Monday night at Harrah's

Went to Harrah's after work and checked into the free room at Harrah's. I always get the same stares from people as I carry my boxfan into the hotel with me. Yea people ...I am addicted to sleeping with a fan blowing on me. You would be surprised at how many people do this, but most are not addicted to it in a way that they have a "Travel fan"...I do. In fact, my wife some
times thinks I am crazy as we sleep with 3 fans on in the bedroom which one is the ceiling fan. Our bedroom sounds like a wind tunnel when we turn out the lights. I head up to the room and chill for awhile and change clothes. Speaking of clothes, looks loike I may have to go purchase some work clothes as I did not bring enough clean clothes to stay going from home for 5 days...oh well...won't be the first time and definitely not the last.

I head to the casino to get in a game and run into JoeB in the 2-5nl game and he tells me the free room girl had come thru there a few minutes before and they all got free rooms too...SSCHWEEET. I go sit at a 1-2nl and take out $250.00 and I am sitting next to a guy that looks just like Capt. Spaulding from "The Devils Rejects". He questions the time rack and pulls his phone out right in front of everyone and starts chatting...this guy has never played here before. So I look at my first hand and get Kh10h, and I call a raise up to $6.00 along with 4 others. Flop comes out 9s10d10s. Everyone knuckles around to me and I pop the pot $15.00 and everyone folds except Capt. Spaulding who pops it up to $30.00...OK...I call. Turn card bricks out...I check and he bets out $30.00. Now I am kind of in a bind as he could have lots of hands that I beat here, and I think I have him. I think of popping him and decide to just smooth for pot control. River bricks and ole CS pushes $85.00 out these. I actually of thinking about maybe popping him again and decide to call...He tables As10c. Got cold decked the first hand I played for over half my chips...how sick. I guess the play would be to raised on the turn to see where I am and pitch it if he comes back over the top...Oh Well.

I go into ninja short-stack mode and get all my money back and then some in 3 hours. I actually had to step away from the Casino and call Da Rock for a ruling. I think I got a bad ruling on a hand and it tilted me some. I was sitting there pissed and one of the kids asks me, "Hey man you play in the Gulfcoast?". I pissed off said, "Yea"...he asked "Where do you play?" and I answer in a pissed off voice ,"Everywhere man...Everywhere". Thats when I realized that I had GCP hoodie on and he was asking about the site. I immediately turn into mr. niceguy and give him one of my cards and start telling him about the site. I need to quit being a whiner.

The hand in question: I am in the 5 seat and when the hand was over, the guy in the 8 seat turned up his cards. I held on to mine for a second and the dealer just sat there and looked at me...She never pushed the cards forward or anything. At this point I threw/dropped my cards
across the line and the very corner, I mean a tad bit of 1 card touched the muck. Well, when the dealer pushed the cards forward I noticed it was a chop and immediately grabbed my cards. My cards where still visible...obviously to the whole table that these were my cards...and the chaos ensued. I did not make a big deal about it as it was part my fault so I just told the dealer, who is a weak dealer and everyone knows this, to call the floor clearly expecting to have the pot chopped. Floor guy gets there and rules against me. FWIW...Darryl declared, exactly what my understanding was, my cards are live in this situation...Oh well...It was my fault and the pot was not that big.

Oh well...Heading back tonight

"Why do you hate clowns? Don't we make ya laugh? Aren't we fuckin' funny? You best come up with an answer, cos I'm gonna come back here and check on you and your momma and if you ain't got a reason why you hate clowns, I'm gonna kill your whole fucking family" Sid Haig as Captain Spaulding in "The Devils Rejects"

40...The Beau...and FREE nights at Harrah's Hotel

I pulled a nice session Thurday night at Harrah's and felt that I played really well, even though the results did not reflect this. I got there at about 4:30pm and sat in a 1-2nl game with $300.00 and the only person I know in the game is Summerall. The game turned out to be somewhat of a juicy table as my reads on every person turned out to be right on. It turned out that I was going to be a on a "Freeroll" for this session as I got away from some hands early that would have surely busted my first buy-in. About an hour in I pick up A-Qo from the button and call a raise from the mid-position player of $15.00. We also get 3 other callers. Flop comes out Q-J-5 rainbow when someone fires out $60.00. The original raiser also calls and I go in the tank. I was thinking of the articles I have been reading from Hellmuth recently, and Bill and I have talked about trying to emulate his game. I pitch my top pair top kicker in the muck and the post flop raiser tables J-5 after busts the original raiser for one buy-in. I played regular for about another hour when the following hand came up. I knuckled from the BB with 5 other limpers with 10s-9s and the flop comes out Qc9c10h. I did not like that flop flop so I knuckled to see what action would transpire behind me. Raise...re-raise around to me. I decide to channel my inner Hellmuth and ditch this hand as I did not like the flop at all with the straight out there. Needless to say the hand wind up playing out as follows...Turn was a 9h and the river was the 3s...your boy tables pocket 10's to snap off the villain in the 4 seat. I am now on a freeroll. I should be busted out after those 2 hands and I cannot but think of how Phil H. does it. I was amazed with the man last year when I watched him fold pocket Kings....and what was it Queens also? I just decided I was going to try to play as solid as I can and I am now freerolling for this buy-in. After another 2 hours I am literally down to $35.00 and I work it all the way back up to $200.00. After another hour I am back down to $45.00 and I pump it back up to $185.00. At about 1:00am lots of people start to leave and there are lots of changes when someone sits down to my left. I don;t pay any attention to him and I continue with my game. It was I think 2 hands later when I glance to my left and ..."TEX...Where did you come from". My buddy Tex had snuck into the seat on my left and I had not even noticed...even though a couple of beers could have been the culprit also.

Saturday night was my 40th birthday, and my wife and I headed to New Orleans to party and have dinner...and of course play a little poker. BTW...I think I mentioned this before but Daniel Negreanu and I were born on the same day. Anyhow...We ate at Besh's Steakhouse in the Casino, and it was ...Well...OK. I had the blackened Redfish and it was really good, but the dessert Julie ordered kind of sucked. I headed to the tables after this, and ran into Tex right as I walked in the door. I followed him to the 2-5nl table and lay a behold there was JoeB and MattB and Tex all sitting on the right hand side of the table, and what do you know...there was a seat right in the middle of them where a guy was racking up his chips...SCWEEET. I sit down and join the party. We have Joe in the 1 seat, Me in the 2, Tex in the 3 and Matt in the 4. Needless to say we had a blast. I kind of noticed a few "Mumbles" and heads turning on the other side of the table though as we started doing shots of Jagerbombs with a toast ...to whatever...My Birthday...Our friend Marvin...whatever. Julie and scooted out about 1pm as we had to bring her to the airport in the morning as she is heading to Vegas for her job. Yea, how you like that, My wife is heading to Vegas and I am stuck back here in Louisiana...Oh well. I racked up most of my stack and it looked like all I did was "Bleed" off a little...I think $60.00

Sunday...Dropped Julie off at the airport at 9am for 2 weeks. Damn...What am I going to do for 2 weeks while she is gone?? PLAY POKER...immediately got on the phone...There's a nooner at the Beau and I am an hour and a half away...I steer the Jeep toward the coast...Hit Reid with a Text and get a confirmation from him in minutes that he is heading that way also. ...SCWEEEET.
I think we had about 60-70 people and get seated next to these 2 guys that just drove in from Pensacola to play. They are both seated next to me and together as they signed up late. Side note here for a shout-out: I also got to meet Eric C the new Tourney Director and he says he reads the site/blogs all the time...Thanks a bunch Man!!!...So the 2 P'cola guys are chatting it up as we get the cards in the air, and they seem like good players. 6 hands later one of them is crippled when his Pocket Aces gets cracked by K-Jo and 4 more hands and he is out...That sucks.
I got crippled on the following hand. We are in the 4th level with the blinds at 50/150/300. I limp in with 5 other people from the SB with Jh8c and the flop hits Jc7h3s...I knuckle and curley top with the black windbreaker on that has just moved to our table makes it 600 to go...everyone folds to me. Now I have not played with this guy before so I am being somewhat cautious and trying to control the size of the pot. I don't want to play a huge hand here, but thats exactly what I wind up doing. Turn peels off the 8c. wash, rinse, repeat. I knuckle while he bets 600...I smooth call. River is the Ah. I knuckle and now he fires out 1200. Now there are lots of hands that beat me, but I just did not have him on an Ace...and if he did have a dry Ace, I have him for a nice size pot...I call and he tables As7c...WOW. This drops me to 8BB's as I only had 2700 left...a couple of hands later I look down at As-8s and the guy UTG raise to 600...I ship from MP and Windbreaker boy re-shoves from the blinds and the knucklehead UTG calls...and turns up A-J...A-J after a shove and re-shove...How could he think he was god there? Oh well...windbreaker boy tables pocket Queens to have us both in trouble...spade on the flop...spade on the turn and suddenly I have suck-out possibilities and bam...heart on the river and GeneD is bounced. I stuck around and played some 1-2nl cash as I still had some horses as Reid got down to 3 tables. Was able to get my entry back. It is so cool to have that "Sting" of getting bounced from a tourney only to head to the cash game and get that sting soothest once you win your entry back...Now your ready to go again. Also got to meet Marc one of Reids former co-workers...super cool guy. After Reid hit the rail with 2 tables left, he and I hit the bar for a couple of cold beers and chatted for a quite awhile. I really enjoyed our conversation.

From there I headed back to Louisiana and headed back into Harrah's to finish off Sunday night. Jack Simpson was there and got to chat it up with him for awhile. This hand sticks out at me...I had AKo on the button and I call a $20.00 pre-flop raise from a guy in the 1 seat that I tried to get a prop bet with (More on that later) and we see the flop heads up...A-9-4...he checks I fire out $20.00 and he smooths. Turn is another 4...Check-Check...river the Q...He check min-raises me to $60.00 and I call...He turns A-Q. I was talking to one of the guys that commented bout "Slow" playing there...Slow Playing??? I asked him, "What...you thought I could get him off A-Q with an Ace on the board...you think he would have folded?"...No I think I lost the minimum I could in that situation....I don't know.

OK...prop bet story....again the ipod thing came up at the table right after the above hand and I explain that it is "NOT THE STATE POLICE"....that it is Harrah's and go on to explain that I play poker with my ipod and headphones ay numerous tables around the State...and they start arguing with me...and then Shreveport cam up and this guy claimed you cannot listen to ipods in S-port and I laid a hundo out on the table and said, "Wanna Bet...I will call the casino's right now"...he crawfished. One cool thing I got was there were walking around the poker room giving out FREE hotel rooms to poker players...SCWEEETT. I will be playing at Harrah's every night this week

Other stuff...Congrats go out to:
--Tim "Raisin Cajun" Hebert for his 5th place finish in the $200.00 Orleans open for close to 10 large
--Jeremy "thechmist83" Gaubert for finishing 58th in the Main Event of the WSOP for $115,000.

Other rants from the podcast:

--Haralabos rips Scotty a new one in an episode of Big Poker Sunday...seems Scotty got all sauced up on the set of the 50k H.O.R.S.E event and was acting a fool...MFing people and the dealer. Haralabob was just kind of pissed because it was supposedly DeMichel who got he heat.

--BarryG and JoeS meet with Russ Hamilton to get his side of the story. First Russ was going to goon the show himself until his lawyers stepped in. So Barry and Joe meet with him to gather the necessary info and go on the show themselves...basically what we got was a whole lot of nothing. Not digging at BG and JS as they were in a tough spot. From what I gathered there was money won on UB from a superuser account and that money was transferred off the site to Russ H's house....HHMmmmm...suspecious you say?

--I mentioned earlier about using the cash games to gain your confidence back when you are playing in a tournament series. I find this essential in my success at tournament series. I learned this from Clonie Gowan as she was amazed that JoeS and GavinS only play tournaments and no cash games. She commented about how she would fell just losing...over and over again. When your bummed about busting out of tournament and book even a small win...it helps

--Another guest that I really liked was David singer. When asked about how he is so successful he gave the Bruce Lee analogy of "Becoming Water". Thats it folks...you need to become water. In other words conform...adapt to the situation around you. You pour water in a teapot then the water forms and becomes the teapot. Adapt to your environment and never play the same way in any given situation...OK...enough deep crap.

"You're gonna listen to me? To something I said? Hasn't it become abundantly clear during the tenure of our friendship that I don't know shit?" Jason Lee as Brodie in "Mall Rats"

Booked a winner at Shorty's...and other rants

Played at Shorty's this weekend and was able to add a little to the bankroll. There all the same faces as there always is there like Fred, Mitch L and the other "Gene". Sat down with $170.00 and cashed out 3 hours later with $650.00. I was happy with the way that I played and got some cards in some crucial spots. There was one guy I call "Diver Bruce" that I have played with many times. He is a commercial diver. He is a young guy who plays fairly good, but does takes some chance now and then...He was off the hook on Saturday. He went down $1200.00 real early playing some of the worst poker I seen in a while and was able to get pumped back up just playing crazy. Alot of those divers that play there play erratic.

I was able to chip up fairly fast and never was in any danger to lose many chips. I never dipped below a hundo. I played tight the first couple of rounds to see how the play would be. It can be somewhat erratic there at times. Fred starts telling me about how he got his aces cracked at the Beau when someone called him with a flush draw. We started discussing flush draws and the the lunchbox next to me, from Grand Isle of all places, starts chatting, "Yea man...I love flush draws...I have 2 suited cards and the board hits 2 of my suits on the board...I am getting it all in"....YEEEEAAAAAAaaaa ...OK Dude. Needless to say Fred and I look at each other with that "WTF" look and "Islander Boy" gets a big red "Bullseye" on his forehead...It amazes me when you still run into knuckleheads like this...not only will they make that play, but also announce it to the whole table...Yeeeaaaaaa.

An hour into the session I am in the SB with about $130.00 when the other "Gene" makes it $20.00 to go from mid-P after several limpers and there are several callers to me when I glance down at A-Jh. I smooth and Fred joins also...We see the flop 6 handed. Flop hits 2h6c7d. I knuckle as did everyone else. Turn brings us the Jd. I do the math and shove in the rest of my chips and Fred goes in the tank. I immediately start asking him, "You got that flush draw don't you" and he answers, "Yea...we were just talking about it He eventually says, "Oh well, I will let you have it" and he flashes me and Islander Boy the Kd10d. I drag the pot after everyone else pitches and we get to listen again to Islander Boy rant about how he would have instacalled and how he loves Flush draws...etc. Gotta love it

lets see...I also won a pretty big pot with Kings at one point and then got in 2 hands with Mr. Mitch L. where I hit some hands and check called him down. Mr. Mitch and I have some family history as he lived across the street from me as I was growing up in Broadmoor. He and my Dad coached the baseball teams together, and we would laugh as my Dad's patented bunt signal was standing in the third base coaches box and rattling his change in his pocket. Funny thing was anyone who ever watched the games also knew that was the bunt signal. In one hand I called and preflop raise with 3 callers with KdJd and turned a flush after calling Mr. Mitch's C-Bet of $35.00 on a 2 diamond board. The other was a somewhat cooler as I came in from the SB with 5 limpers with J-8 and the board hits J-7-8. I checked called Mr. Mitch all the way down and even hesitated when the straight possibility got there on the river when he bet out $50.00...but I called...He tabled 8-7 for the lower 2 pair.

What else is happening...Lets hit some highlights from the hours and hours of Ipod stuff I listened to on the way home last week. I am almost caught up on all my poker material I downloaded.

--Tiffany Michelle vs. Pokernews...I am firmly behind PN and TonyG on this one. She would have never even been in the main event it if it weren't for TonyG. I personally would have never made a move in this situation without consulting with my backers first. Look like this "friend" of hers that is desperately trying to become an "Agent" screwed her royally. Bill and I kind of disagreed on this but I just feel her loyalty should have been to her backers. If she cut a deal with UB, then she should have worn gear/patches over/on her Pokernews clothes...not the other way around. She should have first and foremost represented PN...and UB???...of all the sites to mess with...UB????...I guess she can pick up her check at Russ Hamilton's house.

--Gavin Smith has taken a prop bet to stop drinking for several months. OK...I know that there alot of people who are happy at this as it seems that he was even more of a "Lush" this WSOP. They even had to "Accidentally" lose a whole episode of PRRadio when he showed up shitfaced after an allnighter...They lost the episode...yea right...I guess its coincidental that they mysteriously found the interview with Blair Hinkle from that same show. Don't get me wrong, I love the show and Gavin ...but come on guys??? Also...who is living with "Ole G-Smith" 24/7. I know lots of people who claim to stop drinking in this fashion, but pour themselves a nice...stiff cocktail before bed when nobody is looking. I am not saying that he is "Sneaking" drinks...I am just saying that it happens...thats all. I am also not the "Pot calling the kettle" black here as most of you know I also drink my fair share of alcohol. Maybe me and G-Smith can tip one back together once this bet is finished...I would like that

--Phil "The Unabomber" Laak and his Main Event disguise...I thought this was pretty cool. It would have been funny if he could have accumulated some chips. Just think, you are bagging up your chips at the end of Day 1 while on the phone with your buddy discussing your table. You tell him about this old skezzer at your table that has the table chip lead, but you never seen him before and viola...on Day2 you come back to the same table and see a grey hoodie sitting there with some Elvis sunglasses on behind the large stack...and then he breaks down and starts doing push-ups...would be pretty cool.

More to come

"Looks like I chose the wrong day to quit snorting hash" Adam Goldberg as Denny in "Deja Vue"

Heading home from Tunica

I will be getting on the road in the next couple of hours, so I figured I would throw up a quick blog while I download all my listening material. I haven't downloaded many episodes since I got back from vacation. My laptop hit the skids last week and I had to send it in to our IT dept to get fixed. It had all my Ipod stuff on it, so I just decided to download Itunes on this crappy one at the office as I was going to be need something to look forward to on the long ride home...and it is long. Lets see...8 episodes of Poker Road Rodeo...3 of Big Poker Sundays (Not to knock on Scott Huff but Haralobob is the shit...I really like this guy)...a couple of Pocket 5s Podcast...I will be alright. I know ...I know...Your thinking damn this guy is a sick individual when it comes to poker...but hey...I AM!!!!

Last nights tournament was a $100.00 NL with $1000 added and a $10.00 dealer toke. They don't have the dealer tokes so they have a bounty chip in front of you when you sit down...kind of confusing. I recognize all the same faces, and get to chat with Grant Watson for a second the young kid I mention in my blog several months back. I bust out with 3 tables left when I am down to 7 BB's left and I flop top pair from the SB in a 4 way limp feast when I held 7-4 off on a board of 7-3-2...and some older bearded fellow wakes up with pocket 2's...See ya

Highlight of the tournament...I got to sit next to a local player there that was a cool as shit...and a damn good player at that. His name is Tim "Misisipimachine" Burt, and he lives right there in Tunica. He had just gotten back from vegas where he had a couple of nice cashes...$1500 here...$3000 there...etc. I got to talk to him for quite awhile and I look forward to seeing him again. He has already qualified for the Aruba gig on UB, so he won't be able to come to the Gulf Coast coming up. I think there at the same time. He siad he was going to check out the site, so Tim...If your reading this...,"It was nice chatting with you and good luck in Aruba!!!"

"Because it rhymes with "luck." See, my daddy always told me to be just like a duck. Stay smooth on the surface and paddle like the devil underneath" Kris Kristofferson as the Rubber Duck in "Convoy" when asked why they call him the Duck

Card Dead at the Final table

Well....I am now 0-3 on the week as far as the tournaments go. I played like a donk again Tuesday night and busted out fairly quickly on another fairly "Questionable" play. Bill thought it may have had some legitimacy, but I don't know. After that i played in the cash game for 3 hours and picked up my buy-in back. I get in the 1-2 nl game for $300.00 and cash out with $410.00 plus a $15.00 buffet. The tourney buy-in was $90.00 with dealer toke. They are having tournaments at the Gold Strike this weekend if anybody is interested. I meant to get a flyer to post up on the site and I forgot.

At one time Wednesday night I was up to around $600.00 when the following hand played out. I raise from UTG with KsKd to $20.00 and got 2 callers. A dealer from Harrahs and an "Old Geezer" calling station. Flops lays out an Ace in the window with Ad10d4d. Not a bad flop for me. I am going to see where I am right here and bet out $20.00...Harrah's dealer folds and the OG pops me up to $45.00. Great...he's got the ace I think... I smooth. Turn snaps out the 7d. BINGO!!. I got the nuts. I make a $75.00 bet...he goes in the tank for several minutes...and pushes $75.00 out there real careful like. River pairs the board with the 7c. I decide to check to him as the pot was big enough for me, and I didn't like the board pairing. He shoves out a stack of reds ($100) and has one stack left behind. I go in the tank...Chatting with the table about, "How goddam sick this game is"..."I cant believe I get in these situations"..."So...you had pocket 4's huh??"...etc. I call like the sicko that I am. I fire my cards in the muck as he tables his pocket 4's. Everyone wanted to know what I had. I said, "I started with the best hand...became the 2nd best after the flop...back to the nuts on the turn and back to 2nd place on the river...who can figure it out"?...Nobody could...Come on people???? It wasn't that hard to figure out was it? ...Oh well. The dealer is shaking his head also so I say to him..."You know don't you" and he shakes his head yes. The OG says he will flip him a redbird ($5) if he tells and he is correct. Dealer says "Pocket Kings with the Kd"...(In my best TeddyKGB voice I can muster)..."Pay dat man his moooney"...We actually had to explain it to the old guy before he actually got it. We laid the board out for him and re-told the riddle...OG flips the dealer a fiver.

Played in the $60.00 tourney Wednesday night at Sam's Town. I actually like Sam's Town poker room. Cool people and they run some good tournaments. They had 56 people last night. I was running late so I ran in with my work clothes on knowing that if I made it to the break, I would go change into my shorts and a hoodie and also grab my ipod and bose's. I chipped up early when I called a raise with pocket 10's when the villain stacked-off with his pocket Jacks on a 7-3-6--10--2 board...SChWWEEEEEETTTT. I started to take down some nice pots and went into the first break with over 7k. We came back from the break and I got all kinds of comments about changing my clothes...typical bullshit like ..."Shazzzzam"...etc. We come back to 25-150-300 and all of a sudden everyone starts shoving on me when I get in a pot. I started to have to lay down hands I wanted to call with but I didn't want to get too spewey. I went down and back up and was able to make to the final table with a little below average chips. I really felt i was the best player left when we got down to 10, but I went card dead. Everything you could imagine...9-3/3-4/8-3/4-8/9-2/10-3/9-4...etc. At 200-1600-3200 I didn't have much room to maneuver. I got in one hand from mid-position. I raise with A-7h. BB jams all in over the top. I go in the tank and start asking questions...etc. I ask him if he has an Ace and he turns p his Ad. I say, "I have one of those" and I turn up my Ace. I lay it down and he flashes the Jd he had. I blind down to where I have to go with anything 3 handed and was able to get in a situation with 9d-6h with 3 people in the hand...and bricked out. Bubbled in 9th place. It sucked, but I was happy that I played well. The cards beat me...I didn't play bad.

Heading back tonight...

"I ain't no white trash piece of shit. I'm better than you all! I can out-learn you. I can out-read you. I can out-think you. And I can out-philosophize you. And I'm gonna outlast you. You think a couple whacks to my guts is gonna get me down? It's gonna take a hell of a lot more than that, Counselor, to prove you're better than me!" Robert Dinero as Max Cady in "Cape Fear"

In Tunica... Running Bad...Playing Bad

I am in Tunica this week working out of our office in Memphis. Played last night and came out the gates strong, only to "crash and burn" as soon as the tournament started. I was out of the tournament in 45 minutes, and I played so bad I was ashamed of myself. I was actually free rlling the tourney as I picked up $160.00 before the tournament started. I was fired up for the tournament. I hadn't played a tourney in a while besides Dingers. I could'nt get anything going early, and got short stacked when I called down with pocket Queens on a board of A-J-9---9---7. I had the guy dead on a small pocket pair by the way the hand played out...He tables A-5.

6 hands later I have to muck a set of 7's when the board 4-suited on the turn...another $1000.00 down the tubes. So I get short Stacked early and pulled this brilliant play (I told myself I was not going to talk about any of the stupid hands I played but...hey...I deserve it).

I look down at Ah3h from the SB and there are 4 limpers to me...I limp and the BB joins the fray. Flop comes out QhQsJh. I bet out a pot size bet trying to take it down. BB raises and I look at the guy, and just didn't think that he had anything...I jam ...he insta calls and tables Q-J....GREAT!!!!...he even has some of my outs dead to me...The turn is the 9c nd the river is the 9h...GeneD is bounced in "Lunchbox" fashion...Stunned that I could play so bad. Oh well...

I plan on heading back to night and firing another bullet. I plan on playing in a tournament every night this week.

Comments:
--I want to say congrats to Clint Shaefer on a nice run at the Main Event. I can remember playing with Clint years ago when the poker room was where the Besh Steakhouse is at Harrah's.
--Congrats to Gabe Costner on his trip to Vegas...he really played well...across the board in all events and venues
--Good Luck to Monkey and have a safe trip home...I really enjoy your blogs. He really gives another perspective to us "Grinders". I could really relate to his post about the "1 hit wonders".

Other stuff:
--There is no more "The Grand" in Tunica....they finally officially changed the name to Harrha's...and moved the pokerrom back downstairs.
--The hotel ay the Goldstrike has/is being renovated and I was able to get one of the new rooms with the down comforter/Flat Screen...etc. Really nice. BTW the poker rate is still $35.00.
--The GoldSttrike is having abunch of tournaments this weekend. I will try to post a flyer in the next couple of days.

More tomorrow...

"ere is the deepest secret nobody knows. Here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows higher than soul can hope or mind can hide. And this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart... I carry your heart, I carry it in my heart" Heath Ledger as Dan reading from a book in the movie "Candy"

On vacation..."Deliverance" style

Julie and I are on vacation in the mountains of North Carolina. We left this weekend. I am kind of bummed out about not being able to get to the WSOP 08 this year, bur I just spoke to my buddy Fairchild and he and some friends are going up to meet Jason Gladden in Vegas for their first WSOP...from there they are heading into the mountains. I was pretty pumped for them to see the bright lights of the WSOP, and hopefully JasonG will pull out a win so they can get some final table nostalgia.

For our families, we hiked Chimney Rock in North Carolina today and both of us are exhausted. We really got some good exercise, and the views were spectacular. We really enjoyed it. Tomorrow we are going whitewater rafting. I actually have already done the Olympic site at the Ocoee river with the guy mentioned above and a bunch of friends in 05. It was great. I love whitewater rafting.

I booked another winner 2 days before we left at Shorty's. I got in 2 hands that were crucial. I am in the game for $200.00

First hand I can talk about ...30 minutes in I get Ac5c in late position and I call a PF raise of $15.00 from the button along with 4 other donkfish. Flop comes out Jack high with 2 clubs. The guy to my right is the only person at the table I am remotely concerned about as I am seen him around and he plays solid poker. Everyone knuckles to the PF raiser and he fires out $40.00. Now I can lay this hand down every day and twice on Sundays, but all of a sudden...the weak Asian Lady calls as does the guy on my right. Damn...I am priced in. Turn peals off a low brick. Again everyone knuckles and the PF raiser sticks $60.00 out there. Weak Asian Chick calls and guy to my right pitches...I go in the tank and do the math...I am still priced in. If she folds...i fold. I call, and the river bricks. The PF raiser fires again and we both muck...half my first buy-in down. I get it all in 15 or so hands later...Jacks against Queens on a 10 high board...1 buy-in down.

I put $200.00 more on the table as I new I was not leaving with this table. 9 or 10 hands in I get Pocket Kings from the SB. UTG raise to $20.00...(Sccchhhhwwweeeeetttt) I am thinking...but it gets better..."Call"...Call"... Weak Asian Chick..."Call" around to me. "I raise"...and I shove in one of my stacks. The BB says "Call"...original raise pitches as do the rest of the people except the WAC...she calls. We see the flop 3 handed ....Jd7c3d. I immediately shove..."Call"..."Call"....WAC has both of us covered and me and her have a side pot of $85.00. BB tables KhJh and WAC tables 9d6d...turn and river brick...GeneD announces ..."Ship it to the Colonel". An hour later I cashed out where I was in for $400.00 and cashed out for $615.00. Shorty's can be really juicy on the weekends.

"I had my first wet dream in a sleepin' bag" Ned Beatty as Bobby in "Deliverance"