Merry Christmas

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

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

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

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

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


Here's to a wonderful happy healthy 2011

Namaste.

Happy Birthday Jerry Garcia

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A PlayerDan Kelly played day 1B - safely made it thru to day 2B - busted day 2B

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

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

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

B PlayerPhil Hellmuth - Playing day 1C after his grand entrance in MMA attire - Busted day 1C

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

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

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

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

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

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

C PlayerGreg Raymer busted out day 1A

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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


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


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

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

Buy a copy or two!!

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

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

WSOP Fantasy - Events #36-#43

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

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

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


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

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


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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Staycation All I Ever Wanted

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

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

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

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

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

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

PEACE & Music

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A Players

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

B Players

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

C Player

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


***EDIT NO FANTASY DOLLARS EARNED FOR THIS EVENT

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

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

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


Position Player

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

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


***EDIT NO FANTASY DOLLARS EARNED FOR THIS EVENT

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

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

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

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

***EDIT NO FANTASY DOLLARS EARNED FOR THIS EVENT

WSOP Fantasy -Event #13 -$1000 NLHE

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

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

Ultimate Bet Super User Cheating Scandal Redux

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

Volume 17: Fakes a-Plenty Among the KGC 31

Volume 17: The Real Story of the UltimateBet Refunds

Volume 16: The Curious Case of 'brainwashdodo'

Volume 15: The Graycat File

Volume 14: More Snared Images from Absolute

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

WSOP Fantasy -Events #9 and #10

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


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


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

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

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

More donkaments on tap for tomorrow!!

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

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

My picks for this three day event:

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

WSOP Fantasy - Events #6 & #7

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

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

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


***appears 11 of my 15 horses entered

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here's What I'm Up too

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ladies Event Mohegan Sun 4/10/10 -NAPT

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mid March Update

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Furthur Utica 2/20/2010

I'm not going to cross post it here. You can read my post over on coventry music blog. As well as a teaser video: Unbroken Chain. I have also uploaded video to You tube (Irongirl99 username) and over on Deadvids.com
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Besides you should bookmark coventry music and visit us every day!! follow us on twitter @coventrymusic.

UTICA BOUND

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

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

Peace

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

Health Care in America

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

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

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

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

Pokerstars WBCOOP

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

Registration code: 630467

2010

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

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

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




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

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

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

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

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

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

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