No real poker this w/e....only sunburn and ringworm

There wasn't any real poker action this weekend. Andrea and I headed to the Comal River with her friends who rented a house near the Schlitterbahn where you can tube the river. We don't do the waterpark, but floating on the river, drinking beers, and soaking up the sun makes for some pretty good times.....except for the ringworm.

No, I didn't get it, but sitting in slow moving water mixed with beer and urine is bound to breed something.

Andrea's friends Natalie and Landon rented the place and Natalie did all the chefin' for the weekend. She did a great job, for sure. Since they have done this trip for several years, it was very laid back.

The only poker was played Sat night. Five people played a $10 tourney. I went all in early and was called in 2 places, my flopped 2 pair was losing to a set and a middle pair that both developed into full houses, where the MIDDLE PAIR ended up making the top boat. Oh well.

Andrea played her first no limit and finished 2nd of 5 for a $5 profit. At least it was a win!

We retunred Sunday where we made was what supposed to be a 1hr stop at the Outlet Malls of San Marcos, Texas. The 1hr stop was 7 1/2 hours by days end. I must admit, I bought a lot of clothes and kitchen stuff....huge deals.

9 in a row.

Yes, 9 in a row. Not wins, mind you, nine consecutive $33 SnGs lost.

After cashing out $1k this week after clearing a PP bonus, I left in a few hundred to return to the single table tournaments. On returning home last night, I fired up my 1st SnG, and I should have known it was going to be one of those nights.

The very first hand in the very first SnG, I am all in (I can't remember ever going all-in on hand ONE) with TT vs AA after the flop. Out in 10th place. Now, I've seen so many people go out on the 1st hand it isn't even funny....and they are usually playing crap hands, trying to double up....but I had a legit hand and I felt like I was being played with. Notice below that I finally called PF to see some cards, but bet my overpair aggressively in case I was up against AK or trying to represent a set against a possible AA.

AA on the 1st hand. Must be nice. Notice how I flame with TT and a name like Blacktens....at least they weren't black.

I didn't get AA all night. 10-tournaments in total. I got AK, AQ, and middle pairs loads. I flamed in 10th place two times. I finushed in 4th place (one out of the money) FOUR TIMES. I was creap leader in each of those events, pushing small advantages to try to win the thing. In all times but two (the previous example being one), I was in with the best hand. On some hands whre I was crippled, but not eliminated, I ran into AA a total of 6-7 times. AA couldn't be cracked. Truly madening.

Oh, #10? I won it. Salvaged a win to make it a $180 loss instead of $297.

Hand below.

***** Hand History for Game 4361369766 *****
40/80 Tourney Texas Hold'em Game Table (NL) (Tournament 24065170) - Thu May 25 21:30:39 EDT 2006Table Table 97041 (Real Money) --
Red5thStreet (2000)
steez888 (2000)
flinchbo0111 (2000)
nwb28 (2000)
babygirl1935 (2000)
Blacktens (2000)
petsiam (2000)
fuzzyclutch1 (2000)
Skiddy444 (2000)
Victory404 (2000)
Dealing down cards **Dealt to Blacktens [ Ts, Td ]

nwb28 folds.
babygirl1935 calls (40)
Blacktens raises (150) to 150
petsiam raises (350) to 350
fuzzyclutch1 folds.
Skiddy444 folds.
Victory404 folds.
Red5thStreet folds.
steez888 folds.
flinchbo0111 folds.
babygirl1935 folds.
Blacktens calls (200)

** Dealing Flop ** : [ 4d, 2d, 4h ]

Blacktens bets (600)
petsiam raises (1200) to 1200
Blacktens raises (1050) to 1650
Blacktens is all-In.
petsiam calls (450)petsiam is all-In.

** Dealing Turn ** : [ Jh ]
** Dealing River ** : [ 8h ]
Creating Main Pot with $4100 with Blacktens,petsiam

** Summary **Main Pot: 4100Board: [ 4d 2d 4h Jh 8h ]

Blacktens balance 0, lost 2000 [ Ts Td ] [ two pairs, tens and fours -- Jh,Ts,Td,4d,4h ]
petsiam balance 4100, bet 2000, collected 4100, net +2100 [ As Ac ] [ two pairs, aces and fours -- As,Ac,Jh,4d,4h ]

Tubing, and relieving, on the Guadalupe River

For Memorial Day weekend, Andrea and I are headed tubing on the Guadalupe river with her friends. I haven't been in a few years, but it is one of the most fun things to do in Texas.

You simply sit in an inner tube, drink beer, and catch sun. You are hooked on to other tubes like a group of Cheerios.

The only downer is that you must realize that the entire river is a public bathroom.

Pics to follow next week.

May PP bonus

I've nearly completed my May PartyPoker reload (15%) bonus. I've had a nice couple of sessions, being up about $200 with 59 hands to play tonight. I really appreciate the grinding types of sessions, small bookable wins w/o the wild swings of huge wins or "huger" losses.

I used to be quite profitable 4-tabling 100NL during these bonuses. However, I did suffer around Feb, where I was forcing my NL play a bit and had as many $200 losses as $80 wins. Well, we're back on the road to recovery and pushing slowly back to the black.....although it will take significantly more time.

Beer and Donuts

It seems someone has finally proven that simply eating beer and donuts makes you fat. Unfortunately, that someone was a dog in Arizona. People are freaking stupid. I wonder what the dog owner looked like?

Live game

We had a new live game last Friday. David C, (another New York Giants Fan in Texas), hosted a game with some new friends (new to me). David H and Tonja attended from my normal game.

The stakes were a bit higher than usual for live play with friends, $100 buy-in freezeout tournament, followed by a $100 buy-in 1-2NL cash game.

We expected 2 tables of play, but we kicked off the touney seven handed. It sounds small, but that's $700 in play! Payout was initially set for 1st - 500, and 200 for second. The action was pretty loose and fast early. David H was the first knocked out when his all-in pre-flop bluff with J6 was picked off by an equally dodgy Kx (meaning king with low kicker).

In this game the deal rotates, which is normal for most home games. In this hand, the dealer was a younger novice player. At the turn, there was no pair for either player, so the K high still lead. The dealer flips a Jack (giving a pair of Jacks fro David H) and myself and one other player (both not in the hand, of course) noticed that the dealer never BURNED the final card. Of course, this was hotly debated, but the best course of action was to actually play the hand as intended and the Jack was mucked as the burn card. Understandably, David was furious, but there was no other way to play the hand. You could not award the pot to David based on the wrong card played, you could not replay the hand since no betting took place to affect the order or cards or participation in the hand, and the hand could indeed be played correctly, with the cards falling as if the jack was never exposed. It sucks, but it's fair.

The psychology involved is terrible in this situation. You are all-in and you see your winning card exposed, although incorrectly. Burning a card is a practice used to discourage working a card to the top of the deck (i.e. cheating). Now cheating isn't likely in a friendly game, but when playing where everyone doesn't know each other, this proper procedure is necessary to keep the game honest.

We didn't have immediate access to Roberts Rules of Poker (available online for free), which is a great resource for procedures for live and tournament play. Give it a look.

Down to 3-handed Tonja, the new guy, and I were down to determine who was in the money. New guy was way in the lead (deck hit him in the face tghat night) and I was in second place. Tonja was near the felt. I offered to cut a deal where we take $100 of the 1st place prize and give a 3rd place which returns their buy-in back. They easily agreed and now the payouts were 400-200-100.

On nearly the next hand, Tonja was all-in with QQ against my 77 and doubled up. I survived another 20 minutes or more and was out in 3rd. Tonja, whittled down new-guy's (wait, his name was Ahmed) stack and won the tourney. Congrats Tonja!

I fared quite well in the cash game (my quad kings holding KK on a strightened board was nice) winning a few hundy. Andrea showed up later when the game was low on play and we swithced to $3/6 for an hour or so more.

Great job hosting David C....hope to do it again.

You think I was kidding?

So the driving in the Miami area is nearly the worst in the nation.

No $hit.

You Rang?

It seems John, the headwaiter over at Bibas One's a Meal (across the street from PJs), was made even more infamous by the Houston Press last week. They called him a "Food Nazi, and an curmudgeon.

Now I can see the Houston Press making light of John's intrusive ways (that he thinks are playful).....but curmudgeon? That's just the typical CRAP that the Press churns out. The article had the tone of a Rolling Stone piece on Tom DeLay.

Yes, this is the same Houston Press that wrote an article on Fantasy Football staring yours truly in the first and last page.

John does make dates feel uncomfortable. John does look like Lurch from the Addams Family. However, after many visits of being cajoled, John has now treated me well, in the custom of most headwaiters when they do have the run of the house. Yes, John may scare Shelley, but he does give some people a big smile, a seat by the TV, and a free glass of wine if your order isn't ready yet....OK, maybe just for me.

Cinco de Mayo...

Cinco de Mayo fell on a Friday this year, so we could not have thought of a better opportunity to patronize our favorite margarita joint, Cyclone Anaya's. My favorite (alone with many others) margarita is their Cazarita (no, I'm not kidding). It's a house marg served with a few shots of Cazadores Reposado tequila. Reposado is tequila aged for just under one year (over a year is Anejo.

The first taste is a killer....the remaining is a $12 chalice of love. Go try one sometime at either the Durham location near I-10 or the Woodway locale near Augusta. They are opening one in Midtown, which is only 3 blocks away from the office....terrible news.

On Friday, Andrea and I entertained a cadre of friends across several circles. It was great to see everyone. Afterward, we departed for the Social, and after Cyclones, made an early night of it. The summer is fast approaching, and sitting outside is almost becoming unbearable during the day.

Speaking of downtown, midtown, and margaritas; this weekend is the Houston Art Car Parade, which is sure to be a blast on Saturday.

It took me years to create mine!

Through some random link at the Motley Fool, I stumbled across one of the greatest inventions of mankind. The artificial beer belly.

Sadly, I've been working on my real one for so many years that I don't think I can strap this one down. Maybe I'll have to convince Scotty or Patrick to buy one.

Yankees vs. Red Sox

So the Yankees play a 2-game series against the Red Sox this week. Johnny Damon made his debut in a Yankee uni at Fenway. The Sox got the best of the Yanks in game 1, but after Jeremy sent me the following link, I got over my remorse quickly.

It seems someone has recreated the entire bottom of the ninth of the 1986 Red Sox vs. Mets World Series using Nintendo's RBI Baseball. It's hilarious and accurate down to ever ball, strike, foul ball, MVP, etc. There is even THE error at 1st base to seal the deal, but it's more of a muff than a through the legs dribbler.

Enjoy.

Day 3: L'chayim!

Back to Florida.

After a very lazy morning, we decided it would be good to put the top down and drive along the Ocean on their seaside route A1-A. Amusingly, this lazy seaside road doesn't give you ANY view of the ocean. It's crap. It only provides the accessibility to millions upon millions of Condos that we saw from Fort Lauderdale to Palm Beach. However, we did drive with the top down which gave my forehead a nice fry.

We had no idea where we were as we traveled North. After an hour or so, we came upon an incredible Texas-like rainstorm, where we had to put the top up and hydroplane back to the hotel. The storm was quite localized, but Andrea was getting a little antsy for not eating that day, so we had to sneak in some vittles before the 5:30pm wedding (remember it's Sunday).

When we back to Deerfield Beach, there just didn't seem to be much open on a Sunday that wasn't fast food. Nearing Andrea's death, we stumble upon a place called Crabby Jacks which looks like a rundown Sam's Boat (yes, it makes Sam's boat look good).

The place has the feel of a Sam's boat (think pick up joint for those who don't dress themselves well combined with the best place to sport your Camaro and new tank top), and we are greeted by a barely 18 yr old waitress with only 3/4 of a shirt. Her belly is kind of like mine.....combined with the horrible shirt, we nickname her Blue Bell. The staff them is to looky slutty and act irreverent, and they are doing a wonderful job.

After some gawd awful seafood (actually Andrea's chicken-steak-sandwichy-thing looked good), and some terrible drinks, we ditched the place to get ready for the wedding. Only asides: they served Yeungling lager, which is a beer I've NEVER seen outside of Eastern Pennsylvania, and Andrea realized there is a Crabby Jack's in San Antonio that was one of her ex-es favorite joints. Seems the smokers like it.

We arrive at the wedding, and I am one of only 2-3 people not wearing a black suit. I thought black suits were for funerals? I know it was black tie optional, but if I don't wear a tux, was I supposed to wear a black vs. a dark colored suit?

I have one momento from the trip, Dan bought the Cornell guys a black Cornell yamaka (sp?). It has a bear on it and it does a good job of covering my growing bald spot. Good for me! No, I couldn't find a link to it. Yes, my head is so big it was amusing.

The wedding was very well done. The food was great, the drinks were generous, the people enjoyed themselves and we were happy to be there. The ceremony seemed quite traditional (as far as I know) and the reception was filled with some get-down funky family antics. I wish the happy couple all the best. Andrea said she liked it.

Short report later on day 4 where we make a trip to Palm Beach to see an old friend.

Satisfaction? Not really, but...

Within 24 hours, I did get a lengthy reply from Party crediting me with $66, but admitting no guilt. I've already cashed out my bankroll, so maybe I'll let that $66 sit there for a few weeks to show I am still serious about trying to play on Stars.

At least this person created a lengthy message that while parts may be canned, still reeked of originality. Their final rationale was a description of their various servers around the globe and that while I may have perfect connectivity to the internet, my ISP may not have perfect connectivity to their server. Blah Blah.

They say to simply log out and log back in as soon as you notice the problem, however, since I was playing a tourney and not a cash game, I was concerned if the problem was table-wide or even site-wide. In a cash game, you don't lose any money if disconnected (unless you are already in a hand, then they play the hand out as if you were all-in at that point in the hand). Since I was in a tourney and could not download my hand histories until the conclusion of the event, I didn't have a clear record of what tables I was playing on at the time. Looking back, could have traced this through the cashier, but I was playing 2-3 tourneys at a time and had played X of them that night.

In the end, I may consider going back, and I likely will if the trip to Stars doesn't pan out. However, it's always good to have more than one data point for this activity, so I'll try playing on Stars for a while.

Examples from letter below:

Dear Christopher,It is indeed disheartening to learn that you have had an unpleasant experience while play at our tables and I understand how painstaking it must have been to have gone through the frustrating disconnections while playing on our tables (not to mention the customer service). Before I begin to give you an explanation, I would like to apologize again for all that you've gone through.

Your account activity indicates that you are an avid player at our site. Unquestionably, you are a valued player at PartyPoker.com and it is not in our interest to disappoint you in anyway. Therefore, I have added $66 to real money account as a token of our gratification. I do not call this a refund, as the refunds are only done by the system in case of a cancellation.

[snip]

If this does not help, you can always call us (which after this incident I presume you would not wish to do) and we will make sure that you get back to the table you registered for.I hope with all due respect that the above explanation might have changed your perception about our customer service and the company as a whole. Our customers are the most important people in our industry and providing customer satisfaction is of utmost importance. Please note that nothing gives us more joy than being of assistance to our customers.

Where's the party? It's over.

I never thought I'd say it; but I'm done with Party....As in PartyPoker.com. They had the chance to truly show themselves as the class organization that they could be and they failed miserably.

I will now make it my vendetta to assure that anyone plays at any site other than party. You know, it's not too hard.....

What did they do? They didn't exhibit the least common courtesy. I was playing several SnGs aty the time where their site had a SNAFU....I had full internet access in my home....I could have watched the Sopranos, Porn, Hockey, whatever floats your boat, but the two tourneys I was playing were suspended for no fault of mine.

So I call PartyPoker.com. I expected nothing, but I was greeted by a friendly lady. She told me to immedialtely log out, which was soon my demise for the remainder of my conversations. I should have noted everything at that point; but this was a key misstep in the customer service fiasco.

After telling me to log off....What was I to do? What was I to tell her? I knew where I was, she could track where I was, but there was no LOVE.....It was MY fault?

Goood for me.

No it was not my fault. I could access any internet site in the world. The only reason I was waiting for 20-30 minutes was to preserve my entry in these 2 tourneys that were in full gear....

So I called back (Chris, why did you call back?)

I spoke with a decent individual named JARIN THOMAS (to put one of a thousand of you on the internet) who was polite but very unhelpful. I love how gamblers are instantly regarded as having no regard for their own memory and that they wouldn't ever honor two $33 tourneys when I had wagered TENS OF THOUSANDS on their site of the last three years.

They offerred me a $20 credit.....that ADMITS that they were at fault. It's a settlement? Did I take it....no....did I get anything? NO.

They knew they were at fault and nearly admitted it.

Good for them.

I'm done with them.

Party? You own me an apology. Do I expect to get one? No.

The best laid plans of Mice and Men will come to haunt you. You had the opportunity to make good on a simple $66 discrepancy. Now I' ve cashed out my 1400 or so and I wish you nothing but terrible things in your future.

I'm sure if I saw Mike Sexton or Cloutier like I did last March in the MGM he would understand that 1 ounce of ad publicity is worth ten kilos of bad press. What are you doing people?

You've pissed off the wrong honkey.