Road Trip This Week?

I am heading into my final week of vacation this summer. The vacation has been okay, as I have been able to take a trip to Las Vegas, had my mother at my house for a few days, went to a Cubs game, took my son and a friend to a Flaming Lips concert, and visited a few casinos for some cash game action. My wife and I had originally talked about a family vacation -- maybe Washington D.C. -- then decided against it, thinking about maybe a family cruise later in the year instead, which sounded really good after talking in Las Vegas with yestbay and his experiences with family cruises. However, we found our that our kids all disliked like the idea. So instead ... it just looks like a lightning36 and Mrs. lightning36 cruise sometime in December, January, or February. Of course, it will need to fit in with the WPBT Winter Classic!

Mrs. lightning36 has been spending the weekend at her friend's lake house (there might still be a family vacation there before summer is over!) while I have been ruling the roost in her absence. However, hearing about the Las Vegas tournament success of Shabazz Jenkins and the big cashish night Very Josie recently had got me thinking that one final road trip is in order. I know that The Neophyte would be expecting me to visit his Florida turf (see my most recent post), but instead I am planning to try out the poker room at Harrah's Horseshoe Southern Indiana. I have never played there before and was considering playing in one of the Denny Crum Poker Open events this coming August. Thanks to Harrahs Total Rewards I have two nights comped there, so I hope to leave Monday morning.

Have an excellent day!

Quick Wednesday Night Thoughts -- Scores and Scorches

1) I sent in a check to pay what should be my last obligation on my daughter's lease from her ill-fated move to Texas. Thank goodness the property managers found someone to sublease the apartment. Otherwise, I was on the hook until October.  SCORE

2) Turned in my signed contract for next work year. I was on the contract team when we negotiated this sweetheart five-year contract about four years ago -- right before the bottom fell out of the economy. Nothing like putting money directly into the pockets of your coworkers to make you feel the love.  SCORE

3) A big down side of my daughter's Texas travails -- and we were afraid of this -- bed bugs! My daughter's apartment had bed bugs and we most likely brought some home with us. My arms look like Josie has been slapping me around. We seemed to find the source (hopefully), so with some cleaning and an exterminator's help we will get this unpleasant surprise taken care of.  SCORCH

4) I really miss playing blogger tournaments and cash games at Full Tilt. I was really ready for a great BBT6 series. I have still been playing some cash games at UB, but it is not the same.  SCORCH

5) Las Vegas is coming sooner than I think. Only 5 1/2 weeks to go! I'll be there June 19-24. I hope to meet up with Yestbay1 before he leaves town. I have already offered my services as his final table servant should he go that far in his WSOP event! Anyone else going to be in Sin City that week? Let me know.  SCORE

Monday Musings

Chicago Blackhawks vs Vancouver Canucks

Well, well, well. How things have changed. As best I can understand, the Vancouver Canucks are the closest thing in other professional sports to the Chicago Cubs -- lots of great, dedicated fans and a team that just can not seem to do it, whether by circumstances, bad luck or bad karma, or a curse. The Canucks, the best regular season team in the NHL in 2010-2011, has been forced into a game seven after leading the once-floundering Chicago Blackhawks 3-0 in their series. With the game at home and superior overall talent, it would appear that the Canucks should take game seven. However, with history and momentum on their side, the Chicago Blackhawks are probably the smart choice. The final game could go either way, but I expect that Wednesday's Vancouver Sun online will be filled with anger and vitriol.

Rocking the Real Green Felt Tables

The current state of online poker helped me make a last-minute decision Saturday night to take a road trip to the nearest casino offering poker. I made the trip to Peoria, IL in record time, only to have to wait for an hour on a busy Saturday night to get seated when the  room opened a new table. I perhaps might write about the trip in more detail in a subsequent post. However, I was able to get my poker jones satisfied, playing in a cash game for over seven hours. I was a little rusty and misread the board once as I got ready to call it a night. I ended up losing a few bucks, but the trip was well worth it to get me back at the table again.

The Aftermath of the DOJ Indictments

I have still been able to play online poker at Ultimate Bet, and even played a little at Cake Poker and Bodog, sites that I do not particularly like. I also played in a private play money tournament at PokerStars that had gift certificates for the winners. With some tangible incentive, the game played just like a regular real money tournament.

What did I miss most this past week? I missed connecting with some of my regular online poker buddies. I think I am going through Very Josie withdrawal. Does anyone have a cure?

As the future for basketball and hockey becomes cleared after Tuesday, I will finally write my long-promised post regarding the current status of Chicago professional sports teams.

Cheers!

Public Service Announcement: An Open Letter To Very Josie

Dear Josie:

It has become apparent that remarks recently made about your tournament play sometimes do not sit very well with you. Although many times said in jest, the comments regarding the luck factor seem to have you feeling a need to defend your ability to play. As a public service to the online poker blogging community, I present this open letter to attempt to explain some of what perhaps you do not understand. I do not claim to be speaking for the entire blogging community, but only as one person who has had experience observing and playing with you both online and in brick and mortar casinos.

First and foremost, I hereby publicly acknowledge that you are a crafty and challenging opponent in tournament play. You appear to have a solid fundamental knowledge of the game and are open to positive suggestions and criticisms. That being said, let me share with you some common perceptions regarding the the point of intersection of skill and luck within your game...

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HOLY SHIT, YOU GET EVERY DAMN CARD IN THE WHOLE DAMN DECK EVERY SINGLE TIME YOU NEED IT. WHO THE HELL DID YOU PAY OFF OR SCREW TO GET FULL TILT TO THROW EVERY EFFING CARD YOUR WAY?

NO -- IT IS NOT ENOUGH TO OCCASIONALLY GET GOOD CARDS LIKE EVERY OTHER PLAYER, BUT YOU GET THEM EVERY SINGLE DAMN HAND. WORSE YET, YOU GET THEM AT THE WORST TIMES POSSIBLE -- WHEN OTHER PLAYERS HAVE BEEN COLD DECKED OR WHEN THEY HAVE GOTTEN IT IN AS A HUGE FAVORITE, ALLOWING FOR ANOTHER PREDICTABLE JOE C MIRACLE ESCAPE ON THE RIVER.

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I have tried my best to make this open letter short, accurate, and objective. I trust you will accept it in the same spirit in which it was written.

Sincerely,

lightning36

Linking the Latest Poker News

It seems like today is a rather busy day for poker news. For example ...

Dr. Pauly writes about the closing of the Sahara Hotel and Casino. Many of us have played the inexpensive Sahara poker tournaments over the years. Even though the poker room and the casino itself were largely dumps, the action there could still be fun. Heck, I even chopped my first tournament I played there!

The big online/b&m news, as reported at Wicked Chops Poker, is Full Tilt Poker's new ONYX Cup , a b&m series that no one but the true bluebloods of poker can afford. Yowsa!

On the local online front, Survive Donkey Island had an interesting multiple entry tournament last night. Jamyhawk was ousted as the tournament wore on. Very Josie has post that describes the remaining Sunday tournaments. Badugi, anyone?

Pretty busy poker day for a Monday. Catch you on the virtual felt!

Play The Very Josie ... If You Dare ...

Unless the winter storm I referenced in my last post knocks down power lines, I expect to be slinging chips around at The Very Josie on Wednesday night at Full Tilt Poker at 8:00 pm Central time. Tourney # 214827634. Password is pokerbaby.

Now, some of you may not know, but I was the winner of the very first VJ. Actually, it was a long day for me and I agreed to a three-way (don't get your hopes up, Waffles) chop with me in the lead and getting just short of first place money.

However, in the months since, I missed a few of the tournaments and in others lost my focus. That will change Wednesday night, however, as I am guaranteeing a lightning36 victory. Of course, I can not account for every variable and cannot make every 4:1 favorite go my way. But, with the Super Bowl right around the corner, I am reminded that Joe Namath called his shot and was correct. Expect the same tomorrow night at the Very Josie.

And oh year -- I plan to felt the host and win her bounty to go along with the VJ shirt for finishing first.

You have been warned.

Josie Sucks

Since Josie tends to, uh, shall we say ... EMBELLISH her accounts of poker hands and tournaments, I thought I would document what really happened in her tournament tonight. I went all-in pre-flop and she called with the VJ: J-10! gg me

Am I bitter? Well .................................................... nah. Just sayin' ...

And hey -- we had a great crowd tonight for the Very Josie and the Mookie. Congrats to Gary for his VJ win and to Miami Don for his Mookie Victory.

Hey You -- WPBT People -- Yeah You ...

This past WPBT gathering in Las Vegas was fun, right? As much fun as it was, there were some comments that I heard way too many times. Most often they were a variation of one or more of these statements: 1) I have not posted in my blog much in the past year; 2) I have not been playing much online poker; and 3) I have not played in any online blogger events in a long time.

It is touching to see the many friendships that have been built over the years. However, the thing I found a tad disappointing is how many of the bloggers have gotten away from their roots. There was a time when it seemed like there was an online blogger tournament going on almost constantly. MATH, WWdN, The Mookie, Riverchasers, … However, now it seems like the only time we can get a big group together is if AlCantHang sets up another BBT or someone with lots of blogger influence (read Dr. Pauly) announces a tournament or a series. Other than that – deadsville. The Mookie has largely settled into a small one or two table SNG. Most of the other tournaments are long gone.

There were several people at the last WPBT that I had either not met, had briefly met, or had perhaps just heard of based on previous blogger tournaments or blogging in general. Had I ever actually played against these people more than a scattered time or two? If only there was some way to rebuild a little of what has evaporated over the years, I thought.

So … now is the time! My suggestion: carve out some time this Wednesday night to play one, or maybe even two blogger tournaments. The choices:

The Very Josie

You may have met Josie in December in Las Vegas. You know – the short Italian chick who loves to taunt and brag? Well, she hosts a tournament the first Wednesday of every month at 9 pm Eastern at Full Tilt – The Very Josie (password is pokerbaby). Her tournament has an old-time feel to it – fun with more than its share of garbage talk and donkelicious play. As an added incentive, whoever felts the queen of overblown self-evaluation of poker prowess will get their entry fee refunded by me. Yes – a bounty on VeryJosie. Talk about easy money …

The Mookie

And starting an hour after The Very Josie begins – The Mookie, the still-surviving blogger “home game” (password is vegas1). Of course, Mookie is long gone, but the Buddy Dank Radio crew still hosts a lively, fun tournament. The past two weeks have shown an increase in tournament players, including some oldies but goodies. There was even some primo trash talking last week – yowsa!

Don’t make excuses – just be there.

Catch ya on the flip side …