Warlocks, fuzzy balls, Jack Bauer, and other things that have kept me busy for the past month or so

I feel guilty for not blogging in a while. It's been over a month since my last entry.

A friend of mine approached me the other day and asked why I haven't been blogging lately.

None of the following are valid excuses, but will have to suffice...


- I have been playing a shit-ton of tennis

- I've gotten back into World of Warcraft and have started playing a female Blood Elf Warlock and she's up to level 23 now

- Work had gotten hectic for a brief period of time, but things are starting to calm down again

- I've actually gotten a chance to hang out friends that I rarely get to see any more

- I finally broke down and went to see a doctor about my on-going knee pain...I am now seeing a physical therapist

- During downtime, due to a slightly early exit from a tennis tournament, I have watched the first two season of 24 on DVD and am halfway through the 3rd season. 24 Is extremely wonderful... anything involving Elisha Cuthbert is wonderful!!!

- I have turned down a couple of dates because the girls smoked. Nasty! Nasty! Nasty!

- I went out on a date that was going fairly well until she started bad-mouthing her last date. I felt really sorry for the guy. He sounded nervous and her description of the scenario made her seem heartless. But hey, I got to eat at Olive Garden.

- In early May, I performed with Senor Bueno at the DSI Comedy Theater. Senor Bueno's gimmick is that they are masked hardcore luchadores. During one of the scenes Ted starting delivering knife-edge chops and the second one nailed my jaw. It hurt for a couple of days, but it was worth it. Ted also nailed me with a chair over the head. Oh the things I do for comedy.

- I was threatened at a FREE bar poker tournament and will never be playing in the PokerTaverns.com league ever again. I called someone out for blatant cheating, in this case it was offering outside advice during a hand. I maintained my composure during the exchange and was very proud of how I handled the situation. The individual is very hot-headed and I have witnessed him do a lot of mouthing-off to several people when he loses and even when he catches cards to win. When FREE poker induces physical threats...it's time to call it quits.

- I've recently been given a new computer at work...complete with a 24-inch flat-panel monitor...it's frackin' huge

- I have been practically living out of my car, being on the road so much lately. I finally took initiative and cleaned that bad boy out. I even took my car to a car wash and vacuumed the sum'bitch. It almost looks new again.


Okay time for lunch with Melissa and BJ.

I'll blog again soon. I promise.

Boat Trip

I took the time last night to take in the last of my new NETFLIX arrivals, Boat Trip.

Boat Trip stars Cuba Gooding Jr. & Louis CK ... oops, I mean Horatio Sanz. Boat Trip is the story of two friends who are looking to score some hot poon on a luxury cruise. Their travel agent screws them over by sending them on a gay cruise. For each of them to hook-up with thier [female] love interests, they must act convincingly gay.

Boat Trip also stars Vivica A. Fox, Will Ferrell, Roselyn Sanchez, and Roger Moore.

Roselyn Sanchez has moved into my top 10 list of AILF's... Actresses I'd Like to Find out more about. After doing some research, I discovered that Roselyn also portrayed the hot Latina chick in Rush Hour 2 and will be reprising her role in Rush Hour 3. She was frikkin' hot in Boat Trip and I will be keeping a close eye on her! <------ Does that sound creepy?

I wasn't expecting much from Boat Trip... maybe a few dick jokes and some stereotypical homo-humor. I was wrong!!! I thought the movie was great!!! There were bits and pieces of the movie that made it seem like it was a 'B' movie, but I LOL'd several times.

3.56743524 out of 4!!!

Swingin' in the Rain?

Our men's night quad got in 8 games last night. Pete and I won 6-2!!!

Everyone else left, but Mike, Pete, Wes, and I stayed and finished our quad in the less than torrential down-pour.


Playing a lefty tomorrow in a singles ladder match, and I know Ted Hobgood may be reading this...it's not that type of ladder match. Dave Ball and I always have a good match. Have I mentioned I have a difficult time with lefties? It'll be fun. The last two times we played the matches lasted about 2.5 hours each. That's in-frackin-sane!


Started watching Charlotte's Web last night after I got home from men's night in Burlington. It's fantabulous so far! <----- Notice the use of only one exclamation point here.

My Taj is Rising!!!

Unlike Jennings, I still love my NETFLIX!!!

The 3 movies I most recently received are Charlotte's Web (the new one), Boat Trip, and National Lampoon's Van Wilder 2: The Rise of Taj.


After LOST, I popped in Rise of Taj last night, expecting pure and total crap. The story was ever so predictable, but it was, for lack of a better word, cute! There wasn't a heckuva lotta T n' A, but the characters were refreshing. Taj's mom and dad were great, even though they were only in a few scenes. The chick with the Cockney accent was pretty cute. Plus, we got to see the ol' fun bags. The chick that Taj falls for has an ideal mix of sluttiness and intelligence.

My only real complaint is that the "bad guys" in the "evil" frat didn't wreak enough havoc or have enough havoc wreaked upon them.




Compared to the first film, I think Rise of Taj wasn't inventive enough. I mean come on...they jerked-off a dog into pastries and fed them to the bad guys in the first one.

I didn't miss Teck Holmes' character, but I really wanted to see a cameo from Ryan Reynolds.

The movie wasn't total crap, but I don't think we'll be seing a tird installment any time soon.

Kal Penn's "15 minutes" are almost up.


I'd give this flick a 1.999999999999999999 out of 4, which is why I'm not a professional movie critic. People like round numbers!!!


After tennis tonight I think I'll watch the other two movies and then take a brief coma.

Cancelled?!?!?

I had a choice to play in a tennis tournament in Charlotte or a tournament in Fayetteville. I picked Fayetteville because it is ever-so-slightly closer and I wouldn't have have to play on Friday. There were tons of people signed up for my division, but not much for other divisions.

I get a message yesterday that the tournament is being cancelled due to lack of participation. What sucks is that now since the deadline has passed for both tournies...I am now unable to sign up for the tournament in Charlotte.

I really wanted to play this weekend. Oh well.

Now I have to figure out what to do with 48 hours of completely free time. I'd love to go watch shows at DSI this weekend, but I'm trying to cut down on gas usage since prices are now approaching $3.00/gallon.

My raise at work was supposed to kick in this past paycheck, but someone in the business office or HR screwed up the paperwork and they now owe me retro. You bust your ass for a company for nearly 5 years and they still screw you around. That's gratitude. Bastages!!!

USTA Tennis brings funny fortunes.

Hello Blog, Long time no see!!!

USTA Tennis is becoming a huge part of my life again. I am doing really well playing in the Men's 3.5 Division. With results posted from this past weekend's clay court event, I should take over as the #1 ranked Men's 3.5 player in the state!

My doubles partner and I are currently the #2 team in the state in Men's 3.5 doubles.


I am headed down to Fayetteville this weekend for the Highland Country Club Adult Championships. I stand a very good chance to win this event.

I have been a finalist before, but have never won a tennis tournament. Hopefully that will change this weekend.


This past weekend in Greensboro was the first time I have played on clay courts in over 10 years. I love playing on clay. When a ball bounces on clay, it leaves a mark, thus reducing line call arguments to a bare minimum.

Due to playing singles and doubles his past weekend I had to play 4 matches on Saturday... Geez!!!

I got a really bad blister on my right foot and have been limping around for the past couple of days. I am hoping the blasted thing will fully heal by this weekend's tourney.


I wanted to play poker at Goldie's yesterday, but my foot hurt so frappin' bad that I din't feel like driving and then walking to and from my car. I really need to stay off of it as much as possible.



I got the funniest fortune cookie fortune EVER yesterday:

"Your first and last love will always be self love." ......... IN BED!!!

Fuck You Tennis For Regulating Sleep

Tennis, you sir are indeed a bastard.

Oh, how I miss not being able to fall asleep until 3 or 4 in the morning.

I despise you for making me get a full 8 hours of sleep.

Screw you tennis! You are an obstruction to my current weight-gain techniques.

The only thing you're truly good for is the agony that you constantly inject into my knee.

One Scene...Two Groaners

ComedySportz, March 17th (St. Patrick's Day,) 2007...

During Styles Replay, which is one of my favorite games to play, I committed/received not one...but two groaner fouls. I felt my scenework with Zannie was kinda lame, but I did manage to make the most of a "dance party" scene. Zannie and I were dancing to U2 in the initial scene and the music was "changed" to something peppier. Mary O'Flaherty walked-on as the obnoxious party guest and grossed us out.

Groaner #1... During the Prehistoric replay, we were cavemen and I made a Rolling Stones reference to the music.

Groaner #2... During another replay (perhaps baryard), Mary's walk-on was as a chicken. As she was dancing I said something along the lines of "Wow! What a funky-chicken."


This was the first time I ever received 2 groaners in the same night as well as the same game. Ha! :)



I am starting to enjoy ComedySportz more and more, mainly because I think I am growing as an improvisor. I still make dumb mistakes, but nowadays I am able to identify my mistakes more easily. I am becoming a better listener and yes-anding is becoming easier as well. I still have a long way to go, but I am making a shit-ton of progress.

I think I might take another level 3 class sometime soon. Jeremy Griffin is teaching an upcoming class... Hmmm... Awfully tempting!!!

Enlightened

I realized late last night that I ask too many questions about certain matters. This is a note to myself to stop doing so. The answers aren't always what I want to hear, but chock-full of good information nonetheless.

In another important life-situation, I stood up for myself and ended up making things much better.

I bought a Nintendo Wii. I have downloaded a bunch of older 80s-90s video games. I DL'd Sonic the Hedgehog, Super Mario Bros., and Ice Hockey. Each week Nintendo releases more games for download... I'll be snagging Donkey Kong Country ASAP!!! The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is pretty frappin' wonderful!!! I like using three (3) exclamation points at the end of sentences sometimes!!!

Vegas Trip.... Final Two Days

The final Two days I'm in Las Vegas I switch two strictly playing Poker Tournaments.

I end up cashing in 3 of the 9 tournaments I play in for the trip and wind up with a slight profit for just the tournaments.

The Treasure Island Poker room dealers are pretty cool people. I'd love to move out there and become "one of them." I have more in common with those guys than I do with most of the people I know here in NC.

Going into the last couple of hours before I have to leave for the airport... I was down almost 400 bucks. I decide to lay down 2 hundo at a BlackJack table and let that be the last of my gambling. The dealer had an amazing personality and was talking with me about random things the whole time. An Asian dude who looked uncannily like Jin from LOST came and sat down next to me and started playing as well. Soon after the Asian guy a young couple sat down.

I was betting mostly 25 bucks a hand, but would occasionaly double down or bet 50 to start with and double down for a 100 total bet. Our table was kicking the dealer's arse. I ended up transforming that 200 into 1000 and decided it was time to quit. The dealer colored up my smaller $25 green chips into 2 $500 purple I had a short stack of 5 dollar chips and 1 dollar chips from where I had hit blackjack on several occasions... I had also been tipping the dealer throughout the session and sometimes making a wager for him, but I thought he was awesome and tipped him all my excess (around 25 bucks.)

I cashed in my chips at the cashier cage, got my bag, and got in an airport-bound Taxi.

The flight back was extremely turbulent for the first 30 minutes, but ended up being fine.

I had an amazing time and can't wait to go back.

Day 2 in Vegas

Las Vegas, Day 2 - Wednesday

Wednesday morning I wake up and go downstairs to check my bank account... -69.23???????

I called my bank and found out that Treasure Island had placed charges on my card for incedentals or something like that. Eric Barbaro had informed me that nothing would be charged to my card until the end of the trip. I called him up and he got me hooked up with the right people to get that charge taken off. By the end of the trip, my room ended up being free of charge due to the amount I was wagering at the blackjack tables. I wouldn't have minded those incedental charges had they wited til the end of the trip becuase I got paid on Friday. I had money in hand, but was worried about my bank situation and didn't want to play anything until I got that taken care of. Treasure Island faxed my bank with a release form and the situation was completely taken care of. Whew!!!

Time for another poker tournament...

Josh and I enter another poker tournament at Treasure Island at 11 AM. Josh gets busted out fairly early and watches me play for the next couple of hours. The tournament was only paying 3 money spots and I got kinda short-stacked with 4 players still at the table. I pushed all-in with AJs and am called down by one of the big stacks. He slams his cards down on the table...97o!
It wasn't a horrible play on his part...sure he was behind, but he wanted me out. I'm out in 4th place and have nothing to show for playing... other than learning that Treasure Island is trict about speaking English only during play. A German gentleman and his girlfriend were at the table and speaking German back and forth to each other constantly. The dealer lectured them about the "English Only" policy.

Time to try out tournies at another casino...

Josh and I walk about a mile up the strip to the Aladdin. I played my butt off in this tournament. People were scared to play back at me and rightfully so. This allowed me to pull off a couple of bluffs pre-flop and a few later during hands as well. I kicked butt at the final table as well and had a massive chip stack when there were 8 of us left. I had pocket Kings and raised a decent amount pre-flop...I get re-raised by a guy with less chips than me he has A7s (hearts.) Two hearts on the flop and then a 4th heart on the river gave the guy a flush. I still had a lot of chips and played extremely tight until I was guaranteed cash. I built my stack back up quite a bit and was dealt pocket Kings again. I push all in and am called by the same guy that called me last time....this time he has A7o. The bastard hits a 7 on the flop and another 7 on the turn. He just barely had more chips than me...so I was out in 4th place. This was a much larger tournament than I had just played at Treasure Island, so 4th place took home a nice chunk of change... a little over 300 bucks. Josh busted out early on in this tournament as well, so he had to watch me for another 3 hours or so from the rail.

We head back to Treasure Island to play in the 7PM tournament. This tourney was paying the top 4 spots and Josh and I both make it to the final table. We were down to the final 5 players and I had a massive chip lead. Josh was seated to my left and was the short stack. Action is folded around to us in the blinds. I look down to pocket 3's and push all-in. Josh says, "Me too. I'm all-in". He flips over A7, I believe (can't remember exactly.) Anyway, it doesn't matter because my 3's held up. I knocked Josh out and went on to knock another player out as well. The other two remaining players kept catching cards against me and eventually an Asian guy, who happened to be an off-duty poker dealer at Treasure Island, called my all-in with KJ while I held A9. He catches a King on the turn and I need an Ace on the river to stay in. No Ace falls and I'm out in 3rd. Another nice pay day!

I ran into some sour luck at the blackjack table. The starting dealer was a middle-aged woman... wearing too much lipstick. You could tell that she hated her job. I should have gotten up, but proceeded to lose everything I made from the poker tournaments that day and then some. I was pissed at myself for not getting up. By the end of the night I was actually down a couple hundred bucks for the trip, but tables would soon turn in my favor...


...TO BE CONTINUED...

Vegas Trip Report

Las Vegas, Day One - Tuesday

Upon arrival at the Las Vegas airort, I headed straight for the tram booths. Taking a tram is always cheaper thasn taking a taxi, but the trams are usually slam packed because they go to all of the casinos. I paid my 5.50 and waited for the #5 tram to show up. I loaded my bag and waited about 15 minutes for the tram to take off. No one else that purchased a ticket was sent to number 5 for that go-round so it was just me and the driver. Straight to Treasure Island I went!

I meet up with my buddy Josh and he takes me to our room, an executive suite on the 32nd floor. I dropped my bags off in the room and he informs me that he has another meeting and that' he'll meet up with me in a bit. I had my MGM Player's club card made and was ready to hit the casino floor!

I decided to hop on a Wheel of Fortune $1 slot machine...I hit the bonus spin game 3 or 4 times within my first 50 pulls, but nothing higher than 50 bucks. All the while, there was an Asian gentleman playing an adjacent machine. He and I were rooting each other on every time one of us would hit the bonus game. Neither of us made anything huge and I decided to move to a different Wheel of Fortune $1 slot.

The new WoF machine was located directly across from the previously played machine in the "kiosk" and I was now seated caddy-cornered to the Asian dude and right next to an elderly Asian woman. I sit down and within 25 spins the woman hit the bonus game and won $500 bucks. I high-fived her and she said, "Your turn to hit big." She was right! No more than 20 pulls later, I hit the bonus spin game. The needle spun around and started slowing down around the $1,000 sector. 99.999999999999% of the time the needle goes just past the 1,000 and into the $20, but not his time the needle stopped in the $1,000!!!

Up over $1,000 for the trip so far, I decide to cash out and call Josh. It was around time for his meeting to let out. I darted over to the elevators to show him the voucher I had for just over $1,200. I cashed-in the voucher and went up to the room so Josh could get his wallet.

Josh isn't much of a gambler, but I taught him to play poker and he is becoming a decent player. He asked me to win him a hundred bucks. I told him to give me 40 bucks and I'll hit the blackjack tables. I turned the $40 into $140 within 15 minutes. I tipped the dealer and then headed off for the poker rom to play in a tournament.

Josh and I busted out of the poker tournament after a couple of hours and I heded out to the blackjack tables again. I gave the dealer my players club card and began betting $25 a hand, which is the minimum to become rated. I began making a bit of cash and decided to jack my bet amount up to $50 a hand for a while. After about 15 minutes of betting $50 a hand I was still hovering around my original profit amount. I looked up and this dude with slicked-back hair and a nice suit on had been closely watching my play. As I was getting up from the table he intoduced himself to me...Eric Barbaro, Casino Marketing. He asked ifm I had a host and informed me that at the rate I was betting, I would be able to get lots of free stuff. He asked where we were staying and I told him that we were at Treasure Island, but moving to another Casino after that night's stay. He told me that if I decided I wanted to stay at Treasure Island for the rest of my trip to give him a call and he could get me a huge discount.

Josh and I discussed it and decided we'd rather just stay at Treasure Island than move our stuff to another casino-hotel. I called Eric up and he set us up to stay in the hotel in one of the $300/ night rooms at the casino rate of $70 a night. He also told me to check with him at the end of the trip as I would probably get the room for free.

I went to the room for a little while and then decided to return to the blackjack table. The dealer got on a huge winning streak and I lost about half of what I had previously won. I called it a night... still being up almost $1,000 for the trip.


Las Vegas, Day 2 - Wednesday

...Details Coming Soon

Lataz NC

I promise... no hummers from trannies.

Once again, The Bellagio and I will be together as one!!!


On my way to the airport. Take care everyone :)



T

Greensboro Indoor Tennis Championships at Barber Park

For the first time in almost 15 years, I am playing United States Tennis Association tournaments. There are some major differences between now and then though.

Major Difference #1 - 15 years ago I was playing in the junior divisions. Kids are jerks...and cocky little bastards. 45% of the good players thought their shit didn't stink. Snootiness and bad attitudes everywhere in the juniors! Very little of that crap exists in the adult ranks.

Major Differnece #2 - The adult division I play in now, NTRP 3.5 singles & doubles, contains very few phenominal players. Most players are around the same skill level. If someone is clearly better than everyone else in the division, the rankings computer will automatically bump them up to a higher division and I won't have to worry about them. Makes for better competition and faster improvement in my own game.


This past weekend I learned how truly out of shape I am. My first round match was one of the first matches of the tournament. I played a native Russian, who now lives in Johnson City, Tennessee, Vitaly Nazarov. I really should have beaten this guy. He beat me 12-10 in a tiebreaker.

My 1st round consolation match pitted me against one of the seeded players, Dave McGee, of Mebane, NC. Dave is a good buddy of mine and we have played singles and doubles against each other on numerous occasions. We're fairly evenly matched, but I was able to beat him in a 3rd set tiebreaker, 10-1.

Next came my first round doubles match (partner - Brian Reder.) Brian hadn't played in 8 weeks and it showed in our match. I wasn't playing spectacular myself, but Brian was struggling with his serve and the rust was extremely evident.

Soon I was in the semi-finals of the consolation round. I had to play at 8:00 AM on Sunday morning. I had played 2 long matches the day before and was worn out. I also knew I had to play doubles after about a 30 minute rest when my singles was over. My singles match could have gone either way, but I ended up losing.

Time for my doubles match rolls around and Brian is nowhere to be found. Turns out he got pulled for speeding on the way to Barber Park, but he managed to make it before the director defaulted us. Due to there only being 6 teams in our doubles division, were playing for the 3.5 Consolation Championship. We were better players than our opponents and outplayed them as well. We won handily, 6-3, 6-0. Brian's serve had apparently healed itself over the course of the night. My net-play was just ON. It was brutal.

I came home and napped for the rest of Sunday. I woke up around time to watch the Colts-Patriots game, then fell back asleep. I slept like a baby this weekend every night. I am still worn out from playing so much frikkin' tennis.

Oh yeah, I leave for Vegas next Tuesday....WOOT!!!

It finally happened The frikkin' government dropped the bomb on me

My recent dealings with NETELLER.

This could be the end for online poker for the United States.


Kriya: Welcome to our live chat service. How may we help you?
Thomas: Hi
Kriya: Hello, how may i assist you?
Thomas: Can you please explain to me why NETELLER is no longer providing transactions for PokerStars?
Kriya: Due to recent legislation and related events, US members will no longer be able to transfer funds to or from any online gambling site effective January 17th, 2007. All other NETELLER services remain available to US members. They can continue to hold funds safely in their NETELLER accounts until such time as they decide to move the funds. The changes in gambling merchant transfers do not affect the ability of US member to maintain funds in their NETELER e-wallet accounts. NETELLER protects all members’ funds (all deposited, in-transit and un-cleared funds) by holding the value in independent trust accounts. NETELLER is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority in the UK.
Kriya: NETELLER continues to allow US members to transfer funds to non-gambling merchants. Additionally, NETELLER offers a peer-to-peer transfer service that allows members to instantly send money to friends and family around the world. US member NETELLER accounts will NOT be closed, your funds will continue to be held securely and you will always have full access to funds held by NETELLER. Currently we are experiencing unprecedented volumes through our withdrawals department. Due to this volume there maybe delays of up to 2 weeks for an EFT withdrawal and 6-8 weeks for cheque withdrawal. If you have any further questions, please visit http://updates.neteller.com.
Thomas: I have had an account with NETELLER for quite some time for the sole purpose of depositing to the sites where I play online poker
Kriya: Please read the above scripting...
Thomas: I read the ABOVE SCRIPTING
Kriya: Due to recent legislation and related events, US members will no longer be able to transfer funds to or from any online gambling site effective January 17th 2007
Kriya: I meant no disrespect...
Thomas: I understand that
Thomas: Thank You for your time
Kriya: You're welcome. Thank you for choosing NETELLER!
Kriya: Thank you for using NETELLER Live Chat. We appreciate your business and look forward to assisting you again. Bye for now.

If you suck at poker and have money...please invite me over!

After ComedySportz on Saturday night I went to a buddy's place in Raleigh to play a cash game. The limit was a little more than I wanted to play, but everyone kinda sucked... so I knew I would make a small killing.

When playing against a group of suckers I strongly suggest the "premium hand only" method. (These people are friends of mine so I'll try to not berate them too much...)

The night starts off with ordering pizza and online poker bad beat stories, which are far better than ghost stories and almost as exaggerated. We begin our "friendly" limit game with 8 players and I see them raising and reraising with K4, J5 (Motown), Q10, etc. I decide to apply the premium hands only strategy. It took 15 minutes or so and, but I finally caught pocket queens.
I limp UTG (Under the Gun - first player to act), hoping to get raised so I can re-raise. Sure enough... 2 more limpers and a pot-sized raise by the SB (Small Blind) I re-raise the pot and get 2 callers. Turns out one of the guys had a somewhat legitimate hand (AQ). The flop... J-J-4... rainbow (no flush draw possibilities.) I bet the pot and get raised some crazy amount but I only had enough in front of me to call about half of it. turn was a 5 and the river was a K. My Queens held up and I took down a pot large enough to pay for my plane ticket and then some.

At this point I was getting sleepy but the win gave me a little more energy :)

I decided I'd stay for another orbit and then head out. I did catch AK, but didn't want to play it against a raise and a reraise holding random cards.

I just got back to work from depositing the funds in my bank account. I had already purchased my ticket about 2 or 3 weeks ago. Got an amazing deal flying out of RDU the 30th of this month, but I have a 3 hour layover in Charlotte. Flying alone is no fun... Bleh... but for $187 and some odd cents round-trip, it's well worth it!

My flight leaves Raleigh at 7:30 AM.... Bleh!


I am looking forward to the trip though. Poker tournies...Poker tournies... and more Poker tournies! Hopefully my BlackJack can pay for my tournaments like it did last Vegas trip.

I'll keep everyone posted.


Becky Whittemore helped me out earlier this month by switching ComedySportz show nights with me, and I promised to bring her something back from the trip. I hope she likes hookers.

PokerStars: 5 Card Draw

My buddy Rick and I wind up at a 5 card draw table together on PokerStars. I had been playing at that table for around a half hour when I see his avatar pop up. I am already doing fairly well at this table... I am dealt 3 Kings on the original deal and decide to slow play them. I just limp in and hope someone raises...

This is a Pot Limit table...Rick raises the size of the pot and I think for a minute and call. I can't remember how many he discarded, but I was fairly positive I was going to take his money regardless. It was really nice when the 4th King was dealt to me on the draw. I'm known to throw in a bluff every once in a while, otherwise I'd never get my large bets paid off. I was fairly confident that I could get Rick to bet if I checked. He bet and I raised the size of the pot...he thought for a little while and called. He mucked his cards and I never knew what he called me with, but whatever it was... I really appreciated it. He has a bazillion dollars in his account so I only made a small dent.

(Rick got me back though when he sucked out a 9 on the river to give him a boat to my nut flush.)

Poker is all about making the right moves at the right time. Both instances I feel like I made the best play possible against him. Rick is a fairly strong player and we like to bitch to each other about hands we played and lost...as well as hands we played perfectly and won an ass-load on. We didn't have to e-mail or call each other this time though....because I was his victim as he was mine prior.

I have been neglecting World of Warcraft lately and really need to get back to levelling my Night Elf Rogue. Back to nerddom for a little while.

Poker - Overplaying AA, KK, QQ, JJ

I have made quite bit of loot lately online by calling small raises more often than I used to with suited connectors. While, I'd much rather have pockets aces, the connectors always seem to bring in more cash when they hit.

I have been playing a lot more cash games as of late. I have also been taking full advantage of the people that either slow-play their large pockets pairs pre-flop or only raise a minimum amount with them. I love holding 7-8 suited or 10-J suited against pocket Aces or Kings. I can easily lay them down if nothing hits...or I can extract a large amount from the person holding the large pair if I hit.

Here is an exaple of a hand I played last night that netted me a nice profit. 6-player Cash game table on Pokerstars. I'm sitting in the big blind position and am dealt 10-J suited (Clubs.) One of my tablemates doubles the blind and another player calls. It's one bet to me to play and I call. 3 players go to the flop... 10(h)-J(s)-4(c). I flop top two pair. The original raiser bets some obscure amount and I'm fairly sure he has Aces or Kings and will have problems laying his hand down. The other player folds. Raising may indicate my hand strength, so I just call. Turn is the 6(c) which now adds a flush draw to my hand. He bets big on the turn and I decide it's time to make him pay... I raise all-in for the rest of my money. He instantly calls and shows his Q's (yeah...my read was slightly off.) The river was the Ace(c) and my two pair turns into a flush and I take all of the poor guy's cash.

My play as of late has been nearly flawless. I have almost paid for my trip to Vegas next month with my cash game play.

I finished at the final table of a small buy-in tournament the other night also. I made a bonehead play preflop with A8 and got caught by AK. Ended up 7th out of 180 players, but I played well and made some good reads along the way.

Golden Palace Casino can lick my balls!

About 2 months ago I made a $25 deposit into Golden Palace Casino's new Tournament Blackjack site. I have since turned this $25 into quite a bit more.

I am taking a vacation to Las Vegas at the end of January and wanted to go ahead and cash out just enough to go ahead and pay for my plane ticket. Depositing the funds was simple, but withdrawing the funds is a bitch. I have never withdrawn from them before, thus when I went to make a withdrawal I received a message that I needed to fax them a picture ID and my social security card. Lots of sites do this for security purposes and I had no problem whatsoever with that. I called them today to explain my situation to them and to see if they needed me to send them my account info as well with my SS card and picture ID. They have added several more layers of security and now require that I fax them the front and back of the card that I made the deposit with along with 2 bills with my mailing address on it. All I want for them to do is to add the funds to the original card that deposited with. Most of my bills are still in my great-grandmother's name and they are having issues with the info being legitimate. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

It is apparently going to take an act of congress to get the money that is rightfully mine. Most places will at least deposit the original amount back to your card and then offer to send you a check for the remainder.

"Boo!" to Golden Palace I say! "Booooooooooooooooooo!"

Thanksgiving at Jennings's's's

THURSDAY

Turkey... Barbecue... Football... then back home

World of Warcraft (Priest almost to level 58 )... Family Guy on DVD... Sleep


FRIDAY

DSI going through lotsa changes (according to DSIComedyTheater.com Forums)... work... testing out new video production camera... Ted's Mash-Up CD getting me through day