4 hands and Out

I played my usual Thursday night live tournament. We had just under 60 players. Four hands in I get dealt A10h on the button. With 3 limpers to me and blinds at 100/200 I raised it to 600. Small and big blind folded. Got two callers from the original 3 limpers.. Flop comes 10,9,2. Guy bets out 1700. The other limper folded. Action on me. I am sitting there looking at high pair and high kicker. That's a huge bet. I looked at all possibilities. Did he have pocket pair and match the board?? Possible but not likely. Did he have an over pair like Jacks or Queens. He would have raised preflop. Did he have like KQ and figure he was good? So what did he have?? I though maybe K,10 or A,10 or maybe A9. I thought a long time and looking at my chip stack as we start with 5000 chips and realized that I was already down to 4000 with my preflop raise and having just paid small and big blind. Just calling only left me with 2300 in chips and I thought I was at least good. I pushed all in. He called. He had 10, 9 off suit. Yep. He hit two pair on the flop. I was floored. The turn and river gave me no help and I was out. There was no way that I put him on that hand... Isn't poker fun???

Cell Phone Ban and One Outers

Yesterday our provincial government finally got around to introducing legislation that will ban using cell phones and texting while driving. They had been talking about this for months This new law will take effect Jan 1,2010 and will carry a fine of 167.00 for violations. All I can say it is about time. I don't know how many times I have almost been hit as pedestrian by people yakking away or busy texting on their phones. I never understood the fascination with cell phones. You see I don't have one. I did get one once when one of my kids bought me one for Christmas. I literally hated the thing. Yea okay that may be weird to most people today but something about my phone ringing while I was walking down the street just annoyed the heck out of me. I really didn't like being that available. Anyways our politicians having wised up and realized that people driving having a hard enough time keeping their vehicles on the road and driving safely without being one hand short. They will still allow the hands free models though. Now if they could only come up with a law that bans brushing your teeth while driving (yes I really did see a lady doing that one day). I am not sure where she was spitting and probably don't want to know.

I have been watching Tiffany Michelle and Maria Ho continue their run on The Amazing Race and they sure seem to be getting the one outers. First time they were last it was a non elimination leg and just a week ago when again they came in last the team that actually had finished first lost their passports so they were eliminated. All of us poker players know that you can't keep hitting those one outers though. It will be interesting to see if they can step up their game in the coming weeks.

Speaking of one outers I caught one the other night playing my usual Sunday night live game with about 40 players. I was dealt JJ UTG and being relatively short at our table decided to push with it. I always find Jacks hard to play and especially being first to act. Should I limp, Should I push or just put in a healthy raise. Well with the blind structure the way it was by just raising I was literally committing 2/3 of my chips anyways so I decided to push. A lady two over from me immediately pushed all in also and had exactly my chip stack. I thought oh oh I am in trouble. Then the BB decided to call both of us as he had huge stack. Big Trouble. Well the lady flipped over KK and the BB had AJ. I figured my night was over. Well the flop came QQ2, the turn was a 6 and the river brought the lovely case Jack. You gotta love it when it happens in your favour. I sheepishly muttered sorry to the lady with Kings but she took it well and I tripled up. Isn't poker fun when that happens??

Olympic Medals and Tournament Second

AS you know the 2010 Winter Olympics are being held in my backyard in about 4 months time. While I am a great supporter of sports my actual support for the Olympics has been lukewarm at best. I just think the money we are spending could have been spent on things much more needed . Having said that it's time for me and others to suck it up and support the games.

Some of the venues like the new speed skating oval are incredible while other things like the the Olympic mascots are a joke. So I like others were very apprehensive when we heard that they were unveiling the medals for the games. Would they be tacky and cheap?? Would they be goofy like some medals in previous games were??? Actually they are stunning.. I was shocked. I have posted a picture of them at the top and believe me this picture doesn't do them justice. Each medal will be unique. That's right. You win a gold medal in downhill skiing and it will be different than the gold medal for say bobsled. Each medal will weigh about 500 grams which believe me is a lot for a medal. All I can say is well done Olympic committee.

I played a live tournament last night with just under 60 entrants and believe me the old saying a chip and a chair is alive and well. Actually 3 chips. That's what I had left when things turned around. With blinds at 500 and 1000 with a 100 anti I was sitting in the BB with just 300 in chips. Yep 100 for the anti and just 200 in the BB. There were 24 of us left in the tournament at the time. I got dealt 10, 5 off suit in the BB. Figured my night was over. What's this everyone folds to the SB who actually gets to take 300 chips back and calls. He has 6,4.. I hit my 10 and double up which barely gives me enough for my SB. I get dealt A9h and with only the BB in the pot I hit my flush on the river and double up again. The very next hand I get pocket Queens on the button. Two people in the pot and I of course push and my queens hold up. I triple up. People at the table are laughing. A couple hands later pocket Kings. They hold up and suddenly people aren't laughing anymore as I now have chips to play with. I continued to get decent playing hands and hit some flops and my stack starts to grow.. After that the night is a bit of a blur (I was tired) but I managed to final table and with patience and some decent hands I ended heads up against the chip leader. He had me out chipped by at least 3-1. Suddenly my hands went dead and even though I managed to win a couple hands he soon had me all in with a Q 9 off suit. He had K10. We both whiffed on the board and his King held up. Still I was pretty pleased with a second place showing.

Million Dollar Challenge

I watched Fox's new poker show on the weekend called the Million Dollar Challenge. I had really mixed feelings after sitting through an hour of it. First of all the premiere contestant was a Catholic priest?? I mean come on... What were they hoping to draw by having him on there... He had played some poker before and ended winning his matches but he looked very uncomfortable doing it. The big saving grace of the show was Daniel Negraneau. He is personable and basically carried the show himself. Vanessa Rousso looked really nervous throughout her match. The structure of the heads up pairing was horrible as it basically was a push fest after a couple of hands. I know they can't have super slow blind levels and big chip stacks but there wasn't a lot of poker played. It was basically who lucked out with the cards. I will give it another chance though and see if the action improves.

I have been watching the WSOP 26 part episodes heading to the November Nine. I think the coverage has been excellent. That's the way poker should be shown.. The announcers are knowledgeable and funny. I know some don't like the one announcer(I forget his name) but his comments usually are bang on.

I see Phil Hellmuth hasn't learned a thing. He still pops off when things don't go his way.. Of course that makes for good TV but I had to laugh on one episode a player wouldn't shake his hand and Phil seemed a little taken aback. Well guess what Phil some people don't like you . Get over it or improve your image.

I played a live tournament yesterday and ended up in 12th after someone shoved and I called with pocket 10s. He had pocket Jacks and my night was done. The funny thing is I almost folded as I just had this feeling it was Jacks.. Got to start listening to myself

Changes

I have been really bad about posting lately and I hope to get back to normal soon here. It's been a hectic week and although a lot has happened I never seem to get the time to post about it.

First of all remember I told you I had my house for sale. Well after no offers and not clicking with our real estate agent we decided to re list with another one. We never really hit it off with the first one. He was nice guy but just didn't seem to have time for us. I guess he thought you put up a sign and it will sell. Well todays market is different. Anyways the wife did the dirty part (fired the agent) and I did the good part. I hired the lady who originally sold us the place. She was awesome then and we should have gone to her in the first place. Well what a difference. She did so much more for us in two days than what had happened in two months. She came over and restaged the house, gave us lots of tips, made up these fancy brochures with pics of our place. Took fabulous pictures and promoted the place like it should have been done. So what happened?? Well supposedly we are getting an offer this morning?? After only 4 days listing with her. Even if the offer isn't what we are expecting at least it's something. Plus we have two more showings today so lots of action.... We also gave up the place we were going to buy but made an offer on another place which is just as nice and about 25 grand cheaper. Of course the offer is subject to the sale of our place... Got my fingers crossed.

I have been playing a lot of live poker lately. A lot of tournaments locally. I did real well in the week after coming back from Vegas. I had a second, 2 fourths and 2 fifths. These are all in 40-60 player local tournaments so I was running great. I like to think its Vegas karma but it came to an end this week when I exited the 3 live tournaments I played before hitting the final table. I knew it had to come to an end sometime as you can't keep running good all the time.

Susan Jacks, The invention Of Lying and WSOP

Do you remember Susan Jacks?? She was the lead singer of that late sixties early seventies band called The Poppy Family. They had a few hits but their big one was Which Way You Goin Billy. Other big ones were That's Where I Went Wrong and Where Evil Grows. Susan was born in Canada and grew up in a suburb of Vancouver. I still remember when they came and played at my high school. They were great. Anyways I just read Susan has kidney disease and desperately needs a kidney transplant. In Canada 85% of people think transplants are good and necessary but only 14 % of people have signed donor cards. People really need to do this it could be your brother or sister that needs one. I certainly wish Susan well and hopefully she gets her kidney transplant before it's too late.



I went and saw that new movie last night called The Invention of Lying. It stars Jennifer Garner and Ricky Gervais. The movie is about a place where nobody can lie. Everyone tells the truth. Can you imagine that? Ricky and Jennifer go on a date and she tells him that really he has no chance with her as she is out of his league and that he is fat and has a stubby nose. Everyone tells everybody what they think. I wonder what our world would be like if that was true. If people told it like it is. Anyways without spoiling too much Ricky becomes the first person who is able to lie and what happens afterwords is a reflection of our life. It pokes fun at relationships, religion, genetic matching and just life in general. I found the movie concept incredibly original (nice for a change) but not quite as funny as I thought it might be. Having said that I certainly think this one is worth watching and have no hesitation in recommending it.

I see the WSOP Europe has just wrapped up and it came down to Daniel Negraneau and Barry Shulman heads up and Barry prevailed after a 5 hour marathon. I watched some of the action and hand history on the Internet and it was quite a battle. Twice Barry was all in and managed to escape. Barry of course is the father of November Nine WSOP finalist Jeff Shulman. Can Dad and Son win both in the same year?? It should be interesting.

Polanski, Amazing Race

Okay what is with all this support for Roman Polanski?? This a guy who raped a 13 year old and while awaiting sentencing escaped to Europe. I don't care what this guy has done in his career he still should serve time for this despicable act. He should have been deported long ago if anybody had some common sense. He made the mistake of going to Switzerland and was arrested. Now we have some stars like Whoppi Goldberg coming out in support of him. Give me a break. I am sure if it was there kid they wouldn't feel the same way. I hope he is deported quickly and gets what he deserves.

I watched the opening episode of Amazing Race on Sunday. This a show which up until a couple seasons ago I had never watched. I admit I got hooked and now look forward to it. I think its because of the travel aspect seeing which countries they go to.
Anyways this season they have two poker pros competing. Maria Ho and Tiffany Michelle.
The girls after a shaky start seemed to get their act together and managed not to get eliminated in the 2 hour season opener.

I found it curious that the ladies were selected for the show but after Annie Dukes run on the Apprentice I guess the producers couldn't resist the draw of these two ladies. Tiffany of course was very controversial in last years main event of the WSOP when she called a time clock on someone when she wasn't even in the hand. I am wondering if they will portray the ladies as villains in the show. It will be
interesting to see how this plays out. One of the other teams consists of two Harlem Globetrotters who should do well.

Cholesterol Results

Just before I went to Vegas I had my cholesterol checked again. I was one guy who never thought would ever have a problem with this. I had been a long distance runner for years and I thought I ate a pretty good diet. Sure I ate too many cookies and cake but I always thought my running would take care of it. Boy was I wrong as I have related before. My last test was a disaster. My HDL (good cholesterol) was okay but my bad cholesterol LDL was horrible and my triglycerides were way over the normal. My doctor wanted to put my on cholesterol lowering medication but I resisted because I am really stubborn and I hate taking medication. I decided to prove to my doctor I could get it down without help from the little pills. I consulted a dietitian who put me on a pretty strict diet although she said a lot of what I was doing was good. Just a few adjustments.

What I did was cut out all coffee, no alcohol except for red wine, beef only once a week, either chicken or vegetarian the rest of the time. I ate oatmeal every morning with ground flax added. This is the oatmeal you cook not that instant stuff. I cut out all cookies and all sweet stuff period. No white sugar or flour. Lots of raw vegetables with yogurt based dip. Sounds boring?? Its not. I feel so much better. Getting rid of coffee made me less jumpy too.

So what happened???

My old results
Cholesterol 7.32 Normal is between 2.00-5.19
Triglycerides 3.52 Normal is between 0.45-2.29
LDL Cholesterol (the bad stuff)4.80 Normal is 1.50-3.39
HDL Cholesterol 0.92 Normal is over 0.90 Mine was okay

As you can see the only good news was that my good cholesterol was okay. Everything else wasn't

My new results after two months of the diet

Cholesterol 4.09 Normal is between 2.00-5.19
Triglycerides 1.38. Normal is between 0.45- 2.29
LDL Cholesterol 2.67 Normal between 1.50-3.39
HDL Cholesterol 0.79 Normal is over 0.90

As you can see my results were awesome. Even my doctor was shocked. You see she had given me a prescription for medication and thought that's what had made the big turn around. When I told her it was strictly diet she was impressed. The only thing she didn't like was that my good cholesterol had gone down but everything else was within range. I was really pleased and will continue this way of eating from now on. I feel great and I sleep great. The best thing is no medication. I go for another test sometime in December. Hopefully the results will be good.

Columbine

I just finished reading the excellent book written by Dave Cullen on the true story of what really happened at Columbine High School. On April 20th 1999 Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris entered Columbine High School and systematically executed 13 people. They then committed suicide. It was one of the worst school shootings in U.S. history and shook school systems around the world.

After the shootings so much misinformation came out about the two killers such as they were devil worshippers, part of a trench coat mafia. That they were bullied and thats why they did this. It went on and on. None of that was true. The true story is that these were two pretty normal kids at least on the outside from two good families who for their own sick reasons decided to go on a shooting rampage. Just three days before the shootings the boys had attended their prom before graduation. Everything appeared normal and they seemed happy but little did people know they had been planning this for months. Led by Eric who definitely was the ring leader. They managed to get guns and built bombs. The author took almost ten years to finish the book and really got inside the minds of the two killers. He even had access to the tapes the boys left their parents as a good bye message

What I found so disturbing was the fact that they were so easily able to acquire weapons. While the shootings were horrible they could have been a lot worse if the bombs they built had gone off. Literally hundreds could have been killed.

Cullen's book is a very disturbing yet eye opening read and I really enjoyed it. I know as a parent after Columbine I never looked at school as a completely safe place for my kids again. I also felt sorry of course for the families who's kids were killed but I also found sympathy for the Klebolds and the Harris's. They not only lost their sons too but have to live with the horror of realizing what their kids did in their last day.

Vegas After Thoughts

The Highlights

1. Playing at Caesars Palace. Great room.
2. The Bus driver on the Deuce. She really needs her own comedy show.
3. People watching. The best place in the world for this.
4. Superb service by the older guy(forgot his name) in the Flamingo breakfast place near the buffet.
5. Having a jug of beer at the Pioneer Saloon in Good Springs.
6. Winning a tournament even if it was a donkfest.
7. Playing a fun cash game with the drunks at Osheas.
8. Relaxing at the Adult Pool.

The Not so good
1. Poor drink service at most casinos if your just playing the slots. Never seen it so bad. It was different if you were playing the tables or poker.
2. Rooms at the Flamingo. Second time staying there but the rooms need an upgrading.
3. Indifferent service when out for dinner. This was a first for us in Vegas as usually the service has been outstanding.



It was a fun week as always and of course the highlights outnumber the bad stuff. I always say if you can't have fun in Vegas you can't have fun anywhere.

Counting the days until we go back

Vegas Day 7

Got up and headed over to Caesars Palace for their noon tournament. This is a 80 dollar buy in that gives you 5000 in chips and for an extra 5 dollars you get an additional 2500 in chips which everybody takes. There was 51 entrants in tournament. Before the tourney started I strolled around in their back tournament room looking at all the great pictures they had up on the wall. People like Ivey, Brunson, Negraneau and Hellmuth. Truly a special place to play. I got seated at my table and checked out who I was playing. There was young French Canadian who spoke very broken English and a very attractive older lady who at first I thought was from England but turned out she was from Vancouver. The rest of the players were a mix of young and old. Early on I got dealt pocket 7's in the SB and decided to limp in with 3 others. Flop comes AA2. Action on me I put a bet of 300 out there, two guys folded and the player to my right raised to 600. Hmmm . Did he have an Ace? I decided to call and see what the turn brought. It was a 7........ YES. I decided to check and he bet 1200. HMM Just call or raise?? Knowing only 2 hands would beat me right now that being Pocket Aces or A7. I thought for awhile feigning weakness and decided to push. He was startled I could tell. I honestly expected him to fold but he called and had me covered by a bit. He turned over AJ for trip Aces and was floored when I turned over pocket 7's for the Full house. He still had outs though but the river was 6 and suddenly I had a huge chip stack.

Not a lot of memorable hands after that but one comes to mind. Again in the SB I got dealt 3,8 off suit. Just me and the BB. Flop comes 3,8,K. Two pair. I decided to check to see what he did. He bet and I just called. Turn was a 6. We both checked. River was a 2. I decided to bet and he took a long time calling but he did and flipped over KQ. My 3,8 took it much to his disgust but I just smiled and said Small Blind special.

We were down to 23 players when two hands settled my fate. I got dealt AQ. I raised and French guy calls. Flop comes down Q65. I bet and French guy decides to go all in. He had been pushing a lot and I was questioning what he had. I had him covered but only by around 3000 chips or so. I decided to call. He flipped over Pocket 4's. Yes. Well sort of Yes. The turn brought a 3 and the river brought a 7. Yep he got his straight. I was crushed. But that's poker. Not sure how I could have played that hand different except I guess by folding but I was the favourite going in.

The very next hand what do I get dealt but Pocket 4's. Being somewhat on tilt and now short stacked I decided to push. Everyone folded but Vancouver lady who called and flipped over AK. Big slick had not won all day in 3 previous times as all of us at the table noted. This time I wasn't so lucky as the flop comes 963, turn was 2 and the river brought the killer Ace. I was out in 23rd and very disappointed. Vancouver lady smiled and said sorry but hey she made the right move by calling. I suddenly hated pocket 4s!!!

I loved the tournament and will definitely go back and play again. For the money the structure was good and its a great room with excellent dealers and waitresses. Highly recommend.

For dinner went to the Outback restaurant and had an excellent meal and great friendly service from the waitress. Spent our last night down at the Paris Piano lounge and listened to the guys again.. Great as always

Flew home the next morning. Great flight. We were both sad at the airport though as a week goes too fast but we are already planning our next trip in the spring.

Vegas Day 6

We got up early and decided to walk down to the Venetian and Treasure Island. I love the inside of the Venetian and always make a point of going there but I like so many others can not stand the smell in there. Its something they are pumping in the air. I really wanted to play in their poker room but after a few minutes I always have to get out of there. I keep hoping someone there will grab a brain and realize that some people can't stand the smell. They must have had some complaints you would think??

We headed over to Treasure Island. Played a few slots there and walked by the Poker Room which was completely dead but it was only 11 AM.
Walked back to the hotel had a couple hours at the pool and decided to head over to watch Big Elvis at Bills. We have seen him a couple times and its always an entertaining free hour. We sat with a couple from Pittsburgh and got in a great discussion about the American Medical system. Being from Canada they were quizzing us about our system. Boy did they have some wrong information. Our system isn't perfect but every Canadian is covered, can go to any hospital or medical clinic and get treated. It costs us very little. We were floored that they paid like 800 a month and had a 2500 dollar deductible. It seems they have been getting ads that our system is horrible. That is so untrue and I guess there are factions in the U.S. that don't want a reasonably priced system that covers everyone.

After watching Big Elvis decided to take the Deuce downtown. We had never taken the Deuce before having always taken a cab down. It was fine,relaxing and cheap. We wandered around downtown. I was really impressed with the Golden Nugget and would stay there if I ever decided to stay off the Strip. We ate dinner at Tony Romas. Food was okay but again terrible service and the waiters tip reflected the level of service we got. He never once came back after we got our meals to ask if we wanted anything or how things were. He wasn't even friendly when we were ordering.

We took the Deuce back to the strip and had the funniest bus driver I have ever met. She was talking on the speaker the whole ride. She had the whole bus laughing. Telling people what to do and if they didn't she was going to stop and have a Conversation with them. She was telling the ladies who were standing to snuggle in close to the guys. It went on and on. By the time we got back to our hotel my sides were hurting from laughing so much.

Played a tournament at Osheas again. Not a lot of interesting hands. I think there were 15 in the tournament. When were down to 5 I got dealt KQ. Flop comes KJ6 rainbow. Being somewhat short stacked I pushed. He had called. Had J9?? of course he caught his J on the river and I was out in 5th.

We walked over to Bill's and listened to the Karaoke. A lady got up and did a tribute to Patrick Swayze who had just died. She sang a couple songs from the movie Ghost and was it was really entertaining.

Headed back to the hotel and looking forward to playing tomorrow at Caesars Hotel where they have a great noon tournament.

Vegas Day 5

Got up early and decided to play the 10 AM Flamingo tournament. This is a 60 dollar entry fee with only 1500 in chips. Terrible structure but it was in the hotel where I was staying so I thought I would give it a go. These kind of tournaments you need to get chips early or you are basically shoving with anything. Its either that or get blinded away. Of course I was basically card dead for the first few orbits. I finally got a hand and with a dwindling stack pushed with AJ. I got a caller who had KK. He had me covered but I managed to catch my Ace on the flop and I doubled up. Still pretty short stacked though and a few hands later and being on the button I decided to shove with pocket 6s. Unfortunately the BB woke up with pocket Aces and I was out in 13th out of 27. Made a mental note not to play this kind of tournament again. Tough to play poker when you only have such a limited amount of chips to start.

Decided to take the shuttle over to the Rio. As usual checked out the WSOP store in Rio but didn't buy anything. We walked from there over to the Palms and the Gold Coast. First time in the Palms for me. Not overly impressed. Probably wouldn't go back. Seemed really dark in there. Liked the Gold Coast though. Staff seemed friendly at its part of the same ownership as Sams Town. Had a bite to eat at TGIF which was decent food for the price. After dinner started talking to an older couple from England who had flown to Chicago and drove from there to Las Vegas using Route 66 some of the way. We ended up taking the shuttle from the Rio back to the strip with them and showing them some of the sites.

I decided to play the 9PM Osheas tournament. The structure isn't much better than the Flamingo but oh well when you have a non poker playing spouse you take what you can get. Pretty uneventful tournament. Only 12 entrants and I lasted until 5th when my AK after hitting an Ace on the flop came up against trip 3's. Tried to get into the drunk cash game out front but there was a wait so headed back to the hotel.

Vegas Day 4

Got up and walked over to the Victorian Room at Bill's for breakfast. Food was okay again but service was not good. This we found in about half the places we ate ( more on that later) We decided to head down to the adult pool at the Flamingo. We used it a lot on our last trip. Very relaxing as its not crowded. A lot of the hotels have these so called adult pools now. They charge the guys an entry fee (10 bucks) and ladies are free. Spent a couple hours there reading and working on a tan. As you probably know tops are optional in these pools for the ladies and a great many take advantage of this. I grew up in Vancouver which has a clothing optional beach called Wreck Beach and I spent a lot of time there with friends in my late teens and early twenties so its no big deal to me. Nice to see standards are relaxing as people in Europe have been doing this for years. I know some people might not agree but then of course they don't have to go in. It's all about choice.

We decided to head over to Sams Town having never been there before. We took the shuttle from Harrahs and arrived there hungry so we decided to go to their buffet. The buffet while not great was okay and the price was right. We wandered around the hotel,played a few slots, checked out the poker room which only had one table running . Looked like mostly older locals so probably not much money to be made there. While I liked the hotel I certainly don't think I would stay there as there is not much around that area. I prefer the Strip. Still nice to visit though.

Got back to the hotel and decided to play 1-2 at the Flamingo. Won a hand early when dealt K10 and the flop came K78. I bet and everyone folded. A few hands later I got dealt A7. I limped in with 3 others.Flop comes A97 rainbow. Nice flop. I bet twenty.Everyone folded except old guy who raised me to 50. That's when alarm bells should have gone off. Does he have A9??. I called like an idiot. Turn was a 6. He pushed all in. I had about 50 dollars left and stupidly I called. Yep he had A9. The river was a J and that was my buy in. I thought about rebuying but I always like sticking to a plan. If I get felted that's it. Sure I could have come back but some nights its just better to walk away.

Found the wife and headed over to the Mirage and had a late night bite to eat at Carnegie's again. Great food. Poker on the night down 100 dollars. Still up 177 for the trip.

Vegas Day 3

We got up and decided to do the pool thing. Went down to the main pool and it was packed. 10 AM and tough to find a chair. We managed though but made a mental note to go to the adult pool in future. Much more relaxing and even though it costs 10 bucks its worth it. After a couple hours of sun, reading and people watching we decided to head over to the Mirage for lunch. Had a lunch at an incredible place called the Carnegie Deli. Food was great and huge. Massive portions. After lunch played a few slots at Mirage and wandered the Strip for awhile. Did dinner at the Victorian Room at Bills. It was okay. Not great not bad. After dinner decided to head over to Osheas for cash game. Tables were full and a bit of a wait. They had a 7 PM tournament starting so I decided to enter that instead. They only had 10 entries so just 1 table. Its kind of a donkey fest chip wise but hey its poker. I managed to do all right early. Got pocket queens and won a decent pot. A few hands later I got pocket jacks. I raised . Got one caller. Flop comes A,6,8. I checked, he bet and I folded. He showed an Ace. When we got down to 5 and I was getting short stacked with only 2000 chips. I got pocket 3,s. Pushed, everyone folded. Next hand I got pocket Kings. Someone raised preflop. I was going to call but looking at my chip stack decided a push was a better option. He called with Q,10?? My Kings held up and we were down to 4.
I started getting some cards and my stack starting building. The short stack decided to push and I looked down and I had AdJc. After a lot of thought I called. He flipped over AhJs. That got a lot of laughter until 3 diamonds hit the flop and the turn gave me another diamond for the flush and he was gone. Down to 3. Only winner gets paid. I had the huge chip lead at this point. One other guy was very short stacked and I was the BB. He pushed and not costing much more I called with a brutal 10,5 off suit. Well he only had 8,4. Told you it was donkey fest. Anyways I flopped two pair and we were down to 2. I had about a 3-1 chip lead and he asked for a chop. First prize was 300 dollars. He suggested 150 each. I said no way how about 180-120. We finally settled on 170-130. Good deal for him and a profit for me of 125 after taking off my buy in. I would have played it out but he was nice young kid there with his girlfriend who was pretty excited that he did that well. Fun table. Not great poker but a pleasant way to spend a couple hours.

After that found the wife and headed down to Paris and listened to the young guys on the dueling pianos there. They were excellent. There was some pretty drunk people there who were throwing money at them to play songs. Literally giving them 20 bucks per song. They were making a killing. Fun to watch and after a couple glasses of wine that was our night.

Vegas Day 2

We got up early and went down to the front desk and got a room change. Much better room than before but we have to admit the Flamingo is really starting to show it's age. Next trip we might try somewhere else. I do love the location and the pool though.

We met friends for lunch at Margaritaville. Had a great lunch and then they offered to take us out for some sight seeing as they had car. We never rent a car so we were game for it. They took us out into the desert to a place called Good Springs. It's a semi ghost town. Just a few houses and a saloon called the Pioneer. This is the bar where Clark Gable sat and got drunk while they searched in the Las Vegas hills for the plane that had crashed carrying Carol Lombard. They had a small room where the had a wall of incredible pictures of Gable. Really interesting. The bar itself is really small. Four tables but the pitcher of beer was cold and tasted great.

We then drove back to where they were staying which was at Southpoint. I was really impressed. First time there. Really nice hotel and their room was really spacious.
Took a tour of the casino and liked the way it was setup and the poker room looked comfortable and they had 2 tables going. Might even stay there sometime.

They drove us back to the strip and dropped us off. We had a quick dinner and then I decided to head over to Osheas for some 1-2. Why Osheas?? Well it was Friday night and that place always has lots of drunks playing. Sure enough. I got seated right away and realized I was the only sober person at the table. Beer and drinks were flowing. I got seated next to an attractive retired lady from Arizona who preceded to tell me her life story in between drinks. Pretty funny.

I got hot right away. I had pocket 4's and hit trips and won a decent pot. This would be the only time I liked pocket 4's on this trip (more on that later). I had pocket Aces, Kings, and even 7-9 off suit which hit trip 9's. Seemed every pot I played I won. Not huge pots but my original buy in of 100 bucks was really growing.

Arizona lady had pocket Aces cracked when she pushed all in and got called by AJd who caught his flush on the river. It didn't even phase her as she bought in again.
She kept up chatting away to me and told me the guy in seat 2 had asked her to dinner and she wasn't sure she wanted to go. I agreed with her it might not be a good choice. That got her laughing. A few minutes later Arizona lady decides she's hungry and guy in seat 2 gets up and away they go for dinner leaving their chips on the table. He grabs her hand as they are heading out the door which brought on lots of discussion as to what kind of dinner they were going to get. I was laughing so hard my stomach hurt. What a fun table. I played for another hour and a bit and maintained my profit and decided to leave when 2 sober aggressive young guys joined the table. Meanwhile Miss Arizona still hadn't come back which was still a topic of discussion as people were waiting for seats. I made a profit of 107 dollars and had a fun night.

Vegas Day 1

I had a direct 2 hour 15 minute flight to Vegas which left and arrived on time. We got on the tarmac at Vegas and pulled up to the hangar and we all stood to disembark and after a couple minutes the captain informs us that we can't leave the plane until a customs person comes to escort us off the plane. Huh! It must have been 15-20 minutes before that happened. Even the captain was getting a little annoyed. Anyways I guess coffee time was over we finally were able to disembark. We get to customs and a plane from somewhere in South America had landed before us so the customs wait was long. It was interesting watching the customs guys grill the Hispanic people on the flight. They even had them do the fingerprint thing. One guy was asked to go to the back room with one of the agents which of course got me and a couple passengers joking about the rubber glove thing. Anyways we get to customs and it was basically waving us through. Just asked a couple quickie questions. Totally different than the flight in front of us.

Get out to the cab and absolutely no wait. Gave the cab driver 20 bucks and said take me to the Flamingo and whatever left is your tip. Cab fare was 12.20. It's amazing how fast they get there when you do that.

Check in was slow at the Flamingo even though there was only 5 people in front of us. Took about a half hour. Anyways finally get to our room and was pretty disappointed with it. It was old, had a stained carpet and just not very nice. Had a much better room last time. We decided to wait until morning and request a room change.

We went for a quick dinner and then decided to head over to Harrah's and see the twins on the dueling pianos. Place was packed but we grabbed a table at the back and unfortunately only one of the twins was there but they had a guy on the other piano. He was good but I missed the back and forth banter the twins have but still a pleasant way to spend the first night in Las Vegas.

Played a few slots and had a couple drinks and made it a bit of an early night. No poker.

Back from Vegas

Well the week flew by down there. I am not sure how people go for just 3 or 4 days. A week isn't enough for me. The weather of course was incredible, the poker fun, the people watching as usual was the best.

I plan on in the next few days writing about what I did but here are a few brief snippets

1. Never road the DEUCE before but had the funniest bus driver. Its almost a post in itself.
2.Played for the first time at Caesars Palace and enjoyed the room. Great tournament.
3.Great direct 2.5 hour flight on our best airline Westjet!!! I love you guys.
4.Went to a saloon somewhere out in the desert at a place called Good Springs.
5.Only took two Cabs. One to the airport and one to my hotel. Both drivers were excellent and never tried to take me off course.
6. Visited Sams Town for the first time.
7. Great story at the HMMMM Adult Pool at the Flamingo.
8. Had one tournament win.
9.Played a funny cash game at O'Sheas. I love that place.

Now I have to get caught up reading other blogs

2 days until Vegas

I can't believe its almost here. 2 more days and then its a week in Vegas. Really looking forward to it. Been scrambling around doing a lot of last minute things like buying a long distance card so I can call home without getting ripped off by the hotel. Haven't started packing yet (tomorrow). I was going to take the laptop with me but a week away from the computer will be a good thing. Plan on playing some poker, 3 or 4 tournaments and hopefully some cash game action too. Its always harder when your spouse is not a poker player to fit it all in but I have to say my wife is incredibly understanding. Not sure if we will take in any shows but will decide when we get down there. We have a couple friends (both poker players) meeting us near the end of our week who I will play a tournament with and also another couple when we first get there for drinks. Am I excited or what? It's been over a year since the last visit.
I am planning on writing a journal while I am there so I can post it all back here when we return.

Talked to a guy who just got back from there and it seems the cab drivers are up to there old tricks of taking people the long way to their hotels. He got charged 28 bucks from the airport to Harrahs. Its about a 15 buck trip. I stay at the Flamingo and what I do is give the driver 20 bucks before he turns the meter on and tell him that I know the fair is around 13 and the rest is his tip. They are more than happy that way.

Wish me luck.

Picture Memories

I can't believe its been almost two week since I posted anything.

Basically I spent the 2 weeks going though the garage getting rid of things I don't need or use. The best part of that was going through old pictures and photo albums. That brought a lot of laughs and a few sad moments too. The laughs were looking at pictures of family, friends and myself in earlier years. Its amazing how much some people change over the years and others seem ageless. The sad moments were seeing pics of family that are no longer with us. With the digital age upon us our kids and grandkids will probably never have the fun of doing what I did. Everything these days gets loaded onto your computer and stored on some site (like Facebook) and basically forgotten. Of course the quality of pictures today are amazing but looking at some of the old shots including black and white ones brought back a lot of memories. Don't get me wrong I love my digital camera and the ease of use but there was always something exciting about after a long trip when lots of pictures where taken and waitiing for them to come back developed. You would open the envelope and laugh at some of the crazy shots that had been taken. Now of course you see them instantly. Not quite the same but a heck of a lot cheaper.

Still have the house for sale. Getting lots of people through but nobody seems to be buying. None of the places in our neighbourhood have sold. Talking to the agents it seems its the domino effect. A lot of people looking have places to sell themselves and until they sell nothing else sells. This is the longest its ever taken for me to sell a place. A couple times we sold in a week or less with more than one offer. Times sure have changed.

As far as poker goes I played four live tournaments finishing 15th in one (52 entrants), twice finished 11th and way down in another when someone caught a 2 outer on the river to send me home early. Thats it for poker.

Drinking,Driving and a Tournament

I was playing my usual Monday night live tournament last night and some interesting conversation broke out at table. One of the guys at our table was complaining about cops sitting up the street from bars and watching patrons leave and once they got in their cars pulling them over and making them take breathalyzers. He was going on and on about this saying it was sneaky and shouldn't be done. I guess he had been pulled over but had only drank one beer so he was okay. A couple people agreed with him. I just sat silently for a long time thinking the conversation would end and trying my best to ignore it. I have to say though it was really getting to me. People who drink and drive should lose their licence. When I am out at a bar that I have driven to the most I ever drink is one glass of wine. If I want to drink more I don't drive. Simple as that. If they want to pull me over I am happy to oblige them. In fact I am happy they are out there. I don't want to be hit by someone who's had too much to drink and I don't want any of my family members or friends to be hit either. Finally after a lengthy time I said I have no problem with that and the conversation ended.

The tournament last night had just under 50 people and I was at a wild table. Super aggressive after the flop. People were pushing and I just kind of laid back and waited for cards. Finally got pocket 10's, I raised got one caller who pushed all in. I called. He had me covered. He had AJh. Flop was 10,Q 6. with two hearts and of course I now had trips but he had a straight and flush draw but the turn and river were blanks and I doubled up.
Other than that a pretty uneventful night. Later on I got dealt pocket 9's. Lady UTG raised which was more than 3/4 of my stack. I figured she had AK, AQ or a pocket pair. Figured it was push or fold. Not much use just calling. So I pushed, everyone else folded and she called. She had AQ and she hit her Ace on the turn and I was out in 16th spot.

Real Estate and a 5th Place

Have I mentioned how much I love real estate agents? Almost as much as I love some lawyers.. Actually there are some great people that are real estate agents it just seems the bad ones you notice.

We have had our place up for sale for about 4 weeks which is probably the longest its ever taken us to sell. I know the market is not the greatest except for certain price ranges but when we put it up we had a about 3 showings and then nothing for 2 weeks. Suddenly this week we have had 4 showings. So things are picking up a bit. All the real estate agents so far have been good except for 2 instances. The first is pretty minor and that is the real estate agent forgot to lock the door so basically anybody could have come in stole us blind but really I guess that's a mistake I can overlook. What happened last night was very unprofessional.

What happens when other real estate agents want to show your house is they make an appointment with your agent who then phones you to confirm the time and then responds back to that agent saying its okay to bring people through. They usually like an hour time frame to bring their clients through which is more than adequate. You of course have to tidy up ,take the dog and leave the house empty for the hour. The agent gets in through the lock box on the door. So last night while I was poker we had a showing from 630-730. The wife took the dog and left and got back at 730. Started making her lunch and doing other stuff. At 10 minutes to 8 the dog started barking and there were people in our house. Now this agent didn't knock, just used the lock box and in he came. The wife was shocked and quickly grabbed the dog and left but she was pretty upset. She could have been in the shower or in bed or whatever. The agent mumbled something about that they were behind schedule. Yea well if that's the case how about a courtesy telephone call to let us know. Then it would have not been a problem. That would have been the professional way to handle it and we would have understood as things happen. Even knocking would have been good but that didn't happen either. I think some agents need some people skills. It just like when you are out house hunting yourself and go to open houses. Some agents are great they chat you up tell you about the place etc. while others just sit there and pass you a sheet and barely smile. Its amazing how much more of an impression a friendly,professional agent can make.

I Played a live tournament on Thursday night and with 55 people I managed a 5th place showing so that was okay. Not a lot of memorable hands but I managed a good lay down on one and bad one on another. The first one was I was dealt A10h in the BB. It was raised to me and with everyone else folding i just called. Flop comes A86. I bet Liking my Ace with on Okay kicker and the original raiser went all in. HMM. It was fairly early on but I had him covered if I called but only by a few hundred chips. After a lot of thought I folded face up. He showed and had AJ. Good fold on my part.

The second memorable hand I was dealt Pocket 10's UTG. I raised 3.5 times the BB hoping to take it right there. I got one caller the lady in the BB who is ultra aggressive and a good player. Flop comes 854 rainbow. She makes a pretty large bet which screams that she either has an over pair or AK or is trying to buy the pot. I just couldn't pull the trigger. I even asked if she would show if I folded. She said yes which even more likely said I was probably good. I folded. She had AQ suited.
Terrible fold although she could have caught her Ace or Queen on the turn or the river I guess

Other than that I managed to win my share of pots and ended up going out in 5th when the chip leader caught his straight on the river and that was my night. Still a decent showing.

Up and Down Night

I played my usual Tuesday night live tournament last night and early on I knew it was going to be a decent night when sitting in the BB with 2,9 off suit and the flop comes 296 rainbow. I of course won that pot when I bet and everyone folded. Soon after I got moved to a new table and I got dealt AKh. A lady in early position who is an excellent player and who already had a decent stack bet just over 3 x BB. I just called and everyone else folded. Flop came Q86 with 2 hearts. She bet again big which looked like a continuation bet so liking the amount of outs I had and hoping to push her off the hand I went all in. She insta called and flipped over pocket Kings.Whoops. Still had lots of outs though and I hit my Ace on the turn and just to rub it in more caught my flush on the river. A nice double up.

I was sailing along until 3 consecutive hands changed my fate. I again got dealt AK this time in the BB. I had 2 limpers to me and with blinds at 400/800 I raised to 3000. One guy folded and the lady in the SB after some thought pushed. It was only 400 more to call and I did of course. She had A5c. Awesome but of course she hit her 5 on the flop and then the turn and river brought AA. She had her full house and I took a bit of a hit to my stack. The very next hand in the SB I got dealt 95d. I limped in with 2 others. Flop brought 2 diamonds. I just checked and someone bet the minimum so I called just to see another card. The other guy folded. The turn brought another diamond. Got my flush but not liking just having a 9 high and not wanting another card to come bet enough to put the original better all in. She called and looked surprised when I turned over my flush which held up. You got to like those SB specials. While I was still stacking my chips I got dealt Pocket Kings. I raised to just over 3 x the BB and only the BB called me. Flop come QJ6 rainbow. He bet pretty big and I immediately put him on AQ. Without doing a lot of thinking (big mistake) I pushed all in. He inst called me and turned over QJ for a flopped two pair. Yikes. I couldn't get my third King or get the turn or river to pair to give me a higher two pair and just like that I was out as he had me covered. I am still thinking about that hand and wondering if I over played it. I just couldn't put him on QJ. I probably should have thought it through better before pushing especially when he bet out. Any thoughts?

The Story Behind DB Cooper

When I first signed up to play online poker a few years back they of course asked for a user name and for some bizarre reason I chose DB Cooper. I constantly get asked or my name gets commented on by mostly older players. The young players for the most part have no idea who DB Cooper was.

I have always been fascinated with the legend of DBCooper. Did he get away with it?? Is he still alive somewhere or did he die parachuting from the airplane??

On November 24,1971 a man calling himself Dan Cooper hijacked a Northwest Airlines flight and demanded 200,000 in cash and two parachutes. He handed the Flight Attendant a note saying he had a bomb .The plane landed at Seatac Airport and his demands were met. All the passengers and one Flight Attendant were allowed to leave. The plane was refuelled. The mysterious man now known as DB Cooper said he wanted to head towards Mexico. He was told that the fuel would not carry them that far and they agreed on refuelling again in Reno Nevada. The plane then took off. The one remaining flight attendant and the 3 crew were ordered to stay in the cockpit and not come to the back. They were also told not to pressurize the cabin. About an hour into the flight the pilot noticed a red light signalling a door had been opened. This was somewhere over southern Washington state. They crew having been told to not come back proceeded to Reno landed the aircraft and discovered that DB Cooper was gone. He had parachuted out with the money strapped to his body.

To this day nobody knows whether he died on the way down or somehow got away with it. The only evidence ever found was near Vancouver Washington in 1980 a child digging in the sand discovered close to 6000 dollars of the money near Vancouver Washington. The FBI confirmed this was part of the 200,000 as the serial numbers matched. This tells me that DB Cooper survived the jump and possibly buried the money in different spots.

You have to remember these were the days before there was basically any security at airports.

So what really happened to DB Cooper? I don't think we will ever know but his legend lives on. Personally I think he got away with it.

The Time Travellers Wife

This weekend we walked over and saw The Time Travellers Wife at our local theatre. I had seen a couple people reading the book and had seen the previews and and was mildly optimistic that it might a decent movie. I was pretty disappointed and a bit creeped out. The movie is about a guy who like the title says travels through time but never knows when he is going or where. On one of his travels through time he meets his future wife who at the time is about 6 years old. The story follows a ragged plot line and jumps from past to present to future. I suppose if you had read the book you could follow it better but I just didn't think whoever adapted the screenplay from the book did a very good job. I was actually fairly bored watching the movie and kept looking at my watch. The creepy part was that when he travelled through time he does so naked. Now there is nothing wrong with being naked but he kept going back to see his future wife and just something about that whole context of a grown man meeting a 6 year old and then marrying her later that I just found a bit weird. Maybe I was reading too much into it. My better half enjoyed the movie more than than me. Anyways I would wait for the video on this one.

As you can probably tell I go to a lot of movies. There is something about sitting in a theatre watching the big screen that I just love. Oh sure you can see movies at home on big screen TVs but it's just not the same.

Wildlife and Last Nights Game

It seems up in northern Alberta conservation officers went in and shot dead 12 black bears who had the audacity to frequent the garbage dump. Imagine the nerve of those bears coming into our wilderness area and going through the trash. Actually all kidding aside I can't believe that we still have Neanderthal conservation officers who think that the solution to a wildlife problem is to shoot them. This was not in a major city or a bear threatening people but this was bears wandering into a garbage dump that wasn't properly fenced. The nearest town had a population of just over 100 people. I was sickened when I read the article here

Where I live when I go for a run or walk I frequently see deer. Sometimes in packs of 3 or 4. I always stop and watch them. There are literally dozens that live in the wooded area near me. I feel fortunate to live here and yet every so often some person will complain with a letter to the editor about the deer. Well guess what folks where do you want these animals to go?? We have built into there natural habitat and we have to learn to co exist with them. Now I know deer aren't the same as bears but you get the idea.

There were ways around the cull of the bears in Alberta but the gun slinging officers took the easy way out . Shame on them and shame on Alberta for allowing this to happen.

I played my usual Thursday live game last night with about 50 players. I started off well when in the very first hand I got dealt QJ in the dealer position. I limped in with 4 others. Flop comes Q64. I bet got one caller. The turn was a J giving me two pair. I bet. She called. River brought an ace. I was a little concerned but bet out fairly big. She finally called after a lot of thought. She had AK so my two pair were good. Good pot and I was glad she overplayed her AK and didn't raise preflop.

My night went well. I was getting decent cards and building my stack when I hit pocket Aces UTG and put in a pretty decent raise. Guy next to me went all in.
Everyone folded back to me and of course I called. He had KJd. He hit his K but the Aces held and I was sailing along.

I took a huge hit when I got dealt AK clubs. Guy in EP raised and I just flat called him. Then the BB pushed all in. The loose young guy in EP called and action was on me. Should I call, push (young guy and me had about the same amount of chips) or fold as to call was over half my stack. I elected to just call. BB had AQ, young guy had J9. I hit my K on the flop but young guy hit his straight on the river and won a huge pot. He sheepishly said he was just trying to steal when he first raised and would have folded if I pushed. That one stung.

I managed to win a couple small pots later but eventually went out when we were down to 2 tables. I think I was 12th place.

The List

The other night the movie The Bucket List came on the movie channel. I saw at the theatres when it first came out a couple years ago as I am a big Jack Nicholson fan and I also like Morgan Freeman. If you haven't seen the movie its about 2 guys who both find out they have terminal cancer and both create a list of things they always wanted to do. They then proceed to do them all. I enjoyed it even more the second time around. The acting is superb.

We all go sailing through life,graduating from school, getting married , having kids,working. You know what its like. Life flies by. It seems to go faster as you get older. That's what it was like for these two guys until they realized that time wasn't something they had a lot of left.

Why not create a list when you are younger and healthy? Then set about doing some of the things you have always wanted to do. Makes more sense doesn't it.

So here are a few things on My List
1. Watch a ballgame at Fenway Park
2. Take a Caribbean cruise
3. Play in a World Series Of Poker event in Las Vegas
4. Watch my son (the poker playing one) play in a WSOP event.
5. See a Broadway show in New York City.
6. Drink a beer in an English pub (yes beer isn't in my new diet but 1 won't hurt)

These are just a few but you get the idea. Most of mine involve travelling somewhere and experiencing something different but they don't need to be expensive.
They can be anything.

So what are yours??

Dietitian and back to Live Poker

I was able to avail myself through a work plan of a free consultation,followup and program with a dietitian. Its not because I am heavy. I actually only weigh around 150 pounds and I am 5'9" so that's pretty light for my height. Its to reduce my cholesterol. I have mentioned this before that I was shocked to find out my cholesterol was high.

Anyways the consultation was done over the phone for around 35 minutes. She basically asked me everything I ate and how much. Did I eat 3 meals a day? Yes. Did I use margarine or butter?? How many glasses of water a day did I drink? Questions like that. It really made me think all the stuff that I put in my mouth. She actually thought I was doing good with a lot of things since my last blood test. That was my wake up call. I never eat fast food. I now use low fat margarine and mayonnaise. I have cut out all white sugar pretty well. I never eat cookies, cake or any sweets at all anymore. I eat multi grain bread. I use non fat soy milk where before I was using the vanilla flavored stuff. I have oatmeal every morning but she did have a tip for this that I should cook it and not use that instant stuff. I did that this morning. It even tasted better. Aren't I boring now?? No more crap is going in my body. I am really determined to make this work. Hopefully this will be enough to get the numbers down to an acceptable level.

She did say I could drink red wine. Three or four glasses a week are okay. I love red wine so that's a good thing. No more beer or rum and cokes. In fact no more pop of any kind. She is now preparing a package for me which will give me even more tips on what to eat. She then does a followup a couple weeks from now to see how I am doing and then I go for another blood test at the end of August. It's funny never in my life would I have thought I would use the services of a dietitian but she was great and I have already learned a lot from her.

Last night was the first night back at a live poker game after a three week break. I think we had over 50 players there. My night was pretty uneventful. I got chased off a couple hands early but managed to get some of the chips back when I got dealt pocket 7's. I raised 3x BB. Got 1 caller. Flop comes KQ6 rainbow. Not a great flop for me. I decided to check and he also checked which made me think he was on a draw or something. The turn brought the lovely third 7. I was going to check but I just didn't like the board so I pushed instead. He folded.

After that I basically got real card dead and then our table broke down and first hand at the new table where I was the BB. Somebody in early position raised and it got folded around to me. I had A2 off suit. I pushed as folding wasn't an option with my sad stack. I didn't love my cards but then he turned over 4,6 of clubs. What?? Yep. He of course hit both his 4 and 6 on the flop and I was gone. Still wondering what he was thinking raising in EP with those two cards.

Julie and Julia and more Face the Ace

So on Saturday we headed over to our local cinema to catch Julie and Julia. Yes I know this is a supposed Chick Flick but for the measly 6.25 they charge I figured I could sit through it. Okay that's not true. I actually like chick flicks!!! There I said it. I mean between the choice of Julie and Julia and GI Joe give me the chick flick any day. Anyways this starred Meryl Steep as Julia Child and the ever so cute Amy Adams as Julie. The movie itself is basically two story lines one being Julia Childs story of how she became a cook and world famous author of her own cook book and TV show. The other storyline (which both my wife and I liked better) revolves around Julie's humdrum job and life until one day she decides to cook her way through Julia Child's cookbook in one year. That's like over 500 recipes. She also being somewhat of an amateur writer decides to write a blog about it. Now you think a storyline that revolves around cooking and blogging would put you to sleep but actually I was really entertained. I enjoyed the movie. I thought Amy Adams did a great job playing her part and Meryl Streep who we all know is an outstanding actress did a very credible job playing Julia Child. One warning though is eat before you go to see this movie as watching them cook made me really hungry.

I watched the second installment of Face the Ace when I got home from the movie (love the PVR) and I liked it. Contrary to what the the Poker Grump said here. The reason I like it is because it's the average poker player playing the pros. Isn't that all our dreams? I mean the show isn't perfect. Like I said last week I would give the guy 40,000 if he decides to go for the million as it really isn't fair to penalize him that much. I felt sorry for the guy who lost. He walked away with nothing. The second contestant who was either so nervous or had one too many drinks chatted and laughed her way through her match. You could see the look on Gus Hansen's face that he didn't know quite how to take her. I think this show has some merits and I will check it out again.

On a personal note there appears to be some light at the end of the tunnel regarding my daughter. Her story is here . Nothing concrete to report on yet but thanks to my youngest son things might be turning the corner. I know I would love to see it resolved and she get life back on track. I know I will sleep and relax better knowing she is okay.

HST and WSOP 40,000

Here in B.C. our wonderful provincial government has decided to Harmonize the provincial sales tax with the federal sales tax and call it the HST. The provincial sales tax (PST) is currently 7% and the federal sales tax (GST or goods and services tax)is 5%. This new tax will be 12% and basically we will just have the one tax. Sounds simple right?? Sounds like a no brainer?? But wait. This tax will now apply to many things that weren't formerly taxed by both taxes. Things like restaurant meals, new home sales, Real estate fees, going to the hairdresser. The list goes on and on. So instead of this being something that makes sense to the average working person this is just another tax grab. So why are they bringing it in?? They say it will save businesses money by only having to administer 1 tax. Then why are small businesses screaming?? They are screaming because they know that some of them will be losing customers (ie restaurants) as the cost of meals will go up. So basically this tax will be good for big business and our government coffers. A recent poll shows that 90% of B. C residents are against this HST and I think on this issue the government better listen. We are basically fed up with being taxed to death. This provincial government better wake up and smell the coffee. This is a no go for us here in B. C.. We do have recall legislation here in B.C. and with 90% against this might be all we need to throw this bunch out.

I finally got around to watching the televised 2 hour first event of this years WSOP 40,000 buy in event and came away suitably impressed. I was really impressed with the play of Vitaly Lunkin who when it came to heads up play clearly in my opinion was the best player. This is taking nothing away from Issac Haxton but in the hands showed Issac did push with some questionable cards and Vitaly was very unlucky not to win before he did. This is taking nothing away from Haxton but I wonder if nerves got the better of him at the end. Even watching Justin Bonomo's face in the crowd you could read in his eyes that he was thinking (you pushed with that?) I know we will definitely see more of Issac in the future as he is an incredible player.
I loved the way Lunkin played his pocket Aces both times heads up(even though he lost once). I am not a fan of slow playing aces except Headsup. In my opinion in a full ring game or tournament slow playing Aces is just looking to get in trouble but you do want to get 1 caller. That's just perfect for Headsup. I think the look on Haxton's face both times when he saw the Aces was priceless.

Obsessed and Folding Quads

With whats currently going on with me I have been spending a lot of time around the house relaxing which according to everyone is what I need.

So with all this time and a free month of movies ( you get it when you buy a PVR) I have been checking out the various movie channels. Seems like we have 7 channels of movies to watch. I actually prefer going to one of our local theatres and seeing movies there but this is actually not a bad substitute. So I check out what's on last night and I actually couldn't find much I was interested in. So my son heads over to the local video store and brings home the newest release called Obsessed.

This is the one that stars Beyonce Knowles. The premise behind the movie is that Beyonce, her hubby (played by Idris Elba) and son have an ideal life. At her husbands work a new temp starts and immediately gets the hots for Beyonces husband. The temp is played by Ali Larter. Of course she is incredibly gorgeous but Idris never gives in to her flirtations and she becomes more Obsessed. Is this sounding like Fatal Attraction?? Yep that's what I thought. There is actually nothing new in this movie but I have to admit watching Beyonce and Ali made up for the script. I am sure the ladies loved watching Idris too. This is one that watching in video was probably worth the rental price but glad I didn't spend theatre prices to see.

I often wonder why doesn't anybody in Hollywood have new ideas these days. There are so many movies made that are blatant ripoffs of previous movies that are never as good as the original.

So I was playing online yesterday at Fulltilt and not for money. Just thought I would kill time playing a 6 person Sitngo. About the 4th hand in I get dealt pocket 3's. Always a difficult hand to play so I decided to just limp in with 2 others and see what the flop brings. Well the flop was A,3,3. Wow Quads. Not only Quads but with the Ace out there very likely this could be profitable (oh right I am not playing for money). Anyways I yell upstairs to my son who's playing a different Sitngo that I flopped quads. The player next to me who must have hit an Ace bet out and being distracted I hit the fold button. Yes I did. I watched my cards disappear. Am I glad I wasn't playing for money? Was that dumb or what?? Answer yes to both questions. Another reason to not play online for money because of things like that. Yes you could fold your cards by mistake too in a live game but not as likely. Hopefully will be back playing at my live games next week all being well.

Time, Health and Face the Ace

With my local live poker game on summer break for 3 weeks I haven't been playing much poker but its given me time to catch up on other things. With the house up for sale of course it was time to go through the closets, garage etc. and get rid of stuff. I was actually surprised that there wasn't more stuff but we just bought this place 3 years ago so not a lot of time to accumulate which is good. Most of it went in the big garbage bin but we do have a great online selling site here that you can advertise for free on. I had an old 3 drawer wood filing cabinet that I really don't need anymore and I actually sold it in 1/2 an hour. I posted it and no kidding 5 minutes later a guy called, asked a couple questions and directions and he came and bought it. Didn't quibble about the price so I must have advertised too little. That's okay glad its gone. Sold a lazy boy chair too. Now if we could just get someone to buy the house.....

I watched most of that new poker show called Face the Ace. I think I missed the first 10 minutes or so. I actually liked the concept with the Heads Up Play. Now that I have the PVR I will probably record it as it was on Saturday night which is not usually a great time for me to watch TV. The only thing I would change is that if the guy decides to go for the million he gets guaranteed the 40,000. That way its not all or nothing. He should get some credit for winning 2 heads up matches against the pros.

The most important thing we have in our life is our health. Of course we love our spouses, kids and families but health is everything. I have mentioned that my cholesterol count was high and I have been diligently working on getting it down by diet and without the use of drugs like Crestor or Lipitor. The reason I have resisted is my age. I figured I was too young to need those kind of pharmaceuticals. I may have to reconsider. On Friday night I had just finished dinner and was watching the news and for some reason I had problems breathing. It was really weird, came out of nowhere and scared me and my wife. I broke into a sweat and actually felt sick. My wife called an ambulance who responded quickly and after some oxygen and a trip to emergency for an EKG and blood work it appears I am fine. Pretty shaken up but basically they just put it down as shortness of breath or an anxiety attack.When they said anxiety or panic attack I felt foolish and bewildered as I am not someone who gets anxious but they said its very common and mimics a heart attack. All I can say is it was pretty scary. The question I have is what brought it on? I am not sure myself but I did spend a lot of time googling anxiety and panic attacks and it described what happened exactly. The doctors said it could have been brought on by my obsession with diet and constantly thinking about my count and health. In other words stop worrying so much, relax and hopefully it doesn't repeat itself. I made the decision that if my count doesn't come down by my next test (end of August) I will listen to my doctor and try Crestor. Then I can stop obsessing.

Poker Night

Its funny how people can pigeonhole you by what you do for a living or what your interests are. For years whenever I went to a function or a party with my significant other people after being introduced would always get around to asking what I do for a living. I know that they are just trying to make conversation but people have a tendency to try and put you in some sort of slot by what you do. If you say you are a doctor or lawyer they think one thing, if you say for instance that you work for Microsoft they might make other assumptions about you. For years I worked for a major grocery retailer which in itself is not a very interesting job to talk about. Sometimes when I was at these functions people would know or recognize me and say aren't you that guy who runs marathons? Or I saw you out running the other day. Then the shift would be on not what I did for a living but what I did for fun. People would then ask me questions about running, ask my advice on injuries they had or what kind of training they needed to do to try and run a marathon. So then instead of being the "grocery guy" I became the "running guy". I remember one lady even calling me that.

The difference was when I was in a social function with all runners. I didn't matter what we did for a living. Over the years I ran with a heart specialist, a female family doctor, a anesthesiologist, numerous teachers, nurses, office workers you name the profession I probably ran with them. We never talked about what we did for a living. We would talk about our next race, our newest running shoe or if it wasn't about running we would talk about our kids. We were all the same. We were all just runners.

Poker is like that too. When you sit down at a poker table you have no idea what anybody does for a living and it really doesn't matter. I regularly play a live game 3 times a week and except for a couple people I have no idea what most of the people do for a living. I know most of their names and and how they play but ask me where they work and I haven't a clue and I like that. Is the Harvard grad going to be a better poker player than the high school dropout. Maybe, Maybe not. Just like in running it's a level playing field. We are all just poker players.

I watched a movie last night called Poker Night. This is a 2007 release starring Dylan Trowbridge and Scott Wickware . (Who?). Yea I had never heard of either actor before either. That should have tipped me off but sometimes these obscure movies can be good. The premise behind the movie is that the winner of a weekly poker game gets a prize plus money. This time the prize is spending time with a beautiful escort. Who thinks these things up?? I should have known this was going to be bad but with Poker in the title I thought I would watch it anyways. It was just plain awful. I am trying to think of one redeeming good thing about this movie and honestly can't think of any. Its 90 minutes of my life I wish I could have back.

The PVR and Dedication

I have this 500 dollar gift certificate I won in a poker tournament and its for an electronic place here where I live. What to buy with it? I certainly don't need another TV or computer. I look at the GPS devices they have and briefly consider that but considering I live on an island how lost can I really get?? Then a salesman tries to sell me a super expensive remote. This thing looks like a blackberry and evidently does so many things. Yea well one look at the price tag (around 300 bucks) and I think I am okay with the multitude of remotes I have.

Then we come upon the PVR (Personal Video Recorder). My oldest son and his wife have one and loves his. The price tag is 499.00. I have youngest son with me and he thinks its a wonderful idea. Now I am not a huge TV watcher although I do love movies and watch just about any poker show that's on. Son comments that dad now you can record all those poker shows you miss. That seals the deal and we make the purchase.

I take the PVR home and proceed to dig out the directions on how to set it up. Of course they make absolutely no sense to me so I just take the 3 sets of plugs and cables attach them where I think they might work and presto the thing actually has power. I am a genius. Well not really. Then it says phone your cable company to get it activated. So I phone and the very friendly customer service person offers me a free month of the movie channels and a free month of the High Definition channels. Of course I accept. A couple minutes pass and he says its now ready to use. Sure enough it works. I am impressed.

I scan through the guide on how to record shows and quickly discover that even someone like me can figure this out. I set it up to record a couple poker shows that are on later (well actually 4) and sure enough it records them. You can even record 2 shows that are on at the same time? How have I lived so long without one of these??

I still remember the VCR where you had like blank tapes all over the house that you had no idea what was on them. The PVR shows you all your shows,how long they are and of course if there are commercials you can zip through them.

Now I just have to find the time to watch them all.

I watched a 2007 movie last night called Dedication which stars Billy Crudup and Mandy Moore. This is one of those movies that is so weird you can't help but keep watching it wondering how this is going to end. The premise behind the movie is that Crudrup is a off beat successful children's book writer who when his best and only friend and illustrator dies needs to find someone to replace him. Moore who is a very talented but struggling illustrator takes the job reluctantly as she views Crudrup as basically a nutcase. The interaction between the 2 of them makes the movie worth watching. Gena Rowlands also stars as Moore's quirky mother.

Label reading and Harrah's new tournament

I never thought I would do this but I have become a compulsive label reader. I go to the supermarket and instead of throwing things in the basket like I used to I stare at the small reading on the side of the packaging to try and figure out the fat content. I compare brands to see which will kill me a little slower. Its either that or become a slave to the pharmaceutical world by taking Lipitor or Crestor. That's what happens when you get a bad cholesterol test. I always thought my running and active lifestyle would save me from this but it seems to help but I still have higher than I should totals. So gone are the days of throwing cookies in my mouth and taking huge pieces of pie and cakes. Now its become a vegetable and fruit existence (something I ate lots of before). I figured if I ate lots of fruits and vegetables I could have those 5 cookies after my run. Boy was I dumb.

So I was in the market and I went to grab my favourite dip that I use for the raw vegetables I eat. Its really yummy. Well its got 22% fat content and 7% trans fat (the really bad stuff). Here I thought that by eating celery, carrots, green peppers and cucumbers and dipping them in this I was doing great. Not to be. I might as well have gone to McDonalds and had a Big Mac. I check all the brands of dips and basically they are all the same. Huge fat content. Kind of defeats the purpose. Someone tells me dipping vegetables in low fat yogurt is the best. HMM. Doesn't sound nearly as yummy but I will give it a try.

Then I go to the dairy section to grab the Creama I love for my coffee. Same thing . Huge fat content but alas they do have a lot fat kind that only has 1% fat. Big sigh of relief.

I wander by the bakery section and stare at the cookies and cake that are screaming at me to buy them. They all look so yummy but knowing what they can do to my body I resist. I wander by the chip and pop aisle knowing that my days of eating and drinking them are over to. I go for another test at the end of August. Hopefully my counts will be down and the low fat diet will work.

I was reading on another site that Harrah's Casino in Las Vegas is now going to be offering a 120.00 + 30.00 Mega Stack daily tournament with 20,000 in chips and blinds starting at 25 and 50. No rebuys or addons. This sounds like my kind of tournament. When I go to Vegas I usually try and play 3 tournaments and some cash game when I can fit it in. I usually try and play 1 tournament at Planet Hollywood and the other 2 at wherever I can find them that fits our schedule. These usually are not ideal tournaments as the blinds go up too fast and basically become shove fests after awhile. I prefer the deeper stack tournaments and tend to do much better in them. The only problem is the amount of time they take. When you travel with someone who is a non poker player you have to pick your spots as they say. Hopefully I can manage to fit this tournament in sometime during the week I am there.

The Lure Of Las Vegas

What is it about Las Vegas that keeps people coming back?? When they first opened casinos up here in Canada and in different parts of the U.S. a lot of people predicted that Las Vegas and Reno would really suffer as people could now gamble close to home and didn't need to spend money on airfare to get their gambling fix. I actually have a casino thats less than a mile from my house. Now I know Reno has suffered as there are a lot less bus companies taking people there than say even 5 years ago but Vegas is a different story. We now have direct flights from where I live to Las Vegas and that's something we didn't have 5 years ago.

I constantly get asked why I am going back to Las Vegas this year having been there twice last year. Why don't I go to somewhere else? Don't I get bored going there? The simple reason is that Las Vegas has everything that I like in a holiday. It has great weather so we can sit at the pool, it has great shows which I always try and take in one everytime we go. It is easy to get to and a safe place to visit (unlike a lot of places in the world today). There are no worries about food, water or language. It has the best people watching in the world. You never get bored as there is always things going on 24 hours a day. It has gambling (if you like that), it has cheap drinks (basically free if you are gambling), its really inexpensive compared to other places especially if you go back to the same hotels. There are so many different restaurants to eat at that you will find any type of food you desire. What's not to like?

I remember spending two weeks in Hawaii several years ago. We actually spent 1 week on Oahu and 1 week on Maui. It was a fun relaxing holiday but basically we spent 2 weeks on the beach. I need more than that in a holiday now. I mean we can still get sun at the pool in Las Vegas but after a couple hours of being at pool I am ready to do something else. In Las Vegas the options are endless. Meanwhile the countdown continues.

Paul Newman,The Ugly Truth and Ultimate Bet

I just finished reading Shawn Levy's book titled Paul Newman A Life. This is a book that caused a lot of controversy because it portrayed Paul as a drinker who loved whiskey and beer (no surprise). It also went into some detail about his affair with a writer named Nancy Bacon while filming Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. This was of course while he was married to Joanne Woodward. I actually found the book a little slow and plodding. While the author did go into a lot of detail about Paul's start in the business and his eventual rise to super stardom I just didn't find it very interesting. He didn't talk too much about Paul's 6 kids but did relate the story of his son Scott's overdose. A lot of the information like his 10 Oscar nominations and only 1 win (for the Color of Money) and his life with his wife first wife are things I could have found out just by Googling his name. This book was done without the cooperation of the Newman family and its obvious even from the pictures that there was no none. Personally I always was a big fan. I loved him in Cool Hand Luke and The Hustler in his early years. In later years his performances in The Verdict and Absence of Malice were outstanding. When I got this book I was really looking forward to reading it but came away disappointed.




On Friday night I went and saw the movie The Ugly Truth. This is a romantic comedy starring Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler. The reason I went to this movie is because I have a theatre 1 block from my house that shows new movies for half the price of the multiplex theatres. So I basically go see anything there. This movie fits that perfectly. The plot (I guess you can call it a plot) involves Heigl as a news producer for a local TV station who has trouble getting dates who when Butler comes to work at her TV station uses him as her coach on keeping a new guy she has just met. Yep its pretty weak. There is a lot of talk about Heigl's lack of sex. While it does go into some detail (it even caused 1 couple to leave the theatre) I didn't find it very funny. There was a scene where Gerard buys her some remote control underwear (do they even make these things?) that is supposed to help with her lack of sex. Some kid picks up the remote in a restaurant and yes you get the picture. It just wasn't funny. I actually like Katherine Heigl but the script she was working with lacked imagination. Anyways unless you have a cheap theatre like me wait for video on this one.

Ultimate Bet has a Poker Show on which has Annie Duke and Phil Hellmuth are coaches for 2 different teams in a poker challenge. This has to be one of the worst poker shows on TV. Who thought up this thing??? I just finished watching about 20 minutes of it and I am still shaking my head. While I like Annie Duke and I realize that she is sponsored by Ultimate Bet I just can't help wondering how she got talked into this. I generally will watch any poker show on TV but this thing is so bad even I can't watch. Get this thing off the air as soon as possible.

Well lets see I just finished reading a book I didn't particularly like, a movie that was sub par and a poker show that was just plain awful. Other than that its been a great weekend so far........................