Monday, January 31, 2005
Vegas Part 1: Houston we have a problem
The day starts out innocently enough albeit a little premature. The entire mid-Michigan area was draped with fog due to heavy rain and higher than normal temperatures. This fact coupled with several power outages the night before prompts A.I. and I to take off for Lansing a little earlier than normal. I say my goodbyes to a sleeping Mrs. Royal and we are off around 4:30 AM. The drive is uneventful even with some of the fog still hanging around. We wade through a decent line at the Allegiant counter to get our boarding passes.
Weekend trip = no bags to check
We have a quick and filling breakfast at the airport cafe and then head over to security. Woah, only one checkpoint open with an ever growing line. We've still got an hour before our flight leaves so there is no issue for us. Others are not so lucky though... There are about 10 people on the same flight (several separate parties) who need to catch a plane leaving in 5 minutes! I'm not sure if it's weather related or something else but these people have themselves in a tough spot. This type of security bottleneck must be very unusual in Lansing because you can sense the stress on the TSA folks. They are not used to having a 100 people backed up at their location. I think they actually end up holding the plane for a few minutes so those on the bubble make it on board. We get through security without issue and with time to spare.
A.I. shows off the new iPod mini that his brother gave him for Christmas. His brother lives in California and is some type of assistant to Matthew Perry. I guess Mr. Perry asked him what he wanted for Christmas and he requested iPod minis for his parents and brothers. So A.I. has a new iPod courtesy of Matthew Perry. I've never seen a full episode of friends, not an easy thing to accomplish if you have cable, so I couldn’t care less about Matthew Perry. Plus my 20gb iPod beats the hell out of his little 4gb baby.
Right before we are to board the airport fire alarm goes off - then stops quickly. This action is repeated a few times and at a minimum seems rather ominous for the start of a trip. Finally an announcement indicates that the alarm is a test. Since I work in a chemical plant I am no stranger to alarms and testing. Typically you announce a test beforehand...but whatever.
We board, take off, I load up some Fiery Furnaces and drift away to Vegas dreams.
Let the Debauchery Commence!
The landing is smooth and we’re soon off to the Gold Coast. We’ve stayed at the Orleans, another Coast Casino property, the last few times in Vegas, but decided to try the Gold Coast this time. They had recently opened a poker room and that combined with cheap rates was enough to sell us. We check-in without issue, pickup our fun books and toss the luggage in the room. By then its 11:00 AM Vegas time and time for a drink. A Bloody Mary is the tradition and we slam down the first drink of the day.
First stop is the poker room. Nothing special here, just 8 tables sectioned off from the rest of the casino. The “room” is in the back part of the casino so you are somewhat shielded from the normal noise. Overall the place is fine. It’s what you’d expect as all the casinos rush to throw makeshift poker rooms together. However, there are no games going except for the daily 2-table tournament with 25% rake.
We commit to stopping back later and head towards some blackjack and three card poker to use our match play coupons. The blackjack is decent, but three card is a killer. Like normal is starts off just fine and all of a sudden your buy in is gone. I finish another bloody mary and move on to Coronas. In retrospect I should have been drinking New Castle Brown Ale since I prefer that. Unfortunately I only realized on the last day that the Gold Coast offered it as a free drink.
Since we have a fun book and other coupon goodies over at the Orleans we grab the free shuttle and head that ways. We wonder by the poker room at the Orleans and grab a copy of their daily tournament schedule. They run two poker tournaments a day with various buy in and rebuy options. Even though we end up back over at the Orleans later in the trip we decide not to play in their tournaments. The room is decently busy for 1PM on a Thursday, but it’s filled with mostly locals and grey-hairs. There are much looser low limit games to be had in this town…
Curtsey of our new Orleans funs books we eat lunch at Don Miguel’s and take advantage of the free margaritas. I check in at work, since I’m technically on call 24-7, even during vacations, and find out that I promptly lost a bet last night and owe my boss a 40oz bottle of liquor or malt beverage.
-Random work aside-
We’ve got a really good group of people at work and one of the normal activities is wagering 40oz bottles of bear on random things. How late someone will be to a meeting, if someone will remember to do something, or how high the temperature will get in a certain week are all valid wagers. I fell prey to the latter of those three when the temperature hit 52 F on Wednesday night. My boss duly informed me of my loss. The sting of defeat was mostly numbed by the five free drinks already coursing through my system.
-Continuing the story-
The lunch is cheap, large, and tasty --- everything you can ask for in a meal! We wander around the Orleans a bit more and then catch the shuttle to the strip. The Flamingo becomes our home for the next six hours or so as we settle into a $2/$4 limit HE game. Some friends of ours played this game last October in Vegas. It’s a decently loose $2/$4 game, but maybe not as loose as some places. You should expect few prefop raises and around six callers.
I then proceed to get drunk and create a table imagine even Iggy would be proud of. It’s obvious to the table I’m completely wasted, but those 10,000 hands of $0.50/$1 and $1/$2 have me trained to fold over and over again. I have three big hands that go down and that easily creates a loosing session for me. The one extremely memorable hand is of course me with AA. I raise preflop and get the blinds plus one other caller. There are four players to the flop.
Flop is: T 6 3 rainbow.
SB checks, BB bets, I raise, other player folds and the two blinds call. Foreshadow point: the SB cold called the raise on the flop.
Turn is: Q
Both blinds check, I bet, they both call.
River is: Q
SB bets, BB calls, I know SB must have a Q. He’s a horrible player and nothing else he can have, but the size of the pot forces my call. The SB is on Q7 and the BB has a T.
This of course is nothing new to someone who has played 25,000 hands at the low limits on party. Most of the table had a much more difficult time dealing with my bad beat then I did. I’d love to play at these tables every day. You’re session variance is going to be quite high, but the level of play is so poor a good play is destined to come out way ahead in the long run.
We continued to drink and hoot it up with the others at the table. At one point some sisters from Wisconsin sit down. They had money on the Marquette basketball game and once that knowledge came out we proceeded to help root them on in our drunken stupor. Marquette of course lost, but we had one hell of a time watching them do it.
Break Time
We’ve been up for around 19 hours now and have been drinking steadily for the last ten. A.I. and I decide to take the shuttle back to the Gold Coast were we’ll pickup some cheap beer at their store and take a break in the hotel room to watch the first episode of Tilt.
We grab a six pack and settle in to watch Tilt. The plan is to have dinner afterwards and then check out the hopefully more lively Gold Coast poker room.
All of a sudden I realize A.I is getting into bed and the clock reads 2AM, not 910PM. I apparently passed out less than 10 minutes into the show.
This is significant because I’ve never passed out ever in my life. Of course there have been times when my head was swirling as I went to bed. I’ve never just passed out before though. During freshman year of college when I had 17 shots of whiskey in 90 minutes I never passed out. I almost died, but I never passed out! During several incredible New Year’s Eve parties at A.I.’s house I got wasted beyond comprehension…no pass out though.
I guess my tired drunk body is getting wiser in its old age and decides to shut me down. It’s a good thing too because there was no immediate plan to stop that night. Here’s the final drink count for day one.
Bloody Mary’s: 2
Captain / Coke: 1
Margarita: 1
Corona: 12-15
Labette Blue: 1
Too be continued…
The day starts out innocently enough albeit a little premature. The entire mid-Michigan area was draped with fog due to heavy rain and higher than normal temperatures. This fact coupled with several power outages the night before prompts A.I. and I to take off for Lansing a little earlier than normal. I say my goodbyes to a sleeping Mrs. Royal and we are off around 4:30 AM. The drive is uneventful even with some of the fog still hanging around. We wade through a decent line at the Allegiant counter to get our boarding passes.
Weekend trip = no bags to check
We have a quick and filling breakfast at the airport cafe and then head over to security. Woah, only one checkpoint open with an ever growing line. We've still got an hour before our flight leaves so there is no issue for us. Others are not so lucky though... There are about 10 people on the same flight (several separate parties) who need to catch a plane leaving in 5 minutes! I'm not sure if it's weather related or something else but these people have themselves in a tough spot. This type of security bottleneck must be very unusual in Lansing because you can sense the stress on the TSA folks. They are not used to having a 100 people backed up at their location. I think they actually end up holding the plane for a few minutes so those on the bubble make it on board. We get through security without issue and with time to spare.
A.I. shows off the new iPod mini that his brother gave him for Christmas. His brother lives in California and is some type of assistant to Matthew Perry. I guess Mr. Perry asked him what he wanted for Christmas and he requested iPod minis for his parents and brothers. So A.I. has a new iPod courtesy of Matthew Perry. I've never seen a full episode of friends, not an easy thing to accomplish if you have cable, so I couldn’t care less about Matthew Perry. Plus my 20gb iPod beats the hell out of his little 4gb baby.
Right before we are to board the airport fire alarm goes off - then stops quickly. This action is repeated a few times and at a minimum seems rather ominous for the start of a trip. Finally an announcement indicates that the alarm is a test. Since I work in a chemical plant I am no stranger to alarms and testing. Typically you announce a test beforehand...but whatever.
We board, take off, I load up some Fiery Furnaces and drift away to Vegas dreams.
Let the Debauchery Commence!
The landing is smooth and we’re soon off to the Gold Coast. We’ve stayed at the Orleans, another Coast Casino property, the last few times in Vegas, but decided to try the Gold Coast this time. They had recently opened a poker room and that combined with cheap rates was enough to sell us. We check-in without issue, pickup our fun books and toss the luggage in the room. By then its 11:00 AM Vegas time and time for a drink. A Bloody Mary is the tradition and we slam down the first drink of the day.
First stop is the poker room. Nothing special here, just 8 tables sectioned off from the rest of the casino. The “room” is in the back part of the casino so you are somewhat shielded from the normal noise. Overall the place is fine. It’s what you’d expect as all the casinos rush to throw makeshift poker rooms together. However, there are no games going except for the daily 2-table tournament with 25% rake.
We commit to stopping back later and head towards some blackjack and three card poker to use our match play coupons. The blackjack is decent, but three card is a killer. Like normal is starts off just fine and all of a sudden your buy in is gone. I finish another bloody mary and move on to Coronas. In retrospect I should have been drinking New Castle Brown Ale since I prefer that. Unfortunately I only realized on the last day that the Gold Coast offered it as a free drink.
Since we have a fun book and other coupon goodies over at the Orleans we grab the free shuttle and head that ways. We wonder by the poker room at the Orleans and grab a copy of their daily tournament schedule. They run two poker tournaments a day with various buy in and rebuy options. Even though we end up back over at the Orleans later in the trip we decide not to play in their tournaments. The room is decently busy for 1PM on a Thursday, but it’s filled with mostly locals and grey-hairs. There are much looser low limit games to be had in this town…
Curtsey of our new Orleans funs books we eat lunch at Don Miguel’s and take advantage of the free margaritas. I check in at work, since I’m technically on call 24-7, even during vacations, and find out that I promptly lost a bet last night and owe my boss a 40oz bottle of liquor or malt beverage.
-Random work aside-
We’ve got a really good group of people at work and one of the normal activities is wagering 40oz bottles of bear on random things. How late someone will be to a meeting, if someone will remember to do something, or how high the temperature will get in a certain week are all valid wagers. I fell prey to the latter of those three when the temperature hit 52 F on Wednesday night. My boss duly informed me of my loss. The sting of defeat was mostly numbed by the five free drinks already coursing through my system.
-Continuing the story-
The lunch is cheap, large, and tasty --- everything you can ask for in a meal! We wander around the Orleans a bit more and then catch the shuttle to the strip. The Flamingo becomes our home for the next six hours or so as we settle into a $2/$4 limit HE game. Some friends of ours played this game last October in Vegas. It’s a decently loose $2/$4 game, but maybe not as loose as some places. You should expect few prefop raises and around six callers.
I then proceed to get drunk and create a table imagine even Iggy would be proud of. It’s obvious to the table I’m completely wasted, but those 10,000 hands of $0.50/$1 and $1/$2 have me trained to fold over and over again. I have three big hands that go down and that easily creates a loosing session for me. The one extremely memorable hand is of course me with AA. I raise preflop and get the blinds plus one other caller. There are four players to the flop.
Flop is: T 6 3 rainbow.
SB checks, BB bets, I raise, other player folds and the two blinds call. Foreshadow point: the SB cold called the raise on the flop.
Turn is: Q
Both blinds check, I bet, they both call.
River is: Q
SB bets, BB calls, I know SB must have a Q. He’s a horrible player and nothing else he can have, but the size of the pot forces my call. The SB is on Q7 and the BB has a T.
This of course is nothing new to someone who has played 25,000 hands at the low limits on party. Most of the table had a much more difficult time dealing with my bad beat then I did. I’d love to play at these tables every day. You’re session variance is going to be quite high, but the level of play is so poor a good play is destined to come out way ahead in the long run.
We continued to drink and hoot it up with the others at the table. At one point some sisters from Wisconsin sit down. They had money on the Marquette basketball game and once that knowledge came out we proceeded to help root them on in our drunken stupor. Marquette of course lost, but we had one hell of a time watching them do it.
Break Time
We’ve been up for around 19 hours now and have been drinking steadily for the last ten. A.I. and I decide to take the shuttle back to the Gold Coast were we’ll pickup some cheap beer at their store and take a break in the hotel room to watch the first episode of Tilt.
We grab a six pack and settle in to watch Tilt. The plan is to have dinner afterwards and then check out the hopefully more lively Gold Coast poker room.
All of a sudden I realize A.I is getting into bed and the clock reads 2AM, not 910PM. I apparently passed out less than 10 minutes into the show.
This is significant because I’ve never passed out ever in my life. Of course there have been times when my head was swirling as I went to bed. I’ve never just passed out before though. During freshman year of college when I had 17 shots of whiskey in 90 minutes I never passed out. I almost died, but I never passed out! During several incredible New Year’s Eve parties at A.I.’s house I got wasted beyond comprehension…no pass out though.
I guess my tired drunk body is getting wiser in its old age and decides to shut me down. It’s a good thing too because there was no immediate plan to stop that night. Here’s the final drink count for day one.
Bloody Mary’s: 2
Captain / Coke: 1
Margarita: 1
Corona: 12-15
Labette Blue: 1
Too be continued…
Friday, January 28, 2005
Going Pro?
I enjoyed Decker's discussion on going Pro and the comments. Since I have this here soap box I'll throw out my opinion.
I think choosing to go Pro is a fine as long as you understand why you're going pro. The problem is most people in their young 20s are idiots when it comes to making smart long term decisions. I know, I've been there, and I'm where I am today thanks to excellent advice and guidance by family and friends.
If you want to do something "different" then going Pro might be a good option for you. If you're going Pro to rake in the big bucks then you're simply foolish or ignorant. Even now with the game better than it ever has been very few players make as much money as you could with a normal job. The 20-year-old who thinks that $100,000 is a lot more than you'd make after graduating college and getting a normal job is sadly mistaken because they are not factoring in all of the other financial benefits a typical job entitles you to.
Health Insurance, Life Insurance, Pension, 401K and matching, Bonuses, Paid Vacation, etc. Not to mention the security of predictable normal check.
Where I work the average employee benefits to the tune of about $125,000. That's after you factor in salary plus all of the other add-ons. And this isn't an average skewed by high paid execs because none of them work at our facility. The average employee here also has between a High School education and 4-year college degree.
I would also add that we are very normal, if not just a tad high, compared across our industry. Basically this is a normal figure for industry...
I say this all not taking anything away from Iggy or others who know damn well what they're giving up and what they're getting into. Iggy has been around the block several times (and in several states of consciousness) and is certainly making an educated decision.
I also wouldn't argue with the McDonald's employee who wanted to play poker instead of flipping burgers. I'd still say they're much better off in the long run getting a degree though.
Of course money isn't everything and sometimes the best decision is sacrificing income for other more important things in your life. The young player going Pro isn't thinking of that though. They're going Pro for two reasons:
1. Money
2. Poker isn't a real job
I cover the money topic above and there's no sense rehashing #2 again.
Hopefully those thinking of making the jump will ask for some good advice from those they trust before making a reckless leap.
I enjoyed Decker's discussion on going Pro and the comments. Since I have this here soap box I'll throw out my opinion.
I think choosing to go Pro is a fine as long as you understand why you're going pro. The problem is most people in their young 20s are idiots when it comes to making smart long term decisions. I know, I've been there, and I'm where I am today thanks to excellent advice and guidance by family and friends.
If you want to do something "different" then going Pro might be a good option for you. If you're going Pro to rake in the big bucks then you're simply foolish or ignorant. Even now with the game better than it ever has been very few players make as much money as you could with a normal job. The 20-year-old who thinks that $100,000 is a lot more than you'd make after graduating college and getting a normal job is sadly mistaken because they are not factoring in all of the other financial benefits a typical job entitles you to.
Health Insurance, Life Insurance, Pension, 401K and matching, Bonuses, Paid Vacation, etc. Not to mention the security of predictable normal check.
Where I work the average employee benefits to the tune of about $125,000. That's after you factor in salary plus all of the other add-ons. And this isn't an average skewed by high paid execs because none of them work at our facility. The average employee here also has between a High School education and 4-year college degree.
I would also add that we are very normal, if not just a tad high, compared across our industry. Basically this is a normal figure for industry...
I say this all not taking anything away from Iggy or others who know damn well what they're giving up and what they're getting into. Iggy has been around the block several times (and in several states of consciousness) and is certainly making an educated decision.
I also wouldn't argue with the McDonald's employee who wanted to play poker instead of flipping burgers. I'd still say they're much better off in the long run getting a degree though.
Of course money isn't everything and sometimes the best decision is sacrificing income for other more important things in your life. The young player going Pro isn't thinking of that though. They're going Pro for two reasons:
1. Money
2. Poker isn't a real job
I cover the money topic above and there's no sense rehashing #2 again.
Hopefully those thinking of making the jump will ask for some good advice from those they trust before making a reckless leap.
Monday, January 17, 2005
Back!
I returned to work this morning already considering my next trip back to Vegas might be...
Look for trip reports over the next few days.
I want to mention how much I've been enjoying Poker Grub the last few weeks. The AVN pictures are just fine, but what I'm completely digging is the content. Grubby's life right now is 180 degrees from mine. I can not imagine moving across the country with no real job and then just bumming around doing whatever I felt like doing. I personally do not feel good, bad, jealous or really anything else about his situation. It is just so fantastically different! I hope he succeeds, but I think he may have already done that.
We all love poker and most of us tend to know a thing or two about computers. Besides that we're this incredible group of unique individuals. I'm always amazed at how groups of people with very little in common start to realize how much they really have in common after they start to know each other.
I just want to be different like everybody else.
okay, enough cheese for one post. Exciting Vegas POKER posts to follow!
I returned to work this morning already considering my next trip back to Vegas might be...
Look for trip reports over the next few days.
I want to mention how much I've been enjoying Poker Grub the last few weeks. The AVN pictures are just fine, but what I'm completely digging is the content. Grubby's life right now is 180 degrees from mine. I can not imagine moving across the country with no real job and then just bumming around doing whatever I felt like doing. I personally do not feel good, bad, jealous or really anything else about his situation. It is just so fantastically different! I hope he succeeds, but I think he may have already done that.
We all love poker and most of us tend to know a thing or two about computers. Besides that we're this incredible group of unique individuals. I'm always amazed at how groups of people with very little in common start to realize how much they really have in common after they start to know each other.
I just want to be different like everybody else.
okay, enough cheese for one post. Exciting Vegas POKER posts to follow!
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
Vegas Time
Our plane leaves in less than 12 hours...the excitement is building! See you all when I get back.
Our plane leaves in less than 12 hours...the excitement is building! See you all when I get back.
Wednesday, January 05, 2005
Welcome to 2005!
I almost got to do a late December post discussing how my previous Goals Post needed amending. I guess I never was that close to a huge cash, but any time you make it into the money and then weed through half the remaining players you start to consider the possibility....
Here's how it went down:
Over the holiday, stuck at home with a cold and motivated by Otis I decided it was time to play one of those huge Party Poker tournaments. Man, it had been a good six months since I last played in one of those monstrosities. I find a nice $20 + $2 and sit down with 1790 other players for a long slug fest.
As usual I play extremely tight early and only play premium hands / position. I make a set from the big blind at around level 3 and triple up. Besides that there is virtually no excitement for 3 hours. I play big hands and rarely see a showdown. With just over 200 players left and the top 180 getting paid I take a huge hit. I had already committed myself to "playing to win" this tournament. I had not interest in limping into the money and taking my $15 profit. The top seven players paid over a $1000 and that was where I wanted to end up.
With this in mind I pickup QQ in the BB. There is a 4x BB raise from the 5. I have him covered about 9,000 to 7,800. I don't remember the chips exactly, but his raise was about 1/4 of my stack and 1/3 of his. I push all-in and he very quickly calls with A8s. He makes trip aces and I'm very short stacked and now looking to likely finish out of the money.
The next hand moves me to the SB and forces me to put ~40% of my chips in. It's folded around to us blinds and I'm pushing in with whatever I've got. It happens to be J5o. The big stack in the BB of course calls my small raise and has Q6o.
Flop: AKJ (Yes)
Turn: Q (Ouch)
River: T (No way)
The board makes the straight and we each take our own chips back.
The hits keep coming as I pickup AA the very next hand on the button. There's a raise, a call and I push-in. The blinds get out of the way.
Flop: K76 (there's a flush draw too)
The original raiser makes a large bet and I'm cheering on his AK to make the other guy go away. It works! The other guy folds and the raiser shows hisAK 66 for a flopped set. I'm done just out of the money...
Turn: A (wow are the poker gods with me now!)
River: Not a 6.
After the triple up plus blinds I'm back to right where I was before the QQ vs. A8 fiasco three hands earlier.
Everything gets pretty quiet for the next hour. I pickup a few hands and play them aggressively. I never get a chance to accumulate many chips, but I'm not low stack either. With just over 70 players left I pickup AKs and push in only to get called by QQ. Unfortunately I'm on the losing end of this well known battle.
I ended up a few bucks - just close enough to start smelling the real dough. I'd love to play more of these in the future. It's just so damn hard to find 3-6 hours to dedicate at one time. Maybe I'll set a 2005 goal of playing one of these every month or two. That is probably realistic.
ITH
A few weeks back Ammbo hit me up about reviewing Matthew Hilger's Internet Texas Hold em. I agreed and received my book just after Christmas. I'm currently part way through and will be posting a full review once I get done.
Vegas
My friend, AI, and I will be leaving for Vegas next Thursday. Right now we plan to catch The Hives at Hardrock and maybe watch (or play in?) some of the Cory Lidle Charity Poker Tournament. Being a huge St. Louis Cardinal's fan I would absolutely love to play poker with Mark Mulder.
He is on your roto squad Iggy?
I almost got to do a late December post discussing how my previous Goals Post needed amending. I guess I never was that close to a huge cash, but any time you make it into the money and then weed through half the remaining players you start to consider the possibility....
Here's how it went down:
Over the holiday, stuck at home with a cold and motivated by Otis I decided it was time to play one of those huge Party Poker tournaments. Man, it had been a good six months since I last played in one of those monstrosities. I find a nice $20 + $2 and sit down with 1790 other players for a long slug fest.
As usual I play extremely tight early and only play premium hands / position. I make a set from the big blind at around level 3 and triple up. Besides that there is virtually no excitement for 3 hours. I play big hands and rarely see a showdown. With just over 200 players left and the top 180 getting paid I take a huge hit. I had already committed myself to "playing to win" this tournament. I had not interest in limping into the money and taking my $15 profit. The top seven players paid over a $1000 and that was where I wanted to end up.
With this in mind I pickup QQ in the BB. There is a 4x BB raise from the 5. I have him covered about 9,000 to 7,800. I don't remember the chips exactly, but his raise was about 1/4 of my stack and 1/3 of his. I push all-in and he very quickly calls with A8s. He makes trip aces and I'm very short stacked and now looking to likely finish out of the money.
The next hand moves me to the SB and forces me to put ~40% of my chips in. It's folded around to us blinds and I'm pushing in with whatever I've got. It happens to be J5o. The big stack in the BB of course calls my small raise and has Q6o.
Flop: AKJ (Yes)
Turn: Q (Ouch)
River: T (No way)
The board makes the straight and we each take our own chips back.
The hits keep coming as I pickup AA the very next hand on the button. There's a raise, a call and I push-in. The blinds get out of the way.
Flop: K76 (there's a flush draw too)
The original raiser makes a large bet and I'm cheering on his AK to make the other guy go away. It works! The other guy folds and the raiser shows his
Turn: A (wow are the poker gods with me now!)
River: Not a 6.
After the triple up plus blinds I'm back to right where I was before the QQ vs. A8 fiasco three hands earlier.
Everything gets pretty quiet for the next hour. I pickup a few hands and play them aggressively. I never get a chance to accumulate many chips, but I'm not low stack either. With just over 70 players left I pickup AKs and push in only to get called by QQ. Unfortunately I'm on the losing end of this well known battle.
I ended up a few bucks - just close enough to start smelling the real dough. I'd love to play more of these in the future. It's just so damn hard to find 3-6 hours to dedicate at one time. Maybe I'll set a 2005 goal of playing one of these every month or two. That is probably realistic.
ITH
A few weeks back Ammbo hit me up about reviewing Matthew Hilger's Internet Texas Hold em. I agreed and received my book just after Christmas. I'm currently part way through and will be posting a full review once I get done.
Vegas
My friend, AI, and I will be leaving for Vegas next Thursday. Right now we plan to catch The Hives at Hardrock and maybe watch (or play in?) some of the Cory Lidle Charity Poker Tournament. Being a huge St. Louis Cardinal's fan I would absolutely love to play poker with Mark Mulder.
He is on your roto squad Iggy?
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