since I had only shown down big hands he put me on a big ace. Which was just what I had hoped he would.

I then got into a pot with Mr Lucky on my right and a short stack on my left. Short stack raises to $8, Mr Lucky calls and I look at KK in my hand. I thought about pushing then and there but wanted to make sure the short stack stayed in the hand, tho I thought he would call a reraise, but I was also a little concerned with Mr Lucky. I knew he could be playing just about anything and he would probably call a reraise with any ace. So I wanted to see the flop and see if I was up against an ace.

Flop comes down 8 5 2. Short stack pushes in the rest of the way for about $25 and Mr Lucky calls him. I'm wondering if he played some crap like 8 5 so I just call. Turn and river are garbage. He checks both times and I bet him out. He folds and the short stack flips over JJ. He is unthrilled by my KK and I take down another $100 or so putting me over 400. The wife does well in the tourney but bubbles off the money at the end. They all put money into the pot when they reached the bubble so that the bubble boy (or girl in this case) got their buy in back. She was really unlucky too as her KK got cracked by QQ. She comes by my table and goggles at my Hellmuthian towers of chips. I was being my meticulous (anal) self and creating a pyramid of 2 and 5 dollar chips. She couldn't see the 25s as they were out in front of my other chips. She tells me her story and says she is too tired to play anymore. It is 2 am after all. So we go to cash out. I fill one rack with chips and then start handing her some stacks to help me carry them to the cashier. Then she sees the 25s. Damn. I cash out for $462. Not too shabby for a $60 buy in. Best night of non tourney poker I ever had.

Saturday I refereed a couple of games. The wife slept most of the afternoon away while I reffed. After I got home and showered I was starved as I hadn't had anything to eat since about 10 am and it was now after 6:30. I am never hungry while I referee and usually it takes an hour or so afterwards for my appetite to come back but once it does, I'll eat leaded paint chips for dinner. So we hit a local mexican place and fill up on enchiladas and such. It was just what the doctor ordered as far as my stomach was concerned. I asked my wife what she wanted to do. We had talked about going to see that new movie Red earlier in the day. She turns to me and says "You know what I want to do." I say "Poker again?" and she just nods. So we end up hitting the tables again. I did manage to play omaha this time. It was not nearly as profitable a night though I did end up plus about $40. Well actually I broke even, the $40 went to the wife when she got a bit low on the 1-1 no limit table. Still a fun night though we were out even later this time.

We woke up Sunday morning and decided we were now a bit too old to spend 2 nights in a row out until the wee hours. Still it was a good weekend all in all, in fact a very good weekend. We even had the boys over to dinner tonight for steaks. A tasty way to finish up the weekend. I was planning on getting to bed early tonight as I could use a good night's sleep now but of course, the poker gods are still in a giving mood it seems. I got into a tourney with about 350 players at 9 pm. Figured to play for an hour or so if I was lucky and get to bed. It was only a $3 buying but the winner gets over 700 clams. It's a little after midnight now and there are 19 left. I am sitting 9th now. Well I was 9th. I just ran 8-8 into aces and it's good night Irene. Still I made $27 which beats a stick in the eye. Sharp or dull. So good night all, gotta get some sleep before I turn into a pumpkin. Stay lucky you nuts.

Back In The Game

I have been very remiss lately in not making any new posts. I apologize to my many readers, all 5 or 10 of you and countless others who depend on me for entertainment. In my own defense I have been pretty busy over the past month and a half or so and when I'm taking some down time, blog posting has not been on the top of my list. I need to do a bit better than that.

So what have I been doing that's so important you ask? Actually what I've mostly been doing with my free time is refereeing football. I have been a local football referee for the past 8 years doing everything from little kids up through high school. Even did some semi pro ball one year which I enjoyed but had to take a break from for my own knee health. This year has been a busier year for me than any previous year. I have had JV and Varsity high school games every week except last week along with youth games every Saturday since the end of August.

When I haven't been refereeing I just haven't had much desire to go online a lot. When I have gone online it's mostly been to look things up and do a little mindless goofing off. I haven't even done much poker online. I was running so badly for so long it took a lot of my desire to play though last week I did have some success mostly playing Omaha Hi Lo which is my favorite game. Made 2 nice cashes last week and since then I have hardly played.

When I last wrote we had just taken my daughter to college. The house has just been myself, my wife, and the dog since then. I know my wife misses our little girl quite a bit and they talk on the phone quite often. The girl has been home twice since school started, once my sister in law went out to Orlando and picked her up and more recently my wife picked her up and brought her back. Every year my wife takes a few days off and goes to Universal Studios with some friends from work and spends a couple of days in Orlando. They go to Halloween Horror Nights and visit all the haunted houses, drink, and do girl type things. This time the daughter joined them and they all came back home for the weekend. She visited with some friends, had some fun etc. I had football on Thursday and Friday nights that week. Saturday I had a bunch of kids games to do so I didn't see too much of the little girl. She is doing well in school and really enjoying herself. She and her roommates are all getting along well and she's been making other friends etc.

OMG what in the hell happened to Tom Brady? I just saw an ad on the NFL network for an interview with him and I finally saw his hair. WTF. This is gotta be Giselle's influence. Of course if I were married to her she could do whatever she wanted with my hair too. Still, Tom you're a pro football player, multiple time Super Bowl champ. Try to look the part. Peyton Manning is probably laughing every time he sees your hair.

Ok station break over. So that Sunday the wife asked if I wanted to go with her and bring the girl back to school. Since I hadn't seen her that much I decided to go rather than rest after Saturday's exertions and so I drove back to Orlando. They both talked me into stopping at Wal Mart near the school and getting the girl a crock pot since I had all this extra cash from refereeing (youth games pay us right after the games, high school games get paid off at end of season) so they were able to talk me into it. Besides we're not talking one of these programmable pots, just a standard crock pot. So I figure to spend 20 or 30 bucks max. Or so I thought.

We actually find a nice big crockpot for $18. Cool, daddy gets out cheap. Then my wife starts food shopping. I forgot about the mother effect. You see guys, mothers equate food with love. Remember how your mom always tried to feed you. Every time they say "Eat this" they're really saying "I love you". So my wife decides to spread a little love around. She picks her up a pork loin, some cereal, some other things the girl thinks she needs and by the time we get to checkout, I'm in for 81 bucks. WHAT? I was only there to buy her a crock pot. Did someone reverse the price tag on the crock pot? Yeah right.

So I left Orlando a lot poorer than I arrived, especially after you factor in the lunch tab for all of us, but hey I only have one daughter and I won't be on the hook for her every need (I hope). I did get a bit of revenge last week as the boys joined us for dinner one night. I had mentioned to my oldest son about his sister's 81 dollar crockpot and somehow the conversation got to what all the kids were like when they were young. We talked about how my middle child was a scorekeeper when they were younger. If one kid got something he kept track of it so he made sure he got his. Well as the talk went my oldest son turns to my wife and says "What about my sister's 81 dollar crockpot?" I cracked up. Of course I got a dirty look from my wife. And of course I enjoyed it.

This week the public schools in the county were all off on Friday so I had to work a JV game on Wednesday night and a Varsity game on Thursday night. Which meant I was a little tired and sore when I went to work yesterday. I called up the wife and asked her what she wanted to do after work last night. I figured I'd take her out to dinner and maybe a movie since we hadn't been to one in a while. She decided she wanted to play in a poker tourney at Derby Lane. Since I am usually reffing on Friday nights, this sounded like a good deal to me. I figured to play some Omaha while she played in the tourney as I wasn't in a tourney mood last night.

We get there a little before 8 and she signs up for the tourney. I check the registration desk and no Omaha game. There is always an Omaha game on Fridays, often lasting past midnight, but not last night. There was an interest list with 7 or 8 people listed so I signed up for that. While I was waiting I asked the guy to put me on a 1-1 no limit holdem table. I used to play $2 or 2-4 limit holdem but came to hate that more and more as you can't bet anyone off of a draw or make them pay enough not to draw at it. With the no limit, you can bet enough to make it unprofitable but still get called often times. If they hit you lose but if not you can take a nice chunk off them.

You know when you've been in a bad streak and your luck finally turns. Well it turned for me last night. It started when I called a $4 raise with A-9 suited. The guy who raised had raised before with A-6 and K-J so I felt I was at least 50-50 with him. 3 of us saw the flop of A 8 J. The original raiser bets $6. I call as does the other guy. Turn is a bingo 9. I was all set to put a big bet out when the original guy bets $12. I remembered how he checked the turn the two times he hadn't hit so I just called instead of reraising him. River is a K which I don't particularly like. I am afraid he may have started with bigger hand like AK now and he has me beaten. He surprises me by checking so I check back. I was really surprised when turns over 8-8 for a flopped set. I lost about 1/3 of my stack on the hand but it could have been so much worse if I had reraised or pushed the river.

After that a series of hands develop and I start making a run. I get a couple of draws to actually hit and make a good call with top pair low kicker against 2nd pair. Then the guy to my right gets into it with the guy on my left. The guy on my left was talking about leaving with his profits but didn't. I took some chips from him and then he gets AK and raises. the guy to my left calls. Flop is Q K Q. Guy to my left bets, guy to my right raises, left goes all in and gets called. Guy to my right has QQ for flopped quads. Turn and river are a blank and an Ace so he makes four queens with an ace kicker. The poker room is paying out $500 for the high hand among all the holdem tables every half an hour. This guy is now leading with about 15 minutes left. It actually holds up and he gets $500. He then picks a card from a set of cards and the seat that card corresponds to gets $100. Well he picks a 7 for seat 7 which is where yours truly is sitting. So from being down a bit I am not up about $150 for the day and its not over yet. All I want to make sure is to not give it all away later.

I guess I better quit now as I have to get ready to referee. I'll post again tonight or tomorrow and finish it all up. It might even have a happy ending.

Sorry for the delay

Well it's been about 3 weeks since I last wrote. I apologize for my silence but I just haven't had much to talk about. Poker has been on a major downturn, the big hands are few and the suckouts against me are many. Big pairs stand almost no chance in my hands and my draws never seem to get there. So enough of that depressing business.


Not much else has been going on personally. It's been all work, some Dr appointments, and losing poker. Took the daughter out to play some poker when she turned 18 2 weeks ago. I enjoyed that and though it wasn't profitable, it didn't cost much either. She has much to learn about over valueing her hands but it was a good time. Managed to get my aces cracked twice in 30 minutes. So my online luck carried over.


Just got back from Orlando last night. The wife and I took our youngest to college. Oh that was a trying experience. First off, her dorm is nicer than my first apartment. It's a four bedroom apartment basically. She has 3 roommates and they each have a separate bedroom, share 2 bathrooms and a kitchen and living room. Are you kidding me??? If my college dorm was that nice, I never would have left college. In fact I thought that was why they made dorms so austere was to convince you that drunken partying, late night bull sessions, coeds, cards, and grass (for most, not me) wasn't all it was cracked up to be and to get you to move on with your life. Instead, she's set up and if she wants to take the ten year route to get a degree what's the drawback?


It was a bit of a rough weekend especially for the mama hen. She always has this thing about letting go of her chicks. But this is her last chick. That probably hurts the most but she was very good and only cried a little bit when we left for the last time yesterday. Still I could tell she was a bit down and upset last night. She kind of is today as well. Have to expect that. Seems this is just another difference between guys and gals. I'm all for kicking them out of the house, she would be happy if they all lived with us forever. I'd like to think it's because I realize it's best for the kids to have a chance to grow and they need freedom to do so whereas she wants to smother them but I'd be lying to say that. It's more like a want some peace and quiet after all this time and she wants the liveliness and fun of having them around. And they are a lot of fun, especially now as adults. They are very good at picking out my idiosyncracies and pointing them out to me.


I know I'm gonna miss having the girl around sometimes, especially when she was in the cookie baking mood. But my word is she messy too. Everything she plays with stays behind when she is done with it. Picking up after her is a full time job. I am looking forward to putting a bunch of things away and knowing they won't be wandering back out when my back is turned. But it's just not the same without some young voices around. I'm a crotchety old man or at least I'm well on my way there. They make me feel young. I am afraid without them around I'll just become ever more set in my ways than I already am. And I'm practically stone as it is.


Still I look forward to seeing how the next few years go, and how much my daughter changes. She is getting so grown up but she has so much more to do and college is her first big chance to get out in the world alone. I remember how it was for me to get away and have to depend on myself. I hope she does well, doesn't get her heart broken (much) by people, by the world, by boyfriends. She is not naive I suppose but maybe unworldly? She sees the good in everybody and has not learned yet that some people have no good. I fear she will find that out the very hard way. Still she is a wonderful girl and I am proud she is my daughter. Her mother did a great job raising her, many times without much help from me. I can't wait to see how she turns out now.


I'll write more on a poker theme later. For now, stay lucky you nuts. And give the kids a hug.

And that's the way it is

Well folks, I am glad this work week is over. I am beat and I'm not sure why. Well outside of the fact I haven't slept particularly well all week. And I still have a cough, especially at night. I take the cough stuff the doc prescribed and though it doesn't seem to make me especially sleepy, I wake up pretty groggy the next morning. Oh well, it beats not waking up or waking up coughing in the middle of the night.

Outside of my cough, things were all right this week. Unfortunately they haven't been that great. Poker has kinda sucked online and I'm too broke to play live. After my last live session that may be a good thing. Online I just keep getting my aces cracked. 4 times in a row now. Against K9 who made a straight, K10 who made a boat, K8 suited who made a flush, and last against 55 who made a boat. And I always raise them preflop. I am just running on such a bad streak with them.

You would think I would even out by sucking out on these other yahoos but it's not to be. I don't suck out and I seem to be losing most of my races as well. If I have a pair against overcards, overcards hit the board. If I have overcards against a pair, nothing hits for me. Well enough of that shit. I'm gonna keep playing and not get too paranoid. Eventually I'll start holding up and then I will clean a couple of these people out. And make some real cash.

Just watched the movie Zombieland this week. Now that's a funny movie. Outside of the fact that the electricity still works everywhere, I just enjoyed the hell out of that movie. All the little rules, the Zombie Kill of the Week, the unfortunate killing of Bill Murray. No academy award winner but it doesn't pretend to be. It was just a fun movie. Woody Harrelson looked like he had fun making that one. Even the wife enjoyed it and she usually hates movies with a lot of violence.

Well time to go clean the kitchen floor. Hope everyone has a good weekend. Stay lucky you nuts. And don't forget rule 32 - enjoy the little things.

The Good, The Bad, and of course The Ugly

It was a good weekend all in all but there were moments of badness and one of just pure ugliness that I hope not to see repeated anytime soon. As my last post mentioned, I woke up Friday coughing up a lung. Took the medications the doc gave me, the Zpack and the cough syrup and rested. That cough syrup with the hydrocodone didn't make me sleepy as much as dizzy so no operating heavy machinery last weekend.

We drove out to Steinhatchee on Friday afternoon/evening. It was a nice ride as we stayed off the Interstate. We did take the Suncoast Parkway which let us avoid a ton of traffic and red lights like US 19 has. Once we got up by the Crystal River nuke plant, we cut over to US 19 and kept heading north. Went through such metropolises (metropolii?) as Chiefland, Fanning Springs, and Hardeetown (no Hardees in Hardeetown but 2 are pretty close). Neat little towns. Finally we took the turn off to Steinhatchee. Saw a lot of land, not much in the way of civilization, unlike Pinellas County where we live. Just before night fell we arrived in the city of Steinhatchee. It certainly did not rival Rome or Paris for things to see, I will admit that. However I will also admit that the seafood was pretty kickass there. We dined at a place called Fiddlers that night. Had broiled flounder and broiled shrimp. O that was gooooood. We sat out on the deck, listening to the music, eating our dinner along with a fried mushroom appetizer, and watching the boats on the Steinhatchee River.

We drove around town a bit, unfortunately there is no way to go all the way to the Gulf as the town is a little inland up the river. Then we headed to our hotel in Gainesville which was fairly central to where we wanted to go. Nice hotel, especially for $49 a night. We were pretty beat so after looking up things we wanted to do the next day, we passed out kinda early.

The next morning we grabbed our free breakfast in the lobby and then decided to hit the road early. I wanted to go by Micanopy and the wife wanted to check out the Ocala Poker Room for their early afternoon tournament. Micanopy was cool. Really small town, the buildings all looked like the came out of the late 1800s and early 1900s. A number of antique shops, a few cafes, bookstores and a really neat stained glass place. I could have looked around in there for a long time. From there we continued south toward the poker room. Unfortunately, the address I had for the place and the info I pulled online made me turn right on 318 when I shoulda turned left. We got to see a lot of boonies lol. Eventually we worked it out and went to play some cards.

Nice little room they have there in Ocala. It's a jai alai fronton that only seems to have jai alai going 2 months of the year but at least they have poker for the entire year. Too bad they didn't have jai alai going then, I do enjoy watching it and placing the occasional short term investment on it. I have not seen it played live since the Tampa fronton closed about 15 years ago. Anyway we both sign up for the 1pm tourney. For $100 you get 10K in chips and for only $10 more they give you another 5K. That's a lot of chips and the blind structure is good with 30 minute levels and 2 levels of 100-200 blinds, one without an ante and one with a 25 ante. So you can afford to wait for some hands and whack the aggros with a little luck. Unfortunately luck was in short supply for me. If I could have gotten anything worth playing, I would have been fine. I saw so many hands of 9-4, 10-3 and 5-2 that it was sickening. At the end of the first hour I had played 2 hands that weren't my blinds and both were folded after the flop . After 2 hours I still hadn't won a hand. I also had only seen one pocket pair and they were 3s. Still hadn't seen A with anything better than a 7. Never even got KQ. Watched these other clowns getting AA, KK, etc but I could not get squat. Lost 2 hands to this yahoo off to my left. I watched him win 2 hands with Q6 suited and J7 off but the two hands I get involved with and tried to steal postflop he shows up with AK and AA. Both hands he didn't raise preflop from early position. He deserved to get whacked, especially with the Aces since he had 5 callers and yet no one catches anything on a 455 flop. I had 33 and tried to pick it up from the button but he calls postflop and then post turn with a 6. Now I feel pretty good about my hand but have to give him credit for something since he had AK last time we tangled and didn't raise. I'm looking for a 2 or 7 on the river but of course it's an Ace. He checks again but I just check and he turns over AA for the boat. No justice at all. He played like crap but gets rescued on the river. I wonder if no ace hits if he lays it down to my river bet but I doubt it. Of course I get no help on the river anyway.

And that's the way the whole tourney went. After 3 hours I have won a grand total of one hand with A-8 when I raised preflop then raised the one caller off the hand after the flop. I'm down to about 8K. Blinds are 300-600 so it's getting critical. My wife is two places to my right. She started out pretty well but is not getting anything much either now. She gets it all in a little later with K-10 but gets called by the guy next to me with KQ and another guy with AJ. Ace flops and she's gone. The next hand I finally get AK. I push all in for my last 3K and the guy next to me calls and shows KQ again. This time I get 2 pair and win my second hand of the day. Only took almost 4 hours. Next hand I dump and the guy next to me wins with AQ. So in 3 hands this guy has KQ, KQ, AQ which is better than my entire day. Very next hand I am UTG with 10-10. I'm leery of pushing too hard in that seat and losing to someone with KK or something in a later position, so I just call. Guy next to me calls as do the 2 blinds. Flop is nice, 8 5 2 rainbow. Checked to me and I bet half the pot. Guy next to me calls and the blinds fold. Next is a 3. I was gonna bet but I don't have enough behind to push someone out if I do so I just push in for my last 4K. Guy calls and turns over QQ. I don't suck out on the river (of course) and it's bye bye.

I wasn't upset, it was the way the day had gone. Amazing another clown doesn't raise his big pair and still wins against 3 other people. When you ain't got it, you ain't got it. What was most disappointing was in 4 hours you figure the luck will even out some and you'll catch something but it wasn't meant to be. It was bad but at least not ugly. That came a bit later.

Wife was playing 1-1 no limit holdem. I like this level as max buy in is 60 so you don't have to have a massive amount of cash to play some no limit holdem unlike the higher limits like 1-2, 2-5 and 5-10. I got put at the wife's table about a half hour after I busted. She was doing decently, up about 25 bucks. I got 2 good hands off the go, AK where I flop a K and end up splitting the pot with another guy who had AK, then AJ where I flopped nothing and folded. After that I got pretty much crapped on. Got a good read on the two guys to my right. Both were pretty fishy. My wife beat up on the guy just to my right like he was her personal ATM for a while and I couldn't wait to tangle with him when I had a hand. The guy to his right was way too aggressive and I figured I could take him for some big chips. He did win a really nice pot when he called a guys 5X raise from the big blind with 43 and flopped two 4s to bust the guys AA. That had to hurt.

Unfortunately my tourney luck found me at this table too. I got no end of crap hands again. 9-4 and 10-3 kept showing up. I just kept waiting for some carsd to play. Wife on the other hand won a nice pot when her pocket 8s got quadded up on the flop. Room was paying a high hand bonus of 300 bucks every hour and she was sitting with it after the first 10 minutes that hour. Had a good chance of holding up too but 50 minutes is a long time to wait. Unfortunately about 8 mins before the hour was up some clown in the next table plays AK and gets KKK on the board to take the high hand. The dealers moved and the one who dealt the high hand comes to our table. She dealt me absolute crap in the tourney so I expected nothing, especially the way my luck was running. So the yahoo who got high hand gets paid off and comes over to our table to tip his dealer and thanks her then says to my wife "I'm sorry you didn't get it, well no I'm not". What a classless thing to say. I realize you're happy and all but that was just bullshit in my book. My wife gives him a look then says, "Good for you buddy, but karma's a bitch" Loved that.

Couple of hands later, The Ugly came to town. I am none too happy at this point, especially after my wife lost the jackpot. I get dealt A4 of spades. The ATM 2 seats to my right raises to $4 and with a bunch of people who called preflop I figured why not call this raise from the small blind. So do 3 others. Flop is A 4 2 with 2 clubs and one spade. Unless someone has 3-5 this is a really good flop for me. I check my stack and since I only have $14 left I decide to push all in. I don't have enough to bet anything now and be able to push anyone off the hand after the turn so I figure my best move is to bet $14 into a $17 pot and try to take it down now. Everyone else folds except the original raiser. He looks at his cards, looks back, sighs and finally calls. I figure he either has a big ace or 2 clubs. I flip up my cards hoping he doesn't have 2 clubs as I know I'll lose to a flush draw. I am shocked when he flips over a red QJ. I mean he has no pairs, no draws, and even if he just puts me on an ace, he knows he needs runner runner to beat me. With 2 pair, he is almost drawing dead. Needs a runner runner set or straight. I figured his odds at that point and I put him at 2%. Of course it goes K-10 and he wins. I am livid but I just say "I cannot believe this" and walk out.

How do you call that hand with that holding. I mean you have absolutely nothing and you're gonna call that bet? That was all the proof I needed that poker was not my game that day. I sat down and worked on a crossword and just let my steam drain from my head. My wife cashed out plus a bit a little later and we went to get some dinner. Found a really good mexican place and had a great inexpensive dinner. No booze for me as I was gonna be taking the cough medicine in a little while but still a terrific dinner.

Satisfied in our stomachs, if not our wallets, we headed back to the hotel and crashed. I woke up way too early Sunday morning. The wife was a little later. We wanted to head out to Cedar Key which is on the coast southwest of Gainesville. We had found a Grandy's riding around on Saturday and were thinking of going to breakfast there but since it was the opposite direction from where we wanted to head I thought we'd hit a local place in one of the little towns on the way to Cedar Key. We hadn't been to a Grandys in many years as all the ones around here closed down years ago. Got the names of a few restaurants online and figured we'd hit one of them on the way to Cedar Key. Went through such famous towns as Archer and Bronson where we tried to find the Lady Luck Cafe. Apparently it had not been too lucky as it was no where to be found. So we pushed on to Cedar Key. Drove down what had to be the flattest straightest road in America. If it hadn't been for all the tall trees around you would swear you were driving through Kansas or something. Very few cars on the road, almost no homes or towns for the last 20 miles or so to Cedar Key. Just a whole lot of nothing.

We finally make it to Cedar Key. Not that it was a great long drive or anything cuz it wasn't. It was actually kinda nice drive, just not much going on. At least the traffic was next to nil. We stopped at this little cafe called Cooks Cafe. I got me some biscuits and gravy. I may have been raised up north but I learned when I lived in Texas that cream gravy makes almost everything better. Cooks sausage cream gravy was very good, a little thinner than I usually see but nice and peppery just the way I love it. Their home fries were excellent as well. My wife had a waffle and bacon, liked the bacon but the waffle was so/so. We then walked and drove around Cedar Key a bit. Nice little slice of old Florida on the Gulf. Main St was a quaint look at another time. It was quiet there and not a lot of people were around but I bet in the winter the place is packed.

Once we had our fill of Cedar Key we started heading back home. It was a nice day to travel, no rain and not much traffic. We also dropped by Yankeetown on the way back, I rather insisted on that. There is not much of anything there to speak of. On the way out of Yankeetown we came to a sign that we were now entering historic Crackertown. Needless to say we got a good laugh out of that, Yankeetown and Crackertown next to each other.

Made it back home a few hours later and vegged out for the rest of Sunday. My cold or respiratory infection or whatever was much better. At least I am not coughing uncontrollably but I am still coughing some, especially at night. So to wrap up, the good would have to include these small towns, especially Micanopy and Cedar Key. Just neat little places like a slice of old Florida. Also the poker room at Ocala, especially the staff was very good. The weather was nice, the food was very good for the most part. We made a special effort not to eat at chain restaurants while we traveled to support the local businesses as much as possible. Outside of a quicky lunch at Burger King we pretty much did that. The motel was definitely a good as well especially for 49 a nite.

The bad includes getting sick right before I left. Also my poor luck at the poker room didn't help. Two other things I noticed were a lot of these small towns had a lot of closed up businesses. It looks like the bad economy has really impacted some of these small towns a lot. Also these are not well to do areas anyway. Most of the money made in these areas are related to fishing, clams, scallops, etc as well as lumber. Not high profit industries for the workers. Saw a ton of manufactured homes out in the boonies and not that many regular ones. Steinhatchee looked to be 60 - 70 % manufactured homes.

The only thing I would classify as ugly was my last hand of poker. That beat down was just ugly. Well this post has taken long enough. Time to post. Stay lucky my friends, luckier than me at least.

Open wide and say "Ahh"

I'm taking the day off today. Unlike some other person who shall remain nameless, I don't normally get Fridays off, except for Good Friday, so this is distinctly different for me. Unfortunately it's not that I earned a day off or anything, it's because I am coughing so much that I would both be unable to function well in my job (which does require phone contact) and infecting the rest of my department with this cold. So now I know how Josie feels except I feel much worse.

I was planning on leaving tonight with the wife and taking a weekend to see a bit of Florida I never have seen before. Now that two of our 3 chicks are out of the nest and the third will soon be attending college, we are taking some time to do some stuff we couldn't do when we were younger and taking care of the kiddies. This weekend we were going to go up the west coast to Steinhatchee which is on Apalachicola Bay where the state bends out to the west toward the panhandle. As long as I've lived here, I really have not gone to see what small town Florida is like, most of my vacations with the kids and stuff were to places like DWorld, Universal Studios, NASA, and places like that or we went somewhere out of state. I haven't really gone on side roads much and never stopped in small towns. This weekend was a chance to do some of that as kind of a delayed birthday present.

First thing this morning I called the Dr office to see if I could get in and have her check out this cold. I was really coughing up a lung last night and this morning. She couldn't see me but one of her associates could so I went in to see him this morning. Had to wait awhile. Must be a bunch of sickies around as parking was full and the place was crowded. Eventually I got in to see him and he checked me out. A lot of this going around apparently. I got 2 prescriptions, one for Zpack? which is supposed to make me recover from this cold quickly and the other for a cough syrup that contains hydrocodone and will make me sleepy.

Anyway its medicine and nap time for me. Will decide later whether to go away or not, it will depend on how I'm feeling. Till then, stay lucky you nuts.

Book em Dano

50 already? Seems like only a month ago I was 25, with a baby boy and another on the way. Now both boys live in their own apartment and have good jobs and girl friends. Feels like it was a couple of weeks ago when my little girl was born. Now she's almost 18 and getting ready to go off to college. Lately I have found myself thinking of all this deep shit like what does it all mean, what do I want to do with the rest of my life, have I prepared my kids for their future, and will OJ have better luck finding Nicole's killer in jail than he did on the golf course. It boggles the mind sometimes.

Do I feel like a success when I look back at my life? What have I really done? Have I achieved anything?? Most times my answer is not really. Yet I have managed to help raise 3 good kids who are (mostly) productive members of society. Most of the credit goes to their mother but I haven't been a complete dud I guess. Maybe I should have that put on my tombstone "He wasn't a complete dud". I know I'll never be famous except by accident like from winning the lottery or something. When you come right down to it, I don't want to be famous anyway. I wouldn't mind being rich however. Enough of this maudlin bullshit anyway.

Still it's my birthday. 50 years ago today my mother was probably laying back in the Providence Lying In Hospital thinking "Thank God that's over". So how should I celebrate? It won't be playing poker that's for sure. My luck lately has been as poor as I've seen. I can't make a hand stand up and anyone calling me on a draw is just about guaranteed to hit it. I hit a set on the turn one hand and there were 2 cards to the flush as well on board though no straight draw. With 1300 in the pot I pushed all in for 2300 to make sure I don't give any flush draw the odds to draw to it. I still get called and the guy hits the river. 7 outs but of course it hits. He's getting about 1.5 to 1 odds to draw to his draw. His odds of winning the hand are about 5 to 1 against. That's the way the odds are working today. Last hand I have both open end straight and flush draws and the river is nothing. Again. So poker is done for the rest of the day for me. I don't need this aggravation on my birthday.

Gonna hit the library and spend some time with a few good books, have dinner with the wife and kiddies, pop open a bottle of wine and have a bit of cake and ice cream as well. A good day to relax and spend family time. I hope all of you have a good weekend. Take a little time to tell some older friend or relative what they mean to you today. Cuz they won't always be around you know. You might make their day. Stay lucky you nuts.

What a Relief

Whew, glad that's over. Not the most pleasant way to spend a weekend my friends. After mid day on Saturday I never strayed far from the bathroom. And a good thing I didn't either. So I spent the weekend reading and playing poker online. It was slightly profitable but quite irritating to watch AA get busted by both QJ offsuit and 95 suited. I also followed the WSOP main event online on both Poker News and Dr Pauly's poker blog. Had to drink that citrate of magnesium 3 times. BLEH. Still I sucked it up and have been cleansed inside and out, had all kinds of pictures of my insides (and 2 polyps removed to boot) and now I'm back on solid food again.

I had an appointment with my GP yesterday afternoon after the colonoscopy in the morning. We talked of a few things and she sent me for an EKG after my appointment was done. All in all it was a pretty busy day but at least I got a nap in on the table when I was getting the colonoscopy. So they tell me I had 2 polyps but hell, they could have snapped some pics of my ass and woken me up a while later without doing anything else and I'd be none the wiser. I'll find out if the 2 polyps were anything to worry about when I see the gastroenterologist in a couple of weeks. By then I will have turned 50. Oh Yay. Of course it does beat the alternatives.

Tonight I'm watching the All Star game while I DVR Deadliest Catch. These are the episodes where Phil Harris died of a stroke. The man was only 3 1/2 years older than I am. Ouch. Anyway the NL may win this game yet. Between Joe Girardi making some bad pitching changes (why not bring in one of your best closers when the bases are loaded and you need an out?) and Josie's fave Big Sloppy taking a called 3rd strike when a hit drives in at least one run, the AL is in trouble. Well Ole Papi leads off the 9th for the AL and if they get some runners on Girardi still has AFraud to pinch hit with. Does this inspire me with confidence? Uh noooooo. I can see it now. Papi leads off the ninth with a hit. A Rod comes up after somebody makes an out and Mr Non Clutch hits into a DP to end the game. Wow Valverde of the Tigers is just throwing nasty stuff up there. So I'm gonna watch the bitter end of this game while I finish this poker tourney I'm in. Almost into the money now and I need some more chips to go further. Hope everyone has a good week. Stay lucky you nuts.

Two Down, One To Go

Well I've had 2 tests done so far and both have been easier than I thought they would be. The echocardiogram went well, no problems found or anything. The CAT scan was even easier because they didn't inject me with dye (which always makes me vomit) and I didn't have to drink that berry/metallic crap before the test either. The doc just wanted a scan without the contrast they would get from using the dyes and stuff. So the CAT scan was easier and quicker than I thought it would be. Probably didn't hurt that they have improved CAT scans over the past 20 years since I last had one too. I didn't mind at all.

Got a call from the gastroenterologists office Friday to tell me I have gall stones. I don't know much about them but the doctor didn't seem too concerned. I have an appointment with my doctor on Monday and with the specialist in 2 weeks so I will talk to them both about it and see if I should be concerned. I read up about it a bit and it doesn't seem too bad, a lot depends how big the gall stones are in size.

This weekend is all about preparing for test number 3, the colonoscopy. I don't mind the actual test so much, hell I'm basically out of it for the test. That's a bit of a change from when I had my first test. I was awake through it all, saw the pictures and everything. Not something I really live to do. Nowadays they put you in a twilight sleep and you don't remember anything, at least I don't. And when the test was over I never felt any pain or anything from it. So the test itself is no real problem.

The prep on the other hand is a major pain in the ass. I gotta take this stuff 3 times during the next day and a half which will "cleanse" me from the inside out. Oh yay. After noon today I get nothing solid to eat until after the test on Monday morning. Nothing but broth and clear liquids. Unfortunately white wine doesn't qualify as a clear liquid, I don't think. Be funny to walk into the surgery center already hammered. Not so much for the doc I bet. Anyway the plan is to have a big breakfast this morning and pick up the crap I need to take over the next two days. Then suffer in relative silence, never far from the bathroom over the next 2 days until the "procedure" and then grab a good meal after it's all over. Bet I'm hungry then

Funny story from last week. A little background. Whenever that GEICO commercial comes on where the gecko and the old guy talk about ringtones you can download to your cell phone comes on, my wife threatens to add that Ring-a-dong ding ding di dong one that the old guy has on his phone. So after my echocardiogram, I went into the men's room at the medical building before I left. An old guy is taking a leak in there when I went in and as soon as I do his cell phone goes off. "Ringy dong ding ding di dong" is the first thing I hear. I almost lost it as soon as I heard it. Guy had to be in his 70s. It was all I could do to keep from laughing until he left. I really can't believe people are downloading that ring tone, especially old guys. Maybe his kids or grandkids did it to him. Either way, it was pretty funny.

Anyway, that is all the news fit to print. Needless to say the only gambling I will do this weekend will be online now. Have a great weekend everyone. Stay lucky you nuts.

Clutching my 3 for all I'm worth

Good morning all and happy 4th of July Weekend

I hope all of you will take a moment this weekend to consider the origination of this holiday, the people who put their names on a document that surely would see them hung if their idea of a new society was unsuccessful, and all the sacrifices our ancestors made along with the ones our neighbors and even our families are making today.

As my title implies, I have been doing my damndest to hold onto the cash I've won so far without giving it all back. I go up a little, down a bit and at the end of the day I just hope I'm back where I started from. I just can't get over the hump and make a big score. Having said that, I have done well to avoid going on an extended losing streak as well. So I sit and wait sure that the poker gods will reward my patience. yeah right.

Yesterday afternoon I had an Echocardiogram run on me. Interesting experience, never had one before. The technician had a hard time finding my heart. She said it was 2 sizes to small. The only one she had seen that small before was a guy named Mr Grinch lol. Actually not true and the test went fine. Probably ok but I'll be talking to the doctor soon and she'll tell me how it looked. Next week I have a CAT scan scheduled. Oh yay. Haven't had one in over 20 years but they were no picnic for me when I was getting them regularly (I had cancer many years ago and part of the follow up was quarterly CAT scans) and setting records for projectile vomiting. According to the specialist I saw, they are much quicker and easier now. Also this time I don't have to choke down the crap I had to drink the other times I had a CAT scan. So hopefully it's not as bad this time around. The following week some dude gets to ram a garden hose up my butt and he gets paid to do it. Some job huh? I should be the one getting paid for that. Think I'll bring that up.......after they finish.

Enough of that fun stuff. Makes my cringe thinking about all that. This is gonna be a quiet weekend for me, outside of fireworks I'm sure one of my idiot neighbors will set off at 2 or 3 am this weekend. We should get rained on at some point every day as well. I'm too broke to be playing cards live this weekend so I'll be online trying to increase my number a good bit. Gotta hit the library and pick up a few books as well. Other than that I got the kitchen floor and my car to clean. Like I said, a really busy active weekend ahead. Hope you all enjoy yours. Stay lucky you nuts.