Prologue:
Once again IG is living the life of Riley and has Friday off. I really can get into this working 4 days a week gig. The big news for me is that in about two months give or take I will no longer be driving the Northway in rush hour traffic. I will be working from home!! As soon as the separate phone line and cable line can be run into my house and my other equipment arrives I will be a Work-at-home Customer Service Rep. So Im not being Bangalored yet. I just read somewhere that Bangalore, India is thinking of changing its name to Bengaluru because of the negative connations the city has as a leader in outsourcing.
I take myself out to a late lunch at Moes (fish tacos) and then I head on up the Northway. My musical selection for the evening is a Dick's Picks with a great St Stephen and the Eleven Jam. Now I never heard the Eleven in concert with original Dead members until Phil relaunched it at an Other Ones show. When I saw the Dead in the 80's and early 90's Jerry was too sedated to play the chord changes that go into this great song which is in the tradition of a childs counting rhyme. It's a quirky piece with 11 beats to the bar. BFF Kim is a music teacher and says this is tough to pull off sucessfully. We've listened to many a great jam together.
Week #8 would turn into quite the week not so much because of any interesting hands I was dealt or that unfolded for me, but because of some of the player interactions that were observed and brought to my attention. We also have our biggest field with 28 taking to the felt.
Joyce and Juddy in particular are having a hard time dealing with a couple of the guys swearing. Zoe mentioned it to me the night before how two of the guys in particular are constantly using the fbomb and just being vulgar around her mom. Now I'm sure its a generational thing but I tend to me immune to it and frankly it doesnt bother me. I have also not been at the tables when the swearing has been going on.
Now, one of the guys who is named as a swearer, I have some insight on based on some info Snake shared with me. He's the dude who knocked me out in 4th place two weeks ago on my birthday when my QJ got nailed by his 89 two pairing. That was my first run-in with DMoney but I will remember his words: "Okay, I cant wait all night lets Gamble." So this week, hes at my table and I see a pattern emerging that only becomes more blatantly obvious as the night goes on and DMoney will now be known as the Eric Molina of the APL. I heard lets Gamble a few two many times. I saw steam coming out of his ears when his trip tens got nailed by Bill's boat of 222TT. Bill happens to be Zoe's dad and when that hand unfolded I gave her a nudge under the table. I had laid down AK to DMONEY (where the flop missed me completely) to what I am sure was now a bluff at the first table and got steamed for a few minutes. Fortunately I shook it off and recovered. But I now have enough information to know how to outwit outlast and outplay our Eric Molina.
Then there is Wade who is the epitomy of Poker for the mathematically challenged. No matter what the size of the pot early on.. A pink (500 chip) or Yellow (1000 chip) would be pushed out from his stack when he had position. I think he just liked betting in even increments. He was catching cards but he was bluffing a heck of a lot too. I need to get Wade a 'Pot Odds are your friend" shirt in the spirit of Phil Laak's Math is Fun shirt.
So the evening was getting off to an interesting start and then Ray raises from EP into Steve's BB. On the next hand Ray is in the BB and Steve raises into Ray. Ray mutters 'You Prick" and I my head comes up and I utter "Raymond" pretty much in unison with Karen. Ray apologizes (which he didnt have to do. It was amusing and so unlike him) and says 'Im in rare form tonite". He certainly was because he wound up being second out when our short-bus poker player called with some absurd hand and caught a one or two outer. I must say I was dumbfounded.
I then make my read of the evening (to bad I wasnt in the hand) on Karen who raises big. Wade calls here and the flop comes with baby rags that will make a nice wheel low if it fills for someone holding Ace with a low rag. When Karen bets out I am pretty sure I know what she is holding. Call from Wade who I know is chasing but he has chips... the card comes to fill the possible baby wheel and Wade makes a huge move on the pot. Karen goes into the tank then mucks. I look at her and say. "Sucks having to fold those Kings" She just gave me a look like how did i know that and flashes the emasculated cowboys. Wade shows he had the goods.
I then get my revenge from week 1 or 2 on Bruce the dude who over-values baby pairs. I am kind of low so I move in with QQ figuring I can join the second chance tourney as I still have not seen AA or KK (and I wont all night). Bruce is the only one who calls me. Not to worry. He has TT and I stack him. Thank you for the donation. I honestly dont believe he had me on any hand and he will call with any wired pair. He would have run those tens into AA.
At the break Coach P gives me my second half game plan. He turns and points to Joyce's big stack and says "You are going to get a piece of that". Visions of chips start dancing in my head if only I can get the cards I need to maneuver. I'm gonna have to run a no huddle offense. I then turn our conversation to his tourney of Wednesday nite...A nice 14th place finish for over $100 but shy of a final table appearance and the big bucks. I had watched him take a riverstars beat for a good chunk of his stack when he was in the top 5. His 44 hit the set only to get flushed. I believe the 4 of clubs gave the other dude the club flush.. Good Cheerleader I am I had typed in chat "You're still good". He recovered nicely only to enter a few pots that had me in a tizzy.
"Are you reading the Harrington's yet". I ask as I've lent mine to him. "Yeah, I've started them"...."You havent gotten to the M and Q section yet have you?". I can read the look that says I have no idea what you are talking about...."You need to read that next" I add. So now I know he hasn't gotten to inflection points and the zones... I ask.. "What were you holding when you raised to $24000 from EP first in and then had to lay down to the all-ins, You did that like twice and lost a good chunk of your stack (blinds were 4000/8000 and the antes had kicked in).... one of your famous QT, or KJ or 9T hands (I knew he didnt have what I now refer to as the snake)?" "Yes, probably you know me too well.(Yup I say to myself.. I told you week two I would figure you out). "You need to read Harrington II which will explain why certain hands and small pairs lose their value when the players at your table have the low M's. You have to be ready for the push from the shorties, dont bet 4xBB if you arent willing to call the all in".... "Why didnt you call me, you have my number"..."Not the first three digits of your cell phone... you have my number". "Oh thats right its XXX." I then make a comment about being a geek with a photographic memory and head off to win some pots.
Joyce's hubby Al is a patient and nice man. He always tells me how nice and sweet I am in a fatherly way. He takes two horrendous beats in a row. The first hand he gets flushed on the river when he should have knocked the person out (cant remember who it was but it may have been Darren). On the next hand he is the dealer. Im not sure who moved in first but its his KK against Zoe's QQ. For the second time he says I am so unlucky I always lose with the best hand. I tell AL not to think that or it will come true. He is now dealing his own fate. BURN>>> X X X ....He breathes deep and relaxes a little... BURN... X.... BURN. He places the river card face down and says to Tracey.."flip it I cant look". As Tracey flips the river card I see the case Q hit and I let out a blood curdling scream that wakes everyone up. There is silence. Poker is a cruel mean game. I apologize for my scream and Wade says. That hand was worth the scream and that was a good scream.
I manage to survive by taking down a nice pot that I hit my set with the IG-- The IG is 99. I get some of joyce and zoe's and someone elses chips. I manage to nurse my anemic stack to a 9th place finish. Im down to 2400 chips in the BB with 1000 up and decide to push in with A6os... Wade calls holding the biatches.. I pair the 6 but not the Ace IGHN.. Out 9th.. Good enough I think to move me up to 4th as Doug went out early and was only a few points ahead of me and perhaps third due to Ray's early out. Lex pulls me aside and says Im surprised you moved there with that hand. SIGH...That was the best hand I had seen in a while.
I go sit down with Ray at the second chance tourney.... Raise.... call from Juddy, Raise..... call from Juddy.... Repeat .. "You're gonna call me every time arent you?" he says. Yeah she will Ray (im trying to get him to read what my mind is thinking) and of course she does. So after he busts out we go rail Silo. I make a comment that Rich has been playing well and that he is due for a win with two runner-up finishes. Rich pushes all in and shows his bluff with 7T!! Ray says yeah he has been playing well. So we are figuring out the possible standings and determining that it would be to both our benefits if Chris or Wade went deep since they are the cellar dwellers. We figure we should all be bunched up Me, Ray, Zoe and Doug with Edawg and Steve-O in the top two spots... I look at Ray and say PROP Bet? and then say No, No better yet Roshambo. I turn to Zoe and say Rock Paper Scissors as Im pretty sure she hasnt the foggiest what Roshambo is. We turn around and Rich has pushed all in again and is all out. "What were we just saying about him playing well?" Ray says.
When Mike posts the results on Sunday I have in fact moved into the three spot a few points above Ray in 4th with Zoe in 5th and Doug in 6th...Bill and Silo have now joined the top ten. Still a long way to go but Im happy with 5 Final table in 8 outings and 3 cashes. Not bad for someone who was pretty much solely an internet player before a trip to Vegas turned her world upside down.
WSOP 2007 June 1st thru Mid July. As soon as the actual schedule is announced Im putting in for time off. I get 28 days off next year and Im caring over 5!! I was out there July 8th thru the 13th last year and hopefully can get the first two weeks of July off or part of it as the week of the 4th is a tough week. Ive got time and seniority and some pull with a manager. If worse comes to worse we will do a week in June and then back out in July.
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Monday, October 30, 2006
IG's Omaha-A-GO-GO Blogger Poker Tour Event #4
This saturday at Poker.com Blogger Poker Tour Event #4 will be held at 3PM EST. For those of you who regularly play on poker.com, the server clock is now in sync with Eastern Standard Time.
The game will be Pot Limit Omaha Hi!! That's right bloggers/poker players you will all get four down cards and you can only use two in your hand and three from the board. Don't say I didnt warn you. Time permitting I'll post some Omaha Hi tips. Fair is Fair.
The password will be posted as soon as Shane gets the tourney listed. I like the way the tables turned out: Colorado Black and Gold in honor of my Alma Mater!!!
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Poker Stars Deep Stack tourney 11/29/06-$10 NLHE
Im giving my first No-Limit Deepstack tourney a go on Pokerstars. T5000 starting chips and 30 minute blinds should easily match my style of play. In fact its pretty dang close to the APL structure (25 minute blinds and 4500 starting chips).
A quick recap of my week with a full APL post to follow.
Sunday nite after sleeping all afternoon and chatting it up with JB about Foxwoods I sit down at a low buyin sng for $1.25. Within 4 hands I am out. My boat gets quaded. I then donk off $8.75 at Omaha hi/lo and am down $10 for the nite. Moral of story dont play ring games when sick. I broke every one of my Omaha Hi Lo rules and then some. And I was unlucky too boot. First losing ring game session on FTP but it was bound to happen.
I called in sick to work on Monday still feeling the effects of my allergic reaction the the bee or spider bites. I did feel well enough after sleeping most of the day to play and final table a 180 person $4.40 buyin SNG on stars early evening. I finished 8th and made about 4x the buyin.
Tuesday I attempted a $10 180 person sng. After giving up about 500 chips in the first two orbits with AK which missed spectacularly and I couldnt bluff the dude off the hand and QQ which I had to lay down to a AA board and a huge reraise. I managed a mediocre mid pack finish.
Wednesday night I played the Mookie and Mookie 2nd chancer to attempt a token for the big game. My defining moment of Mookie I, was being involved in the hand of the century with Hoyazo, Joe Speaker and Squib (who I think is the dude I played on FTP when it was in Beta Mode and I was playing with play money) Hoyazo has it that I limped and so did Squib. However, If you look closely at the screenshots. I was the short-stacked BB and Squib was the SB. I believe Joe raised big only to be called by Hoyazo and then Squib came over the top with me calling Squib and well the rest is history.. AA from the SB and Squib, Me with TT in the BB, Joe with QQ and Hoyazo with KK. Three rags on the flop followed by JJ. Between the four of us we had a brain and a straight. Miraculously the aces held. I largely called out of frustration and hoping that just perhaps I would suckout a set against AK or AQ.
Mookie II saw me get out of the gate fast winning the first hand against Mookie himself, but I broke down shortly thereafter. It was okay, I had brought up Pstars while deciding if I would do a SNG there and had been quietly railing Snake (Ray) in a $10 buy-in while Mookie-ing. That proved to be more entertaining to watch (more on that in my APL blog post). I had donked out of the Mookie just in time to see him put a major TILT on a big stack with one of his trademark hands. I typed in chat nice work with the XX wink wink.(Im a gal who doesnt tell tales and I can keep a secret :) That moved him right up to the top 5 and what hopefully would be a nice cash.
Why I signed up for Mookie II is beyond me lets chalk it up to insomnia from having slept all weekend. I am running a loss on Full Tilt and need to reload this week. Heck even stars I can win/cash/profit on.
Thursday nite I use up an odd 3 3/4 hours of time (which arent odd hours anymore since I wound up using 9 on Monday) head up to Bill and Juddy's house (they play in APL with ZOE their daughter) for a CPA game. I can never make these games because they start so dang early and there is a reason. Its poker for the geriatric set and probably the most loose passive game I have played. I knocked Bill out first. When you put a hurt on your host your Karma is bound to be bad and I am cold decked. I raise big with AJ. I hit top pair and one dude puts me all in with what I figured was a flush draw. Oh yeah, Donkeys always draw is a fact. I double up. But then go card dead. I lay down the IG (good move). I then go home 6th of ten when I get flushed by Jim. I am first girl out of 5. OUCH!!! Only one guy is left-Jim a fellow runner and probably the only other aggressive male player other then Bill. Juddy goes from short stack to win the tourney with Zoe #2 and Jim #3.
Friday I am off work once again. Its only 4 hours cuz thats all I do on Fridays. I catch up with my mom who is heading for Spain on Saturday. Then its up for my APL game....
Saturday I work in the AM 4 1/4 hours of the 5 we are open. The power goes out then on then out then on then out then on and I take that as an omen to go home. I stop at the mall, Bountiful Bread, Barnes and Noble and Starbucks. I get my now new co-favorite drink: Venti Cinnamon Mocha.. YUMMO to channel perky girl Rachel Ray: the Food Channels cooking teacher for those with ADD. She is basically a local for most of my live leaguers and my two cousins who went to Lake George High. I admit to getting her magazine.
On Wednesday, Ray had told me about a tourney in Bennington that he and Rich and their other bro would be going to on Saturday afternoon. There was also one on Sunday in Bennington that I had told him about. Rich had given me directions Friday nite in case I changed my mind but i had two engagements that needed my attention:
The rescheduled Event #3 of the Blogger Poker Tour on Poker.com is at 4 PM Saturday. I make a good showing finishing in 20th of 101 (the largest field to date). Im in 11th place pre game 3 and from best I can tell should stay about the same or move up. A few ahead of me finished ahead of me in the top ten spots. A few ahead of me donked out really early (at least three that I know of) a few ahead of me hadn't played events I or II. I host event III, and get first place points for hosting plus I get my regular points for placing. Someone points out the little Poker.com trophy in my avatar as a blogger tour event winner. I'm a marked woman but I garner R E S P E C T.
Aces Cracked event is Saturday nite too. I can drop 4 low scores. Having donked out of two of our league games first, and having missed last weeksg game I dont want to miss another one yet. Plus I have a bounty on my head again. I got a raise from $1 to $3!!! I finish #2 going Heads-up a 4 to 1 dog after CNS1 knocked out the GREBSTER. I cant get anything going and have to settle for a 2nd place finish. But I win enough to cover my buyin for the nite and for the Deep stack!!! YEAH ME!!
6 hours after I enter Deep Stack 9 frontier ( Wil Wheaton I needed you to run interference with that tribble Lee Jones) I am out 158th of 1528 runners for a whopping profit of $1.22. Later on in blogger chat with HighonPoker (Jordan), SLB159 (Steve), Budohorseman (Chris) and Veneno, I mention I probably made the going hourly rate for a rice picker in China. Steve or Chris suggest I grow opium poppies in Turkey instead.
So I play Poker Analysis league game while the bloggers are token whoring for the Big game or WBPTing. And my win rate goes down.... I buyin for $11 only to recoup $9.90. CRIMINY CRICKETS.... I paid for wielding and winning a nice pot with the hammer. Probably because I misplayed the hammer by only limping as Steve mentions. But I called the raise to $80 with it and two paired on the flop. I lost the initial raiser and the other dude bet out. I reraised and showed TILTGIRL that I am. HAMMER TIME I type in chat. I get a couple laughs but Brad (sickcoyote)isnt amused. He is steamed and types "Glad to see my raises get respect from you." Geesh cant a gal have some fun. He then wins a hand on me when I call his bb from the sb on the river and types. "I schooled you IG are you on TILT yet?..." I type back "No I'm made of teflon and besides I'm a bot!!!". this gets a few giggles from the table. And Coyote replies yeah a granola eating one. Brad had the pleasure of sitting on my left at Breakfast in Vegas. I state "You are so cute" (and young enough to be my son) and he mentions he knows. I do outlast SICKCOYOTE BEEP BEEP with an anemic stack finishing 8th with 9 paying.
Out of over 400 hands I played all day I never saw AA or KK once. Every AK missed and every time I played a hand with Ace anything an ace never once hit the board. The only time I won a hand while holding a naked ace was when it was folded to me. QQ actually held against AK for me breaking whatever losing streak I had with AK vs QQ so I cant whine anymore about that.
Time for bed this time change thing has my circadian rhythms in a tail spin and Im rambling. Expect this post to be edited. Names my be changed to protect the innocent...Me!!
A quick recap of my week with a full APL post to follow.
Sunday nite after sleeping all afternoon and chatting it up with JB about Foxwoods I sit down at a low buyin sng for $1.25. Within 4 hands I am out. My boat gets quaded. I then donk off $8.75 at Omaha hi/lo and am down $10 for the nite. Moral of story dont play ring games when sick. I broke every one of my Omaha Hi Lo rules and then some. And I was unlucky too boot. First losing ring game session on FTP but it was bound to happen.
I called in sick to work on Monday still feeling the effects of my allergic reaction the the bee or spider bites. I did feel well enough after sleeping most of the day to play and final table a 180 person $4.40 buyin SNG on stars early evening. I finished 8th and made about 4x the buyin.
Tuesday I attempted a $10 180 person sng. After giving up about 500 chips in the first two orbits with AK which missed spectacularly and I couldnt bluff the dude off the hand and QQ which I had to lay down to a AA board and a huge reraise. I managed a mediocre mid pack finish.
Wednesday night I played the Mookie and Mookie 2nd chancer to attempt a token for the big game. My defining moment of Mookie I, was being involved in the hand of the century with Hoyazo, Joe Speaker and Squib (who I think is the dude I played on FTP when it was in Beta Mode and I was playing with play money) Hoyazo has it that I limped and so did Squib. However, If you look closely at the screenshots. I was the short-stacked BB and Squib was the SB. I believe Joe raised big only to be called by Hoyazo and then Squib came over the top with me calling Squib and well the rest is history.. AA from the SB and Squib, Me with TT in the BB, Joe with QQ and Hoyazo with KK. Three rags on the flop followed by JJ. Between the four of us we had a brain and a straight. Miraculously the aces held. I largely called out of frustration and hoping that just perhaps I would suckout a set against AK or AQ.
Mookie II saw me get out of the gate fast winning the first hand against Mookie himself, but I broke down shortly thereafter. It was okay, I had brought up Pstars while deciding if I would do a SNG there and had been quietly railing Snake (Ray) in a $10 buy-in while Mookie-ing. That proved to be more entertaining to watch (more on that in my APL blog post). I had donked out of the Mookie just in time to see him put a major TILT on a big stack with one of his trademark hands. I typed in chat nice work with the XX wink wink.(Im a gal who doesnt tell tales and I can keep a secret :) That moved him right up to the top 5 and what hopefully would be a nice cash.
Why I signed up for Mookie II is beyond me lets chalk it up to insomnia from having slept all weekend. I am running a loss on Full Tilt and need to reload this week. Heck even stars I can win/cash/profit on.
Thursday nite I use up an odd 3 3/4 hours of time (which arent odd hours anymore since I wound up using 9 on Monday) head up to Bill and Juddy's house (they play in APL with ZOE their daughter) for a CPA game. I can never make these games because they start so dang early and there is a reason. Its poker for the geriatric set and probably the most loose passive game I have played. I knocked Bill out first. When you put a hurt on your host your Karma is bound to be bad and I am cold decked. I raise big with AJ. I hit top pair and one dude puts me all in with what I figured was a flush draw. Oh yeah, Donkeys always draw is a fact. I double up. But then go card dead. I lay down the IG (good move). I then go home 6th of ten when I get flushed by Jim. I am first girl out of 5. OUCH!!! Only one guy is left-Jim a fellow runner and probably the only other aggressive male player other then Bill. Juddy goes from short stack to win the tourney with Zoe #2 and Jim #3.
Friday I am off work once again. Its only 4 hours cuz thats all I do on Fridays. I catch up with my mom who is heading for Spain on Saturday. Then its up for my APL game....
Saturday I work in the AM 4 1/4 hours of the 5 we are open. The power goes out then on then out then on then out then on and I take that as an omen to go home. I stop at the mall, Bountiful Bread, Barnes and Noble and Starbucks. I get my now new co-favorite drink: Venti Cinnamon Mocha.. YUMMO to channel perky girl Rachel Ray: the Food Channels cooking teacher for those with ADD. She is basically a local for most of my live leaguers and my two cousins who went to Lake George High. I admit to getting her magazine.
On Wednesday, Ray had told me about a tourney in Bennington that he and Rich and their other bro would be going to on Saturday afternoon. There was also one on Sunday in Bennington that I had told him about. Rich had given me directions Friday nite in case I changed my mind but i had two engagements that needed my attention:
The rescheduled Event #3 of the Blogger Poker Tour on Poker.com is at 4 PM Saturday. I make a good showing finishing in 20th of 101 (the largest field to date). Im in 11th place pre game 3 and from best I can tell should stay about the same or move up. A few ahead of me finished ahead of me in the top ten spots. A few ahead of me donked out really early (at least three that I know of) a few ahead of me hadn't played events I or II. I host event III, and get first place points for hosting plus I get my regular points for placing. Someone points out the little Poker.com trophy in my avatar as a blogger tour event winner. I'm a marked woman but I garner R E S P E C T.
Aces Cracked event is Saturday nite too. I can drop 4 low scores. Having donked out of two of our league games first, and having missed last weeksg game I dont want to miss another one yet. Plus I have a bounty on my head again. I got a raise from $1 to $3!!! I finish #2 going Heads-up a 4 to 1 dog after CNS1 knocked out the GREBSTER. I cant get anything going and have to settle for a 2nd place finish. But I win enough to cover my buyin for the nite and for the Deep stack!!! YEAH ME!!
6 hours after I enter Deep Stack 9 frontier ( Wil Wheaton I needed you to run interference with that tribble Lee Jones) I am out 158th of 1528 runners for a whopping profit of $1.22. Later on in blogger chat with HighonPoker (Jordan), SLB159 (Steve), Budohorseman (Chris) and Veneno, I mention I probably made the going hourly rate for a rice picker in China. Steve or Chris suggest I grow opium poppies in Turkey instead.
So I play Poker Analysis league game while the bloggers are token whoring for the Big game or WBPTing. And my win rate goes down.... I buyin for $11 only to recoup $9.90. CRIMINY CRICKETS.... I paid for wielding and winning a nice pot with the hammer. Probably because I misplayed the hammer by only limping as Steve mentions. But I called the raise to $80 with it and two paired on the flop. I lost the initial raiser and the other dude bet out. I reraised and showed TILTGIRL that I am. HAMMER TIME I type in chat. I get a couple laughs but Brad (sickcoyote)isnt amused. He is steamed and types "Glad to see my raises get respect from you." Geesh cant a gal have some fun. He then wins a hand on me when I call his bb from the sb on the river and types. "I schooled you IG are you on TILT yet?..." I type back "No I'm made of teflon and besides I'm a bot!!!". this gets a few giggles from the table. And Coyote replies yeah a granola eating one. Brad had the pleasure of sitting on my left at Breakfast in Vegas. I state "You are so cute" (and young enough to be my son) and he mentions he knows. I do outlast SICKCOYOTE BEEP BEEP with an anemic stack finishing 8th with 9 paying.
Out of over 400 hands I played all day I never saw AA or KK once. Every AK missed and every time I played a hand with Ace anything an ace never once hit the board. The only time I won a hand while holding a naked ace was when it was folded to me. QQ actually held against AK for me breaking whatever losing streak I had with AK vs QQ so I cant whine anymore about that.
Time for bed this time change thing has my circadian rhythms in a tail spin and Im rambling. Expect this post to be edited. Names my be changed to protect the innocent...Me!!
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Monday, October 23, 2006
Boston Trip Report 10/21/2006-Be Scooter for A Day
Rather then go on our usual bi or tri-annual excursion to NYC (shopping, shows, and fine dining). My mom got me to go on a trip to Boston with her TravelWalk/Volksporters group for the LIFE IS GOOD PUMPKIN FESTIVAL and FREEDOM TRAIL EXCURSION. Now the bus didnt leave till 7:30 AM but my mom insisted that I meet her at the Park and Ride at 6:50AM to insure ourselves a good seat. By the time we pulled into the Crossgates Mall parking lot our bus was almost full. When I got on board the bus I realized I was the youngest person by far and I was looking at my future. Silver haired old ladies out numbered the men about ten to one. OMG! Horrible Odds.
And the vision became all to crystal clear in my bee-stunged mind: Im going to wind up going on bus trips with women friends to casino's, utilizing the coupons for free buffets and match plays that I have horded, stealing sugar packets and wrapping up bread to take home and angling for two-fers. Then I remembered... IG you are a card player, men outnumber the women ten to one. Your EV is positive. That is not your future. Sit down girl and chill. Besides you made a lasting impression on Waffles the other nite. You still got it girl.
As I mentioned in my previous post I slept most of the way to Boston. The Bus dropped us off on State Street near Quincy Market Place and not to far from the Visitors Center-Checkpoint Charlie I for our Trek. I hadnt been to Boston since I railed.. I mean crewed for a few friends who were running the Boston Marathon a few years back. The Marathon finishes in a completely different part of town. It took me all of one minute to get the map turned around right and off mom (Edie) and I went to get her booklet stamped. There is a good reason why I jokingly say I would be perfect for the Amazing Race. I am great with directions and I am naturally athletic to boot. The fresh air perked me up and my competitive Nature took over. Mom and I arrive at the sign-in near the old state house first. Now this was not a race but I was going to have some fun.
We left the old State House and winded our way past the site of the Boston Massacre then thru Fanueil Hall/Quincy Market Place. We trooped thru a farmers market that was selling fresh produce for ridiculously low prices. Two thoughts entered my head... The Dead Kennedys album "Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables" and this would be a cool time to whip up a giant stir fry. Next up the North End-Boston's Little Italy. I could have stayed there all day and dined my way thru the four P's and Im not talking the 4 poker P's I'm talking: pizza, panini, pasta and pastry heaven. Before we left the North End I made sure we had stopped for a Cannoli for a treat later.
We passed by the Old North Church where the lanterns were hung for Paul Revere and I immediately thought of the poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow-The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere. Then it was across the bridge to Charlestown and the Bunker Hill Monument which I could see in the distance and pointed out that that was our destination. It was about then that my mom asked me how far we had gone. She said "4 miles?" I was like "No mom about two". Mom is fit for 68 years old but she had bunion surgery and a hammer toe straightened last February and the foot still gives her discomfort. I realized some short cuts were going to be in order if we were going to make it to Boston Common. We got to Bunker Hill and the site was closed for renovation till November 1st and no ranger could be found to stamp my mother's Freedom Trail Passport. I told her we were then heading to the Boston Naval Yards and Old Ironsides. It was then she told me she was hungry. I said do you want to pass on going thru the Naval Yards while we were standing outside of them And she looked at me and stated: "I saw enough Naval Yards when I was dating and married to your Father. I can pass on the Naval yards" I started cracking up.
A few of my moms friends that we had separated from in the North End caught back up to us exiting the Naval Yards. They too were hungry and decided to pass on Bunker Hill. They had actually detoured from the actual course and went the wrong way off the Bridge. Back across the bridge we troop, thru the farmers market again and we wind up at Quincy Market.
I take my mom to the Salty Dog a seafood joint in Quincy Market that has a great raw bar and Fried seafood. My mom is eyeing the sandwiches of the young couple sitting next to us in very close quarters. The dude states the Salmon BLT is really good to my mom. We get to chatting as he asks if we are visiting Boston and mom and I state "Yes for the day". I ask if they are in school: his gal pal is Music Ed at Boston University and he's working having dropped out of BU as a music major. I ask him what hes doing for work and he says he's a drum tech for a band. I ask what band? Now he looks at me and I'm sure is sizing me up, since Im old enough to be his mom and says..."A band called Guster" figuring I've never heard of them. I look at him and state... "Arent you supposed to be on your way to Vegoose". He looks at me and states "You know the band?" and "I state not like the Dead or DMB but I sure do". Turns out we lunched with Scooter and his gal pal whose name escapes me now. During the course of our discussion another dude hears me say VEGOOSE and mention poker and states he's on his way out to Vegas on Sunday. Anyway, we are going over who is playing and I'm thinking to my mom we might as well be speaking in tongues. She then states to give her some credit.. she has heard of Tom Petty and the HeartBreakers and Galactic ?? Now I look at her thinking Yeah right mom you know of Galactic. I decide to give her the benefit of the doubt because she does like jazz and Galactic has played at jazz festivals before.
Scooter and his gal head off after paying there bill and I wish him a Good Show. And for those of you who want to be Scooter for a day check out this link:
http://www.guster.com/06/scooter/
So my mom had her Salmon BLT thanks to Scooter and I had an Oyster Po'Boy. We then headed to Boston Common for the Pumpkin Festival. The idea was that the Life is Good Clothing company was going to set the Guiness Book of World records for the most carved pumpkins in one spot. All proceeds to charity. There sure were a lot of pumpkins and people. But not really much to look at. So back we went to Downtown Crossing to do some shopping before dinner at Durgin Park. We stop in Borders. Now my mom works at the Saratoga Barnes and Noble part-time but a book store is a great place to kill time and we spend some time there. I have bought nothing all day other then lunch and a cannoli. The cannoli become a frequent topic of conversation from my mother.
1. I wonder if the cannoli are still good?
2. Do you want me to hold onto the Cannoli?
3. Maybe I should have a little bite of mine now!!!
My mother who watches every little thing she puts into her mouth including the fact that she ate 12 french fries at lunch is Cannoli obsessed. The reason I dont crave is because I dont deny myself life's little pleasures like Cannoli, creme brulee, chocolate mousse and carbs!!! Sure I have an extra layer I could do without but my guy friends tell me they like women with a healthy appetite who arent food obsessed and who have a little meat on them. That would be me. I like my curves they just need to be toned up a little more. Okay, Im a work in progress.
We head to dinner at Durgin Park. Someplace I have never eaten on many trips to Boston. Prices are pricy but well worth it. There are over 100 of us in one of the main dining areas. I order the Yankee Cut Prime Rib $24.95 and have left overs but it is the best Prime Rib Ive eaten in ages and worth every penny. Friends of my moms. Frank and Barbara share the Durgin Cut. It is $30+++ dollars with a huge bone and big enough to make Henry the 8th a happy man. Our waiter is JOEY, a nice Italian Boy from the North End who looks like a younger and thinner Matt LeBlanc with a mustache. I get him to do "Hey how you doing" (something hes never been asked to do a million times before) and leave him a nice tip.
I then notice Frank looking for something. Frank is one of the few men on the bus trip along with Jerry, Judy's hubby (both long-time family friends). Frank states that Barbara has lost her pills. I ask what kind they are thinking they may be important.. Now Frank is about 70 something I would say. He looks at me and smiles and says... "I dont know but when she takes them she treats me nice". He also mentions that he carved the name of some chick whose name he cant remember now (or so he says to Barbara) on one of the boats in the Naval Yards over 50+ years ago.
Back on the bus and one of my mom's friends decides it would be nice to see the friggin pumpkins lit up at nite. The bus driver complies and we drive by the one side of the common which takes us half an hour to get to. I mention I could have walked there and back in 15 minutes. I then think the bus driver is heading out of town until I realize he is doubling back to the front side of the Commons. Boston has the worst traffic known to mankind. I am about ready to freak out and I begin to mutter the FBOMB. I look at my mom and state: Now Im really going to have an anxiety attack" She looks at me and asks why Im so upset. Because 5 freaking hours is too long to be spent on a bus especially when Im not driving, not feeling well, and could be playing poker for money (I dont say that). I vow never again, never again, never again.
Then it dawns on me. I completely forgot about Blogger Tour event #3. I had pre-registered for it but had forgetten to re-check with Ray on Friday to see if he was actually working Saturday and if he'd be home from work to play my account for me. Poker.com server is one hour off and start time wasnt till 4 PM. It was him first and then Carol as my second choice. I never reminded her either in my bee-stunged brain. I Figured who ever got me good points or cashed would get to keep the moola and would be my choice to take to the Aussie Millions. So now, im looking at shitty points and dropping out of the top twenty and the TOC. The numbers pre-registered were way up over the first two events. Im screwed.
I got home and logged onto Poker.com and I saw a beautiful thing. The tourney had been suspended/cancelled due to server problems. BOOYAH...Im the next hostess and get first place points for hosting. Im back in the saddle again. Someone is watching out for IG. God my body feels like 10 miles of bad road right now.
*************************************************************************************
New World Record (30,128 lit pumpkins) Shines a Light on Camp Sunshine: $554,211 raised at Life is good Pumpkin Festivals nationwide!
A Guinness World Record was triumphantly smashed at the Life is good Pumpkin Festival on Saturday, as 30,128 carved pumpkins lit up our nation’s oldest public park, the Boston Common. Over 100,000 people came out to enjoy the old fashioned fun, simple food, live music and spectacular sights on a picture perfect autumn day.
And the vision became all to crystal clear in my bee-stunged mind: Im going to wind up going on bus trips with women friends to casino's, utilizing the coupons for free buffets and match plays that I have horded, stealing sugar packets and wrapping up bread to take home and angling for two-fers. Then I remembered... IG you are a card player, men outnumber the women ten to one. Your EV is positive. That is not your future. Sit down girl and chill. Besides you made a lasting impression on Waffles the other nite. You still got it girl.
As I mentioned in my previous post I slept most of the way to Boston. The Bus dropped us off on State Street near Quincy Market Place and not to far from the Visitors Center-Checkpoint Charlie I for our Trek. I hadnt been to Boston since I railed.. I mean crewed for a few friends who were running the Boston Marathon a few years back. The Marathon finishes in a completely different part of town. It took me all of one minute to get the map turned around right and off mom (Edie) and I went to get her booklet stamped. There is a good reason why I jokingly say I would be perfect for the Amazing Race. I am great with directions and I am naturally athletic to boot. The fresh air perked me up and my competitive Nature took over. Mom and I arrive at the sign-in near the old state house first. Now this was not a race but I was going to have some fun.
We left the old State House and winded our way past the site of the Boston Massacre then thru Fanueil Hall/Quincy Market Place. We trooped thru a farmers market that was selling fresh produce for ridiculously low prices. Two thoughts entered my head... The Dead Kennedys album "Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables" and this would be a cool time to whip up a giant stir fry. Next up the North End-Boston's Little Italy. I could have stayed there all day and dined my way thru the four P's and Im not talking the 4 poker P's I'm talking: pizza, panini, pasta and pastry heaven. Before we left the North End I made sure we had stopped for a Cannoli for a treat later.
We passed by the Old North Church where the lanterns were hung for Paul Revere and I immediately thought of the poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow-The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere. Then it was across the bridge to Charlestown and the Bunker Hill Monument which I could see in the distance and pointed out that that was our destination. It was about then that my mom asked me how far we had gone. She said "4 miles?" I was like "No mom about two". Mom is fit for 68 years old but she had bunion surgery and a hammer toe straightened last February and the foot still gives her discomfort. I realized some short cuts were going to be in order if we were going to make it to Boston Common. We got to Bunker Hill and the site was closed for renovation till November 1st and no ranger could be found to stamp my mother's Freedom Trail Passport. I told her we were then heading to the Boston Naval Yards and Old Ironsides. It was then she told me she was hungry. I said do you want to pass on going thru the Naval Yards while we were standing outside of them And she looked at me and stated: "I saw enough Naval Yards when I was dating and married to your Father. I can pass on the Naval yards" I started cracking up.
A few of my moms friends that we had separated from in the North End caught back up to us exiting the Naval Yards. They too were hungry and decided to pass on Bunker Hill. They had actually detoured from the actual course and went the wrong way off the Bridge. Back across the bridge we troop, thru the farmers market again and we wind up at Quincy Market.
I take my mom to the Salty Dog a seafood joint in Quincy Market that has a great raw bar and Fried seafood. My mom is eyeing the sandwiches of the young couple sitting next to us in very close quarters. The dude states the Salmon BLT is really good to my mom. We get to chatting as he asks if we are visiting Boston and mom and I state "Yes for the day". I ask if they are in school: his gal pal is Music Ed at Boston University and he's working having dropped out of BU as a music major. I ask him what hes doing for work and he says he's a drum tech for a band. I ask what band? Now he looks at me and I'm sure is sizing me up, since Im old enough to be his mom and says..."A band called Guster" figuring I've never heard of them. I look at him and state... "Arent you supposed to be on your way to Vegoose". He looks at me and states "You know the band?" and "I state not like the Dead or DMB but I sure do". Turns out we lunched with Scooter and his gal pal whose name escapes me now. During the course of our discussion another dude hears me say VEGOOSE and mention poker and states he's on his way out to Vegas on Sunday. Anyway, we are going over who is playing and I'm thinking to my mom we might as well be speaking in tongues. She then states to give her some credit.. she has heard of Tom Petty and the HeartBreakers and Galactic ?? Now I look at her thinking Yeah right mom you know of Galactic. I decide to give her the benefit of the doubt because she does like jazz and Galactic has played at jazz festivals before.
Scooter and his gal head off after paying there bill and I wish him a Good Show. And for those of you who want to be Scooter for a day check out this link:
http://www.guster.com/06/scooter/
So my mom had her Salmon BLT thanks to Scooter and I had an Oyster Po'Boy. We then headed to Boston Common for the Pumpkin Festival. The idea was that the Life is Good Clothing company was going to set the Guiness Book of World records for the most carved pumpkins in one spot. All proceeds to charity. There sure were a lot of pumpkins and people. But not really much to look at. So back we went to Downtown Crossing to do some shopping before dinner at Durgin Park. We stop in Borders. Now my mom works at the Saratoga Barnes and Noble part-time but a book store is a great place to kill time and we spend some time there. I have bought nothing all day other then lunch and a cannoli. The cannoli become a frequent topic of conversation from my mother.
1. I wonder if the cannoli are still good?
2. Do you want me to hold onto the Cannoli?
3. Maybe I should have a little bite of mine now!!!
My mother who watches every little thing she puts into her mouth including the fact that she ate 12 french fries at lunch is Cannoli obsessed. The reason I dont crave is because I dont deny myself life's little pleasures like Cannoli, creme brulee, chocolate mousse and carbs!!! Sure I have an extra layer I could do without but my guy friends tell me they like women with a healthy appetite who arent food obsessed and who have a little meat on them. That would be me. I like my curves they just need to be toned up a little more. Okay, Im a work in progress.
We head to dinner at Durgin Park. Someplace I have never eaten on many trips to Boston. Prices are pricy but well worth it. There are over 100 of us in one of the main dining areas. I order the Yankee Cut Prime Rib $24.95 and have left overs but it is the best Prime Rib Ive eaten in ages and worth every penny. Friends of my moms. Frank and Barbara share the Durgin Cut. It is $30+++ dollars with a huge bone and big enough to make Henry the 8th a happy man. Our waiter is JOEY, a nice Italian Boy from the North End who looks like a younger and thinner Matt LeBlanc with a mustache. I get him to do "Hey how you doing" (something hes never been asked to do a million times before) and leave him a nice tip.
I then notice Frank looking for something. Frank is one of the few men on the bus trip along with Jerry, Judy's hubby (both long-time family friends). Frank states that Barbara has lost her pills. I ask what kind they are thinking they may be important.. Now Frank is about 70 something I would say. He looks at me and smiles and says... "I dont know but when she takes them she treats me nice". He also mentions that he carved the name of some chick whose name he cant remember now (or so he says to Barbara) on one of the boats in the Naval Yards over 50+ years ago.
Back on the bus and one of my mom's friends decides it would be nice to see the friggin pumpkins lit up at nite. The bus driver complies and we drive by the one side of the common which takes us half an hour to get to. I mention I could have walked there and back in 15 minutes. I then think the bus driver is heading out of town until I realize he is doubling back to the front side of the Commons. Boston has the worst traffic known to mankind. I am about ready to freak out and I begin to mutter the FBOMB. I look at my mom and state: Now Im really going to have an anxiety attack" She looks at me and asks why Im so upset. Because 5 freaking hours is too long to be spent on a bus especially when Im not driving, not feeling well, and could be playing poker for money (I dont say that). I vow never again, never again, never again.
Then it dawns on me. I completely forgot about Blogger Tour event #3. I had pre-registered for it but had forgetten to re-check with Ray on Friday to see if he was actually working Saturday and if he'd be home from work to play my account for me. Poker.com server is one hour off and start time wasnt till 4 PM. It was him first and then Carol as my second choice. I never reminded her either in my bee-stunged brain. I Figured who ever got me good points or cashed would get to keep the moola and would be my choice to take to the Aussie Millions. So now, im looking at shitty points and dropping out of the top twenty and the TOC. The numbers pre-registered were way up over the first two events. Im screwed.
I got home and logged onto Poker.com and I saw a beautiful thing. The tourney had been suspended/cancelled due to server problems. BOOYAH...Im the next hostess and get first place points for hosting. Im back in the saddle again. Someone is watching out for IG. God my body feels like 10 miles of bad road right now.
*************************************************************************************
New World Record (30,128 lit pumpkins) Shines a Light on Camp Sunshine: $554,211 raised at Life is good Pumpkin Festivals nationwide!
A Guinness World Record was triumphantly smashed at the Life is good Pumpkin Festival on Saturday, as 30,128 carved pumpkins lit up our nation’s oldest public park, the Boston Common. Over 100,000 people came out to enjoy the old fashioned fun, simple food, live music and spectacular sights on a picture perfect autumn day.
Sunday, October 22, 2006
We'll be back after a brief Intermission
Set II Play List:
Poker Analysis Doyles Room Win 10/17/06
Aces Cracked FTP 10/19/06-Runner Up
APL Live League Play 10/20/06 where I finished 8th and only remember getting my KK cracked by AA and surviving to the final table
Boston Bus Trip with a Bunch of Senior Citizens 10/21/06 - Subtitled: Welcome to your Future IG.
---Im recovering from a Wasp/spider/insect bite of some kind incurred Friday nite. All I remember is Joyce telling me I look like I'm about to fall asleep or pass out. The rest is a blur. I remember telling Bill my heart was racing about 30 minutes after winning a big hand and that was all she wrote. I remember talking to Eric on my way out the door and him telling me I might move up to 4th in points. When I got a few miles down the road I started to get short of breath and then quezy. At first I thought I was having an asthma attack (which I havent had in ages) then an anxiety attack (which I havent had in like 16 years and that was when I quit drinking). When I got home I found it because unbeknownst to me I had been scratching the site. About 5 bites and one that was now the size of quarter on my rib cage where my elbow would rest when my arm hangs down. Yes Im allergic to bees/wasps/yellow jackets. No I dont have an Epi-Pen. I hadnt been stung since the last go round and completely forget to tell my doctor the last time I was there about my August 2005 episode.
I slept nada Friday nite, dragged my ass out of bed to meet my mom for our Boston Trip. She took one look at me and said "You look like hell". Fortunately, I did have some Benedryl and my mom's BFF Judy had some creme since shes allergic too. I slept on the bus after getting lectured and slept some more today after doing a bunch of house stuff.
I'm catching up with JB now on his and the Mrs's Foxwoods trip and deciding what to play tonite if anything. And Im scratching. I dont remember actually getting bitten but the evidence is there. Best I can think of is when I changed tops and bras before heading out to my live game a slow moving Wasp may have been in my clothes or on my jacket. Its the time of the year that they want in from the Soffets of my condo and one could have gotten in from the attic I had built last year. Bailey is my first line of defense as he usually is the one that spots them first because he goes airborne whenever there is a winged insect in the house.
Poker Analysis Doyles Room Win 10/17/06
Aces Cracked FTP 10/19/06-Runner Up
APL Live League Play 10/20/06 where I finished 8th and only remember getting my KK cracked by AA and surviving to the final table
Boston Bus Trip with a Bunch of Senior Citizens 10/21/06 - Subtitled: Welcome to your Future IG.
---Im recovering from a Wasp/spider/insect bite of some kind incurred Friday nite. All I remember is Joyce telling me I look like I'm about to fall asleep or pass out. The rest is a blur. I remember telling Bill my heart was racing about 30 minutes after winning a big hand and that was all she wrote. I remember talking to Eric on my way out the door and him telling me I might move up to 4th in points. When I got a few miles down the road I started to get short of breath and then quezy. At first I thought I was having an asthma attack (which I havent had in ages) then an anxiety attack (which I havent had in like 16 years and that was when I quit drinking). When I got home I found it because unbeknownst to me I had been scratching the site. About 5 bites and one that was now the size of quarter on my rib cage where my elbow would rest when my arm hangs down. Yes Im allergic to bees/wasps/yellow jackets. No I dont have an Epi-Pen. I hadnt been stung since the last go round and completely forget to tell my doctor the last time I was there about my August 2005 episode.
I slept nada Friday nite, dragged my ass out of bed to meet my mom for our Boston Trip. She took one look at me and said "You look like hell". Fortunately, I did have some Benedryl and my mom's BFF Judy had some creme since shes allergic too. I slept on the bus after getting lectured and slept some more today after doing a bunch of house stuff.
I'm catching up with JB now on his and the Mrs's Foxwoods trip and deciding what to play tonite if anything. And Im scratching. I dont remember actually getting bitten but the evidence is there. Best I can think of is when I changed tops and bras before heading out to my live game a slow moving Wasp may have been in my clothes or on my jacket. Its the time of the year that they want in from the Soffets of my condo and one could have gotten in from the attic I had built last year. Bailey is my first line of defense as he usually is the one that spots them first because he goes airborne whenever there is a winged insect in the house.
Monday, October 16, 2006
A Day Late- No $$$ Short- Aces Cracked 10/14/2006
I worked Saturday AM from 7 to noon for definite + EV known as Overtime. I got home and literally had to take an afternoon siesta for two hours before the AcesCracked league game. Long nite of poker and the stress of scrambling to close accounts was just too much.
The Week in Review- First the Bad News
My company announced layoffs of 2% of its workforce. Fortunately that's only about 600 people and a good chunk are managers. Being a worker bee I'm pretty much safe until they Bangelore the Customer Service Jobs. Probably will happen within a few years. In the meantime I still say Id make a good Starbucks barista and I hear Costco and Whole Foods Markets pays really well. Just have to lure them to the Capital Distict. When I go visit my sister I am the Costco Queen and I just love Trader Joes, Wild Oats, Whole Foods and of course Stew Leonards. Its grocery shopping nirvana.
By virtue of living in NY state I am banned from nearly every Prima Poker site and Microgaming Casino. I'm shut off to all Playtechs, OnGame, Boss Media sites as well as Party Poker and Paradise. The President signed the bill on my birthday (bastard) without so much as one mention of the gaming legislation attached to the port security act.
The Good News:
I got a STAR refund for real estate taxes. A nice little windfall of $170+. Since I rarely pay attention to local news and I don't read the Albany Times Useless, except for the occasional Sunday edition it was a surprise. I'm pretty much a USA Today and Wall Street Journal gal, and spend my time watching ESPN, Fox Sports, CNN and the Food Channel with some MTV, HSN and Weather Channel thrown in. At first I thought it was an audit notice or I had made a mistake on my NYS tax return!!! KA CHING
I was smart enough to realize I got $200 in eyecare on my Medical insurance every two years. I had shelled out close to $600 for eyeglasses and contacts this spring. At the time I didn't have that much $$ stashed in my HRA and I used what I had accumulated for some other medical bills I had incurred. Check processed and on its way to IG.
$169+ from BetonUSA cashout. The one Prima site I can still play at for the time being. They charged me a $5 contribution to the Swedish orphans fund (a check fee).
I weigh less then I did before Vegas, not only keeping the weight off but losing more. To boot I am still pretty flexible for an old girl. Silly gal I am, I decided to see if I could do some of the dance moves in London Bridges (Fergie) and Buttons (Pussy Cat Dolls) and I still got it. Yes I can moonwalk. Did I mention I love that Old Navy or Gap commercial with Audrey Hepburn.
I'm in the black for my live league play and this week I will play live twice. (I actually think I could live without dare I say it: on-line poker).
I won the Aces Cracked League game on Saturday night. My first overall win on Pokerstars and in the league (#2 and #3 best previous finishes). WOO HOO!!! I was such a bad girl. I stacked Penn to take a nice early chip lead. Then when trying to felt him and his measly stack of T300+ (he was on my immediate left) he rivered me at least 3 or 4 times. A few other river beats and IM down to less then where I started and ON TILT.... NOT.. I decide to stick it to him one time and push in with A8 against I believe TT.. I hit an 8 no good.. I type in chat: Give me an Ace not an 8 and then the sweet S U C K O U T..... Ace hits.... Yup that wasn't nice. I shocked the shoes off Sham playing 68os and two pairing. I think poor Sham may have thought he was having an LSD flashback with the variety of cards and suits that IG was throwing down and showing down. It got down to me and the Taxidermist(RK) my nemesis from Thursday nite. I was focused and played near flawless heads up. I got my edge and not only hit two pair with AQ but filled up to take down the win.....
IG OWNS>>>> SHIP IT GUYS!!! (I screen printed my win and shot it off to Ray). No one earns the $1 bounty Sham placed on me. BTW Sham I'm worth a whole lot more then that!!! Unfortunately since I will be in Beantown on 10/21/06 no one can claim my head nor hide this week.
I then had a hot date with The Grinder and DAGS watching the WPT Borgata. I was rooting for Dags even though I knew Mizrachi won. Gotta go for my fellow paisano. Since I had taken a two hour cat nap I was wide awake and bushy tailed Saturday night.
Neteller account well over the $2k mark with a couple hundred more on the way in and about $800 in checks still to be received.. Did I see a WPBT gathering scheduled in December for Vegas.....?? Maybe a trip to AC or Foxwoods???
The Week in Review- First the Bad News
My company announced layoffs of 2% of its workforce. Fortunately that's only about 600 people and a good chunk are managers. Being a worker bee I'm pretty much safe until they Bangelore the Customer Service Jobs. Probably will happen within a few years. In the meantime I still say Id make a good Starbucks barista and I hear Costco and Whole Foods Markets pays really well. Just have to lure them to the Capital Distict. When I go visit my sister I am the Costco Queen and I just love Trader Joes, Wild Oats, Whole Foods and of course Stew Leonards. Its grocery shopping nirvana.
By virtue of living in NY state I am banned from nearly every Prima Poker site and Microgaming Casino. I'm shut off to all Playtechs, OnGame, Boss Media sites as well as Party Poker and Paradise. The President signed the bill on my birthday (bastard) without so much as one mention of the gaming legislation attached to the port security act.
The Good News:
I got a STAR refund for real estate taxes. A nice little windfall of $170+. Since I rarely pay attention to local news and I don't read the Albany Times Useless, except for the occasional Sunday edition it was a surprise. I'm pretty much a USA Today and Wall Street Journal gal, and spend my time watching ESPN, Fox Sports, CNN and the Food Channel with some MTV, HSN and Weather Channel thrown in. At first I thought it was an audit notice or I had made a mistake on my NYS tax return!!! KA CHING
I was smart enough to realize I got $200 in eyecare on my Medical insurance every two years. I had shelled out close to $600 for eyeglasses and contacts this spring. At the time I didn't have that much $$ stashed in my HRA and I used what I had accumulated for some other medical bills I had incurred. Check processed and on its way to IG.
$169+ from BetonUSA cashout. The one Prima site I can still play at for the time being. They charged me a $5 contribution to the Swedish orphans fund (a check fee).
I weigh less then I did before Vegas, not only keeping the weight off but losing more. To boot I am still pretty flexible for an old girl. Silly gal I am, I decided to see if I could do some of the dance moves in London Bridges (Fergie) and Buttons (Pussy Cat Dolls) and I still got it. Yes I can moonwalk. Did I mention I love that Old Navy or Gap commercial with Audrey Hepburn.
I'm in the black for my live league play and this week I will play live twice. (I actually think I could live without dare I say it: on-line poker).
I won the Aces Cracked League game on Saturday night. My first overall win on Pokerstars and in the league (#2 and #3 best previous finishes). WOO HOO!!! I was such a bad girl. I stacked Penn to take a nice early chip lead. Then when trying to felt him and his measly stack of T300+ (he was on my immediate left) he rivered me at least 3 or 4 times. A few other river beats and IM down to less then where I started and ON TILT.... NOT.. I decide to stick it to him one time and push in with A8 against I believe TT.. I hit an 8 no good.. I type in chat: Give me an Ace not an 8 and then the sweet S U C K O U T..... Ace hits.... Yup that wasn't nice. I shocked the shoes off Sham playing 68os and two pairing. I think poor Sham may have thought he was having an LSD flashback with the variety of cards and suits that IG was throwing down and showing down. It got down to me and the Taxidermist(RK) my nemesis from Thursday nite. I was focused and played near flawless heads up. I got my edge and not only hit two pair with AQ but filled up to take down the win.....
IG OWNS>>>> SHIP IT GUYS!!! (I screen printed my win and shot it off to Ray). No one earns the $1 bounty Sham placed on me. BTW Sham I'm worth a whole lot more then that!!! Unfortunately since I will be in Beantown on 10/21/06 no one can claim my head nor hide this week.
I then had a hot date with The Grinder and DAGS watching the WPT Borgata. I was rooting for Dags even though I knew Mizrachi won. Gotta go for my fellow paisano. Since I had taken a two hour cat nap I was wide awake and bushy tailed Saturday night.
Neteller account well over the $2k mark with a couple hundred more on the way in and about $800 in checks still to be received.. Did I see a WPBT gathering scheduled in December for Vegas.....?? Maybe a trip to AC or Foxwoods???
Sunday, October 15, 2006
APL WEEK #6-Live Play
Friday morning I had Time Warner show up to install digital phone. Something I had been putting off for a while but finally got around to doing. Since I already use Roadrunner for internet and I have digital cable, I figured I might as well consolidate and get rid of my Verizon Bill. With the All-In-One-Deal that TW-Cable offers I can save about $30 a month and get free long distance to boot. Since I spend 9 hours 4 days a week and 4 hours one day a week talking non-stop on the phone it is just a necessary evil to me. I loathe talking on the phone, so if I talk to you for longer then a few minutes you have passed IG's muster. I am probably one of the few people I know without a cell phone. My mom recently got on and is totally addicted to it.
Of course TW gives you a two hour window for installation and mine was scheduled for between 8AM and 10AM. Fortunately the dude got here before 9 and was in and out in a flash. He just had to swap out the modem. Painless. I didnt even have to shut down the computer which was a good thing because the fallout from the soon to be signed law continued to snowball. I didnt realize I had money on as many Prima sites as I did. Some $$ will be written off as charitable contributions to some Swedish Orphans fund on my 2006 Income Tax return. Fortunately, I only had deposited $30 on one Prima site and the rest of the $$ came from my early days as a freeroll ho and journeywoman forum tramp. Thinking of my days in the minor leagues as a minnow brings a tear to my eyes.
When I opened up Poker Analysis and read a post from DCI (Carol) about JetSet closing its doors for good at the stroke of midnite the nite before with only 5 minutes warning to the hapless players online and no notice to the affiliates I kicked myself in the ass for not withdrawing on Wednesday nite after I finished 2nd in a $5.75 headhunter for Poker101a and then 4th in the sister Poker101a freeroll. Another $150 or so donation to the Swedish Orphans Fund is in the making. Supposedly they are mailing cheques and I emailed support with my address and info for them to send me my money. I never deposited on Jetset either.
This was certainly turning out to be the birthday from Hell. So when the going gets tough the tough go shopping. Ive mentioned before that my favorite form of cardio is power shopping. So, I trotted off to Kohl's to pay my bill. I looked for some more Tilly tops even though I have a closet full already but didnt feel like spending any money even though there were some good sales. I did find lots of choices for my pocketbook fetish but didnt buy one thing.
So I went to Borders and picked up Bluff and Poker Pro Magazine. I got home called my sister in Connecticut back to let her know I got her card which was a hoot. It was titled Mom and Dad on the nite you were conceived and its a Man in some little ballet unitard thing or old fashioned bathing suit lifting a woman in the air ala an ice skating or ballet lift. Inside she wrote Strange but true which left me rolling. Now my mom was a cheerleader and I can see her in that position, but my dad is 6'2'', an old-fashioned good ole Catholic Italian/Irish American and as far as I can recall has absolutely no rhythm. We are talking white boy boogie here to the max. In that respect, I am mostly certainly not my fathers daughter. We had a good laugh over that one.
I then proceeded to waste time before heading up to my live game and checked in on Change 100's-Pot Committed to read her thing about Harrahs not allowing third party registrations for the WSOP next year. From there I headed over to listen to Phil Gorden's (and yes Change you are absolutely correct on the dreamy blue eyes thing) ESPN podcast where he predicted the WSOP Main event field would be knocked down to under 3000 in 2007. So, I shot a quick email off to Ray, figuring he might see/read it before I see him in like 45 minutes. He's qualified twice for the main event thru Stars coming within two hours of the cash in this years ME. My money says if Snake qualifies in 2007 he would use the money to buy himself in. He was that close this year and could taste it. So, I tend to disagree with Phil on this one. If I were to qualify say thru Pokerstars or FTP and they awarded me the prize money to spend as I wished and I had my heart set on playing in the main event, barring some financial catastrophe I would use that money for what it was designed. We are talking about the WSOP and for those of us from small-town America who arent on-line or live touring circuit pros that is our once a year chance to toe the line with the big boys and gals. I will never play in the Super Bowl or Stanley Cup, nor will I win a major marathon or Ironman triathlon but on any given day it is certainly possible for some unknown to come out of nowhere and win the biggest and most prestigious event for poker players because it has happened.
So I headed out the door, made a quick stop at Starbucks for a caffiene/java fix and cranked the tunes (DMB and Sheryl Crow again)and headed up the Northway for Week #6 of live league play.
Pre-game warmup is spent chatting with Mike and Rich and Zoe who tells me my spot is reserved in a live tourney next Sunday. When Ray arrives he asks me if I took down the Pokerstars Omaha 8 SNG that he actually watched me go from $900 chippies with about 5 left and almost out to $7000 and the lead going into HUP. For some ungodly reason unknown to anyone but Lee Jones they wouldnt allow him to chat. Something about not being registered in the tourney. Now I was able to chat to him during his buy-in, and I know chat is disabled when someone is all-in and I dont think this is a SNG thing because I have chatted during SNG's from the rail myself. And I know dang well he has more money on stars then me. So maybe Lee was just feeling cranky and ornery after all that unfolded on Friday the 13th.
Anyway I get seated at at the one table I have not started at yet in the 4 seat. I have Bruce, Lex(Big Tai), Joyce, Trent (LgKeeper), Juddy, Steve (last weeks winner) and a sub for Dane at my table. And for the first time in 6 weeks I went on an early roll. I took down a nice pot where Juddy ran into kicker problems and then she ran into me hitting two pair. I hit a set of Jacks that could have been dangerous to Steve and his eights and took down a nice pot. I hit trip 4's with a raggedy ass hand which I got okay value on but could have gotten better value on. And I got dealt pocket Kings and forced Trent to get away from his pocket 99's when the board came QXX. I then took out Lex when I raised with AA and he pushed over the top of me. It was his AK against my AA and unlike the previous nite when my rockets got cracked they held. Edawg can thank me for regaining first place in the league.
Zoe gets moved to my table, then Ray joins us and Joyce leaves when we start condensing down and before you know it we are down to the final table. We redraw for seats and it is: Ray in the one, Eric in the two, Rich in the three, Karen in the four, Darren in the 5, Zoe in the 6, followed by Steve, Joyce, Tracey and me in the ten. Oh goodie goodie I have Ray and Eric both to my left. And one luckbox to my right where I want her. I knock Karen out in tenth, then Zoe hits the rail, followed by Steve and Rich (Silo) is the bubble boy. Eric squeeks in for 6th place followed by Tracy in 5th. A cat fight almost insues between Joyce and Tracy when Tracy tells me what Joyce says she had and I thank my lucky stars I laid down TT preflop from UTG. Supposedly my set of tens would have been outsetted by Aces when the flop came down AKT. I laid down a couple of big hands preflop from EP based on my read that the shorter stacks were going to move in. Lets say I have accurately predicted two weeks in a row when one player has a monster hand and is going to move in. It's a beautiful thing when everything starts clicking.
Ray who has entered the FT with about the same chip count has me has made some great calls against loose and lucky Joyce and has now depleted a great part of Joyce's stack. For some reason I just dont think my birthday Mojo is gonna last to make it to headsup with him. Early on at the Final Table I make a commment that the person who takes me out usually goes on to win. It happened the prior night when Taxidermist aka RK, hit his set of queens against my aces. I went out first and he went on to win. With the blinds at 1000/2000 and me down to about 8000 I decide to make a move with QJ. Joyce had folded, Ray gets out of the way. DMoney (Darren) decides to gamble....My QJ against his 89os... Of course he hits two pair leaving me with a gutshot but no ten arrives and I go out in 4th. If I had been able to survive that coinflip with Darren I knew I would have been headsup with Ray because ultimately I knew both of us have a ton more experience at shorthanded play then Joyce. It just may have been my nite too.
Joyce goes out in 3rd. Ray and Darren go to heads up. I must be getting old because I'm not sure if they played a hand. Darren has Ray by 10000 chips. Ray has his seat in the Tourney of Champs. Darren offers to chop the money with the condition that he gets the seat into the TOC by virtue of Ray already having earned his spot with his win over me. The decision is then debated by all the railbirds present if this is allowed as Mike has left for the nite and we cant get him on his cell. Ultimately, I state that it is Ray's decision to make and as long as we are consistent week to week what difference does it make. Joyce was probably the only contrarian. Ultimately, Ray makes the decision which will be good for his Cardma and agrees to the chop.
Two-time winner Eric E(Edawg) takes over the lead from Lex (BigTai) who drops to 4th. Two-time winner Steve (who nicely asked if I was turning 31-thanks sweetie!!) moves into second. Ray(Snake5970)moves back into the 3-spot. And yours truly Irongirl aka IG, aka IGEE-BABEE, aka TILLY is the highest ranking female in the 5 spot. I honestly believe if I continue to play my A game and continue to improve my people reading ability I can stay in the top 5.
Thanks to Surflexus (my fellow Libra), Katitude, SLB159 and TheStudent who came by to say happy birthday on a trying day for us online poker players. And of course to my AcesCracked guys and Poker Analysis forummates and APLers.
And big thanks to HammerPlayer (Hoyazo). I spent some time reading your strategy articles on playing Middle Pocket pairs both I and II before this game and it paid off in spades!!
Of course TW gives you a two hour window for installation and mine was scheduled for between 8AM and 10AM. Fortunately the dude got here before 9 and was in and out in a flash. He just had to swap out the modem. Painless. I didnt even have to shut down the computer which was a good thing because the fallout from the soon to be signed law continued to snowball. I didnt realize I had money on as many Prima sites as I did. Some $$ will be written off as charitable contributions to some Swedish Orphans fund on my 2006 Income Tax return. Fortunately, I only had deposited $30 on one Prima site and the rest of the $$ came from my early days as a freeroll ho and journeywoman forum tramp. Thinking of my days in the minor leagues as a minnow brings a tear to my eyes.
When I opened up Poker Analysis and read a post from DCI (Carol) about JetSet closing its doors for good at the stroke of midnite the nite before with only 5 minutes warning to the hapless players online and no notice to the affiliates I kicked myself in the ass for not withdrawing on Wednesday nite after I finished 2nd in a $5.75 headhunter for Poker101a and then 4th in the sister Poker101a freeroll. Another $150 or so donation to the Swedish Orphans Fund is in the making. Supposedly they are mailing cheques and I emailed support with my address and info for them to send me my money. I never deposited on Jetset either.
This was certainly turning out to be the birthday from Hell. So when the going gets tough the tough go shopping. Ive mentioned before that my favorite form of cardio is power shopping. So, I trotted off to Kohl's to pay my bill. I looked for some more Tilly tops even though I have a closet full already but didnt feel like spending any money even though there were some good sales. I did find lots of choices for my pocketbook fetish but didnt buy one thing.
So I went to Borders and picked up Bluff and Poker Pro Magazine. I got home called my sister in Connecticut back to let her know I got her card which was a hoot. It was titled Mom and Dad on the nite you were conceived and its a Man in some little ballet unitard thing or old fashioned bathing suit lifting a woman in the air ala an ice skating or ballet lift. Inside she wrote Strange but true which left me rolling. Now my mom was a cheerleader and I can see her in that position, but my dad is 6'2'', an old-fashioned good ole Catholic Italian/Irish American and as far as I can recall has absolutely no rhythm. We are talking white boy boogie here to the max. In that respect, I am mostly certainly not my fathers daughter. We had a good laugh over that one.
I then proceeded to waste time before heading up to my live game and checked in on Change 100's-Pot Committed to read her thing about Harrahs not allowing third party registrations for the WSOP next year. From there I headed over to listen to Phil Gorden's (and yes Change you are absolutely correct on the dreamy blue eyes thing) ESPN podcast where he predicted the WSOP Main event field would be knocked down to under 3000 in 2007. So, I shot a quick email off to Ray, figuring he might see/read it before I see him in like 45 minutes. He's qualified twice for the main event thru Stars coming within two hours of the cash in this years ME. My money says if Snake qualifies in 2007 he would use the money to buy himself in. He was that close this year and could taste it. So, I tend to disagree with Phil on this one. If I were to qualify say thru Pokerstars or FTP and they awarded me the prize money to spend as I wished and I had my heart set on playing in the main event, barring some financial catastrophe I would use that money for what it was designed. We are talking about the WSOP and for those of us from small-town America who arent on-line or live touring circuit pros that is our once a year chance to toe the line with the big boys and gals. I will never play in the Super Bowl or Stanley Cup, nor will I win a major marathon or Ironman triathlon but on any given day it is certainly possible for some unknown to come out of nowhere and win the biggest and most prestigious event for poker players because it has happened.
So I headed out the door, made a quick stop at Starbucks for a caffiene/java fix and cranked the tunes (DMB and Sheryl Crow again)and headed up the Northway for Week #6 of live league play.
Pre-game warmup is spent chatting with Mike and Rich and Zoe who tells me my spot is reserved in a live tourney next Sunday. When Ray arrives he asks me if I took down the Pokerstars Omaha 8 SNG that he actually watched me go from $900 chippies with about 5 left and almost out to $7000 and the lead going into HUP. For some ungodly reason unknown to anyone but Lee Jones they wouldnt allow him to chat. Something about not being registered in the tourney. Now I was able to chat to him during his buy-in, and I know chat is disabled when someone is all-in and I dont think this is a SNG thing because I have chatted during SNG's from the rail myself. And I know dang well he has more money on stars then me. So maybe Lee was just feeling cranky and ornery after all that unfolded on Friday the 13th.
Anyway I get seated at at the one table I have not started at yet in the 4 seat. I have Bruce, Lex(Big Tai), Joyce, Trent (LgKeeper), Juddy, Steve (last weeks winner) and a sub for Dane at my table. And for the first time in 6 weeks I went on an early roll. I took down a nice pot where Juddy ran into kicker problems and then she ran into me hitting two pair. I hit a set of Jacks that could have been dangerous to Steve and his eights and took down a nice pot. I hit trip 4's with a raggedy ass hand which I got okay value on but could have gotten better value on. And I got dealt pocket Kings and forced Trent to get away from his pocket 99's when the board came QXX. I then took out Lex when I raised with AA and he pushed over the top of me. It was his AK against my AA and unlike the previous nite when my rockets got cracked they held. Edawg can thank me for regaining first place in the league.
Zoe gets moved to my table, then Ray joins us and Joyce leaves when we start condensing down and before you know it we are down to the final table. We redraw for seats and it is: Ray in the one, Eric in the two, Rich in the three, Karen in the four, Darren in the 5, Zoe in the 6, followed by Steve, Joyce, Tracey and me in the ten. Oh goodie goodie I have Ray and Eric both to my left. And one luckbox to my right where I want her. I knock Karen out in tenth, then Zoe hits the rail, followed by Steve and Rich (Silo) is the bubble boy. Eric squeeks in for 6th place followed by Tracy in 5th. A cat fight almost insues between Joyce and Tracy when Tracy tells me what Joyce says she had and I thank my lucky stars I laid down TT preflop from UTG. Supposedly my set of tens would have been outsetted by Aces when the flop came down AKT. I laid down a couple of big hands preflop from EP based on my read that the shorter stacks were going to move in. Lets say I have accurately predicted two weeks in a row when one player has a monster hand and is going to move in. It's a beautiful thing when everything starts clicking.
Ray who has entered the FT with about the same chip count has me has made some great calls against loose and lucky Joyce and has now depleted a great part of Joyce's stack. For some reason I just dont think my birthday Mojo is gonna last to make it to headsup with him. Early on at the Final Table I make a commment that the person who takes me out usually goes on to win. It happened the prior night when Taxidermist aka RK, hit his set of queens against my aces. I went out first and he went on to win. With the blinds at 1000/2000 and me down to about 8000 I decide to make a move with QJ. Joyce had folded, Ray gets out of the way. DMoney (Darren) decides to gamble....My QJ against his 89os... Of course he hits two pair leaving me with a gutshot but no ten arrives and I go out in 4th. If I had been able to survive that coinflip with Darren I knew I would have been headsup with Ray because ultimately I knew both of us have a ton more experience at shorthanded play then Joyce. It just may have been my nite too.
Joyce goes out in 3rd. Ray and Darren go to heads up. I must be getting old because I'm not sure if they played a hand. Darren has Ray by 10000 chips. Ray has his seat in the Tourney of Champs. Darren offers to chop the money with the condition that he gets the seat into the TOC by virtue of Ray already having earned his spot with his win over me. The decision is then debated by all the railbirds present if this is allowed as Mike has left for the nite and we cant get him on his cell. Ultimately, I state that it is Ray's decision to make and as long as we are consistent week to week what difference does it make. Joyce was probably the only contrarian. Ultimately, Ray makes the decision which will be good for his Cardma and agrees to the chop.
Two-time winner Eric E(Edawg) takes over the lead from Lex (BigTai) who drops to 4th. Two-time winner Steve (who nicely asked if I was turning 31-thanks sweetie!!) moves into second. Ray(Snake5970)moves back into the 3-spot. And yours truly Irongirl aka IG, aka IGEE-BABEE, aka TILLY is the highest ranking female in the 5 spot. I honestly believe if I continue to play my A game and continue to improve my people reading ability I can stay in the top 5.
Thanks to Surflexus (my fellow Libra), Katitude, SLB159 and TheStudent who came by to say happy birthday on a trying day for us online poker players. And of course to my AcesCracked guys and Poker Analysis forummates and APLers.
And big thanks to HammerPlayer (Hoyazo). I spent some time reading your strategy articles on playing Middle Pocket pairs both I and II before this game and it paid off in spades!!
News Update on Ultimate Bet (UB) thanks to Amy Calistri
Just on Full Contact Poker and Daniel is scrambling to change networks right now and I cant login to FCP. I had previously posted the link to his article criticizing the US Govt and want to give him props for doing so. The Government needs to get its priorities straight and worry about the lives being lost in Iraq not how we spend our time or money in the pursuit of happiness. As far as I'm concerned I still have the First Amendment right to Freedom of Speech and will exercise it. Its times like these I wish I had continued on to Law School instead of just sticking with my Accounting/Finance and Psychology degrees. I should have become a lobbyist instead of a corporate drone. More often then not I feel like Don Quixote attacking windmills.
I'm doing some research and testing into anonymous proxy servers hence the reason for my lack of "real" poker content. There are some great articles over on the 2+2 forums and on www.muffmoney.com. I'm no techie but I know there are ways to block where your computer is located.
Some co-workers stopped by my desk yesterday in surprise that they couldn't access their on-line Bingo accounts and online Casino accounts and asked how to get their money out now that they were locked out. Ignorance is not Bliss. No one had thought about emailing support to request their funds. It dawned on me that most people gamble for entertainment purposes and probably only have the hope for the big score and no expectations to win. And I guarantee you not one of them read the Terms and Conditions or FAQs on any of the sites they played on.
And here is the Friday nite answer to the question that Ray raised about Ultimate Bet. Just call me the Chris Berman of Poker:
October 15, 2006
Amy CalistriPrint
Just one day before US President Bush signed the Unlawful Internet
Gambling Enforcement Act into law, Excapsa Software sold its entire operation to Blast Off Ltd, a privately owned Maltese company, for a reported $130 million. Excapsa, parent company of Ultimate Bet.com, was one of the last publicly traded online gaming companies to divest itself of its US operations prior to the signing of the law. Blast Off Ltd. operates Online Elimination Blackjack ™ and was associated with Excapsa via the Ultimate Blackjack Tour, the brainchild of former WSOP Champion and Team UltimateBet member Russ Hamilton.
PartyGaming Plc was one of the first publicly traded companies to announce its plan to close off access to US players, closely followed by 888 Holdings Plc. Earlier this week Britain's Sportingbet (SBT.L) and Leisure & Gaming (LNG.L) both pulled out of the United States, each selling their U.S. operations to private investors for $1. World Gaming (WGP.L) called it quits, citing that it was no longer possible to continue its operation and called in administrators.
Publicly traded companies are commonly prohibited by their listing regulations from knowingly violating any law where they operate. Regulatory issues, as well as the added potential shareholder liability, seemed to be the tipping point for online gaming companies contemplating tangling with the US's new legal environment. People speculated that the US market would be left only to private enterprises such as Poker Stars, Full Tilt Poker, and Doyle's Room. PokerStars had been scheduled to float a $1.6 billion IPO on the London Exchange next spring, but recently postponed those plans based on the US legislation.
Many had been puzzled by UltimateBet's recent affirmation that they would continue to support US online customers, wondering how Excapsa would traverse the regulatory terrain as a public company. The mystery is now solved. UtlimateBet will continue to service US customers, but under its new private enterprise.
Woohoo!!!! They are in for the long haul
I'm doing some research and testing into anonymous proxy servers hence the reason for my lack of "real" poker content. There are some great articles over on the 2+2 forums and on www.muffmoney.com. I'm no techie but I know there are ways to block where your computer is located.
Some co-workers stopped by my desk yesterday in surprise that they couldn't access their on-line Bingo accounts and online Casino accounts and asked how to get their money out now that they were locked out. Ignorance is not Bliss. No one had thought about emailing support to request their funds. It dawned on me that most people gamble for entertainment purposes and probably only have the hope for the big score and no expectations to win. And I guarantee you not one of them read the Terms and Conditions or FAQs on any of the sites they played on.
And here is the Friday nite answer to the question that Ray raised about Ultimate Bet. Just call me the Chris Berman of Poker:
October 15, 2006
Amy CalistriPrint
Just one day before US President Bush signed the Unlawful Internet
Gambling Enforcement Act into law, Excapsa Software sold its entire operation to Blast Off Ltd, a privately owned Maltese company, for a reported $130 million. Excapsa, parent company of Ultimate Bet.com, was one of the last publicly traded online gaming companies to divest itself of its US operations prior to the signing of the law. Blast Off Ltd. operates Online Elimination Blackjack ™ and was associated with Excapsa via the Ultimate Blackjack Tour, the brainchild of former WSOP Champion and Team UltimateBet member Russ Hamilton.
PartyGaming Plc was one of the first publicly traded companies to announce its plan to close off access to US players, closely followed by 888 Holdings Plc. Earlier this week Britain's Sportingbet (SBT.L) and Leisure & Gaming (LNG.L) both pulled out of the United States, each selling their U.S. operations to private investors for $1. World Gaming (WGP.L) called it quits, citing that it was no longer possible to continue its operation and called in administrators.
Publicly traded companies are commonly prohibited by their listing regulations from knowingly violating any law where they operate. Regulatory issues, as well as the added potential shareholder liability, seemed to be the tipping point for online gaming companies contemplating tangling with the US's new legal environment. People speculated that the US market would be left only to private enterprises such as Poker Stars, Full Tilt Poker, and Doyle's Room. PokerStars had been scheduled to float a $1.6 billion IPO on the London Exchange next spring, but recently postponed those plans based on the US legislation.
Many had been puzzled by UltimateBet's recent affirmation that they would continue to support US online customers, wondering how Excapsa would traverse the regulatory terrain as a public company. The mystery is now solved. UtlimateBet will continue to service US customers, but under its new private enterprise.
Woohoo!!!! They are in for the long haul
Thursday, October 12, 2006
It's My Party and I'll Cry If I Want too :(
I got home tonight to find myself inundated with emails from various Prima sites: Dream, Trident, PokerTime, 7 Sultans, Royal Vegas and Royal Vegas Casino, are all shutting down to either US Players and/or New York Residents. I had $200 of unplayed thru Casino credits that I won that I just had to forfeit on Royal Vegas Casino. Fortunately I got my deposit of $50 out. I just donked off $5.20 to some Scandinavians on PokerTime because I didnt have enough for a minimum withdraw of $20. Fortunately I had never deposited there. It was just money I won in a Shark Army Tour event and then used mostly for the WSOP satellites that Poker Analysis ran there. In fact I hadnt played on the site since February or March. Trident, Dream and RVP are different stories. PA plays Buyin league games on RVP. I hadnt been on Trident in a while but had worked nothing up to something. All told between the three rooms I just had to withdraw almost $800. Although my Neteller account is looking plush. I have a sickening pit in my stomach. I feel that the rug has been pulled out from under me and I almost had me a good cry.
I got over to FTP to play the AcesCracked League game. Eggman9 (Mike) from APL and some mystery man named BigTai were entered along with the AC old guard of Sham and Taxidermist and MarkG and a couple of the Newbies like DaPokerGnome and X8oD. I type in chat that I'M ON TILT. BigTai types me a reply back and Im thinking who the heck are you bud.
Mike types me a cryptic message about me "knowing" BigTai. Well I knew it wasnt Ray or his brother, Rich or Trent from APL cuz I know their screen names so I was left wondering thinking perhaps it was Edawg (Eric E). Turns out it was Lex who is currently tearing up the the APL leaderboard and who modestly said he had just been lucky. Trent even stopped by to say hello getting home too late to play the game. MIA were Penn past his bedtime in jolly old England and Snake (Ray) who I did find on Pokerstars after my my aces got Cracked by Taxi's set of queens. Fitting that my aces get cracked in the Aces cracked league game. Out I went 7th of 8th. BLECK!!
I said a quickie hello to Snake (Ray) on stars watched him nicely double up with Aces and then my Omaha 8 SNG got under way. I had bubbled on Monday night in an Omaha 8 $5.50 SNG and was determined to cash. What a donk fest. People playing Omaha 8 like its no-limit. I lost a chunk before before I realized I should just sit back and wait for people to self implode. Inevitably the creme rises to the top and I found myself with the chip lead going into heads-up. I wound up finishing #2 and really need to work on my Omaha 8 heads-up. Hence, the reason I am playing SNGs. I can get to the Final Table and cash when I play my best Omaha 8 but am better at a full handed table then I am at short handed Omaha 8 play. I need to find some good articles on it.
Tomorrow is my 46th birthday and I decided not to even celebrate it. How dare the President sign a bill outlawing the means to which I can access the "sport" I have come to love. To boot, the 13th and final Series of Unfortunate Events is published tomorrow... The Horror.
So in anti-celebration of my non-46th birthday I shall play 46os and sooted because I will probably get dealt that hand at least 13 times while in the SB and BB tomorrow in my league game.
I got over to FTP to play the AcesCracked League game. Eggman9 (Mike) from APL and some mystery man named BigTai were entered along with the AC old guard of Sham and Taxidermist and MarkG and a couple of the Newbies like DaPokerGnome and X8oD. I type in chat that I'M ON TILT. BigTai types me a reply back and Im thinking who the heck are you bud.
Mike types me a cryptic message about me "knowing" BigTai. Well I knew it wasnt Ray or his brother, Rich or Trent from APL cuz I know their screen names so I was left wondering thinking perhaps it was Edawg (Eric E). Turns out it was Lex who is currently tearing up the the APL leaderboard and who modestly said he had just been lucky. Trent even stopped by to say hello getting home too late to play the game. MIA were Penn past his bedtime in jolly old England and Snake (Ray) who I did find on Pokerstars after my my aces got Cracked by Taxi's set of queens. Fitting that my aces get cracked in the Aces cracked league game. Out I went 7th of 8th. BLECK!!
I said a quickie hello to Snake (Ray) on stars watched him nicely double up with Aces and then my Omaha 8 SNG got under way. I had bubbled on Monday night in an Omaha 8 $5.50 SNG and was determined to cash. What a donk fest. People playing Omaha 8 like its no-limit. I lost a chunk before before I realized I should just sit back and wait for people to self implode. Inevitably the creme rises to the top and I found myself with the chip lead going into heads-up. I wound up finishing #2 and really need to work on my Omaha 8 heads-up. Hence, the reason I am playing SNGs. I can get to the Final Table and cash when I play my best Omaha 8 but am better at a full handed table then I am at short handed Omaha 8 play. I need to find some good articles on it.
Tomorrow is my 46th birthday and I decided not to even celebrate it. How dare the President sign a bill outlawing the means to which I can access the "sport" I have come to love. To boot, the 13th and final Series of Unfortunate Events is published tomorrow... The Horror.
So in anti-celebration of my non-46th birthday I shall play 46os and sooted because I will probably get dealt that hand at least 13 times while in the SB and BB tomorrow in my league game.
Sunday, October 08, 2006
Sunday Funday
I got up bright and early today to help with the HMRRC-Marine Corps Half Marathon. Having been a fixture in the Capital District running community for 15 years I saw tons of people I hadn't seen since I untied the laces of my New Balances and racked my bike. That meant lots of hugs and kisses from old friends many of whom I have run hundreds of miles with over the years.
Imagine the horrified looks I got when people asked me for the time and I said I'm not wearing a watch. What kind of runner doesn't where a watch? Most runners and triathletes are slaves to their Timex Ironmans (with 50 lap counters) and their Polar Heart Rate monitors. But not IG. No IG lost her Timex Ironman when her faux Kate Spade or Prada purse spit it out somewhere right before her trip to Vegas.
I have worked packet pick-ups and race registrations for years and runners are a funny bunch. They are either very friendly and socialable or they are completely socially inept. Why are long-distance runner's lonely you might ask? Because some of them haven't got a clue and act like they just crawled out from under a rock still wearing running clothes from the original running boom. Who wears cotton and short shorts in this day of Microfiber wicking materials and got forbid lycra? It never ceases to amaze me how many people cannot completely fill out a race application. Today I didn't have to worry about day of race registration because we were sold out. No room on the bike path for day of race registrants.
I took the job on because my dear friend Ed asked me too help. I can never turn Ed down because he's been a source of NY Jets tickets and SPAC shed seats for DMB and the Dead over the years. Plus I did it as a favor to Elaine and Jim the current Race Director's who took the race over from me.
I stepped back into RD mode without missing a beat. I even kept a straight face at the stupid questions I got asked.
Clueless Runner #1: Which bus do I put my bags on?
IG: The first one.
Clueless Runner #1: Which bus is that?
IG: The one with the two behind it? Duh!!
Clueless Runner #2: Are their Portalets on the route?
IG: No, you will have the Hudson River on your left for a good part of the route. I smiled nicely and stated a simple fact there is no way of knowing where you might need to go over 13.1 miles. (Come on people we are talking a run of 1 hour 15 minutes for the fleet of feet and three hours tops for the penguins.)
IG ten minutes before race is to start: OKAY PEOPLE START MOVING YOUR BUTTS TO THE START LINE AND GET YOUR SHIT ON THE BUS IF YOU WANT IT AT THE FINISH----OOPS!! Lots of laughs with that one.
This mystery of why would you do that always horrified me when I was racing directing: The people who put their bib numbers on their backs. Why would you pin your number on your back when you cant reach it and probably have to have someone do it for you. And when you look at everyone else with their bibs neatly pinned to the front of their singlets or t-shirts doesn't that tell you that just maybe you are an idiot? My gut feeling was anyone who did that in a race longer then say 5 miles had no business even running that distance.
I wasn't feeling to poker-ish today. I played a $5.50 45 person sng on Full Tilt only to donk out really early when my straight on the turn got flushed or boated on the river. I then sat down at a .10/.25 Pot limit Omaha 8 table with no cap (living dangerously) and promptly proceeded to work my $15 up to $34.55 in about two hands. I told myself I would grind out bonus and leave when I got down near $30. I got up as high as $37 only to give back some when a short stack flushed me and another big stack on the river and we split the low. Sucks but that is Omaha 8. I left with a $15+ profit for the short session but if you subtract my $5.50 donation in the sng I was only up $9.50. I then got bitch slapped in a $3.30 turbo 0maha 8 10-person SNG on riverstars a few hours later when my opponent rivered me. I did horrible this week in online MTTs and SNGs. My winnings came from ring game play (WOO HOO a first) and from my live play. Actually when all is said and done I had a break even week unless I can eek out a win somewhere later tonight.
I logged into Titan to find lots of cancelled league games. Not enough players to get the tourneys off the ground since they are shutting down to the USA and most of us have pulled our money. I think they have just banned deposits and new customers because I was able to use some of my accumulated player points for a point buyin. Didn't have much luck their got my KK cracked on the river by A2 hitting their A. Another Donkfest.
Probably because of everything that went down this week with losing rooms etc, online poker especially MTTs has lost some of its charm for me and Im glad I made the move into live play. I'm more confident at the ring game tables especially Omaha 8 and feel that this will be my real money maker. Now to just win one of those $20 buyin 180 person sngs on stars. Better yet make it two.
I'm 9-3 in this weeks football picks with two games to go. Had two mediocre weeks during weeks 3-4 so this should make up for them. APL update still to be posted.
Imagine the horrified looks I got when people asked me for the time and I said I'm not wearing a watch. What kind of runner doesn't where a watch? Most runners and triathletes are slaves to their Timex Ironmans (with 50 lap counters) and their Polar Heart Rate monitors. But not IG. No IG lost her Timex Ironman when her faux Kate Spade or Prada purse spit it out somewhere right before her trip to Vegas.
I have worked packet pick-ups and race registrations for years and runners are a funny bunch. They are either very friendly and socialable or they are completely socially inept. Why are long-distance runner's lonely you might ask? Because some of them haven't got a clue and act like they just crawled out from under a rock still wearing running clothes from the original running boom. Who wears cotton and short shorts in this day of Microfiber wicking materials and got forbid lycra? It never ceases to amaze me how many people cannot completely fill out a race application. Today I didn't have to worry about day of race registration because we were sold out. No room on the bike path for day of race registrants.
I took the job on because my dear friend Ed asked me too help. I can never turn Ed down because he's been a source of NY Jets tickets and SPAC shed seats for DMB and the Dead over the years. Plus I did it as a favor to Elaine and Jim the current Race Director's who took the race over from me.
I stepped back into RD mode without missing a beat. I even kept a straight face at the stupid questions I got asked.
Clueless Runner #1: Which bus do I put my bags on?
IG: The first one.
Clueless Runner #1: Which bus is that?
IG: The one with the two behind it? Duh!!
Clueless Runner #2: Are their Portalets on the route?
IG: No, you will have the Hudson River on your left for a good part of the route. I smiled nicely and stated a simple fact there is no way of knowing where you might need to go over 13.1 miles. (Come on people we are talking a run of 1 hour 15 minutes for the fleet of feet and three hours tops for the penguins.)
IG ten minutes before race is to start: OKAY PEOPLE START MOVING YOUR BUTTS TO THE START LINE AND GET YOUR SHIT ON THE BUS IF YOU WANT IT AT THE FINISH----OOPS!! Lots of laughs with that one.
This mystery of why would you do that always horrified me when I was racing directing: The people who put their bib numbers on their backs. Why would you pin your number on your back when you cant reach it and probably have to have someone do it for you. And when you look at everyone else with their bibs neatly pinned to the front of their singlets or t-shirts doesn't that tell you that just maybe you are an idiot? My gut feeling was anyone who did that in a race longer then say 5 miles had no business even running that distance.
I wasn't feeling to poker-ish today. I played a $5.50 45 person sng on Full Tilt only to donk out really early when my straight on the turn got flushed or boated on the river. I then sat down at a .10/.25 Pot limit Omaha 8 table with no cap (living dangerously) and promptly proceeded to work my $15 up to $34.55 in about two hands. I told myself I would grind out bonus and leave when I got down near $30. I got up as high as $37 only to give back some when a short stack flushed me and another big stack on the river and we split the low. Sucks but that is Omaha 8. I left with a $15+ profit for the short session but if you subtract my $5.50 donation in the sng I was only up $9.50. I then got bitch slapped in a $3.30 turbo 0maha 8 10-person SNG on riverstars a few hours later when my opponent rivered me. I did horrible this week in online MTTs and SNGs. My winnings came from ring game play (WOO HOO a first) and from my live play. Actually when all is said and done I had a break even week unless I can eek out a win somewhere later tonight.
I logged into Titan to find lots of cancelled league games. Not enough players to get the tourneys off the ground since they are shutting down to the USA and most of us have pulled our money. I think they have just banned deposits and new customers because I was able to use some of my accumulated player points for a point buyin. Didn't have much luck their got my KK cracked on the river by A2 hitting their A. Another Donkfest.
Probably because of everything that went down this week with losing rooms etc, online poker especially MTTs has lost some of its charm for me and Im glad I made the move into live play. I'm more confident at the ring game tables especially Omaha 8 and feel that this will be my real money maker. Now to just win one of those $20 buyin 180 person sngs on stars. Better yet make it two.
I'm 9-3 in this weeks football picks with two games to go. Had two mediocre weeks during weeks 3-4 so this should make up for them. APL update still to be posted.
Saturday, October 07, 2006
Some Interesting Newslinks
I didnt have a good run at today's blogger tour event. I did have a very good showing in live league play last nite making the cash. Ill write more about that later. I have some things to do before I hit pokerstars for AcesCracked league game.
The first link is a Daniel Negreanu's blog entry on US Politics.
http://www.cardplayer.com/poker_news/blog_entry/142
Secondly by Allyn Jaffrey Shulman of Cardplayer Magazine:
http://www.cardplayer.com/poker_news/news_story/1446?class=PokerNews
Short poker day today. I have to get up at the crack of dawn to direct the start line and day of race registration/number pick-up for my running club's fall half marathon which runs in conjunction with the club's fall full marathon (thats 26.2 miles) which I directed for 5 years. One of the few events I get lured out of retirement for each year. I'll get caught up in the excitement of the event and contemplate starting up training again for all of about 2 hours. Ultimately, I'll say Nah... too much work, my feet and back will hurt and it's not +EV.
The first link is a Daniel Negreanu's blog entry on US Politics.
http://www.cardplayer.com/poker_news/blog_entry/142
Secondly by Allyn Jaffrey Shulman of Cardplayer Magazine:
http://www.cardplayer.com/poker_news/news_story/1446?class=PokerNews
Short poker day today. I have to get up at the crack of dawn to direct the start line and day of race registration/number pick-up for my running club's fall half marathon which runs in conjunction with the club's fall full marathon (thats 26.2 miles) which I directed for 5 years. One of the few events I get lured out of retirement for each year. I'll get caught up in the excitement of the event and contemplate starting up training again for all of about 2 hours. Ultimately, I'll say Nah... too much work, my feet and back will hurt and it's not +EV.
Pimpin the Poker.com Blogger Poker Tour
Schedule:
Blogger Poker Tour Freeroll Satellites
All Blogger Poker Tour Events can be found in the Tournaments > Scheduled > Special Tab of the Poker.com software. All times are Poker.com server time, which is GMT - 5, or US EST.
Date Time Host Blog
23 September 15:00 Event #1 - Poker.com Poker Blog
7 October 15:00 Event #2 - Royal's Bluff Till You Drop Bender
21 October - Event #3 - TBA
4 November - Event #4 - TBA
18 November - Event #5 - TBA
2 December - Event #6 - TBA
16 December - Event #7 - TBA
Blogger Poker Tour Grand Final
23 December 15:00 Blogger Poker Tour Grand Final!
Yours truly has been asked to host one of the BPT events. Should be the November 4th event as I am currently scheduled to be in Boston on October 21st. I've been in touch with Shane, the BPT commish and decided to shake things up a bit. Be forewarned, I've chosen the game of the day to be Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo. Time to get you no limit holdem specialists out of your comfort zone. So everyone has one month to get there Omaha Hi/Lo game in good order. I can steer folks to some great books and articles on Omaha8 or O8B if you would like to drop me a PM or email.
Shane has the results up to date and I'm currently sitting in 4th after my 3rd place finish last week. Hosts of BPT events get winners points. Im hoping a few more weeks of solid play and my gig as hostest with the mostest keeps me in the top twenty so I can play for the fabulous prizes. Sure, the Aussie Millions grand prize would be the one I covet the most but any of the top twenty prizes would do. Since Im playing live quite a bit an IPOD nano would be great and the APL could always stand to use another Poker Table.
Today's host is Royal, be sure to visit his blog.
Once Again thanks to Poker.com for sticking by us Yankees. I for one will definitely support a site that supports us. I've even asked El of Poker Analysis to consider moving some of the Buy-in games and Freeroll league games to poker.com.
I play poker at Poker.com
Blogger Poker Tour Freeroll Satellites
All Blogger Poker Tour Events can be found in the Tournaments > Scheduled > Special Tab of the Poker.com software. All times are Poker.com server time, which is GMT - 5, or US EST.
Date Time Host Blog
23 September 15:00 Event #1 - Poker.com Poker Blog
7 October 15:00 Event #2 - Royal's Bluff Till You Drop Bender
21 October - Event #3 - TBA
4 November - Event #4 - TBA
18 November - Event #5 - TBA
2 December - Event #6 - TBA
16 December - Event #7 - TBA
Blogger Poker Tour Grand Final
23 December 15:00 Blogger Poker Tour Grand Final!
Yours truly has been asked to host one of the BPT events. Should be the November 4th event as I am currently scheduled to be in Boston on October 21st. I've been in touch with Shane, the BPT commish and decided to shake things up a bit. Be forewarned, I've chosen the game of the day to be Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo. Time to get you no limit holdem specialists out of your comfort zone. So everyone has one month to get there Omaha Hi/Lo game in good order. I can steer folks to some great books and articles on Omaha8 or O8B if you would like to drop me a PM or email.
Shane has the results up to date and I'm currently sitting in 4th after my 3rd place finish last week. Hosts of BPT events get winners points. Im hoping a few more weeks of solid play and my gig as hostest with the mostest keeps me in the top twenty so I can play for the fabulous prizes. Sure, the Aussie Millions grand prize would be the one I covet the most but any of the top twenty prizes would do. Since Im playing live quite a bit an IPOD nano would be great and the APL could always stand to use another Poker Table.
Today's host is Royal, be sure to visit his blog.
Once Again thanks to Poker.com for sticking by us Yankees. I for one will definitely support a site that supports us. I've even asked El of Poker Analysis to consider moving some of the Buy-in games and Freeroll league games to poker.com.
I play poker at Poker.com
Friday, October 06, 2006
There may be Hope yet.
Online gaming firms consider legal challenge to US ban
· British-based companies could mount WTO case
· Antiguan government says it will work with websites
Hans Kundnani
Friday October 6, 2006
Guardian
British-based online gambling companies could join forces with the Antiguan government to challenge the new US legislation targeting internet gambling that wiped an estimated £4bn from the sector's stockmarket value on Monday.
Antigua, which has already successfully challenged previous US laws on internet gambling, said yesterday it would be willing to work with UK companies such as Sportingbet to challenge what they see as US protectionism.
Following a complaint from Antigua, the World Trade Organisation ruled last year that US laws on online gambling contravened its rules. A WTO panel will decide in November whether the US is now complying with its rules.
Antiguan officials said yesterday that the new legislation, included in the port security bill passed by the Senate last Friday and due to be signed into law by President Bush within two weeks, was "as contrary to the decision of the WTO in our case as can possibly be imagined" and "puts the United States on a direct collision course with the WTO".
"The new legislation just makes our case before the WTO that much stronger," said Mark Mendel, a lawyer who represents Antigua in the WTO.
Complaints to the WTO from European companies are brought by the European commission, which said yesterday it had not yet received any approach from any UK company on the issue. However, several UK companies, including Sportingbet, have indicated they are actively considering a WTO case against the US.
Sportingbet chief executive Nigel Payne has been in Antigua since Tuesday afternoon and is understood to be meeting the Antiguan authorities to discuss the US legislation. Sportingbet has a licence in Antigua, which allows it to operate servers and customer support in Costa Rica for its US customers.
Meanwhile John J Farmer, a former New Jersey attorney general, told a conference in London that the legislation, which makes it illegal for banks and credit card companies to receive payments from online gambling sites, would drive the online gaming industry underground and benefit "fly-by-night operators".
There were also the first signs of much-anticipated consolidation in the online gaming industry yesterday as ukbetting said it had received a number of informal approaches to take over the company.
PartyGaming is known to be interested in acquisitions despite its shares falling 60% this week and said it cancelled its dividend to "take advantage of the many attractive opportunities in the sector that will emerge in the coming months".
PartyGaming, which has been forced to renegotiate its loan facility as a result of the US legislation, is also hoping to take over smaller rival Gamesys, which has all its customers in the UK.
However, even in the UK online gambling may now be under threat as a result of the US crackdown. US credit card companies MBNA and Capital One are considering the possibility of blocking the use of their cards for online gambling even from UK customers. Some major credit cards such as American Express already ban such uses.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006
· British-based companies could mount WTO case
· Antiguan government says it will work with websites
Hans Kundnani
Friday October 6, 2006
Guardian
British-based online gambling companies could join forces with the Antiguan government to challenge the new US legislation targeting internet gambling that wiped an estimated £4bn from the sector's stockmarket value on Monday.
Antigua, which has already successfully challenged previous US laws on internet gambling, said yesterday it would be willing to work with UK companies such as Sportingbet to challenge what they see as US protectionism.
Following a complaint from Antigua, the World Trade Organisation ruled last year that US laws on online gambling contravened its rules. A WTO panel will decide in November whether the US is now complying with its rules.
Antiguan officials said yesterday that the new legislation, included in the port security bill passed by the Senate last Friday and due to be signed into law by President Bush within two weeks, was "as contrary to the decision of the WTO in our case as can possibly be imagined" and "puts the United States on a direct collision course with the WTO".
"The new legislation just makes our case before the WTO that much stronger," said Mark Mendel, a lawyer who represents Antigua in the WTO.
Complaints to the WTO from European companies are brought by the European commission, which said yesterday it had not yet received any approach from any UK company on the issue. However, several UK companies, including Sportingbet, have indicated they are actively considering a WTO case against the US.
Sportingbet chief executive Nigel Payne has been in Antigua since Tuesday afternoon and is understood to be meeting the Antiguan authorities to discuss the US legislation. Sportingbet has a licence in Antigua, which allows it to operate servers and customer support in Costa Rica for its US customers.
Meanwhile John J Farmer, a former New Jersey attorney general, told a conference in London that the legislation, which makes it illegal for banks and credit card companies to receive payments from online gambling sites, would drive the online gaming industry underground and benefit "fly-by-night operators".
There were also the first signs of much-anticipated consolidation in the online gaming industry yesterday as ukbetting said it had received a number of informal approaches to take over the company.
PartyGaming is known to be interested in acquisitions despite its shares falling 60% this week and said it cancelled its dividend to "take advantage of the many attractive opportunities in the sector that will emerge in the coming months".
PartyGaming, which has been forced to renegotiate its loan facility as a result of the US legislation, is also hoping to take over smaller rival Gamesys, which has all its customers in the UK.
However, even in the UK online gambling may now be under threat as a result of the US crackdown. US credit card companies MBNA and Capital One are considering the possibility of blocking the use of their cards for online gambling even from UK customers. Some major credit cards such as American Express already ban such uses.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006
Are you Ready to be Unplugged?
-----MORPHEUS TO NEO: The Matrix is a system, Neo. That system is our enemy. But when you're inside, you look around, what do you see? Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system and that makes them our enemy. You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it.----- The Matrix
That sums up how I feel about the US government and most of my fellow citizens.
I played no poker Monday and Tuesday nights. Instead I spent most of both nights withdrawing money from sites closing to players from the US. I withdrew the bulk of my bankroll from Titan to limit my exposure. The next morning, I received an email from Titan announcing they were closing to US players. So, I pulled the rest of my roll from there and CD and Noble. BetFred didnt have my Neteller info. They are mailing me a check as is Sun Poker. Still left to go is Fair and Kiwi on the playtech sites. Turmoil not only for me but for all the leagues that were on those sites. Im going to have a hard time going back to sites that turned their backs on us.
Wednesday nite I played the Freeroll League game for Poker Analysis on William Jack Poker. Fortunately short of Purple lounge the primas are still business as usual. I'm keeping an eye on Lou Krieger's site. He is our resident pro on poker analysis and I know will keep El and Syn informed. I finished 5th for a few bucks in the league game. Then it was on to the Mookie. I got a nice early lead going in the Mookie when I raised with AA only to get reraised and over the top I went. My good cards all came early. No matter how many mid and small pockets I was dealt I couldnt hit a set or hit anything later on in the tourney. SIGH. What is more important was the turn-out for the Mookie was fantastic. So much for the ban.
Last night I played my Aces Cracked league game on Full Tilt and bubbled in 4th. I upheld the Adirondack Poker League honor by finishing the highest over Eggman (Mike) and Snake (Ray) who also played the AC game. I think we made up more then 1/3 of the AC members since I think there were just 8. Early momentum again and then I went dead. I then decided to get cute and started pushing with anything that looked decent. Got back into the game and then ran A8 into AK. So I sat down at a $3 cap pot limit Omaha 8 table and ground out some more bonus and earned a few bucks of my buyin back for a little bit.
I'm off today. I have enough time accumulated now and will accumulate more time thru the end of the year, that I can take off nearly every Friday till 12/31/06 and still carry over 40 hours. I only use 4 hours of my time up when I take Fridays off since I only work a half day. We just got an annoucement that we can be considered to go home to work. I havent been a Customer Service Rep for a year yet that will be in December and could certainly work from home easily since my only distraction is Bailey my cat. But the hours they are asking to work are Monday thru Friday 10:30 AM to 7:00 PM EST. I can't and won't work that late on a Friday, so for now its no go. I'll continue to go into work. Yesterday I got pulled from the phones to process claims and do rework (my old job). Currently when I work on Saturdays I do my former position processing claims/reworks or I do claim projects that come out of our network area. It is easy money for 5 hours.
With my Neteller balance looking plush from consolidations I'll probably look to a few new sites to deposit on. I need to reload on Pokerstars. I got an interesting email from Bugsys club about a 25000 chip deep stack tourney tomorrow which looks good. I have the Blogger tour round II on poker.com. I forgot about the forum challenge thing on Absolute and failed to sign up. I also got accepted into that Ultimate BlackJack tour and have to do that tomorrow. I also have a casino offer to spin for an hour free. Last time I did one last Sunday, my head hurt and I didnt win any extra bucks.
I also have a few other live things I can do. JBaldwin and his wife are going to be at Foxwoods in two weeks and I can meet up with JB to play the Thursday nite No limit tourney there. Problem is I have to come back to play the league game Friday nite and then turn around and go to Boston on Saturday for the day with my mom. Carol and Sandy want me to go up to Fallsview Niagara during the WPT event there. Then I briefly considering playing the Ladies event at Foxwoods during the WPT event there. $300 buyin but I remember I told myself after the Orleans event I wont play another Ladies tourney again unless I satellite in or am staked. Ray thinks I'm nuts and should use the inherent donkeyfishness to my advantage. So this idea is still possibly a maybe if I play well live the next few weeks. I may just decide to go up to TROCK (Turning Stone) for a few cheaper events. Ratdog is playing in Utica in early November, and I can always combine a trip to the STONE with seeing Bobby and the boyz, a trip to Dinosaur barbecue and Wegmans supermarket. My BFF Kim would be up for all the above except perhaps the TROCK part.
I'm watching my favorite morning show while blogging: Squawk Box. I'm contemplating some changes in my rollover 401k that I manage myself. In my younger days my goal was to work on Wall Street. I did work on Wall Street but it was in Albany NY as part of a boutique financial planning company that became part of Shearson Lehman Hutton/American Express. My days of doing tax projections and balance sheets and planning executives stock option exercises were fueled by bong hits and Molson Golden Ale. I was too busy wanting to follow the Dead around and didnt grasp the fact that I was making great money for a 24-28 year old in a small city. I quit my job before I probably would have been fired, when I started crashing and burning, my personal finances in a mess. I decided to go back to school to become a chef. I left with a Series 7 license and a good set of knives. Ah yes, the folly of youth. I still have a love for the market and investing and will now get a nice pension from Goldman Sachs as my former unit went private after the whole Barbarian at the Gates drama, and then sold to Goldman Sachs a few years ago. Although my culinary adventures were only for a year too this day I love to cook and baking is a passion.
Live league action tonight. Snake informed me last nite that the forecast for Friday would be cold, so the sleeveless/short sleeve style Tilly tops will be replaced by the long sleeve ones. Im never one to disappoint!!!
That sums up how I feel about the US government and most of my fellow citizens.
I played no poker Monday and Tuesday nights. Instead I spent most of both nights withdrawing money from sites closing to players from the US. I withdrew the bulk of my bankroll from Titan to limit my exposure. The next morning, I received an email from Titan announcing they were closing to US players. So, I pulled the rest of my roll from there and CD and Noble. BetFred didnt have my Neteller info. They are mailing me a check as is Sun Poker. Still left to go is Fair and Kiwi on the playtech sites. Turmoil not only for me but for all the leagues that were on those sites. Im going to have a hard time going back to sites that turned their backs on us.
Wednesday nite I played the Freeroll League game for Poker Analysis on William Jack Poker. Fortunately short of Purple lounge the primas are still business as usual. I'm keeping an eye on Lou Krieger's site. He is our resident pro on poker analysis and I know will keep El and Syn informed. I finished 5th for a few bucks in the league game. Then it was on to the Mookie. I got a nice early lead going in the Mookie when I raised with AA only to get reraised and over the top I went. My good cards all came early. No matter how many mid and small pockets I was dealt I couldnt hit a set or hit anything later on in the tourney. SIGH. What is more important was the turn-out for the Mookie was fantastic. So much for the ban.
Last night I played my Aces Cracked league game on Full Tilt and bubbled in 4th. I upheld the Adirondack Poker League honor by finishing the highest over Eggman (Mike) and Snake (Ray) who also played the AC game. I think we made up more then 1/3 of the AC members since I think there were just 8. Early momentum again and then I went dead. I then decided to get cute and started pushing with anything that looked decent. Got back into the game and then ran A8 into AK. So I sat down at a $3 cap pot limit Omaha 8 table and ground out some more bonus and earned a few bucks of my buyin back for a little bit.
I'm off today. I have enough time accumulated now and will accumulate more time thru the end of the year, that I can take off nearly every Friday till 12/31/06 and still carry over 40 hours. I only use 4 hours of my time up when I take Fridays off since I only work a half day. We just got an annoucement that we can be considered to go home to work. I havent been a Customer Service Rep for a year yet that will be in December and could certainly work from home easily since my only distraction is Bailey my cat. But the hours they are asking to work are Monday thru Friday 10:30 AM to 7:00 PM EST. I can't and won't work that late on a Friday, so for now its no go. I'll continue to go into work. Yesterday I got pulled from the phones to process claims and do rework (my old job). Currently when I work on Saturdays I do my former position processing claims/reworks or I do claim projects that come out of our network area. It is easy money for 5 hours.
With my Neteller balance looking plush from consolidations I'll probably look to a few new sites to deposit on. I need to reload on Pokerstars. I got an interesting email from Bugsys club about a 25000 chip deep stack tourney tomorrow which looks good. I have the Blogger tour round II on poker.com. I forgot about the forum challenge thing on Absolute and failed to sign up. I also got accepted into that Ultimate BlackJack tour and have to do that tomorrow. I also have a casino offer to spin for an hour free. Last time I did one last Sunday, my head hurt and I didnt win any extra bucks.
I also have a few other live things I can do. JBaldwin and his wife are going to be at Foxwoods in two weeks and I can meet up with JB to play the Thursday nite No limit tourney there. Problem is I have to come back to play the league game Friday nite and then turn around and go to Boston on Saturday for the day with my mom. Carol and Sandy want me to go up to Fallsview Niagara during the WPT event there. Then I briefly considering playing the Ladies event at Foxwoods during the WPT event there. $300 buyin but I remember I told myself after the Orleans event I wont play another Ladies tourney again unless I satellite in or am staked. Ray thinks I'm nuts and should use the inherent donkeyfishness to my advantage. So this idea is still possibly a maybe if I play well live the next few weeks. I may just decide to go up to TROCK (Turning Stone) for a few cheaper events. Ratdog is playing in Utica in early November, and I can always combine a trip to the STONE with seeing Bobby and the boyz, a trip to Dinosaur barbecue and Wegmans supermarket. My BFF Kim would be up for all the above except perhaps the TROCK part.
I'm watching my favorite morning show while blogging: Squawk Box. I'm contemplating some changes in my rollover 401k that I manage myself. In my younger days my goal was to work on Wall Street. I did work on Wall Street but it was in Albany NY as part of a boutique financial planning company that became part of Shearson Lehman Hutton/American Express. My days of doing tax projections and balance sheets and planning executives stock option exercises were fueled by bong hits and Molson Golden Ale. I was too busy wanting to follow the Dead around and didnt grasp the fact that I was making great money for a 24-28 year old in a small city. I quit my job before I probably would have been fired, when I started crashing and burning, my personal finances in a mess. I decided to go back to school to become a chef. I left with a Series 7 license and a good set of knives. Ah yes, the folly of youth. I still have a love for the market and investing and will now get a nice pension from Goldman Sachs as my former unit went private after the whole Barbarian at the Gates drama, and then sold to Goldman Sachs a few years ago. Although my culinary adventures were only for a year too this day I love to cook and baking is a passion.
Live league action tonight. Snake informed me last nite that the forecast for Friday would be cold, so the sleeveless/short sleeve style Tilly tops will be replaced by the long sleeve ones. Im never one to disappoint!!!
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Dear Chuck:
Dear Senator Shumer:
I've been a registered Democrat since the day I could first register to vote. I am a member of the DNC. I supported our Party financially in the last election.
I have always believed in the two-party system. I have now lost faith in my party because you have let me down.
A recent back-door move by Bill Frist that attached a bill banning online gambling to a port security measure was hurried thru the Senate on a voice vote the other night. I am sure you are well aware of this issue.
I have watched my company with a major service center in the Capital District send jobs offshore. I can live with that as Ive been able to supplement my income playing poker. Now Congress and the Senate is taking away my ability to earn a livelihood by restricting the means by which I can fund my accounts and play online.
I know this is a Republican sponsered initiative to appease the right wingers and to further Bill Frists 2008 Presidential aspirations, but why did every Democrat in the Senate vote to pass this bill thru?
Did you every consider taking the time to look into legalizing on-line poker and taxing it rather then outlawing it? How about carving out poker? Horse racing and fantasy sports has been spared from this bill. Poker is a game of skill that has been played by Presidents and Kings since it was created.
And please dont send me one of those nice little form letters that I have already received. I think its time to listen to the 70 million Americans that play poker including your own constituents and take a stand. If you do so you will have my support this November.
Sincerely,
Lori Christina
I've been a registered Democrat since the day I could first register to vote. I am a member of the DNC. I supported our Party financially in the last election.
I have always believed in the two-party system. I have now lost faith in my party because you have let me down.
A recent back-door move by Bill Frist that attached a bill banning online gambling to a port security measure was hurried thru the Senate on a voice vote the other night. I am sure you are well aware of this issue.
I have watched my company with a major service center in the Capital District send jobs offshore. I can live with that as Ive been able to supplement my income playing poker. Now Congress and the Senate is taking away my ability to earn a livelihood by restricting the means by which I can fund my accounts and play online.
I know this is a Republican sponsered initiative to appease the right wingers and to further Bill Frists 2008 Presidential aspirations, but why did every Democrat in the Senate vote to pass this bill thru?
Did you every consider taking the time to look into legalizing on-line poker and taxing it rather then outlawing it? How about carving out poker? Horse racing and fantasy sports has been spared from this bill. Poker is a game of skill that has been played by Presidents and Kings since it was created.
And please dont send me one of those nice little form letters that I have already received. I think its time to listen to the 70 million Americans that play poker including your own constituents and take a stand. If you do so you will have my support this November.
Sincerely,
Lori Christina
Monday, October 02, 2006
AGITA 10/2/2006-These are times that try our Souls
--There must be some kind of way out of here, said the Joker to the thief. There's too much Confusion. I can't get no relief--
**Bob Dylan - All Along the Watchtower**
I went to bed last night after reading Miami Don's blog. He made a statement about his blog being dead and on-line poker dead. At first I thought he was being a little cynical till I woke up this AM and turned on Squawk Box and saw that overseas gaming shares had crashed faster then JDS Uniphase and other tech stocks back in 2000. I fired up the computer and went first to Poker Analysis where I saw that Pacific and Party were going to stop taking bets from US customers. I have no money on Party currently and only a few bucks on Pacific so that didn't really effect me. When Pokerstars got mentioned I almost felt like calling in sick to work.
Im a very upbeat person, an eternal optimist. One might say PollyAnna-ish. You wont see me down very long. After an 8 year long relationship/engagement ended in 1999 I simply stated.. "If after 8 years you don't know if you want to get married, Then I'm not the girl for you." To me Change=Opportunity. The Chinese say Crisis=Opportunity. 70 million poker playing Americans, myself included are now faced with the stomach upset of the millennium or as we Italian Americans say AGITA. When faced with a crisis sometimes it is better to sit on our hands and do nothing. There are too many Chicken Little's running around right now. Before anyone does anything really stupid take a deep breath and educate yourself on the issue.
For me where this is a will there is away. I am a risk-taker, not risk adverse but a risk taker at heart. To me playing poker is no different then the stock market. It's a Random walk not on Wall Street but on the felt. I've been thinking about ways outside this potential banking issue. I refuse to see it as a poker issue. Montreal is a quick three hour ride up the Northway. Carol, is in Toronto, she trusted me with some of her Vegas bankroll which she sent to me player to player on stars and which I withdrew for her to avoid the exchange difference between US and Canadian dollars that Neteller was going to hit her with. I carried it to Vegas on my person and delivered the money to her and that trust goes two ways. We discussed it last night. It would be very easy for me to set up an account in Canada and use it to fund my Neteller account if needed. Short of the money I withdrew for Vegas this year I still have all my bankroll either in Neteller or on various Poker Rooms. And of course there is always off-shore banking readily available in the Cayman Islands and a host of other Caribbean nations.
Ive always been a champion of the underdog and an advocate for issues I feel strongly about. I was one of those tree-hugging hippie chicks that protested the sale of Coors Beer on the University of Colorado Campus because of Coors membership in the John Birch Society. I flipped off and mooned, Jed Smock the religious zealot who would come to Campus in $600 suits with the chick whose soul he supposedly saved (Cindy) and was probably banging. He'd make statements like fraternity boys are homosexuals and sorority girls are a bunch of whores ( I was a Greek). I'd do a couple of bong hits, grab a few beers and go with some friends to listen at the CU fountain to his nonsensical drivel.
Apathy wants to sink in right now because I am disgusted with the lawmakers. Apathy is so un IG-like. My mom would call be sassy. But I'm feeling world weary, Im getting tired of fighting the good fight. Maybe because I will be 46 in about 11 days Im getting more cynical. I've been a registered voter since I was 18. I have voted in every presidential election since I have been able to vote. The Reagan years are largely a blur because I was following the Dead around in my free time living happy joyous and free. I was happy to live in a fog during those years. I've been a believer in the two-party system and I supported my parties candidate with money last year. Financially, it was the first time I was able to do so.
I can live with my job being Bangelored. I'd make a great Starbucks barista. But to attach a ban to online gaming to a Port Security measure is underhanded and in my opinion unconstitutional. Its an infringement on my right to earn a living and spend my money the way I want to. I've lost faith in the American Way and my party.
George Pataki my Governor who I did not vote for voted to free Sportingbet PLC chairman Peter Dicks. Thank you George. Gaming is alive and well in New York State. The Saratoga Racino in my county is the biggest draw in the Capital District. Its undergoing a mega million expansion. Hopefully at some point in my lifetime table games will get added to the site. Congressman Sweeney isn't getting my vote because I checked out his voting record and he voted for the ban on internet gambling.
Unless your a monk or nun sitting in solitude in isolation somewhere, you've all probably done something that is breaking the law. Maybe even been arrested a time or two. I see this situation as no different. I imagine when most of us take the time to thoroughly digest this we will still be playing online poker.
Sure its fine for Foley to try to bugger little boys and Frist to kill cats (think I should get PETA on his arse) but its not okay for us to play the great american pastime?? I dont think so.
Im a Rebel with a Cause!!
I am asking all visitors to my blog to sign the following petition
http://www.petitiononline.com/LOGNOW/
To my fellow poker players I ask you to check out your Congressmans and Senators Voting Records and vote accordingly this November.. Its time to:
ROCK THE VOTE PEOPLE!!
Now back to Full Tilt to grind out a bonus.
From PokerNews:
News Flash
One Thing To Note About The New Law!
Every legal expert we have found that has analyzed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act passed last Friday by the US Congress has said one interesting thing about the new law. According to these legal experts, there is nothing in the law that says its illegal for the individual user to play online poker! The new law mostly deals with instruments of banking (debit and credit cards), and how money flows into gambling and poker sites. We will continue to monitor this situation.
**Bob Dylan - All Along the Watchtower**
I went to bed last night after reading Miami Don's blog. He made a statement about his blog being dead and on-line poker dead. At first I thought he was being a little cynical till I woke up this AM and turned on Squawk Box and saw that overseas gaming shares had crashed faster then JDS Uniphase and other tech stocks back in 2000. I fired up the computer and went first to Poker Analysis where I saw that Pacific and Party were going to stop taking bets from US customers. I have no money on Party currently and only a few bucks on Pacific so that didn't really effect me. When Pokerstars got mentioned I almost felt like calling in sick to work.
Im a very upbeat person, an eternal optimist. One might say PollyAnna-ish. You wont see me down very long. After an 8 year long relationship/engagement ended in 1999 I simply stated.. "If after 8 years you don't know if you want to get married, Then I'm not the girl for you." To me Change=Opportunity. The Chinese say Crisis=Opportunity. 70 million poker playing Americans, myself included are now faced with the stomach upset of the millennium or as we Italian Americans say AGITA. When faced with a crisis sometimes it is better to sit on our hands and do nothing. There are too many Chicken Little's running around right now. Before anyone does anything really stupid take a deep breath and educate yourself on the issue.
For me where this is a will there is away. I am a risk-taker, not risk adverse but a risk taker at heart. To me playing poker is no different then the stock market. It's a Random walk not on Wall Street but on the felt. I've been thinking about ways outside this potential banking issue. I refuse to see it as a poker issue. Montreal is a quick three hour ride up the Northway. Carol, is in Toronto, she trusted me with some of her Vegas bankroll which she sent to me player to player on stars and which I withdrew for her to avoid the exchange difference between US and Canadian dollars that Neteller was going to hit her with. I carried it to Vegas on my person and delivered the money to her and that trust goes two ways. We discussed it last night. It would be very easy for me to set up an account in Canada and use it to fund my Neteller account if needed. Short of the money I withdrew for Vegas this year I still have all my bankroll either in Neteller or on various Poker Rooms. And of course there is always off-shore banking readily available in the Cayman Islands and a host of other Caribbean nations.
Ive always been a champion of the underdog and an advocate for issues I feel strongly about. I was one of those tree-hugging hippie chicks that protested the sale of Coors Beer on the University of Colorado Campus because of Coors membership in the John Birch Society. I flipped off and mooned, Jed Smock the religious zealot who would come to Campus in $600 suits with the chick whose soul he supposedly saved (Cindy) and was probably banging. He'd make statements like fraternity boys are homosexuals and sorority girls are a bunch of whores ( I was a Greek). I'd do a couple of bong hits, grab a few beers and go with some friends to listen at the CU fountain to his nonsensical drivel.
Apathy wants to sink in right now because I am disgusted with the lawmakers. Apathy is so un IG-like. My mom would call be sassy. But I'm feeling world weary, Im getting tired of fighting the good fight. Maybe because I will be 46 in about 11 days Im getting more cynical. I've been a registered voter since I was 18. I have voted in every presidential election since I have been able to vote. The Reagan years are largely a blur because I was following the Dead around in my free time living happy joyous and free. I was happy to live in a fog during those years. I've been a believer in the two-party system and I supported my parties candidate with money last year. Financially, it was the first time I was able to do so.
I can live with my job being Bangelored. I'd make a great Starbucks barista. But to attach a ban to online gaming to a Port Security measure is underhanded and in my opinion unconstitutional. Its an infringement on my right to earn a living and spend my money the way I want to. I've lost faith in the American Way and my party.
George Pataki my Governor who I did not vote for voted to free Sportingbet PLC chairman Peter Dicks. Thank you George. Gaming is alive and well in New York State. The Saratoga Racino in my county is the biggest draw in the Capital District. Its undergoing a mega million expansion. Hopefully at some point in my lifetime table games will get added to the site. Congressman Sweeney isn't getting my vote because I checked out his voting record and he voted for the ban on internet gambling.
Unless your a monk or nun sitting in solitude in isolation somewhere, you've all probably done something that is breaking the law. Maybe even been arrested a time or two. I see this situation as no different. I imagine when most of us take the time to thoroughly digest this we will still be playing online poker.
Sure its fine for Foley to try to bugger little boys and Frist to kill cats (think I should get PETA on his arse) but its not okay for us to play the great american pastime?? I dont think so.
Im a Rebel with a Cause!!
I am asking all visitors to my blog to sign the following petition
http://www.petitiononline.com/LOGNOW/
To my fellow poker players I ask you to check out your Congressmans and Senators Voting Records and vote accordingly this November.. Its time to:
ROCK THE VOTE PEOPLE!!
Now back to Full Tilt to grind out a bonus.
From PokerNews:
News Flash
One Thing To Note About The New Law!
Every legal expert we have found that has analyzed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act passed last Friday by the US Congress has said one interesting thing about the new law. According to these legal experts, there is nothing in the law that says its illegal for the individual user to play online poker! The new law mostly deals with instruments of banking (debit and credit cards), and how money flows into gambling and poker sites. We will continue to monitor this situation.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
