IRONGIRL

US Online Poker Ban - Some Link Dumps

2011-04-18T19:16:00.007-04:00

From the NY Times: Foreign Money Fueled Failed Bid to Push Online Poker

From the New York Post: Payment Processor Pleads Not Guilty...

Bill Rini's Poker Blog : The Fallout From The Full Tilt / PokerStars Pullout

For some interesting insight into the legal aspects of the case read the last few days of blog posts on my friend CK's blog CK is an attorney although currently not practicing law.

From Change100's blog read: The End of the (poker) World as we know it. Change is not only a well-established member or the poker Media but she also shipped the Ladies PCA event this year at Atlantis. A good chunk of her savings and payment for work she has done is tied up online.

Quad Jacks.com has been having a marathon session of guests on a U-Stream feed ever since news broke. Guests as diverse as Scott Matusow (Mike's brother) to CK (above) to Shane Schleger (PokerSTars TeamOnline) to Todd Terry to BJ Nemeth have all been offering insight or what little they have and their perspectives on what has been going down.

First if I were in backer with deep pockets (which I'm not) I would set up poker hostels (I prefer that name to a poker boiler room, although I image thats what it would look like) overseas say in Vancouver, Costa Rica, Toronto, London etc. Basically, anywhere online poker is regulated free of the US Govt. Offer a room, and an internet cafe/station where residents could grind out their living and a concierge to assist our grinders in the local culture. Make the players take breaks. limit their stays to no more then two months at a time. They have to leave and can come back or visit another location. Force them to see the world. Offer classes in Bank Roll Management, ie wealth management. Offer onsite massage, a life coach whatever, offer day trips to the local attractions/museums. Better yet call it a poker spa. Treat it like Poker's version of Semester at Sea.

With the above "hostels" established US Online Grinders could ex-patriate themselves for stretches of time & continue to grind out a living online. If I were a young pro who wanted to continue playing online I would move out of the country, but have a plan. Example: Make this much money and then retire or go to college. Part of that plan would also be to transition to live play if I currently didn't play live. I'd also get outside and see the freaking world while I was overseas. The structure of my poker spa would encourage a well balanced education.

As for the accusations against the Big 3, the charges of money laundering are severe. Breaking the law is breaking the law and that appears to be the biggest problem the three major sites are facing. As a friend of mine who is a NY State policeman once said to another friend who got a speeding ticket when she passed another vehicle. "If you exceeded the speeding limit, even while passing its still speeding".

I'll post more interesting links as I find them.

The apocalypse of Online Poker in the US

2011-04-15T16:34:00.008-04:00

I have no idea what is going on as I just opened up my twitter feed to see that the United States DOJ has indicted 11 of the owners of Full Tilt, PokerStars and Cereus (Absolute Poker & Ultimate Bet) for fraud and money laundering and illegal gambling aka your basic racketeering charges. I would assume bank officials who allowed the payments to be processed are also going to be herded up soon.

Sucks for my friends grinding out a living online.

Here are links to a few of the articles I rounded up but didnt read yet:

Wall Street Journal
Eleven Charged in Federal Crackdown on Online-Poker Companies

Business Insider Meet The Boy Genius Who Just Took Down The Online Poker Industry

CNN Money Online poker companies indicted for fraud

Also Check out Pokerati for breaking news. Pauly is currently in Lima Peru covering a LAPT event for Pokerstars but he did have time to scrape this together on Tao of Poker

I just saw 2+2 moderator and former Pokerati contributor, Kevin Mathers tweet that the 2+2 forum had its highest number of people on the forum at one time a little while ago looking for information.

As of a few minutes ago i could still log onto Pokerstars but i didnt actually attempt to try to play anything. Edit**** US Residents are banned from playing any cash games or tournaments

Retirement to Costa Rica is looking good.

Trey Anastasio - Acoustic/Electric Videos

2011-02-21T08:26:00.003-05:00

I shot a ton of video of Trey Anastasio's Acoustic & Electric performances at the Palace Theater on Saturday Night. Saratoga Springs musician Tony Markellis has been a long time member of Trey's touring band aka TAB Classic.

Check out the videos on You Tube under Irongirl99. Be sure you see the re synced version of TAB performing the Gorillaz "Clint Eastwood". The previous night Trey covered Outkast's Hey Yeah.

I just noticed my prior post count was 420. These days I'm 420 friendly but haven't smoked in years. I joke that my retirement job will be moving back to Colorado to become a grower. I got a mean green thumb.

And big congrats to fellow poker blogger/pro Shane Schleger (and fellow New Yorker) who recently was named to Pokerstars Team Online. I've never met Shane but we have some mutual friends/acquaintances. I've followed his career thru the ups and downs for years and glad to see his hard work pay off.

GUNG HAY FAT CHOY

2011-02-05T08:55:00.003-05:00

Happy Chinese New Year - The Year of the Rabbit.

This poster is actually hanging in my house. I'm pretty sure I purchased it at the old Psychedelic Solution located in NYC's Greenwich Village. It's by artists VEGETABLE & ERICKA and was done in 1987 to commemorate the Grateful Dead Shows held at San Franciso Civic Center January 28-30th 1987.

GUNG HAY FAT CHOY - Live long and prosper.

Dr Pauly and the 2011 WSOP Schedule

2011-02-02T19:17:00.003-05:00

Dr Pauly best known for his Tao of Poker, Tao of Pauly, Tao of Fear and Coventry Music Blogs as well as a contributor to Bluff Magazine and author of Lost Vegas Book just did a guest post for the Poker From the Rail Blog:

Please check out his fine contribution here:

Dr Pauly and the 2011 WSOP Schedule

Full Tilt Poker will once again be offering satellites to win your way into the 2011 WSOP you can download Full Tilt Poker by clicking on the link to the right.

And if you haven't read Lost Vegas Book yet it is now available on Kindle, Nook, and from Amazon.com and Lulu.com

New England Forecast 2/1/11

2011-02-01T20:40:00.002-05:00

This is pretty funny, I'm an outlier on this map about 45 minutes west of Pittsfield just north of Albany. Think we already have about 6" on the ground from this storm in Southern Saratoga County, with another 12" expected tomorrow. This is on top of the snow already on the ground.

Thank goodness I telecommute.

PokerStars WBCOOP - 2011

2011-01-25T21:20:00.003-05:00

I'm a little late in finding out about the 2011 WBCOOP. For some reason didn't get an email about Events at Pokerstars on this.

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker! The WBCOOP is a free online Poker tournament open to all Bloggers, so register on WBCOOP to play.

Registration code: XXXXXX 377993

2011 - IG's Odyssey

2011-01-07T21:58:00.004-05:00

During 2010 I posted vary little on this blog. My Irongirl Blog started back in 2005 chronicling my low limit grinding as a poker forum rat playing freerolls and low limit MTT tourneys. I played very little poker in 2010. I think I can count 4 times I played live last year. Last new years day and over 4th of july at the APL, last April during the NAPT over at Mohegan Sun where I ran deep but missed a cash by a few spots in the ladies event. And during October of this year I played a charity tourney for the Mockingbird Foundation which is a Phish related Charity. There were a few years where I played poker every day. I banged out lots of hands, read lots of books, forum threads, poker strategy articles etc. I lived and breathed poker. I played online, joined a league, frequented underground card rooms and although i didnt burn out, poker eventually lost its grip on me.

I had expected to play more poker in 2010 largely because i would be turning the big 50 and would be eligible for seniors events. But a bunch of my favorite bands returned to touring and Furthur, Phish, Max Creek and my new favorite band the McLovins found me attending a ton of concerts and music festivals and my head behind a video camera instead of a pile of poker chips. I also resumed exercising in 2010 and although i didnt run, I did take (and still am taking) a cardio dance/hip hop class 2-3 times a week which saw me lose a few pounds over the year.

I saw Phish 10 times in 2010 in three States, Furthur (former Grateful Dead members Bob Weir and Phil Lesh) 5 times in two states, the McLovins about 5 times in two states and Max Creek about 5 times in three states and I also saw 7 Walkers and the Rhythm Devils (the other two original surviving grateful dead members offshoot bands). I even tried to go see a Midnight Ramble at Levon Helm's studio but got shut out when My Morning Jacket was announced as opening act.

I started a Facebook page up largely at the urging of my friend Carol who is the Manager of the McLovins and the mom of Jake the drummer. We happen to be co-workers but in different offices. So Facebook was a way for us to keep in touch because we arent supposed to use company email/instant messaging for personal business. Because of Facebook, I rekindled tons of old friendships in 2011 and made a whole bunch of new ones and in this day of social media its easier to keep in touch with people. It was also kind of cool when I got introduced as Irongirl people would know me from my music videos or posts on Coventry Music rather then my online poker handle.

I rang in the new year with Change100, Dr Pauly and Benjo in New York City. Pauly is like a kid brother to me so that makes, Change my sister-in-law. Even though I am closer in age to her parents then she is to me we still have an awesome time together. Shared loves of music, Broadway shows, shopping, cooking etc easily bridges generation gaps. One of my favorite memories will be looking at Change and both of us doing Jazz hands to end certain Phish songs. We were doing the Jazz hands well before we knew Phish would be performing their song MeatStick and turning it into a Broadway show complete with chorus line and dancers. I always get asked why I didn't write about my adventures on Phish tour with Pauly and its largely because I value the private time I get to spend with him and Change so I just keep it off limits. And thats all I will say about that.

Now I just need to get over the mild Wook flu I have which is a hazard of tour and which I think all of us came down with post YEMSG. Im not sure the Wookies started it because some non-Phisheads also got sick with similiar symptoms at the same time.

I reckon and hope, I will play more poker in 2011 then i did in 2010 and i reckon I will see more shows.

Merry Christmas

2010-12-25T10:08:00.003-05:00

The fat man wishes you a very Jerry Merry Christmas to you and yours. May there be Phish and Furthur tickets in your stockings. May the day be filled with joyous noise however you choose to celebrate it.

Ive met a ton of people and made lots of new friends this year on the Phish and Mclovins scenes and rekindled old friendships from my Grateful Dead and Max Creek days including some very special people I had lost touch with. Some of you cross over into both worlds. Some of you no longer are able to get out there. For those of you that can't Im glad I can keep you in the loop via my videos, blog posts, phone calls, emails and texts.

I'll be ringing in the New Years in New York City with some of the Coventry Music crew. And cant wait to see a lot of the phish twibe in the Big Apple.

I apologize for the lack of regular blog posts. I had a busy run of concerts during the month of October. I came back from Phish's Atlantic City run over Halloween to find my cat Rags, had gone blind. He was the neighborhood stray/tom cat that someone either abandoned or abused who showed up in my neigborhood sometime in early 2008. Not knowing his real story and if he belonged to anyone. I didnt begin feeding him till Xmas of 2008 when I found him hanging around a neighbors porch and huddled under a chair with a tarp on it. It took me a couple of months before I could even pet him. I had had him neutered in October of 2009. By November 2009 he would finally stay behind a closed door. It took me a good 10 months to redomesticate him and get him to trust people and it took a lot of love, food and kindness

After a trip to the emergency clinic, after driving home 5.5 hours from Atlantic City with a stop in Riverdale, NY and a follow-up visit to my vet, He was diagnosed with diabetes, regained some of his vision and was doing good with his twice daily insulin injections. At the end of November he began to lose the use of three of his legs and by the first weekend in December he wasnt really eating like he used to and try as me might he couldnt make the three steps to his litter tray from his bed. Although I didnt run the tests, the vet and I were pretty sure he had cancer of some sort that was effecting his central nervous system, as he had lost a ton of muscle tone over the last month. I made the humane decision to put him down as his prognosis was bleak. He was my good Karma kitty as I put a lot of time into making him loved his last year with me.

Here's to a wonderful happy healthy 2011

Namaste.

Happy Birthday Jerry Garcia

2010-08-01T20:04:00.003-04:00

Just back from Gathering of the Vibes. Saw two of the 4 days of music. Went into the trip completely exhausted and bailed early yesterday about 6 PM. I went back to my hotel room and slept for 10 hours. Kim & Connor left after our diner breakfast Saturday morning so I attended Saturday solo. We connected with Mom and Dad of drumlovin, on Friday afternoon as well as Jake (drumlovin) and Jason (basslovin). I caught their awesome set yesterday and marched with a few other McLovin fans with a TOKYO TEA sign getting people over to the Green Vibes Stage. They opened with Dancing in the streets and closed with Men at Work's "Down Under". Sandwiched in between were a bunch of songs from their new CD Good Catch. I caught the first few songs of their set, ran over to catch a few of Max Creeks over on the main stage, then back to McLovins for the end of their set and back to Max Creek for their finale. Why they booked the two bands overlapping is beyond me.

Zach Deputy led it all off Saturday on the main stage with his one man show of funk and blues and knocked me out of my shoes. I was chipper then but midway thru Assembly of Dust I was ready to sit down. I actually took a cat nap under a tree in the shade during Galactic. I wanted to get down to some good Nawlins funk featuring Cyrus Neville on vocals but was too tired. I decided to call it a day, went home showered got some good mexican food and crashed.

Im A ok after the sleep. I was stressed out worrying about a neighbors cat who was shut inside a condo with no air conditioning on some very hot days. Workmen from our property manager had to enter the condo because of a leak and asked me to go in because I am on the board. The downstairs condo had water coming into it from what was feared to be a busted hot water heater. It turned out it was the air conditioning leaking. So the guys turned it off. I knew they had a cat but we found the cat with barely any water and only dog food. The teenage girl who lives their with her mother took off with the two dogs at least a week prior leaving the cat behind. The cat box had not been changed in what looked to be two weeks and the mother was away on vacation. The story gets more involved then that and will be continued after I have a little chat with the mom of the teenager. The kitty itself was in good shape and i had to tell the guys not to call animal control on the tenant. They tagged the door about the unauthorized entry and maintenance emergency and I planned on calling Animal control if no one returned to the condo by Sunday when I got back. My eyes at the condo who was cat sitting for me texted me that people returned Saturday and the board President had a chat with the teen but not the mom.

WSOP Fantasy - Event #57 - The Main Event (10K NLH) World Championship

2010-07-06T09:00:00.022-04:00

The grand finale is upon us. 4 Day 1's followed by two day 2's and harmonic convergence on Day 3. I have two friends currently slugging it out in the satellite room trying to earn their seats. Snake5970 aka Ray failed to qualify online for only the second time in 6 years. The first two years (2005-2006) Ray qualified on PokerStars in the double or triple shootouts, then Ultimate Bet in 2007 (for like $33 bucks in December in some promo UB was running back then) then a missed year in 2008 and last year on Full Tilt in the final mega-seat giveaway. He failed to qualify again this year. Rich aka Silo (Ray's brother) has never played the Main Event. I received a text from Ray last night to the effect of "Cooler after Fing Cooler, Christ". Heck when you have Greg Raymer committing all his chips on Top Pair and a flush draw in the early levels of the Main Event to chip up, what do you expect in satellite play when people are antsy to qualify.

Which brings me to my horses for the Main Event, My Stable of 15. I included Greg Raymer as historically he has done pretty well making at least Day 2. Not this year. My stable is now at 14.

A Player ~~Eugene Katchalov~~ - playing Day 1C - thru to day 2A - thru to day 3 with $59300 - busted after dinner break on day 3.

A Player~~Dan Kelly~~ played day 1B - safely made it thru to day 2B - busted day 2B

A Player~~Phil Ivey~~ - playing day 1D - made it thru do day 2 w/29k just below starting stack. Busted day 2B 1st level

A Player~~David "Bakes" Baker~~ - played day 1B made it thru to day 2 w/below starting stack of 30K - busted day 2B

A Player Scotty Nguyen - playing day 1C made it thru to day 2A with just above starting stack - thru to day 3 with $67800 - thru to day 4 - thru to day 5 with $632,000 - busted one of last hands of day 5 $48,847

B Player~~Phil Hellmuth~~ - Playing day 1C after his grand entrance in MMA attire - Busted day 1C

B Player~~Carlos Mortensen~~ - playing day 1C - thru to day 2A with only 25k- busted day 2A

B Player ~~David Williams~~ - playing Day 1C - thru to day 2A easily - thru to day 3 with $65700 busted day 3

B Player ~~John Juanda~~ - played day 1D - busted day 1D

B Player ~~Daniel Negreanu~~ - playing Day 1C - thru to day 2A - made day 3 shortstacked $27900 - busted day 3

C Player~~Mike Matusow~~ - played day 1A - busted day 1A - never reported on by PokerNews as to how he busted.

C Player Jason Mercier -playing day 1D - made it thru to day 2B - Thru to day 3 - thru to day 4 - thru to day 5 w/$398,000 - busted day 5 finished 463rd for $27519

C Player~~Greg Raymer~~ busted out day 1A

C Player Vitaly Lunkin - played 1A safely thru to day 2A on Friday - thru to day 3 with $134,400 - thru to day 4 - thru to day 5 $130,000 - busted day 5 $41967

C Player ~~Prahlad Friedman~~ - playing day 1D - made it thru to day 2B - thru to day 3 after a crazy/controversial hand - busted day 3

Wsop Fantasy - Event #55 ($10,000) Pot-Limit Omaha Championship

2010-07-01T21:49:00.007-04:00

Event #55 ($10,000) Pot-Limit Omaha Championship (3 day)

A Player Vitaly Lunkin - is playing - made day 2
A Player Robert Mizrachi - is playing
A Player Josh Arieh - is playing
A Player Jason Mercier - is playing - made day 2
A Player Phil Ivey - is playing
B Player Michael Mizrachi - is playing
B Player Richard Ashby - is playing
~~B Player David Williams~~ - is playing - busted day 1
B Player Phil "omgclayaiken" Galfond - is playing
B Player Phil Hellmuth - is playing - made day 2
C Player Nenad Medic - is playing - made day 2
~~C Player Erick Lindgren~~ - is playing - made day 2 - busted day 2
~~C Player Eric Liu~~ - dns per wsop entrants list
C Player Robert Williamson III - is playing - made day 2
~~C Player Justin "Boosted J" Smith~~ - is playing - made day 2 - busted day 2

WSOP Fantasy - Event #53 -$1,500) Limit Hold'em Shootout

2010-06-30T21:17:00.005-04:00

Event #53 ($1,500) Limit Hold'em Shootout (3 day)

A Player Tom Schneider - is playing
A Player Ylon Schwartz - is playing
A Player Terrence "not Johnny" Chan - is playing - made final table
A Player Nikolay Evdakov
~~A Player Chris Ferguson~~ - did not start - playing 25k 6-max nl
B Player Jeff Shulman
~~B Player Andy Black~~ -did not start - playing 25k 6-max nl
B Player William Chen - is playing
B Player Michael Craig
B Player Phil Gordon
C Player Annand (Victor) Ramdin - is playing
C Player Eli Elezra
C Player Eric Froehlich - is playing
C Player Kirill Gerasimov
C Player Svetlana Gromenkova - is playing

Wsop Fantasy - Event #52 -$25k No-Limit Hold’em / Six Handed

2010-06-30T19:09:00.011-04:00

Event #52: $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em / Six Handed

~~A Player Phil Hellmuth~~ - dns per wsop entrants list
~~A Player John Juanda - is playing~~ - made day 2 -busted on money bubble day 2
A Player Justin Bonomo - is playing - made day 2 - made day 3 busted 18th $58699
~~A Player Phil Ivey~~ - is playing - made day 2 - busted day 2-KK cracked by AK of Bryn Kenney
~~A Player Mike Matusow~~ - dns per wsop entrants list
B Player Isaac Haxton - is playing - made day 2 - made day 3- busted in 9th for $104,651
~~B Player Barry Greenstein~~ - is playing - made day 2 - busted day 2
B Player Eugene Katchalov - is playing - made day 2 - made day 3
~~B Player Michael Mizrachi~~ - is playing per entrants list busted day 1
B Player Daniel Negreanu - is playing - made day 2 - made day 3-finished 11th ($77,569)
C Player Vanessa Rousso - is playing - made day 2
C Player Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier - is playing
~~C Player Sorel Mizzi~~ - is playing - made day 2 - busted day 2
~~C Player Scotty Nguyen~~ - dns per wsop entrants list
C Player Erik Seidel - is playing - made day 2

Only The Grinder(Michael Mizrachi) busted on day 1 of all my horses who actually took to the felt. Sorrel Mizzi first to bust on day 2.

WSOP Fantasy - Event #51- ($3,000) Triple Chance No-Limit Hold'em

2010-06-29T22:45:00.002-04:00

($3,000) Triple Chance No-Limit Hold'em (3 day)

~~A Player Nikolay Evdakov~~ - dns per wsop.com entrants list
A Player Praz Bansi - is playing
A Player Issac "westmenloAA" Baron - is playing
~~A Player Vanessa Rousso~~ - is playing - busted day 1
~~A Player Phil Ivey~~ - is playing - busted day 1
B Player Tony "bond18" Dunst - is playing
~~B Player Kathy Liebert~~ - is playing - busted day 1
B Player Michael Mizrachi - is playing
~~B Player Jeffery Lisandro~~ - dns per wsop.com entrants list
B Player Tom "durrrr" Dwan - is playing
~~C Player Roy Winston~~ - dns per wsop.com entrants list
~~C Player Eric "Rizen" Lynch~~ - dns per wsop.com entrants list
~~C Player Joanne "JJ" Liu~~ - is playing - busted day 1
~~C Player Antonio Esfandiari~~ - is playing - busted day1
~~C Player Isaac Haxton~~ - dns per wsop.com entrants list

LOST VEGAS - By Paul "Dr Pauly" McGuire Is Here

2010-06-29T14:13:00.003-04:00

Buy a copy or two!!

WSOP Fantasy - Events #47- #50

2010-06-28T20:53:00.007-04:00

Event #50 ($5,000) Pot-Limit Omaha (3 day)

A Player John "Tex" Barch - is playing - made day 2
A Player Nenad Medic - is playing
A Player Richard Ashby - is playing
~~A Player Phil Ivey~~ - is playing made day 2 and busted
A Player Jason Mercier - is playing - made day 2
B Player Sam Farha $0
B Player Justin "Boosted J" Smith - is playing- made day 2
B Player Sorel Mizzi - is playing
B Player David "Bakes" Baker - is playing
B Player Vitaly Lunkin - is playing
~~C Player Nikolay Evdakov~~ - is playing - made day 2 and busted
~~C Player Fabrice Soulier~~ - is playing - made day 2 and busted
C Player Robert Williamson III - is playing - made day 2
C Player Cliff "JohnnyBax" Josephy $0
C Player Jeffery Lisandro $0

Event #49 ($1,500) No-Limit Hold'em (3 day)

A Player Andy Black $0
~~A Player Vanessa Rousso~~ - is playing - busted day 1
A Player David (Chino) Rheem - is playing
A Player Annand (Victor) Ramdin $0
A Player Annette Obrestad $0
B Player Eric Froehlich $0
B Player Phil Gordon $0
B Player Shannon Shorr - is playing
B Player Dennis Phillips $0
B Player Sorel Mizzi $0
C Player Tim "Tmay420" West $0
C Player Jeff Shulman $0
C Player Dario Minieri $0
C Player Issac "westmenloAA" Baron $0
~~C Player Praz Bansi~~ - is playing - busted day 1

Event #48 ($2,500) Mixed Event (3 day)

A Player Nick Schulman dns per wsop.com entrant list
A Player Scotty Nguyen - dns per wsop.com entrant list
A Player John Juanda - is playing
A Player Jennifer Harman - is playing
A Player Phil Hellmuth - dns per wsop.com entrant list
B Player Matt Glantz - is playing
B Player Richard Ashby - is playing
B Player Andy Bloch - is playing
B Player Eugene Katchalov dns per wsop.com entrant list
B Player Robert Mizrachi - is playing
C Player David "Bakes" Baker - is playing
C Player Justin Bonomo - is playing
C Player Marco Traniello - is playing
C Player Jason Mercier - is playing
C Player Phil Ivey - is playing

Event #47 ($1,000) No-Limit Hold'em (4 day)

A Player Tom "durrrr" Dwan is playing day 1a
A Player Jeff Madsen is playing - made day 2
A Player Humberto Brenes - is playing day 1B
A Player Adam Levy $0
A Player Andrew "luckychewy" Lichtenberger $0
B Player Antonio Esfandiari - is playing - made day 2
B Player Alex Jacob - is playing day 1B
B Player Jean-Robert Bellande $0
B Player Joe Cada $0
B Player Eric Froehlich $0
C Player Isaac Haxton $0
C Player JC "PrtyPSux" Alvarado $0
C Player John D'Agostino $0
C Player Scott Fischman $0
C Player Nam Le - is playing day 1B

WSOP Fantasy - Events #45 and #46

2010-06-26T08:05:00.004-04:00

Event #46 ($5,000) Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-low Split-8 or Better (3 day)

A Player Phil Hellmuth - is playing
A Player Jennifer Harman - dns per wsop entrants list
A Player Max Pescatori - - is playing
~~A Player Scott Clements~~ - is playing - busted day 1
~~A Player Phil Ivey~~ - is playing - busted day 1
B Player Mike Matusow - is playing
B Player Richard Ashby - is playing
B Player John Juanda - is playing
B Player Annie Duke - is playing
B Player Eli Elezra - dns per wsop entrants list
C Player Robert Williamson III - dns per wsop entrants list
C Player Fabrice Soulier - dns per wsop entrants list
~~C Player David Benyamine~~ - is playing - busted day 1
~~C Player Andy Bloch~~ - is playing - busted day 1
C Player Alfredo "Toto" Leonidas - is playing

Event #45 ($1,500) No-Limit Hold'em (3 day)

~~A Player Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier~~ - is playing busted day 1
A Player Annette Obrestad $0
A Player Scott Clements $0
A Player David (Chino) Rheem - is playing made day 2
A Player Joe Sebok $0
B Player Scott Montgomery $0
B Player Praz Bansi $0
~~B Player Phil Ivey~~ - is playing busted day 1
B Player David "Devil Fish" Ulliott $0
B Player Jeff Shulman $0
C Player Jean-Robert Bellande $0
C Player Justin Bonomo $0
~~C Player Shaun Deeb~~ - is playing busted day 1
C Player Tim "Tmay420" West $0
C Player Dani "Ansky" Stern $0

WSOP Fantasy - Event #44 -$2,500 Mixed Hold'em

2010-06-24T23:21:00.002-04:00

A Player Ylon Schwartz - is playing
A Player Phil Ivey - is playing
A Player Daniel Negreanu - did not start
~~A Player Greg "FBT" Mueller~~ - is playing - busted day 1
A Player David (Chino) Rheem - did not start
B Player Andy Bloch- is playing
B Player Jeff Madsen - did not start
~~B Player Terrence "not Johnny" Chan~~ - is playing - busted day 1
~~B Player Phil Gordon~~ - is playing - busted day 1
B Player Erick Lindgren - is playing
C Player Eric Froehlich - is playing
C Player Matthew Matros - is playing
C Player Barry Greenstein - did not start
~~C Player Matt Hawrilenko~~ - is playing - busted day 1
C Player Rob Hollink - is playing

WSOP Fantasy - Events #36-#43

2010-06-23T21:10:00.009-04:00

Event #36 ($1,000) No-Limit Hold'em (4 day)

A Player Andrew "luckychewy" Lichtenberger $0
A Player Jason Mercier $0
A Player Phil Hellmuth $0
A Player Paul Wasicka $0
A Player David "Bakes" Baker $0
B Player Annie Duke $0
B Player Huckleberry Seed $0
B Player Vitaly Lunkin $0
B Player Justin "Boosted J" Smith $0
B Player Neil Channing $5806
C Player Vanessa Rousso $0
C Player Chris Ferguson $0
C Player Eugene Katchalov $0
C Player Alec Torelli $0
C Player James Akenhead $0

Event #37 ($3,000) H.O.R.S.E. (3 day)
A Player Andrew "luckychewy" Lichtenberger $0
A Player Jason Mercier $0
A Player Phil Hellmuth $0
A Player Paul Wasicka $0
A Player David "Bakes" Baker $0
B Player Annie Duke $0
B Player Huckleberry Seed $0
B Player Vitaly Lunkin $0
B Player Justin "Boosted J" Smith $0
B Player Neil Channing $0
C Player Vanessa Rousso $0
C Player Chris Ferguson $0
C Player Eugene Katchalov $0
C Player Alec Torelli $0
C Player James Akenhead $0

Event #38 ($10,000) Pot-Limit Hold'em Championship (3 day)

A Player Andrew "luckychewy" Lichtenberger $0
A Player Jason Mercier $0
A Player Phil Hellmuth $0
A Player Paul Wasicka $0
A Player David "Bakes" Baker $0
B Player Annie Duke $0
B Player Huckleberry Seed $0
B Player Vitaly Lunkin $0
B Player Justin "Boosted J" Smith $0
B Player Neil Channing $0
C Player Vanessa Rousso $0
C Player Chris Ferguson $0
C Player Eugene Katchalov $0
C Player Alec Torelli $0
C Player James Akenhead $0

Event #39 ($1,500) No-Limit Hold'em Shootout (2,000 player max) (3 day)

A Player Andrew "luckychewy" Lichtenberger $0
A Player Jason Mercier $0
A Player Phil Hellmuth $0
A Player Paul Wasicka $0
A Player David "Bakes" Baker $0
B Player Annie Duke $0
B Player Huckleberry Seed $0
B Player Vitaly Lunkin $0
B Player Justin "Boosted J" Smith $0
B Player Neil Channing $0
C Player Vanessa Rousso $0
C Player Chris Ferguson $0
C Player Eugene Katchalov $0
C Player Alec Torelli $0
C Player James Akenhead $0

Event #40 ($2,500) Seven Card Razz (3 day)

A Player Nikolay Evdakov $0
A Player John Juanda $0
A Player Daniel Negreanu $5423
A Player Phil Ivey $0
A Player Tom Schneider $0
B Player Jeffery Lisandro $0
B Player Matt Hawrilenko $0
B Player Chris Ferguson $0
B Player Eugene Katchalov $0
B Player Chris Klodnicki $0
C Player David Chiu $6464
C Player John Cernuto $0
C Player Dario Minieri $6464
C Player Eli Elezra $0
C Player Barry Greenstein

Event #41 ($1,500) Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-low Split-8 or Better (3 day)

A Player Josh Arieh $0
A Player Phil Hellmuth $0
A Player Phil Ivey $0
A Player Robert Mizrachi
A Player Max Pescatori
B Player Robert Williamson III $0
B Player Andy Black $0
B Player Sigi Stockinger $0
B Player Marco Traniello
B Player Lee Watkinson
C Player Annie Duke
C Player Nikolay Evdakov
C Player Brett Jungblut
C Player Sorel Mizzi $0
C Player Scotty Nguyen

Event #42 ($1,500) No-Limit Hold'em (3 day)

A Player James Akenhead
A Player John D'Agostino
A Player Antonio Esfandiari
A Player Nenad Medic $0
A Player Adam Levy $0
B Player Praz Bansi $0
B Player Neil Channing $0
B Player Shaun Deeb $0
B Player Lex Veldhuis $0
B Player Jeff Madsen $0
C Player Joe Cada $0
C Player Jennifer Tilly $0
C Player Kevin MacPhee $0
C Player Hevad Khan $0
C Player Cliff "JohnnyBax" Josephy

Event #43 ($10,000) H.O.R.S.E. Championship (3 day)

~~A Player Phil Ivey~~ - is playing -busted day 1
~~A Player John Juanda~~ - is playing - made day 2 and busted
A Player Michael Mizrachi - is playing
~~A Player David "Bakes" Baker~~ - is playing - made day 2 and busted
A Player Scotty Nguyen - is playing
B Player Justin Bonomo - is playing
~~B Player Jennifer Harman~~ - is playing (but playing razz final table)- made day 2 and busted
B Player Daniel Negreanu - is playing
B Player Eugene Katchalov - is playing
~~B Player Jason Mercier~~ - is playing - made day 2 and busted
~~C Player Jeffery Lisandro~~ - is playing - made day 2 and busted
C Player Nick Schulman - is playing
~~C Player Andy Bloch~~ - is playing - busted day 1
C Player Erik Seidel - is playing
C Player Justin "Boosted J" Smith - is playing

Staycation All I Ever Wanted

2010-06-21T21:30:00.004-04:00

I was at two Phish concerts over the weekend with Tao of Poker/Coventry Music's Dr. Pauly . Therefore, I didn't update or change any of my fantasy horses and let them ride for the weekend tourneys. Not a smart move but i wanted to go off the grid and chill for a few days with my "lil bro" who took a short trip back east to catch the shows with me and escape the madness that is the WSOP. I filled him up with NYC comfort food like: black and white cookies, and a chocolate Russian coffee cake plus cupcakes from Coccadots. We hit up PJ's BBQ and a Poster Art show that Pete "PhanArt" Mason held up in Glens Falls. Somehow we never made it to the potato knishes.

Full Tilt has had some minor issues with the fantasy game this year and on one such day I couldn't change my picks for the 8PM tourney. I've pretty much written off having a good finish in this thing. I haven't been able to play most of the freerolls I've qualified for either. But I have won another hat, which I wont receive as I never got the two from last year. P.S. Full tilt I have one so really don't need it.

However, I did catch my 4th and 5th Phish shows and I took some video's which are uploaded to You Tube under my Irongirl99 user name. I've also crossed posted one so far to Coventry Music Blog.

And short of only checking a few emails over the weekend from family and Snake5970, I was successful in going off the grid. I avoided Facebook, twitter, PokerNews and any other blogs I gravitate to every day. I bought my Sunday papers but haven't read them yet and the TV was only turned on to the Yankees/Mets game and the World Cup.

I had a great time this weekend met some cool people like TWOL's: Mountain Laura, Steve aka Unolker and Emile, aka Soozy Greenburg, plus two kewl young Southern Hippies: Chase and Tony who we were seated with for the Saturday night show. Now on to Furthur in Brooklyn next weekend.

For those readers too young to remember the title of this post is a play on the song Vacation by the GoGo's.

PEACE & Music

Event #35: $10,000 Heads Up NL Hold'em Championship

2010-06-18T23:33:00.003-04:00

Event #35: $10,000 Heads Up No-Limit Hold'em Championship
A Players
~~Andrew "luckychewy" Lichtenberger~~ - lost first round to Jason Sommerville
X Jason Mercier - is playing
X Phil Hellmuth
X Paul Wasicka - is playing
~~David "Bakes" Baker~~- lost first round to Ashton Griffin
B Players
X Annie Duke
X Huckleberry Seed
X Vitaly Lunkin
X Justin "Boosted J" Smith - Won Round 1 defeating Travis Klein
X Neil Channing
C Players
Vanessa Rousso - Won Round 1 - defeating Johannes Strassmann $92,580
X Chris Ferguson - is playing
X Eugene Katchalov - is playing
X Alec Torelli
X James Akenhead

Wsop Fantasy - Event #32: $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em / Six Handed

2010-06-17T16:55:00.004-04:00

Event #32: $5,000 No-Limit Hold'em / Six Handed

A Players
X Justin Bonomo - is playing
X Lex Veldhuis - not playing still in 1.5k horse event
X Eugene Katchalov - is playing
X Richard Ashby
X Jason Mercier
B Players
X Matt Hawrilenko
X Phil Hellmuth
X Alexander Kravchenko - is playing
X David (Chino) Rheem - is playing
X Joanne "JJ" Liu - is playing
C Players
X Shannon Shorr - is playing
X Nikolay Evdakov - is playing busted early day 1
X Sorel Mizzi
X Vivek Rajkumar - is playing
X Alex Jacob

WSOP Fantasy - Events #31 $1500 Horse & #30 $1500 Donkament

2010-06-16T23:53:00.007-04:00

Event #31: $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. (3-day)

A Player Justin Bonomo -
A Player Andy Bloch - is playing - made day 2
A Player Fabrice Soulier - is playing
A Player Vanessa Rousso - is playing
A Player John Cernuto - is playing - made day 2
B Player Daniel Negreanu - is playing
B Player Keith Sexton - is playing -made day 2/busted
B Player Justin "Boosted J" Smith
B Player Shannon Shorr - is playing
B Player Vitaly Lunkin
C Player Jon "PearlJammed" Turner - is playing - made day 2
C Player Scotty Nguyen
C Player Marco Traniello
C Player Nikolay Evdakov
C Player Annand (Victor) Ramdin - is playing -made day 2/busted

Event #30: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em

A Player Annette Obrestad
A Player Gavin Smith - is playing
A Player Shannon Shorr $0
A Player Jeff Madsen $0
A Player Adam Levy
B Player Joe Sebok - is playing - busted day 1
B Player Lex Veldhuis
B Player Jennifer Tilly - is playing
B Player Jeff Shulman $0
B Player Sorel Mizzi $0
C Player Tim "Tmay420" West
C Player Erica Schoenberg $0
C Player Vanessa Rousso
C Player Andrew "luckychewy" Lichtenberger - is playing
C Player Hevad Khan - is playing - busted day 1

WSOP Fantasy - Events #28 & #29 Limit Holdem & PLO

2010-06-15T21:15:00.007-04:00

Event #29 ($10,000) Limit Hold'em Championship (3 day)

Position Player
~~A Player Jennifer Harman~~ - is playing - busted day 2
~~A Player Terrence "not Johnny" Chan~~ - is playing - busted day 1
~~A Player David "Bakes" Baker~~ - did not start per wsop entrant list but the Original david baker did
~~A Player Phil Ivey~~ - is playing - busted day 2
~~A Player Daniel Negreanu~~ - is playing - busted day 1
B Player Todd Brunson - is playing
B Player Greg "FBT" Mueller - Defending Champ - is playing
~~B Player Matt Hawrilenko~~ - is playing -busted day 1
~~B Player Matt Glantz~~ - is playing - busted day 2
~~B Player Erick Lindgren~~ - is playing busted day 2
~~C Player Howard Lederer~~ - is playing - busted day 1
~~C Player Brandon Adams~~ - is playing - busted day 1
~~C Player Phil Hellmuth~~ - is playing - busted day 2
~~C Player Kirk Morrison~~ -did not start per wsop entrant list
~~C Player Andy Bloch~~ - is playing busted day 1

Event #28 ($2,500) Pot-Limit Omaha (3 day)

A Player Phil Ivey - is playing
~~A Player John Juanda~~ -dns per wsop list
A Player David "Bakes" Baker - is playing
~~A Player Jason Mercier~~ - is playing - busted day 1
A Player Scotty Nguyen - is playing
~~B Player Robert Mizrachi~~ - dns per wsop list
B Player Nenad Medic - is playing
B Player Josh Arieh - is playing
~~B Player David Benyamine~~ -dns per wsop list - playing 10k limit
~~B Player Nikolay Evdakov~~ -dns per wsop list
~~C Player David Chiu~~ - dns per wsop list
C Player J.C. Tran - defending champion - is playing
C Player Robert Williamson III - is playing
C Player Richard Ashby - is playing
~~C Player Eugene Katchalov~~ -dns per wsop list

WSOP Fantasy - Event #27 ($1,500) 7- Card Stud Hi-Low-8 or Better

2010-06-14T20:14:00.004-04:00

Event #27 ($1,500) Seven Card Stud Hi-Low-8 or Better (3 day)

Position Player
A Player Daniel Negreanu - is playing
A Player Phil Ivey - is playing - made day 2
~~A Player Scotty Nguyen~~ - dns per wsop.com entrants list
A Player Jeffery Lisandro - is playing
A Player Phil Hellmuth - is playin
B Player Justin Bonomo - is playing
B Player Andy Bloch - is playing
B Player Alexander Kravchenko - is playing
B Player Chip Jett - is playing
~~B Player Jim McManus~~ -dns per wsop.com entrants list
~~C Player Alex Kostritsyn~~ -dns per wsop.com entrants list
~~C Player Kirill Gerasimov~~ -dns per wsop.com entrants list
C Player Ted Forrest - is playing
C Player Nikolay Evdakov - is playing
C Player Jon "PearlJammed" Turner - is playing

WSOP Fantasy - Event #26 -$2500 NLHE -6handed

2010-06-14T14:24:00.002-04:00

Event #26 ($2,500) No-Limit Hold'em / Six Handed (3 day)

Position Player
A Player James Akenhead - is playing
~~A Player Phil Hellmuth~~ - is playing busted day 1
A Player Justin Bonomo - is playing
~~A Player Jason Mercier~~ - is playing busted day 1
A Player Shannon Shorr - is playing
B Player Praz Bansi - is playing
B Player Andy Black - is playing
B Player Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier - is playing
B Player Robert Mizrachi
B Player Phil Ivey - is playing
~~C Player Neil Channing~~ -is playing busted day 1
C Player Andy Bloch - is playing
~~C Player Hevad Khan~~ - is playing busted day 1
C Player Adam Levy - is playing
C Player Annette Obrestad - is playing - made day 2 -126th $4782

WSOP Fantasy - Event #25 ($10,000) Omaha Hi-Low World Championship

2010-06-12T18:55:00.012-04:00

Wow have we really hit the 25th event? Omaha hi-lo is probably my favorite game to play. Bakes is running hot and Annie Duke usually runs good at O8 hence my picks of them.

Event #25 ($10,000) Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better Championship (3 day)

Position Player
A Player David "Bakes" Baker - is playing - finished 15th for $27401
~~A Player Daniel Negreanu~~ - is playing - busted out day one
~~A Player Chau Giang~~ -dns per wsop.com entrants list
~~A Player Scotty Nguyen~~ - is playing - busted on day 2
~~A Player Justin Bonomo~~ -dns per wsop.com entrants list -in 6 max limit holdem still
~~B Player Annie Duke~~ - is playing - busted day 2
~~B Player Alfredo "Toto" Leonidas~~ - is playing
B Player Eugene Katchalov - is playing
~~B Player Mike Matusow~~ - is playing - busted out day 2
~~B Player Jason Mercier~~ - is playing busted day 1
~~C Player Scott Clements~~ - is playing busted day 1
~~C Player David Benyamine~~ - is playing -busted on day 2
~~C Player Hieu Ngoc (Tony) Ma~~ - is playing - busted on day 2
~~C Player Brandon Adams~~ - is playing - busted on day 2
~~C Player Max Pescatori~~ - is playing - busted on day 2

WSOP Fantasy - Event #24 ($1,000) No-Limit Hold'em

2010-06-12T16:21:00.007-04:00

Event #24 ($1,000) No-Limit Hold'em (4 day)

Position Player
A Player Tom "durrrr" Dwan -is playing day 1B - busted on day 2
A Player James Akenhead
~~A Player Jared "Wacokidd" Hamby~~ - is playing day 1a
A Player Phil Hellmuth -dns playing 10k O8 event made it to Day 2
A Player Sorel Mizzi -dns playing 10k O8 event made it to Day 2
B Player Praz Bansi
B Player Eric Froehlich - is playing day 1B - made day 2 as a chipleader
~~B Player Gavin Smith~~ - is playing day 1a
B Player Vanessa Rousso
B Player David (Chino) Rheem - dns playing 10k O8 event made it to Day 2
~~C Player Antonio Esfandiari~~ - is playing day 1a
C Player Isaac Haxton - is playing day 1B
C Player Lex Veldhuis
~~C Player Shannon Shorr~~ - is playing day 1A -busted
C Player Annette Obrestad

WSOP Fantasy - Event #23: $2,500 Limit Hold'em / Six Handed

2010-06-11T21:27:00.007-04:00

Yes we skip over Event #22 the Ladies Event because it isn't an open event (although quite a few men entered it including Shaun "F@$King' Deeb dressed in drag) and jump right to Event #23:

Event #23: $2,500 Limit Hold'em / Six Handed

A Players

~~X Phil Hellmuth~~ - is playing busted day 1
~~X Greg "FBT" Mueller~~ - did not start per wsop.com entrants list
X Terrence "not Johnny" Chan - is playing
X Nikolay Evdakov - is playing
~~X Mike Sexton~~ -did not start per wsop.com entrants list

B Players

~~X Eugene Katchalov~~ -did not start per wsop.com entrants list
~~X Jennifer Harman~~ - did not start per wsop.com entrants list
X Ylon Schwartz - is playing
~~X Alex Kostritsyn~~ - did not start per wsop.com entrants list
X Marco Traniello - is playing

C Player

X Rob Hollink - is playing
X Phil Ivey - is playing
X Phil Gordon - is playing - made day 2
~~X Jean-Robert Bellande~~ - is playing - busted day 1
~~X Neil Channing~~ -did not start per wsop.com entrants list

WSOP Fantasy - Event #21 ($1,500) Seven Card Stud

2010-06-10T20:19:00.007-04:00

Event #21 ($1,500) Seven Card Stud (3 day)

Position Player
~~A Player Brandon Adams~~ - dns per wsop entrants list
~~A Player John Juanda~~ - dns per wsop entrants list
~~A Player David "Bakes" Baker~~ - dns per wsop entrants list final 14 2-7 lowball
~~A Player Barry Greenstein~~ - dns per wsop entrants list
A Player Daniel Negreanu
B Player Phil Ivey - is playing
~~B Player Doyle Brunson~~ - dns per wsop entrants list
B Player Kirill Gerasimov - is playing
~~B Player Matt Glantz~~ -dns per wsop entrants list
~~B Player Cyndy Violette~~ - is playing - busted day 1
C Player Fabrice Soulier - dns was playin PLO
C Player Jeffery Lisandro
C Player Steve "mrsmokey1" Billirakis
C Player Todd Brunson
C Player Nikolay Evdakov - is playing

WSOP Fantasy : Event #20 ($1,500) Pot-Limit Omaha

2010-06-10T09:02:00.005-04:00

Event #20 ($1,500) Pot-Limit Omaha (3 day)

Position Player
~~A Player Josh Arieh~~ - is playing busted day 1
~~A Player David "Bakes" Baker~~ - dns per entrants list - still in 2-7 lowball
~~A Player Eric Froehlich~~ - is playing busted day 1
~~A Player Alexander Kravchenko~~ - is playing busted day 1
~~A Player Rob Hollink~~ - dns per entrants list
*B Player Jason Mercier - defending champion* - is playing & still in 2-7 lowball and made day 2 - finished 64th for $3357
~~B Player Robert Mizrachi~~ - not playing per entrants list still in 2-7 lowball
B Player Robert Williamson III - is playing made day 2 - finished 77th for min cash of $2974
B Player Nenad Medic - is playing made day 2 - Made final table with chip lead
B Player Andy Black - is playing
C Player Brett Jungblut - is playing
~~C Player Kirill Gerasimov~~ - is playing
C Player Tim "Tmay420" West - is playing busted day 1
C Player Alex Kostritsyn - is playing
C Player Eric "Rizen" Lynch - is playing

WSOP Fantasy - Event #19 -2-7 Draw Lowball Championship (No-Limit)

2010-06-09T20:29:00.015-04:00

Event #19 ($10,000) 2-7 Draw Lowball Championship (No-Limit) (3 day)

Position Player
A Player John Juanda - is playing - In the money
~~A Player Justin "Boosted J" Smith~~ - is playing busted out day 1
~~A Player Chau Giang~~ -dns playing $5k nlhe and still in
~~A Player Eli Elezra~~ - is playing busted out on day 2
A Player Erik Seidel -is playing - In the money
~~B Player Nick Schulman~~ - is playing busted late day 2
~~B Player Jeffery Lisandro~~ - is playing busted late day 2
~~B Player David Benyamine~~ - dns per wsop.com entrants list
~~B Player Vitaly Lunkin~~ - dns playing $5k nlhe and still in
~~B Player Scotty Nguyen~~ -dns per wsop.com entrants list
~~C Player Max Pescatori~~ - is playing - busted out day 1
~~C Player David Oppenheim~~ -dns per wsop.com entrants list
~~C Player Michael Mizrachi~~ - is playing busted out day 2
~~C Player Roland de Wolfe~~ -dns per wsop.com entrants list
C Player Daniel Negreanu - is playing - in the money - finished 8th for $26004

WSOP Fantasy - Event #18 ($2,000) Limit Hold'em

2010-06-09T09:00:00.006-04:00

Event #18 ($2,000) Limit Hold'em (3 day)

Position Player
~~A Player Terrence "not Johnny" Chan~~ - is playing - busted day 1
~~A Player Erick Lindgren~~ - is playing - busted day 1
~~A Player Daniel Negreanu~~ - is playing - busted day 1
~~A Player Ylon Schwartz~~ - is playing - made day 2 and busted out
A Player Vitaly Lunkin - dns playing $5k and still in day 2
~~B Player Alexander Kravchenko~~ - is playing - busted day 1
~~B Player Diego Cordovez~~ - is playing - busted day 1
B Player Men "The Master" Nguyen
B Player Robert Mizrachi - dns per official entrant list
B Player Matthew Matros - is playing - made day 2 Final table with chip lead
~~C Player Rafe Furst~~ - is playing - busted day 1
C Player Michael Craig
C Player Annand (Victor) Ramdin
C Player Alex Kostritsyn
C Player Andy Black

WSOP Fantasy - Event #17 -Event #17 ($5,000) No-Limit Hold'em

2010-06-08T21:57:00.008-04:00

A higher buy-in no-limit event. Maybe some skillz will prevail with the 15k starting stack.

Event #17 ($5,000) No-Limit Hold'em (3 day)

Position Player
~~A Player Praz Bansi~~ - is playing - busted day 1
~~A Player David "Bakes" Baker~~ -is playing - busted day 1
~~A Player Phil Ivey~~ - is playing -made day 2 - busted out day 2
~~A Player Nenad Medic~~ - is playing- busted out day 2
~~A Player Lex Veldhuis~~ - is playing - busted out day 1
~~B Player Kathy Liebert~~ - is playing - busted day 1
~~B Player Tom "durrrr" Dwan~~ - is playing busted day 1
B Player Phil Hellmuth - is playing - made day 2 busted out 50th place for $14517
~~B Player Robert Mizrachi~~ - is playing busted day 1
B Player Greg "FBT" Mueller -dns????
~~C Player Annand (Victor) Ramdin~~ - is playing - busted out day 1
~~C Player Eugene Katchalov~~ - is playing busted out day 1
~~C Player Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier~~ - is playing busted day 1
~~C Player Jason Mercier~~ - is playing - made day 2 - busted out before cash
~~C Player Kirk Morrison~~ - is playing - busted day 1

WSOP Fantasy - Event #16- $1,500) No-Limit Hold'em / Six Handed

2010-06-07T14:24:00.004-04:00

Event More donkilicous good times on tap for today. This time we are playing a 6-max aka shorthanded format. I really wish I had more names to pick from then just Full Tilt's current slate of picks

Event #16 ($1,500) No-Limit Hold'em / Six Handed (3 day)
A Player Shaun Deeb
~~A Player Annette Obrestad~~ is playing - busted out day 1
~~A Player Neil Channing is playing~~ - busted out day 1
A Player Praz Bansi is playing
A Player Eugene Katchalov
B Player Terrence "not Johnny" Chan
B Player Adam Levy - is playing
B Player Alexander Kravchenko
B Player Cliff "JohnnyBax" Josephy
B Player Phil Hellmuth
C Player David (Chino) Rheem
C Player Dario Minieri
C Player Andrew "luckychewy" Lichtenberger is playing
C Player Howard Lederer
~~C Player Hevad Khan is playing~~ - busted day 1

***EDIT NO FANTASY DOLLARS EARNED FOR THIS EVENT

WSOP Fantasy - Event #15 ($10,000) Seven Card Stud HL 8B

2010-06-06T18:50:00.017-04:00

Event #15 ($10,000) Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Split-8 or Better Championship (3 day)

Lets see if I can put some of these people in the money! After starting strong in the last 10k Championship event all my players in contention on day 2 failed to make the money.

Position Player

A Player Phil Ivey - is playing
~~A Player Jeffery Lisandro~~ - is playing - busted out on day 2
~~A Player Doyle Brunson~~ - is playing- busted day 1
~~A Player Howard Lederer~~ - is playing - busted out on day 2
~~A Player Michael Mizrachi~~ - is playing - busted day 1
~~B Player Scotty Nguyen~~ - is playing - busted out on day 2
B Player David Benyamine - is playing
B Player Erik Seidel - is playing
B Player Cyndy Violette - is playing
B Player Nick Schulman - is playing
~~C Player Justin "Boosted J" Smith~~ -is playing - busted Day 1
C Player Jason Mercier - is playing
~~C Player Chau Giang~~ - is playing - busted day 1
~~C Player Ted Forrest~~ - is playing - busted day 1
~~C Player Men "The Master" Nguyen~~ - is playing busted day 1

All 15 of my picks played!!! And not one of them cashed.

***EDIT NO FANTASY DOLLARS EARNED FOR THIS EVENT

WSOP Fantasy -Event #14: $1,500 2-7 Draw Lowball

2010-06-06T18:35:00.007-04:00

OOPS!! I thought the only event beginning Saturday was the $1k donkament. But the $1500 2-7 Lowball being played no limit started last night at 5PM Las Vegas time. Since I failed to select new horses the players I picked for the $1k carried over. Therefore, I have a ton of players who have probably never played a hand of deuce-to-seven as my picks;

Position Player
A Player James Akenhead
A Player Shannon Shorr
A Player Annette Obrestad is playing
A Player Lex Veldhuis is playing
A Player Vitaly Lunkin
B Player Praz Bansi
B Player Jeff Madsen
B Player Nikolay Evdakov
B Player Joe Cada
B Player Sorel Mizzi
C Player Annand (Victor) Ramdin
C Player Erica Schoenberg
C Player Tim "Tmay420" West
~~C Player Erick Lindgren~~ is playing and made it to Day 2 and busted before the money
C Player Adam Levy

For some reason, I find all the No-limit hold-em low-buy events mind-numbing to follow this year. Seems like the name players chip up early, bust-out and move on to the next tourney. Not sure if this is because they just don't know when to change gears once they hit the 4th or 5th level, or get bored and its only $1-1.5k or if its the structure that causes them to play that way. Seems like they are all played turbo. I've said it before and will say it again. I'd rather play the Venetian Deep Stack series then a WSOP donkament. I'm beginning to think the low-buyin events cheapen the WSOP.

***EDIT NO FANTASY DOLLARS EARNED FOR THIS EVENT

WSOP Fantasy -Event #13 -$1000 NLHE

2010-06-05T16:32:00.006-04:00

Event #13 ($1,000) No-Limit Hold'em (4 day)

Position Player
~~A Player James Akenhead~~ is playing day 1A - busted out
A Player Shannon Shorr
~~A Player Annette Obrestad~~ is playing day 1B - busted out
A Player Lex Veldhuis
A Player Vitaly Lunkin is playing day 1A -made day 2 and cashed
B Player Praz Bansi
B Player Jeff Madsen
B Player Nikolay Evdakov
~~B Player Joe Cada~~ is playing day 1B - busted out
~~B Player Sorel Mizzi~~ is playing day 1B -busted out
C Player Annand (Victor) Ramdin is playing day 1A - made day 2 and cashed
~~C Player Erica Schoenberg~~ is playing day 1B - busted out
~~C Player Tim "Tmay420" West~~ is playing day 1A - busted out first level
C Player Erick Lindgren
C Player Adam Levy - is playing day 1A

Ultimate Bet Super User Cheating Scandal Redux

2010-06-04T14:35:00.010-04:00

Amazing how many people land on this page looking for info on the Ultimate Bet Super-User Cheating Scandal. For those interested in what has been going on with both UB and AP (Absolute Poker), I encourage you to read backwards through Haley's Poker Blog. Haley is a former PokerNews editor and she has been doing a series titled Just Conjecturin': The most recent Posts include:

Volume 17: Fakes a-Plenty Among the KGC 31

Volume 17: The Real Story of the UltimateBet Refunds

Volume 16: The Curious Case of 'brainwashdodo'

Volume 15: The Graycat File

Volume 14: More Snared Images from Absolute

In addition, the Entities 3 of Wicked Chops Poker have a list of some of the confirmed names given to them by Joe Sebok. They are doing due diligence currently and will be releasing more info shortly for now click here to see who is not on the list.

WSOP Fantasy - Events 11-12 - $1500 NL & L DONKAMENTS

2010-06-04T10:51:00.015-04:00

2 Donkaments begin today: One of the No-limit variety and the other of the limit variety. Tomorrow the second of the $1000 super-donkaments begins. Last year there was 1 $1000 buy-in open event referred to as the "STIMULUS SPECIAL".

Here's hoping that Kirk Morrison shakes the bad ju ju and has some run good so CK and I can get our Kirk fix. Hopefully, he doesnt head back to the hills of New Zealand before the Main Event comes up. I finally cracked a top 2000 finish to earn a spot in my first FULL TILT freeroll thanks to ROOTHLUS aka Adam Levy in a donkament no less. I should also earn another spot thanks to Neil Channing's runner-up finish in the 5k shoot-out.

Event #11 ($1,500) No-Limit Hold'em (3 day)

Position Player
~~A Player Andy Black~~ - not playing made day 2 of 10k stud event
~~A Player Michael Binger~~ is playing - busted day 1
~~A Player Nikolay Evdakov~~ - not playing made day 2 of 10k stud event
A Player Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier is playing made it to day 2
~~A Player Adam Levy~~-out in first level - lol donkments
~~B Player Antonio Esfandiari~~ is playing - busted day 1
B Player Eric Froehlich
~~B Player Isaac Haxton~~ is playing - busted day 1
~~B Player Jeff Madsen~~ busted out in first level -repeat lol donkaments
~~B Player Annette Obrestad~~ is playing - busted day 1
~~C Player Shaun Deeb~~ is playing
~~C Player Maciek "Michael" Gracz~~ is playing
~~C Player Alex Jacob~~ is playing - busted day 1
~~C Player Sorel Mizzi is playing~~ is playing - busted day 1
~~C Player Vanessa Rousso~~ is playing - busted out early day 1

Event #12 ($1,500) Limit Hold'em (3 day)

~~A Player Eric Froehlich~~ is playing - busted day 1
~~A Player Annand (Victor) Ramdin~~ is playing busted day 1
~~A Player Justin Bonomo~~ is playing busted day 1
~~A Player Chris Ferguson~~ is playing busted day 1
A Player Thomas "Thunder" Keller
B Player Greg "FBT" Mueller
B Player Billy Argyros
B Player Kassem "Freddy" Deeb
B Player Chip Jett
B Player Kathy Liebert
C Player Richard "Quiet Lion" Brodie
~~C Player Michael Craig~~ is playing busted day 1
C Player Howard Lederer
C Player Steve Zolotow
C Player Jon "PearlJammed" Turner

WSOP Fantasy -Events #9 and #10

2010-06-03T18:07:00.013-04:00

Event #9 ($1,500) Pot-Limit Hold'em (3 day) aka PL DONKAMENT

A Player Phil Ivey -
A Player John Juanda
A Player Jason Mercier not playing - left Vegas for sister's wedding till Sunday per last tweet oops!!
A Player Erik Seidel
~~A Player Annette Obrestad~~ is playing busted out
B Player Roland de Wolfe
~~B Player Nikolay Evdakov~~ is playing but an early bust-out
B Player Andy Bloch
B Player Greg "FBT" Mueller
B Player Lex Veldhuis is playing
C Player Eugene Katchalov
C Player Rafe Furst
C Player Ylon Schwartz
C Player Kathy Liebert is playing
C Player Hasan Habib

Event #10 ($10,000) Seven Card Stud Championship (3 day)

Position Player
~~A Player Phil Ivey~~ is playing busted out day 2.
~~A Player Jeffery Lisandro~~ is playing--- busted out day 1
~~A Player Erik Seidel~~ is playing --- busted out day 1
A Player Daniel Negreanu is playing
~~A Player David Oppenheim~~ is playing ---busted out day 1
~~B Player Greg Raymer~~ is playing --- busted out day 1
B Player Robert Mizrachi is playing
~~B Player Ted Forrest~~ is playing --- busted out day 1
B Player Matt Glantz is playing
~~B Player Jason Mercier~~ not playing - left Vegas for sister's wedding till Sunday per last tweet oops!!
C Player Max Pescatori is playing
~~C Player David Williams~~ did not start according to his tweet after the fact he was sick
C Player Alex Kostritsyn is playing
C Player Hasan Habib is playing
C Player Greg "FBT" Mueller is playing

I did pretty good with almost all my 7 Card Stud horses playing. I Missed on Jason Mercier not realizing he wasn't due back till Sunday even though i had read his tweet. Not sure if David Williams is playing. He was in Puerto Rico playing MAGIC and relaxing after his big WPT Championship win. Per his tweet yesterday this was to be his first event. Waiting for a PokerNews confirmed sighting or live update.

More donkaments on tap for tomorrow!!

WSOP Fantasy - Event #8 -$1500 No-Limit Holdem

2010-06-02T20:00:00.005-04:00

Another day another donkament. Annette Obrestad made her WSOP debut but busted early when her set of 7's got out drawn on the river. Standard as the on-line pros would say. And welcome to the WSOP, Annette. I'm sure she will fair much better in one of the larger buy-in events.

My picks for this three day event:

Position Player
~~A Player Annette Obrestad~~ is playing busted
~~A Player Joe Cada~~ is playing busted
~~A Player Shaun Deeb~~ is playing busted
A Player Eric Froehlich
~~A Player Adam Levy~~ is playing busted
B Player Michael Binger
B Player Humberto Brenes is playing
B Player Terrence "not Johnny" Chan
~~B Player Jimmy "Gobboboy" Fricke~~ is playing busted
B Player Andrew "luckychewy" Lichtenberger is playing
C Player Jean-Robert Bellande is playing
C Player Steve "mrsmokey1" Billirakis
C Player Scott Clements
C Player Isaac Haxton
~~C Player Jeff Madsen~~ is playing busted

WSOP Fantasy - Events #6 & #7

2010-06-01T21:22:00.016-04:00

Busy Busy day today. 9.5 hour work day for me and lots of events going on at the 2010 WSOP. The final table of the 50k player's championship is underway and my lone horse left John Juanda has a nice stack. No time for any thought or analysis so here are my picks for events 6 and 7:

Event #6 ($5,000) No-Limit Hold'em Shootout (2000 players max) (3 day)***

A Player Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier
A Player Neil Channing is playing - won his shootout table, but he beat Kirk Morrison to do it. Won his second table too!! Advances to final six-handed table Won $273,153 finished #2 overall
A Player Phil Ivey is playing busted out - did not win his table to advance
A Player Sorel "aka Jay" Mizzi is playing but did not advance
A Player Joe Sebok is playing but busted out did not win his table to advance
B Player Andrew "luckychewy" Lichtenberger
B Player Jonathan Karamalikis
B Player Justin Bonomo is playing -finished #2 to FARAZ"the toilet" Jaka - did not pass go did not win shoot-out table
B Player Prahlad Friedman
B Player Eugene Katchalov is playing -won his shootout table -busted day two $16,607 won
C Player Isaac Haxton is playing
C Player Nikolay Evdakov is playing
C Player David Pham played but was an early bustout -did not win his table to advance
C Player Scott Clements played but was one of earliest bustouts -did not win his table to advance
C Player Lex Veldhuis is playing but busted out -did not win his table to advance

***appears 11 of my 15 horses entered

Event #7 ($2,500) 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball (Limit) (3 day)

~~A Player Jeffery Lisandro~~ is playing made day 2- busted day 2
~~A Player Phil Ivey~~ is playing
A Player Barry Greenstein is playing made day 2
A Player Justin Bonomo
~~A Player Erik Seidel~~ is playing
B Player Tony Guoga is playing made day 2
B Player Doyle Brunson
B Player Kassem "Freddy" Deeb
~~B Player Daniel Negreanu~~ is playing
~~B Player Matt Glantz~~ is playing
C Player David Grey
C Player Archie Karas is playing made day 2
C Player Jon "PearlJammed" Turner is playing made day 2
C Player Erick Lindgren is playing
C Player Nick Schulman

WSOP Fantasy ~ Event #5- $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em

2010-05-31T19:27:00.016-04:00

Not much time for a blog post today as I'm trying to enjoy the last of my long weekend. Here are today's picks.

Event #5 ($1,500) No-Limit Hold'em (3 day)

Position Player
A Player Annette Obrestad-not playing still not in Vegas oops!!
A Player Jason Mercier is playing
A Player Kathy Liebert is playing
A Player Adam Levy is playing-made day 2 well stacked and in the money
~~A Player Phil Ivey~~ - busted day 1
~~B Player Annand (Victor)~~ busted day 1
B Player Scotty Nguyen -not playing next event is 5k tomorrow
B Player Dario Minieri is playing
B Player Jeffery Lisandro
B Player Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier
C Player Men "The Master" Nguyen
C Player Robert Mizrachi -duh about to cash in 50k players championsips
C Player Mike Matusow
~~C Player Isaac Haxton~~ - busted day 1
~~C Player Gavin Griffin~~ -busted day 1

Only two of my horses were left in the 50k players championships and they were still 5 from the money when play began today. John Juanda was working it real good though. Eric Seidel is my only other horse alive. Let's hope both of them put up numbers for me.

WSOP Fantasy - EVENT #4 -Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better (3 day)

2010-05-30T19:27:00.014-04:00

Event #4 beginning at 8PM EST is $1500 Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better aka O8B. Day 3 of the 50k Players championships is also underway. I went into the day with only 5 horses remaining. Based on an earlier post on PokerNews, Justin Bonomo was close to hitting the rail and may be out by now. Scotty Nguyen started the Day as a shortie. David Bach who I feared would not repeat as champion staged a comeback yesterday. Never count a gunslinger out. Haven't had time to check many results today and will do so later. My horses for today's event:

Event #4 ($1,500) Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better (3 day)
A Player Lee Watkinson
~~A Player David Benyamine~~- busted day 1
A Player Michael Binger - is playing, made day 2
A Player Jason Mercier - is playing
A Player Robert Mizrachi -not playing still in 50k duh
~~B Player Annie Duke~~ cant be playing if watching tv with kids per recent tweet
B Player Chip Jett - is playing, made day 2- finished 72nd $2750
~~B Player Tony Guoga~~ - busted day 1
B Player Keith Sexton
B Player Layne Flack
C Player Kassem "Freddy" Deeb
C Player Andy Black is playing, made day 2 - finished 77th $2750
C Player Fabrice Soulier
C Player Brett Jungblut is playing, made day 2
C Player Todd Brunson-is playing, made day 2-finished 52nd cashed $4296

Also underway is day 1B of the $1000 donkament. I have no idea if any of my 15 horses played yesterday or are playing today. Too many people and unless they show up in a live blog post or are noted as a bust-out I wont know if I have any alive until the fields combine tomorrow. I also boo-booed and picked someone in the 50K (not a horse of mine) for the $1k event.

When I woke up this AM I noticed a familiar name at the top of the 50k leader board: Kirk Morrison. This girl and I have/had a thing for Kirk and were disappointed when he disappeared the last two years. While I was out shopping I received a OMG OMG Kirk Morrison sighting text message from CK who lives in Las Vegas. I immediately texted her back realizing it wasn't as early in Vegas as I thought and put her on a mission to see what Kirk's story is. After having a really big 2007, it was rumored he was into a backer for quite a bit of change and was laying low. There always is a good comeback story out there so if he wins or final tables I'm sure we'll hear some of it. And good luck to CK today as she plays her first WSOP event of 2010.

WSOP Fantasy -Event #3 ($1,000) Donkament #1

2010-05-29T12:24:00.010-04:00

Only one WSOP event begins today: the first of the $1000 buy-in weekend donkaments. It's scheduled for 4 days and up to 5000 are expected to enter. The chance of any of my 15 horses actually cashing let alone final tabling is probably nil. Last year I had a bunch of goose eggs in these events and expect no different.

I doubt any of my horses in the 50k event will trouble themselves with running back and forth between two tables unless there is some kind of absurd prop bet going on where someone like Phil Ivey will attempt to play all events. I eliminated all my 50k horses from inclusion in my picks for today's event.

I went heavy on internet phenoms who will undoubtedly chip up or bust out early. Full Tilt's list of pros you can pick is fairly limited and consists mostly of Team Full Tilt, Full tilt red pros, WSOP prior year final tableists (of the last two years or so) and WSOP Main Event Champions. For example I cant pick the likes of Bryan Micon, Shane Schleger or Yevgeniy Timoshenko or numerous other tour champions.

Event #3 ($1,000) No-Limit Hold'em (4 day)

Position Player
A Player Luke "__FullFlush1__" Schwartz
A Player Dennis Phillips
A Player Shaun Deeb -
~~A Player Nikolay Evdakov~~ duh was playing 50k still
A Player Jacobo Fernandez
~~B Player Josh Arieh~~ duh was playing 50k still
~~B Player Steve "mrsmokey1" Billirakis~~ duh was playing 50k still
B Player Ivan Demidov
~~B Player Alexander Kravchenko~~ busted day 1B
B Player Eric Froehlich
C Player Amanda Baker
C Player Issac "westmenloAA" Baron playing day 1B
C Player Jean-Robert Bellande
C Player Andrew "luckychewy" Lichtenberger - playing day 1B
~~C Player Jon "PearlJammed" Turner~~ busted day 1A, not playing again till 2-7TD Tuesday

As for the 50k event 105 players remain. There were only 11 bust-outs yesterday: Dan Shak, Tom "Durrr" Dwan, Marc Karam (I have actually sat at the same tourney table with him at Turning Stone), Greg "FBT" Mueller, Brian Townsend, Mike Matusow####(who I picked and removed prior to submitting my final picks) and Daniel Alaei to name a few. I had none of these guys in my stable. Dan Shak was a thought as he had a great 2009 but he isnt a choice, only his ex-Beth is. Annette Obrestad did not play and isn't in Vegas yet based on a tweet that she is still in Norway for her mom's birthday. I also don't believe Jeff Madsen, David Williams or Peter Eastgate are playing the 8 game mix. I believe I have 11 of 11 in still. David Bach, last years champion when it was played as HORSE will probably not repeat as he has dipped to roughly 33k chips of the original 150k starting stack.

Action begins about 3PM EST. Follow the live reporting over on PokerNews.com and of course the great coverage on Dr Pauly's Tao of Poker, Pokerati, and Wicked Chops Poker to name a few.

####Correction: Mike Matusow actually made it thru to Day 2. He was incorrectly listed by WSOP officials as out.

WSOP Fantasy- Event #2-The Players 50k Championship

2010-05-28T22:05:00.019-04:00

Once again I'm doing Full Tilt's Fantasy Poker Challenge. Seven + weeks of sweating my horses events ranging from $1000 donkaments to World championship events in various poker disciplines. Last year I won a bunch of entries into freerolls and the tourney ending championship event in which the first prize was a 2010 WSOP Main Event seat. I also won a couple of hats, neither of which I received. But that is okay because I have one already and shirts too!

Today we kick it off with the multi-day 50k players championship which consists of an 8 game mix (which i love by the way and how I learned duece-7 triple draw). Here are my horses for this event.

Event #2 ($50,000) The Poker Player's Championship (5 day)

Position Player
~~A Player Phil Ivey~~busted day 3
~~A Player Daniel Negreanu~~ busted Day 2
~~A Player Justin Bonomo~~busted day 3
~~Player Erik Seidel~~ busted day 4, oh so close to a cash too!!
~~A Player Scotty Nguyen~~busted day 3
~~B Player Jeff Madsen~~ did not start
~~B Player David Williams~~ did not start
B Player John Juanda - 4th place finish $436,865
~~B Player Vitaly Lunkin~~busted day 2
~~B Player Erick Lindgren~~busted day 2
~~C Player Jason Mercier~~ busted day 2
~~C Player Annette Obrestad~~ did not start
~~C Player Peter Eastgate~~ did not start
~~C Player David Benyamine~~ busted day 2
~~C Player Kassem "Freddy" Deeb~~ busted Day 2

Here's What I'm Up too

2010-05-13T15:50:00.003-04:00

I took the afternoon off from work to play the PLO8 Scoop low buy-in starting at 5PM EST on Pokerstars. I have a freebie ticket from the Pokerstars blogger series. I used the other one I had the other night. I was down 5k chips before the first hour. Since it was a free roll for me I played laggy and basically swung and missed. By hour three I had 1/3 of the average stack but being the grinder I am I got back to even only to have my KK cracked by 65s almost 4 hours in. Dude with a slightly bigger stack called my 3x open raise in position and hit the flop hard two pairing. I only swore briefly at him because I had open raised the previous hand and had been doing so quite a bit.

Tomorrow I will be going to see the McLovins and Max Creek down at Bearsville Theatre in Woodstock with BFF Kim. Think we are going to have some Middle Eastern inspired food at a long time favorite restaurant of mine called Joshua's. Last time McLovins opened for Max Creek I missed them as I was trying to talk Kim out of getting lost in South Troy. I will shoot some video with the Flip but may spend more time dancing.

I am contemplating running the Freihofers Run for Women the first weekend in June. I have been walking and doing my 1 hour dance class and can make it thru 60 minutes of jumping, twisting, hip hopping. Not sure if my Achilles will groan or not though.

I have also committed to a 16 week fitness/healthy eating challenge that my employer is hosting starting Sunday. My goal is too lose the tummy I acquired going thru menopause. If I am successful i hope to be back to my 40 year old running weight by the time I turn 50 in October.

I'm hooked on Glee. I love love love the show and will confess I didn't watch it last year. Literally the first half hour is over before you know it and you are wishing it would keep going. Its campy and over the top but it also addresses some issues that are relevant for the teens in the Story lines.

My two favorite American Idol contestants have made the top three. Both Crystal and Lee are in along with Casey who I like too but think Lee is the better of the two guys left. Lee often reminds me of Dave Matthews and even a little John Mayer with a little more of a hard rocker edge going on in his voice.

Sadly 24 is coming to end. I have read so many spy stories/thrillers that I knew Jack was going to gut the Russian to get the Sim card the Ruskie baddie had swallowed. God Im going to miss Jack and my Bauer hour. Here is hoping for a movie series. Oh, and Kiefer keep your shit together Bro

Battle of the Bloggers- BBT5: Its back !!!

2010-04-21T19:51:00.006-04:00

Big thanks to AlCantHang for pulling this off again with a reasonable 6 week schedule. I'll be playing the Mookie tonight in hopes of earning a seat to the Tournament of Champions. Should i actually win a seat i wont be able to play the Main Event this year as i gave up my main event time off to go to numerous Phish and FURTHUR concerts over four 3-4 day weekends in June and July. I will postpone the trip to 2011 or use the money for buy-ins for some other land based events. Come this October 13th i hit the big 50 and am eligible for the seniors circuit!!

I've been playing well and finishing either on the bubble or near the bubble the few times Ive played recently so that means I'm due for a score soon!!

Mookie tonight!!! Right after the American Idol results show!! (I know you are all secretly watching it!!)

Ladies Event Mohegan Sun 4/10/10 -NAPT

2010-04-15T20:44:00.004-04:00

I made the trek over to Mohegan Sun (which I had not been to since they re-opened the poker room there) on Saturday to play the Ladies event during the PokerStars sponsored NAPT. I had a great time, played great and ran deep finishing 14th of 98. Unfortunately only the top 9 paid.

I hadn't seen LJ in almost a year and a half and we started at the same table (table #1) which would be the last table to break. She was in the 2 or three seat and I was in the 8. Both of us managed to build our chip stacks early. In fact, I was up to almost 30k (starting stack was 10k with 30 minute levels) after the first two levels and she had about the same stack too. I wound up getting down to starting stack size but chipped back up to 40k before the dinner break.

Unfortunately when we got down to 18 players and the 3rd to last table broke the wall of chips that was the chipleader got moved to my immediate right and I knew my final table fate was thru that stack. She literally had more chips then all of us at the table put together and then some. The first hand she was dealt at the table (and she was still unracking her chips) she moved in over the top of the prior big stack having been dealt AA to that stacks QQ and busted one of the existing big sticks.

LJ and Lucko came back into the poker room about that time to check on me and cheer me on. I just gestured to the Great Wall of chips and knew I had a tough road ahead but I never game up. Dr Pauly and F-train (working for PokerNews during NAPT) both helped me keep my shit together a few times. I was getting antsy. When the Main Event broke for dinner the Pokerstars/PokerNews crew which also included Change100 and Otis left for dinner. Pauly had faith I'd still be in when they returned. It was not to be, however, with my chip stack dwindling to just under 10 BB and the chip leader moving in virtually every hand i took a stand in a blind vs blind hand: me QJos BB She had KTos SB and the flop came K K X sealing my fate.

I was disappointed but felt good about the entire day. I hadn't played a hand of poker since prior to 2/20/10 and I hadn't played live since New Years Day. As I said to Change100 the lay-off may have actually helped my decision making. I wasn't too far off my A game. OF course, I thought to myself that if I actually got back to studying and working my game and playing as much as I did in 2006-2007 the big score would be right around the corner.

By choice, I'm just not ready to commit to hours and hours spent playing/talking cards. PHISH and FURTHUR are on the road this summer and I'll be taking in 2 Phish Shows at SPAC with Dr Pauly on a weekend he escapes from a WSOP donkament, and at least 4 Furthur shows on my own including two in Brooklyn. Plus, a couple of multi-day Music festivals are also on tap. I'm also trying to get back into shape. I just had a wisdom tooth removed and now have the green light to resume running. I had to take the last two weeks off from my dance class.

I do have a couple of SCOOP tickets i earned during Pokerstars blogger series so Ill be taking a stab at a couple of the lower buy-ins in May. And even though I shelved my Vegas trip the week of July 7th thru 12th in favor of all my concerts I will probably attempt a couple of our local poker-rooms WSOP tourneys.

It was great catching up with everyone albeit briefly. Otis and I were two ships passing in the night. I was either busy playing and he was on the sidelines of the Main Event or he had his head down and was pounding out stuff for the PokerStars blog on his laptop. Never enough time with the lovely vixen Change100 either. Pauly and I get to catch up during Phish shows on the east coast on all our non poker mutual interests. But Change is usually working on his trips east and doesn't get a chance to accompany him even though she has an open invite to Casa IG. And I havent been out to California in many moons. Next time Change, well do a Phish show together in NYC or shop/do a Broadway show. OR, I'll make the trek to California. If i get myself running distance again I can combine a running/concert/poker trip to the left coast. My version of multi-sport!!!

Mid March Update

2010-03-14T16:41:00.008-04:00

I'm finding it really hard to find the time to sit down and full out blog lately. Its not that I don't have tons of stuff to say or report on. It's just that I'm so busy doing stuff by the time I feel like sitting down to write, I've moved on to something else.

So, I decided to just bullet everything I can think of that's interesting to me or going on:

Vegas on hold, On the road with FURTHUR: I had hoped to be going out to Vegas during the WSOP but FURTHUR announced their summer tour and it conflicts. I'm a Deadhead thru and thru and I enjoyed Utica so much I'm heading out on the road this summer for 4 FURTHUR Shows: I'll be attending the two Coney Island, Brooklyn shows at Keyspan Park, the home of the Brooklyn Cyclones. Keyspan is actually renamed to MCU Park. Looking forward to these two shows as my dad was born in Brooklyn and graduated from Brooklyn Tech and my grandparents and great aunts and uncles all lived there. Grandpa C used to always bring up pastry from Scotto's bakery which is still in existence today. Cool thing is the NY Historical Society has an exhibit of Grateful Dead artifacts/memorabilia on loan from UC Santa Cruz. I'll plan on taking that in as well as visiting the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame annex.

I'm also heading to shows at The Museum at Shelburne Farms, Vermont (just south of Burlington) and Herkimer NY at the Gelston Castle Estate. I never knew of or had heard about the Gelston Castle Estate until the show was announced and Herkimer is only about an hour and 20-30 minutes away. I'll be taking my flip camcorder with me and hopefully getting some great video.

Phish should also be announcing their schedule soon. I'm crossing my fingers for June as July and August is so hard to get time off from work other then what I already have put in for and have approved.

Other shows I'll be attending are Max Creek at Bearsville Theatre in Woodstock and hopefully, Ill be able to catch one if not both of the anniversary shows over in Hartford at the Warehouse at the end of April. Scott Murawski played a few shows with Bill Kreutzmann of the Grateful Dead and Oteil Burbridge of the Allman Brothers as one of the members of BK3/4 (aka the Bill Kreutzmann Trio or KBM) and then went out with Mike Gordon of Phish for Mike's short sweet tour. Sadly, I got shut out of tickets to the local show down at Revolution Hall. I will never let that happen again.

I'm watching American Idol for the first time since the Clay/Reuben years. I didnt watch the auditions. I started with Hollywood Week and have my favorites. Crystal Bowersox and Didi Benami are my favorite females. Big Mike, Casey, Lee and Aaron Kelly my favorite guys. Although, Simon thinks the girls will win this year, I think the talent of the guys is much better. I would have rather seen Katy go home and Todrick or Alex stay. I also think Lily should still be around. I like her better then Lacey. I'm just not feeling Lacey.

Been watching 24 fairly faithfully. It had a couple of slow spots and I was channel flipping to the Olympics and Bachelor for like two weeks which coincided with the slowness, but Sweet Lord that poor kid wired with an explosive vest and the aftermath when Jack opened the door after the explosion left my mouth agape. I mean obviously I new what had happened but to see red splattered everywhere it was just so final.

This week I'm looking forward to the Gathering of the Vibes line-up announced. My wish list includes Furthur and Max Creek and Phish (one can dream). Since Camp Creek is looking like it wont happen again, I'd like to plea to Eric (Max Creek's manager) make it happen dude!! I cant make it to Nateva in Maine where Creek is playing with Furthur. I just cant drive from Herkimer NY (west of me) then Northeast to Maine and then back west across to Vermont in the span of three days. Well actually I could but I remember the traffic heading into to Oxford Maine for the Grateful Dead and Little Feat in 1988.

March Madness is set to begin. I'll be doing couple of March Madness Pool's. If you are a reader of Coventry Music which I contribute to come join in the fun. My Alma Mater CU is not known for college basketball except for giving the NBA Chauncey Billups so I rout for local team the Siena Saints. This year the University of Vermont Catamounts also made the big dance. I attended UVM from Sept 1978 to May 1980 before transferring to University of Colorado. I actually took Friday off to watch nonstop hoop and will begin watching as soon as i get out of work at 6PM Thursday.

And it looks like on April Fool's day I will be undergoing the knife and having a wisdom tooth removed. I'll know for sure Friday after discussing with my general dentist who I have gone to for years. I have the surgery tentatively scheduled as the oral surgeon's office is booked and if I cancel I'll really need it and be screwed. I still have all four of my third molars aka wisdom teeth. The bottom ones are so deep in the bone and next to the nerves but fortunately asymptomatic. My upper right one #1 on a tooth chart has been sideways and a little bump on my gum for years. Its decided to try to erupt like Mt Saint Helens. I'm on antibiotics right now to prevent/ward off infection as my gum is badly inflamed above my back two molars. My general dentist is hoping if I can stand it that it will come through the gum and be easier for the oral surgeon to extract (and cheaper. Fortunately, I have a high threshold for pain. Its more annoying then anything although my right side of face is tender in spots (no swelling yet).

And the highlight of my April (besides filing taxes and getting a refund) will be catching up with Otis, Change100 and Dr Pauly over at Mohegan Sun during the Pokerstars and Mohegan Sun sponsered NAPT. Hopefully LJ will also make the drive over from New Jersey too as I haven't seen her since our last get together in NYC many moons ago. Of course, I expect and hope a host of other east coast bloggers will be there during my visit too. I'm off Friday April 9th and will at least head over for a day trip but preferably an overnight. I hope to play in one of the side events. Sadly, Ive played no poker in a month.

Finally my four FURTHUR You Tube Video's already have 2591 hits after only three weeks. That doesn't count the 354 hits on the Vimeo 15 minute China Cat Sunflower/The Wheel video or the reconfigured one's by David from Grateful Dead Video's under his username. David synced my video with the better taper AUD (audience) recording of Chris Laporte to make a much better sounding music video. It's like being there.. I can now add the title of short film/documentary/music video director/videographer to my resume!!

Furthur Utica 2/20/2010

2010-02-21T20:27:00.003-05:00

I'm not going to cross post it here. You can read my post over on coventry music blog. As well as a teaser video: Unbroken Chain. I have also uploaded video to You tube (Irongirl99 username) and over on Deadvids.com
.

Besides you should bookmark coventry music and visit us every day!! follow us on twitter @coventrymusic.

UTICA BOUND

2010-02-20T12:36:00.005-05:00

I'm out the door raging solo for a concert in UTICA armed with a FLIP camcorder. Hope to get some good shots of Bob Weir and Phil Lesh at tonight's FURTHUR show at the Utica Auditorium. I'm not heading out too early as Utica, NY is not exactly the most interesting place in the world to visit. Think the last time I was there was to run the Utica Boilmaker 15k or the Distance Running Hall of Fame Half Marathon. Besides the brewery the long distance running hall of fame is located in this old factory town. I'm not really sure how it wound up in Utica but remember when it opened and have visited it.

Yup with me you never know what your going to get as my interests are varied. But that is what keeps life interesting.

Peace

PS. For those who have no idea what FURTHUR is/was. It was the name of the bus Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters toured the country in. It is also the name Phil Lesh and Bob Weir (Two of the four surviving original Grateful Dead members) are using for their current tour.

Health Care in America

2010-01-22T15:01:00.005-05:00

To say it is a dilemma is an understatement. My dad went without health insurance for many years when he owned his own ski shop, when he was employed as a Sporting Goods Rep and when he worked for other small businesses. Both my parents who are divorced from each other, are now are medicare eligible and are enrolled. My sister, a Culinary Institute of America Graduate and trained chef finally purchased her own insurance last year at age 46. My mom was covered by her employer, a division of McKesson up until her retirement. I've worked for major corporations for years and have always been covered, short of a 1.5 year stint 20 years ago, after I left my cushy financial sector job and went uninsured while attempting a career change during the height of my alcohol abuse.

I've worked for a major health insurer in dental claims/customer service for the past 12 years. You can imagine that recent debate among many of my uninsured or under-insured friends has made me uncomfortable, especially when the industry that employs me is deemed corrupt and crooked. I have no answers, on how to fix the system. Heck people have worked their entire lives on this issue and we are still worlds apart on a solution today. For what its worth, most of my beliefs lie closer to the European models (call me a Socialist if you must).

I'm not here to say anything more then the system is broke and has to be fixed. What I am going to tell you is to read Otis's recent blog post THE REAL COST OF HAVING A BABY.

It's a fascinating albeit personal story on the cost of having his second son who we call DOS (for #2 if you hadn't already guessed) down in GVegasland. Many of you may not realize that Otis is one of the main contributor's to the Pokerstars Blog. For those of you not familiar with Otis's BP (before poker) work, I suggest you click here.

Pokerstars WBCOOP

2010-01-16T15:13:00.004-05:00

I have registered to play in the WBCOOP PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker! You too can Play Poker Online at PokerStars.com and take part in the WBCOOP which is open to all Bloggers by registering on WBCOOP to play.

Registration code: 630467

2010

2010-01-10T08:41:00.008-05:00

Contrary to what a few of my friends believe and have teased me about, I did not disappear into the rabbit hole after my immersion into Phish during my Weekend with Dr Pauly following the two night run at Albany's Times Union Center. I actually decided not to write about the weekend and let Pauly do the talking over on Coventry Music and his Tao of Pauly blogs. So much of Dr P's life is public record and getting to share time with "my lil bro" is few and far between. I did give him free rein to have as good of a time as he wanted that weekend. He guided me thru all the Phish music I have never heard and I was there to belay him he if decided to go too far off the edge. I'm pretty low key at Phish/Grateful Dead shows being the tour vet I am. The 2nd night (Saturday), 2nd set of Albany left my face melted. After almost 50 minutes of intense jamming on the 7 Below/Ghost jam, one catch your breathe song, they continued the momentum with what could easily be the best set of sound, I have ever heard. I turned to Dr P after my eyes in awe, mouth agape with a biggest smile I have ever had (except maybe the perma-grin that comes from taking LSD) and high-fived/fist-bumped and hugged him. By golly I finally had gotten what it took so long to get. Most of my exposure to Phish had been during the falling apart 2.0 era and I just didn't get it.

After Phish, I had another concert at Troy's Revolution Hall on Kim's birthday December 4th. We saw one of our other favorite band's: Max Creek. I attended my company Xmas Party right before and won two bus tickets to Foxwoods. I also had my name pulled as a winner of $50 gift card to Chico's a BBQ joint that sounds delish. But i could only win one so they threw that one back in and pulled another person. Coupled with a twitter win of a two night stay to the RIO in Vegas. I was running good.

Kim got lost in South Troy trying to find Revolution Hall. I was trying to guide her in and kept asking her what side the river was on. When she said its right in front of me i knew she was heading west back over to Watervliet and not in a North/South direction which is the way she needed to go to get where I was. I found this funny only because we both spent a lot of time at RPI which is located at the top of the hill from where she needed to be and which i was trying to use as a reference point. She dated a Theta Chi and I a Alpha Chi Rho (that would be the one and only California Rob). We wound up missing the McLovins but were ready for Max Creek when they took the stage. It was a great show as always. They played one long set as they were on their way to Utica for a show the next night.. Scott and the drummers (Scott A and Gregg V) jammed thru the "set break" while John and Mark took care of whatever they needed to take care of. There was one song in particular where Scott Murawski's harmony vocals showed a range I had never heard before (Think Mark was on lead) that proved that after almost 40 years of playing he still has tricks up his sleeve and is still learning and improving.. During one of the Jam's I'm pretty sure Mark Mercier teased the Vince Guaraldi piano piece from It's a Charlie Brown Christmas dance. I had this weird idea that it would be cool to see a bunch of hippies/hipsters etc Snoopy dancing to that whole piece!!

Everyone took their turn on vocals that night, except drummer, Greg Vasso which left me a little sad because A)I <3 Vasso and B)I love it when he does Sympathy for the Devil. I said a quick hello to Scott M after the show and left pretty tired after seeing 3 concerts in 8 days.

I did not attend the winter WPBT gathering and would have loved to do the tasting dinner with Astin and company at Joel Robuchon. Next time I would love to do a tasting at a great Seafoody place. One with a seafood tower etc. Sounds like I missed a good time but December is just such a hectic month with work and the holidays around the bend. Astin did manage to take down the winter donkament and a big congrats to him for that (again).

Rags is now inside and my second cat. He's not actually inside my condo as Bailey wants no one in his domain. There has been hissing and growling on Bailey's part thru the pet gate I installed. Rags just sits there and does nothing, its as if he knows its not his territory. Pretty funny since outside Rags was a little hellion taking on all invaders. He definitely was abused/mistreated and then abandoned as he will recoil a little if i go to pet him with my hand coming towards him. But I can pick him up and snuggle him and he loves to sit on my shoulders. He's living in my carpeted stairwell and pretty much lives on the top landing outside the door that enters into the condo. He is very affectionate and grateful. I do let him out as he prefers to do his business outside. I know he has some loss of functioning in his kidneys as is typical in older cats and he does have some dental disease also typical. But hes in a lot better shape now then he was last year when he ran from people and spent the winter outside. I decided I'll make his final years as comfortable and easy as possible.

I did play poker New Year's day. Third time live in about 6 months I think it was. I had a monster stack proving I still can accumulate chips but I was rusty getting nervous when normally I'm chill. Things were going extremely well, until I had your classic on-line make it or break it hand: in a min-raised 4-5 way pot with one person all in I flopped a straight with Q8d on an all heart board. I led out a feeler bet hoping no one flopped a flush after it checked around. One caller, a young kid who was a good player and was second chip stack to me at the table and perhaps the tourney. Turned out he had flopped a baby flush so he called. A turn diamond and he led out with a bet. I all in'd there thinking he was drawing trying to protect my made hand. He thought I had a bigger flush with the Ace and he tanked for quite awhile before calling and actually wound up hitting a straight flush on the river. Which was good for him and launched him into the chip lead and that crippled me down to starting stack of 13k from a high of 50k or so. Sick feeling in my stomach obviously. Sick feeling in young guns stomach as he passed on the high hand pool!! So, all my hard work for naught and after eating prime rib and baked potato etc., my ADD kicked in and I got bored and didn't feel like rebuilding, yup I gave up instead of trying to come-back which I've done before. I shoved with 99 after my table move on the very first hand dealt at the new table. No callers. I lasted a few more orbits and eventually I shoved JT or JQ into AK and busted out unimproved. Home I went to play some online.

2010 will be more concerts with Furthur shows on deck for February and hopefully Mt Jam in June and gathering of the Vibes and Camp Creek in July. More poker as I turn the big 50 in October and can play Senior's events. Also trying to shed the tummy I have acquired going thru the change and I plan on resuming running. I have been taking a body jam class but haven't been in a few weeks with the holidays.

2010 goals - Lose weight, eat better (I did remove most processed food in 2009), chew longer, play more poker, read a lot, see live music, run.

And if you really want to know what I'm doing check out my twitter feed. I twitter aka microblog alot more then I do full blog posts. I'm @irongirl01 on twitter.

Justin Shronk Memorial Tourney

2009-11-30T21:22:00.006-05:00

Where: Full Tilt Poker
Tournament ID: 121607994
Title: Justin Shronk Memorial Tourney
Game: NLHE
Buy-In: $5+$5
Starts: Sunday, December 6 at 18:00 server time (6 p.m. EST, 3 p.m PST)
Password: Justin Shronk (title case, with the space)

Half of the buy-in goes to the Justin Shronk Memorial Fund at the Temple University School of Communications And Theater (SCT). This is the same fund for which Brian Lemke (Shronk's cousin) provided a $20,000 lead gift after winning his WSOP bracelet this summer.

Here is the full text of information Ashley Lomery of the Temple University SCT sent to Full Tilt:

Founded in 1884, Temple University has grown with the city in which it thrives, Philadelphia, PA. Today, Temple is a comprehensive public research university with more than 37,000 students. With schools of law, medicine, pharmacy, podiatry and dentistry, Temple is the nation’s fifth largest provider of professional education. At home and abroad, Temple remains committed to providing access to educational opportunities and improving local communities. Temple was the first college in the United States to offer a bachelor’s degree in broadcasting in 1948. The School of Communications and Theater, with nearly 4,000 students and six departments, is the third-largest academic unit at Temple. Through creative instruction, a curriculum that reflects today’s changing media and professional facilities, the school provides students with an unparalleled educational experience. The result is high national rankings and demonstrated success in readying students for first jobs and careers.

The Justin Shronk Scholarship will provide scholarship support for students majoring in Broadcasting, Telecommunications and Mass Media within the School of Communications and Theater. Students must have financial need, and there is a preference for a student who has a deceased parent. While a student at Temple, Justin’s father passed away and he considered dropping out to help his mother. With her encouragement, he remained at Temple, graduated and went on to start his career. The recipient of the scholarship should also exemplify some of the same characteristics that Justin exhibited during his life—an absolute passion for everything media, a great wit and sense of humor, loyalty in his friendships, and someone who would take a job for less money to be able to do the work that he loved. With a generous gift earlier this year from Brian Lemke, Justin's cousin, the scholarship was permanently endowed and will honor Justin's memory in perpetuity. We are hoping to raise additional funds toward the endowment through this tournament to increase the amount available to award to deserving students in Justin's name year after year.

On Deck- Phish Albany

2009-11-21T21:45:00.003-05:00

I was seriously thinking of going out to Syracuse for tomorrow night's show but Thanksgiving week time off from work was pretty much unavailable since I didn't put in for any in advance, so I'm hanging tight for two nights of Phish at the Times Union Center on Black Friday and Saturday. I went to work the day after the SPAC show and was exhausted. Dancing for three hours is tiring. I have been taking a Body Jam class to prepare myself for a busy series of concerts and my return to running.

First up your Phish Pforecast: We've had a pretty mild November this far and Turkey Day Weekend should be no exception. Right now 45 on Friday with chance of showers so bring your Wellies and Saturday a little cooler at 41. I'll probably cross post something over on Coventry as show time approaches. Give you peeps and tweeps some places to eat etc. Just an early PSA. Plan ahead and leave early. Exit 23 of the Thruway to 787 may not be too bad that is the exit you take to the Times Union Center. But traffic around town will be crawling as it is Black Friday and Saturday. Leave early. Exit 24 of the Thruway which is where the Thruway/Northway/ and 90 converge will be a clusterfuck.

Dr Pauly will be taking in the shows with me so Coventry Music will be well represented. He'll be kicking it old school style with his "big sis". BFF Kim and her son (nephew Zack) will also be attending for at least one night. And I believe a whole host of the Phish Twibe members will be here. I'm bummed I'm going to miss the NYC shows which Pauly and Nicky will be going to the following week. She's not flying east until after the holiday so I miss my chance to catch up with her. Again time off from work is the issue. I'm trying to save 40 hours till 2010 so I have like almost 7 weeks off.

I won two nights at the Rio Las Vegas in a twitter promotion and have to use them up before 3/31/10. Cant hold on to them for the WSOP time but im thinking Venetian Deep Stack in February or March Madness time if its not blacked out. Think that would be fun to see kickoff weekend in a sports book in Vegas.

Sunday Overload

2009-11-01T13:50:00.003-05:00

I am trying to do/watch too many things at the same time.

NYC Marathon: I caught most of it on line at Universal Sports but missed the finishes of the races. Had to run out and hand off my moms goodies I got for her at Trader Joe's and Costco. Plan on catching the NBC highlight broadcast in a few minutes.

NFL Football a full day of games ahead.

NASCAR at Talledaga - Granted I don't follow Nascar as much as I used to since my driver Rusty Wallace headed to the broadcaster's booth but I still like to catch snippets here and there.

Festival 8 - Third and final day of Phish's Halloween run of shows from Indio, CA. Most of my colleagues from Coventry Music are in attendance. I've been listening to as much as I can on Sirius Satellite Internet Radio. Got a free 7 day trial and I must admit I'm liking it. Love the Jam-On station. Currently gigging down to a live Widespread Panic (WSP) performance on which Oteil Burbridge of The Allman Brothers is guesting. I've had my face melt a few times over the last two nights. Can't wait for the Albany Phish shows Black Friday and Saturday!!

Amazing Race- Gotta see how Tiffany Michelle and Maria Ho capitalize on their second place finish after last weeks leg. The Amazing Racers head to the Netherlands tonight.

World Series- Granted I'm not much of a baseball fan but I am interested in this East Coast rivalry: Cheese Steaks vs NYC Style Pizza.

Poker - Once again attempts to get out and play live are a fail. I may join in the FTOPS warm-up at 3:05 PM to see how long I can last.

IF a cat could talk...

2009-10-02T11:02:00.002-04:00

Yesterday I brought Rags in to be tested, neutered, his ears rid of mites and dewormed. He got his nails trimmed to and his fur cleaned up. My neighbor Mary Lou and I split the cost and another neighbor Randy is going to pitch in too. I was a little worried the little dude was going to test positive for Feline Leukemia or Feline HIV. I also wanted to get an age on him. I had an inkling he might turn out to be older then the 18-24 months I initially thought for a couple of reasons: A) He has full jowls, B) His balls were fully developed C) I noticed his teeth were discolored, including one of his canines being a snaggletooth.

I got him into the cat carrier no problem at all. From a cat who ran at the sight of people 10 months ago he now greets our Post-person Sandy when he hears her mail truck every day when she brings him treats. He's become quite social and I can pretty much handle him and pick him up. He weathered the car trip to the Animal Protective Foundation well. Drop off time was 8AM and I wasn't the only one bringing in a cat for the program. One lady brought in 5-8 semi-feral males the last of the bunch from a colony in Ballston Spa. She had already done the same for about 38 other kittys and had found homes for most of them. When I returnd to pick Rags up at 4PM at the APF's education center there had to be at least 12-15 cats all lined up waiting to be picked up. The vet must have worked on them assembly line fashion.

Much to my surprise Rags came out of his day like a new man. When the volunteer told me he had some dental disease and the Vet removed his snaggle-tooth because it was loose I wasn't surprised. When she told me he was about 10 years old my mouth hit the floor. I was also told he was not a feral and was very nice with the vet. I looked at him in the carrier and said "Dude what is your story?". He was glad to see me and when I got him home came right out of the carrier and butted my hand even though he was still groggy.

Where this cat was the first 8-9 years of his life me and my neighbors will never know. Maybe someone threw him out, or moved away and left him behind or he was abused and ran away. I know he knows how to hunt and he used to dumpster dive. He's definitely been in a bunch of fights (torn ear and hes battle-scarred). Since I've worked with him he's become quite affectionate (male cats typically are). He will cross the threshold of my doorway but doesn't want to be inside behind a closed door yet. When I closed the door but didnt completely shut it he walked over to and and took his paw to open it and leave yesterday. right now he only comes in because he knows where is food is.

I've fixed up his cat house with a fleece mat and old towel on top of his straw bed and he's content in that or on my door mat. I will definitely bring him inside if he wants to come in when it gets bitter cold. He may have to stay in my entry way but at least he'll be warm at night.

All I can say to the person who turned Rags out: Karma is a bitch and what goes around comes around. I have no compassion to anyone who disposes/mistreats an animal.

October 16th is National Feral Cat day. Across the country there are thousands of volunteers working with our homeless cats. If you can afford to contribute for a spay/neuter please do so. For more information Alley Cat Allies is a great resource.

Football, Poker, Music

2009-09-25T18:44:00.004-04:00

FOOTBALL:

It came down to the last play of the game. Miami was stymied for the game winning score when Pennington's throw to the end-zone/Hail Mary pass was intercepted, but based on points of the Monday Night Football game, I won one of my leagues outright this week!!! Three of us were in contention on Monday night: Had Miami won, California Rob would have taken it down. Had the points come under 45 one of the three "Wags" brothers in the pool would have won. I faded them both and won for the first time in 5 years (my first year in the league). Over the last 4 years, I've lost the weekly title either by whiffing on MNF points or mis-picking the Monday night game winner outright, at least 7-8 times that I can remember. Sometimes, the weather was a factor and the games were low scoring and I was over the total points scored, other times just bad Ju-Ju.

I was also co-winner of this week's Pauly's Pub league hosted by none other then Dr Pauly. That is an all-season long only league (no weekly payouts). My Big-Eyed Phish entry moved up to one game out of first place. Of course we are only two weeks and its a long season to go.

I'm watching more football and paying more attention then in prior years where poker was my primary focus on the weekends. And as Ray & Rob and any other of my good guy friends can attest: I know my football. Last night I even watched the South Carolina - Ole Miss game over network TV. Ever since I was a little girl, I can remember watching football with my dad and sometimes my maternal Grandpa who actually played college football. One of my high-school boyfriend's was co-captain of the football team our senior year of High School and I went to a NCAA Division I football school. I think I bleed Black and Gold for my Colorado Buffs.

POKER:

I actually played some live poker last weekend. The first time since end of June or beginning of July. I know the last time I played live was during the WSOP shortly after LJ's horse near final table. It was a nice early Sunday start time with 4 big screen TV's going and a prime rib/shrimp scampi dinner which was worth the entry fee. I bubbled the final table in 11th but only top 5 were to pay. Near the end, I got my money all-in behind two times and sucked out. One was a suck re-suck suck hand. I was all in pre-flop flopped two pair, opponent turned straight I boated on the river. On the other hand, I rivered two pair but was dominated on the flop. I knew I was behind with my KJ but shoved the rest of my short-stack in any-way because I needed chips or it was time to go home. If people can't lay down hands when they have fold-equity and nothing but top pair on a coordinated board, I'm not going to feel bad about sucking out. And I really also don't want to hear my table mates go on and on about how I got so lucky for 10 minutes. Of course I got lucky. Better to just say nothing and move on with your lives. I'll take the lucky bones I was thrown because believe me I was not born with a horseshoe up my arse. I probably got my only two lucky rivers I'm going to get for the next year. And look what it got my anyway Squadoosh.... Remember, sometimes I don't care what my cards are. If I'm short, I'm making a move solely based on my chip stack in relation to yours and board texture.

Dr Pauly is soliciting opinions on who should be inducted into this years Poker Hall of Fame. You can leave a comment at the end of this post. Congratulations to him for being selected as one of 15 media member's who get to vote. I'm pretty sure Andrew Feldman over on ESPN is another media vote based on a comment he left. Both of these guys are reading our comments. All the nominees are worthy, but who deserves to go in first is the question.

MUSIC:

If your a music fan and/or fan of Mike Gordon's solo band, lead guitarist Scott Murawski is looking for suggestions of covers to under take. I came up with some pretty wild ones including Pink Floyd's PIGS. I tried to come up with song's that had killer bass lines for Mike as well as great guitar work for Scott. I stayed clear of songs PHISH has covered and Max Creek has covered including the Grateful Dead catalogue. Not that I wouldn't want to hear them try The Eleven, its just that there are so many other cover songs out there they could have fun with. I no longer go to Max Creek shows to hear them play Dead covers. I may have done so back in 1986 but after I became familiar with their own tunes those became my favorites. In fact, Emotional Railroad is a current Max Creek cover being performed by MGB and one of my favorites.

And be sure to head over to Coventry for all the news thats PHISH to print (and lots of non-Phish stuff too).

Finally, It's amazing how many people pop onto my blog still looking for info on Brandi Hawbaker as well as, the Ultimate Bet cheating scandal. The UB cheating scandal is still pretty fresh in everyone's minds since the recently released official report finely outed and named Russ Hamilton as the primary person behind the accounts thru which a multitude of higher stakes cash game players were robbed from. No surprise there really. The question remains on whether the other alleged cheats names will be released. Its quite possible those alleged names may never see the light of day unless they actually were the owner's of the accounts. Since these other people may have not had any inside position at UB with direct access to creating super-user accounts it may be really hard to prove they were the ones who actually played and cheated on the account. One of the reasons said names may not have been released. I'm by no means a legal expert but can only imagine the ramifications if someone is named and it cant be proven (libel & slander lawsuits up the wazoo).

Now its time to sit down with Dan Brown's Lost Symbol and some left-over Chinese Food.

On the Road

2009-09-11T16:51:00.004-04:00

I'm about to head out the door for a quick trip down to Woodstock, NY for a concert at the Bearsville Theatre. I'm raging solo tonite as BFF Kim has a bad case of pink eye and Zack (my oldest nephew) can't make it from Boston in time. I'll be seeing the Mike Gordon Band. For my poker playing readers, he is the bassist for Phish and features one of my top 5 favorite guitarists, Scott Murawski of Max Creek.

I am still on poker hiatus. I took off all of August. And short of playing ten minutes of the Blogger thank you freeroll that awarded $109 WCOOP seats on pokerstars recently, I have not played any poker live or online since 07/26/2009. Once I return to the felt I hope to have a renewed focus. But I have really enjoyed my down time

I've discovered its really hard at my age to do it all. I love music, I love to play poker, I love trying out new restaurants and recipes. I love to read and to garden. I'm about to take on some volunteer work with our soon to open Saratoga County Animal Shelter satellite location. Plus, when you work a customer service job which requires you to be perky 40 hours a week and your soon to be 49, you get tired. Playing poker, like training for a marathon is a part-time job.

Rags my little semi feral or throwaway cat is getting snipped on October 1st. Hopefully he'll test out okay for FIV/FLV and I can work on getting him semi indoors for the winter. I'm beginning to think he may have been kicked to the curb and became unsocialized. He's currently living in a dog house I bought for him outside the condo front door behind some shrubery. He spends most of his time on my doormat or sunning himself on the walkway and doesn't run from anyone anymore. In fact he is constantly looking for a pet. He brought me two half eaten mouse heads last week. Guess he appreciates all I've done for him. He took a swipe at me (but missed) yesterday when I walked away from petting him but hadn't done that in a while.

My mom just had her hammertoe operated on today for the third and hopefully final time. I'm going to spend most of tomorrow afternoon and Sunday afternoon with her as she already is stir crazy about being unable to drive for 4 weeks while she heals. Unfortunately its her driving foot. The first season of True Blood came from Amazon.com today and I figure that will be good to watch together. I'm also looking forward to reading Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol when it drops on Tuesday.

And for the record, CU plays Toledo tonight and it will be televised. I am not going to miss another concert to watch them play. Maybe they will win if I dont watch!!!

Now its time to go get Bassed. Mike should be soundchecking right now on WDST. Check out my quick post over on Coventry Music.

I was Ready for College Football

2009-09-06T21:02:00.002-04:00

This half-time report is brought to you by: Alum who remembers when we sucked it hard.

Its beginning to look alot like when I was in College circa Fall 1980 - May 1983 or the Pre-BM years ( that's for Bill McCartney). I know we were beat up by injuries last year, but this is ridiculous. The Defensive line needs to learn how to tackle. The Offensive line needs to give the Quarterback some protection and Cody needs to learn how to stay in the pocket.

We were totally pwned/owned in the first half by the CSU Rams. The most exciting thing other than Ralphie's magnificent run was the 55 yard field goal by the dude who couldn't do anything last year and whose name is escaping me currently. Think its Goodman.

Woot we scored while i was typing this. I'm a little shocked to see Little Hawk back in as QB thought he would get the bench and they would start out the 2nd half with Tyler Hansen.

I decided to stay home and watch football rather then drive or to Lenox and see Max Creek. I'm beginning to question my decision/sanity.

A Phish Tale

2009-08-20T09:10:00.006-04:00

I had a great time at my first live Phish show and a most totally awesome time catching up with and hanging out with everyone's favorite globe-trotting, soon to be book author, Dr Pauly.

You can check out my thoughts on the show over on Coventry Music by clicking here.

And this is just my two cents but local journalists should really be ashamed of themselves for this kind of reporting. I know more then a few poker bloggers who write better then this.

PFRIDAY PHISHY PFORECAST

2009-08-13T22:28:00.003-04:00

Sunday 8/16/09:

HIGH 90F LOW 66F

PARTLY CLOUDY
Times of sun and clouds. Highs in the low 90s and lows in the mid 60s.
Chance of rain 20%

Head over to Coventry Music at 4:20 AM for my guide to navigating Saratoga/SPAC during the busy racing season that is August.

Hey Now I Still have a Blog

2009-08-08T09:49:00.003-04:00

Twitter has definitely killed my blogging efforts. I also have played literally no poker in the last two, err actually three weeks except that 2010 WSOP seat freeroll I qualified for. That was held on the day I drove back from a music festival. I had it going on early and then ran my big stack into another big stacks turned flush. Yup online poker morons still call pot size bets on the flop with just flush draws. Its also what I expect for a freeroll.

I pretty much have decided to take the summer off from poker. Mostly because, Ive been busy doing other things. I went to Gathering of the Vibes on a day trip with BFF, Kim, stayed over night at my sister's in Westport CT. Shopped with Kim at Trader Joe's, Stew Leonard's and Whole Foods in Norwalk/Westport on the return. It was a good old girls day with a slumber party at my sister's. My sis had not seen Kim in 31 years since my High School graduation party. Suzie is an awesome gardener and sent Kim home with lots of succulent babies to get started.

I got stung by a wasp last Friday night. That resulted in me jabbing myself in the thigh with an epi-pen and a trip to on-call. They held me for a bit, gave me some prednisone and two prescriptions. I was no worse for wear next day. The prednisone took away all itching, swelling and in the morning I could barely see where I was stung. Amazing!!!

I will be headed into actual work for a two week training class in September as it stands right now. The good news, I will work a normal 5 day week of like 8 to 5:30 instead of my 9.5/9.5/9/8/4 schedule I work now. I have had every Friday off for the months of July and August though.

I have not made it up to the Race Track (Saratoga) yet and probably wont. I have an old running friend in town for the meet. She rent's a house for four weeks and I have to squeeze in a day/afternoon to catch up with her. She owns horse's in partnerships much like Snake5970. Snake's horse's are all on the sidelines right now. Two are recovering from injuries. If he's lucky he may see Hooked on Hope run at the tale end of the Saratoga meet. She is still stabled and training down at Belmont. She's been on the comeback trail since getting injured after her last race in late April.

I will make it up to SPAC however for PHISH 3.0 next Sunday 8/16/09. BFF Kim and I are on the lawn. Nephew Zack (Kim's 24 yr old) and his buddy Nate are in the Balcony and Dr Pauly is coming into town (balcony). WOOT! WOOT! WOOT!. Anyone who knows Pauly, knows its virtually impossible to catch up with him when he's working the WSOP. Since he's pretty much west-coast based when he's not traveling now and his trips to NYS/NYC infrequent its cool that he's literally going to be on my doorstep. Way cooler hanging out and catching up in a relaxing setting where people don't talk about bad beats. Plus its my first live PHISH show ever!! Pauly has already initiated a few of us poker bloggers into the way of the PHISH. The only poker-y thing I may even mention is his upcoming book LOST VEGAS. Much rather talk about music, food, travels etc. The only bummer is Nicky isn't coming on this east coast trip and I haven't seen her since the day we both played the 2007 ladies event.

Just for the record, I am not a complete Phish virgin. I did see the Coventry Simulcast in 2004 with California Rob and wife, Toni. I have seen Trey and Mike play with their own bands as well as them sitting in with Phil Lesh & Friends and I saw Mike join the Dead on bass and segway a few years back. This will be my first time seeing the fab four together. I'm going in with an open mind and no expectations. For years, I didn't get PHISH probably because they weren't the Dead. I finally came to appreciate them for the awesome musicians they are. Compositionally, they are nothing like the Dead so to compare them it isn't even fair. But man they can lay down some mind-bending jams.

I also scored tickets for the Mike Gordon Band at the Bearsville Theater in Woodstock on 09/11/09. The theatre sits like 250 people. Attached to the theatre are two well know restaurants one Chinese the Little Bear and the renowned Bear Cafe. I'm totally psyched for this because Max Creek/BK3, guitarist Scott Murawski is reprising his role on guitar. Max Creek put on a smoking show at Vibes and I'm going to try to catch them Labor Day weekend at CreekEnd, if i can set aside the time to stay on site as required. I can honestly say that as someone who has followed Creek for a really long time, Scott gets better with age. One of the most under-appreciated/rated journeyman guitarists out there. Time permitting, BFF Kim and I will first travel to the Museum at Bethel Woods, site of the actual Woodstock Festival in 1969. It's about an hour away from Woodstock proper. Plus there is also the Kaatskill Kaleidoscope (the world's biggest) in Mount Tremper.

All for now, time to check out the farmer's markets and stands for NYS's best produce. Tomatoes suck this year. Too much rain causing a major fungus. Fortunately I didn't try to grow any myself this year. The Albany area had the rainiest July in history. We had 9.91 inches which was 6.4 inches above normal. It's also been unseasonably cool.

Midterm WSOP Main Event Fantasy Report

2009-07-10T14:37:00.005-04:00

After four day 1's, two day 2's we are finally condensed to one day 3 of the 2009 WSOP Main event. Cant believe the WSOP started over a month and a half ago and we are already to the grand finale event 57.

I participated in Full Tilt Poker's Fantasy Poker Challenge. I'm currently sitting in the top 200 overall. I earned two full tilt hats for two top fifty finishes in individual events, entry into a bunch of free rolls for top 2000 finishes in a bunch of events and by virtue of a 4th place finish over 1000+ in the RAZZ Tourney the other night, I now play for a 2010 WSOP Main Event seat. The top 100 overall finishers plus the top ten in every free roll earn spots in this finale free roll. I was in the top 100 overall for most of the later half of the challenge but fell out when i had zero money finishers in the last donkaments. It also didn't help that in event 56 my picks didn't take and carried over from the prior event. Had they taken I should have been back in the top 100 overall as a lot of my horses cashed including eventual bracelet winner Matt Hawrilenko. I now don't really care about a top 100 finish since i have my spot in that grand finale freeroll already.

So, who did I take as my final horses in the Main Event? I went with players who had solid live poker tourney success in deep fields. In other words, warriors those who know how to survive a grueling multi-day event when its not won on the first second or even third or fourth days:

My line-up of 15:

Vitaly Lunkin on to day three with T135900

Phil Hellmuth on to day three with T142900

Daniel Negreanu - Busto day 1C. Daniel tweeted that he was sick sick sick. I only wanted to pick Negreanu or Ivey wrong horse picked as Ivey is still alive and doing very well. But does Ivey really care about the ME or would he really rather be over in Bobby's Room playing cash and winning outrageous prop bets?

Gus Hanson - Busto Day 2A. Not alot was reported about Gus on his day 1, largely as he was at the feature table and ESPN has the monopoly on reporting over there. Pokernews updates were few and far between.

Huck Seed - Busto 1D not alot said about Huck but I think he was in the area of the feature or secondary feature table hence the lack of updates. Some folks thought he was a shut-out but his bust-out was reported

Justin Bonomo on to day three T22330 - Solid player both online and live. He was my young gun horse. Chosen over the likes of Jimmy Fricke (who is still alive going into day 3) and Shaun Deeb (busto) and Isaac Baron. I've met Jimmy a couple of times at Turning Stone and like him a lot as a player and he's a nice young man. But Jimmy hasn't been running hot like Justin coming into the series, and in the early WSOP events. Shaun was actually an easy bench for the ME. He ran up a huge stack early and then busted on his day 2 when he 5-bet a9os into pocket AA or KK. In a prior post I mentioned the importance in the ability to change gears. Even Joe Hachem on the pokerstars blog mentioned this important ability in a large field live multi day MTT. I'm picking on Shaun here, but over and over again throughout the course of the early events many of the top online players succumbed to their Achilles heel: the inability to back off the aggression factor when they were not getting the best of it and coinflipping with hands they wouldn't fold after being played back at.

Mike Matusow - Busto day 2A. per his tweets he was card dead. I was rooting for you Mikey.

Lee Watkinson - on to day three with T62300. I'm not sure why I picked him, other than a few deep runs over the last couple Main Events. Lee was up over 100k in chips but lost two big hands on day 2B

David Benefield - busto day 1D. He cashed last year had some deep runs in other events. Fellow blogger and friend, LJ works for CardRunners and he looked to be the best of the CardRunners bunch as far as MTT ability and I wanted another young gun. (Sorry LJ you are not an option in Full Tilt's Fantasy Challenge, so I couldn't pick you!!).

Ylon Schwartz Busto day 2B. The one November Niner who had the best 2009 WSOP in the preliminary events. Sadly he is busto. Eastgate, Phillips, Suharto and Kim are still alive from last years original Novemeber 9.

Ivan Demidov - Busto day 1D (see above). He joins Ylon on the rail along with Scott Montgomery and Chino Rheem. I'm not sure if Craig Marquis even played this year

John Turner - Busto day 2A - I picked pearljammer much for the same reason I picked Justin Bonomo. Can play both online and live with success.

Greg Raymer - on to day three with T95900. A great finish in the 40k, plus hes proven his ability to go deep in Main Events more then once!

Eugene Katchalov on to day three with T183800 - He's a Russian, who lives in the US. if you notice a pattern of my picks, I picked Russians, young dudes who can play online and live, and a few former ME champs who have gone deep in other big championship tourneys.

Matt Hawrilenko on to day three with T65700 - Fresh off a bracelet and like Justin was running well coming into the main event. Plus his name sounds Eastern Bloc-ish, Russian.

So 7 of my 15 are alive heading into the meat of the Main Event. 6494 players began with 30k stacks. Total chips in play T194,820,000. total players remaining heading into Day 3 2044. Average stack size t93484. As you can see only two of my players are below average stack. Raymer is average stacked and the others are well above average.

I'm kind of sad we are getting to the end of this years series but at least I will have the TV coverage to look forward to.

Due to Technical Difficulties.....

2009-06-12T15:53:00.003-04:00

I apologize for the lack of updates. First, the cable modem went. I had phone and cable but sporadic Internet signal. At least that's how it all tested out when Time Warner got here. I was off the grid from a Tuesday night to late Saturday afternoon. Then a few days later my computer started turning off on its own and wouldn't restart. Thought it may have been a loose cord so I tried a new one. Still no computer. I had a new power supply put in back in late December but my Dell is 4+ years old and on borrowed time. I did get it going again bought a hard drive and backed everything up.

So now I'm shopping for a new desktop PC. Ive always owned Dell's but frankly their customer service is lacking and your lucky if you get someone in the United States. I'm no stranger to outsourcing as my original job at my company was largely outsourced. I'm thinking about an HP A6700F which is a relatively new model and I can get a discount on one thru my company as HP is a vendor for us. Then again I can also get a discount on a Dell.

I haven't played much online poker in the last three weeks short of 4 DON's and I cashed 4/4. Now of course we are faced with a whole e-check debacle of not being able to get money on and off PokerStars and Full Tilt easily. I've qualified for a few of the freeroll's Full Tilt has as prizes for the Fantasy Poker Challenge. I ran TT into JJ last nite in the first one so I failed to cash. Speaking of the Challenge, my ability to pick horses to finish in the money in the low buy-in NLHE donkaments is nil. I've goose-egged (no fantasy dollars) every NLHE low buy-in event. Yet I have three horses who final tabled the $10k deuce to seven Lowball event (all 15 of my horses actually played the event). Obviously in the NLHE events I've picked Internet young guns who have largely crashed and burned in their attempts to acquire chips early. I figure the big established names are playing the bigger buy-ins and mixing up their game selections.

I have noticed that the young guys who play fearless and ruthless early on and build up big stacks, seem to implode a lot later on. Seems like they just don't no when to change the gears back to medium speed mid-tourney when table conditions change and they run their big stack into someone else's big stack and are out shortly after. I'm sure that is why the big stack on a Day 1 or Day 2 normally isn't the chipleader or around on Day 3. Or they are not paying close attention to the players at their live tables.

Here's best wishes to CK who made it to day two of the $2500 Mixed Stud/Omaha 8 or better tourney. Play resumes at 5PM EST/2PM PST. I'm heading out to play live tonite at my friend Rich's place across the river. Actually make that two rivers, gotta cross the Mohawk and Hudson. I'll be checking up on you girl when I get back in.

Full Tilt Fantasy Challenge -Events #2-#3

2009-05-31T20:32:00.005-04:00

These were my picks for the 40k high rollers events (wsop#2) and I had to let them ride for the $1500 Limit PLO8 event (wsop #3) because of Internet connectivity issues all day Wednesday thru Saturday afternoon. Fortunately, I had gotten my first picks in before my modem conked out.

As you can see below, I took a mix of hot Internet players and seasoned pros. One thing I don't think is possible is write-in candidates. I just looked for Greg Raymer on the pick list as he has final tabled the 40k event to see if anyone had him. Don't think Team Pokerstars' Fossilman made the FTP powers that be radar. Team Full Tilt and red pros heavily make up the pick list. ******EDIT Greg Raymer found on list!!!!

What makes it hard is you actually have no idea if your picks are playing. Unless they tweet about it. And they then have to make deep runs in donkament size fields. For example, I didn't pick Eric Seidel for the 40k, because he announced on twitter that he wouldn't be playing till next week. I also no one pro is going to Hawaii this week so he's been dry docked. Obviously ZeeJustin (Bonomo) didn't play the Limit PLO8 tourney as he was deep in the 4Ok, but I was able to scrap him in time for event #3 (the stimulus special tourney) when my Internet service returned.

A Player Justin Bonomo $0
A Player Chris Moorman $0
A Player Allen Cunningham $0
A Player Kenny Tran $0
A Player Erick Lindgren $0
B Player Shannon Shorr $0
B Player Daniel Negreanu $0
B Player Tim "Tmay420" West $0
B Player Jeff Madsen $0
B Player Mike Matusow $0
C Player Vivek Rajkumar $0
C Player John Juanda $0
C Player Jimmy "Gobboboy" Fricke $0
C Player Michael Binger $0
C Player Jon "PearlJammed" Turner $0
Total: $0

I look totally brilliant taking Team Bodog's Justin Bonomo, as one of my A-listers. He was playing extremely well heading into the WSOP with a WSOP Circuit win. He's currently playing the final table of the event with 5 left. On the flip side, I don't believe Kenny Tran even showed to play. I also should have taken a harder look at Isaac Haxson as hes hot right now and should be a bracelet contender sometime during the series (think/hope hes on the list for future consideration)

Knowing my luck I win a FT baseball cap, which I already have but there are other fabulous prizes and swag including winners freerolls and top scorers will play for a world series 2010 seat. The games have begun!!

Anticipation...........2009 WSOP

2009-05-24T23:59:00.005-04:00

The media, photographers and poker players are all rolling into Las Vegas. I followed BJ Nemeth (@BJNemeth on twitter) and his cute doggy Rhapsody on their road trip from Atlanta to Las Vegas via twitter. BJ also posted some great shots of his journey. I can't remember if it was BJ who snapped my photo when I played the Ladies event. I remember Dr Pauly coming over to advise me of the two pros at my table (one I knew the other I did not as she was Swedish) and I remember CC coming over with a photographer to snap my picture for the article Carmen did on me for PokerWorks. I'm just not sure if it was BJ.

Dr Pauly will be splitting his time between Phish tour and the WSOP. He has an all-star line-up tapped to pinch hit for the days he's on tour. He posted pictures on his blog with the faces blotted out. I've identified 5 correctly including one person I hoped would contribute and is. I still have two to go. One I got only because I obviously have spent too much time reading poker blogs over the last 5 years or so and because I have a freaky memory. Not sure if he will introduce them before the start of the series or as they contribute. I spill no secrets as to the identities of these pinch hitters, I'm Italian remember and we have a code of silence, besides that's Dr P's job to do.

Wicked Chops will be covering the series in only the way they can, including their Girls on the Rail series and perhaps a return of the Ginger of the Day? I'm going to copy and paste from a recent WC post the outlets covering the series and add a few they missed and embellish on a few. I've italicized the WC original post so as not to bring the wrath of the Entities down on my head. Follow the Entities @wickedchops.

WSOP.com: Get chip counts and full tourney reporting. For a link to the full schedule of events go here.

You can follow Jeffrey Pollack (the commish of the wsop) on twitter @JeffreyPollack and wsop live updates @wsopliveupdates and the wsop @wsop.

BluffMagazine.com: Stepped up their online reporting efforts the past year or so, lots of timely and relevant news. Bluff Magazine will be live streaming the final tables of 12 events that will not be televised. You can follow Bluff on twitter @bluffmagazine.

PokerListings.com: Solid coverage, often with a funny take. This is a Canadian site I often forget about but have recently been spending more time at. Hopefully, I'll get Matt to invite me to the next PL Run good challenge!! Follow them on twitter @_pokerlistings_.

Tao of Poker: Dr. Pauly is the hardest working man in poker, and is a staple and fixture of WSOP reporting. The entities are on point there. Dr Pauly is to poker and music coverage what Warren Haynes is to Rock and Roll. Oh and he's got a book coming out too. Follow him on twitter at @taopauly.

Pokerati.com: Good scoops and perspective, tons of updates. Follow them on twitter @Pokerati. Pokerati's Dan Michalski & Dr Pauly team up on the Tao of Pokerati podcasts. The archived podcasts can be found here.

PokerRoad.com: More pro perspective than you'll find anywhere else, plus the awesome Poker Beat and other shows. Joe Sebok, Barry Greenstein, Amanda Leatherman, Scott Huff, John "Shecky" Caldwell, Jimmy Fricke have big things in store for this WSOP. Follow on twitter @pokerroad or join the twibe by clicking here.

ESPN.com: Aside from keeping track of the Fantasy Draft (oh crap that's today), the Poker Edge podcast are worth the price of admission (which is free, but whatever) alone. ESPN360.com will be live streaming twelve final tables not covered by Bluff. Unfortunately my ISP (the evil empire Time Warner) does not allow me ESPN360 access. This year ESPN TV coverage will only be broadcasting 4 events with coverage commencing July 28th. The same number of hours are planned but only the 40k high rollers event, the 10k buy-in Main Event, the Ante Up for Africa Charity tourney and the WSOP Tournament of Champions will be shown live. HORSE/Omaha/Limit events and god forbid Razz don't make for good TV.

Poker Stars Blog: Otis keeps this a great source of news for the site that most of you probably won your WSOP entries from. As of this mornings count, 922 qualifers have qualified thru pokerstars (not counting the multiple packages won by the dudes who are always in that Step 6 you want to play). Typically the Pokerstars blog covers Pokerstars qualifiers.

RawVegas.tv: Wicked Chops is behind Raw Vegas TV: Between our new episodes of The TOKE (our fave from last year below, the Girls of the GLE), plus Daniel Negreanu vlogs (and many, many more pros this year, more on that later), a great video source of WSOP action.

PokerNews.com Not sure who the 2009 line-up includes but my guess is the usual poker bloggers's such as Shamus, Change100, Mean Gene, Haley, and F-Train as well as the other PokerNews staffers. Follow on twitter @pokernews.

Full Tilt's Poker From the Rail: The new kid on the block. AlCantHang's new bill paying gig. Hopefully, the coverage Al has planned here will be similar to the Pokerstars Blog. You'll get a perspective on the Full Tilt qualifiers (251 as of this morning). Al just landed in Vegas a little lighter as he chopped off his hair.

Annie Duke FTW!!

2009-05-09T15:29:00.005-04:00

I haven't been a religious follower of the show but have kept up on it. If you read my archived post where I commented on the first episode, I stated, Jesse James, Brande, and Annie impressed me the most in that very first episode, other then Joan Rivers who I assumed would be the person to beat. Pretty good call by me, as all of the above mentioned players made the final four.

Love her or hate her Annie has proven herself as a formidable opponent or as Tyra Banks would say... FIERCE. I have been impressed with her work ethic. Joan on the other hand lost any respect I had for her and comes across as a total harpie. She has enraged every poker player with her "your kind, your people" remarks. Kind of reminds me when a police officer in Worcester MA told me they didn't want my people (meaning deadheads) around. Lets see if Annie can uber-TILT Joan tomorrow night during the finale.

Doyle Brunson (@texdolly) doesnt mince words about his feelings for Joan Rivers:

Joan Rivers has a concussion. She was getting a drink and the toilet seat fell on her head.

I'll quit tweeting about Joan Rivers when she apoligizes to the poker world

Happy Mothers Day Annie & I hope you found a dress to wear for the finale. Show Joan how heads-up is played!!

I want to see Dave at Jones Beach!!

2009-05-09T14:59:00.005-04:00

I am alive just been busy with household maintenance and spring cleaning. The ADhD part of me only has time to tweet in 140 characters or less.

I must say Dave is looking rather hot. I see a big void whenever I see the band's picture without the great LeRoi Moore (RIP).

I love the New York Post. Even though it tends to lean right and Obama bash every chance the editors get. I just find it a guilty pleasure. Its kind of like a tabloid newspaper.

Lazy Sunday

2009-04-19T11:15:00.003-04:00

I've been a slacker blogger lately on my home blog. I have had a few posts up over on Coventry on the currently in progress Dead 2009 tour. My write-up of the Friday nights Albany show is posted here.

Snake5970's horse: Hooked on Hope is making her second career start. She is entered in the 9th race running on the grass at Aqeuduct TODAY, Sunday, April 19th, breaking from the 9 hole with Ramon Dominguez up. Post time is 4:55 p.m. She won her first outing at Gulfstream Park last month. Snake5970 is headed down. It looks like the weather will hold and she will run. She's a scratch if the race gets moved to the dirt.

I have been active on twitter though, and find twitter certainly is a fun way to journal ones activities in 140 characters or less. Lots of poker pros are on twitter. I for see a new way tournament reporting is done in the future. Although the news sources will still be the primary source to outline key hands as far as the flop turn river, suit, the amount bet on streets and chip counts (twitter space constraints). It doesn't get much better then Joe Sebok twittering about Shaun Deeb bluffing the shit out of Kevin Saul (BeLoWAbove) at the Bellagio WPT Championships yesterday. Oh and it was fun following along on Phil Hellmuth's drink by drink drunken Thursday night as he randomly tweeted his activities. You can follow Joe on twitter he is Joesebok, Phil Hellmuth is phil_hellmuth. Haven't looked for Deeb or Saul yet but lots of other pros tweet including Annie Duke, Evy Eng, David Williams, Jeff Madsen, Daniel Negrenau, Tiffany Michelle, Andy Bloch, etc.

Even though I don't drink or do any other kind of intoxicants any longer and haven't in 19+ years my body just doesn't recover like it used to. I spent yesterday recovering from my concert and went to bed relatively early. I am still sore and tired today. I cut the bottom of the back of my right foot near the heel slightly sometime Friday night. It's in the middle of an old callous from my running/triathlon days. My foot was sore as hell and I've been monitoring it to make sure I don't get cellulitis which I've had before in my toe. Much better today it is. Ahhhh, the joys of growing old.

I must play some poker today I haven't played since last Sunday. Today there is a big game WSOP qualifier but it actually sold out (first prize should be enough to buy into the Main Event if one so desires). I didn't want to pony up the $325 buy-in since I hadn't been playing all that well up until last weekend when things started turning around. I played live a week ago Thursday night and although no cash I did final table and finish 9th. That set me up to play rather well online last weekend. For some reason, I play much better online after I've played live and actually handled chips.

Happy Spring!! Time to go get the papers, some coffee and figure out if I should shop, play online later, check out the live tourney which is not at my club, head down to the club later tonite to play live or do some combination of all of the above.

SCOOP Begins Today

2009-04-02T07:50:00.005-04:00

Still not sure if I will be playing the NLHE low option rebuy starting at 2:30 PM today. I better make up my mind soon because 16851 are currently registered and the total is climbing. That is going to be one hell of a prize pool. I am registered for the 4:30 PM PLO8 Low option buy-in. And Gods of the Interwebs & Network Connections please don't let me disconnect during said tourney. I have already lost connection with your servers twice this morning and I'm not even playing yet. 95115 people have nothing better to do on a Thursday morning apparently. Oh and I know I mentioned that I will gladly take river beats for a month because I was smiled kindly upon and received Phish tickets for SPAC but can we please please please put that penance on hold for two weeks or so?

The First Annual SCOOP per Pokerstars is:

Spring Championship Of Online Poker (SCOOP) - All Stakes

With 66 tournaments, covering 22 different poker disciplines at three different stakes levels and a combined prize pool guarantee of $30,000,000, we’re bringing you a new poker championship not to be missed. Beginning on April 2, we bring you the Spring Championship Of Online Poker (SCOOP) - All Stakes. With buy-ins as low as $5.50, everyone will have the opportunity to play and the chance to win big cash prizes.

Running until April 12, SCOOP will have two events every day, and each event will consist of three individual tournaments based on different stakes levels: one for low-stakes players, one for medium-stakes players, and one for the high-stakes players. Every tournament has its own guarantee, so even low-stakes players could win big.

Otis, Change100, F-Train and Shamus will be covering the events over on the newly redesigned PokerStars blog along with a few other bloggers

Big congrats to Dr Pauly. It appears that Project Z is now titled so look for his upcoming book release LOST Vegas

And be sure to check out the great music coverage over on Coventry. I did a recap of The Dead's triple crown of shows performed 03/30/09 and Strawberry Shortcake (a ginger) has a post up on Suwannee Music Fest 2009. The Joker being a prankster and all had a great April Fools joke up too . I wasn't one of the lucky ones to get picked for the free tickets to the NYC shows, but you can bet your ass I would have driven to the city for the day/evening. With the Dead and Phish touring this summer and all the summer festivals: Rothbury, Mountain Jam Bonnaroo we will have some kick ass coverage coming your way.

I'm only working 4.5 hours of my normal 9 hour day today and will be signing off at 2pm to play some poker. If I bust out early I can always make a run down to the club to play the Thursday nite tourney I normally can never make. Good luck to all in the SCOOP's!

One Man Gathers... What another man spills.

2009-03-27T16:09:00.011-04:00

The other day I logged into my Bugsy's Club account and noticed the balance I had left of about $210 after winning $225 in a tourney on Easter Sunday 2007 was gone. When I checked my account activity it had been transferred to Bugsy's for an inactive account. I found that odd as I had received no email notification from them advising that a transfer had taken place. I will admit I rarely played on the site. Only a few tourneys since I had cashed back in 2007. I fired off a tactful email that asked where did my money go? Within 24 hours it was back in my account and I didn't have to fire off the threatening email that i would trash them publicly on my blog.

A few hours after receiving said funds an email from a forum notified me that Bugsy's was closing its doors. I figured my newly returned money was now gone for good. But when I logged into Bugsy's they had a nice post that explained the UIGEA had made it difficult to do business for players wanting to remove funds and deposit. I'm not sure why they didn't seek a merger with the growing Cake or Merge networks but all was not lost for my funds. Bugsy's Club had worked it out with Pokerstars that funds would be transferred to a players Pokerstars account. Major Woot Woot Woot for IG!!.. Within 24 hours of receiving the email from Pokerstars to enter my Bugsy's info the money was in my Pokerstars account.

It does appear that PokerSchoolOnline and PokerPages will remain in business. I'm sure most of us who play poker have accessed the PokerPages data base for player results at one time or another. Lately, I find myself utilizing the PokerDB or OPR more often then not, or the Hendon Mob database over on Full Tilt. PSO utilized the same software as Bugsy's Club which was the money site.

If you followed any of my twitter updates, you will know that Snake5970's horse he's a part owner of, won her debut race at Gulfstream Park on Sunday, going off at 20:1 odds from a morning line of 12:1. A $2 win bet paid $44 and change. I know my friend Action Hank is happy as he had her twice in the second daily double which paid a sweet $400 plus. Snake5970 was the only owner present on race day. At the last minute I didn't put any money down. The Italian in me didn't want to put the whammy curse on her. Hooked on Hope came out of the race fine and is shipping north to Aqueduct I believe where she will run against some NY breds on the grass hopefully we'll see her run this summer at Saratoga too.

Today I took the day off to once again try to attempt to score PHiSH tickets this time for my home venue of SPAC. I'm not sure most 48 year old women still do this but music is and always has been a big part of my life. SPAC is a Live Nation venue. Many of my phish phan phfriends had been shut out of Ticket Bastard for the Gorge and Red Rocks etc. California Rob and wife Toni both tried online and by phone and were able to score two out of the three passes they need for each night. I assume the third is for their daughter Lauren, now almost 6 (edited from 5 per her daddy) Ms Lauren accompanied us to the Coventry simulcast in 2004 with earplugs. The SPAC box office, a mere 10-15 minute drive away is closed till May 10th, so I couldn't get tickets by going right to the venue. I opened up one browser kept hitting refresh, wound up in the waiting room and....... waited. I decided a few moments later to open up another browser and literally I was taken right to the order form. My hands were shaking as I typed in my info and by 1:04 PM EST a mere 4 minutes after they went on sale I had a nice $250 charge on my credit card. Today pigs really do fly. As I said to Dr Pauly via email, I'll gladly take a months worth of river beats on PokerStars to watch a middle-aged man in a dress suck on a vacuum hose. I've seen TAB, I've seen Trey & Mike, I've seen Mike Gordon's band but I've never seen all four members of PHiSH together live. This will be my first PHiSH show.

Shortly after Pigs took to the air, I saw a twitter announcement from the good old Grateful Dead calling out for NYC fans. A sweepstakes entry for three surprise shows before they kick off their official tour. They are playing three shows on March 30th in NYC closed to the public. My entry is in with BFF Kim as my guest. I'll know by tomorrow if I earned a pair of tickets to one of the shows.

Now that its Spring and I'll soon be on work-free Fridays I plan to get a little more active. Tweeting with one of the Wicked Chops entities who is also a runner has me reminiscing about my days scampering up and down mountain sides and thru the woods. And I did once mention I would do another marathon sometime on or after my 50th birthday which is 18.5 months away. I've served as race director for more marathons then I've run. If only my knees and hamstring can take it. My Orca wetsuit hangs unused in my closet and is probably all dried out and my Specialized racing road bike suffers the same fate. I'm not even sure I would be confident/comfortable riding clip less pedals again. (edited from petals.... you can tell i spend more time gardening then riding these days)

And what is this crazy rule that the State of New Jersey wanted to ban Brazilian waxes? Obviously some man came up with that one. If I want to have hot wax applied to my nether regions by an Asian woman I barely know and then have it ripped off with muslin while I pull in the other direction its my right!! And yes, I've paid for the privilege.

Too Busy to blog but you can follow me on twitter

2009-03-19T19:25:00.003-04:00

Ive been anti-Face book and My Space but I jumped on the twitter bandwagon. Its perfect for someone who is always doing 3000 things at once.

Go check out my review of Jam Band Max Creek over on Coventry. And of course check out the awesome coverage of PHish's three night run at the mothership in Hampton, Virginia. I just took next Friday off to attempt to get tickets for PHiSH at my home venue of SPAC (Saratoga Performing Arts Center)for their August show date.

I completed an NCAA bracket for Dr Pauly's pub league. I don't know much about college hoop. I do get into the hoopla during March madness. So far I'm 7/8 in todays early games only missing Butler who i picked over LSU. Those 8-9 seed match-ups are tough. I did pick Maryland over overrated California. I listened to some upset videos by college coaches and a couple of them actually picked that one. Dr Pauly has been live blogging today's action over on Tao of Poker.

Just got an email from Snake5970 that his horse Hooked on Hope will finally be making her debut run Sunday in the 3rd at Gulfstream in a Maiden special weights race. Haven't talked to him yet but I'm sure hes going to be flying down to watch her run.

I will be playing an all ladies poker tourney Saturday afternoon. I will probably twitter expletives, chip counts and my bust out. So follow along Saturday afternoon sometime after 1 PM EST. Whats really cool about twitter is a lot of the pros jumped on the bandwagon and twittered updates from Bay101. Annie Duke even was posting updates faster then the WPT update team. Obviously twitter is the next wave of providing action from the tourney floor.

My work computer has been bogging down. Tomorrow I have to head into the office with it and swap it for a new PC. Its an older model and we are all due to be upgraded. When I called the help desk today to mention the noise it was making and that things were freezing he put in a ticket for me and I will get a new one sooner then later.

I've been working 5 days a week plus some overtime. The extra money is nice but I'm tired. Soon summer will be here and I will be back to 4 day weeks. I once again have every Friday off in the months of July and August so far.

Rock of Love Bus - Cat Fight

2009-03-09T16:29:00.003-04:00

Found this clip while amusing myself on my bed rest day off. (in reality I'm really sitting in a chair at my computer in my office, as my bedroom is normally a tech- free zone). I missed last nights episode opting instead for Celebrity Apprentice and following in on LJ's progress over on Pokerstars (go congratulate her).

The clip features the remaining members of the blondetourage vs the brunettes in a food throwing, foul mouthed clip. Just another day in the life for rocker Bret Michaels. Really, dude you cant be serious about making any one of these woman step-mother to your girls or your life companion.

I give kudos to Taya (penthouse playmate), or Mindy for holding back and only finger waving. I might have just aimed a few darts in the direction of the silicon laden blonde Ashley or was it Farrah who is equally as silicon laden. And Brittanya, (obviously a stripper name) with the front side tramp stamps is scary looking. Farrah was given the walk of shame off the tour bus, leaving Ashley the only blonde remaining

VH1 TV Shows | Music Videos | Celebrity Photos | News & Gossip

Watching these women is like watching a NASCAR race on a super-speedway track and waiting for the big crash to come. You know its going to happen.

Whats Been A Going On

2009-03-08T18:36:00.007-04:00

Friday, I had originally scheduled the day off and was planning to head to Turning Stone for the $350 buy-in that is part of the March Madness Series at TROCK. I had plans to catch up with this girl and this guy, but LJ emailed me to tell me they were going to pass on TROCK as there was a family function on Lucko's side of the dynamic duo. Then overtime at work fell into my lap and I cancelled my day off and worked a long Friday and also Saturday morning.

I had cabin fever and live poker jones so I headed out to Shane's new digs Friday night. I hadn't played live since New Year's Eve. Not sure if there were 63 or 72 runners but I made it down to the final three tables busting somewhere between 23-26th or so with 10 paying. I could get nothing go on, I played neither good nor bad. I made the right decisions, stayed out of trouble got away from some hands I knew I was beat on and realized I was really tired too boot. My first table featured me and "Soul-patch" Mike to my immediate right after the donkey sitting between us donked out. I would say we were the two of the three best players at the table, the other being Pops, Shane's dad. The table was weak passive, with lots of limping which doesn't help me. I need the young aggro guys who build the pots and three bet. Shane's game tends to draw an older crowd. I'm bumping up against the half century mark and am on the young side. Some of these players may have played for years but a lot of folks aren't students of the game. I would characterize them as: recreational, out to have a good time, and I have no idea what pot odds are, or how to size my bet, players. The young aggro guys that like to mix it up and know what a three-bet is tend to stay on this side of the river and play Albany.

I bit the bullet and signed up for twitter. Actually more fascinating then a blog. I know that Kat is knitting and reading today and Otis was working and cleaning. Actually Otis has been really busy blogging today over on the PokerStars blog about the NBC heads-up Championship. Kat, did you ever read/finish The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo?

I was reading Shane Schleger's blog and a commenter called Shane a hippie for some time Shane spent in Burlington, VT. Shane commented back that only made him half a hippie. I spent two years in Burlington at UVM, before moving on to CU Boulder. I considered applying to Law/Business School at Cal-Berkeley so I guess that makes me a full on card carrying Hippie. I even broke out the Birkies (with socks) when the weather hit above 38 degrees the other day. Anyway, back to Shane he is one of the bloggers whom i most enjoy reading, just wish he wrote more often.

24 is kicking ass this season. Top Chef finished up with Hosea winning over Stefan and Carla. I watched the first episode of Celebrity apprentice. Annie Duke was dead on but her bossy way is as annoying as hell. Snake who has seen her in action at the tables said, "Now the whole world will get to see what a bitch she is". In my opinion, Joan Rivers, should be able to win this thing. My god, she sells jewelry on HSN or QVC for goodness sakes. I thought Monster Garage's Jesse James (married to Sandra Bullock) and Tom Green represented the men well. Jesse is my pick for the male to go the furthest. Brande Roderick showed shes more then just a playmate. Natalie Gulbis had a blonde moment. I think of her as golf's Anna Kornikova. Dennis Rodman, should have gone before the DiceMan but maybe the fact that Andrew kept calling Mr Trump, "Donny" didnt help his case.

Coventry has kick-ass PHISH reunion coverage thanks to Dr Pauly, Change100 and the Joker. I start my concert season next weekend with the MaxCreek show at Troy Revolution Hall. Pauly's Phish tweets inspired me to get signed up so I can report from the floor of the Times Union Center. I actually have no idea where my seats are for The Dead, as I haven't received them yet, but mail-order was successful.

Layne Flack Busted

2009-03-07T13:53:00.006-05:00

According to PokerNews, Layne was busted on his way home from the bracket drawing party for the NBC Heads-Up Championship Thursday night held at Pure nightclub and did not show up for his scheduled first round match. He was charged with driving 21 mph over the speed limit, driving under the influence and failing to yield to an emergency vehicle.

Sometimes good things happening in addicts lives set off the chain reaction for a relapse. You could almost see it play out before our eyes. Layne gives interview about how he's clean and got his act together with the help/intervention of fellow poker players, including Daniel Negreanu who supposedly paid for Layne's rehab. Layne wins bracelet during 2008 WSOP, Layne shows up during the WSOP Horse final table and makes an ass of himself, earning the scorn of Erick Lindgren. This week, Layne shows up acting drunk and stupid in a video PokerlistingsTV captures and Wicked Chops Poker dedicates a post to:

Fun with Flack from PokerListings TV

Message to Layne: Forget about being a prospective suitor on VH1's Megan wants A Millionaire. Instead get in line for Dr Drew Pinsky's Celebrity Rehab.

Layne issued this statement:

"I attended the Draw Party at Pure on (Thursday) night and then met with my brother, who had flown into Vegas for Heads Up. I was under the impression that I was to play in the last bracket the next evening at around 8 pm. I was pulled over for speeding and refused a breathalyzer test as I have been instructed to do. I have no idea why I was written a ticket for failing to yield to an emergency vehicle. There were no emergency vehicles around, besides the police car. A test, given by the Las Vegas PD, later revealed that I had a blood alcohol content of zero. I also took a blood test, as I have nothing to hide. I was held for the mandatory 6 hours and released. I always go out of my way to not drink and drive. I regret that I was not able to play in NBC Heads Up and hope to be invited next year to play in this prestigious event.”

To steal part of a line from one of my favorite movies, Animal House:

Drunk and Stupid is no way to go thru life, Son!!!!

The Music Gods are listening... Poker Gods not so much

2009-02-22T16:23:00.007-05:00

Nope, didn't score any additional Dead tickets or Phish tickets to anything.

But part of my music wish list has been satisfied: KBM for Kreutzmann, Burbridge and Murawski are now booked for Mountain Jam. That now puts two members of the current Dead line-up on the mountain (Billy K and Warren Haynes) and one member of Max Creek on the mountain (Scott Murawski). I'm crossing my fingers that Max Creek will be added to this years festivities.

Disappointed I'm going to miss Eh-Vegas but I and BFF Kim will be attending a Max Creek show here at Troy's Revolution Hall in two short weeks. One month later its the Dead, a month after that Springsteen and a few weeks after that Mountain Jam. Dave Matthews just announced a couple shows at SPAC (Phish did not) in June.

Kim looked into condo rental for Mountain Jam, but supposedly already sold out and taking deposits for 2010. I suggested renting an RV with nephew Zack and Sierra. I cant rage for 72 hours with no sleep and enjoy the music, especially when its rained every year. Sleeping on what amounts to Hunter Mountains version of the Lhotse Face loses its charm when there are no Sherpa's to do the hauling. I could sleep in my SUV away from the mayhem. Seriously considering getting VIP tickets so I can take in the music from a nice covered perch and actually really write about the whole weekend.

No one wants to read bad beat stories but the past week of poker(beginning with last Monday) has been a cluster fuck and I've blown thru a good $150 or so on pokerstars. This was after finishing 2nd in one of those $2.20 90 person sngs (I had a first and second in my first two attempts at them) last Sunday night. . I have made deep runs in $8.80/$5.50 90 person sngs and the $22 deep stack, only to get bamboozled at the end just short of the money. Maybe Ive played the AA hands wrong by just not shoving all in but I'm trying to extract value from my hands and at the lower limits I constantly get run down by someone chasing their flush, gutshot etc without the odds to do so. Example, I flopped to pair with 57os on board of A57. bet the pot and some donk with Ace high only calls me all the way down to the river where they are rewarded with a better two pair. I know its tricky playing those kinds of hands. But its redonkulous to call off your stack with just top pair. Poker is not fun when you are card dead and get your big hands cracked when Pokerstars RNG throws you a bone. I looked over one SNG I played and I think i only hit the 5 card flop 5 times over the whole tourney till i busted out. I was catching no pieces of anything.

Today started a new week and I did manage to win a $5.50 DoN which is my first cash since last Sunday in anything.

I made an awesome marinated Flank steak, roasted yukon gold potatoes and marinated asparagus for dinner last Sunday during the Daytona 500 which fed me for a few days. I was disappointed at the rain delay/cancellation. Next time start the race like at 11 AM or noon. The West coast is used to getting up early for football!!

I Am Yoda?

2009-02-16T23:12:00.002-05:00

I found this on Gadzooks64 blog. What kind of a Sci-fi character are you. Always thought i was a little more Trinity from the Matrix. Whats funny is when i first got sober and was embracing the concept of a higher power, i thought he looked like Yoda.

A venerated sage with vast power and knowledge, you gently guide forces around you while serving as a champion of the light.

Judge me by my size, do you? And well you should not - for my ally is the Force. And a powerful ally it is. Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us, and binds us. Luminescent beings are we, not this crude matter! You must feel the Force around you, everywhere.

Yoda is a is a character in the Star Wars universe. (part of the blurb, i assume everyone knows that)

PokerStars SCOOP

2009-02-16T20:36:00.004-05:00

It's no secret that my preferred site to play online is Pokerstars. I haven't played on Full Tilt since October and I don't see myself redepositing anytime soon there. I do have a small bankroll on Bodog which i use for the Bodonkey and for playing the ponies, and a bit on Poker.com and Bugsys Club but i rarely if ever play those two sites.

Fresh off their 25th billion hand promotion, PokerStars announced its first ever SCOOP- The Spring Cup of Online Poker. This is not replacing the WCOOP at all which is still their penultimate series.

The reason PokerStars in my opinion reigns supreme is they have a price point for everyone in each of the events scheduled. There is something for everyone low limit grinder to medium to high. I kind of fall somewhere between low and medium, so I'm as happy as a clam.

The schedule subject to a few tweaks can be found over on 2+2 and satellites begin this week.

Click here for the link to the thread/schedule.

And as an aside, Snake5970 chopped the Thursday 11 AM tourney at Foxwoods for a cool 2300+ with none other then his brother Silo. They started at the same table and both were card dead, got split up and met back up at the second to final table. Their friend/coworker Doggan freerolled a slot tourney and won it for $1k plus he and his wife had about another 4-5k in slot winnings. Between the 4 of them they brought back almost 10k to help stimulate the Upstate NY economy.

I'm thinking of heading to Turning Stone for the $350 buy-in in a few weeks on Friday March 6th to be exact.

The WSOP-E coverage last nite (4 hours of great poker) featured some really good play and hands. Scott Montgomery took an ugly beat and handled it with class. His composure really impresses me. Brandon Adams and Peter Neff both wound up getting some bad breaks and both had that shell shocked deer in headlights oh what could have been look on their faces. I felt bad for them. And of course Negreanu impresses with me with his hand reading/people reading skills. Even though I know the outcome, I enjoy watching the interactions and hands visually.

Time for 24 and to pay attention in the 90 man $5.50 SNG Im in since its down to three tables. I finished 2nd in a $2.20 90 man yesterday after playing some really good poker early in other tourneys, only to blow chip stacks with I cant believe that moron just hit that flush again itis. Curiousity is expensive!!!

Fawking donkey just called my 4x bb raise with q9os and cracked my aces. once again a deep run only to get bamboozled.

Blogiversary (almost 4 years)

2009-02-10T20:33:00.003-05:00

Wow I just looked at my archives and have been doing this for almost 4 years now. February 20th 2005 was my first post. I only posted 10 times during that year and had no idea what blogger tourneys even were. I belonged to a lot of poker forums and posted frequently on the message boards of those forums and played alot of poker on sites like Poker Host, Titan, CD Poker, Royal Vegas, Bet365, Interpoker etc. I was a freeroll junkie and built a small investment up to almost 4k spread out over a ton of sites. I still have money held hostage on Microgaming sites that I won and cant get off because of UIGEA. I also lost about $150 of money on JetSet when they went belly up. Fortunately I had never deposited on JetSet and it was all freeroll winnings from forum events I had played and then used some of those winnings to play the small dollar buy-ins. I used to love the JetSet Headhunter tourneys.

Anyway, I've noticed like most of us poker content is fewer and far between in my posts. I know for a fact I am not glued to my computer 7 days a week like I used to be back in 2005/2006. I still play alot of poker but I usually now take 2-3 and sometimes 4 days a week off from playing. I haven't played live since New Year's Eve but should be back in the live swing in a bit. Ive had deep runs in a bunch of the Pokerstars $11 buy-ins but no big scores. Typical situation I flip with QQ and get called by a bigger stacks AK and they pair their overcard and I go out 40th or so instead of vaulting up to being a top ten stack and final table bound. One of these days I will win my flips late stage and take one of these bad buys down. It doesn't make a difference if I win $18.93 for 44th place or $33.46 for finishing in 18th place by fold fold folding and playing like a nit. Id rather bust out or be in position to finish in the top three where all the money lies.

The feral cat we've been feeding, will come over to me if hes out of his box when I come over to bring it water and food. I have been able to scratch its head and pet him. And he purrs and rubs against me. But he can still be very skittish. The other day it got sick on frozen milk it had been eating and threw up when i was there (it threw up the milk crystals it must have been licking) . the poor little thing fell over on his side and I thought he was having a seizure or was dying on me but he righted himself and came back over and wanted the water I had brought him. I dumped all the milk. The elderly owner of the porch where he resides leaves him milk as she has nothing else to give him and thinks its a good thing. She was even pouring milk into the water and I'd find a frozen concoction of milk water which sent me over the edge. I'd call up Joan and say "Joan, I'm gonna kill Jean shes gonna kill the cat with the milk. Jean, came out today when i was working with the cat and I told her she doesnt have to leave him anything, Joan and I and our mail lady are feeding him kibble and fresh water. He is not the prettiest of cats. Hes almost cross eyed, hes got a really round head and a lumpy body and kind of walks funny. Hes the cat version of either a puff-a-lump or an oompa loompa from Willie Wonka. But mail girl will take him if I can get it more socialized. So far Im the only one who has been able to pet it. Just call me the cat whisperer. (I also can do great things with plants)

And Happy Birthday to Snake5970. It's his 46th and he headed to Foxwoods with his brother today for a couple of nights, as a former co-worker of his and current co-worker of Rich (his brother) had some comped nites. We went to Carrabbas last Friday nite for the football bet I won. I gave him a cool card that had a poker theme I found at Target (a green felt cover with a spade royal flush on the front) and a Bruce Springsteen Greatest Hit CD so he can get ready for the show. He only has like 6 CD's total in his collection and is definitely not a music person like moi.

Carrabba's was excellent. I'm a fan of the family style portions at Buca de Beppo but Carrabba's was really really good. We ordered the Bruschetta as an appetizer which we didn't need and that was probably the weakest part of the meal and it was good. I wound up ordering the Steak Marsala with garlic mashed and Caesar salad with the anchovies. Ray wound up getting three appetizers for his dinner. The steamed mussels, the fried calamari and the appetizer sized shrimp scampi. When all the food came out we started cracking up because our table was covered with platters. We pretty much split everything. then for dessert we ordered the sampler of 6 of their desserts which comes served in little rectangular shot glasses: there was a cannoli mousse, a tiramisu, a Kahlua espresso mousse, a zabaglione and a strawberry lemon mousse cake and another one i cant remember. By the time dessert came Snake was only able to have a few spoonfuls and i don't think he tasted them all. i laughed at him and said "remember the saying your eyes are bigger then your tummy?"

We had a marathon TV movie watching session planned for after dinner. First we watched the new reality series Jockey's on Animal Planet. Snake is a major horse racing guy and he wanted to check it out. One of the horse's he has a % of should be making its debut in the next few weeks probably at Gulfstream in Florida, then we watched the 4th episode of the 1st season of SNL featuring Candace Bergen as the host.. (we had watched the first three episodes back in January). Esther Phillips was the musical guest and she had a weird style to her singing. There was one skit where Bergen is playing a journalist over in the Middle East and refers to John Belushi who is playing some sort of Arab diplomat as a raghead which kind of shocked me but then I remembered this was 1975 and not the PC era we now live in. And of course the weekend update featuring Chevy Chase had lots of clips referring to President Gerald Ford as a klutz. Its kind of cool going back and watching the old SNL's and there's only about 33 more years to go!!

Then it was a choice between Zack & Miri make a Porno or Pineapple Express. Since our 420 friendly poker playing Olympian was making headlines we opted for Pineapple Express. Anyone who has ever ripped bong hits will get a laugh out of this movie. And Snake and i both agreed that Michael Phelps was no stranger to using a bong. I know i graduated to a bong from a joint and pipe when I used to partake (our bong in college was called Beast after one of my college friends stated man that is a Beast of Burden after the Stones song). As i said to Snake, who cares that he was smoking weed, I'd smoke some too if i spent every day of my life from the age of 7 swimming mindless laps & staring at the bottom of or lane line in a pool. Swimming may be one of the greatest exercises but its boring (Ive only swum a minuscule smidgen of the mileage Phelps has and I can attest swimming is boring but hypoxia can be kind of cool). Heck he's a young man who has to make his own choices and they may not always be the wisest or smartest choices as viewed by mainstream America but hes gotta walk his own path and find his own way. He cant have a coach or mom or US swimming dictating his every waking moment. Oh and btw lest we forget, Phelps isn't the first Olympic Gold Medal winning swimmer caught smoking pot. Anyone remember Gary Hall Jr who just retired after failing to qualify for Beijing? He was suspended by Fina for Marijuana use back in 1988 in between his 1986 and 2000 Olympic appearances.

BIG BOSS MAN aka Bruce tickets

2009-02-02T19:21:00.005-05:00

Sometime last week I was hit with a wave of nostalgia. I had just retired for the evening with the latest issue of Rolling Stone in hand. The boss, aka Bruce Springsteen was on the cover looking pretty hot for a soon to be 60 year old (must be the soul patch). I of course knew he was to play the Superbowl and intended to watch his show. Hell its reunion time with Phish, the Dead, Fleetwood Mac, and the Boss all heading out on the road this spring. In the back of mind I thought about actually acquiring tickets to see him when they went on sale

I may identify myself as a dead head and I love the jam band scene but I also have a vein of Bruce running thru my bones. I can probably sing every lyric to Blinded by the Light, Rosalita, Thunder Road etc. When I attended the University of Vermont from fall 1978 to the Spring of 1980, I was actually tossed out of Rasputin's (a favorite Burlington watering hole at the time aka Pukins) with my sorority little sister (who worked there btw) for dueting Born to Run at the top of our lungs at closing hour. (Must of been the line.. tramps like us........) I have only seen him once in Denver, at McNichols arena and i believe it was the fall of 1980. Myself and a bunch of girls i was living with as boarders in a sorority that wasn't my own, hopped the bus to Denver and saw the show. By far I can say it was the best show I ever saw until I saw U2's Elevation tour. Did I mention we missed the last bus back to Boulder and there we were stranded until some dudes in a VW bug picked us up and drove us the 30 miles to Boulder. that put 7 of us in a VW bug. 3 in front seat and 3 seated in back with one person laying across the laps of the other three.

I was doing about 4 things at once yesterday during the superbowl: quietly watching the progress of some of the big names in the Sunday Pokerstars majors, trying to watch the superbowl, as well as Season 7 of the WPT now on MSG here in Albany and ESPN coverage of the WSOP-Europe as well as jumping up every 5 minutes to a text message from Snake5970 about some bonehead player incurring a penalty mostly ranting at the Cardinals.

Then Bruce came on and like a preacher at a Church revival he had the entire stadium and those of us watching at home on our feet and dancing to the scripture of the E Street Band. That was one joyful noise;

At 8:12 PM I received a text from Snake: BRUCE!!!!!

i texted him back with: What a showman, I've only seen him once

then this text from me... He's playing Albany........(hint hint hint, read my mind Snake)

We exchanged a few more texts and by this time I'm saying to myself we should have just watched the game together because i was feeling like a Mexican jumping bean, running from computer to wherever i had last placed the cell phone then back to the TV etc.

that sent Snake5970 to the the Times Union Center calendar of events and shortly later he called me.

I basically said this to Snake: "Get me a ticket, they go on sale tomorrow at 10Am And I'm working. I was even willing to give him my ticketmaster log in info with info all loaded to buy tickets but he had established one when he got tickets for the now cancelled Fleetwood Mac, Albany show.

Today I was greeted by this good news via email, a RAY of sunshine in the bleak news of no PHISH tickets and only one set of Grateful Dead tickets. Snake had scored us floor spots (no seats ) for the TU center. That of course immediately sent me over to LJ's blog because she follows Bruce much like I followed the Dead. She was the first person I thought of after my ticket acquisition and sure enough the greatest boyfriend (aka Lucko) scored his gal tickets when she had failed or should I say TicketBastard failed her.

And today, I also got an email that there are still a few higher priced tickets available thru Grateful Dead ticket sales for some select dates. I'm pondering picking up a few tickets for NJ now.

I am now also totally hooked on Man vs Food on Travel Channel and caught a marathon showing last week. Snake5970 turned me on to the show and then confessed he took notes on places he wants to go to some time in the future. I only laughed because I've done the same thing. I'm a big fan of tripleD on food network (that's Diner's Drive-In's and Dives) as well as the Paradises on Travel channel. I also visit Roadfood.com daily for their restaurant of the day. did I mention I'm a big fan of food porn and food porn and just love food blogs with pictures. Apparently there are thousands of us out their with the same fetish. Retirement nirvana would be to take an RV on a tour of casinos and roadside eateries.

SHIP IT!!

2009-01-31T23:04:00.009-05:00

My day started with me trying to land PHISH tickets for Mansfield, Mass, now known as the Comcast Center, but I will always know it as Great Woods. Just like the Albany Times Union Center will always be the KNICK to me. I was looking to score as many tickets as I could. Had I only scored one ticket it was going to be shipped to Dr Pauly. Like Otis, I'm not a hardcore PHiSh pfan. I'm more of an old school Dead Head and Creeker (for Max Creek) and kind of got more into Dave Matthews Band then PHISH. I never saw Phish live but did see Saturday Coventry via simulcast with California Rob and Toni, his wife and baby Lauren when they came back east to visit family and friends. Originally Rob had thought about heading up to Coventry for the finale but opted not to. Rob had gone on to become a die-hard Phish fan after his move to California and the Grateful Dead scene fizzled with the death of Jerry Garcia.

After getting shut out by Ticket Bastard of all dead shows other then my mail ordered Albany tickets which were thru Grateful Dead ticket sales (the tried and true method for us hardcore dead heads). I was hopeful I would have better luck with Live Nation. Alas it was not to be, After being parked in the waiting room for three hours, I pulled up another browser only to find that Mansfield was sold-out. Yeah, the concert ticket version of being cold decked was my lot. As, I said to BFF Kim, I can see three days of great music at Mountain Jam V for the same price as paying a broker to see one Dead show at MSG, Worcester or Hartford. Plus Max Creek will be playing local in March at Revolution Hall in Troy, NY and I do love me my Creek. Come to think of it, I have a great idea for Scott if you happen to read this blog post that since one part of KBM is playing Mountain Jam V already (Oteil Burbridge of the Allman Brothers), Max Creek should also have a gig there!!!

Anyway this is a poker blog and you can read about music over on Coventry, so go check out Dr Pauly's post titled: Denied Phish Tickets.... Again (Sub Title: Live Nation Blows Camel Balls).

My first tourney of the day the 3:15 PM 10k guarantee $11 buy-in saw me going no where fast. I eventually decided to just open raise every hand with ATC just to see if i could eventually hit a flop to know avail. Prior to the second break I texted Snake who was deep in the early tourney with the same buy-in and structure that I was all in with ATC next hand as I was hungry and needed to go get dinner. True to my word, I shoved all into someone's preflop raise, with the all powerful T2c the first hand after the second break, got the call and busted out against AT.

I ran out for Chinese Food as I had decided to play the 6:15 PM $22 deep stacker and Snake5970 was deep in his tourney with a ton of chips and I wanted to watch him play. He managed a deep run finishing 43rd of 5364 in the 2 PM 30k guarantee. After the first break of my deep stack, in late position, I look down to KK in a multi way limped pot. I bumped it to $200 with blinds at 25/50 got two callers and one fold and ran into a set of threes (the original limper) who was the table chip leader. Busto

Now I wasn't the most focused player that i know I can be. And I was trying to make things happen and I was forcing things so I decided to give it one more go. Rather then play a DON I looked over the multi-table MTT listings and saw a couple of new things: an $8.80 deep stack 90 man SNG that starts with 3k chips and a $2.20 kind of deep stack 90 man SNG that starts with 2k in chips. Now since i had already blown $33 in buyins and given back a bit of my SNG grinding money I opted to drop down in buyin and play the $2.20 buy-in. And a few hours later I had taken it down. Cross another pokerstars to do for 2009 thing off my list. Win not just a SNG but a Multi-table SNG. Ive never won a 180 man, 90 man or even a 45 man on stars before. I know Ive final tabled them and cashed but I dont think I ever took one down. If I had I would have screen captured it. I actually dont play them all that much.

I guess I was inspired by cash game great and now he can claim live MTT ballah Steve "thorladen" Weinstein's Borgata Winter Poker Open win (after a few near misses of final tables at WPT events). Steve is the stepson (and I believe current or former bridge partner of). of a running friend of mine who I havent seen in a few years since he lives down in Kingston and I don't run competitively anymore. Steve if you read this say hello to Fred for me from Lori. And Congrats on your big score. From what I've read on pocket fives and other boards it was a well deserved win and couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. A few years ago Steve was one of the backers in the August TLB prop bet that involved a group of players taking on Gigabet. For an old profile of Steve click here.

DON's aka Pokerstars Double or Nothing SNG's

2009-01-30T16:31:00.006-05:00

I'm not going to be the first person to blog about the DON's or the last.

This isn't going to be a DON strategy article. If you are interested click here for a 2+2 thread.

Yes they can be frustrating when everyone tries to wait each other out, the blinds get high and there are still 10 people left. I was at one table where no one busted and we were 50 minutes in. I think i ram jammed first out on that one.

They are a slow way to build a bankroll. If you only play DON's you will lose your feel for how a large field MTT plays and you will not get any real heads-up or shorthanded experience as you do in a standard SNG since 5 spots pay and you only have to outwit, outplay and outlast 5 other nits.

In the standard non-turbo DON NLHE $5.40 buy-in you win $10 for a net profit of $4.60. If you win one and lose one you lose money.

Here is my way of improving my profit in the DON's:

I play the $2.20 satellite to the Sunday $100k guarantee at 3:30PM Est. If i win a seat I unregister which puts T$11 into my account. I then use the T$ to buy into a $5.40 SNG. If I win that I get $10 cash in my account. In effect i have now only used $2.20 my original satellite entry fee) to win $10 for a profit of $7.80 vs the $4.60 I win if i used $5.40 of cash. Plus i still have T$5.60 left. if I win another $5.40 SNG for $10 its really all profit. So in actuality I have only used $2.20 to win $17.80 ($20 for winning two $5.40 DON's). If i buy in the normal way. I spend $10.80 (2x$5.40) and only win $20 for a net profit of $9.20. I've almost doubled my ROI on the DON's using this method.

Yes it can be a grind much like the cash games but by playing the satellite you are keeping your Mtt skills sharp and by playing the Don's you can slowly grind a bankroll without the swings of cash game play.

Adopt A Rescue Pet Charity Tourney 1/24/2009

2009-01-24T08:36:00.003-05:00

DATE: January 24th 2009

TIME: 6:00 PM EST (18:00 hours)

WHERE: Full Tilt Poker listed under private tab

BUY-IN $5 and $5 ($5 to charity the other to the prize pool)

PASSWORD: savepets

Cyndy Violette is sponsoring the on-line tourney for a great cause, the no-kill animal shelter in Las Vegas Nevada. Here is your chance to Knock out a red pro!!

Scott Montgomery's WSOP Bust-out Hand

2009-01-19T09:33:00.005-05:00

Snake5970 had previously mentioned this hand to me not so much because of the river beat that Montgomery took but because of Dennis Phillips action after the river card came. So last night while flipping between the Steelers/Ravens game, America's Best Dance Crew and watching former GNR drummer Steve Adler show up to Sober House higher then a kite on smack (heroin), Snake rang me up and told me to flip to ESPN as the hand was coming up again soon enough.

I can't remember seeing anyone mention this. Here is a link to Short-Stacked Shamus recap of the hand where he mentions how graceful Montgomery was on exit. His recap of the hand while watching the ESPN broadcast starts on paragraph 5.

Anyhow, Phillips had mentioned he had mucked the 6. So if you look closely after Montgomery stands up to exit the table, Phillips gets up and rifles thru the muck to pull out his cards to prove he really had mucked the 6 as if some kind of validation was needed. As I said to Snake, the lipstick cameras would have validated his action in case no one believed him. But what inquiring minds want to know is, was Phillip's talked to after doing that by the floor?. It is clearly against tournament rules to go rifling thru the muck. As Snake mentioned that would give you an advantage as to what cards players are ditching and everyone would be doing it. There is a short aerial of someone in a white shirt but no suit jacket talking to Phillips away from the table but its unclear if it was one of Phillips entourage or the floor.

I looked over the PokerNews reporting by F-Train and Change100 and saw nothing mentioned in their live blogging details. F-train usually doesn't miss a beat so I'm wondering if he, the lovely Change100, or Pauly remember if anything was said to Phillips.

For all you American Idol fans out there my Coventry, co-contributer, Change100 will be covering Season 8 of AI over on her personal blog Pot Committed. So BFF Kim, bookmark Change's site to get your AI jones fixed. Not only is Change100 a damn good tournament reporter but as a former insider in the entertainment industry she has an excellent perspective as both a fan and some one who's worked in the industry.

Snake and I were discussing that as of yet there has been no WSOP schedule announced. Last year the actual schedule of events was announced in December (the dates had been announced in October). I don't recall even seeing the date range announced. I'm taking a guess that perhaps they are pushing back the WSOP to late July/August as it was in 2006 perhaps? It's obvious that the November 9 experiment was a winner for ESPN but that there needs to be less of a break between the final table being determined and the actual play down to our winner.

I Bit the Bullet

2009-01-18T10:08:00.005-05:00

After too many winblows issues with Outlook Express I migrated my web browser over to Firefox (which I had installed but didn't use favoring Internet Explorer) and my email client to Thunderbird. My email address remains the same. I was extremely pleased when all my emails and entire address book came over from OE.

I made a deep run in the Deepstack $11 Pokerstars tourney yesterday finishing 61st of 1238 and going out on an ugly Pokerstars beat. I 3-bet preflop with pocket JJ I was repopped and called as my opponents range was pretty wide and I figured him for good old AK. Sure enough he has AK, I flop a set but a turned Q gives him Broadway and I cant fill my boat. I worked for peanuts on that one. What sucked is I had more then double the average stack well into the money. Snake5970 checked in on my progress and typed "Geez, i know your well stacked but that is some pile of chips you have!" And a shout out to a local Pokerstars player Ripley1150 (something like that for the numbers) who told me in chat he or she reads my blog and was routing for me. Wish I had the stats of Beufford who is a Hudson Falls poker player (that's Snake and Silo's neck of the woods) who recently finished 2nd in that huge Sunday Million back in December for some sweet cheese and then followed it up with a solid showing in the Sunday warm-up about two weeks ago.

Waiting patiently to see if I will be rewarded with Dead tickets for the Times Union (formerly, the Knick and the Pepsi). The night before mail order began I couldn't sleep. I was the second one at the post office when it opened and the dude right behind me was doing the same thing for Hartford. We made sure we had our index cards, SASE's and correct mailing addresses with each other. I'm a little miffed at the prices of tickets in this economy and that may prevent me from doing more than a couple of shows.

A neighbor in the condo directly across from mine started leaving milk out for a feral cat. Cat's will drink milk but they cant live on milk alone and its a myth that they prefer milk, cat's are carnivores like us. Anyway, the cat took up residence without any shelter on her porch/deck. Her porch is covered by the upstairs condo deck. Another neighbor of mine (Bailey's kitty sitter, Joan; and I sit for her cat Blackie) constructed a cardboard box within a box shelter with some hay for it (I did the first solo box). Kitty has made it thru the bitter cold and took to shelter right away. The good news is I believe it may have been TNR'd (trapped, neutered, released) as a kitten. He/she is missing part of his left ear which usually is a signal to those who try to manage feral cats that the cat has already been captured and fixed . I figure the cat for about 9-10 months or so first noticing him late summer. The bad news is the neighbor leaving the milk out is in her eighties and has the early stages of Alzheimer's/dementia. After telling Joan it was okay for me to leave the first shelter she gave Joan the evil eye like what are you doing on my porch when Joan swapped out the newer better one (still not great but better then nothing). All she says when we tell her the cat won't leave because she feeds it and it needs shelter is "I leave it milk" because she has no short term memory and doesn't remember shit. My project when the weather improves is to move its shelter (hopefully a better one) and food source (Joan and I have been giving him real cat food) to the little wooded area behind my condo on a little hill out of harms way where he can do his thing. He doesn't run as far away from me as he used to but since hes never been socialized to humans he doesn't trust us. I've learned a bit doing some research on ferals, which is quite fascinating. But my message to pet owners who let their cats roam free. Spay and neuter your animals people. Be part of the solution to animal overpopulation and outdoor living cats (the shadow cats that you see everywhere) not a contributor to the problem. Practice TNR if you notice a cat taking up residence in your neighborhood who isnt someone's pet or a stray. There's lots to be learned from watching their behavior. Check out Alley Cat Allies for more info or Neighborhood Cats

Grateful Dead Mail Order begins tomorrow

2009-01-12T19:29:00.006-05:00

Head to Coventry for all the info as to ticket prices etc. I've posted a link to the Grateful Dead ticket sales mail order instructions. I know its been a long time for most of us kind people and we all are a little rusty.

Anyway else totally into the new season of 24? Jack Bauer is as badass as ever. Makes up for the missing monday night football games. Im going to be torn between 24 and Heroes.

Off to get my Bauer hour jones fixed. Two hours again tonite!!!

PLO8 MTT win on pokerstars

2009-01-08T03:46:00.004-05:00

Well I havent made my goal list but this was one of them for 2009. Win or final table a donkament on pokerstars. Goal accomplished on 01/08/09 at 3 in the morning.

Gank aka Wsop bracelet winner Brett Jungblut was on the rail of this little tourney railing some of his students (I assume they were his students). A few years back he was doing a Q&A and a forum friend of mine fielded him some questions that i asked and it helpd me tremendously with my O8 game. He got to see me take down my first semi large field MTT. I had previous omaha wins on smaller sites like Absolute, Titan and Jetset but never on pokerstars and never in a field over 100.

Now to bed i have to be up in about 4 hours.

Dead Tour -Spring 2009!!!

2009-01-01T11:30:00.005-05:00

I put the complete tour schedule up over on Coventry. Pre-sale for mail order should begin 1/13/09 with general ticket sales later in the month.

And yes...............the boyz are coming to Albany's Time Union Center!!!

Happy New Year

2008-12-31T10:11:00.003-05:00

My CPU is back up and running with a new power supply. I actually realized my laptop was pirating a signal off some weak network in the area and not thru my cable modem even though i plugged something into it. I have way to may cables, cords and plugs between digital phone and cable modems, printer, ipod, speakers, keyboard and mouse. For work i have a Verizon business phone line and roadrunner cable. I have a router for that although i am not wireless. I connect to work thru a VPN which is password protected so I couldn't hijack that signal for my laptop.

Snake is going to assist me on Friday after I finish my short 4 hour work day (the current plan) with getting the personal computer and laptop configured with my personal router that i have.

I normally am not a big New Year's Eve reveler. In the old days it was hitting up a MaxCreek show, followed by listening to the Dead on the radio for their typical New Year's eve gig they would be playing in San Francisco. BFF Kim and I had the idea of trying to hit up NYC for Government Mule but that would have meant her hubby would fly solo for New Year's eve as he isn't a JamBander like we gals are.

Instead I will be attending a poker party that should be last live tourney of the year (beginning at about 7:30 or 8PM), followed by the first live tourney of the year starting after the stroke of midnight. It's being catered!! I also plan to get some more live poker jones in by heading to my club for an early bird tourney at 2pm tomorrow.

I get to wear the football tiara until the fall of 2009. I won the bet between Snake and I. Our agreement for the final week was the person behind got to send their picks to the other last. I had a 3 game advantage going into week 17. He tried to pull a bluff on me by emailing me his picks first. I didn't look at them when I received them so I had no idea that he made picks to throw me off. When he got my picks he had only picked two games differently and hence there was no way he could win. So re-studied his picks and picked 9 games differently which was the only way he could win. It was over after the early games when I ran out 9 and 1 or 10 and 1. So he will be taking me to Carrabba's on a night still to be decided.

For Xmas I got the first two seasons of Heroes on DVD and Season 4 of LOST so I can catch up on the first two seasons I never saw of Heroes and I now have all seasons of lost which I will sit down to and watch start to finish sometime. I also got the first season of Saturday Night Live on DVD. I was 15 when SNL debuted and am looking forward to seeing the early years with Jane Curtin and Gilda Radner, John Belushi and Garrett Morris etc. Besides that I got 40 years of Rolling Stone (cover to cover) on DVD. Every issue of Rolling Stone from inception to like May 2007 even with the ads to read at my leisure. I'll get to read every Hunter S Thompson article ever written for RS. Over the last year I really got into reading Matt Taibbi's political coverage for Rolling Stone (warning warning warning: if you bend to the right side you will not appreciate/agree or like his political commentary).

I am currently reading: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Not only to the Scandi's breed some great poker players, they also gave us a brilliant author in Steig Larsson. It is totally unfortunate that he passed away after delivering this book and the manuscript for two others.

Snow again here in Upstate NY. I'm getting too old for this snow malarkey. Considering my dad owned a ski shop during my teenage-college years and I skied for like 30+ years its pretty pathetic to utter those words. I did that what city best fits you thingee. I was expecting Boulder or Seattle to come back as my top choices of where i should live, but I actually got Honolulu HI as my number one pick, followed by NYC (I was born in the Bronx!!)

Merry Christmas

2008-12-26T21:00:00.002-05:00

My CPU to my desktop personal computer is in the shop for a busted fan. May not have it for a few days. I do have my laptop hooked up (finally)and can connect to the internet thru may main modem. I'm not wireless yet as my work computer is wireless over a VPN and I have to figure out how to configure my personal laptop without interfering with the work computer.

The first thing I downloaded after checking email was pokerstars!!! Pretty pathetic right?

I hope Santa was good to everyone. I still have Xmas #2 with my sister & dad tomorrow afternoon/early evening.

Going into week 17 of my season long football bet with Snake5970, I have a three game lead. I told him it is the football version of being shortstacked!!! Its been close all season long but I think I held the advantage for 12-13 weeks over the course of the season.

Icestorm: Beauty in the inconvenience

2008-12-15T14:09:00.004-05:00

Here is a picture of a tree completely encapsulated in ice of about an inch thick. I didnt take this one but its a good example. When I drove by Shenendehowa High School on one of my many frequent trips back and forth to check on my house this weekend, the rows of trees looked beautiful and cast a completely silver glow. Most of the ice has melted or is melting as temperatures have warmed to the low 50's.

Water to my condo was turned back on at the main line about 8 AM. Many are still without power. time to toss the contents of my fridge and go grocery shopping. Kind of nice to start fresh with everything!!!

Natures Artwork

Icestorm- No longer a Semi refugee

2008-12-14T22:01:00.004-05:00

I just got gas and electric, my digital phone, cable and internet back after almost 60 hours without power. Still no water as we turned the main water line off to my condo which has 8 units (4 up/4 down) to avoid the pipes freezing and breaking.

At the lowest point this AM my condo was 30 degrees as it had dropped to 16F or so during the nite. When I came back tonite to feed Bailey and check out the situation it had risen to 34 with temperatures rising by the half hour. It is now 51 degrees at casa IG.

I have a fridge/freezer half full of food that needs to be discarded. Luckily I had done no holiday baking yet.

Cleanup begins.... luckily I only have a four day week this week and I wont have to go into the office to do it.

Ill write more when I can and I took pictures of the trees uprooted right out of the ground. One just missed my SUV.

Poker for the People

2008-12-07T09:01:00.006-05:00

You asked for it you'll get it. My aim is to please my readers and apparently real men don't care that Izzy is having sex with a dead ghost on Grey's Anatomy.

Last Sunday, I played really bad online poker. At one point, Snake called me as he was heading out of the woods to ask what I had going on and to get a Turning Stone recap and my statement was. "I'm playing really bad online poker" It was a chip spew and I just couldn't help myself. Fortunately it was mostly double or nothings and a few small buyin tourneys. But I think I cashed in one of like 4 DoN's and that was after I had won 4 in a row over 4 days.

But let's back up a bit. I played Dr Pauly's turkey shoot. After doubling thru Hoyazo: my QTos out of the BB vs his 88 with a ace and a ten on the flop and Hoyazo making an aggro quick all-in bet on the river which signaled he didn't want a call, we wound up coinflipping for the chip lead. Me JJ Hoy AK.. I hit a set, I think but a four flush or runner runner flush for Hoy left me with under 1k chips and I went out in 11th. For some reason I really wanted to win the Turkey shoot. Belated thanks to the lovely ladies: Change100 and Katitude for cheering me on at the end.

I used to be afraid of Hoy. Let's face it he is aggressive and has results to match and he is a thinking person's pokerplayer. He constantly studies and thinks about the game as all good/great players do. So, i would avoid tangling with him as I felt he could always outplay me especially if he had position on me. I've just never had the confidence in my online game that I do with my live game. I realized after discussing this with Snake that I really shouldn't treat the two games any differently. The only thing different about online play is I can't see you and I was putting two much importance on that.

Which brings me to the Bodonkey on Tuesday night. First appearance of Season II for IG. What can i say, I'm a slow starter. First hand I look down to pocket AA in the BB. Nate Avenson 3bets from EP... Woot. it folds around to me and I repop him with a three bet. Reraise back and all the chips in the middle with a classic AA vs KK on the first hand of the tourney situation. The rockets hold (this is Bodog not Full Tilt) and I surge to an early chip lead which I manage to build on and hold for most of the tourney. I did finish 4th turning T$11 into $39.60 but missed the extra T$ which are awarded for top three finishes.

Thursday nite I made a reappearance and I went out 11th when I raced with my nemesis Hoyazo again late in the tourney for either the chip lead or a top 3 stack and my IG (pocket 9's) got cracked by his AK when he spiked a K on the turn. Hoyazo did go on to win that night. What was more fun was catching up with two of my favorite bloggers Waffles for the second time in the week and MiamiDon. Since I never play on Full Tilt anymore and I have been playing more live I never see or chat directly with anyone. But MD and I had a good catch-up session on the girly chat. I also probably had Hoyazo and anyone else who takes notes erasing every note they ever had on me as to my ranges. I open raised with 86os and took a nice sized pot off of 23skidoo who stayed tied to his pocket 5's. 23skidoo probably felt there was not a card on board that would be in a hand IG would play that could have hit me. Don asked me if I had gotten all loose crazy over the past months and I said no not at all with a laugh.

The day after Thanksgiving (after one hour of early AM Black Friday Power shopping), I ventured up to Turning Stone aka TROCK with Action Hank and Mike and we were met up there by Bev (a horse racing handicapper for the Times Union) and her daughter. Deep stacks of 15k chips with a 1500 dealer add-on and 40 minute blinds for $242 buyin (you have to buy a $2 poker room card each day you play at TROCK) brought out 379 of Upstate NY and Canada's finest. Originally Turning Stone was only planning on 250 or so and they had to scramble to find dealers. I believe 400 was all they would have been able to handle. As it was I had a 45 minute wait to register and the tourney got off a little late.

At my first table I had a bunch of frequent 2+2 posters including an entertaining Canadian Pro from Ottawa whose real name is Frank, who would raise just about every hand and then when people finally started three betting him he would state: OMG this is so sick. He made the table fun even though he bordered on falling asleep to all out ADD. I think a first break bong hit may have calmed him done abit. I even offered to trade him my Canadian for USD as Im still walking around with about $30 of canadian paper money and loonies from my trip to Eh-Vegas in February. Our original dealer was an older dude who wasn't fond of the F-bomb and Frank almost incurred a penalty after F-bomb two which was said in casual conversation to yours truly when I mentioned Waterloo and Nenad Medic and he stated: Nenad Medic isn't part of the actual crew there I dont think and most of the dudes who say they are from there are losers. The young guns did concur that TIMEX is a balla though even though he is from Waterloo!! I did play a few hands really really well at my first table (I actually busted a young gun) and was complimented by a few of the young internet pros on them, and only made two small mistakes which werent for a lot of chips but were totally avoidable. Always good to get feedback like that.

I also had a blogger at my table, somehow the Bodonkey and Smokkee's name came up and a dude with a southern accent chimed in that he railed the table the night Rizen played but had to leave. I looked at him and said: I actually have met Smokkee and asked who he was. Turns out I had sometime blogger and Mookie winner JD Schellnut sitting right across from me. He was up for poker and some hunting from North Carolina. that loose aggro donkey (just joking :) smooth called 2+2er Rainetech's preflop raise with 74os or 75os. I three bet with QQ and JD called my raise after Rainetech folded. He wound up turning two pair on me and I lost the pot. I glared at him that it would not happen again next time we met up in a blogger tourney.

Anyway, I failed on my 2008 goal to cash in a live MTT with over 200 people for over 5k when I slowly oozed chips after my third table of the day. I finished 110th or so of the 379 with 40 paying. I was up early, then down then up then down down down all day. Never got anything going. Having AA utg twice early in a tourney is never a happy place. Hank had introduced me to another local: Ralph who I enjoyed chatting with after I actually got moved to his table. Ralph busted out a few hands before me. Also seated at this table was Canadian Pro Mark Karam, who apparently has had some great results on the EPT. He busted out before me and Ralph so I never actually really saw him play other then a few all in moves. A funny story from this table was about our local poker scene. Another Capital District local seated to Ralph's immediate left said he wanted to check out the local scene and how did he get in. I looked at him straight faced and said: "I or one of the club members has to sponsor you (this part is true) and we would take you there blindfolded and not take the blindfold off until you got there." The look on his face was priceless. I then winked at Ralph (who couldn't see the wink behind my prescription sunglasses) and said to the dude after a pause.... JOKING!!!! The old dude that busted me who had no chips when I got to the table and then became the chip leader at the table, was a mute with zippo personality who kept his head down and took forever to make a decision when it was his turn to act. I almost went TM (Tiffany Michele) on him and called the clock he annoyed me so much by doing absolutely nothing that should have annoyed me except taking too long to act.

I haven't been able to get down to the club lately, but hope to get back down once before Xmas or right after. I'm working Friday's now and have been since November 1st, rather then taking them off as I had been since June. I decided to try to carry 40 hours into next year so that will allow me to take almost every Friday off in 2009 after the first quarter is over and have two full weeks of vacation too. Amazing how much more time you have only working 4 days a week (36 hours for me in those 4 days)....So until then I wont be cracking AA with 9T of spades as I did last time at my first table. I turned trip tens (at first I put my opponent on AK or a small/mid pair with her preflop raise size at the blind level we were at. By the turn I knew she had a big overpair to the board). I got all my money in on a river with a possible flush on board but knew she didn't have the flush but she had to fear I did, (I had to laugh when my opponent stated: I forget shes an Internet player) and then on the same nite at table 2, I cracked this old grumpy ladies pocket KK's in the BB who screamed at me for calling her reraise. Heck she mentioned she was more of a cash game player then an mtt player (don't announce that to a table of skilled players lady) and she had just doubled up a short stack with a lame ass call of of the sb. I rightly pegged her as a defender who i could outplay and I was right. I then busted a luckbox calling station at the same table. When I got to the final table, one of the guys who had witnessed my 9T vs AA hand at my first table looked at this dude on my right and said " Watch out, if she hasn't tilted you yet she will!" I just smiled and said "I'm really really a sweetheart, all vicious beats have been on other women, they hate me you won't I promise!! I don't think I tilted the nice guy, I did bust him though!! Unfortunately it was Action Hanks birthday that day and I ultimately spewed my chips two him busting out third, Action Hank went out second and a young dude who was a newcomer who appeared to be a decent player took it down.

Truckin' - December 2008, Vol. 7, Issue 12

2008-12-05T19:05:00.006-05:00

Check out the latest edition of Truckin' and all the back issues too. I'll let the good doctor do the rest as only a great storyteller can!!!

*********************************************************************************
By Pauly
Hollyweird, CA

And we're back with your favorite literary blogzine. We have a special year-end issue with a couple of Christmas themed stories. I contributed two stories this issue; a piece about my neighborhood in L.A. and the other is a dramatic Christmas story about a dysfunctional family that might resemble your own.

Truckin' - November 2008, Vol. 7, Issue 12

1. The Last Christmas by Paul McGuire
I adore the way you look. But your mother disapproves. It's that black shoe polish you have on your lips. When I was your age, the only people who dressed like that were the whores who stood on corners down in the Mission.... More

2. I Remember Christmas by May B. Yesno
I looked down at my cup, lifted a hand to the waitress for another coffee and started looking around the joint, noting the yellow brown walls a glass could stick to, if you placed a glass on it, and listened to the Christmas music being piped in... More

3. American Half-Breed by David Peterson
It is bitter cold and everywhere around me is ice and dirty snow. At my side is one of my prized possessions, an American Standard Fender Precision Bass Guitar. I don't want to do what I'm about to do, but I've run out of options. I open the pawn shop door and feel a blast of heat and the smell of tobacco smoke and desperation... More

4. Of All The Bars In NYC by Betty Underground
You know when you see someone and maybe it is the job you do or the frequency you travel to the same places, but you sort of recognize them and for some reason you can't put them in the context of where you are right then... More

5. Corner of Hopelessness by Paul McGuire
I have this odd fear that I'm going to get shanked by a gangbanger with a spork or mugged by one of the homeless people who live behind the dumpster and feast on half-eaten Jumbo Jacks and pieces of raggedly yellow leaves that they pass off as lettuce... More

Thanks to everyone for their support with Truckin' in 2008. I especially want to thank the writers from this issue and every issue this year. Your bloodwork is an inspiration to us all.

Don't forget to tell your friends about your favorite Truckin' stories!

PokerStars World Blogger Championship

2008-12-05T18:38:00.002-05:00

It's back for another round and doing things a bit differently this year.

And while we are at it, Happy Birthday to Otis, of the PokerStars Blog, Up For Poker Blog and Rapid Eye Reality.

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

The WBCOOP is an online Poker tournament open to all Bloggers.

Registration code: 626153

And if you read the fine print as to prizes it appears Pokerstars will be offering a spring version of its very successful WCOOP the SCOOP.