Finally...a Vacation!!!

Life is good…(Typed last weekend...It did not post up)

I am currently on Vacation with the family in Gulf Shores enjoying a good long weekend at the beach. We really need this to unplug and get away for awhile. We are on a secluded private beach staying in a condo at a Resort called The Plantation. We are staying in the newest building called Plantation Palms…and we are really having a great time.

I have been extremely busy lately with the day job, and trying to come up for air on the blog. I have been neglecting my blog and I want to start being more regular with my thoughts and comments. Hopefully it will be more about Poker (and winning)...but I just want to be more regular. This blog does help me to "unwind" a little also

I want to really give this Resort a plug as it wound up being beyond our expectations. My personal favorite here…hot tubs that stay at 104 degrees (Most places…especially Vegas are sooooo scared of law suits…they keep the hot tubs at 100-101)…Wooden steam saunas…and a full blown wet Steam Room. We are overlooking the beach which is about 60 yards away, and there are numerous outdoor pools and hot tubs...as well as an indoor heated pool. I cannot tell you how much we enjoyed these few days away. The price was pretty sweet also although I did bluff them when I made the reservations, “Well …that sounds like a good price…but what about the tar balls and oil spill…etc”…we got a gooooood deal.

Day one: Get here and immediately head to the beach. It felt nice to get some sand between my toes again. We went to the store to stock the condo and we finally got Ivey to sleep. The wife and I sit on the 5th floor balcony enjoying the beautiful weather while we enjoy some Kendall Jackson…by the 2nd bottle…with me enjoying a nice cigar...we were solving all the worlds problems.

Day two: wake up early and hit the steam rooms and hot tubs. What a great way to wake up. We hung on the beach/by the pools all day and then we took little man to his 1st rock concert…Bon Jovi on the beach in Gulf Shores…at 11 months old he was fist pumping to “Wanted Dead or Alive” while his daddy was holding him…good stuff.

I was told that years ago…when I was about that age…that I was left with my Grandparents…and somehow wound up with my Uncles. They were going to see Ted Nugent in an outdoors concert at the Southland Dragstrip in Houma. (Yea…there was a Dragstrip in Houma, La at one time)…and they took me along for the ride and put me on their shoulders. So the story goes that I saw Ted Nugent when I was about 1 years old…

Sidenote: RIP …Paul Dudek…we miss you terribly

Day 3...beach/pool...enough said

So we had a great time and Ivey enjoyed every moment of it. Most of the "Locals" were older folks so is was quiet...noone "Protecting their beach" or anything...LOL

Work is crazy. My company was involved in some M&A activity…and we were purchased by Earthlink. Lots of uncertainty…but lots of opportunity also. I was summoned to Atlanta a few weeks ago to do my Quarterly Review in front of the executives. I was a “Ball of Nerves”…but I think I did well.

Shout out to Dan Walsh who joined me for one of the best meals I have head in some time. We went to one of those Brazilian Barbeque places in Buckhead…all you can eat. WOW was it good. Some of the best food I have had in a looooong time…good food …and good company.

So what about Poker? I have been playing some…but not nearly enough. My online time management has went in the crapper. I haven’t played an MTT online in a month or so. I played a few live nightly events last time I was in Biloxi at the Beau.

For 3 nights straight…Donk out of my tournament being super/over aggressive LAG…to win my entry/money back in the cash games after the tourney….wash…rinse…repeat.

Hands go something like …I push around the table for the 1st 3-4 levels…then on a K-Q-4 rainbow board…reading the guy to have something like 8-8 or 9-9…I four bet shove with A-K…and old dude tank-calls with a set of 4’s…are you serious?...you have to tank on that board with a set in the $100 nightly at the Beau?...after I three bet pre and you were the only one to come along?

I stayed at the Hard Rock...again...great accommodations. I just cant get enough of that place and the Multi-Showerheads...the beds...good place. The 1-2 cash game was good the whole time I was there also.

Anyhow…what else is happening…will go “ramble” style from here

-The 1st thing Ivey learned on his vacation…sand taste bad…Yuk

-I see Spade Club went donk-down…The Shulman’s must be hating it. I read in a magazine Barry says, “Sometimes in a hand…you just have to fold”…GL anyone trying to run an Internet based “Club/Private” poker online site. If the Shulman’s cant pull it off…then who can?

-I saw in the Poker Brats column in one of the Cardplayer Mags where PB gives a detailed explanation in parenthesis (__) …several sentences… of what a “C-Bet” is as well as “Floating”. WOW…come on Phil…the only thing I can think of is you have to produce so many words for your articles and you needed “Filler”.

-Liv Boree jumping from UB to Stars…does the phrase “No Brainer” pop into anyone’s mind here?

-The 2nd thing Ivey learned on vacation…Bon Jovi ROCKS!!!!

-Congrats to my buddy Adam Ross from the ATL who just snapped off a $500 buy in at the Canterbury Fall Classic for over 20 large….niiiiiicccccceeeee…GG…WP.
Adam and I worked together in Telecom years ago.

-Hope our Magazine Editor and friend John Price has a safe surgery.

-The wife and I have still not found a house…we do have a few in the crosshairs though

"Okay. I get it. This is where you tell me that "locals rule", and that Yuppie insects like me shouldn't be surfing the break, right?" Keanu Reeves as Johnny Utah in "Point Break"