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........................

Bar watch and The Bracelet

Where I live in B.C. they have started a Bar Watch program. What is Bar Watch? Its basically a program to keep undesirables and trouble makers out of our bars and nightclubs. What happens is when you enter a nightclub (and its only nightclubs that have problems) you are asked for identification and your ID is scanned into a computer system. Everyone is asked regardless of age or gender. Then if you cause problems by fighting or just generally being a troublemaker the next time you try and go in your ID will be flagged and you will be denied entry. This is a great way to make our nightclubs safer for everybody. Do you see anything wrong with it?? I don't. Most people don't. Hey if you don't want to have your ID scanned then don't go in the bar. Pretty simple. Well then you get our so called privacy commissionaire involved. He has now determined that this is illegal. Why is it illegal? Well it seems it infringes on peoples rights not to have their ID scanned. Huh?? What about the rights of everyone else to expect to be safe when they go in. What about the rights of nearby stores when these same troublemakers come out and break windows and damage their property? Nobody is forcing these people to have their ID scanned. In my my opinion bars have a right to make sure their establishments are safe.
Maybe they should make all bars nightclubs private clubs and charge a yearly membership fee. Then to become a member you have to have your ID scanned. Charge a nominal fee and that should get around this very silly ruling.

I was reading another blog yesterday and it seems one of the November Nine who have made the final table of The Main Event of the World Series of Poker has stated that if he wins he will throw the bracelet in the garbage. Huh?? Yes he will not accept the bracelet that goes with the 8 or 9 million dollar first prize. It seems that he is trying to make a statement of some kind. He has some sort of grudge against Harrah's Inc which owns the Rio and the rights now to the WSOP.

Well I know most poker players dream is to someday win a bracelet at the WSOP. Oh sure the winning money is a major bonus too but the bracelet is what true poker players dream about. In my opinion this is a very misguided attempt at making a statement. If you don't agree with how the WSOP is run now don't enter the events. Don't cover the events in the magazine you own. Simple?? Very Simple. Jeff Schulman editor and publisher of Card Player magazine you really need to think this through. That is something a child would do not a respected poker player. Work with them. If you win you will have more say in things.

Not that I am counting but 49 days until I am in Vegas. Okay yes I am counting...

Fires , Cholesterol and Slow Rollling

The 3 fires that are burning up near my son's home have thankfully been contained somewhat thanks to great work by the fire crews and the lack of wind. They are still getting very hot days and if the wind does pick up that could all change in a hurry. Anyways my son is still on evacuation alert and they have let around 6000 people of the 11,000 that were evacuated back into their homes. They are still on alert and the danger is still there but with some luck and no wind they probably will be okay. Anyways several families went back to find that their homes had been looted. Can you imagine?? What kind of lowlife scumbags would do that? The police had cordoned off the areas but it seems these idiots had managed to get through somehow. One child came home to find all his video games and his video system gone. Try consoling a kid who has been out of his home for 4 days and comes back and his toys are gone. Makes you wonder doesn't it how these guys sleep at night.

When I went to the doctor the other day she sent me for my yearly Cholesterol test. The first time I had one done was 2 years ago. I had always thought with my lifestyle I didn't need to worry about things like cholesterol. Boy was I wrong. I used to come home from running shove 4 cookies in my mouth and think nothing of it. Well when my cholestral came back two years ago my doctor had a fit.Well not really but she did smile sweetly at me and tell me to start eating better. So I did. I cut out white sugar, flour. I stopped eating cookies (very sad). Anyways I had another cholestral check done and it had improved but not enough for my doctors liking so she wanted to put me on a drug called Crestor. You see I have a family history as my dad had a heart attack in his 30's. He survived it, smoked all his life and died at 73 of I think his 4th heart attack. Family history seems to be the big warning flag these days. Anyways I made the decision that I wasn't going to take drugs for the rest of my life. I am too young. I would control it with diet. I was so good for so long but in the last 4 months I had slipped back to old eating habits (sweets). When we got the latest test back my level was back up again. So this time I am really cutting out everything that is harmful. I will get it checked again in 6 weeks and see where I am at.

My local sports network was televising a 2008 WPT ladies event which was held at the Bellagio the other night and something happened when they got down to heads up play that left me wondering do these players not know the cameras are rolling. Anyways this station does great coverage and it was full 2 hour show and showed a lot of action from the final table. Anyways they were down to 2 players. Vanessa Selbst and Nancy Todd Tyner. Well it seems Vanessa didn't like the way Nancy turned her cards over and accused her of slow rolling. A few words were exchanged mostly by Vanessa and what had been a fun show to watch became uncomfortable. Even Mike Sexton and Vince Van Patten were shocked. Vanessa did you not know you were TV?? Did you forget?? Hopefully when she watched this show she learned that you don't have an outburst like that on a televised final table. The highlight of the show for me was watching the school teacher from Canada who was bubbly with excitement at just being there finish 3rd. Her name was Cindy Kerslake (pictured above). We need more players like her. You had to just root for her.

Bunch of Stuff

I can't believe almost a whole week went by without writing about anything. It was just an incredible busy week and I barely had time to read emails and other blogs but hopefully its a bit calmer now.

Where my son lives and where I just was two weeks ago for a wedding, a good portion of his part of the city has been evacuated. Fires have hit and with hot temperatures and wind its pretty bad. My son is on evacuation alert and has the van packed with all their keepsakes and has photographed everything in his house should he not have one when he comes back. Right now the winds are calm but on Saturday when the first fire started it was really windy which caused another fire to start. Total fire coverage is around 500 hectares and 3 houses lost so far. Its a repeat of 2003 when I was there only in a different part of the city. Its so dry there right now and forecast is for another week of 35-40 degree heat (that's in the nineties to hundreds). We can only hope that the winds don't pick up again.

I have had a couple people come look at our house and another one today. Nothing concrete yet but remembering what its like being super neat.. It gets to be a pain plus going out when someone wants to see the house. We are giving it 60 days if it doesn't sell we will stay because we still like living here.

Strangest sight I think I have seen in awhile was we were downtown yesterday and there was a guy (probably homeless) who was walking around downtown with his back pack on and a cat lying around his neck. Yes a cat. I couldn't believe it. I mean I see street people with dogs but that is the first cat. The cat was huge and looked perfectly happy. Boy was getting looks though. I wish I had my camera. Loved to have gotten a picture.

I went to the doctor last week and this is a reminder to wear sunscreen. I got to admit I quite often forget well she didn't like the looks of 2 tiny spots on my face so she used liquid nitrogen to burn them (I guess burn isn't the right word). It was like getting Popsicle on your face. Weird stuff that is. So now I have these 2 red spots on my head and people keep asking what happened. They will heal just looks funny for a bit.

The best news of the week is we had our season ending poker tournament and with 104 entrants I managed to finish second and win 500 dollar gift certificate. It was one of those days when all my high percentage favourite hands held. I didn't get sucked out on until the last hand.

Started off well when in just the first 30 minutes I had a lady who was short stacked already push with A9 preflop and everyone folded to me and I had AK suited. Thought for a bit but called and it held up. She was first out. Thats how my day went. I continued to build my stack with just hitting flops and betting. Two memorable hands before we hit final table. The first was I had pocket Kings In late position and with one raiser who I know likes to steal. I thought about just calling then I decided to put the pressure on and I pushed in my pretty significant stack. Every one folded back to him and he had me covered but took a long time so I knew he didn't have Aces. He finally called (I was surprised). He had AQ suited. My Kings held up. Then when we got down to 2 tables I got deal A9d. Can't remember exactly how the betting went(long day) but the board showed 9,10,J,Q,K. A straight on the board but 3 diamonds so I had the nut flush (almost a straight flush). Two of us left the pot and the other guy (young guy who is an excellent player) bet out. So I then said to him what you have the Ace for the high straight?? Trying a bit to get him off the diamond flush thought.Anyways I decided to push and I had him well covered (should have made a smaller bet). He thought and thought and finally folded. Too bad. It was a bad bet on my part. I could have got chips out of him if I had bet less. I showed him what I had. The relief was evident on his face that he hadn't called.

Finally down to the final table. First 3 hands people got eliminated. Down to 5. Then another got beat. As I had a huge stack(second biggest) I was mostly staying out of the chip leaders way and vice versa. Finally down to 4. I got dealt 8,9 in the big blind. Just the 2 of us in. Flop came 7,10 Q. I was open ended So I bet out which was about half his stack. He was the the short stack. He thought and decided to push. No brainer on my part as even if I lost I was okay. I called. He had KQ. I hit my 6 on the river (that kind of day and he was gone). That left 3 of us and they both were playing tight so I was able to steal a few pots with nothing. I just bet big, they folded. Then I got dealt 6,9 in the Small Blind. All 3 of us in. Flop comes 6,6,2. I checked hoping someone had something. Lady to my left immediatly went all in. The other person folded and I only took a second to call (hoping her kicker wasn't bigger). She flipped over 6 3 thinking she was good and I flipped over the 6,9 . She was shocked. Then she said you checked and I said yes I did with a smile. The turn and the river didn't help and we were down to the 2 of us.

First hand I got deal AJd. Flop comes 44A. I decided as I was now the chip leader to push. She insta called me with A8. Looking good but the turn was another Ace so it was a chop pot... Too bad. So close. Anyways we played for awhile and I lost a big pot when she had a higher kicker. She took the chip lead. Finally got dealt AQ suited and decided preflop to push. She said why not and called me with K,10. She hit her K on the flop and I didn't improve and that was it. I went in with the best and thats all I could do. I was happy the way I played for the most part and nice to get a payday.

Real Estate Agents

Where Do I start? Real Estate agents. There are some really nice, good people that do this job but somehow they seem to be in the minority.
A few years ago I decided to sell the house I was living in by myself. That is stick a sign up, stick an ad in the paper and see what happens. I had sold houses before using real estate agents and generally was not impressed. One earlier house I sold there was a lady who went to my gym who was just starting out so I decided to give her the listing. Now in those days they got 7% on the first 100,000 and if I remember right 2 and half on the rest. Well the market was hopping. House sold in 2 days. She didn't spend any money advertising, or time showing. Heck she probably only changed her underwear once. that's how fast it was. Basically it got put on MLS and that was it. Well the offer was below what I was expecting to get so I told the real estate agent that I would accept if she cut her commission by 1000 bucks. Now because she didn't sell the house herself she was only going to get around 4000 dollars herself. She agreed and then never talked to us again......... Okay I just gave you 4000 dollars of my money and your mad? I could have listed with anybody but was wanting you to get a sale. Lesson learned. No friends when it comes to money.

Anyways this other house that I had decided to sell by myself I suddenly became every real estate agents best friend. They swarmed to my door trying to get me to list. They said I would get a better price, sell faster you name it. They were young, they were old they were pretty cute. Heck I think I met them all. So what did I tell them? I told them you have a buyer , bring them through and I will pay you 2.5%. That's what I did. Sold the house in 10 days. Saved myself probably around 4000 dollars.

So now that I have my house listed I can hardly wait for the real estate agents to bring their people through. I listed with my buying agent. Not quite sure about him. We will see. Once we signed the listing contract I haven't seen or heard from him. Only time will tell if he is any good.

I was supposed to go out and play my regular Tuesday night live game tonight and I opted to stay home. I am playing Thursday and Friday night and have an All day (hopefully) tournament Saturday so I decided to rest and get some much need sleep.

Facebook addicts and a Great Restaurant

Facebook. I wish I had thought of the concept. I could have been rich. Everybody seems to be on it. I joined a couple years back when some young workmates encouraged me to join. So I went through the registration process, stuck a pic up and waited to see what the fuss was about. Soon I started getting all these people requesting to be my friend. A lot of them I worked with,some were really my friends, some family members. You get the picture. So now that we are all on what happens?? I wasn't sure but decided to check the site every couple of days. Well it seems when you log on you get something called a news feed. Basically it tells you what your "friends"are doing. Ambers not feeling well today. Brians going camping. Stuff like that. It seems some people tell Facebook when they have sneezed too much or broke up with their current boyfriend. Then you can post photos. Well I have to admit I use that just because its a great way to store photos but some of the photos on here are just more than I would post on a website. I am not a prude in fact totally opposite but some people post things that are very borderline. My sons wife had a stagette 2 weeks before the wedding and some of her friends posted pics of it. Lets just say girls on a stagette tend to get very friendly with each other. Nothing wrong with that(yea yea I know typical guy reaction) but to post them on a website where anybody can see them well lets just say that might not be such a good idea. Yes I did spend too much time looking at them...... Ha Ha

Then you get friend requests from people that you barely know. Must be a contest to see how many friends you have. I have I think 78 friends. Well not really but that's what Facebook says. My youngest son said he has like 290 friends. So he says boy dad you don't have many friends...... Geez now I feel really bad.

Facebook love it or hate it but its the social networking medium of this century. Now I better log in to Facebook and see if I can make some more friends.

You know sometimes you get a lot of people telling you to try this restaurant or that restaurant as its really good and you go expecting something great and you get disappointed. It didn't live up to the hype. Well yesterday we went for lunch at one of these hyped restaurants and I was blown away. It was incredible. Food was really good.... The restaurant is actually in what used to be an old church and is aptly named Steeples. I went away totally satisfied as did the wife. Will have to go back for dinner some night and see if the food is just as good.

I have been watching online the Main Event at the WSOP and they are in the money now. I think its Day 5 today so they should get down to probably just a couple hundred players by days end. I admire the players as being able to concentrate and play for 5 days in a row. That takes a lot of stamina. Then again playing for that kind of money I think I might just be able to do it...

For Sale Sign and Poker

Its funny how little things can change your life so much. Just doing something different. I am a Starbucks junkie and I usually always go there. In fact in the one near my house mostly all the staff know me by name (not sure if that's a good thing). My youngest son also works for Starbucks but not at the one I frequent( that would be weird). I go pretty well everyday take my laptop, check email, write this blog, people watch. You know the usual things you do in a coffee shop. Anyways on Wednesday I was across the street from Starbucks and there is another coffee shop there. I think I have been there twice before. The wife was with me and said lets get a coffee here. Sounds good. We go in have coffee (was really good) and when we leave we notice an open house sign just around the corner. I said lets go have a look. We walk in and we love the place. So we go home, talk about it, sleep on it and decide to make an offer on it subject to us selling our current place. They accept our offer. Now we have our place up for sale. Now we had no intention of moving before Wednesday. None. Zilch!! We like the place we are in. Not a thing wrong with it really except a bit bigger than we need. This new place is smaller, brand new but we will put some money in our pocket after selling (if we sell). Kind of a shock eh? I know if we hadn't gone in to that coffee shop we wouldn't have seen the open house sign and we now wouldn't have a for sale sign in front of ours. Hopefully its a good thing.

So of course now that our house is up for sale we had to go on a massive cleaning, arranging and chucking out things type of day today. Its not that our house was dirty but when you are going to have people coming through looking at your house you can't have anything lying around. Its amazing how much stuff you can accumulate in a short time. We bought this place 3 years ago and it was a downsize from our previous place. This new place will be even more of a downsize which is a good thing. We currently have a den and 1 bedroom that never gets used unless we have overnight guests from out of town but that's not that often. So now the fun begins. Realtors phoning with clients and looky loo's coming through..... Joy Joy!! What is good this time is that there is no pressure to sell. We like our current place just fine so if we don't sell no big deal. The market has actually picked up in our area of Canada so should be interesting to see what happens in the next 60 days. Funny thing is that the listing runs out on the day we leave for Las Vegas. I have lots of thoughts about realtors but that's for another day.

Okay I got to admit I watch Big Brother. Yea I know its lame but for some reason I always watch. The new one started last night. This season they have divided the house in 4 cliques. Just like high school. The popular group, the athletes, the brainiacs and the offbeats. Then they brought back Jessie from another season. Guy is a egomaniac so already someone to hate. When I was in high school I was in the party clique. Yep we just partied all the time. Not sure how I graduated but I sure had fun. Anyways should be interesting to watch and I certainly don't watch much TV. And yes its really lame!!!

I played my usual Thursday night live game last night and as has been the norm lately I was out early. I had limped in a couple hands missed the flop completely and folded. This time I was dealt AJ. One limper before me so with the blinds at 100/200 I bet it up to 600. Everyone folded except the limper who called somewhat reluctantly. Flop comes A 8,3. Two diamonds. Limper checks. I think what would be a good bet and decide to just push as I have about 3500 in chips left. I figured I was good. Limper ponders a bit and the calls. He has K3 diamonds. Okay so he has a diamond draw and he paired his 3. He called my all in with that??? Risked his tournament life. Did he catch his diamond??? Of course not . He caught a 3 on the turn. River was a blank. That eliminated me. Now even more mind boggling was the fact he called my initial raise with K3. He had limped in with that out of position , then called my raise. HMMMMM interesting poker. The guy is a really nice guy but I know I certainly wouldn't have called my all in or my original raise with his hand. Then again I went home and he continued to play. Ha Ha. It's why I love poker so much!!!

Wedding, Random Thoughts and Some Poker

Well the big wedding day has come and gone and it was an absolute success. The weather was perfect, around 30 degrees Celsius(87F). The bride and groom(pictured above) looked great and the reception went out off without a hitch. It was like a year in planning and the day seemed to fly by but it was all worth it. The wedding took place outside on a lakefront resort and the reception followed inside. The food was excellent and I think everyone had a great time. I hope my son and his wife have many years of happiness.

I have to say I am totally shocked by the reaction of people to Michael Jackson's death. It is sad to see that he died at a relatively young age (50) but to have the major television networks televise the ceremony and all the hoopla was a bit overboard in my estimation. No it was way overboard. Now the fighting for his estate and custody of his kids can begin. I feel sorry for the kids. I guess it will give lots of things for the tabloids to write about in the years ahead.

I took my laptop with me for the 5 days I was gone to my sons wedding so I could keep up on emails and what was happening at the World Series of Poker. When I bought the laptop a few months back I had no idea I would use it so much. Now I don't think I would ever go back to a desktop model. I managed to chat on Skype with a few people that were not able to make it to the wedding and they were able by webcam to chat with my son and his wife which was so nice.

It seems that there were several hundred people who tried to register for day 1D of the Main Event at the WSOP who were turned away. Can you imagine going to Vegas and not being able to play?? On the WSOP website it shows that each day could hold 3000 poker players but only 2800 played on 1D so I am not sure what the problem was. The weird thing is that only just over 1100 hundred played day 1A. I know if I was playing I would rather have played on 1A and then had 3 days off to watch the other days. I will be following the action in the next few days so see who survives to be part of the final table.

I played my Regular Tuesday night live game last night and had a couple good hands early but basically got bet off the pots. The first won I was dealt A9 and limped in with 5 others. Flop came QQ9. First to act bet 1000 (blinds were 100/200). Guy next to him insta called. Just something told me he had the Queen so when action came around to me I folded very reluctantly. Guy next to me then raised to 2500. Yikes. Well I think he has the Queen now. Action went back to the original bettor and he folded as did the guy who I thought (wrongly I guess) had the Queen. Still wondering about that hand as the raiser wouldn't say what he had .

Very next hand I got dealt A10. (I was still mulling over the last hand in my head) Guy next to me raised to 600 (blinds were still 100/200). I called as did 3 others. HMMMMM. Flop comes 10,6,2. First to act pushes all in. Everyone folds to me. It would have cost me almost all my chips to call and for some reason I couldn't pull the trigger. I had watched him preflop and he looked like he was going to reraise so I put him on a high pocket pair (Jacks or Queens). So I folded. That was basically my night. I was basically card dead from then on and couldn't catch any flops when I got cards.

The Agassi story and a Wedding

I just finished reading The Agassi Story. When I first got the book I wrongly assumed it was a biography of Andre Agassi the tennis player. It was actually more of a autobiography of his dad Mike. I honestly wasn't expecting much and thought I probably would just skim through it but I was wrong. It was a great story. It told up his upbringing in Iran and his boxing in two Olympic Games. He managed to leave Iran eventually getting married in the U.S and went on to have 4 kids the youngest being Andre. His wife and him eventually settled in Las Vegas and that's where they live today. In the book he was critical of the way he pushed his two older kids to become tennis players and how much they resented him for it. He said he only wanted the best for them but as we all know parents of kids who push them relentlessly usually find they burn out at an early age and begin to hate the sport they are in.
The book did go into some detail of Andre's rise to tennis stardom but as seen through his dads eyes. He talks of Andres 2 year marriage to Brooke Shields and his current marriage to Steffi Graf. In the book there were also some great photos of a young Mike and of course shots of all the kids including Andre. All in all a really interesting story and one I would certainly recommend.

Reading the book reminded me of years ago I used to coach kids sports. My youngest loved to play hockey and baseball so having played a lot of ball but very little hockey I volunteered to help coach his teams. Boy was that tough. Not the coaching part but the dealing with parents part. I remember I had identical twin boys play on one of my sons teams. They were great kids and pretty good ball players but only when there dad didn't show up to the game. When he was there they looked nervous and of course made errors which he would then criticize them for. I was horrified as my method of coaching was always just encouragement. He wasn't the only one either. I had parents tell me where there kids should play and how much and with hockey it was even worse. If we were winning they only seemed to want the best out there and that's not how I coached. Every kid got equal ice time and equal playing time in baseball. After a couple seasons of listening to parents I gave up coaching and would just come to the games and encourage my son. That was so much better.

When my youngest was playing ball (he was 9 at the time) I remember a particular incident that still to this day makes me wonder about some parents. My wife and I were on the sidelines and my son's team was out in the field and a boy on the other team took a swing at a ball that was pretty high and well out of the strike zone. That was typical of kids that age though. They were just learning and having fun. Anyways his coach called him over and right beside me starting telling the 9 year old that if he swung at a ball like that again he would be benched. The poor kid hung his head and I lost it. I told the coach how dare you talk to a 9 year old like that. His response was and I quote "How is he ever going to learn if I don't". Huh??
This is a 9 year old. Aren't we supposed to give encouragement? anyways the coach stalked away glaring at me and then several parents came over and thanked me. I guess this coach had done this before in other sports too. The real bizarre thing was that he was a high school teacher and should have known better.

In Agassi`s book he gets into the pushy parents and critical coaching that happens in sports. It`s a shame because what happens is kids get turned off and hate sports.


I played my regular Tuesday night live game last night and although I didn't get to the final table I certainly played okay. No real remarkable hands other my pocket queens which when I raised with 4 limpers in the pot everybody folded. I won a few other hands but all small pots and eventually had to push with A5 in the BB and a flop of 8,5,4. I was pretty short stacked at the time and somebody had A8. I didn't improve and I was gone.

So in 4 days my oldest son is getting married. Heading up there tomorrow. Really looking forward to it. It should be a great day for the 2 of them. I wish them years of happiness.