My NDPT #11 experience...

Date: Sun, Aug 10, 2008 Internet Live Tournament

Oooooffff! Okay, NDPT #11 started off unbelievably for me. I caught so many cards, so many hands. But I was the first to recognize that getting cards early on in a tournament is the wrong time for it to happen. I was right. On the second hand of the night from middle position I looked down at pocket 10's. I limped, and got to see a flop, which gave me... brace yourself... QUADS!!! I actually made a little on this one. I, of course checked and let someone else do the betting for a while. I did bet the river and got paid, but I had to hold back a bit, since no one could have much of anything else based on the rest of the board. The very next hand, I flopped a set when I connected with my pocket 4's. By the river I made a boat! I didn't get called, but showed nonetheless. Four hands later, I looked down at pocket 7's and made the call against a mid position raiser. The flop gave me a set, but had also came out with 3 hearts on the board! But they checked to me and I bet anyway, and got one caller. By the turn I made QUADS again! I didn't get called, but showed again! Not long after I made another boat, but didn't get called again... No show on that one, as it was getting old. Then, somewhere along the line, Big Red got knocked out from the other table. It was time for a little table balancing. I was in the spot to move... and was moved in to the former chair that Big Red had occupied. That was a bad omen. I stayed out until I could get a read on people. When I finally entered a hand from late position, I looked down at AQ. I raised to 5X the BB, and figured I might get called by someone thinking I was just pushing. Didn't matter, I got raised preflop. I had made it 500, and was raised to 800 total. Of course I call here. I found pocket 5's in the hand of the other, and this time they held. Ouch. Then in the next two hands I was done. Pocket 3's were bested by pocket Queens, and then I was all in blind, and hit nothing. It was rough... but I wasn't surprised, I've seen it too many times, it just happens that way sometimes.

Anyway we're home now... but as we were leaving Mike R, took it down, for the Big Win. I believe Eric S took the second spot. Congrats guys! I'll have to wait a day or so to see how the points thing pans out. Here's where things start a changin'!!!

Thanks JR for hosting tonight, regardless of how things turned out I had a great time. Have a nice night folks...

Regards,

cheer_dad

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Inconsistent enforcement

Date: Thu, Aug 7, 2008 Internet Live Tournament

An interesting article off the Reuters News Wire: http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN0731627620080807?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0, entitled Lawmakers urge U.S. stop action vs EU gambling firms. According to the article "Rep. Robert Wexler, a Florida Democrat, and Rep. Steve Cohen, a Tennessee Democrat" issued letters of warning to "U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey" urging that the U.S. Department of Justice to cease criminal investigations related to the UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act of 2006) against companies which operate Internet gaming from European Union (EU) member nations. Specifically, they warn against investigation of activities which occurred prior to passage of the UIGEA. This "trend" if continued could "lead to a potentially damaging trade spat between the United States and the European Union at the World Trade Organization."

The article by Doug Palmer goes on to say that the European Commission launched an investigation of its own in March to determine if the U.S. "was singling out EU companies for enforcement actions, while allowing U.S. online firms to operate freely."

Recall that following passage of the UIGEA (the law which made payments by banks and credit unions to online gambling sites, illegal) a number of online poker rooms departed the U.S. market and began seeking customers elsewhere. Most notable among that group was the then giant of the industry, Party Poker. Despite this fact there are still quite a large number of available online poker options at the disposal of the U.S. market. These available options are largely outside of the member nations of the European Union. Most notably/remarkably U.S. based companies continue to operate undeterred. This fact causes most concern as it is perceived (and rightly so) as inconsistent enforcement.

As a poker player it goes without saying that I don't agree with the UIGEA and the ban by the U.S. of online poker, under the auspices of "illegal gambling." I'm not going to get into the "it's a sport" argument. It's a game, that can be best played using skill and experience, however involves a true element of chance. I do not agree with demonizing poker, and taking it away from a U.S. public which largely treated it as recreation under the guise that illegal dealings and a seedy element was all that did partake in the online arena. BUT, aside from all of that. Right or wrong and ultimately however this whole online poker thing works itself out; it is FUNDAMENTALLY WRONG to go after someone or a company for illegal conduct which was NOT deemed to be illegal at the time! I can't even get away with that kind of action against my two children. I think even they would raise an eyebrow. I'd look quite foolish. I believe that is the role which Representatives Wexler and Cohen are currently playing. They are crying foul at the activities of the Justice Department. They recognize that the implications could very well be far reaching and further damage the reputation of the United States in the international community. (Yeah, like we need anyone else in the world mad at us!) This just is NOT a fight that is worth winning. I'm not even sure what there is to win.

The UIGEA has proven to be a hot bed of controversy and I fear that its effects will continue to be felt for quite some time. But the problem isn't going away. A large part of the population in the United States continues to play poker, despite the initial impact that was felt when the UIGEA passed. It continues to grow in popularity. Poker players are not going away, their numbers continue to grow. Those are facts that the European Union and the World Trade Organization cannot continue to ignore. Still, I firmly believe that this argument will be going on for many years to come.

Regards,

cheer_dad

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Quickie post

Date: Wed, Aug 6, 2008 Internet Live Tournament

Work is going by in a bit of a blur again, although it doesn't seem there's much to show for it. Weeks like that do pop up from time-to-time. Our team did take our summer employee out today for lunch, as she will be heading of to college for her freshman year. She's a good kid and she's been a great addition to our team. We hope to see her back during break and/or next summer.

My daughter has already started in to cheer leading practice. All day sessions ever since tryouts have kept her occupied and active. That's a good thing! A little bit of order in her life is a very good thing. By the way, don't be surprised when I start hitting you all up to buy the fundraiser stuff to support the Parkersburg South Patriot Cheer Leaders! You know it's gonna happen just smile and pay the girl. With my thanks of course!!! : )

We are in a rush this evening as usual, to get things squared away and go out to dinner with part of the larger crew tonight. We're celebrating both Julie's birthday and Chris and Laura's anniversary. Luckily there's a bit of a lull in the action to allow us to get there.

Don't forget that Saturday is JR's hosting turn at NDPT Tournament #11. Oh and in case I haven't mentioned it in a while... I am currently in the points lead, if only by the slimmest of margins. Regardless, you'll need the "A" game people, I'm not going down without a fight, or at least lots of alcohol... and I'm preferring Jack Daniel's these days if you're buying.

Time to call it a post.

Regards,

cheer_dad

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Website WAS Stealing My Blog Content!!! (fixed)

Date: Tue, Aug 5, 2008 Internet Live Tournament

Edit/Update: The website in question which was pulling my blog post content has been taken down. I sent an email to the site owner earlier this evening and the owner agreed to take the site down immediately. I have verified this, and my temper has cooled, so as a result, I've removed the names from this post. No sense dragging this through the mud for all eternity.

My blog content is being stolen and republished by another site which is not under my control. The offending site which is pulling my every post down and republishing it is:

**content removed**

A "who.is" yields the following information:
http://www.who.is/whois-net/ip-address/**content_removed**
Registry Whois
Domain Search:
Domain Name: **content removed**
Status: clientTransferProhibited
Registrar: **content removed**
Whois Server: whois.**content removed**
Referral URL: http://www.**content removed**
Expiration Date: 2009-02-21
Creation Date: 2008-02-21
Last Update Date: 2008-02-21
Name Servers: ns1.dreamhost.com, ns2.dreamhost.com, ns3.dreamhost.com
Extended Info
IP Address: **content removed**
IP Location: United States
Website Status: active
Server Type: Apache/2.0.61 (Unix) PHP/4.4.7 mod_ssl/2.0.61 OpenSSL/0.9.7e mod_fastcgi/2.4.2 DAV/2 SVN/1.4.2Cache Date: 2008-08-05 10:56:56 MST

Whois
Domain Name: **content removed**
Registered at **content removed**
Registrant: **content removed**
Administrative Contact: **content removed** Technical Contact: **content removed**
Record expires on 2009/02/21 UTC Record created on 2008/02/21
UTC Domain servers in listed order: **content removed**

***If anyone has any advice on how to handle this or make it stop please let me know***

If not I guess a trip to the Philipines to "BITCH-SLAP" **content removed** is the only option left at my disposal.

Regards,

cheer_dad

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Free Pauly and Al too!

Date: Fri, Aug 1, 2008 Internet Live Tournament

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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

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1-800-GAMBLER

Date: Tue, Jul 29, 2008 Internet Live Tournament

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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

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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

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

Date: Sat, Jul 26, 2008 Internet Live Tournament

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