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Election Night

Given how much emotional stake I had put in this election, I felt surprisingly calm on Tuesday day with the exception of the 5 o'clock hour. That is when the blogs became a-twitter with the rumored exit polling numbers. First, some demographic stats. Then gawker released a handful a battleground numbers that turned out to be incorrect. Drudge leaks +15 for Obama in PA....and then Gawker shows some updated results with much better margins for Obama. My girlfriend and I went to an election night get together at a bar in Virginia Highlands, but we left around 9pm because it was hard to follow the action on the TV at the bar. Not too long after we got home, they called OH for Obama and that was pretty much all she wrote. The rest of the night was spent texting and calling family and friends in celebration. I wish I could have mentally recorded the entire night in my head to play over when things aren't so rosy politically and otherwise. Now, we get to see if Obama can become the kind of president that all of us who voted for him, hopes and believes he can become. The night is something that I'll never forget, the sense of history is undeniable and there was several points in the night where I nearly broke into tears because of how monumental the occasion was. Who would have ever thought it would happen? The history notwithstanding, Obama has some serious work to do. The economy is in the shitter, we have troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, and a lot of people are going to be waiting for him to fail. Ultimately, he will fail in some regards. Nothing is ever going to be perfect, but I think he has demonstrated the intelligence and demeanor to become a very successful leader. I hope i am right.

How can we lose?

The wheels are coming off.

Less than a week before election day, it is clear that the Republican party is about to implode. Several reports have indicated growing dissension in the McCain camp, especially around the choice and performance of his VP nominee. According to one source McCain has even began snubbing her on the campaign trail.

Robert Draper writes,
I’ve heard from one well-placed source that McCain has snubbed her on one long bus ride aboard the Straight Talk Express, to the embarrassment of those sitting nearby.

This sounds like the kind of working relationship you'd want to have between a President and his number two.

In any event, some of these events and others got me to thinking about the future of the Republican party, especially if they receive the beating some people are forecasting. Will it be a death blow or just a temporary lull. Speaking in the short-term, I would certainly expect the R's to bounce back to some extent during the 2010 midterm election. That just seems to be the nature of the beast, of course there are some exceptions. However, given the demographic changes that will be occur over the next few decades, the Republican party as we know it appears to be in serious trouble.
Courtesy of the US census bureau, this table shows the projected US population by race from 2000 to 2050. Given how voting typically shakes out by race, it's clear to see that the Republican base of today is going to get proportionally smaller. It would seem to me that the party is going to have to do something to appeal to a broader mix of races to have any chance of winning. And if this presidential campaign is any indicator, they are a long way from achieving that.

For future reference

Here’s my 'Republican guide for how not to fake an assault in order stir up fear of blacks and scare people into voting against Barack Obama.'

1) Don't detail your immediate pre-assault activities on Twitter or Myspace in order to make the story more believable. It will look awfully suspicious to anyone with half a brain.

2) Don't scrawl perfectly formed letters on your own face while looking into the mirror. They will look backwards to others.

3) When making said letter on your own face, you might want to make it look a bit messy for that implies some sort of struggle.

4) Black eyes typically co-occur with some swelling. Thus, if you give yourself a fake black eye, you better be prepared to punch your own eyes to make them swell.

5) If the cops show up, you need to have ice water in your veins or otherwise they'll catch on. Don't act all weird and refuse medical treatment. The cops are not as stupid as you might think. They've seen it all. You might be able to fool the people at Fox News or knuckle-dragging right wing bloggers, but us bipeds will figure it out.

6) Don't stage it in front of a place that might have security cameras unless you are going to claim you were assualted by an invisible abberation.

You're committing voter fraud, no YOU are.

"In this election, it's a choice between a candidate who won't disavow a group committing voter fraud, and a leader who won't tolerate voter fraud," Palin said.

Really? Well, today the Obama campaign called bullshit on this phony "voter fraud" issue being raised by the McCain camp. The first thing we need to realize about this issue is that there is a long history of voter suppression efforts (caging, misinformation, intimidation) on the part of the Republican Party. The reason is simple, if the Republicans can prevent certain groups of people from voting, namely the poor and minorities, they greatly improve their chances of winning elections. One way they have tried to prevent people's votes from counting has been to make spurious last-second voter fraud claims, which they are doing again. The Bush administration put immense pressure on various state U.S. attorney's to investigate these, and other, claims around the time of elections in November, presumably with the hopes of swaying the election. Some of the attorney's didn't bow to this pressure and therefore 9 of them were fired. These politically-motivated firings then led to an investigation, which then resulted in many of Bush's cronies in the DOJ being relieved of their duties including Alberto Gonzales (who couldn't remember his own fucking name during the investigations).

As the memo states, the DOJ has the responsiblity to consider the allegations of "voter fraud" being made in the context of what the Republican Party has been doing for years and in the context of the criminal firings of several U.S attorney's and the investigation that followed. Folks, I am not making this stuff up. The McCain camp is pulling out all the sleazeball tactics Bush and other Republicans have been using for years. However, this year will be different.

Ladies and Gentleman....Public Enemy Number 1!

It's become almost sad to watch John McCain shed his last bit of dignity by going after Obama's "association" with Bill Ayers. Anyone with a few minutes can find out the truth about any of this. Obama served on an anti-poverty board for a few years with Ayers during the mid-90s. Ayers donated 200 bucks to his senate campaign and while the 2 appeared at a few public events together, there is no evidence of a close relationship. This whole thing becomes deliciously absurd when learning that the activities of this board were funded by Leonore Annenberg billionaire widow of Walter Annenberg, and John McCain supporter. By the same rationale used by the McCain/Palin campaign, she was not only "palling around" with a terrorist, she was funding them. Despite this, McCain was so freakin' happy about her endorsement that he made it public. This is all just a crock of shit of course, and it is starting to piss some of McCain's party members off enough for them to speak out on this. You wonder what the long-term effect of McCain's poorly run campaign and impending landslide loss will be on the Republican party. A good old landslide will have to make them re-assess just what their party stands for. You'd think the smart one's are going to realize that the party is going to be in shambles if they don't make significant changes. Of course, the religious right will vote for them no matter what, but that group is going to do nothing but shrink in terms their share of the USA's overall demographics. 30 years from now, the party better have figured out a way to appeal to a more diverse group or else they are fucked.

Goodbye Milwaukee

Guess the email password

moosebabe64
bancondoms69
godspipeline
futuregmilf
deadgibson22
ihrthannity
firemonegan

Conservatives for Obama

Former editor of the National Review endorses Obama.

I know of a few friends who for various reasons, although none so eloquently put as Mr. Allison's, that have jumped ship on the Republican Party during this election and are now firmly in Obama's camp. I think deep down some conservatives are starting to realize that the Republican party is not conservative at all.

But today it is so-called conservatives who are cemented to political programs when they clearly don’t work. The Bush tax cuts—a solution for which there was no real problem and which he refused to end even when the nation went to war—led to huge deficit spending and a $3 trillion growth in the federal debt. Facing this, John McCain pumps his “conservative” credentials by proposing even bigger tax cuts. Meanwhile, a movement that once fought for limited government has presided over the greatest growth of government in our history. That is not conservatism; it is profligacy using conservatism as a mask.

McCain is anti democracy

THIS JUST IN! John McCain campaign is attempting to prevent people from voting. This is just more of the same crap the GOP has been doing for decades. From the MJS:

McCain mailing draws complaints

The Wisconsin board that oversees elections is fielding complaints that Republican presidential nominee John McCain's campaign is sending out a mailing that includes an application for an absentee ballot - but in some cases the address is wrong.

Democrat Beverly Jambois of Middleton got one of the fliers addressed to her husband Robert, a lawyer for the state Transportation Department. They're registered to vote in Middleton, but the absentee ballot application was addressed to the Madison city clerk's office.

"They're trying to knock me off the rolls," she said. "I can't tell you how upsetting it is to me. This is how you win elections? By disenfranchising other voters?"

Kyle Richmond, a spokesman for the Government Accountability Board, said there have been 10 complaints in the past two days from those who got the McCain flier. The board's staff is investigating, he said.

Absentee ballots may only be used in the locality where the person is registered to vote, he said.

Mark Jefferson, executive director of the state Republican Party, denied there was any intent to prevent people from voting. The wrong absentee ballot applications were the result of incorrect information in databases used for the mailing, he said.

"You do the best with the lists you have, and no list is perfect," Jefferson said. "There is certainly no type of suppression effort going on."

He said the mailing was directed to hundreds of thousands of voters.

Local clerks now are processing absentee voting applications. The absentee ballots aren't sent until about four weeks before the election.

John McCain is a Liar

The lies just never stop. The McCain camp is banking on the notion that Americans stay misinformed and that his lies go unchallenged. Thankfully, the press is standing up and calling bullshit. Hopefully, people realize that lies in the context of running a campaign is an indicator of how McCain will govern. We should all be scared shitless. Here are some highlights.


1) He routinely lies about Obama's tax cut proposal. Obama's plan calls for tax cuts for everyone except those making over 250k a year. FALSE!

2) He claimed that Obama's "lipstick on a pig" comment was directed at his running mate. FALSE!

3) He approves a disgusting ad claiming Obama wants to teach "comprehensive sex-ed" to kindergartners. FALSE!

4) The McCain camp pants are on fire when they say that his VP nominee was against earmarks for "the bridge to nowhere." False! She was for it before she was against it.

Seriously, as Paul Krugman points out, these lies are so bad and so poorly cloaked that anyone can debunk them by doing a few minutes worth of research on the internet.

It's time to start questioning the integrity of a candidate that would engage in serial fibbing to gain the upper hand in the election. I don't care if he was a POW for 100 years, a man who demonstrates such a lack of integrity should not be president.

Oh boy!

woeful.

McCain loves pedophiles

McCain recycles an old smear on Obama with a creepy and despicable attack ad. Of course, the legislation in question was aimed to protect kids from pedophiles. Not something John McCain can get behind.

Empty Pant Suit?

Politics are dominating my thinking right now, so politics are going to dominate this blog. It's amusing to me to watch the republicans try and tote Sarah Palin out on stage as someone who has the experience to be VP and potentially president at the same time as criticizing Obama on the experience issue. The irony is delic(ious)!

We've all heard the "Alaska is close to Russia" bit and the "she's commander of the Alaska National Guard" line as support for the idea that she has foreign policy experience and that she can lead troops into battle. I'm amazed that so many people have repeated this utterly ridiculous statement.

It's going to be interesting to see how the 'get-to-know Sarah Palin' story unfolds. The McCain camp is obviously shielding her from any scrutiny by not allowing any 1 on 1 interviews. You'd expect that she would be on the Sunday morning shows this week. She was not. There is one interview lined up with Charlie Gibson. It'll be interesting to see the kinds of questions he'll be allowed to ask and how she answers them. You can draw your own conclusions about why McCain is protecting her from the media, but it seems to me it is being done because they fear she's not prepared to answer questions that will be asked of her. She's already demonstrated ignorance regarding economic policy when she said Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had "gotten too big and too expensive to the taxpayers" during a campaign rally in Colorado. This is obviously going to be a key economic issue for the next administration as it appears the government is going to have bail out these lenders. The fact that she didn't know they were privately owned companies should scare the bejeebus out of people. Eventually she's going to have to pay the piper, answer tough questions on the Sunday morning shows, and prove she has a clue. Let's sit back and watch.

Hockey Mom's, PhD's, and Change

So, this whole political narrative about Sarah Palin being a tough "Hockey Mom" is such a fucking joke. I played hockey for 14 of the first 18 years of my life and as a whole the mom's were just like any other group of women. Many were like my mother who worked a full-time job, and some were stay at home mothers. Some were well off, others had less money. Some were religious, others less so. Some talked too much, others said too little. The same sort of description applies to hockey dad's as well. And for the life of me, I cannot think of one thing about watching their kids slap around a piece of vulcanized rubber that somehow makes them especially qualified to be President of United States. But, I guess you rely on these sort of sugar-coated stories and gimmicks when you are unable to run on the issues. You nominate a VP who, by any reasonable account, does not have the experience to act as President compared to any other of the candidates he was considering. For fuck's sake, she thinks oil pipelines and the war in Iraq are heaven sent. What kind of bat-shit crazy is this? Do people actually believe this crap?

It was equally hilarious to see the Republicans try to convince people that they are the party people should trust to "fix Washington." Somehow, I don't think that line will resonate very well when they have been in charge for pretty much all of the last 8 years. And while McCain said the word "change" about 50 times last night, he failed to into any specifics about what needs to be changed or who fucked it up.

Amidst all these political happenings, I managed to defend my dissertation this week am now officially Dr. Bossman.

Double Speak

Probably the best thing I've seen in quite some time.

***Warning: Heavy Political Content***


I have a sh*tload of person bias of course, but Barack Obama's speech was dead freakin' on last night. It was tough, inspirational, honest, and expertly delivered. He confronted the attacks that have been directed towards him in the last several weeks and threw it write back in the face of the McCain campaign. Now they have responded with an act of complete desperation by nominating the most inexperienced VP candidate ever (except for Stockdale, perhaps) as an attempt to gain the support of the mythical throngs of Hilary supporters who are supposedly on the fence. It funny because all these right-wing pundits who have been beating the 'Obama is not experienced enough' drum must feel like fools now. Not to be crude, but if McCain croaks while in office would you want someone at the helm who has been a mayor of a town of 6000 and Gov. of Alaska for 2 years. To top it all off, she's stridently pro-life, a creationist, and is stupid enough to believe that drilling for oil in ANWR will solve energy issues. AND! she has no idea what the job of the VP is. Seriously. I leave with some good humor from the Daily Show.

Faux-lympics

I gotta say I've been watching more of the Olympics that I ever had planned to. The last several nights has seen me watching USA vs AUS in softball, USA vs VEN and ITA in men's volleyball. Fuck, I even watched part of a water polo match as the US got their assess handed to them by the team from Serbia. Who, I noticed, were all quite hirsute. I guess they don't have to shave to lessen the drag as they swim. Last night I watched gymnastics, more softball, and all sorts of swimming events.

The big story, of course, is Micheal Phelps' run at 8 gold medals. Yesterday, a story came out reporting what he eats on a typical day. His diet consists basically consists of eggs, cheese, and an assload of carbs. My favorite was his dinner which had 1 pound of pasta and an entire large pizza. He's living the life, man. World famous athlete who eats like an 800 pound man.

Another story is how China has engaged in some trickery in everthing from the opening ceremony to the ages of their gymnasts. The opening ceremony used cgi effects in place of real fireworks and, in Cyrano de Bergerac fashion, opted to trot out a "more attractive 7 year-old" to lip sync to the voice of the buck-toothed girl with the good pipes. It's some pretty sick shit that looks factors into the equation with girls that young. Fucking Jon Benet Zedong. It's the same crap when any young girl goes missing in the States. If she's blonde, white, attractive, and from an affluent family it takes center stage in the national news. If she's black, or poor. No one gives a fuck. No one remembers Alexis Patterson.....everyone knows Elizabeth Smart.

The Chinese also got busted for having an underage gymnast on their team. Clearly, she's not the only one. The whole team looked 12. Win at all costs baby. I remember watching the little league world series when I was a kid. Teams from Chinese Taipei pretty much dominated for 20 years or so. The kids on that team all looked like 18 year olds. They all had deep voices, acne, and "fur in places where the kids on the other teams had no fur." That's why it was such a big deal when Trumbell won in 89. The 12 and 13 year olds from Connecticut beat grown men with muscles, facial hair, and larger dongs!

That was our planet!

Those goddamn dirty apes at pokerstars are up to it again with the 'battle of the planets' promotion. I have 4 SNGs left in this round of 20 and have an outside chance of finishing in the top 100. I have primarily been playing in the 6 max SNGs which only pay the top 2 spots and result in fewer points towards the promotion. The current leader of the 'Venus' (ha! rhymes with cleanest) division has over 600 points. That seems like a pretty sick total. I'd have to win half of my 6 max SNGs and place second in the others to achieve that total. It doesn't seem possible, but I suppose there is probably a little bit of strategy that goes into it. A good player would probably have a reasonable chance of making the leader board playing 6 max SNGs, but you'd have to go on an extreme heater to get over 500 points. It seems like a good strategy it to start off your blocks of 20 SNGs with 1 or 2 3-table tourneys would allow you to get a decent jump on the field if you were lucky enough to win 1 and place in the other. For some reason I've never done well with the 3 or 4 table SNGs, but if i wanna make a serious run at some 'free' cash, I might have to learn.

I just got done playing a SNG just now. I was getting beat around a bit the first few levels, but won a big pot with AK over AQ. Two hands later I had 88 and reraised a player in EP for most of his chips. He hems and haws in chat, calling me a donk, and typing that he had 88 and was folding it. Normally, I don't show, but I knew I could probably tilt the fucker so I showed my 8s. Sure enough next hand he donked off his chips-sadly, not to me. Funny thing is that he had a Phil Ivey pic for his avatar. I'm pretty sure his hero Phil Ivey would not have announced the hand he was going to fold his hand in the same breath as calling his opponent a donk. Come to think of it, I'm pretty sure Phil Ivey has probably never played a 6 dollar SNG either.

Speaking of avatars, I'd like to change mine. I wonder if pokerstars will allow me to do it again. I originally had a picture of a 70s hockey goon named 'robert maplethorpe' who was apparently the inspiration for the 'ogie oglethorpe' character from the classic movie 'Slap Shot.' Right now I have a picture of a psychotic drunken cartoon mouse from a short-lived show that was on adult swim a few years ago. I need to think of a good one.

UPDATE: I just checked on stars. Do they allow you to change it all you want now? Seems like it.

Everyone's a scumbag.

John Edwards just admitted to pulling a Newt Gingrich (i.e. cheating on wife who has cancer). Turns out Edwards was screwing some washed up party girl from the 80s and may or may not have sired a child with the woman. Not only that, his PAC had been funneling money to her shady video production company to the tune of 100k. So, he was taking money from all the people who admired his populist idea and giving it to his mistress. Wonderful. It's shit like this that turns the most idealistic person into a hardened cynic.

Maybe I expect too much of men like this. Politicians are granted extraordinary amounts of power, and it seems like very few of them can stay clean. If they don't end up fucking some staffer, they end up whacking off with some random dude in an airport bathroom. Or getting their pockets lined with kickbacks from fat Texas oilmen. Or get hummers from chubby chicks. Or choke on pretzels while watching scooby-doo reruns. Fuck em' all.

I don't really think this will have any effect on the election this year. Presumably Obama has kept it in his pants, and McCain should be running like the wind to avoid this issue (he cheated on and then divorced his first wife who had been crippled in a car accident). I guess we can be happy Edwards' campaign never went anywhere. I can't tell you how pissed I'd be if he had been the nominee and then this came out.

Tao of Poker's 5 yr tourney

Last night I was able to play in the tourney commemorating 5 years of Tao of Poker. It was a 5 dollar buy-in, with a serious overlay. A free seat into a 5k event at the Borgata Poker Open. Sometimes the best things in life are free! My first table was pretty tight. I wasn't able to get much going and ended the first hour with only a few more chips than I began with. The second hour I started getting a few decent hands, but didn't get played with too much. I was around 3k in chips when I was bounced around tables a few times and ended up at the same table at Dr Pauly. Not too long after I was seated I was dealt A8 sooooted in the small blind. Pauly was 2 to my right and had pushed his last 1k or so into the pot. I decided to reraise to about 2.4k , in hopes of squeezing the big blind out of the pot and going heads up. The big blind paused for a bit, but eventually decided to call with KQoff. Flop came K 3 6, turn Q, river K and it was over. It was a pretty fun two hours. It's too bad more tourneys don't have a 5k overlay. Anyways, thanks to Dr. Pauly for setting this up and congrats to the dude who took it down. Hopefully, he puts the seat to good use.

Le Théâtre de l'Absurde

Holy hell, this Brett Favre situation is mad and being in WI I get an closeup view of just how absurd this all is. I was watching TV Sunday evening as the local channels were giving us constant updates about where his chartered plane was and what time it was expected to land in Green Bay. The cameras where they to photograph him as he exited the plane and jumped in his Escalade. That night one story on the Journal Sentinal website stated that Favre will be competing for the starting job in GB, while another on the same freakin' site concluded that he is likely to get traded to MN.

They were all over Lambeau field yestersay like flies on shit waiting to catch a press conference that never happened because Favre and McCarthy's meeting went into the wee hours. There was rampant speculation last night as we learned that the 2 were still meeting. Does this mean Brett's the starter? Maybe they're talking about a trade? Maybe they were licking each others knobs? I swear, I am amazed the field reporters don't snap. I'm fully expecting one of them to go off and tell Tom Pipines he can shove this microphone up his ass.

The other side of the coin is the reactions of Vikings fans, of which I am one. There are two factions of fans; those who think Favre holds to the key to a Superbowl, and those who hate his guts because he was the leader of the mortal enemy for 15 years. If anything, I fit into the former group. I think the Vikes would have a better chance of winning if he were the QB. Good enough for me. I've always kind of admired Favre, except when he was in direct competition with the Vikes. The other group of fans would go nuts if the Vikes got Favre and would probably murder their friends, families, and coworkers with their bare hands.

However it all ends, at this point I don't care. I think the best ending would be for him stay in GB, beat out Rodgers for the starting job, and then decide to quit 1 day before the first game. I can only hope.

Random dump

My time here in Milwaukee is coming to an end. Soon I will be moving to Atlanta with my GF to start a new job. I'm pretty excited although I think I will miss many things about MKE. Change is good though, complacency bad.

Rock icon Paul Westerberg just released an internet only album that costs $0.49. You can buy it here. When I was buying it, I thought about how funny it would be it that 49 cent charge from paypal would make me over drawn on my bank account. Sadly, it's possible. In any event, the album is great. It is a bunch of songs and random tidbits, but you can only download it as one file. The idea, I suppose, is to encourage listening to the whole record rather than playing a few songs over and over while ignoring the others. I like the idea, but it only works if the whole things is worth listening to. It is.



Ok. This is one of the most exciting things (sad, I know) that has happened in a while. It took me over a year, but I finally beat 'The 100' on desktop tower defense and I was able to capture the moment with a perfectly executed screenshot. If you haven't played it before. I'll tell you it is the most addicting game you'll ever play. Anyway, now I don't really play it anymore b/c I've mastered it. Maybe they will come out with an updated version soon.

Vegas - Day 2

I did ok our first day in Vegas, but I woke up with the worst headache I've had in years. Punishment for making a few bucks......or maybe it was the shitty beers I had at the end of the previous night. I gobbled up some Ibuprofen and by the time I was showered I felt pretty good. We opted for breakfast at the Teahouse in IP. I've been there 6 or so times and I think I've had eggs benedict each time. Yummy. Although it's pretty sad that this was the best meal I had in Vegas this trip.

We all jumped in a 2/4 game at the IP after breakfast. The plan was to play this for awhile and then play the noon tourney. I don't remember much from this session, besides the fact that I had to excuse myself and drop a giant turd at some point. The "tourney" at IP was pretty lame, although it probably fit my style fairly well. We had about 20 runners and the structure was pretty quick. I busted on the last hand before the break when I reraised all in with 57 of diamonds on a 6d 8s jd flop. A dude called me with J2 after tanking for a bit. I missed my outs and I was back in the 2/4 game. We all played in that for several hours and I managed to drop over 100 bucks. It was good times though and we left to have dinner at the Victorian Room at Bill's. I had nachos (shared) and a ceasar salad. The salad was the most disgusting thing I've seen in a while. It was basically iceberg lettuce floating in 12 ounces of dressing.

We returned to the Flamingo, but I was seated at a table by myself. The table was the most passive, calling station filled game I've ever played at. Probably 8 players saw a flop on average. I was the one who didn't see it most of the time. I was never able to get anything going and I cashed out down 40 bucks or so. Before I did I got to hear the dude next to me say some pretty weird things to the awesome waitress (she brought me 5 budweisers in a few hours). The best was "too bad you're married, I would like to take you home and shave your legs."
I went back to Bill's and played some pai gow. I lost a few bets before johnny and shoeshiner showed up. We played for a while and then called it a night. All in all, I did pretty shitty on Day 2. Pretty much lost anything I played, but I never went on crazy tilt trying to get my money back on dollar slots or from a spin of the roulette wheel. It was a pretty uneventful end to an uneventful trip. I still haven't been able to get the monkey off my back and book a nice win in Vegas. Maybe my 5th trip (TBD) will be the one.

Vegas - Day 1

The flight from MKE to LAS was uneventful. Despite the fact that the flight was nearly full, I lucked out and the seat next to mine was empty. I was able to do a bit of work and then watch Dr. Strangelove on the laptop. Great movie. I arrived the same time as Johnny and we decided to have a shitty breakfast at some airport restaurant while waiting for the Shoeshiner. The juevos rancheros was to puke for, but we did catch a glimpse of Ervin Johnson while he was eating with his family. Not Magic, but the spazzy center who played for the Bucks and some other teams. I also swear Big Pussy from the Sopranos was there, but Johnny didn't think it was him.

The Shoeshiner arrived a short time later and we were on our way to Bill's. The rooms at Bill were a really good value at 49.99/night. It was decent sized, had a nice big 42" flat screen and was clean. We did waste much time and went to work stopping at the Flamingo poker room. We were all 3 seated at the same table immediately. An older Chinese man sat to my right and while he played okay, the dude had the hardest time staying awake.....at noon. One second he would be talking or drinking some coffee and then his head would be nodded down with his cards just sitting there. Apparently, it was my duty to take care of him because I had to rouse him no less than 3 times. He eventually left. Overall, it was a very beatable table, and I left up about 90 bucks when we cashed out despite losing a monster pot with a baby flush my final hand.

We ate at some shitty cafe in the Flamingo and went to the IP. There was no 2/4 game going, so we donked around at Pai Gow for a little while before making our way up to the Sahara for their 7pm tourney.

I completely treaded water in the tourney before raising all in with 78 suited and getting called by a limper with KJ off. I lost the hand and went and played $5 Mini Pai Gow while pounding Miller Lite's and smoking cigs. I play for a couple hours and then went back to the poker room where Johnny was at a 2/4 game and the Shoeshiner was busy getting 10th in the tourney for a small score. I took a seat at the 2/4 game and end up about 10 bets before we decide to leave. We headed back to Bill's to close out the night with some Pai Gow. We were all doing ok until they changed dealers and the dude beat us into submission with several huge hands in a row. We crashed around 3am despite my drunken threats to order a 6 pack and a pizza.

Las Vegas

Here I come for my 4th visit. I can already feel the excitement in anticipation of my arrival. 2 full days of poker, pai gow, booze, and very little sleep. On each of my previous 3 trips I have walked away a modest loser, but this time I feel my luck will change. No more getting aces cracked by queens. No more weak play in the latter stages of tournements. No dollar slot machines. No 20 dollar trick at the dumpiest hotel on the strip! No blackjack with Madonna or Elvis impersonators! Win, dammit!

Minny Win

I spent the 4th of July at the lakes with some family. The next day my dad and I hit up a $100 dollar tourney at the Shooting Star Casino on the White Earth Indian Reservation. The turnout was very low (14 runners) as we got started around 2pm. My dad and I get seated at the same table. The play was pretty weak for the first few levels - lots of limping and calling of small raises from poor position. A good table to be at. I win a decent number of chips during the 2nd level with a baby flush, but lose most of it when I lost with pocket jacks on consecutive hands. I am down to around 3k (started with 5k) after the first hour. Pops had about 6k or so. I upped the aggression during the 2nd hour. The table was still pretty passive and I was able to collect the blinds and bets of some limpers by moving in with AK and pocket 10s. At some point we got down to the final 10 and I had about 10k in chips and my dad was still hanging in with 7k. The top 3 paid.

I take out a short stacked older gentleman when my AA dominates his 78 offsuit. One time cheap leader totally donks off his stack in less that 1 orbit and I ended his misery when my AK beats his Q10. We were down to 6 and I was sitting pretty good with 18k in chips. My dad was on life support and went to battle against another shorty. My dad had QQ and he was against AJ. The flop came J high, turn rag, river A. Pretty sick beat for pops, especially since I had folded a weak ace. An older woman went out 5th when she called a reraise with QJ offsuit. When we got down to 4, we agreed that the bubble boy would get his money back. The other 3 guys were pretty solid and the chip leader was winning alot of pots uncontested. I was down to about 16k with blinds at 1/2k. I raised to 8k from the button with KJ offsuit and the small blind tanks for a few minutes. I figure him for a small pair or maybe AJ/A10. He decides to push and he had me covered by a few thousand chips. I was pretty much committed here and made the call. He shows QQ, but I get lucky when a King pops up on the flop and no queen is dealt. A few hands later and we decide to chop it up. After tipping the dealers I get out of there with 400 bucks. I've only played in maybe a half dozen live tourney's-and this one was pretty small, but it felt pretty good to go home a winner. Hopefully, this is a good omen for my 2 day donk-trip to Vegas starting this Sunday.

Also, best of luck to Iggy who is grinding away in Day 3 of the Main Event as I write this.

To home and back in pictures.

small car

rain storm

heart attack

bf orange moose

lunch

entering mn

metrodome

driving into the sun




100K



small car 2 - almost home




back to WI - stuck in traffic

the way back - storm 1

racing the storm - east of madison

Sunkist Fleishmann

Reporting FAIL!

So, McHale goes off again and trade OJ Mayo for a couple of white dudes. For fucksake, I actually felt good for one second about the Wolves drafting Mayo and then this happens. I guess I can go back to ignoring the team. Seriously, I am just not excited to see fucking Kevin Love shoot 15 footers or to have Mike Miller leave grease stains on the Target Center floor.

Moving on to a Minnesota team that does not suck, the Twins have run off 9 wins in a row and are only 1/2 game out of first in the central. Hopefully, they continue their shallacking of NL teams this weekend against MKE. It's a funny game. They trade the best pitcher on the planet in the off season, lose an all-star CF to free agency, and get the short end of the deal (so far) with the Garza for Young trade, and the Twins are BETTER in '08 than they were last year. Go figure. It remains to be seen if the Twins can keep this up, but they'll be serious contenders in a few year if everything stays together like it should.

RIP George

My first exposure to George Carlin was from a cassette of 'Playing with my head' that my brother bought and I ended up in possession of when I was 13 or so. I think I can still recite most of the lines from that recording. The stuff about sports, saying goodbye, 5 2's, etc. Shit, the other night I described Lacrosse as a "faggot college activity" during the course of some drunken conversation. Lines from that one stand-up album found a permanent place in my vocabulary.

Back in '98 or so, a friend and I made it up an Indian casino where Carlin was doing a show. He opened the show by saying "they say that Indians name their kids after the first thing they see when coming out of the womb...it makes you wonder why there aren't more kids named big wet hairy pussy." This actually drew boos from the crowd, and then Carlin snapped back "if you don't know that I'm on your side by now, fuck off." I was in stitches, the rest of the show was great. Carlin had such a unique ability of making poignant political and philosophical commentary on a vast array of subjects from religion to language. But then in a matter of minutes the show would change gears and he'd be making funny faces and contorting his body like a monkey. His physical humor almost made me piss myself on more that one occasion. Those shows from the 70s and 80s were pure genius. You'll be missed George.

I almost dropped a turd in the shower this morning by accident

I found a little Java program that allows you to play various table games like Let it Ride, Pai Gow, Caribbean Poker, etc. It is good "practice" for my upcoming Vegas trip, but I only now realize how boring these games are if you strip away the friends, free drinks from scantily clad females, and overall atmosphere of excitement Vegas brings. I guess in some ways you can say this about online vs live poker too. Live poker is much more captivating. Instead of laying around like a fat slob on you couch playing 2/4 stud against a dude from Moscow with an Ivan Drago pic for an avatar, you are elbow to elbow with degenerates, douchebags, and people there to have a good time. I enjoy the latter the most, but remember the former the best.

In preparation for the trip I removed a paltry sum of money from pokerstars to buttress my bankroll for the trip. I would be worried about funding this one, but I will be there less than 48 hours, so I can't do too much damage. Right? After last Christmas' nightmare at the IP, I will be staying at the equally inexpensive Bill's Gambling Hall (formerly known as the Barbary Coast). Just in time for our trip, Bill's now has a poker room that has 2 tables which run a $1 NL game, and I think, a spread limit game. Sounds like it might make for some good late night donkey poker.

I am not going there with any particular expectations about winning large sums of money playing live poker. I hardly have time to play online anymore, let alone play live games, but this will not deter me from having a gay old time.

Original Gangster

Back around '97 or '98 I started my first personal webpage. There were record reviews, links to popular music sites, lame attempts at humor, and book reviews. It was called Exit 104 and it was hosted for free on angelfire.com. It lasted into 2001, but I quit adding content and now there is no trace of the website that I can find. I still have all the html and associated files. I should throw some up here when i get horribly desperate for content.

I once reviewed John Cheever's 'The Wapshot Chronicles.' I was way ahead of the game reviewing a book that had been published 40 years or so prior. I might has well reviewed something from James Joyce or Shakespeare.

I reviewed records from Blur, Boss Hog, Radiohead, and countless others. A big part of the website revolved around incorporating some of the photos I took of desolate scenes in North Dakota. Farms with dilapidated barns, dogs, crosses in the middle of a wheat field, anti-abortion billboards.

In some ways it was a blog before there were blogs, at least as much as I was familiar with the term. Fuck, I could have taken advantage of the whole blogger movement if I hadn't lacked talent, vision, or motivation. It's amazing how seemingly the simplest ideas have turned to www.gold.

Sometimes I feel like Doogie Houser sitting here typing into what is little more that a journal that no one reads. Doog's words were more elegant, no doubt, so what this really is is (see) Vinny's journal. Happy reading.

I have very little to report on in my personal poker journey. I still play a bit every few days, but have not won or lost any significant amount of cash for several months now. I hastily played in that 5000 FPP freeroll on pokerstars this last weekend. I played terrible and was bounced in the first hour.

I have made plans for Vegas trip number four in July. This time home base will be Bill's Gambling Hall (and Saloon) with the same cast of characters from last summer's trip. My goal for the trip is simple. Win. I figure I am due. I have lost money on the first 3 trips, so I have to win this time. Right?

Work has been a grind lately, but I have still been able to keep my wits about me despite working 70+ hours/week for the past several months. By the end of the summer I will have my doctorate degree and will be working at Emory. Fuck me I hate the heat. I will miss a lot about Milwaukee, but we are gypsy's and we must go on to the next adventure.

Better living through science

I once got in an argument about toilets with my dad. We were watching some program about environmentalism and the topic of mandated low flush toilets came up. He was adamantly opposed to the idea, and I suddenly knew things about my dad that were never intended. Namely, that he clogs toilets quite easily. The toilet at my parents’ home is a 70’s model which probably uses 7 or 8 gallons of water per flush, but clogs pretty easily. The talk of toilets that use 1.6 gallon per flush on the TV must have triggered an alarm in my dad’s head and lead him to think that these were 4 or 5 times more likely to get bunged up. Now, my father is quite smart, probably more intelligent than you or I, but he must have been burned badly by toilets in his life to take this irrational stance.

I too have felt the bite of poor quality toilets. Just this summer I made a midday visit to the bathroom at the Imperial Palace, and after doing my business I noticed the toilet didn’t totally flush. I call it a ‘hanging chad.’ I should have just left well enough alone, but I decided to go for the kill and I flushed again. Before I could buckle up, that thing overflowed and I had to hightail it out of there.

The toilets were I work are marvels of modern engineering. 1.6 gallon per flush and they never get clogged, even on the worst of days. People have waged war on those things, but nobody has ever defeated those monsters. The best you might hope for is a bit of toilet paper left after the first flush. You could easily flush a small child down one of these things. And these fuckers fight back. The flushing is so rigorous that it squirts back water. Like a bedee with attitude. You’ll get done, stand up and flush, and then you get doused with a bit of dirty-ass toilet butt juice.

How to get lost in Canada when you're dead.

I've always had a certain admiration for our neighbor's to the north. Some of this, I suppose. is a natural effect of growing up in northern Minnesota and playing hockey-their national sport. I also hold in high esteem the idealism of socialized medicine, the quirky comedians, safe cities, bilingualism, mounted police, cold climate, strong beer.

My GF and I found ourselves in Toronto, Ont (sensitive business) a few weeks ago. We went from MKE to DTW to whatever the fuck the code is for Toronto-Pearson. Filled out those silly customs cards. Made it through customs. "What are you here for?" We are here to assassinate your PM. "ok, have fun."

We hopped into the first available cab. Bags in check, we were ready to depart. "156 Richmond west, please." Newly minted Arab cab driver fumbles with his GPS for a few minutes and leaves without getting the GPS to link up. He heads toward downtown, manages to get off on an exit not too far from our hotel, but then his fucking head exploded. Calls dispatch, and I manage to understand only bits and pieces of what he says. We make it to the correct street, but he has no idea whether to make a left or right. He chose right, I was fairly sure that was the proper direction. He's not. At a stoplight he suddenly jumps out of the cab and accosts to poor lady behind us. Friendly as ever (from Manitoba, perhaps!), she tells him where our hotel is......the downtown Hilton is always so hard to find.

Beers and wings at the hotel bar made it better for that night. Beds were comfortable, but the next few days and ultimate result were forgettable. We were back stateside in a few days-via DTW (they have a nice sushi bar in the airport!).

If this is it

Pokerstars new SNG promotion looks pretty cool (commence shilling) despite the fact that they called it 'battle of the planets'. If I had been paying attention to it last week I might have had a reasonable shot of placing on the leaderboard for the 15 dollar level. In the 5 SNGs I played in the last week I finished 1st once and 2nd in the other four. This helped bump up my rather meager bankroll. If I wasn't so g'damn busy working (14 hour days rule!), I'd be all over the SNG shit. I still would like to get back playing more, but now is not the time.

Watching some game 7 action tonight with the Habs vs Bruins while eating a big burrito (and playing a SNG). Habs are up 3-0 now. All other things being equal, I tend to cheer for the Canadian teams (except for Ottawa). Pittsburgh absolutely killed them, and if their goaltending can hold up, they could a long way with Malkin and Crosby up front. I am picking the Pens and the Sharks in the final, although the Sharks will be out if they can't win game 7 at home tomorrow.

I could give 2 shits about the NBA playoffs. With the crooked ref scandal, that whore David Stern, and the T-wolves sucking, I don't have any interest.

I don't think the Twins will amount to much this year, but they could be very good in a few years if guys like Gomez and Young develop well, some of their top-notch pitching prospects pan out, and if Mauer, Morneau, and Cuddyer can maintain their productivity/health. Lots of if, but I am pretty excited about the future of the Twins. Johan who?

Stuck

I sent off my taxes on Monday and had to pay in about $1600 to the IRS and another little chunk to the state of Wisconsin. 'Tis what happens when you don't have any income taxes withheld for the entire year. I suppose I could go off on one of these anti-government tirades, but I guess it's kind of hard since my salary over the last 4 years has been taken care of with taxpayer money via the department of health and human services (i.e. the government).

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Let's recap this weeks' poker blogger drama. One blogger is criticized by some other bloggers because said blogger was on the receiving end of a good deal from another blogger which included a seat to some 'tournament of champions.' Turns out that blogger couldn't play in the TOC because it's Saturday and he's Jewish. I wish I could make shit like this up. This blogger (me) thinks the big stink about this is silly. It's a fucking poker tournament, unless otherwise stated in the rules people can chop the prize pool however they want. I guess I don't understand the gripe. Apparently, some people think a deal like this should have been brokered under the auspices of some unspoken "old school" poker blogger ethos.

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Idea totally stolen from Pauly, but whatever.

Funny Google referrals:

1) How do you say donkey in sign language?
2) Tranny hookers in vegas
3) Noah Boeken gay
4) garbage quote
5) pictures of garbage in east st. louis

This is not an exit

"There is an idea of a Patrick Bateman; some kind of abstraction. But there is no real me: only an entity, something illusory. And though I can hide my cold gaze, and you can shake my hand and feel flesh gripping yours and maybe you can even sense our lifestyles are probably comparable... I simply am not there." -Patrick Bateman, American Psycho

I dropped a couple comments over at Stb's blog about on one of his posts about the poker blogger 'circles of hell.' I might have pissed him off a tad when I said that he appeared to be contradicting himself from previous posts and that I didn't really understand the point of the exercise. I think I "get it" a little more after reading some other people's comments, but I'll never truly get it. I have never made any effort to be a part of any group(s) that exists within the poker blogger social stratum. I very rarely take part in any of the blogger tournaments, I have never felt the need to join a bunch of bloggers in a weekend of drunken debauchery (not that I don't enjoy this), and I am only vaguely familiar with most of the goings on of the poker blogger world. This says very little about the average poker blogger, and much more about me as a person and the situation I am in.

In general, I don't feel as comfortable being part of a group as I am observing a social situation. I'm not sure when this developed or if I was born with it, but I remember these feelings when I was very young. I never had very many friends growing up, but always got along well with others and was generally happy. In school I was a bit of a clown, a smart ass, average student K-12, but still without more than a few good friends. I think I went to 2 parties in high school, might have had a few dates, but spent most of my time with a few close friends.

When I played hockey as a kid, I never identified myself as a hockey player, even though nearly every team I was on from age 10 to 18 was wildly successful-winning 3 state championships, 5 regions, and 2 of the largest youth-age international hockey tournaments in North America. When I graduated high school I turned away the opportunity to play college hockey and instead became an anonymous 'over-achieving college student' and punk rock music enthusiast. These things are still part of me today, I love the music, but I was never a true 'punk rocker.' I didn't care for the drama a small social scene brings, and I didn't believe in the idea of placing tattoos on my body as a way to let people know I enjoyed this particular band or subscribed to a certain lifestyle.

As a junior and senior in college I lived by myself in an apartment in a majestic early 20th century home. Except for the classes I pretty much shut myself off from college life. I spent hours reading books; Slim, Burroughs, Bukowski, DeLillo, Ellis, Kerouac, etc. I adopted a minimalist lifestyle with no decorations in my apartment, and only a thrift store couch and small TV in my living room. I ate very modest meals, exercised regularly, and started smoking cigarettes. All of which caused me to lose quite a bit of weight. I dyed my hair black. Thinking back, I probably got out of the life of solitude at the right time. I was likely headed for some sort of psychological meltdown.

I started playing poker about 5 years ago right around the poker boom when a friend and I both were watching the WSOP coverage, and we started playing in some bar league poker in Milwaukee. Not long after that I was playing poker online and was able to build up a decent bankroll playing low limits. I began blogging a matter of months later mostly as a journal of sorts, but also to get in on some of the blogger promotions pokerstars was running. I've never been able to achieve anything more than mediocre success playing poker, and the last few years I have played sparingly. Within a few years poker will most likely disappear from my life.

I look back at the last 15 years I wonder if I am missing something-an identity or a true self. Some psychologists stress the development of an identity in order to progress on to the next stage of life. I think that's pretty much bullshit. There is no true "self" and there is no choice and no self-control. People have a hard time swallowing this fact, after all human beings can think, and our thoughts lead to actions. This is often mistaken as free will, but it's illusory, we don't control our own thoughts.

aim it cout.

Probably the best fucking thing I've seen in a long time. I mean a long time. In the summer of 2002 or 2003 I was able to catch Radiohead play at Alpine Valley. I made the short drive down to east troy. We parked our car and walked by some dudes listening to the Replacements in the back of an old Ford.

We made our way in and listened as Stephen Malkmus opened. Radiohead came on as dark had descended. I first got into Radiohead via a friend in high school who turned me to Pablo Honey. The Bends. Then OK Computer came out and the band became legends. That night was crisp; we made our way to the beer stand. I almost fell on the way back later. The show began. What followed was as close to a religious experience I have had since I no longer believed in god. Karma Police. Fake Plastic Trees. Idioteque. Paranoid Android. We got in with the guys ripping bingers. No Surprise. How to Disappear Completely.

I urinated in plain view of passing cars as we were trying to get out of parking. Even got some catcalls from doped up hussy's going back to Beaver Dam in their parents Pontiac's. We passed by the dudes listening to the Replacements again.

sophisticated fat ass/when the levee breaks.

I just got done making some little pizza's made with Na'an bread from Trader Joe's and fresh mozzarella and pepperoni from Sendik's deli. There were quite delectable, especially when accompanied by some Mendocino Summer Ale (3 bucks a 6 pack-thank you very much).

They are predicting ANOTHER winter storm for us this Thursday after receiving a foot of snow last Friday and nearly 100 inches for the season.

This still doesn't top the winter of 96-97 when I was an undergrad at the University of North Dakota. We had around 100-120 inches of snow, but most problematic was the ice storm followed by the 15 inches we received in April around the time the Red River was scheduled to crest. The result of all of this was one of the worst floods in the history of our country and at the time the largest evacuation in the history of the US until Katrina in 2005. I lived in a basement apartment with my brother and his dog. After spending some time helping sandbag that day, we learned in the wee hours that there was a levee breach and that the entire city was under mandatory evacuation. It as a surreal scene. We gathered what we could, and headed down to our parents home. On the way there we listened to Desi Cortez on KOA out of Denver. Late at night in North Dakota you can get radio stations from Denver to St. Louis to Chicago and points in between.

The next day, several blocks of downtown Grand Forks went up in flames. There was little that could be done because the streets were flooded. I remember watching it unfold from Ralph's Corner Bar.

The early days after the evacuation I would also call our apartment every day. One of those days the phone started giving the busy tone. That was probably the day our apartment filled up with water. We weren't allowed back into the city for several weeks, but when we got back we saw utter devastation. The whole city stunk to high hell and home upon home was wrecked. Dirt lines marked where the water had risen-in some cases there was no line at all and the houses were swept off their foundations. The city eventually got back on it's feet. Houses and schools were rebuilt and the dikes were made stronger than ever. I go back every now and again.

mad memories

This is Neela. She is trying to fight off a urinary tract infection today. She is finally laying down in bed now after trying to urinate god know how many times today-mostly shooting blanks. We gave her a couple doses of antibiotics after her trip to the vet. Hopefully those do the trick and she is peeing happily soon.

March madness starts tomorrow. I have no real rooting interest this year as neither UW-Milwaukee nor Minnesota made it to the tourney. UWM has fallen on hard times after having pretty damn good teams from 03'-06.' I totally embarrassed myself at an unnamed bar in downtown Milwaukee in '03 as the Panthers nearly upset Notre Dame (damn you Dylan Page for missing that last second put back). I nearly jumped out of my seat as Clay Tucker kept making big plays, and cursed and kicked a wall when they lost at the last second.

In '05 the Panthers stunned Alabama in the first round game that fell on St. Patrick's day. Even though the game started around 11am on a Thursday, the bar was full of drunk retards. McCants kept nailing 3's and Tigert literally did not miss a shot. The next round UWM upset Boston College who had been ranked No. 1 earlier in the year. Their tenacious defense flustered BC-and who could forget Joah Tucker's 3 point play to seal it? The next round they lost to eventual runners-up Illinois, despite Joah Tucker scoring at will and keeping them in the game until the last 10 minutes of so. Good shit.

In '06 they upset Oklahoma the first round, but lost to eventual champs Florida in the second round. I watched the Florida game at home after attending a protest/march against the Iraq war. It was the 3 year mark that day. It's 5 years now. Bush thinks we're better off. I think Bush is a fucking retarded monkey

Falling asleep/southerplayalisticadillacmuzik

Last night was a first for me. I zonked out while playing a SNG around midnight. I didn't realize my goof until I opened my laptop back up today and noticed the clock was on me. To the best of my recollection, I remember the table had about 7 people left. Amazingly, I bubbled out.

I was in Atlanta for another top secret interview this week, this time with my GF. Could happen. The potential place of employment seems like an excellent opportunity and I really dig Coca-Cola, Republicans, and peaches. I never saw myself in a southern state, but it wouldn't be forever. Would probably do the old "in-out, in-out."

Too good. The entry about graduate school is spot-fucking-on.

Might even be better. Turkey sausage. Totally a staple of my diet.

I seem to fit both categories quite well. Shit, there's no Asian equivalent, but there should be. I can already think of about a dozen easy ones.

Eliot Spitzer looks just like my high school hockey coach. He was a philandering dink too. Weird. Shiny is bald.

You're the one

Slow going in the blog department lately, which of course means things have been crazy otherwise. I was in NYC for about 24 hours early this week for a job interview. I will skip most of the details of that trip so as not to blow my cover (you see, I was there on sensitive business). The flights were good enough despite the fact that 3 or the 4 legs of the trip were in small puddle jumpers barely bigger than a Hummer. I stayed my one night at a hotel that had rubber ducky, which I really wanted to steal, but didn't. Leaving LaGaurdia I had the misfortune of spending a few hours waiting in the 'A' gate area. Don't ever think you'll get anything approaching edible after you go through security here. I ordered a pre-made eggplant sandwich that had mozzarella and tomatoes on it. The eggplant had a grayish tint to it, and the mozzarella was rubbery and had zero flavor. The whole thing was so disgusting I couldn't even bring myself to eat the bread.

On my way to NYC I had a beer at a sports bar in Cleveland that had pictures of mid 1990s football players all over. Randall Cunningham. Jim Druckenmueller? Scott Mitchell. Steve Young. Reggie White. etc. Most of them were decent players at one time, but Jim Druckenmueller? wtf?

I haven't had a ton of time to get much poker in. The end of February was so busy I didn't even get a chance to maintain my Silverstar status on pokerstars. I have played a bit the past few days with mixed results. I went on mini-tilt last night after getting 2 outered in my SNG and losing most of a buyin at a 7CS and limit hold em table. I made it all back when I jumped up to a higher 7CS table and doubled my buyin in 30 minutes. Hit and run.

7 card cud

This is (or was) a poker blog and somehow I can't even find the inspiration to blog in a timely fashion when I have noteworthy poker exploits to blog about. Saturday found me shirking my scholarly duties and instead playing in a 5 dollar 7CS tourney around the same time as 'Saturdays with Dr. Pauly' 10+1 PLO tourney. In the PLO I started out at the same table as the host himself, Joe Speaker, and 7 other chaps. I made a rather poor showing (not even sure I won contested pot) and was bounced some time within the first hour.

This gave me more time to focus on the 7CS tourney that was already into the second hour. When we got down around the bubble I got seated at the same table as the Rooster, who had managed to amass a good amount of chips. Not much noteworthy happened as people continued to drop until we were down to the final table bubble. Being the chip leader, The Rooster went to work on our table and raised most pots. I managed to stay about even until we made it to the final table and even managed to chide the Rooster a bit (told him I thought his avatar was a chicken). Of course I lost most of my stack to him when I had (99)10x10 and he rivered me with some shit I don't remember. I ended up going out in 5th for about 30 bucks.