Whitney made cheerleader...

Date: Tue, Aug 5, 2008 Internet Live Tournament

My daughter, Whitney, made the JV Cheer leading Squad. She was a little dejected about not making the varsity squad, but Big Red did remind her that she hadn't "cheered" or done gymnastics in nearly 4 years, and so making a high school squad at all was quite an accomplishment. Gone are the days of good looks and a loud voice being enough to make cheer leading. Requirements involve some high level athletic ability. Minimum of a standing back handspring, and a running round off/back handspring combination. You may think they just stand there and look pretty, but I've got news for you. There's a lot of time and effort involved. As part of her schedule for the year, she will practice a minimum of 2-3 days per week for at least 2 hours after school. They are required to also take an outside gymnastics class, to develop new stunting skills. They not only appear at sporting events, but also at fundraisers, charity work, parades, competitions, etc... Also, during the remainder of the summer, leading up to the 1st day of school, they will continue to have some all-day practice schedules. Tryouts and subsequent meetings yesterday, were LONG! Warm up began at 2:30pm, tryouts started at 3:00. At 6:00pm they finished tryouts, and results were posted shortly thereafter. Then parents and cheerleaders met regarding responsibilities and $$$. Uniforms were put together (by the way they each have 4 different uniforms.) It was going on 10:00pm when Whitney and Teresa made it home last night. And she has to be at practice at 10:00am.

I really hope that this turns out to be a wonderful experience for my daughter. I'll do all that I can to help make that happen!

Today, I'm back to the ole grind, after my extra long weekend. : ) It was all right here waiting on me, as usual. The major problems, the minor irritants, the petty squabbles, the typical bullshit. Oh goody. Is it Friday yet?

Time to get back to it...

Regards,

cheer_dad

NDPT #11, Blogger spam issue update, Wheeling and cheerleading too

Date: Mon, Aug 4, 2008 Internet Live Tournament

Here's the latest announcement for the next NDPT Poker Tournament from Jr:

Tourney # 11 is scheduled for August 9 (Saturday) at 7:00. R.S.V.P. Now!!!
It will be interesting to see where the points fall after this tourney. Remember, only the top 10 finishes are counted.
20 - person cap
$25 Total
$20 1,000 chips
$5 All-in (Bounty) chip

Hope to see you all there!
Thanks,
Jr.

P.S. - Second tourney tentatively scheduled for the weekend of August 23rd. Will be either Saturday (at my house) or Sunday afternoon (at the Eagles). There will be no cap if we have it at the Eagles.

Interesting P.S. there too! The Eagles has as of late "inquired" as to our interest in bringing our little poker game "back" to the club. I remember a time when we weren't so welcome. What a difference a new set of officers and a little over a year makes... But that's ancient history now. I'll be happy to return, we'll just see how it all plays out.

In other news I'll make mention of a couple of posts that came from Blogger. I recently made note of the fact that a couple of my favorite bloggers AlCantHang and DrPauly had been identified by Blogger as spammers and their respective blogs were interfered with. That injustice has been recognized and corrected according to the following posts which appeared in the Blogger Buzz...

"Spam Fridays
August 1, 2008 — While we wish that every post on this blog could be about cool features or other Blogger news, sometimes we have to step in and admit a mistake.
We've noticed that a number of users have had their blogs mistakenly marked as spam, and wanted to sound off real quick to let you know that, despite it being Friday afternoon, we are working hard to sort this out. So to those folks who have received an email saying that your blog has been classified as spam and can't post right now, we offer our sincere apologies for the trouble.
We hope to have this resolved shortly, and appreciate your patience as we work through the kinks.
— Brett "

"You Are Not Spam
August 2, 2008 — You knew that already, and now we do too. We have now restored all accounts that were mistakenly marked as spam yesterday. (See: Spam Fridays)
We want to offer our sincerest apologies to affected bloggers and their readers. We’ve tracked down the problem to a bug in our data processing code that locked blogs even when our algorithms concluded they were not spam. We are adding additional monitoring and process checks to ensure that bugs of this magnitude are caught before they can affect your data.
At Blogger, we strongly believe that you own and should control your posts and other data. We understand that you trust us to store and serve your blog, and incidents like this one are a betrayal of that trust. In the spirit of ensuring that you always have access to your data, we have been working on importing and exporting tools to make it easier to back up your posts. If you'd like a sneak peek at the Import / Export tool, you can try it out on Blogger in Draft.
Our restoration today was of all blogs that were mistakenly marked as spam due to Friday's bug. Because spam fighting inherently runs the risk of false positives, your blog may have been mis-classified as spam for other reasons. If you are still unable to post to your blog today you can request a review by clicking Request Unlock Review on your Dashboard.
— Siobhan"

That's good news and I'm glad it's been worked out.

Also, something I meant to mention in my last post related to the impromptu trip to Wheeling on Saturday. Chris finally realized that when I referred to one of my favorite people who worked the Wheeling Island Poker Room, that it was Diane "the dealer" and NOT Diane "the room supervisor." There's no comparison. Diane the dealer is great, and always has a smile on her face and can dish it out as easy as take it. She's great to have at a table! I only wished I'd been able to play at her table longer. Incidentally, she's sporting a new hairstyle. Regarding the other Diane... well let's just leave it at that, mmmkay?

My "little girl" just left for cheer leading tryouts. She's nervous, worried, wants it to be over, and all that; but she's worked really hard for this and that's all she can do. She's just gotta get out there and do it, and leave it all out there on the floor! Good luck baby girl!!!

Regards,

cheer_dad

Wheeling impromptu trip again

Date: Sun, Aug 3, 2008 Internet Live Tournament

Startingly following last night's AMBUCS drawing that Big Red and I, along with Chris and Laura; our degenerate quartet jumped in the car and headed to... yup you guessed it... Wheeling! JR and Vince were already there (having called me much earlier, to rub it in and invite me along.) I don't know where the idea for us to go to Wheeling came from, but the decision was ultimately Big Red's to make. It probably wasn't the brightest thing I've ever done, but hey any day playing cards and a little casino gaming is just all too appealing.

It was going on midnight when we arrived in the Wheeling Island Poker Room. I was seated immediately, and waved my hellos to JR and Vince, who remarkably were not seated together, and I didn't catch either of their tables either. The room wasn't really all that busy either. Now, I did get to play with Chris at the table with me, so that was kind a nice to have a somewhat friendly face there with you. There were really only a couple of players with issues at the table, you know issues that I can spot and try to exploit! : ) The one, I never got involved with in the #6 seat. I think he tended to push a little hard but he was playing a lot of stuff. The other guy in the #7 seat however, I got involved with. He was first to act and simply called the $2 BB. I popped it to $10, and everyone but the #7 seat folded, he made the call. Now I popped it to take it down then and there... simply playing my position as I should, but in this case it wasn't a terrible hand. The flop came 3-K-3. I bet out $20, and I got a quick call, so there is concern in my mind now. But then the Turn fell a beautiful 9, giving me K's and 9's. As soon as it drops, the #7 seat makes this grossly exagerated motion like he's conducting a symphony orchestra and says "all of it!" I pause only briefly and tell him if you got the 3 I'm paying you and I'll congratulate you on your win. He's got me covered. I turn over my K-9, he shows K-10. So, yes he had me dead to rights and was trying to rope me in, but making the smooth call earlier. But I hit the card and had already decided what I was going to do before it came to that. At first a couple of the guys at the table miscalled the hand as a split, the dealer nodded agreement just like my opponent did, when the River Ace fell. I had to remind them I had Ks and 9s for the win. Yes, it was an ouch for him. And the pile headed my way. What was more interesting was to begin listening to the guy after that. He first criticized me to the girl beside him, saying he couldn't figure out how people who didn't know how to play could win like that. Then, for the next few hands, he couldn't get away from a hand to save his life. Tilt had arrived, and his stack began to dwindle, and finally got off the table. Not long after that I gave some of my stack to the guy beside me, when I raised with AJs in position and got him as a caller. I flopped TPTK with my Jack. I bet out he called, and then the board began to unfurl. We both check the turn, but the river came out filling in a potential straight. He wisely priced me in, with a small bet, which I had to call. He immediately told me that he'd sucked out and hit the straight. Not long after, the table broke up as players filtered their way out of the poker room.
I cashed out up around $30-ish, and headed up to look for Big Red. I played a few slot machines and then finally perched myself at a Three-Card poker table with my wife. She lost the last of her money and I was about to join her when I went on a run and hit two straights in a row, with the dealer qualifying. These paid out 6 to 1. A few other decent hands and I went from the brink of disaster to be up an additional $100.
Not long after that because my eyes were getting heavy, we cashed out and rounded up the herd and headed back home. Of course we had to make our obligatory stop at Denny's for breakfast. When I got home, I grabbed a couple hours sleep and then got up to go into work for patch maintenance on our servers. Thank goodness for coffee.

All in all, last night and early morning was a really good time. Of course I'm tired and it'll take a while to catch up on my sleep. I'm off tomorrow, so that'll help. Hope everyone's day goes well, oh and keep your fingers crossed for my daughter PLEASE. Cheerleader tryouts are today, and she's really busted her ass to try to make it. Just once let her have some luck of her own, and not the lousy kind that usually befalls me.

I'll see you all soon!

Regards,

cheer_dad

Sometimes I can type faster than I can think

Date: Sat, Aug 2, 2008 Internet Live Tournament

By the way, the weekend arrived early at least for me. I took Friday off... and it was a group decision. Big Red told me that I was sleeping really well that morning and so she decided to let me sleep. Ahhh, ain't that sweet? No, not really since what it really meant was that I had really tied one on the night before at the drawing at the Eagles and I was snoring so loud it was registering on the Richter scale. Hey, give me some credit for at least having the decency to sleep on the couch! Anyway, energized to some degree by the extra sleep, remarkably without much of a hangover. That's one thing I can say nice about the accursed Jack Daniel's, he seldom revisits you courtesy of an earth shattering headache. Now if I'd been throwing back draft beer all night, ouch! But I didn't get off all that easy folks. Big Red did have some "honey do" in mind for my lazy carcass. Both of the kids abandoned me just before she gave me the assignment. The little friggin' traitors, I think they must have known. Anyway, Whit headed to the mall, with JoJo, and Cole went bowling with mamaw and some of the other kids in the family. I on the other hand got to enjoy the pleasures cleaning out the damn garage. I hate cleaning. I'm not a slob, I'm not overly on the side of disorder. And from time-to-time I get a wild hair up my ass and decide to clean up something on my own. This was different. This was the garage, and furthermore it wasn't my idea, it was Big Red's and she expects you know... like results! I swear baby, I'll give up the bottle, just don't make me clean the garage! Well that didn't work, and she knew I didn't mean it anyway (damn her woman's intuition.) But I did survive the horror. I did learn one thing while I slaved away. You know, most of this shit, ain't even mine! How many old pairs of shoes do you people need? When did the Home Interiors nick nack crap begin to be "stored" out here? And exactly how many bicycles can you kids ride anyway!?! Alright, I'll stop complaining now, it really did need cleaned up. I didn't die, but when she assigned me the task I still think she secretly had hopes! Like I said, the weekend came early.

I actually played a little poker. By little I mean for a little while, and for some horrendously little stakes. I was bored, Big Red was watching Mama Mia (shudder) although I must admit I knew every ABBA song that was being belted out, in show tune stylings... I grabbed for the laptop and checked email, caught up on my blog reading and writing for that matter, and in the midst of things I fired up Bodog and thought I'd kill some time. I looked for something to occupy the time, but nothing too serious. I've only got a modest bankroll online anymore, and I don't want to squander it off on some poker ego trip. I play online most often to unwind and relax (though there are days when I wonder what the hell I was thinking when I came up with that idea.) Now, if I went bustola, it wouldn't be painful to the wallet. I'm not wagering the milk money (although the sums are similar.) If I lost it all, I'd be upset, cause I'd have this empty feeling but then again I could turn around a drop a few C-notes back out there again and be back in business. But I don't want to. I haven't redeposited "new" money in a very long time. Granted I'm not cashing out either. But that sum is there for my pleasure and it has served me well now for a few years. That first $90 I deposited so many moons ago, has definitely grown. I bought a few things along the way with it too. I'm happy with it. I don't need (right now) those big scores and grinding out for hours and days on end to enjoy poker. I love the game, and anyone who knows me, knows that. I play, talk, and write about it all the time. It is my hobby, and as hobbies go, this one has on occasion turned me a little profit. How many hobbies can people say that about? Over time, my game has improved. My opponents suckouts don't surprise me anymore, and I still feel my pulse quicken when I flop the stone cold nuts and some "guy" on the other side of the felt is betting in to me. Those are the moments I live for. Last night's 2 games were played at the SNG tables. And for a quick laugh I sat at two $2.20 SNG's! These differ from normal SNG's at least on Bodog, in that they payout the top 4 places instead of the customary 3. I played in some of these the other day too, and had a lot of fun, and cashed in like 3 out of 4. Last night I cashed in both of them. Now, I'm not going to get rich here and I know it, but I made a deal with myself, that I'd breach the $200 mark on Bodog before moving up to anything else. The cash tables I enjoy, but when you sit down, you've got to be willing to sit down for the long haul. Surprisingly these little SNG's are not exactly the donk fest that I had expected. There are actually some good players there. They aren't chatty and trash talkin' each other's mothers either. Without knowing or seeing them, they're just a bunch of guys like me, with a little cash online to mess around with. We're not trying to get rich quick, or get rich at all for that matter. We just love to play the game. We just love to improve our game. We just enjoy the learning of the thing in all its forms.

I think that more than anything is what bothered me most about the UIGEA when it came out, and then they (the DOJ) ultimately smacked Party Poker around (among others.) The "law" was passed to protect us from ourselves and to stamp out indecency and illegal activity. But what was really going on was they were taking away a beloved pastime from me and a lot of the folks that I know and for that matter from a lot of the other low stakes/working class stiffs that I played with every once in a while online just to let off some steam, and actually use my brain a little in the process. We weren't hurting anyone, and we resented feeling like it too. The government wasn't going to make any money off of us. We were the fish in most people's minds and we were just contributing at the bottom end of the food chain. We had no aspirations of greatness (at least none that we were telling anyone about.) We just liked playing. We still do, but there for a while our lives were a little out of kilter. Our paltry sums of money were tied up in the "war" against illegal online gambling and a few of the payment processor fiascos. But I didn't lose any sleep over it. I don't play as often as I did during that poker boom that was online poker, but that's been a choice for different reasons. The UIGEA scared some people and inconvenienced some of us for a time, but for us little guys down here at the bottom the effect was minimal, except that it took away from us a very enjoyable pastime. Some guys tinker on cars, some guys watch sports on tv, some guys do other things... but what we and a bunch of us other "little guys" play poker. And we like to play live games, for small stakes most of the time and make an occasional trip to an honest to goodness casino, but it was great and affordable for us to be able to play more often online. You can't go to a live casino and play micro stakes games. AND us playing at those micro levels online wasn't hurting traffic to the casinos one little bit. What the UIGEA really did was squash the fun of the little guys for a little while. But slowly, surely, it's all coming back. It's still poker, we still play it, and we love doing it.

Sorry I've gone on and on a bit here, but I've done it before and you seem to let me just type what my brain is thinking and you don't seem to complain. So, if you made it clear to the bottom of this post, thanks! If you left me somewhere along the way, that's okay too. Thanks for stopping by, hope you come back my way again. I'm all about low stakes, and low standards... and I'm one of those friends that you've got in "low places."

Enjoy your day...

Regards,

cheer_dad

Free Pauly and Al too!

Date: Fri, Aug 1, 2008 Internet Live Tournament

Tri-State, Bodog, Borgata, etc...

Date: Thu, Jul 31, 2008 Internet Live Tournament

I liked Frank's coverage over at http://frankwolfe.net/riversedge/?p=110 on the Charleston Gazette article which spoke about the obvious public relations problem that Tri-State Racetrack has brought upon itself. The stalling and dragging of feet have the public and now the lawmakers questioning why the hell the approved table gaming in the first place for the Kanawha County, WV casino. The only positive note (though once again hints are dropped that there is no certainty) is that:

"Tri-State hopes Aug. 21 will be the kickoff date for poker. The track will run a charity tournament on Aug. 18 and 19, Lawrence said. Other table games should be ready by mid-September."

Frank, buddy... stop holding your breath! I hope they open the Poker Room by then too, but thus far Tri-State's been donkin' it up!

Next, I'll point you over to a recent article by IGGY: http://guinnessandpoker.blogspot.com/2008/07/bodog-in-trouble.html in which he discusses the "legal trouble" that Calvin Ayre (former/current) founder/owner of Bodog. The U.S. Department of Justice sunk its teeth in to the company's assets to the tune of $24 Million! The line that reads: "the court papers detail an elaborate international structure put together to allow Bodog to collect money and write checks to winning gamblers in the U.S." doesn't sound so good for Calvin. No one currently seems to be absolutely sure of Mr. Ayre's whereabouts, though he denies he is in hiding through postings to the web. I encourage you to visit Iggy's Blog for his full coverage and wander around and check out some of his other, excellent writing. Aside from that though, I wonder if my paltry sum out on Bodog is still safe. Oh what's the difference... lose it at the tables or having it seized by the friggin' DOJ! wtf...

And I got a great laugh out of this article http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hv6UShWgSXLt7AMSH5aFP9rd1prgD928G7T06 which tells the tale of Michael Wax who on Tuesday was told that "he stinks!" Okay, that was newsworthy in this case because Mr. Wax who tips the scales at 440 pounds happened to be playing poker at the Borgata in Atlantic City for going on 17 hours, when the rest of the table had had enough and complained to the casino staff that they couldn't take his odor anymore. When asked to leave because he smelled so badly he asked for a "free room" to go clean up. Uhmmmm, hmmm how 'bout no, you stinky bastard! Okay, the Borgata just declined the request. No Mr. Was would like an apology. I for one applaud LOUDLY for the Borgata in this instance. I've suffered through the stench of a few friggin' behemoths a time or two in a casino. There's just not enough alcohol to numb my senses, or Vick's to shove up my nose to cover the stench of some forms of humanity. Maybe he should stick to online play. "In cyberspace, no one can smell your funk!"

Oh well that's enough of my pseudo plagarism. There was another article I wanted to comment on but I've misplaced the link, and it's nearly time to head up to the Eagles for another drawing night. The weekend is nearly here!

Regards,

cheer_dad

1-800-GAMBLER

Date: Tue, Jul 29, 2008 Internet Live Tournament

Ramblings and musings

Date: Tue, Jul 29, 2008 Internet Live Tournament

Just some odd ramblings and musings today. My thought for the day to the team I suppose expresses a degree of frustration; you decide:

If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.
~Abraham Maslow

Then, after stepping away from the edge of the abyss, and deciding to press on through another day, I read through some of the news on my iGoogle page. I saw an announcement of a new search site which will "rival" Google. That's a bit premature don't you think! Besides maybe Google should have just squashed it in their algorithmic search. Anyway, the site is www.cuil.com pronounced "COOL." Check it out for yourself. It does share the "minimalistic" front page, of course I say that having replaced the minimal norm with the uber content iGoogle page. I'm a glutton for punishment.

I decided to give "CUIL" a chance and try my hand at a search. I took a shot with my own vanity and plugged in "ndpt" to see how my little creation would come up. Ouch, several pages deep before NDPT actually was found/cited by the search engine. Sorry guys that'll have to improve by leaps and bounds before you get me as a repeat customer!

Others who happen to share the acronym to which I've tried to give additional life:

NDPT

1. National Democratic Party of Tibet
2. National Deaf Poker Tour
3. National Danish Performance Team
4. Next Day Printed Tees, Inc
5. Nonequilibrium Dynamic Phase Transition
6. National Democratic Party of Tajikistan
7. Non Destructive Performance Test
8. Normal Deformable Plate Theory
9. Nebraska Doctors of Physical Therapy
10. N Debt Poker Tour

Recap of last night's game, weekend's nearly gone

Date: Sun, Jul 27, 2008 Internet Live Tournament

The Yanok's poker game went on into the wee hours of the morning, since always there were two tournaments to be played. I didn't fair so well in game #1. I mean I made the final table of 8, but didn't make the money. I shoved from late position with a K-10 in hopes of adding to my swiftly dwindling stack, only to be called by Matt, with a healthy stack. I was dominated by A-10. I threw out that it was a split pot, which raised a few eyebrows, for a second, but quicker minds took over. I got a few comments of "how much you drinkin' boy?" So I grabbed another beer and took a breather outside while i waited for the next game to begin. Big Red took down 4th in game #1 helping to pay for the evening. Congratulations! Matt was the winner of the tourney, and also put in a big win which got him qualified for the year end event!

Game #2 had fewer players but still a two table affair. A little short handed action, which was cool change of pace. A lot looser style for even me. Big Red and I both made it to the final table, and actually we both got paid. She took 3rd place and I took 2nd in that one, and had to go heads up against Mike. It was a short lived heads up session as the blinds were expensive, and he went on a roll when he hit on subsequent hands JJ, QQ, and then JJ again! Congrats Mike!

Of course it was after 2:00am when we dragged ourselves home. So we slept in. I actually unwound with a couple of el cheapo SNG's on Bodog, before nodding off to sleep. I cashed in them both, so the night went pretty well. Our poker run for this year, so far (knock on wood) is going pretty well. We're both qualified for Yanok's year-ender game, and currently in the NDPT standings I'm holding the top spot, by a small margin over my wife! Still lots of poker to be played, so I'll have to continue to bring the "A" game.

Back to the grind tomorrow. Jump right back in to the insanity. I can't wait to hear from my wife later in the day on how things went at work, in light of what happened on Friday. Stay tuned for that update. I hope the karma kicks in and pays a visit to the previously mentioned weasel. Like I said before payback's a bitch.

Regards,

cheer_dad

WARNING, the F-bomb will be dropped in this post...

Date: Sat, Jul 26, 2008 Internet Live Tournament

Staying busy

Date: Thu, Jul 24, 2008 Internet Live Tournament

The week has luckily flown by. The week following a long vacation is generally sheer drudgery, but this one has gone quickly. I'd like to say it had gone smooth, but that'd be a stretch. It hasn't been a walk in the park dealing with all of the inventory and configuration management woes (real or imagined.) Unreasonable expectations and lofty, idealistic goals by upper management have been a common theme throughout the week. Of course "they're" doing it for our own good, and we should thank them. NOT! Anyway, I think we have made some headway in our efforts, not just in fixing what they said was broken, but instead in making them understand that what they are asking for isn't as easy as they seem to think. Tools designed for a Windows-centric infrastructure do not port well over to the Unix flavors. For that matter, once you throw in virtualization options into any platform, you could actually pitch the whole management tool. But as usual I digress.

Let's see what's up for the weekend...

Cash game night on Friday at my buddy Shuman's house. Looks like a crew of all the usual degenerates. Depending on how things shake out Big Red and I may make it over for a few hands at some point. Now that baseball season is over, well our calendar isn't so full. Cole is also going to a local production of The Wizard of Oz with his Mamaw, so that leaves only Whitney to deal with, and she's normally all too eager to ditch us.

On Saturday night, which we had already committed to earlier in the week, is the Yanok tournament. Game #1 of the night will be the monthly qualifier. Big Red still hangs on to quite a nice little sum in that race. He runs it a bit differently than the NDPT points system. He collects $5 from everyone at every game to make up the total pot for the year end game. The total accumulated points you gather for the year, equate to your starting chipstack for the last game. This adds some interesting twists to an already highly competitive group of players.

So, despite all that's been happening in the 9 to 5 world, everything's actually okay. I'm good. Despite tough times there's always the fantastic network of friends that I have. Thanks all for being there, and for listening and/or reading from time-to-time. Since I tend to treat the blog as a bit of therapy for my mental well-being, there's probably more than a few of you who'd like me to get the hell off the couch already.

I'll see some of you this evening for the drawing at the Eagles, or if not there then one of the games I mentioned above. Bring lots of money! : ) You'll be needing it. : P

Regards,

cheer_dad

Where ya been boy?!?

Date: Wed, Jul 23, 2008 Internet Live Tournament

It's been a while people. I haven't posted in a very long time for me. BUT, remember I was on vacation and then I got back, and then there was Big Red's family reunion to attend in the hills of Ellenboro, WV. Yeah, we drove through a lot of BFE, if you get my drift! In fact, one wrong turn forced us to ask for directions. The response came... "ummm, yup, you done made a wrong turn, ya need to go back thataway," from the man with but a few remaining teeth in his mouth. Big Red of course nodded in agreement, politely; all the while with another onlooker of questionable intellect, sporting the latest fashion, a pink pajama bottom print, coupled with a Make 7 Up Yours t-shirt. All I and the kids could read from behind her, was "Up Yours!" We took the advice, and then got the hell out of there. We did eventually get where we were going. All the while my 9 year old son showed wisdom beyond his days... with the statement, "you should never ask a redneck for directions. That's brilliant.

Anyway, we got to see Teresa's cousin Mike, in from Florida again. We really like spending time with him. He's a talker and just good to be around. In fact, as the reunion ended, we invited he and his son to come with us later that night (Saturday) to go to the Wolfe's for NDPT #10! The both came that night to play and despite not winning, we all had a great time. Although, of all people to take me out at the final table, you guessed it Mike. My A-9os to his K-7os, and he drew four cards to the King high straight. Argghhh!

Sunday was a wash, as I didn't feel real chipper the next day, likely due to too much libation, though I admit nothing. I was off on Monday and my honey do list was more than enough to occupy the day. I had to seal some cracks in my concrete block wall of the house. Nothing major, just unsightly. Of course the grass needed mowing, and unfortunately the landscaping had gone native on me as well.

Now I'm back to work, but very busy. The big boss is once again on a warpath related to Configuration Management of servers. Inventory sucks. And if it weren't for the convoluted method in place, it wouldn't be such a problem or an annoyance. Hate is a strong word, but applicable here. Another work oddity was that IE7 was inadvertently pushed to all the computers in the office, without proper security settings, and we couldn't change 'em. Long story short, no https addresses were working anymore for me, and even though they pushed a "fix" for the problem and large number of us are still dead in the water. BUT, on a positive note, I downloaded Firefox for the first time, and now find that I'm surfing just fine! Case-in-point, I was able to get back out here to Blogger to say hello.

But duty calls and its time to get back to it.

Regards,

cheer_dad

Anyway, I wanted to let you all know I haven't fallen off the face of the planet.

Governor Manchin wants answers from Tri-State Racetrack

Date: Fri, Jul 18, 2008 Internet Live Tournament

West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin is not happy with Tri-State Racetrack, according to the following article http://www.dailymail.com/Business/200807170126 which appeared yesterday in the Charleston Daily Mail. In the article by Jake Stump, titled Manchin says racetrack owners need to be accountable for delays; it seems clear that the governor is upset over the time which has elapsed thus far in which Tri-State Racetrack owners have failed to open their table gaming operations which were approved last August. Not only has the track not opened table games they have not even broken ground on a promised "$250-million-plus expansion much less the creation of 1,000 jobs." It is mentioned that Tri-State had initially planned to open its table games by the end of 2007, but according to management plans were stalled because of "financial reasons and because of difficulty in finding instructors."

Oddly, I've never seen a lack of people on my visits to the casino/dog track, so "financial reasons" seems to be a weak excuse. In addition, my (and my friends') trips north to Wheeling Island Casino for poker and table game fun could have just as easily been turned 180 degrees and headed south to Charleston, which is a closer trip from Parkersburg. So, I know it's not due to a lack of interest. But, I know it's not all about me. As for the "difficulty in finding instructors" what kind of horse-hockey is that?!? Uhhhm, maybe you boys at Tri-State haven't been paying attention but two casinos in the northern panhandle of West Virginia were able in very short order to get their operations up and running, and from all reports PROFITABLE!

The latest report is that Tri-State will open its doors for Poker by Labor Day. The Poker Room is still under construction. Frankly though, there has been no official announcement or advertising effort on the part of the casino, so what gives?

The casino also only recently applied for its 1.5 Million Dollar license for its first year of operations. That cost will go up to 2.5 Million thereafter.

I'm not sure what the real reasons for Tri-State's delays are, and neither is Governor Manchin. If he gets his answers I sure hope he shares them with us all. For something that the casino owners and the public fought so hard for and for such a long time the current management is allowing it all to fall flat.

C'mon guys get the cards in the air already!

Regards,

cheer_dad

The November Nine, of the WSOP are...

Date: Tue, Jul 15, 2008 Internet Live Tournament

After I went to bed last night after covering what I could of the Main Event, the players were headed off for a break. As you can imagine play has become very tight. Play continued after that, obviously without me following along. They continued on and as the approached the next break for dinner, at which time there were only 14 players remaining with an average stack of 9,778,000.

In the countdown to the final 9, which is where play will end until the the final table reconvenes, later so as to create suspense. Gert Andersen was eliminated in 14th Place for $463,201.

Nicholas Sliwinski was eliminated in 13th Place for $463,201, by Dennis Phillips who had flopped a King high flush.

Chris Klodnicki was eliminated in 12th Place and takes home $591,869.

Joe Bishop is was eliminated in 11th Place for $591,869. The details of the hand that did it were a bit brutal. Joe Bishop had moved all-in for 2.4 million. Chino Reem called from the BB and showed 2h 2c, while Bishop held Ac 3h. The flop came Ah 3c 5s, which was good for Bishop. The turn was a blank, Qc. However the river brought the 4h, giving Chino Reem the WHEEL!

According to the folks over at PokerNews.com all the players redrew for their seat at one table as follows:

Seat 1: Dean Hamrick 12,460,000 Seat 2: Dennis Phillips 21,500,000 Seat 3: Craig Marquis 12,000,000 Seat 4: Ylon Schwartz 10,500,000 Seat 5: Scott Montgomery 20,635,000 Seat 6: Darus Suharto 16,425,000 Seat 7: David "Chino" Rheem 10,100,000 Seat 8: Ivan Demidov 18,700,000 Seat 9: Kelly Kim 4,430,000 Seat 10: Peter Eastgate 10,430,000.
The button will start in Seat 4, with Ylon Schwartz. Shuffle up and deal!

Dean Hamrick was finally eliminated in 10th Place for $591,869. This finally allows play to come to an end, and the final "November Nine" will return on November 9th, to finish out what they started.

The official chip counts for the remaining final table players are as follows:

Official November Nine Chip Counts and Seat Assignments

On November 9th, 2008, the following nine players will return to the felt with 21 minutes and 50 seconds left in level 33:

Seat 1: Dennis Phillips - 26,295,000 Seat 2: Craig Marquis - 10,210,000 Seat 3: Ylon Schwartz - 12,525,000 Seat 4: Scott Montgomery - 19,690,000 Seat 5: Darus Suharto - 12,520,000 Seat 6: David 'Chino' Rheem - 10,230,000 Seat 7: Ivan Demidov - 24,400,000 Seat 8: Kelly Kim - 2,620,000 Seat 9: Peter Eastgate - 18,375,000
At this point each player takes home $900,670 that is guaranteed to be paid out to even the next person to be taken out of the tournament. Of course, the remainder that the players win, will be paid out come November, with interest. The remaining prizes to be paid out are:
1st $9,119,517 + the gold bracelet 2nd $5,790,024 3rd $4,503,352 4th $3,763,515 5th $3,088,012 6th $2,412,510 7th $1,769,174 8th $1,286,672 9th $900,670
Play for these players will resume in117 days on November 9th and 10th. Stay tuned folks, there's still more to come!

Regards,

cheer_dad