Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Getting itchy for Vegas

Return to Vegas 2007: I wish I was there already! Just a few more days. When one suffers panic attacks and attention deficits and depressions and talking invisible gremlins, making plans and getting things together for a big outing can be full of pains and strains. I'm hanging in there...

My poker play the last couple days has been good but frustrating. I am happy that my increasing aggression is working and becoming more natural. I am not happy that I sometimes get impatient or try to rush things, or don't heed my inner voices about warning signs. Playing live in Las Vegas will be much better, being slower and with less distractions at hand so I can stay focused on the business. Yes, I love to have fun at the poker table (probably too much, tablemates would say of the chatty shamster). But the real wars and games ahead will bring out the focus. I just hope I don't start slow and finish with frustrating near-misses, like this summer; give me the string of 10 tournament cashes from the middle of the trip!

I hope to post daily from Vegas here, as I did to the Aces Cracked forum on my last Sin City invasion. Wish paul and lori (and even rk) were going to be there again. Ah well, next summer... Gotta look into a two-month deal on some residence near The Strip for June-July!

I will post a preliminary itinerary here Friday (knock on wood). Have to work tonight and all day Thursday, although I aim to make the Riverchasers game Thursday night at Full Tilt. Suggestions on unusual/challenging things to see/do in Vegas are welcome here. Peace.

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Blah Blah Blahs

Tennessee Ernie Ford sang about "... another day older and deeper in debt..." Yeah, feels like I'm toting them "Sixteen Tons" around right now -- and not just from my birthday last week or Thanksgiving feasting. I didn't eat that much turkey and dressing! (Hmm, wonder how stuffed armadillo would taste?...)

Maybe I'm just feeling post-success letdown. Missouri football fans aren't used to the Tigers actually winning a BIG one. Sweet when it's against Kansas. Less sweet when Mizzou's got an even BIGGER task in a week, this time against Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship Game next Saturday night in San Antonio. Wish I still lived back in Austin; I would so be there! Anyways, thanks for the congrats, irongirl; hope your Colorado team gets a bowl invite, there are plenty to go around.

Speaking of the college football bowls, the shamster turned his crystal ball on the Bowl Championship Series this morn and was very pleased with what it revealed. In a sane universe, Mizzou is a lock for a BCS game: either the championship game if the Tigers get revenge on Boomer Sooner, or else (you won't believe this) in the Rose Bowl if Oklahoma lightning strikes twice. Who laughed at "Rose Bowl for Mizzou"? Well, if West Virginia beats Pitt the Mountaineers will punch their ticket to the BCS national championship game (PA buddy Steelpenny will love that!). Their foe will be Mizzou if it beats Oklahoma (still can't believe we might be officially labelled "No. 1" later today in polls), or Ohio State if Mizzou awakens from the dream. A Mizzou loss also means Oklahoma's in the Fiesta Bowl as Big 12 king. Mizzou still gets a BCS bowl invite as second-best in the Big 12 (we did beat Kansas, and Texas got Aggie Turkey Hangover again). If the Rose Bowl loses OSU to the BCS title game, it needs a replacement to meet USC -- and Mizzou fills the bill perfectly. The Tigers beat Illinois (I was there), and the Illini and Michigan just don't deserve Roses.

Ten teams get BCS spots. My crystal ball says: West Virginia, Ohio State, Missouri-Oklahoma winner, LSU-Tennessee winner, Virginia Tech-Boston College winner, USC-UCLA-Arizona survivor. That's six automatics. Then Georgia. Then Missouri if it loses to OU (pronounced "ow"), or Kansas when Missouri's dream continues (Jayhawks rooting for the Tigers; hell definitely has frozen over). That's eight. Remaining two spots up for grabs amongst Hawaii, Illinois, Virginia Tech (if it loses to BC) and Arizona State (if it beats Arizona but USC gets the Roses). Hawaii and the Illini are my predictions, but politics and p.r. will play heavy roles. We shall see...

Saturday poker? I don't really wanna talk about it. Five tournaments, a five-buck profit for the day but really disappointing on the whole. Did come from behind to win the Aces Cracked league game at PokerStars. But got armadilloed in the Online Shark Tour freeroll at poker.com: jumped at a chance to eliminate cardluvr early with flopped two pair against his pocket nines, but a 3 on the river paired the board and gave him bigger two-pair than I. Another 11-2 river favorite drowns. Arghh!! The day started in Absolute Touchdown at Absolute Poker (go St. Louis players!!) with a river heart for the chip leader drowning my two pair, sending sham to the rail 17th/75. Then in the Online Forum Challenge Freeroll at Intertops (I hate Microgaming software and sites and lag and "refresh" and sit-out rules -- never ever again!!!!!) I was 203rd/975. And at the Online Poker Tour Freeroll at BigJuicyOdds I was 396th/552, deservedly but agonizingly losing when I risked it all with nut flush draw after flop for a 12K pot in level 3; my AT never caught table leader's AQ.

Haven't been able to get inspired to play any yet today. Maybe after the laundry. Possibilities include the Britbloggerment tournament at PokerStars (3 pm my time), the Maximum Poker League Series final at VegasPoker247 (7 pm), defending my title in the Nationwide Poker Tour Weekly at Bodog (8:05 pm) and the Shark Poker Tour buy-in at poker.com (9 pm). I'm already registered for three of them. We shall see...

And meanwhile, the Blogger Convention in Las Vegas gets closer and closer. Great tips, Pauly! One week from right now I will be in Sin City, laying the groundwork for 10 days of ... I wonder what? The blahs definitely will stay in St. Louis, I promise ya!

Friday, November 23, 2007

Of Kings, Cards and Consistency...

Sorry, it's been a few days. Just not back in the habit of writing down events and feelings and musings. Heck, if I could do that on a regular basis, I wouldn't be losing the war with "writer's block" and I'd once again be churning out the articles and stories like in the good ol' days. Starting with the last first, that's part of the "consistency" of this post's title. Some day I'll learn how to set aside time to do what needs doin'.

Dang, didn't realize it was so late; got a rescheduled Poker Analysis Buy-In League game ($5.50) starting in about 15 minutes at Poker Nordica. Looks like for the first time I'll have to do a blog post in stops and starts, not all-through-in-one-freeflowing-session like the prior posts. Ah well, who said life should be neat, anyway?? After all, I did just finish the family's day-late Thanksgiving get-together and meal ... and I'm chewing the drumstick to prove it.

OK. Back. Got 5th of 13 in the PA Buy-In; unfortunately, only 3 got paid. Getting very low on funds at Nordica, gonna need to win something there soon -- maybe hit the micro tables and chip up. Of course, we know what disaster happened when I tried that at BigJuicyOdds... Played well on the whole at Nordica just now, lost a few races that crippled me. Glenn hit a straight on the river to put me nearly out. Raz kept getting the bigger boats and better kickers; really lucky he didn't eliminate me before the final table. He was still floating from Arkansas' upset of LSU, I guess. No one any hotter than razorbacker the last few months in the PA Buy-In League. And they don't come any nicer!

Week in review time, and I'll try not to get carried away. The turkey's not sitting well; gonna go root against Hawaii! But in a pumpkin shell, here's the skinny since last we met:

Sunday -- Not exactly the Super Day I expected/wanted. Learned two good lessons: 1) Warming up is good. Works wonders for golfers and baseball players, should also for poker players. I seem to get better as the tournaments go on in a day; would probably do well to play a half-hour of micro rings to get in the right frame of mind, rather than go into a tournament cold. At least I should hit a ring table with play money! Must try to remember and follow through on this revelation.

Lesson 2) Cowboys do not as a rule like me. Did me in two tournaments in a row live in Vegas a couple summers ago. Did me in two tournaments in a row on Sunday 11/18/07. First, in my eagerly anticipated FTOPS VI Event 15 at Full Tilt ($150+$13 NLHE Knockout), I played well but not well enough. Won one $30 bounty, finished 978th of 2,616 entrants -- but I should have been a lot higher, reasonably in the top 153 and the money. Was 152nd mid-level 3, fluctuated between there and 400th for first two hours and was 357th/1089 coming off second break into level 11 (120/240). There I soon got pocket kings, slow-played them with minimum raise Under The Gun, drew three callers. I had about 6K left. Flop came three spades; yuck. I made strong bet, Small Blind and his table-best stack raised me, I went all in ... and he flipped up two spades. Did I mention one of my spades was the K, and the ace dropped on the flop? But no help ensues, and sayonara Sham. Someone had warned me not to slow-play one's big hands too much. I'll learn.

OK, so on to PA Buy-In League ($5.50) at poker.com. Guess what Sham gets early level 2?Yeah, pocket cowboys. No slow-play this time; I jump all-in from late position. And Davidyee in SB who has me covered calls ... with pocket rockets. No help for sham this time either; out 11th/12. Well, at least I'm consistent.

Do lousy in Maximum Poker League VP Series No. 9 ($2, I decline the rebuys/add-ons), ending up 19th/26. Frustrated. But hope springs eternal! I enter two at once at 8:05 pm (St. Louis time), both at Bodog: Rounders Radio Freeroll and Nationwide Poker Tour Online Weekly ($5.50, use some of my tournament credits). Hard for me to do two things at once, but if I do them right it slows me down and focuses me into better situations and less risks. No, I do NOT want to multi-table much. But I get 92nd/214 in Rounders game (only 3 paid). And the NPT game, well, somehow the Shamster came out No. 1! Out of 78 entrants!! Just on a roll, and capped it with a slow play that actually worked: I had AQ, foe A7, I minimum raised after ace on flop, foe went all-in and I smooth-called ... and it held. This experience did wonders for my confidence -- and for my 'roll, to the tune of $117 cash and Tournament Credits $109.

Incidentally, I passed on using my $75 satellite token at Full Tilt on Sunday night's Blogger Big Game. Very tough competition, only looked to pay 4 or 5 folks, so I decided I could have better positive expectations for the token elsewhere.

Tuesday -- That elsewhere came Tuesday night at Full Tilt (worked Monday, no poker). First I bought into a little NLHE Knockout Tourney ($3.30, 50-cent bounties); got no bounties and only 532nd/1,030. When eliminated, I noticed at midnight (which was the beginning of my birthday, Nov. 21) there was a satellite to the $1 Million Guarantee event set for Dec. 16. Only 4 have enterred, at a cost of $69+$6 -- just the size of my token. OK, 90 seconds before gametime I make the jump. And durned if 90 seconds later there aren't 9 players at an immediate Final Table -- talk about a glorified sit-and-go! Not my normal cup of tea. But I was hot, I was on my good game ... and I wound up heads-up with neilh111 for the $500+$35 finale seat. Sad to report, neil had a 3-1 chip lead going into heads-up, I pulled ahead, then tried to put him away with my JJ against his AT. Yeah, an ace flopped. I was down to 100 chips. Won a couple hands to go over 1,000, but eventually he put me away with two aces on a flop to go with one in his hand. Ah, well, second place was $86 cash, so I turned a profit on my token (which I'd won for a $15 investment). There should be another shot at the Million Guarantee, anyway.

Wednesday -- Blogger games, the Mookie (52nd/90) and the Dookie (9th/33 playing limit H.O.R.S.E. turbo). Good practice but no cashes.

Thursday -- Thanksgiving. A 60-cent cash at Doyle's Room for 248th/1,890 in a $1,000 Freeroll; was 75th at one point but eliminated when ran into slow-played pocket rockets -- why does that work so well for some people?? Two forgetable events (8th/8 TheBluffers League PL Omaha at VP247, 1451st/1840 in second Thanksgiving Day Bonus Freeroll at Doyle's). Then played well back at Full Tilt in BBT2 event 17, the Riverchasers Online Tour weekly game, but missed out on final table and money when A9 killed me twice, against AT and AQ. The real killer late in that tourney before the A9 follies, though, was when I read a foe's all-in as weak and called with 33; he had only 95, but flopped a 5 and went on to double through me. That was the start of the end, with Sham ending up 11th/73. And that brings us to today..

Friday -- Did I mention I was 25th/33 in the Bad Beat on Cancer at Full Tilt, an event won by fellow Shark Poker Tour member cardluvr? And that I was 5th/13 in the PA B-I Lg. at Nordica? And that I'm tired and have a tummy ache?

Time to watch football and veg. Saturday is another day. Gonna be a big, busy weekend: Absolute Touchdown game at AbPoke, Shark games at poker.com, Online Forum Challenge games at Intertops, Online Poker Tour freeroll at BJO, more usual fun from Aces Cracked and PA and MPL and Muffmoney and CardPlayer and Nationwide Poker Tour and ...

Life is good. And getting better with each lesson.

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Bring on Super Sunday!

That's going to do it for today, Saturday. An OK day: nothing great, some tiny cashes and good plays and excellent practices. If it hadn't been for those enemy pocket rockets against my JJ and QQ that knocked me out of two tournaments, it might have been a day to write home about. Instead, it was warm-up for the big, BIG wars on tap tomorrow, Sunday.

Backtracking a little first, I didn't play any poker online from Monday night until today. A lot of work-work dominated my time. At least the long 11- and 12-hour days of modelling went better than they had been; my legs held up nicely for a change! Maybe it's the slight dietary changes (more fiber featuring Raisin Bran, plus good old-fashioned Vitamin D milk, to heck with lo-fat, 2%, etc.) and more yoga that have me on the health and endurance upswing. Whatever, I ain't knocking it! Felt so good I worked a 3-hour open drawing class at Webster University on Friday afternoon when they had a late model cancellation. I can take my rest and days off in Vegas!

Speaking of modelling, got a call today confirming a gig while I'm in Vegas. A three-hour Tuesday night group at $20 per; that oughta pay for a buy-in tourney at Planet Hollywood! And maybe I'll meet artists who can give me a solid lead on inexpensive lodging for the WSOP next summer. One never knows when and where schmoozing and networking will pay off.

As I said, didn't get back to the faux felt until today. But I did play live poker Friday night, the battle of the Missouri and kansas St. Louis-area alumni chapters. Mizzou won easy; not many Jayhawkers in these parts ... and I'll be nice and not say anything more. I did discover that these kinds of home-games are little fun for me, with drunks and poor dealing by the players and few consistent rules and just general insanity. Not my schtick. I finished about 14th of the 40-odd players; only four got paid. Give me online or a controlled poker room any day!

Today I played four tournaments, cashing in three ... barely. The Absolute Touchdown (St. Louis vs. San Francisco) saw me 14th of 19 for $1.04. The Full Tilt Poker Forum Weekly saw me 32/45, but I did earn a bounty! Both ended suddenly against enemy aces that held up. The Aces Cracked League's off-season game saw me second for $12. And I just fell out of Shark Poker Tour's Road Warrior Blog Freeroll at Ab Poke: 13/136, only nine paid. This time I got it all in ahead A7 vs 87, but the enemy flopped an 8 and sayonara sham.

Sunday I have big plans and high hopes. The main goals: two tournaments at Full Tilt. At 1 p.m. St. Louis time I'm buying direct into FTOPS Event 15, the $150+$13 NLHE Knockout ($30 per bounty, I believe). Then I'll follow that up at 8:30 pm using my $75 token to enter the Blogger Big Game ... deep stacks I love, but only paying three places is not the +EV I prefer. We will see. There are a number of other smaller games, including a Poker Analysis Buy-In League game at poker.com (5 pm), that might tempt me. And football on TV -- can the Rams double their season victory total? What will be will be...

Good luck all; see you at the tables!

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Resting on one's Token

Whadaya know! Actually won me one of them $75 satellite tokens at Full Tilt on Monday night. Now I'm all set with the easy entry for Don's Big Game on Sunday at FTP. In the meantime, there's not much poker on the agenda until the weekend. In the immortal words of one of Mel Brooks' characters in "Blazing Saddles": "Work, work, work, work, workworkwork...!" What was that governor's name?

The last few days since Thrilling Thursday have been basically break-even. (Except for weekend football, and we are NOT going to go there! Mizzou won and rolls on toward the Kansas showdown, and that's ALL I'm gonna say. Dumb Rams...)

Friday I won six cents in a Doyle's Room Welcome Freeroll, and the wad there is up to 13 cents I think. At this rate I'll be buying back into a Doyle Bounty Tournament around mid-2009. Won a buck at Pokerstars in a Round 1 of Play in the Bahamas With Daniel Negreanu. Why do I put myself through those longshot, low-expectation contests? Guess I just loves a challenge! And no reason the game won't suddenly fall into place one of these times and I'll get the Big Enchilada; it's happened before. Meanwhile, relax, learn and play!

Saturday I was 103rd of 1,145 in the Online Forum Challenge #25 freeroll at Big Juicy Odds. Worth a whole $2.40. I needed to finish in top 60 to earn enough for Sunday's $5.50 OFC buy-in there. Attempts to deposit at BJO proved hopeless. So I took my 240 pennies to a micro ring game seeking to triple up, impatiently pushed with pocket ladies and was skewered on the turn. Back to bankruptcy at BJO. Don't think I'll be back there any time soon. They need fund-transferral abilities between their Dynamic Gaming sites members!!! Live and learn...

Before the OFC Saturday was Absolute Touchdown Week 10 at Absolute Poker. Every Saturday at noon Eastern they have "fans" of NFL teams square off, according to what the teams' real schedules are that week. Being a St. Louisan, I joined the St. Louis team midseason ... although if I was smart I shoulda chosen a team more likely to make the 16-team poker post-season. Rams slipped to 20-something in the standings after their bye. Last Saturday we played New Orleans. I went out 22/75, and only top 9 finishers score points. Absolute hasn't posted results yet. But still 7 weeks to go, so a lot of time to boost the team. I recommend joining for anyone seeking fun amongst poker-playing football fanatics; click on the Serina With Football ad to get info and sign up. Must be first-time registered by a Wednesday, or you'll have to wait until the next week to be "active." Most games are freerolls, but this Saturday will be a $5 buy-in. Who do the Rams play, San Francisco? Uh, oh; they have some tough supporters...

Saturday night at Pokerstars our Aces Cracked league wrapped up its 20-week Tournament Leader Board IV contest. Despite a heart-attack a couple weeks ago (you couldn't die and leave me the top spot??? kidding...), ol' cns (Lance Sr.) had the league and $150 bonus basically clinched going into the night, a thousand ahead of runner-up Shamster. I couldn't even get a moral victory and win the finale; third place (dunno whether cns or penfolio won after I left, grumpy me didn't care) and $10 back from a $10+$1 entry. Story of my weekend. There went Friday's Negreanu profit! TLB V should start after the first of the year; meanwhile, we'll keep playing at 8pm ET every Saturday -- come join us and have fun and learn the true meaning of pudding and taxi's theory of "rigged." More info at aces-cracked.net.

Capped Saturday with horrid midnight showing in a $6K-guaranteed bounty tournament at Ultimate Bet. Hadn't played there in a month or so. One good thing from the visit was I learned that Sunday night there'd be a tournament where top 30 could go on to LA and audition for a Hellmuth-Duke TV game in December. Sweet! So, jumping ahead, I returned to UB Sunday night, plunked down my $20+$2, played well ... but not well enough. Cards went dead, and finally so did I at 143/232. Oh well; maybe there'll be another UB Best Damn Poker Show in the future. Next time!...

Other than the UB BDPS qualifier, since I had no funds for the OPC at BJO (dontcha just love initials!), my Sunday basically revolved around chasing token and bounties at Full Tilt. Got one bounty in $24+$2 game. No token. Middle-of-the-pack rut. I blame it on football and weekend blahs. Couldn't even make the final table in Maximum Poker League's Vegas Poker Series No. 8 (which was supposed to be limit hold-em, wha' happened??). No big heartbreak, I'm already qualified for the MPL VPS post-season game. So I skipped the rebuys and add-ons, and still came close ... 11th.

And then came Monday. And a happy belated ending to the weekend. Didn't seem likely, since I modelled for three figure drawing classes at Missouri-St. Louis and got home too late for Poker Analysis Freeroll League's H.O.R.S.E. game at Ab Poke. Hemmed and hawed about what to play at Full Tilt. Didn't care too much for the fact M.A.T.H. (Monday at the Hoy, part of the Blogger Online Tournament Two aka BBT2 tour) was turbo. Noticed a bunch of bloggers enterred in the $75 Token Frenzy (yeah, also turbo, but what the hey...), so plunked down my $14+$1 and decided to give it a go. Wound up 98 enterred, which meant 18 tokens and 19th place getting cash and a small profit.

So how does the Sham start? Sitting with Riggstad on my left and Kajagugu on my right -- two of the most dangerous, most scary bloggers the world has ever seen. Pretty good with the cards, too. Somehow I held my own, and eventually sent riggs to the rail with a good read and a hand that held up for once. And that success was quickly tempered as the poker gods transferred me to a new table ... which included Astin, who has seemed to win a lot of my chips at Blogger games. Luckily Astin was a mite short on chips, and I took the rest of his in short fashion. From there it was win small pots and sit back and wait for the cards. Eventually Shamster survived the bubble, finished 13th and had his $75 token which is just the cost for enterring Don's Big Game on Sunday night. Sweet!!! And about time...

As earlier mentioned, no more online poker for most of the next 4 days. Model for sculpture group tonight and Thursday, 3 drawing classes each Wednesday and Thursday and an open drawing session at a friend's on Wednesday night. Friday brings live poker at a local restaurant (Bevo Mills): a felt battle between members of the St. Louis chapters of Missouri's and Kansas' alumni associations. That could get real ugly ... especially since it's an open bar. I am so old; can I call in Al as my Designated Liver?

If I don't catch my death of cold modelling and drink/schmooze myself into a coma, I'll be back this weekend. If not, try to think kindly when you Remember the Frog...

Friday, November 9, 2007

Metaphysical Musings Anyone?

Been a while since I've blogged here. Been a while since I've had a poker session that satisfied me. Are the two inter-related? Metaphysical musings welcome; we grow or we die (and death is just growth in a different direction)...

Anyways. I think I'm finally over the Breeders Cup. I won't say what I lost or I'll never hear the end of it from Irongirl on Negative Expected Value. Suffice it to say that if if if if if only I'd backed Curlin in the Classic instead of Street Sense, and if only darkhorse Shamdinan had gotten one spot better than his runner-up finish... At least Sham helped the shamster avoid a really disastrous day. Wait'll the Derby!

The poker front had been running about like most of the ponies I wagered on: very herky-jerky, with the emphasis on the jerk. Until Thursday night. That's when the poker goddesses decided to show the sham a little mercy on his wanderings from the depths to the heights.

The evening started with a shot at the last leg of PokerFives' qualifiers to its Cruise Extravaganza next week. Thursday's game was $5.50 at Carbon; as in the prior four games (which I couldn't make), the top five advance to the Cruise Freeroll. And Carbon and P5s were tossing in coupons to the Sunday $20K and to the $50K Freeroll ... all ya had to do to win both was finish in the top 25. And there were only 29 entrants Thursday!!! A sweet cinch, eh?

So what does the shamadillo do? I do NOT want to talk about it. If anyone says sham finished 29th of 29, got a little frisky early and then tried to make it up and couldn't win a coin flip and got beat by everyone including a bunch of ghosts ... I deny everything! Not saying it's ain't true, but I am in denial. Though I will not deny I am an idiot sometimes.

OK, after that total disaster, time to read for an hour and watch some poker tapes and decide if I want to enter the Poker Analysis Buy-In League $5.50 game at Jungle or the Riverchasers Online Poker Tour $11 weekly funfest at Full Tilt. I am steamed at myself. Nowhere to go but up (I pray!). PA needs 10 bodies for its game to happen, so I definitely enter it. And Riverchasers is one of my favorite get-togethers, plus it's part of the Bloggers Series (BBT2) toward an Australian Millions trip/seat, so I have to be there.

So into both games I go. Trying to play mostly ABC poker. Not being afraid to fold (whose column in PokerPlayerNewspaper did I just read that in?). And durned if things didn't click for a change. Good cards, good plays, timely survivals ... and for a change two tourneys at once not turning me into a total blubbery pile of used armadillo scales.

Shock. Shamster wins the PA game, beating always-tough razorbacker heads-up. That's worth $45 and 100 league points. Won't be able to play a lot of league games this month (work gets real real busy starting next week, doing some pre-Vegas cramming and earning). So nice to pocket the cash and points. And my Jungle account was close to being on life support, too.

More shock. Shamster makes the final table of the Riverchasers game, annoying the heck out of some old oldtimers and frustrated railbirds. That's poker, kiddies. A yo-yo night sees sham go from 57th/76 left to 6/32 to 8/9 starting the final tale to first with four left. Eliminated the tough GCox and Bayne, both dangerous and classy competitors, and down to heads-up with LuckTruck (griff), whom I don't know much but seems a very nice classy guy. LuckTruck led at the start of the final table but I got chips from him a few times and zoomed far ahead as others got KO'd. Heads-up time: I was ahead, then we were even, then it looked/felt like we'd go on forever ... so i agreed to his cash chop offer. The big prize was the seat to the BBT2 finale. I really really wanted that; but looks like I'll have to wait for another night to earn my way in. Lucktruck won a couple coin flips, took all the chips and earned the seat. Nice job griff. Ah well; I'll console myself with the $236.20 profit and use that towards other things -- like Sunday night's Big Game hosted by the one-of-a-kind (thank goodness!) Miami Don.

Hopefully there will be many many big things this weekend. Gotta help St. Louis in the Absolute Touchdown FR Series (go Rams poker players!) at 11 am (all times CT) Saturday. The Online Forum Challenge moves to Big Juicy Odds for a $2,000 FR at 2 pm Saturday (gotta win money there so I can play OFC's $5,500-added Sunday Buy-In!); the Aces Cracked Forum's TLB IV concludes at 7 pm at PokerStars ($11, tourney id 59290337, password acescracked, come play!!!) with me trying to hold on to second for the season and having little hope of overtaking cns (lance). And more events Sunday.

That's it. My brain's frying; need a rest! Going to try some Full Tilt games this afternoon, try to win tokens; then tonight it's kat's Blogger Donkament ($1, oodles of rebuys) at 8 pm at Full Tilt, and/or PA Freeroll League at 8:30 at OKUSA, and/or sharbear's MPL Night Owl Series HORSE s&g ($2) at 9 at VegasPoker247, and/or other things I'm forgetting but they'll come to me ... or not.

Play nice. Stay happy. It's only a game, life. And be kind to armadillos; they may learn to drive semis and pickups themselves some day...