Not so much

Since I last made a “real” post:

I have experienced the birth of yet another child. I have been there for three now and it is no lie to say they have been the three best days of my life. One-half of my brain is telling me I have no ability to raise a little girl having never been one. The other half (and the winner) is telling me I will be alright. I am expecting a 5’ 10” outside hitter in about fourteen years though.

With three little ones in the house and only two parents, I have written to Jim Boeheim requesting diagrams on effective Zone Defenses as we have to shift away from man-to-man.

A lack of posts does not indicate a lack of desire to play poker. In fact, I post so little as I find it hard to find the time as I am playing so much.

Two weeks ago, I came to the realization that I did not “have” to play poker. This was a relief. I was sitting down each night in front of the computer screen with a “sigh.” Since then, I have been playing almost as much but I feel rejuvenated. If I feel like stopping, I just stop, get up, and go do something else. I have a job. I didn’t need another one.

I had my biggest win in the Party Poker 40K on a Friday night after drinking a bottle of red wine. It’s a good thing I am not superstitious or I’d be spending a lot of those winnings on wine right now.

Early in that tournament, my QQ held up in an all-in situation versus AK. My comment to the Wife was, “That’s what you have to do to go deep in these tournaments. Have your favorites hold up and out-race a few time when you are behind.” And that is what I did until the final table.

I was in seventh when we made the final table. Five offered to discuss a deal, five declined. Down to five and I was in third. The two low stacks were pleading for a deal with no response from the top two. Down to the final two, the other player never offered a deal. He was ahead about 5/3 and the blinds were 150/300k with about T8 million in chip in play. I thought about offering a split when I took the lead but he made a comment about how lucky I was and it hurt my feelings so I played on until I won. As long as I have substantial chips, I am very comfortable playing HU against hyper-aggresives. I trapped my way into the lead and trapped on the winning hand. I’ve always been a good counter-puncher.

I have been reading Hoyazo a lot because if you read him, you are reading A LOT! There is not that much time in the day to do the amount of in-depth writing he does. It is worth the time to read though. Also worth the time are the MATH tournaments. They don’t take too long as there are not many players but the level of play is very good and is a primer in how to play tough opponents.

I have had numerous dreams populated by bloggers over the last few months:
--Riding through the desert with Pauly driving a convertible. We weren’t talking. Just looking at the stars.
--Sitting at a Pai Gow table with Otis, Texas April, and Blood, yelling “PAI GOW”!!!
--Watching basketball with Joe Speaker in the Hilton sports book.
--Fishing with Iggy in the river behind my house.
--Not a blogger dream but the best one. I was the judge of some sort of contest involving Shannon Elizabeth. For some reason, I did not judge her the winner. Afterwards, we were standing around outside and she made a flirtatious comment about how I should have voted for her before inviting me back to her place where she and some friends were going to be hanging out. She turned and walked away up a steep flight of steps. Of course, this whole time she was wearing a floral print bikini top and thong that narrowed to the point of ridiculousness. That my friends, is a nice sight to see walking up a set of stairs. I do remember thinking I could tell her my slight connection with her which is the fact Pauly knocked her out of the 2005 WSOP Celebrity/Media tournament when she held AA. In my dreams though, I am smooth. I kept my mouth shut and played it cool.

--I tried what is hopefully my last jury case. I expected it to last about ¾ a day but it extended to three full ones. I Perry Masoned the closing argument and got every bit of damages we submitted to the jury. I enjoy being in Court but I hate the preparation and time spent on the hot-seat waiting to be called.

--I received a very nice compliment from my waitress at my favorite Mexican restaurant. I hadn’t been in in about a month. She brought me my drink and said something along this line. “You look . . . good. Not so much . . .ahh . . .than before . . .not so (hand gesture) . . . not so much fat.” I thanked her very much for the compliment, told her I was in no way offended by what she said but taught her that “thinner” means the same thing as “not so much fat” and would probably be a better description for one who lost weight.