The Guy with Red Hair & Why Sometimes Poker Sucks Sucks SUCKS!

The Guy with Red Hair
Are any of you familiar with Chicago rocker Jim Peterik? Peterik was the lead vocalist (and writer) of the Ides of March oldie "Vehicle." He also was a founding member of the group Survivor and co-wrote its seminal hit "Eye of the Tiger." Forward to 2019, when Peterik occasionally plays with his old band, the Ides of March, and with a number of other Chicago  1960's bands in a concert called the Cornerstones of Rock. So why do I mention Jim Peterik? I have seen the Cornerstones concert and met Peterik afterward. This is what he looks like today:

So ... I was thinking. If Jim Peterik, 68, can do purple hair, why not me? I joked with the student workers and young staff of my department that I wanted to color my hair purple. Last week, a guy named Joseph showed me some hair wax he purchased in the Philippines. Red hair wax. At the end of work on Thursday, I quickly put some in my hair. After a few minutes of work in the bathroom, this is what it looked like:

I texted the picture to my kids and a few friends. Some of the comments I received:

My kids: Why?; wtf

My brother, thundering36, who saw the picture on Twitter: What the hell did you do to your hair

RobVegasPoker (several texts): WTF????; What's with the hair?; What's the deal? It's photoshopped, right?; Why would you dye your hair, and why that color? Male menopause?

PetePeters: The curtains don't match the stache!

I expected that my Twitter friends would be quite outspoken. I was not disappointed.

pokerluckbox: About time you quit dying your hair gray and letting the natural color come back.

Sandi Joy: Very nice new look.

Dan Vasti: You're gonna slay it...

Zorba: Is a Mohawk next.

Vegasfan1970: Dare we ask about carpet and drapes matching?

Rob G: Nice...lol.

Bill Tait: An amazing new look for the poker tables. The new colour is "Crushing Red." Looks great!!! Wishing you the best!!!

RobVegasPoker: Did Mike Ditka also dye his hair magenta?

My wife might have believed it was a legit coloring for a brief second, but she knows that wouldn't have been something I would do. The people in my department got a good laugh out of it. I even had some people at work hear about it, come to office for a look themselves, and even take a picture or two. All in all, the excursion into the world of red hair was a little fun for several people. Just want I hoped for.



Why Sometimes Poker Sucks Sucks SUCKS!
Occasionally on Saturdays, my wife signs up for jewelry making classes in Peoria, IL. The riverboat Par-A-Dice Casino is next door in East Peoria, so re go together. While my wife is having her fun in class, I am having fun pokering. This arrangement works out well.

She had a morning class and an afternoon class yesterday, so we left in the early morning. I got to the boat around 10:30a.m. Surprisingly, no game had started yet. I headed to play some slots and was doing quite well with Buffalo Grand, My Cousin Vinnie, Tarzan Grand and the Flintstones. At about 12;30pm, I heard my name and others called to the poker room. Finally, a game.

I only knew one of the players at the table. I wrote a post about the player - Ho - just over a year ago. Ho is actually a very good player - very aggressive and exceeding lucky. He almost always folds when I am the first person to raise in a hand. He seems to avoid playing against me, and this session was no different. I tried to play any hand I could when he was the initial raiser and I had something I could work with.

When I played at Harrah's Joliet last weekend, the first hand I was in I was dealt pocket fives. I hit a set on the flop and started my session with a big win. Believe it or not, the exact same thing happened this session at Par-A-Dice. I won a nice pot and in a short while I was up a couple hundred dollars.

Unfortunately, I ran into pocket Aces and butchered a hand or two and was down about $50 when I looked down to see pocket deuces. There was a $12 raise in front of me so I called. There was one other caller. The flop was a beauty: A-2-K rainbow! The initial raiser lead out for $18 (about half the pot), and I smooth called. The third guy in the hand folded. The pot was now about $72. I started the hand with about $250. The other player had me covered. The turn was a seven, putting two spades on the board. The initial raiser led out for $30. I raised to $80. He looked at me and pondered for a few seconds and announced "all in." I insta-called and he said "Oh oh." I turned over my pocket deuces and he turned over A-K -- top two pair. I was ready to scoop a nice pot of over $500 when the dealer burned a card and turned over the river -- a KING! the player who sucked out on me said an embarrassed "sorry" and a few other players sympathized with me. All I said was "What can you do?"

It was just about time to pick up my wife, so I decided to leave with the stinging loss and call it a day. Yes, even when you play a hand perfectly, this game still informs you who is really boss. Why do we love this game so much? Sometimes, like on Saturday, I wonder.

On a side note, my last post noted that I chopped a tournament at Sam's Town. I deposited a little money on America's Card Room and today played a small CardsChat money added (afterward) tournament. The results:

Hmmm ... maybe I do need to think about reviving my interest in playing tournaments.

Thanks for reading!