Nine More Days

Date: Thu, Oct 30, 2008 Professional Internet Tournament

Does it seem just like yesterday all the pomp and circumstance that goes along with the WSOP Main Event had just ended?

It is amazing how fast the days go by as we get older in life. Maybe it is because we do so much more than our parents did or because of all the hours most of us work it makes time go by light speed.

On Saturday, November 8th at 10:00 am pst, the final 9 or the November 9 reconvene at the Rio's Penn and Teller Theatre to crown a new WSOP main Event winner. Their picture will hang in the Amazon Room along side the other notables for eternity for all of us dreamers to see. Jerry Yang dreamed about it and I am sure there are 9 individuals who are dreaming about it now. I wonder how many of them as they entered this field of over 6,000 people actually looked up and said to themselves,"I wonder how I would look up there".

ESPN and the WSOP staff experimented with delaying this years final table for 117 days. We have watched for the past month on Tuesday Nights bits and pieces of the Main Event as it unfolded. Some players were shown as happy go lucky and others were not portrayed as they would have hoped for.

The controversial people have been the talk of the Internet forums more so then the actual November 9. ESPN thrived on showing the antics of some of the players, possibly for ratings. It has made some very good Internet debates and I believe it has taken away some of the final nines glory.

ESPN began to focus on some of the final 9 the past two weeks. One story was very touching and was very emotional for me also.

I have been a Deputy as you all know for 22 years. I have told you several times that I have seen things no person should ever have to see. I have seen so much death unless it's a baby or a child I am no longer affected.

I tell people do not mistake my kindness for weakness! My life has changed with the birth of my two sets of twins and I now have more compassion for people then I ever have. Life is just to precious and I do as much as I can to enjoy my days and as much as I can to help those who are less fortunate, or have been hit by tragedy in their lives.

When I was 14 years old my mother who was only 35 years old died on Valentines Day from Leaukimia. I remember going to Houston where we had lived and where my mothers hospital,St.Lukes was.We had moved to Dallas in January of 1971 for my father's job and my Mom stayed behind as she had to return to the hospital due to her blood count not being correct.

I was to young to understand what was going on with my Mother and why she lost all her hair because of Chemotherapy. I had become an altar boy at St.James in Houston because this is what she wanted and my Mom had done so much for me and I loved her as a son should so when she died on that Saturday in Febuary, I cried for the first time as a young man off in the hayfield so no one could see me.

When ESPN did the story on Kelly KIm it brought a tear to my eye and a heavy heart for him. It was the best portrayal of one of the November 9 or any Poker Player ESPN has done. I have met Kelly playing here in Los Angeles and I never knew he went through the same thing I did with his Mom. We both never had the chance to grow up as young men with are Mother by our sides pushing us in the right direction.

I had already liked Kelly from our conversations and he was and still is my choice to win the ME. He has a long uphill battle, but hopefully the support and strength he needs will come to him from up above.

Leukimia is a terrible disease and over the years Doctor's have made great strides in combating it. Hopefully someday we will be rid of all cancers.

Congratulations to the November 9 I look forward to the FT as you do and best wishes to you all.

Take care....Be Safe....

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Taking a Break

Date: Sat, Oct 25, 2008 Professional Internet Tournament

I have received a few e-mails on why I have not posted any blogs for a few weeks. So in response to those e-mails I just have not played any tournaments except on-line.

I am usually not an on-line player, however I played three tournaments last week and cashed in two of them for around a 645.00 profit.

I have been busy with setting up the fallenheroesla.org web site that is now up and fully running and if you have not checked it out,please do so.

There is a guest book you can sign as a visitor and there are some pictures of J.C Tran, Quin Do and Nam Le wearing the Fallen Heroes patch at this weeks Festa al Lago WPT Event, at the Bellagio.

I cannot tell you how honored I am to have three of the best Poker players wearing our patch.I will never be able to thank them for their support. Mark Seif was also going to wear one this week, however he never received his and as always Mark supports the Fallen Heroes daily.

On a sadder note last Sunday a former member of my unit who was a Security Assistant that assisted Deputy personnel at all the train and subway stations was shot 9 times at a friends party in Bell Gardens about a mile away from the Bicycle Casino.

Hector had recently promoted to a jailer at the County Jail and was at a family party when an uninvited guest from a local gang decided to show up. He was escorted out by several of the party goers and was furious about having to leave and pulled out a 9mm handgun and began to shoot.

Hector was standing next to his younger brother and immediately stood in front of his brother in order to protect him and was hit.

Hector was rushed to St Francis Hospital in Lynwood Ca and was fighting for his life as it took four days to stop the bleeding from the numerous wounds.

A few days ago we found out Hector is paralyzed from the waist down but is going to survive his tragedy. He has a long road ahead of him but what compounds this incident is even more troubling.

Hectors father was a Policeman in Mexico and when he was two years old his father was shot in the line of duty and paralyzed from the waist down. Hectors father could not live with the idea of being in a wheelchair, so he took his own life.

Hectors mom has since re-married but Hector is the provider in the household and his family depends on his income.

There was a barbq setup for hector Wednesday and nearly 2000.00 was raised. I had my charity foundation donate a 1000.00 even though it is supposed to be for those who give their life in the line of duty.Hector is one of our own !! Also I would like to thank Willing2die from the Poker Road forums who is also in Law Enforcement for sending a 100.00 to Hector. I gave Hector the money yesterday along with a shirt and a hat and coin and although his spirits are low, he was very thankful.

Additionally we had a Deputy Sheriff get hit by a car four years ago while directing traffic in the city of Santa Clarita. He went into a coma and there were some legal issues that were finally settled Thursday and he was taken off of life support yesterday and passed.

The Fallen Heroes Charity will be there to help his family in anyway we can.This is why I and my buddy Craig, work so hard to promote this foundation, so we can help others in there time of need.

I have also been at home with some family issues and it has kept me from playing any of the local tournaments going on right now.I messed around on line to in a few small buy ins and got lucky on some hands and unlucky on others, but it passed the time by and I actually made a small profit.

I have been watching the live updates of the Festa al Lago tournament on-line and as of this morning Nam Le is in the final 12 players along with another friend, Joe Sebok. I wish them both the best today.

Thats what has been going on with me, hopefully I will be back in the next week or so. Until then.........Take Care and Be Safe.....

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Are You Superstitious?

Date: Sat, Oct 4, 2008 Professional Internet Tournament

What is Superstition:

To believe in spite of evidence or without evidence. To account for one mystery by another. To believe that the world is governed by chance or caprice. To disregard the true relation between cause and effect. To put thought, intention and design back of nature. To believe that mind created and controls matter. To believe in force apart from substance, or in substance apart from force.

To believe in miracles, spells and charms, in dreams and prophecies.

I know Baseball players have a superstition, never stepping on the white chalk line; Sports figures pointing to the sky after a home run or touchdown as if anyone really believes God had something to do with it. How about the number 13.

Some superstitions may be just for fun while others may affect you deeply enough to affect your choices in life. None of them are based in fact, but many have roots deep in tradition and history.

Why do Poker Players have those little trinkets at the table with them, Texas Dolly has "Casper" and has willed it to Howard Lederer. Others have Rocks or coins and even pictures of their children and grandchildren with them.

The first player who comes to mind having his kids picture at the table and kissing it when he had to make a tough decision, was Bernard Lee. Recently though Jerry Yang had his kids picture take him to the final table of last years WSOP Main Event and with help of some other powers, he eventually won .

I know some Poker Player's wear the same hat or shirt and even the same shoes if they have done well in a tournament or won a tournament with that certain garment on.

I have to admit, I have been looking for the perfect good luck charm since I began playing Poker two years ago. Several have come close and when I have won an event or done well I have used that same item again believing it was my lucky charm. It has turned out not to be and so the search goes on. However recently I believe I found it.

The wisdom came from one of my five year old twin girls, Jasmine. I was driving her to school with her sister Jennifer and she looked at me and said, "Daddy, we are so lucky everyday to wake up and have fun". WOW…I said to myself, where did this come from. I told her, "yes we are" and Jasmine went on to say, "Are there Twin Towers in California" Then it hit me, they learned about the Twin Towers in class last week and last night I had a conversation with a friend on the phone about a person I arrested and took to the County Jail here in LA, it is called the "Twin Towers". The things our children pick up.

My good luck charm is the four beautiful girls the good lord and my wife have given me.
I do not need a certain card protector or the perfect hat or putting two cushions on my chair during a tournament. I have the two sets of twins who give me a hug and kiss before I leave to play Poker and that my friends, is all I need!

What are your superstitions? It would be interesting to all if you post them here in the comment section.

Good Luck as we say, break a leg.....have Fun....more superstitions?

Take care...Be Safe............

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My Evening at the Bike

Date: Wed, Oct 1, 2008 Professional Internet Tournament

WELL.........I entered the $225.00 NL Deep Stack Event at the Bicycle Casino last night and it was the smallest field of this tournament.

Three Hundred hopefuls registered and with starting chips of 7,000 we were off and running at 7:00pm sharp. I could tell you the first level I was on fire and built my stack up to 16,000 with some tough play and they were all small pots.

I then lost 6500 chips with a set of fours on the flop, when I was chased to the river by a spade flush draw.

Then right before the first break I was in the big blind with J-9 and the blinds were at 200. Five players called the 200 and we saw a flop of J-7-9 rainbow. I bet 1000 and was called by one.The turn was another 9 and I bet out 3500 leaving me only 2000 chips and a Queen hit the river and my opponent went all in...

I thought for a minute and thought he might have AQ or maybe 2 pair,QJ..I put my last 2000 in and he showed QQ for a bigger full house!!

I go play a cash game for a bit and build my stack from 100.00 to 225.00 and this guy to my left always raised his Blinds. Two times I called him and both times I hit middle pair but ended up folding when he made a large continuation bet.

I look down at Qh-Js and he raise again with 25.00 in the pot to $50.00 it folds to me and I smelled a rat and called him. The flop was As-10s-Kh SWEET a flopped straight... With 130.00 in there I went all in for 165.00 and he insta called me with 7-5 of spades....raised to to 50 bucks with 7-5 of

SPADES

This people is what you call a SIGN and its bigger than a full moon in my face telling me ...STOP...

So I am...Going to take a rather long break from poker for awhile and work some days off and start getting ready for the holidays. I will post a blog every so often with out any Poker content and wisehand is changing the site around very soon. There are going to be some very cool things here, so keep checking back.

I want to congratulate Mike Alzona, AKA: "Mr Flush", he won last nights event after hitting a 9 on the river when his 99 was losing then flopping a spade flush with 98 when his opponent hit a set of deuces on the flop and went all in. This gave Mike at the time over 350,000 chips. He sent me a message this morning and the final 9 players made a deal as it was close to 7:00am..and Mike had over 950,000 chips and a 2-1 to one margin over the closest player.

First place was $21,500.00, Just to let you know Mike is the gentleman who beat me at Commerce with the Q8 of diamonds when I had KK and he made a move and flopped a flush ,hence the new nickname.."Mr. Flush"

Also congrats to his lovely wife who took 13th in the event when her AQ lost to KJ..Congratulations again guys!!!!

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The Saga Continues

Date: Tue, Sep 30, 2008 Professional Internet Tournament

This weekend went by fairly quick as it was a busy weekend at work. The Bicycle Casino had its "Big Poker Oktober" series start and the events have had enormous turnouts.

Monday was the $120.00 NL Holdem event and it did not start until 7:00pm. I was off at 3:00 pm but after doing some paper work and going downtown to pick up my Fallen Heroes hats I ordered it was 5:45pm so I decided to go to the Bike and play.

I was a little tired, after all I was up at 3:15am but I am off on Tuesday so I would be able to sleep in before taking the girls to school if it became a late night for me.

This event is a Deepstack and you start with 7,000 in chips and for $5.00 more you can get an extra 1,000. The blinds started at 25-50 and they had 30 minute levels. The structure was semi turbo as they took a few levels out so the blinds increased pretty quick after level 4.

I was up and down all night, I lost a big pot when I flopped a set of eights and was chased down by this older gentleman with pocket tens. He had the ten of clubs as the board made 4 clubs on the river. I lost about 6,000 to him of my 12,000 I had accumulated. I never had over 14,000 in chips all night and hung around the 8-9 thousand chip count for 5 hours.

At almost midnight I only had 6200 chips and the blinds had just gone up to 600-1200 with a 200 ante. I was card dead and there were still about 110 of the original 433 players left.

I had 33 in the cutoff and there was a raise to 3600 and another gentleman who had pushed all in 4 times in this round went all in again for about 14,000. I figured since 33 was the best hand I had seen in an hour and being so short stacked, I decided to push the last of my chips in and the original raiser called the all ins and turned over KK.

The first guy to go all in showed A9 and after asking the dealer to PLEASE flop a 3 for me...he did...flop,,,,10-3-2 rainbow...My friend Jon Yuson was at the table and I looked at him and shook my head. The turn was another 2 giving me a full house and the possibility at having over 20,000 in chips and an outside chance of finally getting over the hump and being able to play poker. BUT.......the river was a K giving the original raiser a bigger full house and sending me home scratching my head again.

I finally had some luck strike me, but it was very short lived and thats Poker!!!

Today is the $225.00 NL event and I am going to try and play it. This will be the only event I play until later next week, because as I said before, no more Poker on days I work.

I was going to play very aggressive to try and accumulate a stack early, but the flops kept whiffing for me and I had to slow down a bit as I did not want to become to short stacked early.

I just could not find a spot early with big pots. I won a few small ones with KK and QQ two times, but I just do not get those hands when there are huge pots. I did have J-10 clubs one hand when the flop was 8-K-A and two other players put in 2,000 chips each. The pot was about 9,000 and the turn was a four. First player bet another 2,000 and was called making the pot 13,000. I had 5500 left at this point and I folded. The river was a Queen and my stomach turned.....Both players ended up all in on the river and it was A8 for one and 88 for the other..If I would of chased, I would have had over 30,000 chips at this early point in the tournament. My gut was telling me to call, But I new it was stupid and I still had 20 times the big blind left at that point.

How many times have you laid down the winning hands in a tournament. I had 2-4 spades one hand and the flop was A-3-5 . I had 76 one hand out of position and there was a big raise and I could not call it with three others in the pot. The flop was 777..I know it happens to all of us, we play the way we are supposed to and muck the crummy cards only for them to hit. When we play the cards we are supposed to unfortunately we get beat more often than not..Love this game though and will continue to play ........Take Care...Be Safe...

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Do you Play On-Line?

Date: Mon, Sep 29, 2008 Professional Internet Tournament

I have not been playing live for almost two weeks now. I cashed out my money on Pokerstars and left $93.00 out of the 2 grand I won. First check was 1300.00 from a bank in Chicago and the second check 600.00 was from San Francisco. Both came pretty fast and both cleared with no problems.

There is this one site that tracks your play and I am not talking about Sharkscope. It shows my stats having like a 94.11% and I have a 1296.00 profit overall on Poker stars over the past 2 years, thanks to my recent cashes.

I was looking at some of the top players and it tells you how much you have won and approximate profit. Several players have enormous amounts of wins with only little profit left. One player has won over 4 million...thats right 4 million on line but his profit is only 186,000.00.....

I was ranked like 5,269 out of 25,000 players for the month of September, but since i have cashed out, my hands have gotten beat after beat and I have put all the money I left at the site back in plus another 100.00.

The calls you get on line are unreal. There are ranks on PokerStars and they have these little stars under their avatars. I have seen this more often lately and these players have tremendous luck and once they get a few chips it becomes an all in fest in the 20.00 to 30.00 sng's I play.

It takes the fun out of Poker, but I am at home with my girls and only play one or two games periodically.

I will probably play Tuesday at the Bike in their NL Deepstack "Big Poker October" series. The buy in is 225.00 and The Bike has had some very large fields since last Thursdays start.

I thought playing on line lately was going to be a positive experience. I was always so skeptical because of the way I lost on line. But when you see so many more hands in an hour then you do live, one is bound to see some sick beats.

I thought it might be helping my game, but it is not. It has begun to take away my confidence and is making me gunshy and feeling defeated, which is not good for a Poker player,amateur or not.

I am going to lay off the online for awhile. I almost was going to delete PS from my computer but I maintained my composure and just logged off.

I have these card protector coins for sale at fallenheroesla.org Check out the site as it is now up and almost at 100%. The coins are the logo on the front page and they are very popular. We also have hats and shirts which are not yet posted to look at, but will be very shortly. You can e-mail us if you like. The coins are $10.00 each..

Have a great week and Take Care and Be Safe....

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Whats the Difference?

Date: Wed, Sep 24, 2008 Professional Internet Tournament

I have 22 years of experience in the Law Enforcement Community and recently received the honor of "Legendary Lawman" from Sheriff Lee Baca. I have a special pin with the number "424" on it which represents how many of us in the history of LA County Sheriff have received this honor.Along with a very nice certificate I had it framed and it hangs on my living room wall.

I have been a father to 12 children for 30 years and am currently raising the two sets of Diamond twins. I display their pictures proudly throughout our home.

I had many awards as an athlete growing up and recently threw all my trophies away that were in a box in the garage. I had some good memory flashbacks as I looked into that box and for a moment I was Al Bundy, as I scored 4 touchdowns in a High School Football Game.

All of the above were hard work and I know my mother who died when I was only 12 years old would have been proud of me and I know in my heart there are some wonderful kids I raised out there in the world surviving, because of the things I taught them at an early age.

However in the Poker Community I am a pea in the pod with just a short stint as a Poker Player. I told you once before in a blog,I was told I am a "wanna be" and it recently surfaced again.

I admit I have been really fortunate in the Poker Community making some wonderful friends and being able to write here at Wisehand.

I am able to do my Charity Event for the Fallen Heroes and several families are very thankful because of this organization I established with a good friend and co-worker.

Poker has become a hobby and I can even go as far as a passion of mine since I had my four surgeries the past four years that would of retired most and it does not allow me to play the two sports I had a passion for any longer. I was always playing some sort of basketball at the local parks or in leagues with my friends and softball was a weekly evening with the family in the stands, enjoying the good food other families always brought.

I hope this blog does not sound like a bragging session,but I am a little annoyed at someone who has the gall to call me a "wanna be" in the Poker Community because I have not won a bracelet or a Major Event. I am not on TV playing in Poker Tournaments for the world to see me and I am not famous because of this.

I guess making it on TV and signing a few autographs and having your picture thrown around the Poker sites makes this person something special.

I could easily tell him,come to my world and we will see who has the respect of his peers or come to my house and see who is the star at home and that HE would be the "wanna be"

Poker is just a game that I fell in Love with,it's not my career and I do not have to make a living off of it.

With the popularity of Poker the past few years,players now have agents and get signing bonuses to wear a logo while they are on TV. I think this is great,but does it make them any better than someone else?

We tend to look at people who are constantly on TV as celebrities and chase after them to get pictures and autographs. I have a few favorite players in the sporting world and a few favorite actors as well as Poker Players. They are not any better than you and I in life,just a little luckier or have a god given talent.

Some know how to handle the fame respectfully and are humble others heads are so big they have a hard time getting out of the limo each evening.

I am fueled by these remarks about me and more determined than ever to win a major event someday. I do not owe thousands of dollars to anyone and I have to play smaller events as my bankroll dictates.

I am very pleased at how I have progressed as a Poker player in my short two years of playing. I am going deep in many tournaments and I have cashed 8 times in big tournaments this year and won two small $100.00 buy ins in Las Vegas.

Mostly though I am proud of what I have accomplished in my life and as I look in the mirror in the morning I tell myself, I need to do better as a father and a person, there is always room for improvement in ones life.

I am proud of what I have accomplished as a Deputy and I still have several more years of serving the public trying to make this a better place for all of us to live. So should I really care I am considered by some as a "wanna be" or a groupie in the Poker Community. I think not. I have always been an outgoing and friendly person, if they take my kindness for something different,they are definitely mistaken.

I do not play Poker to become famous or think I am famous!!!

To all my Poker playing friends...Take Care and Be Safe..I am just happy to be healthy and be able to play this great game with all of you.

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A Poker Legend Retired Today

Date: Sat, Sep 20, 2008 Professional Internet Tournament

I know in Law Enforcement when you are called a Legend there is a reason for it. Doyle Brunson is called a Legend and rightfully so. Babe Ruth was a Legend and so was Wyatt Earp.

I think after 17 years of organizing and running the second largest tournament every year on the West Coast, while putting in 14-16 hour days so it can be considered the "BEST" tournament,deserves the title of, "LEGEND".

Commerce Casino has the LA Poker Classic every February and players from all over the world bring their $10,000.00 buy in and compete to be the LA Poker Classic WPT Champion,a coveted title in the Poker Community.

Cherri Dokken, the outstanding Tournament Director for the past 17 years is the "Legend" behind all the successful tournaments Commerce has hosted and she is the reason Commerce Casino is a household name with all Poker Players.

Cherri has seen so many people grow not only in Poker, but in Life. She has heard 17 years of bad beat stories,not only in Poker but in all her players lives.Always an ear for anyone and a smile or comforting hug,Cherri has been there for so many.

Today as the $1500.00 NL California Poker Championship was about to start,Cherri made her announcement to the 482 players in the Ballroom and they stood up and gave her a standing ovation for over a minute.

The $183,00.00 first place prize was not even thought about as Cherri stood there fighting back tears in front of so many people she has known for so long. A "LEGEND" I think so and so did a packed house at Commerce today.

Cherri,you will be missed and I wish you nothing but the best. Thank you for everything you have done for me the past two years. They do not call you 'Momma" for nothing...xoxoxo.

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Played Poker..But there was So much more going on

Date: Tue, Sep 16, 2008 Professional Internet Tournament

I have been talking about my tournament play and how it always seems the incredible beats keep coming and the past two days were no different.

However after what had happened here in Los Angeles on Friday at 4:23pm I do not see how I can ever complain or be disgusted with what happens in a Poker Tournament.

One of my very first articles I ever wrote was called "Perspective" I wrote it after being very upset about My KK getting beaten by the case Queen on the river when I was the chip leader at a WSOP Circuit Event in Vegas two years ago. It was about the family whose vehicle was rear ended by a semi truck and the twin girls and their brother died in the tragic accident. It made me realize being the father of two sets of twin girls Poker is just a game and how very lucky I am to be a father of these beautiful girls.

As time goes on we sometimes tend to forget about how lucky we are in life with so many tragic things that occur in our society today. I should be ashamed of myself for getting so upset about the bad beats I have been taking in Poker and when I tell you about my adventures I need to word them differently.

Friday was the worst Commuter train disaster in the history of the State of California. Two trains colliding head on and leaving a scene that was so devastating it will leave a vivid picture in my mind for the rest of my life. I can only imagine the picture the people who survived the crash will have,but it was the worst thing I have seen in my time and being a Deputy for 22 years, I have seen a lot.

There were so many heroes on Friday from Law Enforcement ,Firefighters and the public it made me proud to be a Deputy for the first time in a long time. Deputies crawling through twisted metal, smoldering fire and climbing over dead bodies and getting soaked in diesel fuel to save a life or to give some peace to those who were still alive but fading fast.

To the Doctors who were flown in by helicopter to the triage site and were amputating limbs in order to save people's lives,it was a scene out of a war zone,absolutely devastating.

The impact of the two trains was so enormous,all the windows in the homes nearby were shattered from the shock wave the crash sent out. We may never know the EXACT cause of the crash because the engineer died, the NTSB will only put the pieces of the puzzle together and give us their thoughts to as why the crash happened. We know the engineer did not obey signals, but we may never know why.

Twenty Five people lost their lives and hundreds are in mourning. With many more in very critical condition in the hospitals in the death toll could rise,but also the torn and battered survivors of this ordeal will live with pain the rest of their lives,not only physically, but mentally as well. My prayers and thoughts go out to everyone.

Thursday will be the Funeral for an LAPD Officer who died in the crash. Tomorrow I go with some of my board members to present a check from the Fallen Heroes Fund to her Mother and Father. It will be another difficult day.

Sunday I won an $80.00 dollar satellite and played the $225.00 Shootout Event where my flopped two pair lost to as set with three players left at my table and yesterday I played the $545.00 event and with 194 entries first place was close to $30,000.00

I played FANTASTIC and was so very focused. But as you know everything has to go just right for you in a Poker Tournament and with 40 players left My AK clubs lost 5k to AQ when a Queen hit the flop and a few rounds later I had KK in the Big Blind when the small blind moved all in for 7200 chips. I called he turned over Q8 of diamonds and the flop was all diamonds and I was crippled again. I hung on playing some very aggressive poker but my A6 diamond ran into 88 when I had only 5100 chips left with 26 players. Only the top 18 were paid and the blinds 600-1200 with a 200 ante...( Ok Brandon) I pushed under the gun with an Ace but lost.

I am very happy with my play. Again I felt I did not make one mistake, there were a few pots if I would have been more aggressive I would of won pre flop, but I was playing the style I said I would play before the event started and it was working, so I did not want to try and fix what was not broken. I satellited into these two events so it only cost me about $105.00.

I am pretty tired and do not think I should play tonights $225.00 event,maybe tomorrow. The $335.00 NL is the last NL event until Saturdays Main Event and that is a $1600.00 buy in..

Thank you everyone for stopping by and reading my blogs and coming up to me at the Tournaments and saying kind remarks. I am just a pea in the pod in the Poker Community and it has become a passion of mine and meeting all of you has been great.

Take Care and Be safe and please say a prayer for everyone involved in the horrific event of last Friday..

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further adventures in getting paid

Date: Tue, Sep 16, 2008 Professional Internet Tournament

Now that I have publicly made a point of being dissatisfied with Full Tilt Poker's payment processing, I thought I would follow it up with how things have resolved so far.

Since I discovered that FTP had cancelled the Cash Pickup option, I've played exclusively at Pokerstars. The rumor that Stars had a cash pickup option seems to be just that, as I have not discovered one. I made a check withdrawal request on August 28th from Full Tilt, who make it clear that it can take up to 15 business days for your check to arrive. It has been my experience that you rarely recieve it much earlier than that. I made a check withdrawal request a week later from Pokerstars, on September 4th.

5 days later on the 9th of September, My Stars check had arrived. Today, September the 16th, 19 days after my cashout request, I received my FTP check. That's almost 4 times longer waiting for FTP than Stars. I will say that I am relieved to have received the Full Tilt money, but I find it hard to imagine a legitimate reason for this discrepancy. It's been this way as long as I've been playing both sites. I don't know if I can keep money on a site that is so cavalier with my money. Sure, I can get rakeback on FTP, but there are less players and the games are worse for that reason anyhow. I've always preferred a few small things about the FTP interface, it's always seemed more user friendly to me.

The only reasons I can conceive of for the discrepancy in payout time are as follows:
1. FTP just plain has a slow system, which doesn't prioritize timeliness.
2. FTP wants to squeeze out that extra profit from holding on to our money for a few weeks longer
3. FTP is in financial trouble, or keeps in funds in a bank that is close to insolvency.

None of these excite me, and even if it is just the first one, the reason they haven't solved it may be the second or third. The payment problems FTP has had over the past few months make me consider the third more than I otherwise would. It's a shame, because between rakeback and the interface, I would rather play on Full Tilt, but I just don't feel comfortable doing that now, and the timeliness of payouts is important to me.

Perhaps I will return to Full Tilt if they bring back Cash Pickup as a payout option, but as of today, it's still not available.

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Not Again!!!..Yes Again!!!!

Date: Fri, Sep 12, 2008 Professional Internet Tournament

I took my girls to the LA County Fair Wednesday and we had a great evening. My wife and I are just so blessed to have such wonderful girls. They have no fear when it comes to any ride and they just loved the animals.

We watched how the cows get milked and they also saw bee's making honey and they were truly interested.

So today I was getting some odds and ends done around the house and my friend Jorge Pineda called and asked if I was playing the $335.00 NL event at Commerce tonite.

Jorge offered to put me in because he said I am due and I have been playing well.After several minutes of talking we agreed I would pay $180.00 and he would pay the $165.00 and I would get at least $10,000.00 if I won.

We figured there would be a first place prize of around $18,000-$20,000.00 tonight and we were right it turned out to be just under 18k at $17,490.00.

With 2000 starting chips and 221 entries I started fast and good as usual and was winning some pots and had about 3600 just before the end of level 2.

As two players left the table seat 10 was filled with a guy who had accumulated some chips also.He put his rack on the table and left to go get some red bull.

I look down at Pocket 10's and raise to 125 chips when the blinds were 50-25. There are 4 callers and the new guy sits down just in time to look at his hand.

He surveys the table and raises to 500 chips on the button. It is only 375 more for me to call and there is about 1150 in the pot, so I call.

The flop is 4-10-J rainbow and I hit my set of tens.I check he bets 500 and I put him on AA or KK before the flop. With just a third bet into the pot I am thinking he has KQ suited and is open ended so I go all in and he insta calls with.............JJ...Set over F...IN....Set and once again after fighting traffic to get there at 6:00pm, I am on my way home from Commerce at 7:20 in heavy heavy LA traffic.

Once again disappointed, upset, and with all the positive thinking and not letting these beats get to me...they are starting too. Thanks for reading...

Take Care...Be Safe....

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Its Official..Charity Event at the Bike

Date: Tue, Sep 9, 2008 Professional Internet Tournament

I spoke with Ron Kramer today from the Bicycle Casino. Anyone who has played at the Bike knows Kramer! I think he is a Legend in the Poker World and I enjoy all of the stories he tells me.

Anyway, he told me the management at the Bike approved my Fallen Heroes Event for February 22nd 2009. This event and one other are the only two Charity events to be held at the Bike next year.

The Bike is going to remodel its tournament room and the construction starts in January and will not be complete until July.I am sure it will be worth the wait.

So MARK IT ON YOUR CALENDARS people.....February will be upon us very fast.

We will have pre registration on our website..FallenheroesLA.org and also on the Bicyclecasino.com site...Hope to hear from all of you soon. It is going to be a fantastic evening of Poker, just ask those who attended last years event!

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Huge Turnout At Commerce

Date: Mon, Sep 8, 2008 Professional Internet Tournament

Last Night the Commerce Casino had its $120.00 Deepstack Event for its California State Poker Championship series.

What a turnout!!! There were 866 people who showed up to play and Cherri Dokken and her staff accommodated all of them. This was a huge accomplishment for a Sunday afternoon.

Me...well I doubled up very early and was rolling along until I had my AK beat by KJ on the river by one of the late arrivers. Then my A-8 was beat on the turn by A-5. I went completely card dead and when the blinds went to 600-300 I had 3500 chips left and pushed with 55 only to run into KK.

I watched the final two tables from the night before multiple re buy tournament.My good friend Jorge Pineda again made another final table as did another friend Minh Nguyen.

Minh has fallen on some very tough times lately and has kept his composure and is always a gentleman at the tables. Minh ended up knocking Jorge out in 6th place and the final 5 ended up making a deal which took about 20 minutes. Robert Chip Burner Turner was also at the final table and I found it very amazing how many people lent some of these players money and were waiting around for their percentage.

I felt really bad for Minh, he agreed to take around 69,000 and the trophy with the first place prize at 81,000. Minh had three quarters of the chips in play and watched as the other players argued over there amounts.

After it was all over and the backers were paid and the money owed to others Minh walked away with only 5K..

I hope this is a turnaround for Minh and he goes on a streak to get his life back in order. I am sure there are still more people owed, but at least he paid off some of his debts last night.

Another class act was my friend Jorge who gave a lot of his friends 10-20.00 each before heading home. It may not sound like much,but to me it's just the thought that counts and those guys are having a free meal on Jorge today.

Jorge played a short stack very well last night and when Minh raised in front of Jorge for about 45,000 chips, Jorge moved all in for about 92,000 and Minh Called. Minh showed QJ diamonds and Jorge had AK.. The flop was 8-3-9 and the turn was a 10 giving Minh a straight.

Poker can be cruel so very often. I know I am an expert in this cruelty field. I have a remedy for those demons at Commerce, However I am not going to share it with you at this time. I am hoping to play Either Tuesday or Wednesday, so until then...

Take Care...Be Safe...

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Brian Hastings is a Class Act

Date: Sat, Sep 6, 2008 Professional Internet Tournament

I’m currently watching the 25k head-op PLO tourney on Full Tilt. I noticed a very interesting second round match-up of Brian Hastings and Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond. I noticed that Phil had lost connection and was very impressed when Brian did the right thing by letting time run all the down and then raising to take the pot. He easily could’ve been raising as fast as he could and whittled Phil down to nothing while he was disconnected. Phil was very thankful for it and said he would have done the same. It’s nice to see two one stars show some class.

Hastings also showed he understands responsibility. He is a pro for the site and also is a member of Cardrunners. It would look bad to have someone representing a couple of well known sites getting as many chips as possible while someone was unable to defend their chips. Way to be a good representative of the game Brian.

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