Vegas Baby...

Ballin' and Shot Callin'...

2010-11-16T22:28:00.000-08:00

Ballin' and Shot Callin'...

11/16/10

Sunday was great the parlay hit, albeit a 2 teamer. But, I'm
3 for 3 on the 2 team picks, I got to stick to those. At
least I'm up for the Football Season. Slow and low, at ease
the tempo. Plus final tabling a poker tourney at Caesars
was pretty saucy. I'm still keeping up my 23% cash ratio
on the poker tourneys, lol...Just need to hit the big first
again, hehe...I should heed my word and just play the $1K'ers
at the Bell each Saturday, if the cash ratio holds out, I
should be retired by now, damn...

Sign Of The Times...

2010-09-30T23:36:00.000-07:00

Sign Of The Times...

9/30/10

It really sucks to see how impersonal business decisions at
the corporate level affects people close to you. I guess it's
a numbers game, as are most things in life. Life is a race of
checks and balances. Percentages and edges. Operating cost
ratio's and overhead.

I guess you shouldn't get complacent with your station in life
and always strive for something higher. Don't be dependent on
what others can do for you, be dependent on your self. Always
have a back up plan or have "outs" as we poker grinders say.

It's the American way - we're predators, we go where the most
food is...simple. The hustle, master it...The third re-raise is
most likely pocket Aces or Kings, fold if you don't got em'...

Going Back to LV...

2010-09-20T00:40:00.000-07:00

9/20/10

Going Back to LV...

Man, these quick trips to Cali, are too short. Was back in SD
over the weekend for Deb and Dave's 5th Wedding Anniversary.
Flew out Friday night after work and drove back in with the
new toy.

It's crazy how time flies. It seemed like last week, we were
partying tourists in LV for the bachelor party, kickin' it
in Manila before they had their 2 beautiful daughters and fast
forward to receding hairlines, lol...

Anyway, it's been a minute since I wrote in my blog. Hmmmm,
dunno' why it's been that long. I have to make it a point again
to write more. It's good therapy, hehe...

See ya on the felt or the track (the new toy is kinda' Fast and
Furious)...

Game Is On...

2010-04-17T22:38:00.000-07:00

4/17/10

Game Is On...

3 final tables within 8 days, I'm not running bad on
the green felt (Well, today was 2 spots away from the
final table - 12th out of 75, and busting out with
pocket Kings against Ace/Nine OS - luckily my buddy
Ed split 50% equity for the tourney and he busted out
in 7th with pocket Queens against Ace/Jack Suited.

So we got our money back. I'm ok with that, ya know.
As in life, breaking even (especially these days) on
the felt landscape of poker can be just as fine.

We just need to squeeze out a little bit of luck or
a dose of not being "outlucked", when the best hand
goes in. I complained just a little bit, but hey I've
put bad beats on other folks in the past.

I just know that my game is on, hehe...

Furious, But Not That Fast...

2010-03-04T23:00:00.001-08:00

3/4/10

Furious, But Not That Fast...

I'm taking the plunge...

After all these months of trying to find Taylor's
long lost twin (my old Jeep Cherokee) - I am going
to start modding up the SX4 Sport.

Just purchased some H&R lowering springs, to get
installed next week. Probably pick up a drop in
K&N Air filter, to start off...

Need some juice on the streets of Vegas, hehe...

Why did I get rid of Taylor, gosh...

It's Been A Long Time...

2009-12-28T22:21:00.000-08:00

12/28/09

It's Been A Long Time...

It's been a long time, I shouldn't have left you
Without a strong rhyme to step to...

Props to Rakim, for these lyrics to one of my old time
fave's - "I Know You Got Soul"...

Anyway - it's been a while, since I wrote in this thing.
I thought I may have died inside for a minute. I guess you
just can't dwell on the negative things that happen in your
life, but hope that these road bumps help you develop and
evolve positively. I guess some things can be a blessing.
Sometimes you have to step back, to move forward.

I can be grateful for all the support I have from family and
friends, even though most of them are quite a few hundred
miles away. But hey, by Southwest Air - I'm only an hour an
change back to the Bay...

Making a few final tables the past couple of months always
helps out the ego though, hehe...

Just need to get that elusive First Place again...

I Still Got It...

2009-10-27T11:35:00.000-07:00

10/27/09

I Still Got It...

Nice to know that you can still play poker, or get lucky
for that matter.

I played in the 10 pm Caesar's NLHE tourney last Saturday.
It was a four table tourney with abount 37 players. Too
quick of a format for me, but it worked out OK.

It's part of the game. I had pocket pairs twice against
an over pocket pair (against the same player at that) and
hit my needed set on the flop. If you know me, it wasn't
like I was hoping to get lucky. I actually misread the
player for overcards instead, and was willing to take a
race. But hey, you got to have some luck involved at times.
Plus I was only all in once for my tournament life during
the tournament.

I eventually chopped the pot and settled for third place.
Then chopped half of that with my buddy who busted out
earlier in the game.

Agression baby - and lady luck - lol...

I still got it though...hehe...

The Storm Rolls In...

2009-10-20T18:46:00.000-07:00

10/20/09

The Storm Rolls In...

It's dry in Vegas, but I feel like it's raining inside.

What did I do? What didn't I do? Those are questions,
I may have to answer for myself.

This cold is not helping.

Back to the Yay...

2009-09-25T16:41:00.001-07:00

9/25/09

Back to the Yay...

I guess it could mean a lot of things...

Winning a poker tourney last Sunday, with my buddy Ed
coming in 2nd place as well.

Seeing my boo this weekend - couple of more hours to go.
Back on a jet plane.

Niners 2 and 0, atop the NFC West.

Chau and Dave, tying the knot tomorrow. With an overnight
stay at the Fairmont, downtown San Jo'.

Seeing my family and friends again.

Maybe it's just being back in the Bay - even though it's only
for a couple of days.

Getting to wear a jacket outside - it's the small things in
life, hehe.

Back to the Yay...

Cool Runnings...

2009-08-09T15:12:00.000-07:00

8/9/09

Cool Runnings...

No, not the movie. The title of this blog could be the
fact the I solved my AC issue with Taylor. I took
advantage of the CARS rebate system and got a new car.
Wish it was some type of German feat of automotive
engineering, but I went with something that I needed as
opposed to wanted, if you know what I mean.

So after 5 hours of haggling and paperwork, I am the
proud owner of the 2008 Suzuki SX4 Sport Sedan.

Whoohoo!!!! Truly back in the Rat Race...hehe.

Well, to get that trade in rebate of $4,500.00, you
have to get a new car with an average fuel savings of
10 miles per gallon. Both cars were right at that
threshold.

Believe you me, I found it hard to part with Taylor.
We've been through alot. I wanted to keep her, but
after a talking about what she needed done with a
couple of mechanics - the list sounded to be endless.
I wouldn't be able to sell Taylor for the rebate amount,
nor would I know what how much money it would take for
her to get back in tip top condition. Vegas sucks
on cars...

I'll find her again...

Ahh, I know what AC feels like again - with the fun
of a Japanese "Gabrielle" (my old school Jetta, I sold
last year). I haven't found a name for the new ride
yet, hmmmm...

As for poker - had a couple of good sessions the past
month - doubling up my buyins, albeit I only played twice
since my last blog. Cash games have have been good to
me. I should stick to cash these days - the poker gods
have not given me the green light to win a tournament
the last few times. After I do good in cash, there is
some small tourny waiting for signups and for me to
dump my money in the pot.

The usual, I get in some type of race ahead preflop,
only to see the river give me a loss and poker gods
jovial in my personal pain (kinda' alliterative)...

I have to make it a point these days to keep up on
my journal - the AC should help.

Anyway, I have been missing Sugar as usual - I can't
wait for her to get to Vegas. It will give us better
balance in our lives. I also have to get back home
to see Deb and Dave's newborn daughter Delaney and
the rest of the my peeps.

The Heat Turns On In Vegas...

2009-07-08T20:35:00.000-07:00

7/8/09

The Heat Turns On In Vegas...

This is probably the most busiest times and hottest times in this
city. We averaging about a cool 105 F degrees. And now my AC
starts to act up again.

Sugar's been a big help trying to take my car to the shop to
get it fixed. I say trying, because everytime it starts to
act up - it works normally when she pulls up to the shop.
Jeez...what would I do without my two fave women, Sugar and
Taylor (the Jeep Cherokee), lol...I might go insane...

It was great seeing her the past couple of weekends. She came
in the weekend before 4th of July for an interview and came back
for the holiday weekend. My parents, Mikey, Lisa, Auntie Baby,
Uncle Noyle, Uncle Gerry and Auntie Mryna came down last weekend
as well.

Funny to kinda see the reactions we got when our group sat down
and ate at my fave' soul food spot. Maybe that's just from my
perspective. I don't mean to offend anyones, ya' know.

Also hung out with Tony and Chris a couple weeks back. Bar hoppin
and poker - the life of a tourist for me in my adopted city.

I haven't played as avidly as I've wanted to for the past couple
of months. I guess me being back in the rat race has to do
something with that. I haven't even stepped into the Rio to
check out any of the WSOP events.

I must be in one of those wacky non playing moods again.
Or it could be fatigue...

I'll be back in the game soon...

My Assistant Left...

2009-05-21T21:02:00.000-07:00

5/21/09

My Assistant Left...

It's been about 10 days since my Booboo left to go back
to the Bay. She was here for about 10 days as well.
Not seeing her day to day, is one of the hardest things
I have to deal with in life.

I think I take her and what we have for granted at times,
I really need to improve on that. I really wish she
could get laid off from work. That's funny to say in
these economic times. But hey, I'd be happy living in
a studio apartment in Chatsworth, than be miserable in
a fat mansion, wasting my days away playin' online
poker. 2 different extremes, huh? Well, we will find
that balance.

As for poker, I played in the Wynn 7 pm poker tourny
last Saturday. I thought it was a pretty good format.
The buyin is for $160.00 and you start with $10,000 in
chips. Blind levels change every half hour.

To make a long story short, the critical hand I had
was when I had pocket Kings midway through the tourny.
I was in midposition where I raised the bet to $2,000,
where the big blind was for $600, with a $75 ante.
2 other players folded behind me and the small blind
player said raise to $2,000 as well. He didn't realize
that I already raised. So the dealer made him make a
min raise of another $2,000.00. I didn't think he
had Aces, because he probably would have paid better
attention to my action and also would have 3 bet me.
3 other players folded behind him and it was up to
me to call, raise or fold. With about $7,000 in chips
behind, I decided to raise all in (if I just called I
would be pretty pot committed on the flop anyway).
He thought aloud for a minute and he said that I
probably have him beat with a pair of Queens or
higher and he said, "I'll just gamble, I'm all in
too". He then flipped up pocket Tens and I flipped
up my pocket Kings. The flop and turn were dealt
out blanks for the both of us, I just had to fade
a Ten on the river. But of course a Diamond Ten
had to hit on the river for him to get a Set to
beat me. Hey, I wanted him to do what I wanted him
to do - just that damn river card, hehe.

Anyway, I only had about 3 bets left at that point.
I didn't last too much longer, when my last all in
failed to double me up.

Taylor, my Jeep's been acting up as well. Had to
put in a new A/C compressor/condenser within the
last couple of weeks, among other maintenance items.
I did put some new shoes on her this week. Check 'em
out - she's my urban jungle transport...

Mount Charleston here I come!!!

Exhausted...

2009-04-26T23:46:00.000-07:00

4/26/09

Exhausted...

With the property management issues, work, interviewing
for a new position at work, commuting, etc - where is the
time to play poker lately? Well, it's only been about
a week, since I last played. Now, I got to deal with
an issue about my Jeep, all stemming from a simple oil
change that took place on Friday - hopefully I can get
that issue resolved Monday (one of the techs must have
broke off my oil pressure sender while changing the
oil filter that day; printed up some forum threads to
verify the issue and of course, the broken part itself
is very obvious if you take a look just above the filter).

Anyway, it's just been one of those weeks...

Looking forward toward the end of the week, when my
booboo flies in and when some of the Yay Area homies
come in for the Pacquiao vs. Hatton fight. Vegas will
be a Pinoy and Limey haven. Lumpia and Sheperd's Pie,
on plates across Sin City.

Nice, I'm gettin' hungry...Can I get that with waffles?

Blowin' Bubbles At Final Table...

2009-04-19T21:22:00.000-07:00

4/19/09

Blowin' Bubbles At Final Table...

Last night I played the Headhunter NLHE $125.00 tourny
at TI. Pretty good format, you start with $6K in chips,
blind levels jump every 30 minutes (but, they double up
each level, with antes coming in in the third level).

You also get $50.00 for every person you bust. I thought
that was kinda' cool, so at least you get some money for
taking out another player. I busted out one person, so
at least I had part of my buy in covered.

That was a tourny where I saw pocket Fives hit 4 sets
in one hour. They helped me out in one had, where I
almost busted out another player, who hit top 2 pair
with Ace/Ten OS - I hit my set on the flop and she
just kept paying off on every street, it was so sexy
rakin' in those chips.

I was doing pretty good, until the fateful last hand.
I made it to the last 6 players. Unfortunately, this
tourny paid the top 5 only. I had pocket 3's in the
small blind and only had to contend with the big blind
player. I had about 5 big blinds at this time, so the
hand I had was pretty much an automatic push all in.
So, I went all in - the big blind player called me
without looking at his cards. He popped his chips in
to call me and flipped up King/Six OS. A race...Which
I did not win, when another Six hit the flop. The
2 outer for me did not come and I bubbled right out
of the money. Hey, I'm not complaining, I had the best
hand preflop with a slight percentage. In the long
run, I will win more than lose with that hand and
decision.

As they say, that's poker...

Fiendin' To Play And Waiting For Booboo...

2009-04-17T19:48:00.000-07:00

4/17/09

Fiendin' To Play And Waiting For Booboo...

It's been a couple of weeks since I last touched a pair
of cards in the crook of my index fingers and thumbs
Hoping, wishing and waiting to see a pair of Aces peel
up from the top of the green felt. That sounds kinda'
sexy...Hehe...

It's OK, I'm not like a crack fiend waiting for the next
hit or anything. Just trying to find some time in the
schedule to play. With work and trying to prep a
couple of the rental properties for new tenants, a boy
gets a bit tired during the week.

Hopefully, I can find some time this Saturday or Sunday.
I would like to take a shot at the new Bellagio $300.00
NLHE tournys they will have scheduled from Sunday to
Thursdays now. The structure seems pretty cool, with
a starting stack of $10K in chips and 30 minute blind
levels. I just need to avoid getting outlucked, you
know...

Most importantly, my booboo will be coming in for a
a trip out to my neck of the woods in a couple of weeks.
It's been hard lately, the last time I spent time with
my girlfriend, was during my last trip back to the Bay.
That was only for the weekend - too quick. That was
about a month ago. So I am looking forward to our
time together at the end of the month. She gives me
focus...

And the PacMan's mauling of a certain Englishman
on the first weekend of May...

Anyway, I'll cut it short for now - I think my
laundry is fully dried, time for foldin' - but not
the cards this time, hehe....

Ace/King, Fast - But Not Furious...

2009-04-12T08:22:00.000-07:00

4/12/09

Ace/King, Fast - But Not Furious...

I'm putting up this blog about a week late.

To make a long story short, I played in the $70.00
Caesar's NLHE 3 pm tourny last Saturday.

I could not win race with the dreaded, Ace/King in
this one kids. I had it twice against Pocket Sevens
and Pocket Nines. Of course, I failed to catch up.

It's was one of those days, where I made the final
2 tables, but could not break into the money. Sometimes
I feel that, why didn't the poker gods just bust me out
early, rather than getting that close taste of victory.

Oh well, there's always the next one...

Possible Food Poisoning, It's Like Hell...

2009-04-02T20:14:00.000-07:00

4/2/09

Possible Food Poisoning, It's Like Hell...

I'm not sure if I had food poisoning the other day, but
the symptoms sure felt like it, according to WebMD and other
stuff I found on the internet. It actually started about
the time I got home on Tuesday (3/31/09).

I just had lunch earlier that day and had that familiar
feeling of going #2 on the way home driving on the freeway.
Well, I got home and the first thing I did was "do some
reading on the throne".

To make a long story short, I called in sick the next day,
"read on the throne" about 8 more times throughout the day
and night. Well..until I lost about a good 2 or 3 pounds.

And I wasn't at the gym.

There's really nothing you can do for possible food poisoning,
but let it "run its course". Haven't had that feeling
since one of my first visits back to the motherland, after
swallowing some tap water after brushing my teeth.

Ya' feel me?

It's like Hell...

Crazy For Cucusoft...

2009-03-29T19:14:00.000-07:00

3/29/09

Crazy For Cucusoft...

Yup...I am...Well, also crazy for Peanut Butter Cap'n
Crunch, but that's another subject to be discussed at a
later time. Who knew what this simple software program
would do to my life.

Any free time I have, is dedicated to decoding and
uploading more movies into my Ipod. I'm up to about 25
gigs in media so far. I may have to stop soon. I may
burnout of downloading so many movies, that I really won't
have time for poker, hehe. Or watch them for that matter.
I will need to hire a personal assistant soon to get my
whole DVD collection ripped and put on my Itunes, hehe.

I guess it's better to get all these movies in now, and
to not wait until later on, right? Word, to your motha's
uncle...

The Taste Of Victory, Part II - No Not the P.Diddy Remix...

2009-03-28T19:30:00.000-07:00

3/28/09

The Taste Of Victory, Part II - No, Not the P.Diddy Remix...

Today, I checked out the new M Resort Hotel/Casino, located
on South Las Vegas Blvd. It's not near the Strip at all,
but a welcome site in a sea of cookie cutter housing
subdivisions in southeast Vegas. But believe you me, this
place is pretty plush. I would rank it as one of the best
looking locals casinos off the Strip.

It seemed pretty busy too, but that may be the fact that
this is a new casino and that we're in the middle of
March Madness college b-ball.

I've been meaning to check out the poker room, so it was
a perfect excuse when one of my co-workers mentioned that
they started NLHE tournys there this week. So, this morning
I met up with him and a buddy of his, to play in the tourny.

The tourny buy-in is $55.00, where you get $3,000.00 in
tourny chips. The blind levels change every 30 minutes,
so you got a little bit more time to play poker and not
necessarily gambo gambo in the first level of blinds.
I think there was a total of 45 players.

I think I've mentioned it before, I'm kinda' glad that
I don't pick up pocket Aces or Kings in the beginning
of tournys, because of the commitment to play them to
the end of the flop at times. And, I hate getting
badbeated or "outlucked", lol. But again, I wish every
starting hand could be either pocket Aces or Kings
everytime, hehe.

Anyway, the 3 of us traded ten percent of our gross
winnings, if any of us make the cash. I always offer it,
it's like insurance for you in the tournament. You have
a couple more chances to win, ya' know.

I made a semibluff early in the tournament to chip up a
bit and try to show my initial table, that I was willing
to gamble with the worse hand on the flop. It basically
went like this. We were about 8 handed on my first
table. A couple of the players had already gotten
knocked out. It was during the first few minutes of
the third level of blinds $100/200. I had only about
$3,000.00 in total at the time and was in the big
blind. A mid position player (pretty erratic guy, but
had a good stack of about $7,000.00 chips) called the
big blind, the next player who called was the dealer
button (filipino guy probably about my age or older,
he played pretty good, he said he was a part time
dealer too), the small blind player (white senior
citizen dude) called and I then peeled up Queen/Four
of Clubs, where I checked my option to raise. The
flop came out 6 of Spades, Five of Clubs and Two of
Clubs. I had a gutshot straight draw, flush draw and
an overcard with the Queen. Some good possibilities,
but basically Queen high at this time. The small
blind checked, I checked, and the midposition player
checked. When it got to the dealer button player, he
stared at the flop for about a minute and made a bet
of $600.00, so now the pot held about $1,400.00 total.
The small blind player folded, so now it was up to me.
I paused to think what the dealer button and midposition
players could have. I was thinking they both held
some type of marginal Ace or facecards, where they
didn't hit the flop, as it came pretty low. I then
looked at my chips and it didn't feel right just to
call the bet from the dealer button player. Since I
had "outs", I felt the better play was to raise all
in. I mean, he could have the better hand at this
time, but I had the turn and river cards to hit my
hand. Like I said before, I don't think the dealer
button player and midposition player had any thing
on the flop, so my bet should elicit folds from both
players. I ruled out flush draws for the other 2 players
as well, as I seemed to notice that they would overbet
their flush draws. Alright back to the grill again, the
midposition player then asks me what I have, trying to
get a response. I just look at him and say nothing.
He folds, whew, now to the dealer button player. He says
to me that he has a pair of Fives on the flop, but no
clubs, again trying to elicit a response from me. He
thinks for about 30 seconds, folds and says "good bet".
You know what, I think to myself, I'm gonna' show my
hand here. I want to show a bit of table image to the
other players, that I am willing to gamble it up with
them, "So don't mess with me FOOL!", hehe.

Throughout the tourny, I didn't get into many confrontations,
where I was called all in for my toubrnament life. The only
all in that was called by another player, was when I had Trip
Sevens. The sequence was that the UTG player (an older
lady) limped in, everybody folded, the small blind player
(white dude my age) just called and I peeled up Ten/Seven
OS. I checked my option. The flop was dealt Six/Seven/Seven
of all different suits. Beautiful, the small blind player
checked, I checked and the UTG player checked. The turn
was dealt a Queen. I decided not to check and made a pot
sized bet (approx $3,000.00, I had about $4,000.00 left)
and hoped somebody hit a Queen. The UTG player went all in
and the small blind player folded (he said he folded Ace/Queen,
wow, that was a good laydown). I of course called and pleaded
the poker gods to not give me a suckout on the river. The
river was dealt a pretty Ace of Diamonds. Dang, I wish she
didn't go all in, the small blind player, might have called
with his eventual top 2 pair. It's all good, I got more than
doubled up.

I also made a good call when this other player went all in.
I had pocket Nines in the cutoff and started to think about
what he could have. The other player who went all in, seemed
to be a pretty good player, but I felt he had a wide range
of what cards he would go all in with preflop. I was also
thinking about what the other players behind me would do.
They seemed pretty tight and would not call an all in
without some made hand or at least Ace/Queen. The lady to
my right even folded Ace/King of Diamonds to this same guy
a few hands ago, when she had him outchipped. I mean, that
is a tight laydown, especially with the blind amounts at
the time. Anyway, I felt that I had the guy beat and I
would take a race if he had overcards (I was thinkin' he
had Ace/Rag though). After I called his all in (I had less
chips), the other players folded and we flipped up our cards.
Whattaya' know, he had Ace/Five OS. Cool, just have to outrun
his Ace on the flop. The flop came out Five/Three/Two of
Clubs, luckily he had no clubs, but gross anyway, now he
had 2 Fives, 4 Fours and 3 Aces to win (he had 9 outs).
The turn was dealt a 6 of Diamonds, whew. The river card
was dealt a nonthreatening Ten of Diamonds, double whew.

I didn't really have any further confrontations the rest of
the tourny. We got to five handed and decided to chop the
pot. The blinds were getting very big and each of us were
pretty much the same in chips. It would be a luckfest the
rest of the way. Got paid about a little over 6 to 1 on
my buyin, I then gave $30.00 bucks each to my coworker and
his buddy for their ten percent. Not bad for a Saturday
afternoon. Wish it was a Bellagio Saturday $1K tourny
win though, hehe.

Funny thing before chopped, was that the last 6 of us
decided to contribute another additional ten bucks for the
bubble person (the tourny was to pay only the top 5 spots),
so the bubble person would at least get most of their money
back. The bubble person was talking pretty bold in the
beginning of 6 handed play, saying that she would chop only
if she got the actual first place money of about $560 and
then the rest of us would chop the rest. She wasn't even
a dominant chip leader at the time, I think she had maybe
3 or 4 more bets than the next chipleader. She was the one
who laid down Ace/King of Diamonds earlier. Then she mentioned
that she wanted to chop earlier, when she only had 2 bets left.
Karma is a biznatch, hehe. She eventually bubbled in 6th place
and got her $60.00 (her net equity was actually negative
$5.00, take that you scurred Ace/King Diamonds laydowner! - the
other guy at the time had Ace/Jack OS - she dominated him, lol).
To live by the sword, you must die by the sword baby...

See y'all on the felt. I will be taking investors in the next
Bellagio tourny or the WSOP, I'll keep you posted, lol...

Finally...

2009-03-26T20:10:00.000-07:00

3/26/09

Finally...

I dunno why I lag on things like this. I finally got the sofware
to decode DVD's into MPEG4 format for my Ipod. I've had my 80g
Classic since last year, and have yet to use its full capability.

I only had about 8 or 9 Gigs of media in the thing since then, and
never added anything else to it for a while.

Well, syncin' it the wrong way a couple of days ago, must have
put the fire back in me. I erased my playlist and didn't have
a backup playlist on my Itunes. So, I had to copy a bunch of
my cd's (what are those? hehe...) and purchase some songs and
videos on Itunes.

I then thought to myself, that I have a bunch of DVD's collecting
dust under the flatscreen, I might as well copy those as well.

I got the Cucusoft program to decode the DVD's into MPEG4 format
and have been rippin away. It's pretty easy to use. Believe
me, I'm from Silicon Valley, but far removed from the techogeek
set - it was perfect...

I still only got about 14 Gigs of media...66 to go, lol...

In and Out, Fast Food Style...

2009-03-22T21:05:00.000-07:00

3/22/09

In and Out, Fast Food Style...

This weekend was a blur. This was my shortest stay so
far coming back home. 2 nights went by pretty quick.

I guess 2 nights in Vegas as a tourist seems alot longer.
It's probably because you are up all day and night doin'
whatever may be - gettin' drinks poolside, waiting in
line at Tao for 4 hours (because your ass is too cheap
to get bottle service, hehe), hoping your double down
at Blackjack hits, etc...

Seein' my lady after a month was great. I'll be mushy
and say that I was counting out the days and hours.
We spent the day Saturday, up in the City and checked
out a couple of spots here in there.

Tommy's Joynt on Geary, should be a must go for you hole
in the wall types.

We shared a roast beef sandwich with swiss cheese
on sourdough (pretty tasty). It's not for you upscale
ma'arte types though. We then hung out and shopped
around Union Square, before heading back to San Jose.

It was also great to see my family after over a couple
of months. We got to go celebrate my pops Bday
Saturday night at the Fish Market. Was feeling like
a steak that night (after eating fish all day Friday,
due to my Catholicness), but ended up getting oysters
fish and chips style. It was pretty good. Nothing like
battered and fried food items, they're the best.

Sunday went by fast as well. Finished up my taxes with
my uncle in the morning. Got Viet food in the afternoon.
Then met up with Triple D's (Dave, Deb and Danielle)
at Pizza California, with Shuggs before leavin' on a
jetplane back to Vegas.

I wish again that I could have met up with more of my
peeps there - but hey, I'll probably see them in Vegas
in the next few months. Summer and the World Series of
Poker is just around the corner. The season when the
playas' play and mountain of chips can be found on the
green felt of our terra firma we call Sin City.

Wishful thinking...

P.S. Ooh...found a nice surprise in my bag when
I got home. I got a Team Pacquiao Nike Tshirt for
pasalubong from my cousin Jorge in the PI. Props
bro, been trying to find one like that for the
past year. Pinoy Size L, fits just fine. I just
got to make sure I don't put the tee in hot
water when I wash it or I may find myself with
a nice baby tee for summer, lol...

Heatin' Up...

2009-03-22T20:50:00.000-07:00

3/20/09

Heatin' Up...

Who knew that 85 degrees would feel hot to me in this
godforsaken town. I guess after a few months of
60 degree weather, the jump in temperature is a bit of a
shock to the system.

I'm just glad the a/c system in Taylor the Jeepney
is working just fine. Kinda surprised the air blowin' out
of it is ice cold, just like it just came out of the
factory. I will definitely need in good working order,
for the hell of a summer that is coming up.

I do remember those triple digit days when I first moved to
Sin City. Whoowee, at least I can sweat off a few pounds
by just living here.

Anyway, I'm at McCarran Int'l Airport, waiting for my
flight back home to the Bay. I guess I can't come to call
Vegas home, I'm just a tourist on extended stay, hehe.

Hope the poker starts heatin' up as well. 2 out 3 tournament
cashes ain't so bad for the year. That would be a great
winning percentage. I just need to get a little lucky and
also on the other hand, not get outlucked. I think I
have this tourny thing down pat - just go in with the
worst hand and hope it holds up - Wheee!!! Haha!!!

Done for now, boardin' the plane in a few....

On A Roll...Right...

2009-03-18T22:09:00.000-07:00

3/18/09

On A Roll...Right...

Just finished as chip leader for the mock poker tourny
to pick the 4 man team to represent AAA at the Corporate
Challenge of the City of Las Vegas. Whoohoo, we started
with 7 whoppin' entries, so I had to outlast 3 people to
make the team. It made it easier snapping up over half
the chips in play.

The actual tourny is on 6/2/09 at the Golden Nugget.
I think it will be like some type of shootout format,
where the team will combine their point results together
to get a final "score" for the company team.

I must be on a roll...hehe...

Another Day, Another Dollar...

2009-03-15T23:26:00.000-07:00

3/15/09

Another Day, Another Dollar...

This past weekend, some of the homies from the Bay and LA
came into town. Friday was pretty much a blur. If you know
me, I usually wake up automatically by 800 am or so, without
the use of an alarm. I actually slept in until about 1 pm on
Saturday. I would have slept in longer, but woke up due to
the smell of bacon, spam and eggs in the air.

Funny, just had spam and eggs at California Casino at about
600 am that morning. But yo, spam is good anytime of the day.

I did wake up at around 1030 am that morning to take a peepee,
but went right back to sleep, as soon as the tank was on empty.

Now I remember why I do not like taking tequila shots. It's
that damn headache you get the next day. I only had one
shot and maybe 3 other drinks spread out thru 5 or six hours.
That lone tequila shot, put the hammer to the head though.

I decided not to party with them on Saturday night, due
to the fact that I was feeling cheap (I didn't want to pay
for bottle service - I'm pretty much desensitized to the Vegas
club atmosphere in my old age), plus I wanted to have a clearer
head the next day, if I was planning to play in a poker tourny
on Sunday, which I planned to do (as I probably won't play for
the next couple of weeks, because of next weekend's trip
back home and work this week).

Anyway, I planned to play the 12 noon tourny at Caesar's.
Those plans got squashed, when I couldn't get a hold of a
couple of the poker homies that morning. They were probably
still sleeping in after partying the night before. I also
wanted to check out a couple of the last episodes of season
5 of the Soprano's. The past month and a half or so, I've been
rewatching each season. God, I miss that show and Entourage.
Maybe, I need to get into watching Big Love, a Mormon style
Soprano's on HBO, as well.

I decided to make the 3 pm tourny at Caesar's. It has a
buyin of $70.00, with a starting chips stack of $2,500.00.
I really don't like starting with a shortstack off the bat.
The noon tourny starts you off with $7,500.00 in chips, but
the 3 pm tourny would satisfy my poker tourny jones for the
day. Plus the blind levels went up every 30 minutes, so at
least you had more time to try to chip up each level.

Into the second level of blinds, I about doubled up my
starting stack to $5,000.00. I then proceeded to give
chips away until the end of the second level, where I went
back to my starting stack of $2,500.00. At least I was above
10 big bets and had some fold equity at the start of the
3rd level of blinds.

Again, I really had no premium hands throughout the
tourny. I had pocket Kings once where I went all in with about
7 big bets, with no callers. Better to win the dead money,
then get coolered by Ace Rag on the river.

The tourny started with about 55 people and would pay the
top 6 finishers. Luckily, we got down to 7 handed and we
all decided to give 7th place $60.00 for a bubble finish.

I was reading the other players pretty well and won a few
coinflips.

My all in over the top of another all in player with Ace/Ten
of Spades. I had the the other player outchipped 2 to 1,
but was looking to win the blinds/antes as well. I felt
the other player was just making a move with any hand,
and I was willing to race him with my ace suited hand.
Good thing the other player had King/Ten OS, I was
in the lead (which I thought anyway). We both flopped
a Ten on the turn, but no river King for him.

My all in with pocket Sixes, faded Ace/Nine OS (thanks for
the call you donk!, hehe - I can't believe I got called
by that hand. He practically called off all his chips
with that hand, after just putting in one bet initially.
Well, that's a call I wanted. The longer he took to call,
the better I felt, that I was ahead in the hand. Cool,
another double up.

My all in with Ace/Eight of Spades against pocket Jacks,
brought me an Ace on the flop, plus I runner runnered
the nut flush. Lovin' it. Double up time again.

My all in with Ace/Six of Spades (while in the money),
got called by Ace/Ten OS. I rivered a straight. I
couldn't believe that I was called by that hand either.
There are such a range of hands that beat Ace/Ten OS.
I can't blame the guy, he did make the right call, if
he put me on Ace/Rag or a baby pair. I think even, if
I put another person on Ace/Rag or a baby pair, I would
fold Ace/Ten OS, if I had no money in the pot. But hey,
that call from the other player doubled me up.

I had to make a couple of key laydowns, where I felt I
was behind in the hand (even with top pair). The other players
showed their hands after I folded, and was indeed behind in the
hand. It's better to save chips, then dump them off needlessly.

Kinda' surprised myself gettin' that far without really
any premium hands. Well, I had pocket Jacks a couple of
other times - but I got no callers with my raises at those
times. I could have raised with air and still get the dead
money.

Oh yeah, my bust out hand was King/Eight OS. I had only
about 6 big bets at the time and was under the gun.
The dead money in the pot was about a 30% of my stack at
the time. I might as well try to steal it. I went all
in and was called by the chip leader (who actually deliberated
folding his hand). He called my with Ace/Ten OS (saw
alot of Ace/Ten combos throughout the tourny, weird).
Anyway, the flop came out Nine/Seven/Six rainbow. About
the best flop I could get. I was on a open end straight
draw with a King. I had ten outs twice (3 Tens, 4 Fives
and 3 Kings - on the turn and river - I'll take
that). The turn came a Jack - still have the same outs.
The river hit an Eight. The other player thought he lost,
by me making a pair of Eights. The dealer and I pointed
out that he made a straight. The luck tank ran out.
I can't say it's all luck - I was the one usually initiating
the action with my raises and all ins.

God, so close...When can I get a first place again?
Again, better to cash, than, bust out right before the money.
So close...

Maybe, I'm leadin up to the winner's circle again.

Feels cool...even though the amount I won is what Mr. Wynn
wipes his nose with each day.

The Taste Of Victory, Well A Sniff Of It At Least...

2009-03-10T17:03:00.000-07:00

3/10/09

The Taste Of Victory, Well A Sniff Of It At Least...

Wow, it's been a few weeks since I last updated the
good old blog. Been busy workin' at AAA, part time at my
buddy's title business, and with some property management
issues. Plus, like I've said before - getting from point
A to point B in Vegas, is like driving from San Jo' to the
City - each damn way.

Anyway, after Vday weekend, my lady swung back from New
Mexico into Las Vegas the next weekend. Japes, his
girl and some of their friends were also in town for the
vacation and to play in some of the Deep Stack poker events
at the Venetian and Caesar's. Actually got to watch one
of his buddy's at the final table of a $300 event at
Venetian, the Friday after Valentine's day weekend. His
first tourny and he made a 4th place cash, which was good
for a great return on his $300. I'lll tell you this,
it was more than I made for my first place at Lucky Chances,
which now seems years ago, and if you remember that, that
was a good chunk of dolla' bills, hehe.

I decided to play a Mega Stack Poker tourny at Caesar's
the next day, on Saturday with JP. The buyin was for $340.00
total, which included the bonus, for a total of $15,000.00 in
tournament poker chips. The blind levels lasted 50 minutes
each. Pretty good value for the tourny, as you could have
a lot of play for the chipstack amount. Not necessarily
be gambo' gambo', but you could have the luxury of picking
your spots, without your tournament life on the line
in the first couple of rounds. A total of 155 players
played and they would pay the top 18.

The gameplan has pretty much been the same for me at each
tournament I play. I do not want to get into any big
confrontations early, unless I have the nut hand or if I have
a big enough stack to afford losing to some person who gets
lucky on me at the river. Playing small ball suits me these
days - I think back in the day, I would be willing to throw
it all in with Ace/King.

Recognizing spots to just call without putting a large
investment in the pot was a strategy that I wanted to employ
during the tournament. Ask Japes, he saw me do it time and
time again. I think everybody gets too hung up on raising
every hand and pot they enter. I think if you do that too
much, you can trap yourself in a hand. I'm not going to tell
you how I employed this strategy, hand by hand. I will tell
you it is a good way to build chips, without much of a hand.
You have to determine yourself when, how and who to employ
this strategy.

As in any poker tournament, there are times when you have to
get lucky. One hand I had, which Japes witnessed, and he
declared, "Vintage Scotty!". It's not like I wanted to get
lucky in the hand, but I was glad I did though. I made it
past the dinner break, Japes had already busted out, where
I found that my stack began to dwindle. Usually, if I am
around 10 to 15 big blinds, it is "All In" time. I just don't
do it indiscriminately. I try to find a good spot to make
my shove. Plus, I can't wait for pocket Aces or Ace/King
all day. This time, I shoved with a Five/Four of Diamonds.
I got one caller on the dealer button who had Ace/Ten OS.
I thought to myself, good it's a race, at least he doesn't
share any of my outs. The dealer dealt out Ace of Diamonds,
3 of Hearts and 5 of Hearts. What a flop, I have more outs
to win. 2 Fives, 3 Fours and 4 Twos, for a total of 9.
Ooh baby, the dealer dealt a turn card of Two of Diamonds.
Now I have a wheel straight, now the other player is drawing
to 3 outs for a chop (the remaining 4's in the deck). The
dealer dealt the river card which was an inconsequential
Ten of Clubs, which gave the other player a losing hand of
2 pair. I busted the other player, because I had $500 more
in chips. That was a nice double up. I didn't even celebrate,
cause it was still a long road ahead. Why should I celebrate,
we still had to get through 15 other players to get to the
money.

Back into grind mode now. After a few more hours, we
got to the money. We were now 2 tables of 9 each. To
make a long story short. I busted out in 11th place.
Made about 3 times my buyin, then gave 20% cut to Japes per
our trade. I guess I should be proud of the result.
Getting that far without having really any premium hands
is sometimes amazing to me. I only got pocket Aces once,
sometime in the early blind levels - where I raised it
under the gun, but got no callers at all (well, at least
I didn't bust out on them, lol).

I think my actual victory was that this was the first time
my girlfriend saw me play poker. She must have been bored
out her mind, but she did give me inspiration while playing.
Thanks hun!

And a first place would have been sweet as well, hehe...

Anyway, almost had the same result last Saturday at tourny
at the Orleans. Out of 69 players, I busted out at 13th,
just 6 away from the money. Jeez...

See you on the felt kids...

The Great Dane...

2009-02-24T16:04:00.000-08:00

2/17/09

The Great Dane...

Not talking about the dog, but Gus Hansen's book called
"Every Hand Revealed". It's his book that came out last
year, detailing the hands he played (or hands he did
not play), on his way to winning the Aussie Millions in
2007.

I guess you could say, it's not your typical poker strategy
book - meaning you do step A, then step B and then step C,
if doing those things in order, you will end up in the
money. It's more of a diary or journal of key hands that
he was involved in during the tournament and how he played
them. For example, he talks about playing Ace/King in
different situations. I think some books just plainly
say to raise that hand preflop to filter out the junk
hands. If you happen to get called, bet (or raise) on
the flop if you hit your hand, if not, let it go. Gus
goes into better detail on what he plans to do with that
type of hand, what his reads are on the opposing player
(or players) in the hand with him and what he believes
what type of reaction he will get from the other players
before he commits any further action in the hand.

That's probably why I like the book and that it did not
take me that long to get through reading it. It really
gave me a picture of how he played through the tournament
and what went on in his mind during that time.

If you like the A, B, C's type of poker books, this one
ain't for you. But if you like to truly delve into the
mind of one of the world's best players (and probably
gambling degenerates, just kidding Gus) - this is probably
the book for you.

V-Day Weekend...

2009-02-24T16:03:00.000-08:00

2/16/09

V-Day Weekend...

My girl came down from the Bay this weekend for Valentines
Day, on Friday. It feels great to see her after a what seems
a long 3 weeks of seeing her last in Vegas.

We had dinner at this Italian restaurant Onda, located at
the Mirage. It seemed like I didn't have to get reservations,
as they accomodated walk in customers at the time. But it is
better to be safe than sorry, especially during this weekend.

We both opted for their set Valentine's menu. We first
started with a salad and ravioli. The entree we both picked
was the ribeye steak. We only got thru about a third of it
each. Like true Filipinos, we got it boxed for baon later.
Dessert was a caramel like flan for me, she picked the
strawberry gelato with chocolate syrup and ligonberries.
Not a bad deal for a 3 course meal.

The atmosphere was a pleasant surprise. A slight clean Euro
bar entry area, which opened into their larger dinner area with
a Tuscan feel. There are a ton of restaurants in the Mirage,
so kudos to them for giving each of them a nice and different
architectural feel to all of them.

We weren't in the party mood, so we opted to watch "He's Not
That Into You" at the Brenden movie theatres at the Palms.
Pretty much my fave movie theatre on the Strip (and the only
one I've ever gone to in Vegas). I thought the movie was
pretty good - not essentially a chick flick, but a good
comedic relationship movie. It's funny, because the storyline
was chock full of truths, in different perspectives. I guess
you can really relate to movies when you've experienced the
same kind of things.

Anyway, I'll get back to chillin' with my lady at SB's...

Also got to think about my strategy going in to the Venetian
Deep Stack NLHE tourny I may play this upcoming week. Some
of the homies from the Bay will be coming in this week as well
to play. If I don't get to play, I'll probably put up some
money for somebody's buyin for a share if they happen to cash.
Got to get in the action somehow, hehe.

Basketball In The Bay...

2009-02-13T19:39:00.000-08:00

2/13/08

Basketball In The Bay...

Through thick in thin, the only NBA Team I've been a fan of
are the Warriors. Lovin' it when Floyd was Sleepy, TMC was
runnin' thangs, and seeing our perennial drafts of the first
round fizzle out (re: Vonteego Cummings, where is he now?).
Oh yeah, I forgot some of the funky contracts we signed
players like Jason Caffey and Adonal Foyle to (but hey,
he will probably make a great diplomat or international
political figure in the future - when was the last time we
saw an diplomat lead the NBA in rebounds and blocks, hmmm?).

It was great seein' things pick up for the Warriors in the
last couple of years. Gettin' Baron Davis was a steal. He
made his time at Oracle, feel like the Showtime days of the
Lakers with Magic. Wow, so that's what a playoff atmosphere
feels like. I almost went a third of my life not knowin' if
the City would make it back to the postseason.

Then back to this season. What if Ellis was healthy at the
beginning of the season? What if Baron Davis stayed in the
Bay? I hate asking those questions to myself and my fellow
Warrior fans. But it has sure looked pretty good lately.
Some nice wins against West Coast playoff tier teams.

We can still win.

We will win.

Keep hope alive.

Back In The Piker's Lane...

2009-02-08T20:03:00.000-08:00

2/5/08

Back in the Piker's Lane...

Are you a Piker? Waiting for the whistle to blow, tellin'
you when to get off work...

Whew...work is not that mentally demanding, but clockin'
in day to day has some getting used to. Well, after
6 or 7 months of dealing with the green felt, it can be
a life change. Early retirement was not for me, hehe.
Being a contractor is not so bad for now. Being paid
every week, makes it a little easier on the wallet from
Uncle Sam.

Anyway, it's all good. I will save my UI for when I
really need it. Interacting with people at work, other
than poker degenerates seated around a leather and felt
bound oval table, can be reassuring in a social sense.
I still have that rapport with all walks of life. Does
that make sense? To me it does, I guess. Hehe. Maybe
that's what makes me a better than average poker player
(in my own mind, lol). A good sense of what people feel,
before they act. Hmmm, I guess poker is like life, huh?

I do miss playin' though. It's been a few weeks.
Starting to get withdrawal symptoms - I'm beginning to
shuffle chips in my sleep. The Venetian Deep Stack Series
is goin on now - but I may just have to wait until some of
the poker crew from the Bay is in town in a couple of
weeks. I'll have to do a couple of warm up tourny's in
the meantime. I guess, I haven't completely retired from
the poker life, hehe.

Back To The "True" Grind...

2009-01-23T18:55:00.000-08:00

1/23/09

Back To The "True" Grind...

I guess that's what you can call it. I started sending
another round of resumes when I got back from the Bay,
after the New Year. I really felt that I needed to get
back in the work mode after a months of grindin' it out
on the felt.

So whattaya' know, after a week back in Vegas, I get a
new contracting gig at AAA Insurance. It's like herpes,
once you been in the insurance business, you might get
rid of the symptoms for a little while, but they always
come back. That's a little tongue in cheek, but hey sometimes
it hints at the truth.

It's all good though, the poker economy at brick and
mortar casinos have been mirroring what the economy has been
going through in this nation. Online sites are probably doing
alot better, as it has made playing poker much cheaper. You
know, you don't have to drive to a poker room (saves gas),
don't worry about getting ready (like takin' a shower and
getting dressed), don't have to worry about what you gonna'
eat (the fridge is probably within arms reach from your laptop,
as you go all in with your mouse), and the list may go on. I
just haven't really got into an online poker mode right now.

Don't get me wrong, I would never regret the decision I made
last year, leaving my job in the South Bay. I think the
hardest thing to deal with was being separated from family,
friends and my girl, back home.

Playing poker here, has enabled me to do other things than
just win money (albeit, it ain't not as much as I would want
to). It got me to think about what truly someone needs in
life. I had the ability to write out my thoughts more. Share
my story with anyone who feels they need time to waste while
droppin' a deuce (believe you me, reading during those times,
does relax you, lol)...

It's been slow here during the beginning of the week, so
having a job will at least cure some of the tediousness of
the week. And in these times, it always fine to have other
income streams at your disposal. Anyway, I'll still play to
win when the tourists come in during the weekends - hopefully
there are some fish to bait in the Obama age, hehe...

That might have been my problem, I think I may have had a
different style of playin' when I held a full time job. I
guess the luxury of having a guaranteed paycheck week to week,
makes you feel a little bit more "invincible" on the felt. If
you lose your buyin or go on a little cold spell, that other
income stream could hold you down. When you play without that
luxury, the chips on the table seem to look more like loaves
of bread, a dozen eggs, your utility bill money, gas
expenses - it's a calculated risk that could affect your life
even deeper.

Maybe that's it...Hmmm...I still have my bankroll intact,
but fear could be the reason, I dunno'. I'll have to gauge
my play in the next few months to see if that theory is correct.

I'll definitely need to take a break from the tournys until
February, once the Venetian Deep Stack and Cesar's Megastack
tournys start up. Some of the poker homies will be down from
the Bay, it'll be more fun to see a few more recognizable peeps
on the felt.

There's always sports betting, lol.

My thoughts for now...

On Any Given Sunday, Part Deux...

2009-01-19T09:09:00.000-08:00

1/18/09

On Any Given Sunday, Part Deux...

I wasn't even feeling like betting the football games this
Sunday. I mean, the small bets do add a bit of excitement
when watchin' the games on the tube. I was just gonna' hook
up at my buddy Ed's house to watch the games and maybe get
some grub later.

Anyway, I was sittin' in the barber's chair at Sportclips,
when I got a call from Ed asking me if I was going to put
a bet on the games today. I told him that I looked the lines
over on the games and really could not make a decision on what
parlay combo to bet on. I told him that I really didn't feel
like putting any money for today. We discussed it for a couple
of minutes and just told him that if he decided to make a bet,
I would be good for twenty, since I owed him a twenty anyway.
I was still a little up on the football bets too.

About five minutes later, I got a call back from Ed. He told
me that he contacted his cousin who was in from out of town
to put a bet down form Ed and I at twenty bucks each. Ed
chose to go with Arizona at +3 (underdogs at home), the
over points 47 total (Philly vs. AZ), Pittsburgh -6 and the
over points 34.5 (Pittsburgh vs. Baltimore). This parlay
bet would gross $260.00, if he hit all the bets. Not
bad for a twenty dollar bet. It does make it a little more
exciting to watch the games, hehe...

I got to Ed's house right before kickoff of the Philly vs.
AZ game. The first half was great. At halftime the score
was AZ 24 to Philly 6. Good point pace and AZ was killing
the spread. Just need to them to keep up the same pace and
we got this game. If you watched it, Philly started to come
back and snatched the lead 25 to 24. This actually was good
for us, we covered the over points and the spread still
favored AZ, but there was still more time to go. Luckily,
AZ scored the final touchdown and two point conversion at
AZ 32 to Philly 25. The clock ran out and half of our bet
was still alive.

We still had to sweat the Pittsburgh vs. Baltimore game.
And what a sweat it was, hehe.

At halftime it was Pittsburgh 13 to Baltimore 7. The
overpoints were on a good pace, but the spread was a tie at
this point. Hopefully there would be more scoring by both
teams in the next half, with Pittsburgh leading the way.

The second half of this game was pure sweat again, with
Pittsburgh just scoring 3 points in the 3rd quarter and
Baltimore scoring zilch! Jesus, sweatin' twenty bucks.
That's about 18 Jack in the Box sandwiches, lol!

Well, to make a long story short - my prediction of
Pittsburgh 23 to Baltimore 14 came to fruition. After
Baltimore scored a touchdown halfway through the 4th
quarter, they had the ball again with about five minutes
to go. I shouted at the TV screen for the Pittsburgh
Defense to make a play against Flacco. Whattaya' know,
I guess Polamolu musta' heard me and picked off a pass
from Flacco and zigzagged into the endzone for a touchdown,
whoohoo!!!

The only thing I didn't like about that was it still gave
Baltimore about 4 minutes to run another series to try to
score. The Pitt lead was nine points and was covering the
spread. The Pitt Offense got the ball back again, but
still could not manage another first down.

Then the play happened. Baltimore running back Magahee
caught a pass with about three and a half minutes left in
the game. He received a nasty hit and fumbled the ball.
It was pretty bad. He had to leave the field in a gurney.
One thing about this game, I don't like seeing anyone
get hurt like that. My prayers out out to him and his
family.

That play gave the ball back to the Pitt Offense.

Still, Pitt could not manage to make another first down.
The ball went back to the Baltimore Offense with about
two minutes to go. Luckily, Flacco was intercepted with
about a minute and a half to go. The Steelers just need
to run out clock. Which they did to preserve their lead
at 23 to 14, covering the spread and the overpoints as
well...

So anyway, the football parlay bet won.

It's not bad gettin' paid to watch football. It would be
great every Sunday, lol...

I forgot to say...Leetz came into town this weekend for
his friend's birthday. Did a couple of Non Vegas things.
Met up with some of his friends from the Bay and went to
M and M Soul Food (got the smothered bbq ribs with yams,
red beans/rice, cornbread pancakes and washed it down
with Red Koolaid - dang, I had to water it down - it was
pure sugar water, hehe). After that, checked out the
movie Notorious. And no, it was not a Man Date!!!

My girl has nothing to worry about, lol...

Next stop, Hard Rock Casino NLHE tourny on MLK Day.
I see mountains of chips, I see mountains of chips,
I see mountains of chips.

The power of positive thinking...It doesn't hurt, ayt.

Again Close, But No Cigar...

2009-01-09T22:18:00.000-08:00

1/9/09

Again Close, But No Cigar...

Today I entered a NLHE tourny at Sahara which started out with 25
players.In short, I was the bubble boy at 6th place, which did
not pay. Dang...

I actually had to rebuy early in the tournament. In this hand, I
hit a King high flush on the turn and bet about a third of the
pot. Another guy reraised about 3 times the pot. I thought to
myself, if he hit the nut flush (the Ace high flush), wouldn't
he want to just call my bet and try to milk me. I kinda felt he
may have hit a set or was on a draw to the nut flush, so I decided
to go all in which would put him all in as well. Well, he called
and showed that he hit the nut flush as well. Not my day today.
It was actually the second hand of the tournament for me.

Oh well...

After my rebuy, I worked my stack up to above average throughout
until we got to the final table. I had to put my stack all in a
few times and was able to outlast a few of the other players.

My bustout hand was when I went all in in the cutoff with pocket
Fours. The button called with Ace/King OS and the big blind
called with Ace/King OS, as well. That's about the best scenario
for me here, as the other 2 players shared cards, which lessened
their outs. Unfortunately for me the door card was a King, which
paired both players. The turn and river failed to give me another
Four, so I was out in 6th place. The bad thing is that I just
busted right out of the money.

Oh well...hehe...

My basketball parlay bet hit 4 out of 5 as well...Damn Lakers
Defense! (meaning the lack of it)...

Again close, but no cigar...

At least there's football this weekend, lol...

Post Holiday Blues...

2009-01-06T11:51:00.000-08:00

1/5/08

Post Holiday Blues...

Right now, I'm about 30,000 feet up in the air, on my flight
back to Vegas. Kinda' wishin' that my flight was cancelled and
that I would be stuck in the Bay for another day. But then,
I would wish that again the next day, and the feeling would
never stop. It's hard, I'm already missing my family, my girl
and friends back home.

I do have to go back to work too I guess, lol...

Well, I probably won't step into a casino until Thursday or
Friday. The beginning of the week is slow on the green felt,
when the tourists go home and the locals chill until the fish
fly back at the end of the week. Is that an analogy?

We'll have to see what the new year brings. Hopefully a rush of
cards for more checks in the win column. Maybe a new business
plan may be in the works as well. I get tired of grindin' out
the chips sometimes.

Havin' a quick flight to Vegas, flying over the ridge into the
city at 50 minutes on the dot. Great, turbulence - will shut
off the laptop for now...

I need to get at least a part time gig as well. Helping out my
dad manage his properties in Vegas takes some time out of the
monotony of the week, but it can only do so much. Maybe I can
get a gig at the new City Center on the Strip. It would certainly
help out to have some steady money comin' on the side, but also
with getting more friends and contacts out in the network. I'll
never know if I need a free steak dinner at Nine or Blue Man
Group tickets, ya' know...With this economy, it can also be about
the trading and bartering of certain effects. And I miss getting
health insurance for free - it is a luxury that I have to pay
for, hehe...

Okay, now I'm back home on solid ground.

Some of the pics' from the last week:

Magic Mountain and some other random LA pics...

Nuttin' like fried chicken and waffles!

Hot dogs are an art form at Pinks...

New Years Celebrities...

The trip seemed too short...

Anyway, see y'all on the green felt...

Travellin' on X-Mas Eve...

2008-12-24T07:14:00.000-08:00

12/24/08

Travellin' on X-Mas Eve...

I got into McCarran Int'l Airport about an hour an half before
my flight back to San Jose is to depart at 815 AM. I already
got my boarding pass online and decided to check in a couple of
bags curbside. I had my customary last cigarette outside and
walked into the terminal. I looked up at the Departures screens
and did not see my flight listed. The curbside check in employee
did not say anything about any delays or cancellations. Hmmm?

I got to my gate and saw that an LA flight was to depart at 655
am. It's about that time and no plane. There must be a delay.
I didn't see any Southwest employees around, so I booted up the
laptop and check the status of my flight online. Dang, delayed
to an estimated time of 840 AM (which means that it could still
take longer). I guess, I've been too spoiled. I think of all the
times that I've flown, I've had only to experience one delay.
Pretty much all my flights have been on time. I guess that's
unusual. But hey, I can't complain, my flight cost would have
been the same cost of gas, if I drove back to the Bay.

Well, that's probably the reason I booked an early flight back
home. Maybe to compensate for any delays on one of the most
travelled days of the year. At least I have some toys to play
with at the airport, my laptop (free aiport wifi, need to find
a plug - power will go out in an hour), Amazon Kindle and the
Ipod. Technology is a savior.

Getting hungry - some lady beside me is munchin' on a croissant
breakfast sandwich with bacon, she also got some of those fried
french toast sticks - mmm, mmm...I had breakfast earlier - I think,
I'll just wait until I get back to San Jose, my SB mocha should be
good until then.

Anyway, I'm glad I finished a majority of my X-Mas shopping right
before Thanksgiving. Everybody tells me that the malls and shops
are just straight crazy. I just don't have the patience for that.
You can say I'm the typical guy shopper, I already know what I need
to buy - I go straight to the store, buy it and leave. I do browse,
but when I intend to buy something, I make it simple. The only thing
I have to do now it just wrap up the presents when I get back home.

Later today, after the GF picks me up from the airport, she planned
to pass out some food and blankets to homeless people in the area.
She's has a good and generous heart. It's a good thing. It also
makes me realize, how lucky life has been for me. Well, it could be
a little luckier on the poker felt (hehe...). I mean, life could be
worse, but having that feeling of creating my own destiny, having
the support of my GF, family and friends - makes feel a certain
positivity. I still wish I had work benefits though, lol...If
things don't work out for me in the poker world, there are alot of
other things in life that I can always look forward too.

Anyway, I'll sign out for now...Need to conserve some laptop battery
power.

Merry X-Mas Y'all!!

Sho' Nuff...

2008-12-22T22:13:00.000-08:00

12/22/08

Sho'Nuff...

Check out the trailer for the movie "Black Dynamite"...

This movie looks pretty rad. Just came up on the trailer
on the net. I may make the trek to Sundance in Park City, UT
next month to check this out and the film festival...

The movie got Charmane Star in a cameo - Pinays Representin!
Lol...

On Any Given Sunday...

2008-12-21T16:35:00.001-08:00

12/21/08

On Any Given Sunday...

After a handful of tries, one of my 4 teamer football parlay wins!
Too bad I only bet twenty bucks at 12 to one - but hey, I should be
happy with that. Football parlay bets are like lottery tickets
anyway. At least that put me about even or a small profiteer from
my sports bets this year. Like I said before, their purpose is
to make watching football a bit more exciting. It was down to the
wire with the Saints and Lions Game. That game just squeaked in
just a point and a half under the points given at 50.5 - that was
the one that had to go pretty much wire to wire. After posting
a good pick ratio of 75%, it was fun to actually get all of them
correct.

Also grinded out some cash at limit holdem in Aliante the day
before, during a couple of sessions in the day and night.
I guess people just wanted to give me money that day. My flopped
pairs held up, when people were chasing and my made hands held up
beating second place. That is kind of hard to do at this poker
room, when half of your opponents are people on fixed incomes, that
just don't want to give any money away. I had lost some of my
profit from the tournament cash I had earlier in the week at the
Bellagio last Thursday - so it was cool to make that up and more,
yesterday. The swings can get to you, but you have to look at it
in the long run of life I guess. At least they are not big swings,
that would scurr me some times, hehe.

I will probably play one or more two sessions before I get back to
the Bay for the holidays. I will need to take care of some business
with one of the rental properties first, then off to the felt for
a cash game or tourny (I guess I haven't quit them yet).

Anyway, I can't wait to get back home to see the GF, family and
friends - especially noshin' on some of my Auntie Ilya's lumpia
shanghai. No need for any turkey or ham for me during the family
Xmas parties - fried eggrolls will hit the spot just fine, yo...
As a matter of fact, I also miss my Auntie Mely's rice crispie
treats as well - haven't had those for years (I will need to trek
up to Sacto for those).

Overnight Celebrity...

2008-12-17T19:08:00.000-08:00

12/17/08

Overnight Celebrity...

Yeah right, hopefully you got my email with the link:

http://www.cardplayer.com/tv/34988

You can see me in the background, during the interview,
at right about 3:59 into the video. I finally made it
Ma! (I'm the guy looking at his cellphone in a Green
Kangol, hehe).

I was just railbirding the Doyle Brunson North American
Poker Championship WPT event, yesterday. I actually
witnessed the aftermath of the hand Phil Helmuth is
talking about during his interview. I walked into the
Fontana Lounge, where the tournament was taking place,
and Mr. Helmuth flopped right on top of this empty
poker table in front of the entrance. I couldn't
watch too long, as watching people play poker live, is
like watching paint dry. You can't see what the players
have, unless there is an all in and a call from another
player or players. It was also bubble time, meaning that
the money spots were about 10 busted players away, from
the time I left. Usually players will play tight, as they
are near the money spots in the tournament.

I wanted to try to satellite into the tournament last week,
but I've been fightin' the cold bug since last Thursday.
I didn't feel like just putting up, you know, like $15,000.00
to play in it. I've just started to recover - and now it snows!
I will have to get over my frugalness and use house heater, hehe...

Earlier today, I finally made a cash in a tournament at the
Sahara. I was going to swear off tournament poker for a
while, but the buy in was about $45.00 with rebuys. You also
started with a fair amount of chips at $4,000.00 with 20 minute
blind periods. Plus there were no ante rounds. You could also
rebuy at $20.00 bucks for the first hour, giving you $2,000.00
in chips. If I busted out early, I was going to go to Bellagio,
to watch some more of the WPT and play some limit cash games
there.

Anyway, the tournament started out with 42 people. To make a
long story short, I busted in 4th place and more than quadrupled
my original buy in. Not much of a big win, but I was glad to make
a cash in a tournament. And no, my Aces (had em' once early in the
tournament) did not get cracked - but I only made about $500.00 on
them - inconsequential in the scheme of the tournament.

The Small Things In Life...

2008-12-15T15:57:00.000-08:00

12/14/08

The Small Things In Life...

Oh yeah, I guess that's what make things in life worth livin'
for. Right now, I'm at McCarran Int'l Airport, hopin' my
girlfriend's flight (that is to land in Vegas and she is
connect to Albuquerque - it was already delayed in San Jose)
will be delayed, so that she will miss her flight to
Albuquerque. If not, hopefully we can see eachother for
a few minutes of quality time when she lands. Funny thing
is, that she just called me and she missed the next flight
to Albuquerque. So she will stay for the night in Vegas
and fly back out tomorrow morning. Good for her, she gets
Oyster Bar at Harrah's to help with the sorrow, hehe...

LDR's are crazy. Only for the strong, I could say. There are
things that are telling me to go back to San Jose - my girl,
missing friends and family - thoughts of going back to
school to study. I just don't know at times.

I always think of worst case scenarios before I commit myself
to new goals and objectives. I mean, with the poker playing,
I haven't hit bottom. Not even close. I have posted a
profit from my bankroll, albeit a small one. But the plus
column has not been there lately. I've had to delve into the
savings for the living expenses, which is no surprise to me
as I planned for that anyway.

It is really true, when a poker pro tells you that there can
be emotional swings when playing to what equates to is just a
game. But I guess, you can say that in all aspects of life.
I can consider myself lucky that, the impending recession has
not affected me to a degree of others I see.

Like I said before, I plan for worst case scenarios - and it
hasn't come to that situation yet. I also hear other poker pros
say that you have to go broke at least once in your "career".
To me, that is not good advice - bad money management ruins
anybody, be it a poker player, waitress, claims adjuster,
small business owner or a CEO. If you don't have that, you
might as well wipe your ass with dolla' bills or twennies for
that matter.

Maybe this time off is meant for me to reassess, think, write
about what one's (not necessarily my own) purpose is in life.

I think alot of us get caught up with trying to keep up with
the Jones's, without finding out what truly makes you happy.

But don't listen to me. Ask youself that question...

When Scotty Was In Egypt's Land, Let My Scotty Go...

2008-12-13T23:19:00.000-08:00

12/13/08

When Scotty Was In Egypt's Land, Let My Scotty Go...

If you've seen Ferris Bueller's Day Off, you may know where that
line came from. For the past few days, I've been feeling like
Cameron, Ferris's best friend in the movie. I guess, it's the
ususal time of year, when I get all the cold/flu symptoms acting
up in me. I've been spewin' out mucus like a mofo' lately.
At least the symptoms seem to be wearing off.

I've been wanting to check out the poker room at Excalibur.
They had installed some electronic poker tables there for some
months now. They have a pot limit omaha game there for 0.50/1.00
stakes. Not too much to get you in trouble, but with PLO, the
pots can grow pretty well, as it is an action game. So, I haven't
played for the past 3 or 4 days, because of my condition. I don't
want to have to cough and blow my nose in between every bet.

I was surprised I didn't get sick last week. Well, it's not like
I went overboard with the drinking anyway. I paced myself, as we
are not getting any younger.

Hopefully tomorrow, I can get up early enough to put a football
parlay bet down. I also have to get in on that freeroll tourny
I've been meaning to play for the past couple of months. I won the
entry in late September or early October. It's just that the tourny
is played on Sundays every couple of weeks, and I've been caught up
usually watchin football and playin some limit holdem at Aliante or
Red Rock. I might as well take a shot this Sunday. But things may
change, we'll have to see.

Pinoy POWER!!!

2008-12-09T00:00:00.000-08:00

12/08/08

Pinoy POWER!!!

As you may know, Manny Pacquiao just reaffirmed that he
may be the best pound for pound fighter for our generation.
He beat Mr. De La Hoya, no doubt about it. I should have
had better faith on our countryman's ability to give a good
fight last Saturday. The only bet I put down was for a
12 round draw (I was thinkin' that there may be a second
fight, due to the potential money another fight could make).
I think the 700 club lost out on this one too, lol...next
time...

The thing that really disappointed me about the fight, was
the fact that it looked like De La Hoya did not seem to be
the aggressor at any time during the bout. It seemed like
he was on the defensive at all times. Well, you may say that
he never had an opponent like Pacquiao for quite sometime.
The HBO specials that was aired weekly before last Saturday,
kinda' hyped each fighter's training and mental attitude
before the fight. I mean with De La Hoya, sparing no expense
in getting the best trainers his money and influence could
buy, I would think he would have put up a better outing
than what happened that night.

Like I said before, maybe Pacquiao was just too quick and
powerful for him at this stage of De La Hoya's life. But
hey, this fight made him some nice change - I would have
stopped the fight in the 8th round too, before suffering
any more permanent damage. He probably made like over
$35,000,000.00 gross - you can't enjoy that money, if you
have to sip your dinner through a straw for the rest of
your life.

Before the fight, a bunch of the homies from San Jose and
the Bay Area flew in on Thursday and Friday. It was great
to see Debbie, Dave S., Ron, Christine, Darlene, Leetz, Dave B.,
Chau, John John, Fiel, the Fernandez Bros (like they're a
company or boy band, yeah more closer to a bading boy band,
just kidding guys), and whoever else I forgot, oh yeah
Juan Juan (but I don't think I remember talking to you at
the club, because I was pretty gone - don't get me near
any free alcohol, because I will take advantage of that,
like no one will, ya' feel me?

I mean, I pretty much paced myself. No suca for me later
that night. It was kinda' nice not havin' to spend one red
cent to go out that night, hehe...This prefight party was at
ROK in NYNY Hotel/Casino. It was good to see everybody there
gettin' in gear befor the fight.

The next day, a bunch of us hit up M and M Soul Food Cafe.
It seemed to be a hit with the group. Fried chicken skin,
seems to make everybody's soul a bit happier. Smothered
BBQ shortribs also bring joy and Christmas spirit to one's
self as well. With a healthy dose of cornbread pancakes
and all you can drink Koolaid "red", one can actually find
the meaning of life. Anyway, hit this place up when you are
next in town, you won't regret it.

Later that night, was the fight. Our whole group, with the
exception of the Sonico's, went to Mandalay Bay to catch the
closed circuit broadcast of the fight in their arena. The
arena didn't sell out, but I thought that it was a good thing,
as I didn't want to feel too cloistered in that place. Don't
get me wrong, the atmosphere was pretty good - the section we
all sat at seemed to be all Pacquiao fans.

I think after the first 3 rounds, you pretty much knew who was
gonna' win this thing. Like I said prior, I made a bet on a
draw (no winner) - but I didn't really care if I lost that
bet. I was rollin' with the Pac Man on this one. I just regret
not putting up any money on him at the beginning of the week
when he had almost 2 to 1 odds to win (no matter what round or
how he would win). Pacquiao dominated each round, until after
the 8th, where the fight was stopped by the De La Hoya camp,
conceding defeat to the Pac Man. It felt like a workout watchin'
this thing. I think I must have yelled and jumped, like I was
at ringside (as well as all the peeps around me). It was
totally radical and awesome...

The Santos, Dar and I decided to chill and get some eats at
Carnegie's at the Mirage. Had Challah French Toast with a side
of bacon (it ain't really a side, they give about a dozen pieces
of the stuff, I should have just asked for a bowl of rice and
ketchup and eat it like Saturday breakfast with mom back in
the day). Dave got a bacon cheeseburger, Debs a cornbeef
sandwich and Dar a pastrami sandwich. The sandwiches probably
had a couple pounds of meat each - hefty, that's how that place
rolls. At least you get a full meal for later on, as you can't
finish these plates, unless you been stuck on the "Lost" island
and just got back to civilization or if money is involved.
Sick...

Anyway, most of everybody left to go back to the Bay Area on
Sunday afternoon. I made a pitstop with Fiel, Fred, Deb, Dar
and Dave at Hot/Spicy Crawfish in Chinatown. It's a cajun style
restaurant off of Spring Mountain Road. My buddy Andre
introduced me to it when I first moved here. It is another
hidden gem off the Strip. You can't beat a pound of boiled
craw fish or shrimp for seven bucks. I personally did not have
that at the time (I got the chicken wings - can't live with out
fried chicken, if it's available at the place). It seemed like
another hit with the peeps, so again, when y'all come down,
you gots to go. Buffets on the Strip will not appeal to you
anymore.

That night a couple of the Fernandez Bros. were still in town
for another night, staying at the Hard Rock. They were going
to party at Body English for their last night in town. I decided
to chill for the night, as I don't think my body could take it.
I wanted to be in coma mode for the rest of the night. Hopefully,
I'll hit them up next time I'm back in the Bay or in the PI.

As for poker, busted out of the Caesar's 12 noon tourney today
and made ten bucks playing some $1/3 NLHE for an hour there.

I think I will lay off the tournys for a while and concentrate
on cash games for the time being. I am getting a little fed up
with the variance on the tourny style games. Making near the
money, doesn't make money. I'd be happier winning even just a
little during a cash session (but of course happier by winning
a lot), than bust out late in a tourny not making any cash at
all.

Happy Holidays, see y'all soon...

Back To The Grind...

2008-12-04T00:20:00.000-08:00

12/4/08

Back To The Grind...

The GF was in town for Turkey Day weekend. It was a pleasant
change of pace from fighting for chips on the green felt
battlegrounds of Vegas.

She flew in on Thursday afternoon. After I picked her up,
I headed back to my Auntie's house for more grub. Nothing
like lechon skin, stuffing, yams, lumpia on Plymouth Rock
Day. I could only take one piece of the skin that day, I
didn't know if my "online" health insurance plan would cover
any pork related issues at the local hospital.

It was great to see my girl after about almost a month of
not seeing her. I guess separation can make the heart grow
fonder. It was also a good excuse to get some off the strip
eats, that I know she would enjoy.

I also had a couple of Uncles, an Aunt and two cousins come
out from California for a couple of days as well.

On Friday, the GF and I hit up Cupcake Lane Bakery. Had
a peanut butter chocolate one and she had a red velvet
style one. Pretty good, I don't know if the $2.50 price
each was justified, but these guys must be rakin' in the
cash. I need to do some research on that business.

That night we met up at Wayne's Sushi on Sahara. It is
always a good choice and a local fave of mine. Besides
knowing the owner, like I said before, his sushi is pretty
much the bomb. His signature rolls are pretty much all
non raw - so it can appeal to the other segment of eaters.
Don't get me wrong the sashimi he gets is always pretty
fresh tasting and his poke' is really good. Everybody
seemed to enjoy the food. My relatives even got a couple
of karaoke songs in. Free entertainment, you can't beat it,
lol...

After that, we checked out Fremont Street and got heart
attack on a tray. Fried Twinkies and Oreos. So Goood,
and So Baaddd...

Saturday, my relatives left to go back to drop off my cousins
in Riverside, where they go to school. The GF and I, headed
out to Hoover Dam for their tour. We left the house around
11 am and ran into traffic just past Boulder City, which is
about 12 miles before the Dam. Dang, shoulda' known that it
would have been busy on the holiday weekend.

It took about a half hour or so, from that point, to get to
the visitor center, so it wasn't too bad. We arrived too
early for their comprehensive tour, so we decided to just
go on their Powerplant Tour only. First you sit in a
theater, which shows the history of Hoover Dam, which was
originally called Boulder Dam, before being named after
President Hoover, who signed off on creating the Dam.

Anyway, we got to see a couple of the main areas of the
Dam. We were led down into the depths of the Dam, to
a room where one of the runoff pipes was located. After
that we got to see that actual turbines that generate the
electricity from the Dam. Still looks new after about,
70 or so years. Lastly, we went thru an exhibit area and
finished a walking tour of the exterior of the Dam
ourselves. Pretty cool, stuff. I like that kinda' stuff
I guess. The GF seemed to enjoy it as well, except for
the height of the Dam, hehe...

On Sunday, we checked out Mesa Grill at Caesar's for brunch.
Pretty good food. Nothing like melted cheese and tortilla
chips for appetizer. Oh yeah the bread basket, was pretty
much a pastry basket. I don't think there was actually any
bread in it. I coulda' just had that and coffee. I had
a chicken dish with poached eggs, with hollandaise sauce.
I wish I could of finished that, it was mighty tasty.
She had a scrambled egg frittata type thing on crisp
tortillas, with Flay's signature cream fraiche sauce. That
was really good as well.

After that, it was time to check into TI for her last night
in Vegas. Nothing like being lazy for the next few hours
in a hotel room. We lagged too much to have dinner and
just got ready to go to the Christian Audigier Nightclub
downstairs. It used to be Tangerine, but I guess the Ed
Hardy dude got his own club there. It's still pretty much
the same, except with all the skull and Ed Hardy stuff
all over the place. At least there was no cover and the
DJ was playing the jams from back in the day.

After we checked out on Monday, it was time for some
soul food. We headed out to M and M Soul Food. It was
a good thing it wasn't too crowded, I was fiending for
the fried chicken. She ordered short ribs smothered in
gravy and of course I had to get the chicken. The sides
were fried okra, potato salad, collard greens, macaroni
cheese and cornbread pancakes. Goood Stuff...

We were planning to check out the Atomic Testing Museum,
after lunch - but we were both in a food coma. We just
went back to the pad for some rest, before driving her
to the airport.

She flew out later that night. She is missed, dang I'm
getting misty, lol...

Check out this photo of her friends' daughter. Chubby
cutie, hehe...

As I said, back to the grind. I went to Aliante last night,
which was just a few hours ago to check out the action. It
looks like it has been slowing down since their opening, but
I wanted to play some Limit Omaha - hopefully they got a table
going. When I got there, they had about 4 full tables goin',
it didn't look too bad. I signed up for some Limit Omaha and
Limit Holdem (both at $4/8). No action for Omaha tonight, so
I got sat down at the Limit Holdem table.

I think the strategy here is to play tight, as a lot of the
local degenerates, will call you down with second pair or
top pair when there are definite made hands on the board.
I made about $155.00 after 2.5 hours of play, I pretty much
doubled up for that short session. I was thinking of playing
longer, but the action and players were drying up. Better to
leave making a decent profit, than to play all night and be
down. I decided to hightail it out of there, right before the
big blind got back to me. Cashed out, popped a twamp on the
Pacquiao/De La Hoya fight on the 12 round draw at 15 to 1.
Hopefully it hits. I'm thinkin' there might be a part II
to their battle anyway...

I'll go back to the grind later this week anyway...

Almost Hittin' For a 1.000 Percent...

2008-11-23T16:13:00.000-08:00

11/23/08

Almost Hittin' For a 1.000 Percent...

You can almost call me Scotty the Greek. I bet 3 football
parlays today, one 6 teamer, and two 4 teamers. I got 5 out of
6 on one and 3 out of 4 on the two others. At least I'm beating
the experts, hehe...

It would have been nice to parlay $40.00 bucks into just about
a $900.00 profit, if they all hit. But alas, the Dallas/San
Francisco game and New York (Giants)/Arizona game, made the
over points. At least it makes watching the games more exciting,
hehe. Money would be icing on the cake.

There's always next week. Anything can happen on any given
Sunday.

I made the picks at the Aliante Casino sportsbook. It looks like
the hype at the casino may be dying down. The poker room only
had 2 tables going at the time, $2/4 and $4/8 limit holdem.

I decided to play some $2/4 limit holdem to kill some time.
I almost doubled up my original buyin of $100.00, after
about 2 hours of play. Not bad, especially with the river rats.
Got lucky on one hand, when my pocket Aces caught up with another
player's two pair on the river, where I hit a better two pair.
That's justice for you. The best hand preflop actually won in
this game. It was good that this was an action flop with 5
players almost going down to the river.

I will have to check out their small buy in tournaments that they
will start this week. It will kind of be like a home game, with
all the regular locals playing there.

Hope I can break my streak of making final table and actually
making the money, lol...

Oh yeah, did that again Saturday morning at Red Rock Casino's
NLHE tourny. Busted 9th out of 46, with pocket Queens against
pocket Kings, preflop. The other player and I actually made
flushes, but of course my 2nd place hand don't win. It paid the
top 5 players, and I was 4 spots away...

HORSE Wrangling At Green Valley Ranch...

2008-11-19T22:50:00.000-08:00

11/19/08

HORSE Wrangling At Green Valley Ranch...

I've had a hankering to play a HORSE tournament and found a low
buyin at Green Valley Ranch on Wednesday. It's for $40.00 plus
a $5.00 add on, which give you a total of $2,000.00. Not much
to work with, but not a big dent to the bankroll. I can call it
a tuition charge to learn the nuances of the game. Plus, I miss
playing the other poker games, as NLHE can sometimes be a bore.

HORSE is an acronym for the 5 card games you will play throughout
the tournament. H is for Holdem, O for Omaha/8 or better, R for
Razz, S for Seven Card Stud and E for Seven Card Stud/8 or better.

The blind rounds were 15 minutes each. It was also a limit syle
tournament, as opposed to a no limit style.

Anyway, 35 started and they would payout the top 5. To make a
long story short - made it to the top 9 and busted out 9th. I
couldn't get a rhythm goin and was basically at my starting stack
of $2,000.00 throughout the whole tournament. I eventually got
it all in during a round of Seven Card Stud/Eight or better.
I just missed getting half the pot when my low hand of Eight,
Seven, Six, Two and Ace was outkicked by the another player's
hand of Eight, Seven, Five, Four and Two. We both got helper
cards on the river, but unfortunately the other player hit a
great card. I was out, again...lol.

If I had a buck every time I made the final 9, I would be chillin'
in Tahiti, playin' online everyday, hehe...

M & M SFC...So Goood...

2008-11-18T17:14:00.000-08:00

11/18/08

M & M SFC...So Goood...

Located off the strip at the intersection of Charleston and
Valley View is another tidbit sent from heaven, M & M Soul
Food Cafe.

I've been meaning to check it out since I've moved here, but
every time I've passed it by - I am missing my appetite. Hey,
fried chicken is good anytime, but yo' I wanna make sure my
palate and colon are free for the day.

I decided to stop by there after my trip to the Las Vegas
Municipal Court to pay for the speeding ticket I got at the
end of September. First ticket in years, and it had to happen
during the North Las Vegas Popo's Quest for stops at the end
of their fiscal quarter. Dang, I haven't had a ticket in
years. The last one I had was probably about a good 8 years
ago (the last one before that one was about 8 years before
that). I guess moving violations in about 20 years of driving
(God 20 years already...why God?) is not too bad. Anyway,
I was going to go to court to dispute the speed the cop
clocked me at, but I would still be guilty of speeding. I
believe if the judge reduced my speeding to 45 mph in a
35 mph zone, the difference in the ticket amount was only
about $30.00. My court date was for Thanksgiving Eve, after
130 pm. I didn't want to sit in court for the rest of my
afternoon, getting the same result in my plea of nolo
contendre (pleading no contest to the speeding ticket and
paying the fine). I wanted to check out the courts anyway,
thinking that it would be a quick trip, but of course I was
wrong. I found parking in the city parking structure outside,
got into the Traffic Ticket Payment area and was given a slip
with #B090. I looked up at the screen and it said now serving
#B028.

Shieet!!! 62 more people before me. Shieet again!!! They also
have numbers starting with letters of R, C, and A. Actually
the wait wasn't too bad, I had to wait about 45 minutes and I
was finally called. I was done in about 4 minutes. Plead nolo
contendre to the court clerk and paid my ticket via debit card.

Now, I can get some food. I waited pretty much all day to eat.
I mean, I had some cereal at about 9 am, but it has been about
4 or so hours since that last meal. I usually eat something
every 3 hours, more or less.

Back to the grill again. Okay, I get to the soul food joint and
about half of the patrons look me up. "Haven't y'all seen a
Filipino before - we love fried chicken, sometimes more than
life itself - we are the soul food pioneers of the Far East!".
I thought this in my head - if I actually said it out loud, I
dunno' what would happen. Anyway, I got seated and perused
the menu. "Fried Items may take 20 minutes to complete", dang
it must be good. I'll just save it for next week. I decided to
get a half plate order of the meatloaf with gravy, side of
cornbread stuffing and potato salad. It also came with cornbread
cakes (like pancakes). Waited for about 6 or 8 minutes and the
cornucopia of comfort food got to my table.

I'll tell you - the food is really good. It takes a certain type
of palate to appreciate "comfort food". A good sign of that was
that I pretty much finished the whole order, left about half of
my potato salad on the plate, but that stuff is filler anyway.
The meatloaf had about the right amount of herbs and spices. The
gravy was not too salty, just about right. Cornbread any which
way is good, it wasn't dry - almost like cake, hehe...

The place itself was pretty clean and tidy - kind of surprising,
being in a "Friday After Next" type strip shopping mall.

It is a definite must go. Don't be afraid to take a trip off the
beaten path. I'm tired of buffets anyway...

Xmas Shoppin' and Ace Queen...

2008-11-13T16:29:00.000-08:00

11/13/08

Xmas Shoppin' and Ace Queen...

Played a tourny at Red Rock Casino last Tuesday, Veteran's
Day. I was expecting a bigger turnout, as it was a holiday
for city, county, state and federal employees. The tournament
is actually capped at 40, but only 24 lowly degenerates showed
up to play that morning. I've been meaning to check out this
NLHE tournament for sometime. It's a pretty good format,
you buy in for $100.00, which gives you $5,000.00 in chips.
An additional $5.00 gives you a bonus of $1,000.00 in chips.
So you basically start out with $6,000.00 total. The blinds
change every 30 minutes, which is a pace I like. Plus with
capping the players at 40, you don't have to play like all
day, then bust out with no money. It makes it a little
quicker, plus you get a decent payout. As it was only
24 players to start, top 3 would get paid. Almost like a
408 Poker Tour game, with a couple less payouts. There is
always the chop factor, we could split later on with a couple
more players - well, if I make it that far.

I played my game, and found Aces when I had exactly 10 bets,
I think blinds were $200/400 at the time. What did I do to
double up? I went all in of course. Luckily the small blind
player, picked up Ace/King of Diamonds and called me. The
big blind player folded. We were now heads up. Everybody,
was like why did I go all in with the Aces? Well, I figured
I thought I might get one caller from my position, who would
think that I may be stealing. I was hoping for one of the
players in the blinds, who were the chip leaders at the time.
I got my wish, simple. Hehe...Let me get back to the hand.
The dealer dealt out a King of Hearts, 4 of Clubs and 7 of
Spades. Please no cooler King on the turn or river. The
dealer turned an Ace of Hearts - now I got it locked down.
The river was dealt a King of Spades. Wow, I have top full
house and the other guy has bottom full house. Pretty sick,
but good for me.

Anyway, I won't bore you with further details, I made it down
to the last 7 players. I had about 12 bets and was UTG with
Ace/Queen OS. I decided to make a standard raise to 3 times
the big blind, bets were $500/$1000, with a $100 ante. There
was about $2,200.00 in the pot preflop. Everybody folded
behind, but the small blind and big blind players just called.
Now there was $9,700.00 in the pot preflop. I had about nine
grand in chips left. I felt that if I didn't flop anything
good, I could still have some ammo for the next round of
cards. We still had about 20 minutes left in this round.
The dealer dealt Ace of Clubs, King of Hearts and Ten of
Clubs. Not a bad flop for me. I think if the other two
players had a hand like Ace/King, pocket Kings, or pocket
Aces, they would have reraised preflop. Both of the players
in front of me checked, they looked pretty weak to me. I
thought about the hand, I had top pair, back door flush draw
with my Queen of Clubs and a gutshot straight draw (needed any
Jack for that) - I went ahead and went all in for the last of
my chips. I thought it would win it right there. Boy, was
I wrong...The small blind player immediately called, I was
dead. The big blind player folded. I flipped my hand up and
expected the other player to flip up Ace/King. Nah, he had
King/Ten of Spades - dang two pair. Okay, I need a Queen,
Ace or Jack (9 outs twice). The turn card was dealt a
Seven of Clubs - cool, now I have Clubs, Sevens, Jacks,
Queens and Aces to win on the river (a total of 20 outs,
that's about half the deck to win). Alas, the river was
dealt out a Four of Spades. Gross, I think it was still a
coinflip on the river - could not outluck this guy.

7 out of 24, not bad - not good, no money...lol...

Again, Ace/Queen sucks...

Finished my Xmas shoppin - in two days. God, that's record
for me. I usually finish my Xmas shoppin a couple days after
Xmas.

Well, I'm gonna check out some of the Black Friday sales too,
but that's for personal stuff.

Aliante Station just opened up - another upscale local casino.
Will do my football picks there this weekend. I'm getting
closer - got 4 out of 6 on both parlays last weekend.

Pocket Sixes, Suck...

2008-11-05T23:55:00.000-08:00

11/5/008

Pocket Sixes, Suck...

Yeah right, that's the hand I won with at my first NLHE
tournament at Lucky Chances, years ago. Well, it's a monster
heads up. A gamble when you have a raise in front of you,
when you are in mid position. But when you haven't seen the
semblance of at least an Ace high hand in a couple of hours,
those pocket Sixes look like Aces. Anyway, I was short stacked
with about only 5 bets, with blinds at $600/1,200, with a $100
ante. There was about $2,500.00 in the pot preflop. The UTG
player raised the bet to $3,200. 3 players folded in front of
me, I then looked down at the Sixes. I decided to go all in,
knowing I would at least get a call from the initial raiser,
as he had pot odds to call my all in bet.

Sorry for the Tarantino non-linear style of blogging today.
The tournament took place at Caesars, last Monday 11/3/08.
It was one of their Mega Stack NLHE tournys, where the buyin
was $235.00, which gave you starting chips of $10,000.00.
The blind structure was pretty good, as they changed every
50 minutes. A good slow structure, with a lot of poker
playing. 87 players signed up for the event. Top 9 got
paid, where first was $5,400.00, which wouldn't be bad
for a Monday...

I made a key laydown, during the $50/100 blinds level.
I was in the small blind and did not look at my cards yet.
There were about 3 limpers in the pot, when the bet got to
me. I peeled up my cards and saw 2 black Aces. I decided
to raise the bet to $500.00 total. The big blind player
called, got folds from the next 2 players and the dealer
button player called. There was about $1,700.00 in the pot
preflop. The flop came Ten of Spades, Two of Clubs and Five
of Hearts. A pretty raggedy board. I decided to make a bet
of $1,100.00 into the pot. The big blind player raised the
bet to $3,000.00. WTF? The dealer button player went
immediately all in. WTF, again? I tanked for about a
couple of minutes. I kinda' felt that I was beating
the big blind player already, but I could not beat the
dealer button player's hand. What did the dealer button
player have? A set of Fives, A set of Two's? I wouldn't
think a Set of Tens, I think he would have slowplayed
that hand, considering the flop. After some, soul searching,
I decided to fold, I knew I was beat. Anyway, the
big blind player (who I knew I had), decided to call the
dealer button player's all in bet. Oh, another reason I laid
down the pocket Aces, was that the all in bet from the other
player, would have put me all in too. I can't go out of the
tournament with just a pair. The big blind player flipped
up Nine/Ten OS (for just a pair of Tens) and the dealer
button player flipped up Two/Five of Spades (for bottom two
pair). See, I made the right laydown. That's why I hate
getting pocket Aces sometimes, you sometimes feel committed
to playing them to the end, but again it is just one pair.
The dealer turned a King of Clubs and the river was dealt
a Jack of Hearts. I wouldn't have gotten lucky on the two
remaining cards. The big blind player lost and was pretty
much stacked off, he had only about $600.00 in chips left.
Man, that should have been my pot.

I made a decent bluff against the dealer button player, in
the next couple of hands. I had Ace/Nine of Spades on
the button. There were only a couple limpers ahead of
me, so I decided to call the bet of $100.00. The small
blind and big blind players checked. There was about
$600.00 in the pot. The flop was dealt Queen of Spades,
Eight of Spades and 7 of Diamonds. It was checked down
to the the midposition player (the Two/Five of Spades guy),
and he bet out $300.00. I didn't think he had a Queen,
he probably would have bet $400.00 to $500.00, to protect
it from a flush draw. He probably only had a pair of Eights.
I decided to call his bet, everybody else folded.
We were now heads up. The turn came a Five of Clubs.
He now checked and I in turn checked. The river card came
a Five of Hearts. I'm probably going to bluff this
board, if he doesn't bet. He checks pretty weakly.
I peel off $750.00 in chips and bet it into the pot.
He knocks the felt and folds, "Good hand" he says to me.
I rake in the pot, yay!!! Lol...

Another hand where I debated on making a laydown, was
where I played Queen/Ten of Hearts UTG and just called
the big blind bet of $800.00. Everybody folded around and
the small blind player made it $2,400.00 total to go. The
big blind player called and decided to call as well. I had
position and decent pot odds to call with a hand that could
flop well. The flop was dealt King of Hearts, Four of Hearts
and 6 of Clubs. I have a flush draw, hmmm? The small blind
player bet out a third of the pot. I had about a 3 to 1 call,
to try to hit my flush on the turn card. I decided to just
call, as the pot was laying me a good price to hit the
potential nuts. The turn card was dealt an Ace of Diamonds
and now I have a gutshot straight draw as well as the flush
draw, with one card to go. The small blind player immediately
put out a pot sized bet, which essentially puts me all in,
if I call. After thinking about the hand for a minute, I
decided to fold. I still had enough chips to make a few
moves later. I didn't want to gamble, with one card to go
(albeit with twelve outs, if I put the other player on
just a pair of Kings - nine Hearts and three non Heart
Jacks - for flush and straight). I think my mistake in the
hand, was that I should have went all in over the top of his
flop bet and try to make him make a decision for a large
amount of his chips (he had twice as many chips as me at the
time). If he did only have a pair of Kings, I could have
made him fold them on the flop. Maybe he would think, I could
have a set of Sixes or Fours, maybe two pair even. If I did
get called with an all in on the flop, I still would have
outs for the flush draw on the flop and straight draw on
the turn.

Back to the pocket sixes, after my all in, everybody folds
and the UTG player asks how much to call. He's gonna call
anyway, I think, as the pot is laying him about 3 to 1. He
thinks for a good minute - he must have been trying to steal.
Anyway, he makes the crying call and flips up Jack/Eight of
Spades. Well, at least it's a race. The flop is dealt King
of Clubs, Ten of Spades and Two of Hearts. A complete miss
for him. I requested the dealer to just put a Six out
there. The turn came a Jack of Clubs. Jeez...The river
was a 9 of Clubs. Upside down Six, hehe...

Busted out Jordan style, 23rd out of 87. But no, fade away
3 pointer for me this time...

The End...

Jackpot at the Red Rock...

2008-11-02T19:17:00.000-08:00

11/2/08

Jackpot at the Red Rock...

Today I met up with a buddy of mine at Red Rock Casino in
Summerlin. It was a first time for me at this "locals"
casino. For a casino off the strip, it was pretty nice.
That might be an understatement, as it is probably on
par with some of the best on the Strip.

I decided to to check it out on a Sunday morning, as I
wanted to put a couple of football parlay bets. A couple
of ten dolla' bets for a chance to win over eight hunny.
I actually hit have the teams I bet. Don't call me
Scott the Greek yet, hehe...

To kill time there, while watching some football, I also played
some $2/4 limit Texas Holdem. I felt like playing some "no
foldem' holdem", hoping to river some local player in each hand
I was in. I bought in for $120.00, it was for fun anyway, I could
make this last forever at this level. Plus they have a Bad
Beat Jackpot, that all players at the casino (plus their related
casinos) would share in if a bad beat was hit at one of the
poker tables.

Well, whattaya' know, 2 hours into playing, two players at
another poker table at Red Rock, hit Four Kings against a
Royal Flush - Bingo!!! Those players got the big money,
$45,000.00 to the loser and $30,000.00 to the winner of the
hand. There was a total of 306 players at each of the casinos'
poker rooms, so we all got $286.00 for sitting there. Not
bad. I eventually grinded off $25.00 at my stay at seat
10 on table 16, for the 6 hours of play. I was not successful
in putting in bad beats on anybody. I was up and down
for the whole day, with no threat to my original buy in.
Like I said, playing some low limit poker was to kill time,
while watching my picks.

As I mentioned before, I hit 50% of my picks, so no win
there. It's more of a bonus if I hit the parlay and it also
makes me watch the games more intently.

Anyway, I'll be trying to rest up the rest of the night, I want
to enter the Caesar's Megastack tourny tomorrow for their
$200.00 NLHE at 12 pm, I believe.

Nines, Suck: Part III...

2008-10-30T19:01:00.000-07:00

10/30/08

Nines, Suck: Part III...

Today, I went to the Green Valley Casino Poker room to play
in their $45.00 NLHE tournament. You got $2,000.00 total in
chips to play, with 30 minute blind levels. I usually don't
like playing in short chip tournys, but I had some time in the
morning to play. I also wanted to check out the casino, as I've
never been down there before. About 27 people signed up for the
event. You could also rebuy back in if you busted out in the first
level. I guess it can be a good thing, it puts more money in the
pot. It kinda' felt like a house game, hehe...

I managed to make a good bluff (well, I thought it was one, the
other player never showed down). I was sitting in midposition
with Jack/Ten of Spades. I just made a call of the bet, which
was $100.00. There was a total of about 5 callers, which put
the total pot amount at $500.00. The flop was dealt King of
Hearts, Queen of Diamonds and Three of Diamonds. The small
blind player checked, the big blind player bet out $200.00,
the player to my right folded, I called the $200.00 and the
dealer button folded. We were now heads up in the pot. I
thought she might be betting a pair Queens in this spot, just
to see where she was at in the hand. If she had a pair of Kings,
I think she would have at least bet $400.00 (a pot sized bet
at the time), to protect top pair, from a flush draw. I also
had an open ended draw on the flop, where if I hit my straight,
I would pretty much have the nuts. Anyway, the dealer dealt
out a Five of Spades. That was not much help for me. The
big blind player bet out $300.00 into a pot of $900.00. I still
put her on a pair of Queens, she didn't want to get too invested
in the hand, I guess. I decided to call the $300.00, and now
the pot held $1,500.00. The dealer dealt out the river card,
which was a Ten of Diamonds. All the while, I was looking at
the other player to see her reaction to the board. She really
looked upset that the river card hit a diamond, putting flush
and straight draw cards on the board. I had a lowly pair of
Tens, with a busted straight draw now, I may have to bluff
at this pot. The other player checked and I looked at my chips
to see what I had left. I had about $1,200.00 at the time.
I decided to push all in, as I felt that I could take her off
her pair of Queens (well, I don't know if she had them, that's
what I put her on). Anyway, she let out a sigh and slowly
folded and said that she did not want to see a diamond hit
the river. With her saying that, I felt she indeed had
a pair of Queens and I was behind in the hand. Whew...look
at me, sweatin' a $45.00 buyin poker tourny, hehe...

Basically, I survived into the fourth level, where blinds were
at $200/400. I got down to the final 9 players and had only
$1,800.00 in chips.

Those momentary lapses of inattention can get you in trouble,
which alludes to how my bustout occurred.

I was sitting in midposition and saw that I had Nine/Ten OS in
the hole. I decided to push all in, knowing that the small
blind and big blind players (who were at my last table) were
pretty tight and would lay down hands like Ace/Jack, small pairs,
marginal hands that could beat my hand preflop. I failed to
realize that the player 2 spots ahead of me had already raised
the bet to $1,000.00 even. Everyone folded and the bet went
back to him. He had alot of chips and made sort of a crying
call. I hoped that my hand was live and didn't run into a
premium pairs. Just my luck, he had an overpair of Jacks in his
hand. The board flopped out Ace of Diamonds, Ace of Hearts and
Three of Clubs. I need a miracle of runner Nines or Tens. Well,
the turn bricked out a Five of Spades and the river bricked out
a King of Diamonds.

I should have paid better attention of the action in front of me.
I didn't even have my shades or Ipod on. What happened?

You have to minimize these types of mistakes, yo...

Again, I broke my rule of going all in with a hand that had a
Nine in it, lol...

Nines, do suck...hehe...

Nines, Suck: Part II...

2008-10-27T19:44:00.000-07:00

10/27/08

Nines, Suck: Part II

Well, today I got to enter the freroll tournament at Caesar's
to win a seat into their Main Event. The casino added 2
more $10,000.00 seats, for a total of 12 seats to be won.

Not a bad overlay for the hours I put in the last week,
considering I made an actual profit from that time. I
registered the day before, finding out that I was actually
logged in for 50 hours of total live play. I guess I didn't
need to go in to play Saturday night.

Anyway, the tournament started out with 398 players. You
started out with $2,500.00 in chips. The blind levels
changed every 30 minutes, with the starting level of $25/25.
This was not a bad structure, considering this was a
freeroll.

One key hand I had had was when I called with Jack/Ten of
Hearts mid position. I called the bet of $50.00. The
dealer button player called, small blind player called and
the big blind player raised to $150.00. I called the
additional $100.00 (into a pot of $300.00), I figured I was
behind in the hand, but I could flop a monster with this
hand, plus I had position on the big blind player. The
other players folded behind me. The dealer dealt out a
King of Hearts, Three of Hearts and a Jack of Diamonds.
This was not a bad flop for me, I had a pair of Jacks, plus
the flush draw. The big blind player checked, I then put
out a bet of $200.00 to see where I was at in the hand.
The big blind player raised it to $500.00 total. The pot
now had a total of $1,100.00. A pretty good price for me
to call the additional $300.00, for the flush draw (An
additional Ten or Jack could be good cards for me, unless
he has three Kings already). Anyway, I called the
additional raise. The dealer dealt out a King of Spades
on the turn. The big blind player checked and I checked as
well. The river was dealt a Two of Spades. The big blind
player bet out $500.00 into a $1,400.00 pot, a small
"call me" bet. I decided to fold there, he probably had
at least Three Kings. Anyway, the big blind player said
that he got a "monster hand" on the turn. He might have
actually had Quad Kings. Either way, I was behind in the
hand. I did not want to donk off more chips to this guy.

I found myself on the short stack after one level of play
already. I needed to tighten up again. I just don't know
how some peeps get these large chip stacks early. Well,
I know, there is some luck involved, hehe.

I actually doubled up in the 2nd blind level, when I raised
all in over the top of a UTG raiser with Ace/Queen OS.
The UTG player was the only one who called me and he tabled
Ace/Nine of Diamonds. Wow, I was going to wait for the
dealer to peel off a Nine out the door. The dealer dealt
out a Queen of Hearts, Seven of Hearts and Two of Spades.
I should win this, unless the turn and river gets funny.
The dealer dealt out a Seven of Spades on the on the turn
and a Six of Clubs on the river. Cool, back up to $2,900.00
in chips. Blinds were $50/100 at this level. I got some
breathing room now.

I made it to the $200/400 blind level, with about $4,200.00
in chips. I went all in with Ace/Jack OS in the cutoff
and was called by the big blind player, who had King/Queen
OS. I had the lead in the hand - can't complain, I just hope
the winning percentages hold up. I caught a Jack on the
flop, but of course the river was dealt a Queen. The other
player outlucked me. I now had about $1,400.00 in chips.

The next level of blinds started at $300/600. I still had
$1,200.00. I found Three/Four of Hearts in mid position and
decided to go with the hand. I figured, if I get called, my
hand would be live (meaning that the other player/s would not
have the same cards I would be holding). I went all in with it,
as was called by only the dealer button player, who held
pocket Tens (Diamond/Spade). I took off my Ipod and sunglasses
and was ready to take a walk out the poker room. What do you
know, the dealer dealt out a Six, Nine and Eight of all
Hearts - I got a flush on the flop! Dang, that was lucky.
The dealer button stared down at his card and again confirmed
that he did not have a Heart to redraw to a better flush.
The turn and river were dealt non Heart Kings. What a crazy
hand.

I managed to put another bad beat on another player during
this level. I had about $3,200.00 in chips at this time and
stared down at Seven/Nine OS. I again decided to go all in,
thinking I was live, and I still had some fold equity against
the other players. The player to my immediate right also
went all in with about $4,200.00 in chips. Man, I just ran
into a big hand again. The other players folded and we were
heads up. He tabled his hand, which was of course pocket
Kings. I need help. The dealer dealt out Seven of Spades,
Ten of Diamonds and a Jack of Hearts. Wow, now I need another
Seven, Nine or Eight to win. The turn was dealt a Nine of
Clubs. Two pair now, just need to fade a King, Queen, Jack,
or Ten on the river. Again the gods found in my favor as the
river was dealt a Six of Clubs. Wheeheehee!!!. I doubled up
again, but still need to get more chips.

The next blind level of $400/800 was the fateful one though.
I folded out the first 3 hands in this level. My fourth hand
in I found Eight/Nine of Hearts. I had about $3,700.00 in
chips at the time. I thought it was now or never, and pushed
all in. The small blind and big blind players had called my
all in. They still had chips behind to bet. The flop was
dealt Queen of Hearts, Four of Diamonds and Eight of Diamonds.
The small blind player checked and the big blind player went
all in. I knew I was dead, but I had outs to win (hopefully
my additional Eights and Nines were still live). The small
blind player folded. The big blind player tabled his hand,
which was a pair of Nines. Now I need another Eight on the
turn and/or river. The dealer dealt out a Six of Diamonds
on the turn - hurry up, just deal out that river. The river
then fell a Ten of Hearts. No, dice...

I busted out at about 117th out of 398 players. Not bad, but
they only gave the $10,000.00 seats until you made it to the
last 12 players. My prize amount was the same at 398th place,
which was zilch.

It's all good - I kind of surprised myself to last that long
without even seeing a premium pair in the tournament. Plus,
again it was a free tourny.

Putting those bad beats on a couple of hands, was pretty good
entertainment though - sorry to those players, but it is
better to be lucky than good, hehe...

I just hate the walk of shame, when you bust out of a tournament.
You say your good lucks to the other players, when you wish
you were still mixing it up at the table.

Poker Sucks!!! Yeah right, at the bust out, that was my exact
feeling, lol...

Nines, Suck...

2008-10-24T10:24:00.000-07:00

10/24/08

Nines, Suck...

On the heels of a successful past couple of days of poker,
Yesterday, I went back to Caesar's to play some some cash
and enter their 7pm NLHE tournament.

Today was not a good day in my poker life. Things could
have been worse. I could have been shot in the poker room,
but today, that did not happen to happen, lol...I had to
settle for losing some of the capital.

I started at a $1/3 No Limit Holdem table and cashed in
for $300.00. I play for approximately 2 uneventful hours,
where I lost about half of my starting stack. Most of it
went in the pot, when I doubled up another guy when we
both hit three Sevens on the board and I had a lower
kicker. He had paired his kicker on the river. Why did
I play Nine/Seven of Spades? Well, I was on the dealer
button after 2 other players limped in. The hand could
be a good hand when it hits the board pretty hard. The
flop was dealt out with two Sevens and a Jack. The small
blind and big blind players checked. The middle position
player bet out $10.00 bucks into a $15.00.00 pot. The
cutoff player folded, I called and the other players
behind me folded. The turn card came an Ace. There
was no flush draw and a harmless straight draw with the
Ace and Jack on the board. The middle position player
then bet out $35.00 bucks (he had about $65.00 bucks left
behind). I put him on a two pair of Jacks and Sevens.
I really didn't think he could have the other Seven.
I reraised him all in and he immediately called. He
flipped up Queen/Seven OS - damn, he did have the other
Seven. The river paired his Queen for a full house.

Again, why did I play that cooler hand....?

I played a little bit longer and entered the 7 pm NLHE
tournament. The buy in was for $200.00 bucks and had
similar blind structures to the other Caesar's poker
tournaments. You started off with $6,000.00 in chips.

Early in the tournament, I picked up pocket Aces (both
red). The dealer button player raised the bet to
$175.00 (blinds were still $25/50). The small blind
folded and looked down at my cards. I reraised him to
$500.00 total. The dealer button player just smooth
called. The pot now held $1,025.00, before the flop.
The dealer dealt out a Jack of Spades, Nine of Spades
and an Eight of Diamonds. I thought to myself, "did he
flop a set of Jacks?"...I bet out $1,000.00 and he then
reraised me another $1,000.00. The turn came a Five
of Hearts. I checked, I was sure he made a set of Jacks.
The dealer button player went all in and I went into the
tank. I had about $3,400.00 left in chips and he had me
covered. If I call and lose, I will be out of the
tournament after ten minutes. I just decided to fold in
that spot, as I still had chips left. I even folded my
hand faceup and tossed them to the dealer. The dealer
button player said, "Good fold, I had a set". He didn't
show it, but I had a hankering that he had me beat.
It was too early in the tournament to go all in with a
pair of Aces and not the "nuts".

During the $400/800 blind level, I found myself with
pocket Tens on the dealer button. There were 2 limpers
in front of me including the small and big blind players.
I told myself now or never and pushed all in with $4,700.00
in chips. The small and big blind players immediately
folded. The UTG player who limped had me outstacked and
asked for my chip count. He took out some chips and
just called. The player two spots to my right folded
and I was heads up with the UTG player. I asked him if
I ran into Aces, he said no, and he tabled Ace/Jack OS.
Man, if he was gonna play that, why didn't he raise. I was
probably gonna go all in anyway. Anyway, I called out
for a Ten to be flopped out and I got my wish when the
dealer dealt out Ten of Hearts, 8 of Diamonds and Queen
of Hearts. Dang, need to fade four Kings now. Luckily
the dealer dealt a Queen of Clubs to give me a full house.
The UTG Player was drawing dead. The river was dealt an
Eight of Clubs. Wow, I usually don't win those races, lol.
But that's what I always say - I've put beats on other
players as well.

I was able to survive until the blind level of $600/1,200.
I had been grinding all tournament long and had about
$6,800.00 in chips at the time. There was also an
additional $100.00 ante from each player in the pot.
The pot was laying $2,800.00 in chips before any betting.
There were two limpers in before me, where I was sitting
two seats from the button with Ace/Nine OS. I felt that
these limpers were probably coming in with some marginal
hands and would fold to a significant raise. Having the
Ace in my hand, I figured that no one else would have one
in their hand. I decided to push all in and hope for the
best. The cutoff seat folded and the dealer button player
went all in over the top of me. I said, "What did I run
into?". The dealer button player said, "The biggest hand",
which he shouldn't have done, as there were 4 other players
to act behind him. Dang, I thought he must have Aces.
Sure enough the other 4 players folded and we were heads up.
I tabled my hand, then the dealer button player put his
hand up on the table, which was of course pocket Aces.
The flop ran out Eight of Clubs, Seven of Clubs and Eight
of Spades. I need runner, runner Nines, or straight cards
to come out. The turn card was a Three of Diamonds, which
sealed my loss. The river card was an uneventful Jack of
Diamonds.

I should have really put more thought into the hand before
pushing. The fact that there were two limpers ahead of me,
should have given me a sign that there were players that
may call a raise. They might have limped in with a big
hand and were hoping for a raise from another player. I
forgot my other rule of going all in with at least Ace/King
or a made hand (a good pair). Or at least a suited
connector that could play against a high pair or high
Ace hand. Well, it can be a learning process at times.

Well, at least I got to put 5.5 hours toward the freeroll.
I was thinking of playing more, but just didn't not have
the desire to grind out more poker that day.

I will not play any hand with a Nine in it, unless it is
a pair of Nines. Nines, suck...lol...

Yum, Yum, Jack in the Box Chicken Sandwiches...

2008-10-23T04:00:00.000-07:00

10/23/08

Yum, Yum, Jack in the Box Chicken Sandwiches
and Hump Day Redeaux...

I went back to Caesar's to get some hours in to try to
reach that attainable 40 hour mark by next Monday. I
cashed in $500.00 bucks into one of the $1/3 No Limit Holdem
games there. A very non productive 4 hours passed and
was down about $70.00 bucks from my initial buyin. Those
are the swings of the game, which I should know by now.
Which is not a big swing - I'm still beating the Dow, hehe.
My only discontent was the fight I had inside of trying
to be disciplined enough to play my game.

I felt that this would be a grinding session, so I decided
to play in the 1100 pm NLHE tournament. The buyin was for
$120.00 and you would get $2,500.00 in chips. This was not
the deepstack tournaments that I have come to like at Caesar's
or Orleans for that matter, but I thought I needed a change of
pace for the night. At least the blind levels changed at
every 30 minutes, so you didn't have to really double up
until the 3rd level of blinds. If I busted out early,
I could still play some more cash games in the main poker
room.

32 players eventually signed up to play the tourny. I even
came on a little late in the first level, as you could buy in
to the tournament any time during the first 30 minutes.
The tourny would pay the top 3 finishers. I think it was
about $1,600.00 for first, $930.00 for second and $620.00 for
third. There was about $3,104.00 in the pot. The money spots
are not restricted, as deals can always be made at the final
table.

That should give you an idea of what happened later, to my
delight...hehe...

Anyway, my first hand in on the big blind turned out to be
Ace/King OS. There were 3 other callers, before I actually
saw my hand. The table seemed pretty casual, so I blurted
out that I had a good hand and then raised it to $200.00
total (blinds were $25/50 at the time). I got two callers
and a fold. The dealer flopped Ace of Clubs, Five of
Clubs and a Nine of Diamonds. The small blind player
checked and the UTG player started to talk about how I
should have bet more so he could have folded. I chuckled
and put out a bet of $500.00. The UTG and small blind
players folded. I then decided to show my hand to the
table. I want to show the table a certain image right
away sometimes. Especially in that situation, where I
came in late to the table.

Again, I trucked along without getting into any trouble and
found myself at the final table, meaning the last nine
players (no matter how many players were in the tournament,
I always call the final 9 players - final table). We still
had to play for the last 3 money spots, unless we made
a deal. I probably would not have minded to chop the pot
at that point, as each player could gross about $345.00
if we all agreed to do that. I would be happy to parley
that cash into another tournament or cash game. Don't get
me wrong, I play for first all the time - but it sucks
to bust out on the money bubble with nothing to show for it.
I play poker to make money. You know what I'm sayin'?

I was glad to get the hands I went all in with not get
outlucked, meaning that the best hand would win after all
the cards were dealt. I did get pair of Kings twice and
Aces once, during my play at the final table. Got calls
from Ace/Jack twice and Ace/rag once - the best hand
won each time. I was expecting a suckout on the river
or something.

When it got to sixhanded, a couple of players and I again
suggested a chop of the pot at about $500.00 apiece.
A good overlay for 3 hours of play at the time. This
Vietnamese female player, kept on saying that she wanted
to play for first - I really didn't care either way, just
want to bring up the chop issue, so everyone is a winner.
There can be a lot of variance at the higher blind levels,
so you can be forced to go all in with any random hand.
This turns it into a luckfest - which is a part of the
game.

I made it to the final four players, which was the dreaded
money bubble. 4th place would not make any money. 3 of
us again suggested a chop of the money at about $775.00
each - the only dissenter being the Vietnamese female
player. She kept on going that "this is good practice"
for everyone, when we are ready to player bigger tournaments.
P'shah biatch - I hope you bust out 4th then, hehe...

I played even more disciplined at that point, as I did
not pick up any good hands during that time. The dissenting
player was playing pretty crazy and I thought in time, she
would eventually bust out. She was actually chip leader
from time to time, but we all traded chips equally
during that last blind level. I could not get any cards to
call her all in bets. She finally was called by the small
blind player (older white lady, who was chip leader at
that point), when she went all in with Jack/Nine OS in the
big blind. The small blind player called with pocket Sixes.
Fortunately, the big blind player, I'll call her Miss
Dissenter - did not get any help from the board. She got
up and left without saying anything. I told her "Good
Game", and she had no reaction. Well, she actually had
a look on her face of regret that she bubbled. F-U then
kid!, hehe...

Right after she left the tourny room, the three of us final
money table players agreed to chop the pot equally. I was
actually about even with one player, with the older white
lady was the chip leader. She had no trouble splitting the
pot equally among us. That's cool, I usually would do the
same, unless I was a clear dominant chip leader. I think
we were all kind of happy that Miss Dissenter did not agree
to a chop and she did not make any money. After our chop,
we got about $1,034.00 each.

After we got our money at the cashiers cage, we gave our tips
to the dealers and I was off for the work day, lol...

Oh yeah, I got about 7.5 hour hours in today, so I will
still need about 23 more hours and change to qualify for the
freeroll.

I also think I have found a pattern of winning - every time
I eat Jack in the Crack Chicken Dolla' Sandwiches, I make
the money in tournaments. Don't try this at home, alright?
Or was it because it was Hump Day? Hmmm...

30.75 hours to go...

2008-10-22T02:14:00.000-07:00

10/22/08

30.75 hours to go...

Shoot, I thought I had built up a few more hours of live
cash play at Caesar's. I put in about 9.25 hours today,
which means I still have to play 30.75 more hours by Monday
10/27/08. I need a total of 40 hours by then, to qualify
for that freeroll for one of the $10,000.00 seats into their
main event starting the next day. I believe they will be
giving out 10 seats during the freeroll. It's not a bad
overlay, unless you lose throughout the 40 hours of live
cash play. If you do lose, stop playing - yeah right...

Played $1/3 No Limit Holdem today. I cashed in for $300.00,
intending to play my game. Win or lose, I want to make sure
I play good. Please no cracking of my Aces, if I get them,
hehe. It was a pretty good day for me, I left the table
with $550.00 total, for a $250.00 profit for the day.

I just wish I had certain hands, when certain players stacked
off their chips with some pretty marginal all in bets preflop.

The hand I am talking about, went like this. I was under
the gun with Ace/Queen OS, so I raised it to $7.00 bucks.
It's a raise to basically build the pot. If I hit a
Queen or Ace on the flop, with rags, I would probably have
the best hand and can take it down with a modest best
of half the pot or close to the pot amount. If I don't
hit my hand, I can get away from it easily, as I have not
invested too much in the pot. Two people called behind
me and then it got to the small blind player. He put in
a reraise of up to $25.00 bucks. The big blind player
folded and I was next. I thought to myself, he has to
have Ace/King, a pair of either Jacks, Queens, or Kings.
A pair of Aces could also be a possibility. I paused
for a moment and decided to fold. Ace/Queen OS or suited
for that matter, is not a good hand to call a reraise
with. I believe I had him outstacked in chips, as I had
about $500.00 or so on the table and he had about $240.00
behind him after his raise. He could even have me beat
by any pair. I've seen him put big raises in with
mid pairs. I just didn't feel right to call and see a flop.
There was also 2 other people behind me in the hand that
still were to bet after me. If I had at least Ace/King,
I would make the call to see the flop.

Anyway, after I folded, the player after me had reraised
the small blind player's bet of $25.00 to $60.00 total.
The next player folded and suddenly the small blind player
went all in for the rest of his money, $240.00. I stood
up, like I always do when someone else is all in. I thought
to myself that these guys were facing off with a pair of
Kings and Aces. The other player immediately called the
all in bet. I then said, "I wonder who has Aces and Kings?".
Both players did not flip up their cards, as they are not
required to do that on a live cash poker game. There
was about $550.00 in the pot preflop. The dealer then
dealt out for first 3 cards. It came 2 of Hearts, King of
Spades and 4 of Diamonds. I then said, "It looks like
pair of Kings are good". Still, both players did not flip
up their cards. The dealer dealt out the turn card, which
was a 5 of Diamonds. Nothing from the players. The
dealer finally dealt out a Nine of Spades. The first
player flipped up his hand and said he had Trip Kings,
but tabled a pair of Tens. The small blind player looked
at the board and quietly folded. I then asked him what he
raised preflop with, he didn't say anything. I thought to
myself, did he reraise all in with Ace/Jack or a low
pair like Eights or something? The player with the pair
of Tens scooped the pot. He then rejoiced like he won a
bracelet at the WSOP. These guys played their hands pretty
bad.

Dang, these guys were willing to stack off all their money
on some mediocre hands. It was like they were playing
tournament style poker.

I just wished I had a hand against these guys during
my session. Well, I can't complain. I made a decent
profit for the day and put in some hours toward the
freeroll. I hope I see them later this week, lol...

I still have 30.75 hours to go...

Back to Vegas...

2008-10-21T00:12:00.000-07:00

10/20/08

Back to Vegas...

Dang, must have forgotten that I booked my flight back to
Vegas, with a connection in Ontario, Ca. Two flights back
to Vegas! Woe is me, hehe...Need a speedball of Xanax and
a Heineken, to calm me down. Just kidding.

The flight from San Jose to Ontario was actually pretty
smooth. There was only slight turbulence when decreasing
our altitude above the smoggy skies of LA.

The weekend before was the GF's birthday. I hope she
was happy with what we were able to do last Saturday. It
was nothing crazy - just a day at the museum. Namely,
the Californa Academy of Sciences at Golden Gate Park,
San Francisco...

She's never been there, and I haven't been back there since
I was a kid. They have recently refurbished it and it was
reopened at the end of last month. It's kind of like our
West Coast version of the Natural History Museum of
the Smithsonian or like the one in "Night at the Museum"
(with Ben Stiller).

We had a late start Saturday and didn't make it to the
museum until after 3 pm. The place closes at 5 pm -
whoops...I purchased a yearly pass for her anyway, which
enables you to bring in one other guest for free, each time
you visit the museum. The daily ticket costs $24.95 per
adult anyway - 2 trips will equate to the yearly pass,
so why not buy the pass? Kind of a no brainer. SF Residents
also benefit with free weekends (but they can be crowded)
and Wachovia Wednesdays are free for everybody. An added
bonus is that the yearly pass is tax deductible as well.

I dig going to museums, even in my "old age". I guess I'll
always be the exploring kid at heart. Wow, I feel like
buying Legos and watching Raiders of the Lost Ark. "Ta-
Na-Na-Na, Na-Na-Na, Ta-Na-Na-Na, Na-Na-Na-Na-Na", ala
John Williams theme to my famed fedora wearin' hero...

Touched down in Ontario for about 25 minutes, with no
turbulence!

Waited for the plane to board with passengers, and now
we are back up in the air. Jeez...hehe..

Anyway, back to the museum. We only had about 2 hours
to check out the exhibits. I thought it was pretty
cool that the building retained some of it's "vintage"
architecture. They still had the alligator swamp
toward the middle of the museum. The area around it
retained some of the greek/roman columns of the prior
building. The exhibit itself still had the same brass
railings with seahorses that I remembered from back in
the day. What was kind of scary to me was that there
was a chalk white albino alligator right in the middle
of the swamp. I've never seen that before. That was
a trip, mayn. Well at least you could see the gator
comin' at you, if you were stuck down there. The gator
wouldn't be able to blend in the murkiness like a
fallen tree or floating log.

Couldn't get into the planetium or the rainforest.
There'll be next time - the purpose of getting the
yearly pass. It'll be good for the GF to take one of
her nieces or nephew for another jaunt to the museum
as well.

We mainly strolled into the aquarium portion of the
museum. What, no sharks? The large sea snails had
also tripped me out - I would not want that swimming
toward me. Now that I think about it, I wouldn't want
alot of what I saw at the aquarium swimming at me.
There are alot of fish that look like the alien from
"Aliens" - you know, not the large adult ones, but the
ones that incubate in peoples' gut area and then pop out
suddenly to incubate in others. Why do I want to get my
scuba license in the PI? Probably because it's cheap,
which is no excuse to get it. But I'm adventuresome,
so why not?

Anyway, it seemed like the GF had enjoyed our day at
the CAS. After we made our way up the Great Highway
to eat dinner at the Beach Chalet (just before Cliff
House).

We started out with appetizers consisting of Ahi Tuna
Tartare and Phyllo Wrapped Brie. For dinner, she had
Pan Roasted Chicken and I had Caesar Salad with Fried
Calamari. I love her face when she enjoys the food.
Ooh, I picked a good place. I'll pat myself on the back
and my tummy (well, her tummy).

Dessert was to be found in a drive into the city. I was
pretty stuffed, so we got her scoop of Kahlua Mocha Cream,
dipped in chocolate and in a waffle cone. Where else, but
Mitchell's Ice Cream...

http://www.mitchellsicecream.com/

Wish I had one of my own, but was a bit stuffed from earlier.
I got a lick of it, and it's pretty much the bomb. I'll put
it in 3rd place, after my number one of Chocolate Malted
Crunch (Rite Aid, baby) and Cookies 'n' Cream...

Dang, I'm getting hungry...

Anyway, that's it for now - just touched down at
McCarran International, which means I'm back in Vegas...

And the grind...we'll can't think of it that way.

Need to play cash at Caesar's this week, to hopefully
qualify for the freeroll next week.

Wish this degenerate luck, ayt...

Peace and adobo grease...

Forgot to post before Garden City...

2008-10-20T23:44:00.000-07:00

10/11/08

Leavin' On a Jetplane...

I don't think I'll ever get over my jitters gettin' on an
airplane. Weird, I've been flying all my life. It has
affected me about for about the last couple of years.
Like I said before, I think it stemmed from that fateful
"Lost" flight from Tokyo to Manila, in December of 2007.
Any sign of turbulence, makes me take a deep breath and
make the Sign of the Cross. I'm a bad Catholic, the only
time I turn to Jesus are on airplane flights, christenings
and funerals. I have a good heart, but it wouldn't hurt
to go to Church on Sunday, once in a while...

Can't seem to shake it. I think I need to take Xanax...

I'll be in the Bay Area for just over a week. It's
Mom's Bday weekend. Then the GF's Bday next weekend.
It feels good to go back home, even though it's been only a
little over a month since I've been back. I need to make
sure to visit the peeps I missed the last time I was
there.

It seems like Mom is getting better. The kidney transplant
appears to be successful, approximately 6 months postop.
I haven't heard anything worsening from her or my dad,
during our intermittent conversations. Her short term
memory seems to be getting worse though. The good thing
is that her long term memory is intact. She can remember
details of me and my brother's childhood, that I can't
seem to recall in hindsight, but gets refreshed when she
mentions things from the past.

Poker seems to be an afterthought the past couple of
weeks. Still positive for the time I've been here,
but not as much as I would want to be, lol. My mind
seems to be filled with other issues and priorities.
One of the reasons seems to be the state of the economy
in our country.

It really has not affected me like other people I know.
I don't have major financial obligations at this time,
like a mortgage, car payment, and/or children/family. I
just have my recurring living expenses every month, which
is not too much considering that my only fiduciary
responsibility is to my ownself. Many say that I am lucky to
be in this situation. Not many can do it, especially now.
It is a good thing not to be stressed...Fuck Yeah, lol...

What it the true meaning of wealth? Is it money?
Income? Material things? I can't really say...I think
part of it is living a life where you are happy in the
decisions that you have made in your Life, with minimal
regrets - Yes, an open ended answer...It differs for
everyone.

I'd be happy spending the rest of my life with my
wife/family on some beach resort in Batangas, renting out
snorkel and surf gear. Can it happen? Yes. Will it
happen? Don't know yet...

We'll have to see if my 401k remains intact, hehe...

Garden City...

2008-10-16T11:35:00.000-07:00

Garden City...

10/16/08

I played a $120.00 buyin NLHE poker tourny at Garden City
Casino yesterday. 50 players entered the tournament that
morning. You started off with $4,000.00 in chips,
blind levels for the first two hours were 15 minutes each.
Thereafter, they increased to 20 minutes. It was not too
bad. Blinds started off at $25/25. By the fifth level,
they were at $100/200 - so if you have your original stack
of $4,000.00, you would not be severely short stacked.

The first hour for me was not too bad. I got hit when I
raised with Ace/Queen of Spades from the big blind, after
4 other people limped in. I raised it to $300.00 to thin
the field and put a little more value in the pot. The
UTG player folded, the player next to him raised all in
to $1,000.00 total, and the other 2 players folded. I
thought to myself, did this guy really just call with a
big hand in mid position, waiting for someone to raise
and then he would re-raise? $1,600.00 was in the pot,
I had to call $700.00, and I had about $4,200.00 left
behind if I make the call. It should be a no brainer,
but I sometimes hesitate calling if I feel that the other
player has me dominated. But again, I'm getting pretty
good pot odds, with no more betting, heads up and with
a premium hand (yeah right, read my other blog "Ace
Queen, No Good", hehe). Anyways, I called off course
and tabled my hand, again Ace/Queen of Spades. The
other player sighed and tabled his hand Queen/Eight of
Diamonds. Cool, I have him dominated! Anyway, the
dealer dealt out a Queen of Hearts, Jack of Hearts
and a 3 of Diamonds. I pretty much have him here. He
needs diamonds on the turn and river, or an Eight
to hit to win. The turn card was dealt a 2 of Spades.
Now he only needs an Eight to win on the river. Well,
whattaya' know, an Eight of Hearts hits the river.

Jeez..If I didn't get outlucked on the river everytime,
I would be sippin' Mojitos on some island in the
Carribean with a "St." in front of the name, earning
12% on my stack of cash...

I was happy not be be busted out. What can you do
when you have the best hand? That's poker, hehe...

Another hand came up in the same round, where I was
on the dealer button with pocket 3's. There was about
2 callers in front of me, I called the $100 bet, the
small blind called and the big blind checked. There
was about $500.00 in the pot preflop. The flop came
magic, King of Spades, 3 of Hearts and Ten of Clubs.
4 players checked in front of me. I bet out $300.00,
so now the pot held $800.00. The small blind and
big blind players folded, the UTG player (same player
who got the lucky Eight on the river), called my
bet (he had about $1,600.00 left behind - he's probably
gonna go all in on the Turn). A player behind him
folded. We were now heads up. The turn brought a
Queen of Spades. The UTG player goes all in for his
last $1,600.00. Now the pot held $2,700.00. If I call
I would be left with $1,650.00 (still alive, if I lose).
I can't say I would really lay down this hand, in this
spot. I paused and thought, "would he really go all
in if he hit a straight?" (as the board, read one), if
he did, I could still redraw to a full house for the
nuts, hmmm...Anyway, I called and tabled my set of
Threes and he tabled Ace/King OS (he had top pair
and a gutshot straight draw - he needed a Jack on the
river to win). "Dealer don't do it", I said under
my breath. The dealer dealt out a 2 of clubs on the
river. Nice...

I was kind of surprised that the UTG player didn't raise
preflop with his Ace/King OS. If he did, I might have
folded the pocket Threes preflop. That's his bad, I guess.
Ace/King is very slippery sometimes, that's why they call
it Big Slick. It's still a drawing hand.

The next hour or so was uneventful. I made it to the ninth
blind level, where bets were $500/1,000 at this time, with
no antes. I had $5,000.00 in chips at that point. Had
a couple of non confrontational all ins.

This is the hand that busted me though, Ace/Jack OS.
A player ahead of me went all in. I was on the dealter
button and peeled up Ace/Jack OS. The other player
had me covered. I don't think I can fold in this spot.
I probably have the best hand "right now" (like how I
said that). I called all in, the small blind an big
blind players folded, so no we were heads up. If I get
this pot of $11,500.00, I can stil be in this game.
The other player laments, says he was making a move and
flipped up Queen/Ten OS. I flip up my hand and kind of
make a sigh as well. I usually don't do well with these
types of hand matchups. The worst hand has been winning
more lately. Anyway, the dealer dealt out Seven, Ten,
Eight Rainbow. Dang, he his his ten. Well, that flop
increased my outs with Aces, Jacks and Nines (for a
straight - now I had 10 outs total for the win). The turn
came a King of Hearts - now I have 13 outs total with
the 3 Queens, for a double gutshot straight draw, Aces
and Jacks. And of course, they didn't hit when the dealer
dealt out a 3 of spades on the river...

Busted 14th out of 50 today. 5 spots out of the final
money table of 9.

It's all good, I think I played the best I could have in
this game. All you can do is call with the best hand
and hope it holds up.

You can't lose what you don't put in the middle, but you
can't win much either - again a quote from my fave poker
movie, "Rounders"...

See you on the felt...Next stop - cash games at Caesar's
need to qualify for the freeroll on 10/27/08.

Pushing With The Ferguson...

2008-10-09T09:35:00.000-07:00

Pushing With The Ferguson...

10/09/08

Played in a couple tournaments yesterday. One at the
Orleans and one online with Spade Club.

I played at the Orleans 12 pm NLHE tourny for $80.00.
I've cashed at their Sunday tournament, which is basically
the sameformat each day and time (except for Sunday the
buy in is bumped up to $100.00). The format is pretty
good, where youstart off with $4,000.00 in chips, blind
levels for the firsthour are set at 20 minutes each, then
30 minutes thereafter. 45 players total, signed up to
play for this tournament. The players who play in this
game are pretty solid, so most of the time, you don't get
any type of gambo' gambo' shit..

The first couple of levels, I was able to gain about a
50 to60 percent increase in my starting stack. I had
gotten AK diamonds, pocket Aces and pocket Kings in the
first hour,as was paid off preflop and on the flop. I
usually get busted on pocket Aces, so I was happy to take
down a pot with them, lol.

The next couple of levels, were pretty slow. I was
making some "bump" raises from mid to late position with
some marginal hands (Ace/Ten OS a couple of times, suited
King/Jack - cards like that). I got to take the blinds
each time without any confrontations. The table I was at
had pretty solid players, but I kept a watch out for any
funny plays out there. We actually had one weak player,
who eventually busted out when she was at her last blind.
I think that is one of my pet peeves, when someone plays
to their last bet. I mean, it doesn't allow them to give
themselves any fold equity. If they do win a hand, they
need to double up consistently to give them any chance to
win. But what am I to complain, let them do it, it
usually gives me a better chance to move up as well.

Anyway, I got to the final 9 players with about $11,000.00
in chips. Blinds were $500/1000 with a $100 ante. There
was $2,400.00 in the pot before any betting. That's a
good 20% of my own stack preflop. If I was going to
play a pot at this point, I would be for all of it. I
think theonly time I would put in a standard raise would
be when I would have pocket Aces or Kings. But even most
of the time I would have those two hands, I would push all
in at ten bets. You may get a caller and if your big pocket
pair holds up, you have just doubled up to twenty bets (for
a little more breathing room). I would say most of the
time when I have gone that deep in a tourny, the play
usually works.

This time I came upon Ace/Nine Spades, right about in mid
position. I made a decision to push all in. I got folds
behind me. The small blind had looked at his stack and
said all in too. I'm behind, I know it. The big blind
folded. I flip up my cards and the small blind flips up
2 black Queens. Great...need to get lucky. The board
and turn blanked out. I got an unneeded Nine on the river.
Jeez, I'm out. I think it's a decent play, knowing that
my hand should be better than any random hand on the blind
spots. I can also make a case for just calling or
minraising in that spot. If I get raised off my
original bet, I still have an option of folding
preflop.

What do you think?

On a better note, I played online with Spade Club in a
$500.00 pot freeroll. Again, played my usual style and
ended up in 4th place out of 623. I like playing these,
it gives you practice in a fast, large pool tourny
enviroment.

Ooh, I won $50.00 too. How you like that for a $1.00
first time monthly membership investment, lol...

The site is not too bad, the regular membership fee is
$19.99 monthly. It gives you access to qualify in cash
tournaments of $100,000.00 monthly. Have a $5,000.00
freeroll this Sunday, wish me luck....

Untitled Novel (it's been years since I tried to finish)

2008-10-01T14:57:00.000-07:00

Excerpt from an unfinished piece...

Chapter 1

Let me check my missed calls, let's see here. I just
got a text from Jeslyn. what does she want? Dang, 5
missed calls...She is a truly great girl. See, I'm
speaking with the other brain again. Anyway, I always
call back..True sucker. Let me dial the numbers, 5
rings, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10. Why did you even call me,
if you ain't gonna' answer. I really hate that. She
is on that stage where I'll make one phone call attempt
and if you don't answer, "Sorry for ya"...

Back to the grill again. Man, I broke my prior rule,
I'll call Jes back again...one more time...5 rings,
"Hello!", Jes answered. "What up, kid?", I asked saucily...
hehe..."Oh nothing", Jes replied. So I think to myself, why
did this girl try to get a hold of me? I know that she wants
me to probe, ask questions and act concerned. There must be
something going on in her relationship with that haole boy
and needs a shoulder to cry on. I'll humor her. "You don't
sound like you're doing too well, what's the matter?", I
asked. "He's ignoring me", Jes replied. So I think to myself
again, so what does she want me to do, go to her pad and ask
her if she would like to get some of that Brown Sugar again
(again thinking with the other brain, just like a Jedi mind
trick, "Luke I'm your father...."). I asked her, like a chump,
"Is he treating you like the lady you are?", with a half assed
air of concern. Jes said, "Well I'd rather speak to you face
to face about this, or I think I will break down". "What, like
my pop's eight track player in his old Gremlin?", I thought to
myself. "What do you mean, do you want to meet up someplace?",
I asked. "I guess so", Jes said. "Like First Street Billiards,
Starbucks, Pho' Bac, just call it", I said. "No, why don't you
just come here?", she asked. "You sure, is that gonna' be cool?",
I asked warily. "I asked, didn't I?", she inquired (like I was
a runaway slave or something, I swear that she had a horsewhip
up, when she asked me). "I guess that's alright", I replied
halfheartedly (my tail was only halfway up between my legs at
that time). You just don't know, she considered me a "kuya" or
if you don't know the mother tongue - the dreaded "friend".
That would have been cool if I was bakla and was her primetime
shopping partner, but unfortunately I'm heterosexual and she
was damn fine. Just like taking candy away from a baby. Cruel
and unusual punishment. But hey, she cool, it's better to have
a gun and not use it - then to not have a gun and have to need
one. Hmmm, does that make sense?, ehhh, whatever. Anyway, I
slapped the top down on the Wrangler and headed a beeline to
her pad like a fool...I would at least look cool getting there
anyway..hehe..

DING, DONG....I'm waiting...Damn, 5 minutes on this stoop already.
She better be baking cookies or something, maybe frying up some
lumpia....I'm gonna' go back home, so I turned around and walked
back to my Jeep. "Hey you!", Jes replied in that tone of voice -
makes you melt like halo halo in midday traffic in Manila - HOT
BABY! Anyway let me collect myself for a minute. So of course I
put the keys back in my right pocket and turned around. Walked
thru the door, jeez she had the Waiting to Exhale soundtrack
playing on her system. What in the hell. Are we going to dance
around her coffee table now and talk shit about men. If that's
whats goin' on, I'm out, like Audi 5K..."Do you want a beer or
somethin'?", Jes asked. "Right," I replied warily. "Remember
when you first turned 21 and said that you would only drink
Heinekens because you only drank imported beer and then your
heart got broken when they opened up that plant in Sacramento",
Jes said. "What in the hell are you talking about?", I confusedly
asked. "Oh I am just trying to get that sarcastic humor, that
always turned me on about you", Jes replied. Turned me on about
you, what a thing to say to this timebomb of horniness you just
offered alcohol to. Who's the dumb one now?...Oh still me, I
came over here like a chump (just a reminder to me the...idiot...).
Anyway, let me collect myself again. "Hey you gonna tell me what's
up between you and White Boy Roy, or what?", I asked in an assertive
tone. "Don't call Dirk that", Jes said. "For Chrissakes, he's named
after some kind of medieval weapon or torture device that was once
used in the Spanish Inquisition", I replied. She let out a giggle
and stopped herself, she then looked like she was about to burst
into tears.

"I just don't know what to think", Jes said. "Bout what?", I
asked. "The medieval weapon guy", Jes replied. "Heh, Heh,
you're getting humor thing down, I'm gonna' have to book you
at the Improv next week", I said. "I caught the guy cheating",
Jes said somberly. "Are you calling it quits or what?", I asked.
"I don't know what to do", Jes replied. I am really irritated
by that statement. I'm tired of women saying that no man should
ever cheat on them or else. Then when it happens, they feel too
confused to make the obvious decision. Which would be to drop
that man, come to poppi and like LL said, "Back seat of my Jeep"
(I'm an idiot, I know). Alright back to the matter at hand. "Well
have you confronted him with this info?", I asked. "Not yet", Jes
replied. "What, you want me to ask him?", I asked. "No, something
else", Jes said. Jes then sat next to me on the couch and stroked
the back of my head with the back of her index and middle finger
of her right hand (very detailed, huh?). I absoulutely love that
shit, whan a woman caresses you, you know those little physical
things add up to a lot. Alright, she got my right leg quivering
now. Count to ten man, you CAN be STRONG. "You know I have
always had a thing for you", I said. "I know", Jes replied. "So
what do you want from me, is this some kind of booty call?", I
asked sarcastically. She laughed and said, "No, I thought this
is what you wanted". She then gave me one of those looks you
see models do while running down the catwalk. I held my laugh
in.....

Booya....

.....So I picked her up and threw her on the living room futon.
Bam, Bam, Bam (ie, John Witherspoon from "Boomerang", you know -
"you gotta' coordinate...")...In about one hour of off the wall,
well you know - bumpin' da uglies - or should I say doin' the
white man's overbite, it was over and she started to cry.
"Was I that bad?", I asked. Damn that sarcastic humor. She
started to whimper, like she found what she had to say next
to be very difficult. "What did I just do?", Jes asked in a
confused daze. "I thought that this is what you wanted?", I
asked in a negative tone. A long pause, with no answer. I
felt guilty, so I had to leave (what a guy move, huh). I gave
her a kiss on the forehead and dressed. "Where do you think you
are going mister?", Jes asked. "Don't play games with me", I
barked back at her. SLAM, went the door. LATE HOE! (no, I
didn't actually shout it - well, I shouted it in my mind
though...).

What women want these days, I just don't know sometimes...

Chapter 2

I'm 2 minutes in the car and the cell rings up. Guess
who's number it is. Gotta' remember that she is on the "D"
list right now. Don't answer it, I guess (another typical
guy move, anyway - no time for confrontation right now).
God, what is there to do tonight? I'll call up Jojo on the
celly and see what he got going on for tonight. 5 rings, 6,
"Uh, hello", Jojo answered. "You don't sound too sure of
yourself, what's up", I said. "Hey now, is this Scott-AE?",
Jojo asked. "Yeah save that shit for your mom, bitch", I said.
"What do you want asshole?", Jojo asked sarcastically. "Just
wanted to see what you were up to?", I asked. He probably was
going to say, let's go to Orange, the newest pinoy hangout,
well for the time being, you know how trendy us peeps are
sometimes. "Thinking about meeting up with this hapa and going
down to the Orange - she needs to be peeled tonight", Jojo said.
"You're an idiot, anyways, she got any friends that are coming
with?", I asked. "Of course, you know she runs with a crew of
baby yakuza gangsta' bitches", Jojo replied. "Like I said,
you're an idiot - so they bringin' their crew of boyfriends
too?", I asked sarcastically. "No, it ain't like that, I think
that we're going to actually hook up with her friend Cynthia,
then maybe meet up with her other friends at the club, so you
wanna' tag along and be sixth toe?", Jojo asked. "Yeah, why
not?", I replied halfheartedly. "I guess by the tone of your
voice, you gots some Jes issues?", Jojo asked. "Is it that
obvious?", I asked. "You're the idiot sometimes", Jojo said.
"Well said my friend, hurry up let's get drunk - where do you
want to meet?", I asked. "Get to your pad and I'll pick you
up", Jojo said. "Cool, I'll be there in 10 minutes", I said.

Jojo picked me up at the pad and we were on our way to
the hapa's lair. "Dang, where does she live?", I asked
impatiently. You see, we've been on the road for about 35
minutes and Orange is only 7 minutes from my house. "Why
didn't you just ask her to come to your house earlier?", I
asked. "You gotta' treat the keepers right, you know?",
Jojo said. "Well for how long kid", I asked. "Until you
hit that punany, then mission accomplished", Jojo said.
"So I guess you haven't sampled the sashimi yet?", I asked
sarcastically. "Shaddup, you little virgin boy", Jojo
said in his backla' accent. "What's this little japonesa's
name anyway?", I asked. "Lola Takamura, don't you remember
her, she used to be a bank teller at the Well's Fargo on
Mckee", Jojo said. "Oh yeah, that's right, she is a definite
cutie", I said. "You know it baby!", Jojo exclaimed. "So
why is she named after your grandma, heh, heh", I asked
jokingly. "You can suck on the left side of my nutsack, I
just shaved it, better yet - how about a nice teabagging
later?", Jojo asked (he kinda' sounded a bit serious,
ewww....).

Untitled Script WW2, Pacific Theater...

2008-10-01T14:33:00.000-07:00

Untitled Script WW2, Pacific Theater

PROLOGUE:

I wondered what happened to my forgotten people
of the southernmost island of Spain during the years of World
War 2. I always think back to my days in college when I was
speaking to this girl from Placerville, Ca. who didnt know
what a Filipino, or rather a Pinoy was. My answer verbatim
was, Well, us Filipinos had helped save your great american
General Macarthur's ass in the Pacific about 50 years ago,
the motherfucka probably tried to hit on one of my lolas back
in the day. A bit sarcastic, but I thought it got my point
across. Even this girl, in those history books they gave
her in grade school, probably had only one mention of the
islands as a place where some crazy battles took place between
the USA and Japan. Then I have memories of myself as a child
thinking that I was not perfect or so to say, a true American.
Was it because I did not have blue eyes or blond and wavy hair?
Why did I have dark eyes and long thick black hair? My physical
image was unlike the images that I saw on television or on the
movies that I enjoyed watching so much. Why did the universe
have to get saved by a lone blonde kid in an X-Wing fighter,
defeating an army led by a leader swathed in dark armor? Why
couldnt have been the furry tall dude, the one I would identify
with the most because of his brown color and his sudden yowling,
which reminded my of how my lolo would wake up in the morning
(sorry for the sarcasm again, but you get it, right?). Some
of the blame has to lay on me as well. When I was growing up,
I never had questioned who I was or where I came from. All I
knew was that I was an American, eat burgers, salute the flag
on the 4th of July and watch the Superfriends on Saturday mornings.
Dang, there was even a black Superfriend (Im gonna create a new
Pinoy superhero that uses deadly yoyos, how you like them apples?
The new EX-Man..hehehe). How does a child lose his identity,
before learning it?

Well, when you grow up in a land that has forgotten you in
its history books, media and through all outlets the typical
child receives when growing up, that's probably why. It seems
that the Filipino people seem to be a footnote to American
History. I find that interesting, in the fact that the
Filipino and American peoples life stories are much intertwined,
albeit a new one compared to the history of the world, but
one that is over 100 years old, nonetheless. From the Spanish
American War, to the manongs that immigrated to the States as
migrant workers in the early part of the century, WW2 and the
great migrations through the late 1960s/1970s, Pinoys are a
part of US history.

I'm not going to mention the other nations or peoples that
had colonized the Philippines before the USA, especially the
Spanish. All of these cultures have had such profound
influences in the motherland. Lumpia is a derivative of the
Chinese eggroll. As you see, my last name is Spanish, nuff said.
The Philippines as a foreign nation, is the 3rd largest country
that uses English as a second language. I call that a really
profound influence. When I've traveled to the Philippines, it
seems that a lot a people that I meet, want to immigrate to the
States. Why? Whats the big fuss about? You want to go to a
land where the majority of the people will make pun ob ur accent?
You got the USA over here in the PI - KFCs, McDonalds, Levis and
Apple Pie, er make that Mango Pie (it tastes better anyways).
Also, graft, corruption and scandals abound in the PI you would
be too bored to come to the States and just hear that Clinton
just plugged another intern news in the USA would be just too
tame for you. The nightly news would not compare to TV Patrol
they just dont show dead bodies being pulled out of wrecks,
nor the newest rape suspect on live television news. I guess
Filipinos equate success and richness with the USA. People
are amazed that I would even think of moving to the PI from
the States. Its true, Ive entertained the thought. I could
go without the convenience of going to the local 7/11 and
picking up a hot dog for a buck, but hey they got Selects with
fresh and piping hot siopao that aint no sacrifice for me.
Economically, not for now cant make it on a writers buck in
Manila I guess thats the Stateside imperialism in me (damn,
I'm too Americanized). I think Ive just found a comfort zone
there, where everybody kinda looks like me. I dont feel too
short no not a Napoleon complex, alright? Anyway, the
Philippines is a great country, it just needs to grasp its
own identity.

Anyway, enough of the ranting on with the story...

CHAPTER 1 WHEN THE SAINTS COME MARCHING IN

..How I want to be in that number..God, my feet hurt. Just
singing that song in my head is keeping me sane and alert in
the hot morning sun. The heat in the summer months can be
just unbearable. How I forgot that after moving to California
as a young infant, that I would end up back in the jungles of
the PI. All I see is the back of another GIs sweaty nape.
I cant dare turn to face my captors again. I dont as hell
miss that bamboo cane rap against the back of my calves one
more time. If I get in another scuffle with one of those Jap
wannabee officers again, I dont think I will survive. How I
miss running down the windy coastline of Monterey outside the
barracks of my fathers installation. It was so free and cool.
Okay, concentrate keep in line, maybe you can survive this

It's May 10, I think its been 4 days since the fall of Corregidor.
I'm looking at the shifts of the moon and stars as my calendar
now. One of the enemy soldiers took my Timex as some kind of
souvenir. I guess they like to take our personal possessions
to make us feel less than them, maybe some kind of mental
warfare thing they learn in Osaka or Tokyo, before raising
shit in some foreign land. I need to rest for a little while
and conserve some energy. Marching in place is about the only
exercise theyll let us do; I dont want to get too complacent
they probably want to weaken us, so they wont have to worry
about an uprising later on. I heard that a couple weeks back,
they marched a bunch of us to Camp ODonnell, where not too
many survived. That wont be me. I didnt volunteer to go
back home for nothing.

Pfc Cabat, how you holding up?. Good Sir, and you?. Fine,
just keep your chin up, Macarthur will be back. Oh, yeah?,
kinda said it in a sarcastic tone. Well, what else you gonna
hope for, its early in the war, even your vernerable President
Quezon left with himjust trying not too move too much and stay
cool for now, whaddaya think the japs will do with us next?.
Shhh, a couple of their officers are heading toward our group.
That was Gunnery Sgt. Wills Mand from California too, that made
us kinda close. The guys been a war honky for years, I think
he served in Tripoli, before the US occupied the PI. Just
kidding, he just seems older than dust from all his experience,
which is a good thing.

Look at us, tired, thirsty and hungry. Dont our captors know
we are not animals. War is hell, even when there is no fight.
I guess freedom does have a price sometimes. To eventually
get it, there have to be sacrifices. I guess I didnt think
I would be the one to experience it firsthand. Damn, why
did I volunteer for this? Shoulda continued my studies at
Berkeley. It aint common for a brown kid from a shit town
like Watsonville, gets a fellowship for Anthropology at a
top U.C. Oh, I mean it isnt common. Dang, I must be going
loony, Im trying to crack sarcastic jokes to my feeble self,
Dad was always right. Dont pick the PI son, all the whites
will treat you like you were their houseboy and the pinoys
there are gonna treat you like some rich uncle drainin your
wallet. Youre an oxymoron to both cultures, too dark to blend
in with your American peers and too Americanized to relate to
your people. Shit, I dont care about that now its them slant
eye gooks that that think Im a piece of cattle or shark chum
these days.

Well, well how are our guests doing?, asked Capt. Hosan Fujiyama
asked me. That fucker was so arrogant. He was the commanding
officer of our camp. He always had that certain air about him.
Funny, he was probably one of the few people that I could
actually relate to in this camp. You see, he grew up most of
his life in Southern California. His parents migrated from
Japan to Hawaii in the early 1900s. Then when the pineapples
got dry in Oahu, they moved to Bakersfield and became migrant
workers there. The damn Jap graduated from UCLA with honors
in English. After college, he left for Japan to get out of the
States. Kinda like me, he had a yearnin for the homeland. I
think he felt that he had to be really cruel and hard on us to
prove to his superiors that he wasnt going to be a traitor to
the Emperor. I answered him first, Just fine sir. Are you
ready for your chores today?, he asked, as if we were his
little children, JeezWe have many of your brothers to bury
today, I need you to make sure they rest in honor at least
they had purpose, to die fighting with respect, not like you
all who waste your useless lives to live another day of the
same, Capt. Fujiyama said. Real motivating. Anyway, get on
your feet and follow Sgt. Tanaka, Capt. Fujiyama ordered.

Sgt. Tanaka got a group of 20 on our side of the barracks and
marched us to the southside of the campgrounds. I hated the
southside. The dead were usually baking out in the hot sun
for a few days, so they were usually bloated and blistered
from the boiling of the stagnant fluids inside there bodies.
Oh, I forgot to mention the smell. Just think of the nastiest
thing your have ever smelled and vomited from that wasnt
anything compared to this, if you know what I mean. A rumor
was that the japs left the bodies to ferment for a while as
some kind proganda thing to show the surviving pows left in
the camp. The smell of it was enough. The wind from the
South China Seas The japs were lucky, they lived just north
of the area on high ground and probably never noticed the
damn shit. would always bring a reminder over the camp.

As we neared the pile of rotting bodies, Sgt. Tanaka and his
men threw us a bunch of trench shovels and ordered us to start
digging. Damn, its gonna take us forever to dig up ground to
bury our men. These japs want to slowly kill us. Why don't
they just put a bullet through each of our noggins and quit
wasting time. I cant think like that, I think hope is all
that can keep me living.

Our group of 20 were just a bunch of withered nothings. I don't
think we had the full strength of 4 or 5 men. These japs just
feed us a half of cup of rice a day, if were lucky. Even if
we try to forage around the camp for food, they deny that to
us too. I remember when J.T., found a couple of coconuts that
that rolled in from the trees just outside the perimeter.
One of the gook officers shot the kid in the leg. With no
proper medical attention, J.T. got gangrene within the week.
I guess Sgt. Tanaka had some sympathy for the guy and handed
Corpsman Anders a machete to chop off J.T.s right leg to prevent
the infection from spreading. With one swift swing the leg came
right off but it was for nothing. J.T. screamed out, once the
machete went though his knee and then laid still. That was
probably his last breath.

I look at the bodies and feel that they are the lucky ones.
They dont have to deal with these fuckers anymore. But, like
I said, I cant lose hope of getting out of this place and giving
back to the japs what they deserve. Its hard burying your
brothers everyday. Only four days in this camp and we have
thirty from our unit alone, dead.

Riders On The Storm...

2008-09-29T17:18:00.000-07:00

9/29/08

Riders On The Storm...

Riders on the storm
Riders on the storm
Into this house were born
Into this world were thrown
Like a dog without a bone
An actor out on loan
Riders on the storm

There's a killer on the road
His brain is squirmin' like a toad
Take a long holiday
Let your children play
If ya give this man a ride
Sweet memory will die
Killer on the road, yeah

by The Doors...

Don't know why I quoted the lyrics from the Doors, maybe I was
channeling Jim Morrison on my drive to and back to New Mexico,
getting there last Thursday and arriving back in Vegas, last
Sunday. I think the song was inspired by an incident Jim
Morrison experienced when he was living in New Mexico as a
kid. I think he witnessed a car accident driving with his
parents outside of Albuquerque, NM. Anyway, let me digress...

Like I said before I drove to Albuquerque last week to meet
up with my GF. She flew into New Mexico for an job interview
she had with a company known for their "Angels". She still
lives in San Jose, but purchased a home in Albie earlier
this year.

Flights were kind of expensive short notice, so
I thought to myself, why not try driving out there. It would
give me a chance to see a part of America that I have not
driven through before. I also thought it would be a good
way to clear up things and analyze my "career as a poker
player" in my head. You can accomplish a lot of "soul
searching "when confined to your own thoughts". I make it
sound more serious than that it should be. It really isn't
that complicated. It gave me a chance to look at certain
hands that I have played on a "step by step" basis.
I won't reveal any new strategies or plays that I thought
over during the drive (for fear of it being used against
me, lol)...

I can say what of my shortcomings are at times, is playing
too cautious, when warranted aggressiveness will be the
key in winning pots. I guess the line from the movie
Rounders rings true, "You can't lose what you don't put
in the middle, but you can't win much either". I know
it's a process, but I feel that some of the people from
back home feel that I should be winning all kinds of
money out here or something. I've always been a winner
at the game, so I feel why should I change my style.
I've been winning essentially since I've been in
Vegas, but not to the effect where "retirement" will
come soon, hehe. There have been ups and downs, but
in Vegas and in Life I've never been "felted" (meaning
that you've lost all your chips, so you're down to the
"felt") - but have "felted" other players, hehe...
As I say, it's a process and should always utilize my
most prized skill "patience"...

Anyways, let me get back to the roadtrip. The drive
to Albuquerque is more or less 8 hours from Vegas.
I got a PT Cruiser from Thrifty Car Rentals near
McCarran International Airport in the city. I really
hate certain rental car agents. The rate for the
car was pretty cheap, just under a hundred bucks
from Thursday to Monday morning. The rental agent
asked me if I wanted to get the "extra insurance",
which would have added $22.00 more bucks a day to the
rental car. He tried to put the scare in me by saying
that if I didn't opt for the extra insurance that "I
would totally be responsible for any damages to the
rental vehicle". I told him that I used to work for
an auto insurance company and that my own auto insurance
would (AIG now, shit maybe not with all the stuff they
been thru the last couple of weeks, hehe..) provide
coverage for the rental vehicle as an additionally
insured automobile. He still says that I should take
the extra insurance, due to the fact that I worked
for an auto insurance company. Jeez, I said no
already! Plus my credit card would also provide
rental insurance coverage as well. Give me my keys
already! I agreed for the fuel charge though, at
$3.45 per gallon, as I knew that I was going use all
of the gas. All in all about at buck fifty for the
rental, not bad for all the saved up mileage/wear/tear
I would save Ms. Taylor (my Jeep Cherokee, if you have
been reading my earlier posts).

The drive all the way to Albuquerque was all good,
knowing at the end of the rainbow I would find my pot
of gold, meaning that I would be able to spend some
time with my GF. I haven't seen her for a couple of
weeks, since the time I was out there during Labor
Day week (like I have a real job). I didn't want to
make any unneeded stops, as I was going to drive back
Sunday, where I could make stops on a whim, as I didn't
need to return the car until Monday morning.

I left about 1000 am that day and made it to Albie, at
about 730 pm (Mountain time, I lost an hour due to the
time change). Kinda' weird not having to talk to anyone
in person for about 8 hours - but like I said, I wanted
to have some time to think to myself. My biggest worry
driving, would be getting stuck on the road where there
were no cell sites to get a signal for my phone (then I
would be totally cut off from the world). I think I'm
going to get a handheld CB radio, so when Armageddon comes,
I will be able to get helicoptered out of Hell.

I got to her house and we sat down for dinner. Thin Crust
Pepperoni Pizza, the bestest sometimes. She also baked
some Reese's Peanut Butter Cup cookies. I've never had
them before - they were real good. We basically chilled
that night at home as she had a morning interview the next
day.

Friday and Saturday was mostly shopping for the house and
more chilling at the home, which is good. Nothing like
relaxing at home, with the next greatest invention in
the world, RedBox DVD's - a buck a night, you can't beat
it. Yes, I actually enjoyed watching Made of Honor and
Sex in the City - do they make Manolo's for men?
Gay, huh?

Sunday, I took her to the airport for her early flight.
That sucked and I still had a long drive back to Vegas.

I made it to Hoover Dam in about 7 hours. That was pretty
good time, since I had taken three "number 2" breaks and
a half hour lunch/rest break, just past Flagstaff AZ.
I decided to be a tourist and snap a few photos at the
dam. I've never been there before, even though it's
only about 40 minutes from the Strip. I'll have to go
back again with the GF or friends when they come into
town. I'm curious to check out the museum and see where
you can go to do some jet skiing...

After staying there for about 15 minutes, I decided to
head back into the city.

Dropped off the rental at Thrifty's and headed back
home with a ride from a buddy of mine. It feels good
and bad to be back in Sin City.

Trail Rated...

2008-09-23T14:51:00.000-07:00

9/22/08

Trail Rated…

I am here at 4 Wheel Parts, in Henderson NV. I had the
Cherokee lifted 2 inches, side steps installed and a tow
hitch receiver put in the rear. I think the only other
things I would do to it would get black rims, slightly
bigger tires and a safari rack. I’m on the way to completing
the adventure vehicle. It’s a far cry from the suv of my
dreams, the MBZ G500 or a Land Rover Discovery 110 (the
four door, you probably seen them on TV on a safari show,
like Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom or something). Trust
me, I love the Jeep, I’ve only owned Jeeps or VW’s all my
life. I guess I like certain niche cars, not the typical
drivers that my fellow Pinoy brethren would be caught rollin’
in. Plus, I would get definitely mad if someone nicked the
G500 in a grocery parking lot. Anyway, the proposed 911
Carrera in the garage of my future would probably be jealous
of another Germanic piece of engineering parked beside her.
I also get pretty upset when purchasing an “asset” such as a
vehicle, wherein the next year it depreciates a good 20% (it’s
like if I purchased a car for $50,000.00, took out $10,000.00
in cash the next year, poured gasoline on it and lit it on
fire – that is so gross to me – I’d rather pop it in a mutual
fund and watch it grow, yeah right – see the stock market lately?).

If I miss the aroma, I can get new smell car “deodorant” at Kragen
anyway, lol.

I guess I got used to not making any car payments, with the
last of it when I paid off my Wrangler, about 4 years ago. I
got the vehicle out the door in 1999, for about $20,000.00.
It was the Sport Model, with the options I wanted at the time,
full doors, 4.0 inline six engine, auto tranny and A/C.

The Black Beauty, Tyra.

It was a pretty good price for the Jeep, my desire for it was
fueled even more during a great run at Blackjack in September
of that year. I put down $3,000.00, which put my balance of
the loan at $17,000.00. After 5 years and approximately
$25,000.00 in total payments, the Wrangler was mine. I
additionally paid $8,000.00 on top of the loan balance of
$17,000.00, due to the high interest rate of my loan (my credit
at the time was not stellar – but is pretty nice now, my FICO
is higher than my SAT English score back in the day, so I’m
pretty proud). I then sold the Wrangler in 2007 for approximately
$8,000.00, which was actual good market value for the Jeep in
its condition and age. So that’s a negative “investment” of
$20,000.00 in 8 years (not counting miscellaneous wear/tear
and repair costs). But you shouldn’t think of it as an
investment anyway, I bought the car due to certain emotional
reasons – meaning that it was the car I always “wanted” and
not what I actually “needed”. Sounds like a line from "Next
Door Millionaire" (good book, y'all need to read it. I miss
her though, but she was not that practical. Top down driving
is great, but shouting at your passengers while driving was
getting old. The backseat is not great for your passengers on
long trips. I don’t think anyone in the back liked it there,
especially with the top down, as it can be compared to walking
through a wind tunnel at Lockheed. I don’t want to make
anybody feel that I am putting down their desire of purchasing
a new car. I don’t think I would be able to do it again, unless
it was to lease one as a business expense or if I am at a point
in my life where I had “Fuck You Money” (where it would make no
difference in the cost of the vehicle to me – ie, “Fuck You, I’m
Rich Bee-Yotch!" - "Now pick up my Bentley Turbo R from Valet!").

I also miss my venerable Veedub Gabrielle (German, white and a
big “trunk”). She was my 1990 VW Jetta GLI 2.0 16v, that I sold
a few weeks ago. The poor man’s M3, hehe… She was so fun to
drive on twisty roads, especially gunning it down highway 17.
She was high maintenance at times, but when you treated her
right – she could outrun Vette’s and Mustangs on the way to
getting corn dogs at the Boardwalk. The beauty of front wheel
drive and a muscular 145 HP running through it (it’s a light
car you know, it’s not weighed down by useless things like
airbags and such, hehe). Pretty solid runner for a car 18
years old, she had low miles at 105K – still looked fresh,
but like I said she needed to be babied. So, I came to my
financial senses (I didn’t really need her or really drive
her these days – I didn’t bring her to Vegas), as opposed to
my emotional senses, and put her up for sale. Luckily, I
found a buyer who did not haggle on my last advertised price.
I actually sold the car about a “G” above Kelley Bluebook – not
bad, but I’m sad with the separation. I will probably not
find another one like her, in the same condition, ever.

I’m old school VW at heart.

Anyway, I’m fine with the Cherokee, Ms. Taylor – even though
she drinks a bit much, she’s still Trail Rated…

Ace Queen, No Good...

2008-09-12T15:12:00.000-07:00

9/10/08

Ace Queen, No Good…

Today I went to play my favorite NLHE tourney at Caesars.
Only 36 people signed up for today, but it is hump day, not
a busy day in Vegas. It was good enough. I eventually
busted out 11th out of the 36 players.

I think I have to listen to my gut instinct more when playing.
I got lucky with 2 hands and of course lost the other, which led
to me exit out of the tournament. My first lucky hand consisted
of my having Ace/Queen OS on the dealer button. I raised it to
$250.00, which was 2.5 blinds at the time. I got calls from
the small blind, big blind and a mid position player. The flop
was dealt Queen, Two and Four, all OS. The small blind checked,
the big blind bet out $400.00, the midposition player folded,
and I then reraised him the $1,200.00 (I had a pretty healthy
chip stack of $7,000 behind). The small blind player folded,
the big blind player called and the midposition player folded.
There was now about $3,400.00 in the pot. The turn was dealt
another Queen, now I had 3 Queens with Ace kicker. The big
blind player bet out $1,200.00 (he had about $2,000.00 left
behind). I was kind of perplexed in trying to guess what he
held in the hole, I just knew that he was pot committed. I
paused to think, “does he have a full house now, like Fours over
Queens, or Twos over Queens?”…Hmmm…I decided to put him all in
for the rest of his chips. I tabled my hand for 3 Queens, and
the big blind flipped over Pocket Aces. Wow, he didn’t reraise
me preflop with that hand. If he reraised me big, I probably
would have folded my hand before the flop. It was his own fault
for trying to slow play Aces. You either win a small pot or lose
a big pot with Pocket Aces. Anyway the river bricked out and I
won the pot with my 3 Queens. Ace Queen Good!!!

My second lucky hand consisted of my hand on the dealer button
with Pocket Sevens. The under the gun player raised it 2 times
to $2,400.00. Everybody folded to me. The UTG player’s raise
indicated a pretty strong hand, a hand that wanted action. I
was hoping for Ace/King, or something like that. I had about
$13,000.00 in chips, it was pretty much now or never (blinds
were going up and we still had about 19 players left, with the
last 4 into the money – still a long trek). I decided to go
all in and asked the UTG player if he had a pair of Aces. He
gladly obliged and called my all in with what else, Pocked Aces.
But the poker gods wanted me to play longer and hit me a third
Seven on the River. Poker is brutal, but I’ll take that river,
hehe.

We were then down to the last 11 players. I had about $22,000.00
in chips with blinds at $600/1200, not necessarily short stacked,
but not a chip leader. The UTG player raised it double to $2,400.00.
Everyone folded and I peeled up Ace/Queen of Spades in the small
blind. I decided to call as did the big blind. The flop was
dealt Queen of Clubs, Two/Four of Hearts. I wondered am I good
here? He might have raised with Aces or Kings. Maybe not Aces,
as I have the Ace of Spades. I bet $7,000.00 into a pot of $7,200.00,
I had about $12,000.00 left behind. The big blind player folded
and the UTG player paused. I thought he may have a big hand now.
But I have top pair with top kicker! He then went all in over the
top of my bet and had me covered by about $6,000.00. I hate these
decisions, I even said out loud a few times that I felt that I was
behind in the hand. He made a very strong bet. I called his all
in and he peeled up Pocket Queens for a set. I’m pretty dead in
the water, I need runner runner Aces, that’s it – no chance for
straights or flushes with this board. No luckfest this time and
he took me out.

I’ve told myself not to play Ace/Queen out of position with a raise
in front of you. I should have folded preflop. But the hand looks
so pretty, suited too…Ace Queen, no good, she hurts me too much, hehe….

Mid Life Crisis...

2008-09-09T20:27:00.000-07:00

9/5/08

Mid Life Crisis…

Yeah right, I guess in my thirties, I have reached
Mid Life. I need to quit smoking, maybe I can increase
my life expectancy a few years to a decade, but who wants
to live till their past 80? I say that now, but you know,
70 to 80 years is a long time. I mean, do I have to budget
for my life expectancy or what? I know it’s kind of a
weird stance to take in thinking about how much money you
need to live, but these days, it’s kind of warranted.
There’s always the Philippines to go back to, with their
desirable exchange rate and all. With all the travelling
I have done going back to the homeland, these past years,
I don’t think I could hack it for the long run. There are
just some things you get used to when growing up in the
States. Like, a stable government, 7-11’s just down the
street, driving on roads without potholes, getting a chance
to vote, hot water on demand, the list is endless. I just
wish that the Philippines stayed a territory of USA, where
they would enjoy the same status at an actual state of the
union. But after World War II, that didn’t happen and the
PI digressed (where in turn, Japan, the country the States
dumped 2 atomic bombs on, has developed into a world
economic leader – weird to me).

Anyway, I flew back in the Bay Area this last Sunday to meet
up with family for Lola Floria’s one year death anniversary
(my grandmother on my mother’s side) and to hang out for
my birthday. I feel bad that I did not get to meet up with
some of my friends for my birthday, but I didn’t plan to do
anything big for it. I guess after a certain age, I don’t
feel like partying like I was 21 again. The body can’t take
it anymore. Like Sgt. Murtaugh (Danny Glover in Lethal
Weapon movies) says, “I’m too old for this shit”. Well, not
really hehe. I just wanted to spend a low key week in town.

I celebrated my birthday with my GF last Thursday. We spent
a relaxing hour at Watercourse Way in Palo Alto. We should
have stayed longer. If you haven’t gone there, I recommend
it for you to go. They have several rooms to choose and
couples specials (massage and tub combo’s). After Palo Alto,
we headed up to SF to eat at Fog City Diner for dinner.
If you know me, I can do fine dining, but I really like the
simple fare. Well, Fog City Diner is not your typical diner
though. You could say it’s the “Cadillac” or “MBZ’y” of
diners. It’s located off the Embarcadero and Battery streets
in the City. Here’s is a rundown of what we ordered…Started
off with these buttery Cheese Biscuits, if you like the ones
at Red Lobster, you’ll definitely want these, they are 10
times better. They just kind of melted in your mouth.
Next up was Ahi Tuna Tartar Bruschetta, doused in olive oil
(you can imagine the taste). For the main entrée, was their
Signature Burger, I think it might have been made with ground
prime rib. Had the burger topped off with blue cheese, arugula,
grilled onions and applewood bacon. Truffle cut fries topped
with melted asiago was on the side. Another good choice.
For dessert were 2 Ghiradelli Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups.
A great tasting version of the Reese’s OG snack, I love.

Oh yeah, got my first LV from the GF too, I guess I have
joined the club...

Snuggling sessions occurred later of course, can't seem
to do without them. Gay, huh? Hehe...

Anyway, just seemed like I wanted to chill for the rest of
the weekend. Went to a cousin's birthday bbq that Saturday,
grubbed and swam. Then went to Mom's and Dad's with the
GF, to babysit Mom for a bit, as Dad wanted to go party
with some of his old coworkers in the City.

I guess Garcia's never retire from the scene.

It was fine, as I wanted to spend time with the Moms
(as you may know she is post kidney transplant surgery for
the last 6 months and she is doing pretty good). Plus my
GF wanted to see the stray kittens that come over to
my parents home, from the next door neighbors. The
next door neighbor died some time ago and her children
did not take her cats. 2 litters have been borne since
then. So there's about 8 kittens with a couple of
mommies and the dad. My GF had a good time feeding
and hanging out with the cat family. She has a good
heart, well I think she is part cat too...hehe...

My brother and his wife came over, so me and the GF hit
Valley Fair to check out some stuff before Macy's closed.

"These boots are made for walkin', that's just what
they'll do..." (sorry inside joke)...

Sunday was chill too, met up with a couple of buddies
for the old skool meet ups for breakfast. Went to
see Lola Floria and Lolo Pedring at the cemetery one
more time before leaving to Vegas. Kicked it at home
with the GF, before her dropping me off at the airport.
I really hate goodbyes...

I will need to see more of the peeps next time I visit,
which will probably be soon...but it can be hard with
everyone's busy schedule.

Mid Life Crisis is in the mind, I don't really have it.
Just need to maximize the oppurtunity I planned out for
when I left the 9 to 5.

See y'all on the green felt...

Back In the Game...

2008-08-30T00:16:00.001-07:00

8/30/08

Back In The Game...

Another buddy of mine, R.V. (no permission to use his name),
came down with some of friends to Vegas on Wednesday.
Like I always say, Vegas is indeed the center of the
universe. You just tell anybody in the world to meet you
in front of PURE at Caesar's in Las Vegas, and they know
what you are talking about.

Anyway, R.V. and his boys are here for one of their friends
Bachelor Party. They were also here to do their annual
fantasy football draft. What a good plan, a new excuse
to head out to L.V., nice...

I knew that he liked to play poker, so it was a good
reason for me to enjoy a "work day" with one my friends.

The first tournament we hit up, is one of my favorites.
The Caesar's 12 pm tourney for $135.00. We traded
25% of each other's action, meaning that if we made
the money, we would give each other 25% of our gross
winnings to each other. I usually do that with friends
of mine before the tournament, kind of like a friendly
insurance and better chance to cash. It was uneventful
though as we both busted out before the money spots.
At least I lasted longer than him in the tournament.
I hope you read this R.V., I want to twist the knife
deeper in your back, lol...Oh, this was last Thursday.

Later that day we hit up the $65.00 NLHE tourney at
Paris. As I may have said before, I do not really
like playing these tourneys as you don't start off with
that many chips and the blind levels are pretty quick.
You started with $2,000.00 in chips and blind levels
changed every 15 minutes. You have to play pretty fast.
To make a long story short, I made it to the money,
placing 3rd out of 31 players. Not a bad result, but
not much money - $243.00, but gave $13.00 to tip the
dealers, $65.00 to my buddy (gave a little bit more
than 25%, but I felt it was better to give him back
his complete buy in).

Today we played the 12 pm NLHE tournament at the
Venetian. That was the first time I played any
poker there, since I've moved over here. It is a
good format, very similar to the Caesar's tournament
that runs at the same time, Sundays to Thursdays.
The buy in total is $150.00. One of his other
friends from SD came into town and played in it
also. He seems to be a very good poker player
as well. We all decided to trade 10% to each other,
if any of us made the money.

One of the hands, I would like to discuss is where
I hit the ultimate nuts (meaning the best hand ever).
It was just before the end of the 3rd level of blinds
at $100/200. R.V. was sitting in the #2 seat to my
left. He raised to $600.00, under the gun. He got
5 additional callers, which put the pot at $3,200.00.
I had an additional $400.00 to call into that pot.
I peeled up King/Jack of Hearts. I had an 8 to 1
call, you pretty much call with anything. I had about
$3,100.00 left in chips at that point. I decided to
call and see the flop. So now the pot had $3,600.00
total. The flop comes out Queen of Hearts, Ace of
Hearts and Deuce of Clubs. I flopped a big draw, a
Royal Straight Flush draw to be exact. I paused for
a minute and thought about what I wanted to do.
I was shortstacked at that point, so I decided to go
all in. If I get a call and win the hand, I would
more than double up. Hopefully R.V. doesn't call me.
I decided to go all in. R.V. is next to act and he
thinks pretty hard to see what he wants to do. After
his contemplation he calls my all in (he still had
about another $4,500.00 left). All the other players
fold. I flip up my cards and he flips up his as
well. R.V. had Ace/King OS for top pair with King
kicker, he's in the lead. The dealer then puts out
the turn card, Bingo! a Ten of Hearts - I actually
hit the ultimate nuts, a Royal Flush! Wow! I've never
had one of those (I have straight flushes before, but
not that). I apologized to him, but I wish someone
else called. I can't blame him, he couldn't lay his
hand down, with the lead on the flop. The river card
was meaningless, he would not be able to redraw for
a better hand. Sorry R.V., I had to do what I had to
do.

I made it to the last 5 tables (181 players started,
we had about 45 to 48 players left at that point).
I had a good amount of chips, $24,000.00, but blinds
were kicked up to $800/1,600 with $100 antes.
The hand that started the downhill slide, was where
I raised it to $4,100.00 in the cutoff seat, with
Ace/Nine of Clubs. Everybody folded and the big
blind player called. About $9,800 was in the pot.
The flop came out Ace/Deuce/Three OS. The big blind
player thought for a minute and pushed all in for
$7,900.00. I thought for a moment and I didn't think
he had top pair beat. I had a pair of Aces with
a Nine kicker. That should be the best hand. If
he had a premium Ace (with a kicker of at least
a Ten, Jack, Queen or King), he would have most
likely reraised me preflop. If he hit a set, I
think he would have slowplayed it. After my
contemplation, I decided to call. I made the
right one, he tabled just a pair of Fours. He
had outs though, he could still win with another
Four for a Set or hit a Five for the Straight.
That would be a total of 6 outs, with two cards
to go. The turn was dealt another Deuce. But
of course the river rolled out a Five. Poker
is sick sometimes, but that's what makes it
exciting.

I could not recover this late in the tournament
and finally busted 39 out of 181. They were only
paying the top 18, so no money again.

Good thing we all traded percentages, because
R.V.'s boy made it to the final table and
was the chip leader. The final 5 player
decided to chop the rest of the pot, but
R.V.'s buddy got the most as he held a
3 to 2 chip lead against the rest of the
players. He made out with $4,000.00. He
then in turn gave me and R.V. our $400.00
each, for the ten percent trade.

Not bad, it's always good to be on the positive
side of things. Shouda' traded for 15%, lol,
that would have been Six Hunny, hehe. But, I'm
more than happy to be back in the game...

Missing In Action...

2008-08-30T00:16:00.000-07:00

8/30/08

Missing In Action...

It's has almost been 3 weeks since I've seen any action
on the green felts of Vegas. I have been kind of busy
with being the tourist guide of sorts when I got back
into Sin City, as they say.

Last week my GF came into town for a couple of days.
It was a welcoming visit, even though we spent time
together when I was in the Bay Area the week before.
It's pretty hard sometimes, being separated from her.
The distance is not that far in the scheme
of things, but as you know Vegas is not exactly in the
same county and state of San Jose, Cali...

I wish she had a longer stay, there were more things
I wanted to show her and do. I think we got to maximize
our time together, from the little we had. Good food,
good thrill rides (she's a roller coaster aficionado)
and some good spooning sessions. The rest of the
details will be published in the next Danielle Steele
novel.

You know I just want to be held sometimes, is that
so wrong? (ala, Jon Lovitz at Harvey Fierstein in
Saturday Night Live - watch it, it's a classic).

At the beginning of this week a couple of buddies
of mine A.P. and R.C. (no permission to use their
names came into town for the MAGIC Convention,
http://www.magiconline.com/magic/v42/index.cvn).
When I thought magic convention, I was like, are
there new innovations in taking a rabbit out of a
hat or cutting your female assistant in half?
But no, it was the business of fashion.

It was pretty interesting to see the convention's
goings on, from a novice. I sat on a couple of
meetings my buddies' had with the accounts/products
they carry in their store. Oh, I forgot to mention
that one of their businesses is an Urban/Hip Hop
cloting store in Stockton, Ca. It's called
KINGDOM, http://www.kingdom209.com/. Yo, check it
out, they got some cool fits. Anyway, one of the
meetings was with Crooks and Castles, an urban
clothing manufacturer based in SoCal, I think their
flagship store is located on Melrose in West
Hollywood, Ca. The company was started by a
number of Filipino guys from around the way.
From what I heard and saw, was that they take
multimillions annually. Not bad, right.
You just need to find that right concept or
product, and make sure it's marketed correctly.

If you wanted to stargaze, there was a mix of
celebs on hand. Biggest one was probably,
Kimora Lee, who was promoting her label Baby
Phat. She is an Asian Amazon, she gotta' be at
least 6 feet without the heels. Props to her
though, she had one of the best booths, it looked
like one of her flagship stores, sitting in the
middle of a convention center. Also ran into
Danny Trejo (the bad ass looking Mexican dude you
see in Robert Rodriguez movies like Desperado and
Dusk Till Dawn, even the Spy Kids franchise).

Travis Barker was also there with one of his sick
Impalas.

Cool stuff, again Vegas the center of the world.
Or could that be hell, the heat you know. Still
stays 90 degrees at midnight, jeez...

A not so Air Force One experience…

2008-08-17T19:25:00.001-07:00

8/17/08

A not so Air Force One experience…

Right now, I’m sitting at San Jose “International” Airport
waiting to get on my afternoon flight back to the City of Sin.
I can’t really say why they call it an international airport,
as I’ve never flown out of San Jose to a foreign country – I
guess if you call Mexico a foreign country, that might count.
Well, San Jose is supposed to be a metropolitan city – yes,
one that closes at 130 am every night, hehe. That’s the culture
I guess, it’s sometimes hard to go back to a “sleeper town”
after you’ve lived in a city where you can get anything your
heart desires, as they say “Twenty Four-Seven”. But what do
I know, when do I ever get the craving to get a salmon lox bagel
at 330 in the morning. At least the option is there, lol.

My credo again, it is better to have a gun and not use it,
than not have a gun when you need it. I guess that makes some
kind of sense.

Anyway it was good to come back home for a bit (even though
I am coming back in a couple of weeks , again for another week).
Seeing family, friends and the GF is always great. Even though
I did not get to see everybody I wanted to see, I’ll be back in
SJ or most likely see them in Vegas (it is the center of the
universe). Plus the weather is a lot cooler in the Bay than in
Vegas this week. Weather in the triple digits can wear on you.
I miss driving my car with the windows down. The little things
keep you going, hehe.

To kill time of course, while I wait and write – I have “Entourage”
playin’ on my laptop. The show always cures my boredom. Even
though I’ve seen each season several times, I can not humanly
get tired of the show. It was probably the only reason I had HBO
(well, besides Real Sex, G-String Divas, uh…you know documentaries
for educational purposes). If you don’t know what the show is
about, it is basically about a young movie star and his buddies,
hence the “Entourage” title, regarding their escapades in the
“industry”. I wouldn’t mind getting in to something like that –
Hey, if I made it big, I’d want my best buddies around to revel
in it to – I don’t want to be alone at the top, yo’…

Again, I’m kinda’ straying away from the subject at hand. Is
there one? Nah. I’m just writing here for my enjoyment.

I’ll see the GF this week when she comes back through Vegas,
on her road trip. She’ll be in Vegas for a couple of days,
before going back to San Jose. I’ll be pretty happy when she
comes in – it’s hard to having someone far away (even though
the flight’s only an hour n change away).

No poker in San Jose this week either. I was only going to
play in our “$700.00” poker club (and the "408 Tour), if a
game was set. It seems like the old school players can’t get
together these days. Hopefully I can win that pot, I’m up about
$535.00 in that game. One more first place, I should be able
scoop it. It’s within grasp, I can taste it, but like I said
we all haven’t played with each other for a long time. Just
give it to me already, hehe. Or at least put the pot in the
mutual fund or something, let it grow, lol.

Now I’m on board the plane, just got over 10,000 feet, so I can
use my laptop again. I think I need an Ambien. As much as
I have flown throughout the years and the distances I’ve t
ravelled (to the Philippines is a pretty long flight), I still
get a bit of the jitters. I always ask myself what kind of
physics allows a huge blob of metal with wings, sustain flight
in the air? I’m just glad it’s the safest form of travel (well,
statistic wise).

I think the root of my minor nervousness in flight, stemmed
from a connecting flight I had taken from Tokyo to Manila.
That flight was on a trip I had in December of 2006. There
was a storm brewing off the coast eastern coast of Vietnam,
which was right in our flight path. There also a monsoon or
something occurring in the Bicol region of the Philippines at
the same time. The flight was scheduled for 2.5 hours, from
gate to gate. The flight wasn’t too long, but the flight from
San Francisco to Tokyo was about 11 hours already. Thank God
for the smoking rooms at the airport in Tokyo.

Anyway, we were flying out at night, so you couldn’t really see
anything outside the windows of the plane. I think it was about
a half hour after taking off, we started to fly through the storm.
This caused a lot of turbulence around the plane. I experienced
turbulence before, but this time it was freakin’ crazy. In my
prior flights, I think the longest time I have experienced turbulence
was for maybe 15 or 20 minutes, which is a long time. This time
the turbulence lasted about 1.5 hours. Imagine riding a roller
coaster (like the Grizzly at Great America) for the length of a
movie. Lightning started to crack outside, and I could see
that the wing on my side of the plane was flapping up and down
a good foot to foot and a half each way. Are they going to
fall off or what?

I was glad that I didn’t throw up or mess up my shorts.
But I was grasping my seat, white knuckled and belted to my chair.
We were supposed to get dinner at the beginning of the flight,
but it was delayed till the last half hour of the trip. I didn’t
think I would be able to even eat.

All the while, I was thinking, “Is this what the characters of Lost
felt, before they crashed onto that island?, “Which group would
I hang with on the island, with Jack and Freckles, or with the Others?”.

That flight felt so gross. I was about to abandon flying and
take a boat back to the States. I wasn’t looking forward to my
flight back home. But hey, I’m impatient and flying is the quickest
way to from point A to point B.

Great, we got turbulence now. I wonder if they I can use my drink
coupon for an Ambien or Vicodin? Hmm…(as I press the button for the
Flight Attendant)...

Recognizers...

2008-08-17T19:25:00.000-07:00

8/9/08

Recognizers…

“Recognizers, mount up! It was a clear black night…” – sung
to Warren G’s “Regulators”…

Back long time ago, in a land far away, I actually graduated
from a university called CSUS Sacramento. It was like a good
times, like my buddy’s dad used to say after watching us come
back home after a long Saturday night out. We may have partied
in Sactown, come back from the Bay or maybe a short jaunt to
Cache Creek or Tahoe. My buddy A’s (no permission to use his
name) mom would cook breakfast Sunday morning before they would
go to church. It was nice back in those days, had a cool part
time job that paid the bills, getting ready to finish school
and gallivanting wherever you pleased.

Anyway, my buddy A. and I would play this game, well it really
wasn’t really a game – we just joked about having this useless
superhero like power called, “Recognizing”. If you know me, I
am a plethora of useless information. I could probably make
tons of money playing Jeopardy – but somehow, they have not
returned any of my emails regarding contestant auditioning.
Hmmm, maybe they want to save money or something? I think I
would boost their ratings – at least in the Filipino demographic
(TFC might be in trouble baby). Back to “Recognizing” – it
would usually be a group of us watching a movie or television
show and my buddy A. asking me what other movies/television
shows a certain person was in. I would then rattle off a list
of movies/tv shows that person appeared in. I would also add
if a certain combo of actors/actresses played in several
productions together. Stupid, huh? I was the human analog
precursor to IMDB (I know everyone has checked that out).

How “recognizing” relates to Vegas, you ask? I guess I correlate
it to these continuous experiences that I am having while I am
playing poker. I’m not kidding when I say this, because it
really has not given me anything beneficial to date. Maybe a
good table image, “don’t fuck with me”, hehe. I would say about
5 or 6 times, while sitting at the table – several players have
said that they may have seen me playing at other casinos around
the world, even on television. I must have a doppelganger or
Bizarro twin living in the same contiguous universal plane as I
am. I swear to Buddha, at least once a week at the tables, somebody
makes some comment that they have seen me play somewhere.

Like the other day at the Planet Hollywood NLHE tournament, a
couple of Brits were playing at my table. One of them, with a
hardcore Cockney accent (imagine dialog in any Guy Ritchie film,
ie, Lock Stock and 2 Smoking Barrels or Layer Cake), says “By the
way mate, haven’t I seen your knocka’ over at the Victoria Open
PLO tourney in London?”. I played along and said “That it might
have been in Monte Carlo for a European Poker Tour Event, I never
played any poker in London, sorry”.

Another dude at the Caesar’s NLHE tourney last Wednesday, an old
guy with his Texas drawl, “Might I seen yooo’ at the WSOP this
yee’ar”, who knew that year had two syllables? Anyway, I decided
to be truthful this time, told him no and said that I was just a
scrub scratchin’ out an honest living on the low stakes tournament
circuit.

Fame is a a two edged sword, a blessing and a curse.

If my Bizarro twin is reading this, if you got some good poka’
money – give me some. If you are broke, don’t track me down…

Recognizers mount up!

Superheroes Redeaux...

2008-08-13T14:44:00.000-07:00

8/12/08

Superheroes Redeaux...

Last Sunday, after eating some grubbin' sushi (Sushi-O-Sushi,
on El Camino Real in Santa Clara, CA. - yes I'm back in the
Bay for the week), I went with the GF to see "The Dark Knight"
starring Christian Bale, the driver from
"Driving Miss Daisy"/the DJ from "The Electric Company" Morg'
Freeman (my prayers are with you hoping you have a full
recovery), Mags Gyllenhall and Mikey Caine.

I'm sure everyone has seen the movie already, so there is
nothing to spoil. It's been out for quite sometime and the
thing has probably made like a gazillion dollars already.
Beat Tita Nic!!! Maybe the US Gov't needs to make a hit movie
to get out us out of this damn' deficit. Well, Bush don't care
now, he's about to leave - and he's busy slappin' booties on
the Olympic Beach Volleyball Courts in Beijing.

Anyway, I had pretty high expectations for this movie. I'm a
bit of a comic book geek and movie aficionado. Like I said before,
pick me for your team on Scene It game night, you won't lose
(I'll put $5.00 bucks of my hard earned money on it).
My expectations and more, were met. Each person played their
roles to almost perfection. My only gripe is Bale's smoker
voice, when disguised as Batman, hehe.

The thing I like about Batman is that he is at a constant odds
of his real identity as playboy Bruce Wayne and Batman. He's kind
of like the polar opposite of "Iron Man", who is a similar character
of the playboy billionaire mold. As "Iron Man" embraces his
role as a hero and relishes in the good/fun he experiences while
being a "hero" - "Batman" has felt the need to relinquish his role
as a "hero", to try to give the citizens of Gotham city another
"hero"(in the name of DA Harvey Dent). Of course, Wayne/Batman"
realizes that he can not give up his destined role as savior of
his city. The Joker, his evil foil, even says it to Batman - that
they need each other - "one" can not exist with out the "other".
Like the Ying and Yang - these two forces of good and evil, can
not exist apart from each other. If one is gone, there would be
actual anarchy. Whoa, I'm getting existentialist with this, hehe.
Maybe that's why Batman can not kill his "villains or foes",
without them, does Batman have a purpose in the world? Probably
not. What's a billionaire playboy to do?

I guess wait for "Watchmen" to come out next year.

I didn't really give a review of the movie, but these are some
of my random thoughts after watching it. I guess it really must
have been good, as it peaked some type of analyzation from me.
Hehe, Freud/Siskel/Ebert, eat your heart out, yo!

Aces Cracked Again...

2008-08-08T18:44:00.001-07:00

8/8/08

Aces Cracked Again...

As you know today, is supposed to be a lucky day. Well, in my case,
it was not. Coming off the heels of my Wednesday win, I thought
today would be a good day to step into the poker room.

Anyway, I went out to Planet Hollywood Casino to play their $80.00
NLHE tournament at 2 pm. You get $4,500.00 in chip and the blinds
change every 20 minutes. I told myself before that I shouldn't play
those, since the blinds kind of go up too fast. I bought in and we
started to play.

To make a long story short, I called two all ins with pocket Two's
(I was short stacked at the time). We were three handed, the first
player had pocket Aces and the other player had pocket Sevens.
I was severely dominated and had to get lucky. No help for me
on the flop, turn and river. The player with pocket Aces scooped
the pot. I was done. Now off to play some cash.

I cashed in $300.00 to play some $1/2 No Limit Holdem. I played for
a couple of uneventful hours, where I was up maybe $10.00 bucks.
I then pulled up pocket Aces in the cutoff seat. I raised the bet
to $17.00. The button and small blind players folded. The big blind
player called my bet. The flop was dealt a Queen of Spades, Six of
Hearts and Nine of Spades. The big blind player bet out $10.00
bucks. I then reraised him to $30.00 dollars and he paused, then
just called. The turn card came a King of Clubs. The big blind
player bet $30.00 dollars I then raised it to $100.00 dollars.
The pot had about $222.00 dollars in it now. The big blind player
then went all in and the pot swelled to $402.00. I had about the
same amount of chips as him, so I had about $180.00 behind. I
thought he might have a Set of Queens, but that can be rare.
I called his all in and I should have listened to my gut. He
tabled a pair of Queens for a Set. Come on river, bail me out
with my donkey call! The dealer dealt out a harmless Two of
Clubs.

Sometimes I hate getting Aces, you feel committed to play them
through the river. Again,I should listen to my gut sometimes, I can
save some money. Easy come, easy go. I retract that, I wouldn't
mind getting pocket Aces all the time - they are soooo pretty...

Fuck 8/8/08, lol...

Content...

2008-08-04T19:25:00.003-07:00

8/6/08

Hump Day...

Today I entered another Caesar's NLHE 12 pm tournament. Agin, buyin costs a total of $135.00 for $7,500.00 in chips. There was a total of 60 players who entered into the tourney. I had contemplated on going to Venetian for a similar 12 pm tournament for a buyin of $150.00 total, but they have this bonus for live play at the Caesars. So, if I bust out of the Caesar's tourny, I could sit down at a cash game. The bonus requires you to play 60 hours of live poker in the month of August 2008 and you would qualify for a freeroll poker tounament in September 2008. The freeroll tournament consists of a $100,000.00 payout, where 8 people could win $10,000.00 seats for another tournament in October 2008 (where first place is a guaranteed $1,000,000.00) and split $20,000.00 cash. I think I am just up to 3.75 hours of live play this month. I really want to play more cash at Treasure Island because of the $2.00 buck an hour food comp, but there is really more action at Caesar's.

Anyway, like I said before, I really like the format of this tournament. You start off with some deep chip stacks and the blind levels change every 30 minutes.

I was really trucking along with about 20 blinds through each level. I got a lucky hand where I called a standard raise with pocket Jacks and it was 4 handed. Flop came out Queen of Spades, Jack and Six of Clubs. I hit a Set of Jacks. The pot had about $2,000.00 and I led out from the small blind with a bet of $1,200.00. The big blind folded and the next player raised it to $3,600.00 total. The original raiser folded on the button. I paused for a second to think about what the raiser had. He probably did not have a Set of Queens, he might have raised preflop with that hand. It is pretty rare to have set against set also on the flop. Maybe he had a Set of Sixes, if he does I got him. Anyway, I pushed all in for a total of $6,600.00. He quickly called the additional $3,000.00 and tabled a Set of Sixes. Cool, I do have him now, he only has one out the case Six. Blanks came on the turn and river, so I doubled up, niicceee...

Anyway by the time the blinds got to $300/600, I had about 12 bets left. This one hand almost killed me. The under the gun player went all in for $4,200.00. I was next and peeled up 2 Red Kings. I went all in for $7,200.00. All the players folded and it was heads up. I got to bring back $3,000.00 in chips. The other player flipped up Ace/King OS and I flipped up my pocket Kings. And of course after the flop and turn, the other player paired her Ace on the river. Sucks, but hey, I'll take that race anyday.

Blinds went up the next round to $400/800. I went all in a couple of times to steal the blinds. I got to the dealer button unscathed. The cutoff player raised it to $4,200.00 total. I peeled up pocket Eights and I told myself, now or never. I went all in for $3,000.00 total. Everybody else folded and we were heads up. She tabled King/Queen of Clubs. Cool, a race, at least I'm ahead. The dealer dealt a Nine of Spades, Ten of Clubs and Two of Hearts. Now the other player has Jacks to win (for the straight) and her 2 over cards. Dealer please no paint! Turn card came 7 of Spades. River comes Nine of Clubs - whew! I won that race, thank God. I'm pretty much tripled up.

With "stellar" play and a bit of luck, I chipped my way up to one of the leaders to about $80,000.00 in chips. I made some calls I usually wouldn't make with a short stack, but I made them this time due to the stack I had at the time.

In this certain hand blinds were about $600/1,200 with a $100 ante. We were 8 handed at the time and the pot held about $2,600.00. Each player folds and I hold King/Queen OS in the cutoff. I decided to call the bet of $1,200.00. The button player folded. The small blind player had about $7,200.00 total in chips, he paused and then went all in. The big blind player folded and the pot now held $10,400.00. The small blind player had just lost a big pot the hand before and looked like he was on tilt. I thought I might have him dominated, or it could be a race. I thought to myself, that I probably do have the best hand with King/Queen OS. I called the additional $6,000.00 and I tabled my hand. The other player looked down, groaned and tabled his King/Eight OS. Nice, I got him dominated. Anyway the flop, turn and river were all Spades. I held the King of Spades for the Nut Flush, good call Scotty...

Another hand where I usually would not call unless I had a big stack of chips was where I held Ace/Eight of Hearts in the button. Each player folded and I raised it to $4,000.00 total (blinds were still $600/1,200, with a $100 ante). I figured I could steal the blinds with this bet. The small blind player folded and the big blind called my bet after a bit of hesitation. The flop came out Eight of Diamonds, Six of Clubs and Jack of Diamonds. The big blind player led out with a bet of $4,000.00, that's a smallish bet I thought - if he hit the Jack, I think he would have bet the pot size of amount of $9,400.00. Hmmm, what does he have? I decided to min raise him another $4,000.00 to see where I was at with my second pair of Eights, with Ace kicker. The other player paused and called my raise. The turn came a King of Clubs, putting another overcard and two flush draws there. The other player quickly went all in for $7,200.00 and now the pot held a total of $24,600.00 in chips. I had a little over 3 to 1 to call his all in, with the river card to go. He surely paired his King. I actually felt that I was indeed behind in the hand. Something inside felt like gambling and counted out $7,200.00 in chips. I still had $60,000.00 in chips left, if I make the all in call. If I make the call and win, another player would be busted out of the tournament as well. I felt that if I was behind, I still had the 2 Eights and 3 Aces for the win on the river. I decided to call and the other player tabled King/Eight OS for two pair - shoot, now I only have 3 Aces to win. Whattaya' know, Ace of Spades on the River, I got a better two pair. The other player grumbled and said something to the dealer, to the effect of @#$%^& 3 outer! And walked off. He was behind preflop and on the flop. I just wondered why he didn't just fold that hand preflop or on the flop when I raised him. He could have went all in preflop after my raise, and I might have folded my Ace/Eight of Hearts preflop. Anyway, I made kind of a gamble call, but I prevailed...

We got to nine handed, with no clear cut chip leader. I still had about $65,000.00 in chips at the time, which was about mid stack (the other players ranged from $40,000.00 to $85,000.00 in chips - blinds were about $1,000/2,000 with a $200 ante - still a battle to wage). We decided to do a 9 way even chop for the pot of $6,600.00. After tipping the tournament staff, we ended up with $720.00 each.

Not bad for hump day...

The Almost Perfect Haircut...

2008-08-04T19:25:00.002-07:00

8/6/08

The Almost Perfect Haircut...

I think I've found the place to go for my #1 fade all around. No, the owner is not named "Kim" or "Lan" and it's not located in Chinatown. I went to a place called "Sport Clips" in the North West area of the city, the first week I got here. I didn't go back there for my last haircut, because it is pretty far from where I am staying at. With gas prices these days, I don't want to spend $10.00 bucks in gas just to get a haircut. Well, I was in the area last Sunday looking at homes in the North West, so I decided to make a pit stop as my shag was getting a bit out of control.

I don't think they have the franchise in NorCal yet, but I do believe they have several in SoCal. Basically the place is like ESPN meets Footlocker meets Supercuts. The place has flatscreens, playing various sportchannels. It is decorated like a gym locker room. The lady hair "stylists" all wore referee/umpire style uniforms. When you are waiting, you would sit in stadium style seats or a bench. The place caters to men, but they accept everybody as a client.

I chose the "MVP" service, which includes haircut, shampoo, steam face towel and neck/shoulders massage. All of this costs $20.00 bucks. Beats the Chinatown's $15.00 dolla' wet the scalp and go special. Let me tell you, this is what old school barber shops are all about. I get my cut, the stylist cleans me up with a brush and baby powder. Next I get the shampoo, she rubs and massages my scalp with this pretty invigorating and minty shampoo. This is all the while when you are sitting in a massage chair. After 5 to 7 minutes of the scalp massage, she puts a steamed towel on your face. As you are laying there, she then starts to rinse off the shampoo, with additional scalp massage. After she towel dries your head, she takes the steamed towel off your face. You just want to fall asleep, mayn! Anyway, you're not done yet. She leads you back to her station and sits you down. She then takes out an electric hand massager and begins on your right shoulder. After 5 minutes, she continues to your left shoulder. Last but not least, the neck massage is continued for another 5 minutes. Paid $25.00 with tip. I wanted to tip more, but hey I that's all I had at the time, plus I'm still discretionary with my tips kids.

Yo, it's better than a lap dance. I certainly recommend it, it is so choice....

Superheroes...

2008-08-04T19:25:00.001-07:00

8/3/08

Superheroes….

"I remember long time ago, when Aquaman used to cook me chi-e-ken"…

"Aquaman was shouting, What are you doing? What are you doing? – I’m just cooking feesh, I’m just cooking feesh, I’m so sorry Aquaman!!!"…

Re: Rex Navarrette’s Maritess vs. the Superfriends, Badly Browned (CD).

I saw the movie Hancock last Monday, starring Wil Smith, Charlize Theron (she was definitely saucy in this flick as a housewife) and Silver Spoon’s own Jason Bateman. Charlize is definitely on my "list". So, Miss Theron, if read this and happen to get an inkling of getting out to Vegas, hit me up.

Watching previews of this film, made me think that this would be some type of superhero spoof. Maybe a change from Mr. Smith’s usual summer blockbuster portrayals of the Fresh Prince against the world – either aliens, robots, humans infected by an incurable virus, etc. He is probably the reigning box office king these days. It’s nice to be the king. I’d rather be the prince, because everybody is always gunning for the king – anyway, as a prince, you will be king someday. Dunno’ why I said that.

If you haven’t seen it (spoilers coming), it is about a superhero by the name of John Hancock, played by Wil Smith. He seems to be a goodhearted person, but has his flaws. The first scene consisted of him lying on a bench at a bus stop, drunk off his ass. A kid comes up to him and tells him that a police chase is going on. Hancock wakes up and sees a lady passing him by. He slaps her on the butt. Funny stuff. He then flew out into the sky. The park bench explodes, due to the force of him flying out of the area. At the end of the scene, he catches the bad guys and puts their vehicle atop a pole on the Capitol Records building in LA. Unfortunately, after this chaos, he causes millions in damage to the city of LA. People interviewed in newscasts mostly scold Hancock’s methods of doing "good" in the city. There are a few people that see the good that he actually does in fighting "crime" his way. Like I say, it’s better to have a gun, than not have one. It’s a necessary evil.

I won’t reveal the rest of the movie to you, but there was a pleasant surprise in the story line midway through the movie. It involves the character played by Charlize Theron. This made it a much more different movie that I was expecting to watch. This is not your typical superhero movie that they have been making these days. Some reviews of the movie that I have read, have criticized the tangent the story line takes halfway through the movie. They say that the movie does not have a clear cut message. Do movies need to have messages? Are they vehicles to relay some important diatribe? No, they are for entertainment. To me, it was entertaining (too bad they didn’t cast Mandy Moore as Aquagirl, hmmm..that’s for the sequel). It must have been entertaining to a bunch of people, because I believe it has grossed over $210,000,000.00 domestically to date. That ain’t "Dark Knight" numbers, but a respectable amount, with more to go.

San Jose Redeaux...

2008-08-04T19:25:00.000-07:00

8/2/08

San Jose Redeux

I guess Vegas could be considered the center of the world sometimes. I met up with some other folks from back home last night. I picked them up (it was my old real estate agent M. and her sister P., again no permission to use their names) from their hotel the Hilton, behind the Riviera. They are here for a business seminar from Thursday to Saturday. Every week, it seems like I see someone from back home. Again, that’s besides the Bay Peeps that have been situated in Vegas, before me.

I decided to take them to V-Bar at the Venetian. It was already about midnight when I picked them up, and it would be too late to try to get into Tao or any club for that matter on a Friday night (in Vegas). Well, unless you paid for table service, but we didn’t feel like paying the premium bucks for a secured spot at one of the hotspots. Anyway, I like V-Bar, as they don’t charge cover – it seems like there are more locals there and you always get the Tao line rejects heading over there, after their unsuccessful line jumping escapades.

We got over there and found that the bar was pretty jumping already. They have a DJ playing old school hip hop. It must have been a pinoy one from the Bay, as the playlist reminded me of a party at Booty Hop or Raffles from back in the day, circa 1992. It’s kinda’ funny observing the out of towners to Vegas party and get drunk. Those commercials on tv stating what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas seem to get the tourists (hehe, like I’m OG in this town already…) to work out their inhibitions. Our group was chillin’ at the rear of the bar area, where there was an unused VIP seating area. We started to drink and groove over there. In front of us were a group of women, probably my age (mid thirties), who were just having a good time. They were bit on the plus size, and I’m not saying that this was bad. Beauty comes in all versions, sizes, backgrounds and what not. It was just funny to me that they kept on grabbing up guys at the bar who were skinny as hell. Freaking and grinding ensued, everybody was having fun. It was an image to me that did not match, I’m bad, sorry…It’s Vegas, so who cares. Like Tarantino says on his dvd extra interview regarding Sam Jackson’s character Ordell, in the movie Jackie Brown – "You gots to match (your clothes)", before heading out the crib. Sorry again, thinking about it, I don’t think that correlates.

We all left the bar at about 4 am. Wow, this place actually closes. Anyway, we headed out to get some late night sushi, with one of their friends from the seminar. That’s good and bad about this town. You can find almost anything you want to eat, anytime of the day. This truly is a 24 hour a day city. What’s not to love? 24 HR workout is just down the road, lol.

I forgot to mention that I made another final table last Thursday, at the Caesar’s 12 pm NLHE tournament. The buy in was $135.00 total, including your add on ($5,000.00 + $2,500.00 add on, in chips). I like this format, as you start off with $7,500.00 and the blinds change every 30 minutes. The player count is usually capped at 50, but they take alternates for the first 2 levels of blinds. I was actually the number 2 alternate and started play about 20 minutes into level one.

By the last 12 players, I was one of the chip leaders. Played my game, the chips and cards complied with me once again. But alas, that was not to last. The downslide started was when I held pocket Queens. At this point, blinds were $600/1200 with a $100 ante. Playing six handed at my table, the pot held $2,400.00 in chips. It was folded to me in the cutoff, where I made a standard raise of $3,600.00 (I had a total of $57,000.00 in chips at the time, and I covered everyone at my table). The button player folded and the small blind player when all in for a total of $17,600.00 in chips). The big blind player quickly folded. Now the pot held $23,600.00 in chips. I would have to call $14,000.00 to continue in the hand. It’s pretty much a no brainer, I thought I had the best hand and hoped the small blind player went all in with a smaller pair or ace rag. I didn’t really want to see Ace/King, but I still would have the best hand preflop. I called of course and was up against Ace/King OS. The dealer pealed out the King of Hearts on the door. The flop, turn and river did not help me. I doubled up the other player. But hey, I did not all risk all my chips on the hand. I wouldn’t have played it any differently. Sometimes the best hand gets outflopped. I’ll take those races all day.

I managed to get to the final table of ten players, in mid chip stack position. Originally the final 7 players were going to be the money table. We all decided to donate $45.00 bucks each to give the 8th, 9th and 10th players $135.00 when they busted out (you would actually win back $90.00 bucks back in those places). At least that gave you some insurance to get most of your money back. It sucks to bubble out of the money, which I definitely know. It should have been taken out of the prize pool, but the floor manager did not want to get involved in determining the chop, nor did any of the players want to work those numbers out.

Well, to make a long story short, I lost two races to bust out in 10th place. The first race involved me raising with Ace/Ten Spades under the gun , a mid position player went all in with King/Queen OS, and I called his all in. I hit a Ten on the flop, but he hit his King (with a Two of Spades). The turn came a Seven of Spades. Cool, I now have a spade flush draw, which gave me 9 Spades, 2 Tens and 3 Aces for outs to the win (a total of 14 outs, I believe I have still a 30% chance to outdraw the other player, with the river card to go). The dealer dealt out a Two of Clubs on the river. Sucks, hehe. My other race involved me going all in with Ace/Two OS in the small blind against the big blind player’s Jack/Ten OS. He hit a Ten on the River (that’s hurts even more, when it’s the last card – but again, I’ve been on the other side as well – it’s what it makes it exciting). I still had 2 bets left at that point, and went all in two hands later with Queen/Seven OS (a shitty hand, the "Computer Hand"). I was up against another all in player who held pocket Kings and the chip leader who held Ace/Six OS. I had a gut shot straight draw on the turn with my Seven, but the river hit an unneeded Five – I am busted out.
I’m not happy with busting out of the tournament, but I’m happy with my play in it. You need to have your cards hold up when the chips are on the line. Otherwise you don’t get to play anymore, hehe…

Small Ball...

2008-07-30T00:07:00.000-07:00

7/29/08

Today I decided to check out the 3 pm NLHE poker tourny at
Caesar's Palace.Buy in was for $70.00 bucks, where you started
with $2,500.00 in chips. Blinds changed every thirty minutes.

Well to make a long story short,I busted out with Ace/Two offsuit,
when I went all in from the smallblind, with just the big blind
player. He went into the tank for a couple of minutes and finally
called me with Ace/Ten offsuit. That should be an automatic call
for him, as he had twice as many chips as me at the timeand blinds
were already $300/600. I had about $5,400.00 in chips atthe time.
Flop went Jack/Eight/Eight, so i'm hoping for another Jack
to tie or Two to win, on the turn. Turn card came Queen, now I
have other outs to tie, I'm hoping for Jack or Queen to tie, Two
to win, on the river. River card came 3 of clubs, oooh so close.
But hey, that's the breaks.

Actually the play I was proud of was when I had two black Aces
in the big blind. Blinds were $100/200, with a $25 ante, at the
time and I had about $3,200 in chips. It went fold all the way
to the small blind player, who raised it to $800.00. The pot
amount was up to $1,250.00.I thought it out and decided to go
all in. I had a good feeling that he was going to call me.
I was trying to make it look that I didn't want a call, maybe
have him think that I was going all in with some type of Ace
rag hand, or maybe he thought I might have had Ace/King where
he would want to race. He had about twice the chips I had,
so if he called and lost, he wouldn't be out of the tournament
just yet. Of course he obliged me and called my all in. He
flipped up pocket Eights, nice, I have him severely dominated.
The flop came out Queen of Hearts, Six of Clubs and Seven of
Clubs. Whoa, I though the hit an Eight. Turn card comes Five
of Clubs, great now he has a straight flush draw, with his
Eight of Clubs. At least I have the Ace of Clubs for a nut
flush draw as well, so that eliminated all the other clubs,
besides the Four of Clubs and Nine of Clubs, which would give
him a straight flush. He also had the two last Eights, and
any non club Four or Nine for a straight, as outs to beat my
pocket Aces. Now for the river card, a slowly rolled out Two
of Hearts. Nice double up, I also got compliments from a few
of the players about my play. They never put me on pocket Aces.
Well, that's why I played it that way.

But again, I did bust out before making the money...Lol...

After I busted out of the tournament, I decided to play a cash game
in the poker room. I really wanted to play some Pot Limit Omaha,
but there was no interest in the room. I got on a $1/3 blinds, No
Limit Texas Holdem cash game instead. I cashed in for $200.00,
played for 3 hours and ended up cashing out $577.00. A nice
triple up for the session.

One key hand I had was when I held pocket Eights in mid position.
Basically, I called the bet of $3.00 and if I was raised preflop,
I would make a decision of calling or folding, depending on my
position. Luckily, it became a family pot with no raising before
the flop came out. There was about $26.00 in the pot, after the
dealer took the rake. The dealer then flopped out the first three
cards, a Queen of Hearts, an Eight of Clubs and a Two of Clubs.
Sweet, I have a Set (Three of a Kind, when you have a pair in
the hole) - this is a monster hand. The small blind player bet
$12.00 into the pot, I put him on a pair of Queens. The next
3 players folded in turn. I then reraised him to a total of
$27.00. I was actually giving him pot odds to call, if he had a
flush draw, but I was ready to get all the chips in, if the turn
did not club out. The last 5 players folded after me as it got
back to the small blind player. He contemplated for a minute
and then pumped the total bet to $100.00. Now there is about
$153.00 in the pot now. I had $166.00 left behind me. I kinda
wondered what he had now, Ace/Queen of Clubs for pair of Queens
with nut flush draw, two pair combo, or a set of Two's? Hmmm...
I decided to bet all in $166.00. I would be happy to take the
pot right there. So now there is $319.00 in the pot. The bet
goes back to the small blind player, who asked for time. He asks
me what I have and I say nothing. He then flipped up his cards
and shows that he has two pair Queens/Eights, for top two pair.
Now, I'm wanting him to call. He did not have any redraw for the
club flush, so his only outs are the two remaining Queens. I talk
to myself inside and hope that he calls. He still was asking why
I would go all in like that, he now says that he thinks that I am
on a flush draw. After a couple of minutes, he calls my all in.
Cool, now there is $485.00 in the pot and I got him
dominated. I flipped up my cards and show him that I have a set,
he looks disgusted. He kept on saying why did he call, when it
was so obvious that I probably had a set. Well, if you knew, why
did you call? I guess it would be difficult for him to know that
I had a set of Eights, when I limped in preflop and he also had an
Eight in his hand. Anyway, turn card came Six of Clubs (whew, good
thing he didn't have a flush draw) and the river card came Ace of
Diamonds...My Set of Eights hold up....

I love scooping big pots...

Don't try this at home kids...Playing poker can be long periods
of boredom with occasional times of terror...hehe...I need an EKG
now...

Again to celebrate, I got me a Kosher Hot Dog, a Knish and an
iced tea at Canter's TI...mmm..mmm...I need a cholesterol
test now...

Giddy...

2008-07-28T02:48:00.000-07:00

7/27/08

Feel like a Japanese Schoolgirl...heehee...

A couple days back, my buddy took me to a new sushi place his friend opened up on Sahara, just off the strip. The place is called Wayne's Sushi, it is just west of the 15 highway, past Palace Station. If you make it to Vegas, you have to check this place out. His rolls are the so called "bomb". If you like sashimi, it is darn fresh. I had a plate of halibut, salmon,tuna, abalone, crab and other sea faring raw fish that was excellent. I also had my usualof salmon skin roll - gooood as well. Another roll that caught my palate was a tempura sushi roll, with seared tenderloin on top, fucking good.

Last I night hooked up with one of my buddies who has been living in Vegas for the past few years. The original plan was to hit up one of the casinos to play some poker. I told him about the sushi place on Sahara and we decided to make a pit stop. Even though the sushi was the shieet. I decided to just get a couple of beers, as I was pretty full from eating dinner earlier that night. It was already about 9 pm, and I try not to eat past 7 or 8 pm. Anyway, my buddy ordered a couple of the rolls and was amazed at Wayne's creations. You don't even really need to mix up wasabi, soy sauce and ginger. Wayne usually tops off his rolls with his own secret jalapeno hot sauce. It's almost perfect. Wayne also hooked up some tuna and octopus poke'. Again excellent, as Bill and Ted would say. After an hour at the sushi bar, I finished up my 2nd Asahi. We then went on our way out to the Strip.

Unfortunately, the poker rooms of the strip were not in our fate tonight. My buddy wanted to check out a strip club. As much as I like going to strip clubs, I've been getting kind of burned out on them. Since I have been in Vegas (approximately 5 weeks, this Tuesday), I have been to strip clubs about 5 times. 3 times to Spearmint Rhino and twice to Cheetah's (I just hit up Cheetah's the day before with another buddy, it was for happy hour, so lap dances are $10.00 bucks till 9 pm, half off domestic beers and no cover - if you wanted to know). My buddy wanted to check out Little Darlings, which is a full nude strip club. We got there, his admission fee was $10.00 as a local and they were going to charge me $25.00 to get in. As I said, I am kinda burned out on them and didn't want to pay the door fee that night. We then decided to check out Sapphire's instead (a topless only strip club down the ways), as his admission would be free and I was thinking maybe $20.00 bucks for me (I'll make the sacrifice, for friendship, hehe). I had the mindset of just budgeting $70.00 for the strip club. I don't want to get caught up in giving more donations to the independent contractors from LA. I thought that should be enough for admission, a beer and a couple of lap dances (I was going to be discretionary - they got to have personality and dance talent, no ordinary run of the mill blonde from the OC). Anyway we got to the club, and what turned me off this time, was that it was a Saturday and the place was packed. Next thing that pissed me off was that the cover charge was $30.00 bucks. Dang, nowI only got enough for 2 lap dances and no drinks. That is also money that I could be using for poker. Lol. I pouted to the cashier girl about paying, as I am sort of a LasVegas resident now - but of course they needed valid ID. After I paid, she gave me a couple of VIP passes to assuage the pain. When we got into the main area of the club,I was like wow - again Vegas must have the top 2 percent of genetically perfect women of the world - this town is too plastic sometimes. But hey, you gots to love it. The plethora of bebots, kind of calmed my initial pessimism. We decided to sit down at the stage closest to the rear of the club. This is where each stripper would make their rounds before going out on to the floor of the club, to swipe twamps and benjamins off of unsuspecting horny fools. I'm proud of myself, I went a whole hour and a half without getting a lap dance. There was so much temptation. I just spent the time, watching each new dancer make their rounds onstage, putting a discretionary dollar on the stage if they did something out of the ordinary - you know like some type of crazy gymnastic move on the pole or giving me a sultry eye. I didn't even order any drinks. Discipline baby. I finally bent down to temptation when this stripper of African American heritage stopped by my chair to talk. She was pretty cute in a Tatyana Ali sort of way, you know the little sister from the tv show, The Fresh Prince. She didn't push a dance off the bat. We talked for a while and she told me that she was from Sherman Oaks. She was a bit bougi, I guess being from Sherman Oaks, but it made her cuter. She didn't come at me like Craig's ex-girlfriend from Friday, "You ain't gots to lie Craig, you ain't gots to lie!!!!"....She was trying to make about $3,000.00 that night and was up to only at about $1,000.00 at the time. She said she got a fat mortgage payment, and it's due in about a week. I kind of laughed, cause I know she didn't expect me to help her out. She asked me what I was doing in Vegas. I told her that I'm out here, just seeking a change of pace out of the Bay Area, and also seeing if I could actually make it in poker. I told her that it has been hard leaving family, friends and my girlfriend in the Bay. She seemed pretty cool, so I decided to get a lap dance from her. I think the song playing was that "Dangerous", with Akon on the hook. Not bad, bougi and ghetto do mix together. After the dance, we hung out a bit talking - her concern at that time, was that she was not getting enough business that night. She wanted to know if the quality of her dance was not up to par. I told her that it was cool. There's just not enough brothers in the club that night. It was mostly filled with caucasian and asian dudes - who are usually not attracted or scurred of black women. Those types of guys usually go for the cheerleader types or me so hornay' gurls...She thought that was funny, but I said it's the truth. She knew that. I told her to approach the whiteboys and tell them not to be scurred, as she most likely lived in a more affluent community than they did (Sherman Oaks, remember). Lol, I should be a the Walter Conkrite of stripper interviews.

Anyway, I finally caught up with my buddy (where in the hell was he anyway), after about another hour and a half of chillin' at the stage. I'm proud of myself, after 3 hours I only spent a total of $65.00 bucks in that place. I went under my budget of $70.00 bucks. Who's the big winner, Scotty is!!! We decided to call it a night. I didn't really want to play that night. You get exhausted just kicking at the strip club sometimes...

Sunday, I decided to hit up poker tournament, as I did not get to play poker the night before. I did some research on the Net, to find out where the best small buy in tournaments were being held that day. I decided to check out the $65.00, $40.00 rebuy No Limit Texas Holdem tournament at the Golden Nugget at 3 pm. I got there about 45 minutes before it was to start and paid my buy in of $65.00. I read Card Player and did my bad habit of smoking my cigarettes to kill time before the tournament. At 3 pm the tournament started and all the players started with $2,000.00 in chips, with an optional rebuy/add on for $40.00 bucks, which you can pay off the bat. I didn't elect to pay the extra $40.00. I will leave that for later if needed to. If you know me as a player, I usually do not like rebuys or add ons, because it keeps players that should be out of the tournament, in the tournament. One good thing about it, is that it pumps up the prize money. I was embroiled in playing a very tight aggressive style as you really did not start off with a lot of chips and the blind periods were only 20 minutes each. If you raised a hand, you may be pot committed as you would not like to get short stacked for the next blind period. One thing that annoyed me during the tournament was this drunk ass white older guy who played to my right until he busted out. The dealer, I or other players would have to instruct him on what to do when it was his action. I just wished that I was the one to bust him out. But alas, another player got him to commit all of his chips with Jack high - the other player had pocket Aces. The board did not help anyone and the drunk ass guy busted out. I happened to trump along with at least 10 to 15 big blind bets throughout each round. Short stacked, that's my steeze, hehe. Only the top 3 were to be paid for this tournament. When it got down to 6 players, I asked the table to see if they wanted to work out some kind of chop. I had a medium stack of about 22 blinds, soI was not in desperation mode at that time. I just thought it might be a good suggestion at the time. No one at the table agreed. I did have a couple of breaks along the way thought. Namely when I shoved all in on Ace/Seven OS from midposition 6 handed. I got called by the button player and the small/big blinds folded. I was up against Ace/King OS. I was severely dominated. But, whattaya you know, flop came jackpot for me - Seven/Seven/Six. Blanks hit the turn and river. Wheee!! What a double up, they feel good, almost like the sex, hehe. Anyway to make a long story short, the last 4 players (including me of course) decided to chop the rest of the prize money. $500.00 went to the chip leader, 2nd/3rd/4th places got $350.00 each. Cool, a net profit for the day.

Since it was still early, I then decided to go to the Orleans for their $105.00 No Limit Texas Holdem tournament that starts at 7 pm. I have about an hour until it starts, so why not? I like Orleans poker tourny formats - you would start out with $5,000.00 in chips, blinds for the first hour were 20 minutes long, then would be 30 minutes thereafter. The Orleans Sunday night tournaments usually field about 100 to 150 players.Tonight it was short of that, with only 71 players. The top 7 players would be paid, with first place taking a little over $2,200.00 bucks, not bad for a days work.

I played my game and grinded it out to the last couple of tables. There were about 21 players at that point. There was this key hand that I had at the time. Blinds were$1,000/$2,000.00, with a $50.00 ante. Before any bets, there was $3,350.00 in the pot. The under the gun player bets out $25,100.00 all in. Two players fold and the bet comes to me. I have about $28,000.00 in chips at that time. I peeled my cards up and see Ace/King OS. I was having a problem in putting a range of hands on him. What would this guy have to go all in like that. Obviously, he didn't want to get called. He must have a low pair or maybe Ace/rag (which I'm hoping for). He doesn't have a pair of Aces or Kings, maybe Queens, but would he go all in like that? I told the dealer to put a clock on me. Usually other players would put the clock on another player. After contemplating, I decided to call - hopefully I have him dominated. The button, small and big blinds folded. We were heads up and he flipped up pocket Jacks. Ok, a race, I really wish I was dominating him. Blanks on the flop and turn for me. God, let me hit a King or Ace. Wheeee, again...Hit me a river Ace. A nice double up. I could breath for awhile. I'd rather be lucky than good. But yo, it was a coinflip - you have to win these to get to the money. By the time we got to the final table of 10 players, I had a decent chip stack and knew that I was going to get to the money table of 7 players. There were 3 short stack players still left. I could probably just fold out until they each got picked off. When it got to 9 players, the table decided to give the 8th and 9th places their buy in of $105.00 back so they wouldn't leave the tournament with nothing. I totally agreed to that, I hate busting out just short of the money, when you've played for a good part of the day. I could have been next, you know.

The dominant chip leader was this caucausian guy in his forties. I had my ups and downs at the final table, but eventually got to in position to at least grab 3rd place money of $720.00. The chip leader pretty much took out the last 5 players. I had about 1/6 of the chips in player, the other player had 2/6 if the chips in play and the chip leader with about 3/6 of the chips in play. I had work to do. In this certain hand, the chip leader folded his button, the small blind raised the bet up to $14,000.00. I had $4,000.00 in the pot with my big blind. With antes at $500.00 each, the pot swelled to $19,500.00. I peeled my card and saw Ace/Five OS. I looked at my chips and saw that I had about $25,000.00 left. I told myself that it's now or never, but you're probably behind. I went all in was quickly called, the other player had Ace/Ten Spades. I'm in bad shape. I'm hoping for a chop. I called for the Five'sky, which the dealer obliged when the door card on the flop revealed a beautiful Five - followed by a Two and an Ace. Damn top two pair on the flop, please no Ten. The turn brought another Ace, I got a Full House Baby, again no Ten! The river was a beautiful Two. Both of us got Full Houses, but mine is better kid, wheee!!!

The chip leader finally bounced the other player. This guy is lucky. He had about a 4 to 1 chip lead on me. I need to win some pots. After trading a couple of all in's back in forth, I had a 1 to 3 chip deficit still. I then looked down to Ten/Five OS when I had the dealer button. I kind of acted as if I was contemplating a raise preflop. After my Oscar Award winning performance, I completed the bet to $6,000.00. The chip leader checked his big blind option. The flop was dealt Ten of Clubs, Two of Spades and Six of Clubs. I should have a monster hand heads up, top pair is pretty good. The chip lead led out with a pot sized bet of $15,000.00.I contemplated for a bit again, but I knew I was going to get some chips in this pot. I had about $50,000.00 in chips and decided that I was going to ship them in. I declared all in at that point, which shuddered the chip leader a bit. I know I got him. He decided to fold. We played back and forth for the next 10 minutes, not really getting anywhere. I asked him if he wanted to chop the pot. He counted out his chips, which numbered about $180,000.00. I counted my chips out to $167,000.00.We were pretty much even. I offered him 50% chop, he agreed and we both got about $1,600.00 each. We even qualified for the monthly freeroll.

Like I said giddy as a Japanese Schoolgirl....

Redemption

2008-07-22T10:33:00.000-07:00

7/19/08

Redemption…

Well, this title sounds like the title to some Bruce Willis movie where he is a cold blooded killer who finds the meaning of life protecting the child, of whom he is originally hired to kill. Maybe I should write the script. I could be the next Pinoy Shylaman. Oscar baby and @#$%&* “pokuh doo”….hehe.

Anyway, some folks from the Bay have came into town last Thursday (no permission to use their names yet). I partied with them at the “ZOO”, my new nickname for the Spearamint Rhino, where the wildlife runs free and “charges” (my rhino pun) you to the max for lap therapy. But it’s nice, lol. Who thought getting “blueballs” would be this fun. Talent pool was good as always, I was actually tempted to go to the VIP room, but I didn’t want to further donate to the debauchery at hand. Lap dances in the main room are fine with me. Oh yeah, short term happiness can also be found with a lap dance performed by Lorena, the ”biracial” Cuban/Mexican goddess from Pomona. She apparently had no other part time jobs during the week and solely subsisted on working at gentlemen’s clubs scattered throughout the SoCal area, with the occasional trip to Sin City. Yo, you don’t need to diversify, if the money’s right.
Saturday, my family came into town. It always feels good to see family, especially being this far away from the Bay. I mean, I’m not completely cut off from any friends or family in this godforsaken town, but it’s always great to see me mum, pop, bro and “sis” (me bro’s wife). We also met up with some of their friends from San Jose as well. We decided to make Treasure Island are base of operations for that night. Cool, if I needed to eat, I had about a $10.00 food comp banked at the poker room. Need to save money, times is hard kids, hehe. What ensued, appeared to be a drinking contest at Mist Lounge in TI. Vegas just makes you a different animal sometimes. No concept of time or limits. But yo’ they all on vacay, who cares unless somebody get hurt. I just can’t go to the extremes, if I plan on having success in surviving in this town. I just did not feel like drinking any further and decided to get my poker room food comp for use later on that night.

As I made it to the sign up desk, I noticed that a $1/$1 Pot Limit Omaha game was being dealt that night. The blinds were low and I could fold out until I felt comfortable playing the game. They say the PLO is the wave of the future. I could tell why…It’s an action game. The game ran only 5 handed, but there were significant pots each time. The table makeup was made up of one loose aggressive Aussie, one weak English player, one loose player from the States, a tight player from the States and I (usually tight aggressive, but I can make some gambling plays too). Sounds like the World Cup, but the States are never in it, hehe. The Aussie player looked like the chip captain to me, he had about $600.00 in chips in front of him, while the rest of the players had $200.00 to $300.00 in front of them. I decided to buy in for $100.00, I haven’t really played any Omaha, let alone PLO.

Lately I have been doing some reading about basic strategy in the game, so I have been always curious to play it. It’s hard to find a low stakes game of this nature, so I told myself why not give it a go. If you do not know what Omaha poker is, I will explain it very briefly. The action is very similar to Texas Holdem, but instead of starting with 2 cards in the hole, you get 4 cards. Preflop there is a betting round, where you are allowed to call the big blind, fold, raise (to the pot amount, hence pot limit, as opposed to no-limit where you can bet any amount). The flop and betting rounds are the same as in Texas Holdem. The rule with using your 4 cards, is that you must exactly use 2 from the hole and 3 on the flop. If you had one Heart suit in your hand and four Heart suits flop out, that is not counted as a flush. It’s the same thing with straights, say you have the Ace of Clubs and 10 to King flop out, it is not counted as a straight (unless you have any other matching straight cards in the 4 that you hold in your hand). If you are just used to playing Texas Holdem, it can be confusing at times (and expensive to your bankroll).
Well, back to the game at hand. As I stated before I bought in for $100.00, not a big risk if I happen to lose it. It was for good use, the education of a poker player. I folded quite a bit during the first 30 minutes, as I didn’t seem to obtain any premium hands. That is a good strategy for beginning players in any poker game, as it also allows you to observe the action of the other players during their hands. The Aussie player seemed to be getting all the big pots, as he busted the loose English and loose American player, once each. Then this hand came up when I had a pair of Kings Spade/Club, Jack of Clubs and Queen of Spades. This was a fairly good wrap around (straight possibilities), 2nd nut flush and big pair combo hand. The Aussie player raised it to $7.00 under the gun. The loose player from the States (like it’s a foreign country to me, hehe) called, the tight States player called, I called from the small blind and the English player called. There was $35.00 in the pot at that time. The flop came up rainbow, Queen of Clubs, 2/3 of spades. That is a pretty good flop for my hand. I had top pair with King kicker and the 2nd nut flush draw. I had some good potential, to be the best hand or potentially best hand at this point. I was in the small blind and decided to check. I was not in a really good position to bet the pot, as I would be the first to act on every street. I didn’t want to bet, then get reraised and be put on a decision to basically call off the rest of my chips. I also thought about reraising anybody who bet the flop, to try to isolate the raiser. Anyway, the English player checked, the Aussie player checked, loose States player bet $20.00 and the tight States player folded. The bet then came to me. I thought for a minute and called the $20.00 to see what would develop on the turn. The English player folded and the Aussie called. There was now $95.00 on the pot, with 3 of us left in play. The dealer dealt a 7 of clubs on the turn. Wow, now I had a 2 way 2nd nut flush draw, an overpair with the Kings in my hand and top pair with King kicker. I believe I would be even money with anybody with 3 of kind (which would be the best possible hand at that time – no potential straights nor flushes could be possible at this time). I thought again for a minute and decided to check again, to see what the other 2 players would do. The Aussie checked and the loose States player bet out the pot of $95.00. Now the pot contained $190.00. I had $73.00 bucks left and the pot odds were offering me about 2.5 to 1. That should be an even call for me for a 2 way 2nd nut flush draw, top pair and an overpair. If somebody held the potential best hand of 3 of a kind, I could still win on the river with a club flush, spade flush, or another King for top set (i.e. 3 of a kind). I decided to call for the rest of my chips. The Aussie player also called the $95.00 the loose States player bet. This created a side pot for those two players of $44.00 bucks. The pot I could only win would be in the amount of $314.00. The river was dealt a Jack of Hearts. I can’t beat a set now, but I got top two pair, the pair of Kings in my hand would not count, as the best two cards in my hand would have to be used to create the best possible hand for me, two pair Queens and Jacks. I flipped my cards up first and the Aussie folded. I was sure that I was beat by the loose States player. He showed Queen/Seven for two pair as well. Wow, I won the main pot of $314.00. This is a cool game, hehe.

Another interesting hand that I held, was when I held a pair of Tens Heart/Spade and Nine/Eight of Diamonds. This time I was on the dealer button. To make it simple, all 5 of us made a call of the cutoff player’s (this time it was the tight States player) raise of $6.00 bucks. There was $30.00 bucks preflop. The dealer then dealt out Six of Diamonds, Six of Hearts and Seven of Diamonds. Nice flop for me, even though it may have hit someone with a full house or at least trip Sixes. I had a draw to a straight flush with the Five and Ten of Diamonds. Man if the Ten of Diamond hits, I would get a full house and a straight flush, wheeee!!! My chances of that are pretty low, that’s 2 cards out of 31 to hit, a 7% chance at best. It went check, check, check, check to me. I bet out $15.00 bucks into the pot. The Aussie player folded, the English player called, loose States player folded and the tight States player folded. The dealer then turned a Ten of Diamonds. Wow, that’s nice – got me straight flush with a full house to back it up – the stone cold nuts. The English player led out with a bet of $30.00 bucks. I did an acting job of looking back at my cards and thinking about what to do, when I know all along that I will just call his bet and punish him on the river. After my act of contemplation, I made the “crying call” of $30.00 bucks. The river is dealt, which is a Jack of Diamonds. Now I have my super straight flush. Man, I wish everybody was in this pot. The English player quickly checks. I look at the board intently and bet $40.00 bucks, into a pot of $120.00. I should have really bet more like $60.00 to $70.00 bucks. I wanted him to reraise me if he hit a full house or maybe even 4 of a kind (with the Sixes, for the 2nd nuts). Anyway, he made the crying call of $40.00 – I guess he kinda knew that he lost the hand, but called with 4 to 1 on his money at that point (I was thinking he probably hit a flush too). I flipped up my cards and showed him that I hit a straight flush and full house. He showed us that he hit a King high flush. Thanks for that Ten of Diamonds baby. The dealer pushed the pot to me, nice…

I decided to call it quits after only a couple of hours, as the Aussie had been pounding on the English and loose States player for their chips. I felt that the action was about to dry up. I just about quadrupled my stack within that time, so it was definitely not a bad day. Some people think that to be successful in poker, you have to stack up monster wins (which is probably right, hehe). When you are starting out, I think you will still need to grind out these small wins. If you play your best at all times, in for the long haul, your results should tell in time. It was about 3 am at that point and was hungry. I cashed out my poker comp, which got built back to $15.00 bucks. Nice – I was fiending for pancakes and bacon, yum yum…

In search of the perfect haircut...

2008-07-15T12:43:00.000-07:00

7/15/08

The title is kind of an oxymoron for me. If you known me for the past some odd years, you know that I've probably grown my hair out once. Usually I get my head shaved with a "half" or "numma won" guard, all around my scalp. Not a hard job for my "stylist". Hell, I could even do it myself, as I have clippers of my own. I just don't want to deal with the mess. I just love getting that shampoo/scalp massage after the cut. Especially in Las Vegas, I like having my scalp damp, to cool off a bit from this heat.

Anyway, I've been house/dog sitting at my cousin's house just south of the Strip. It's kind of in the boondocks. It's not like back home in San Jose, where asian salons are at each nook, cranny and corner of the city. $10.00 fades with $2.00 shampoo are the norm in the Bay. I usually went to Michelle at Hair Today on Cropley and Capitol, the northside of SJ. She would usually waive the shampoo "fee", because I would hook her up with a good tip. I miss those shampoos, a good sitting with a scalp massage was always a cure for a hard day at work. I always felt "faklempt" after my haircut/shampoo from Michelle. I'm gonna pause and tear for a while, sorry.....

Back to the task at hand...Well, I ventured into Chinatown (Las Vegas' version), off of Spring Mountain Road and Decatur. I'm driving through - dang where is an asian hair salon here? Dim sum, massage parlors, Big Lots - where the hell is one? I see one at the Big Lots shopping center area. I park and walk in - no menu selection for haircuts for men. Hmmm, should I go, if it's not posted? The owner, Sharon greets me and asks me for what I want. I ask her how much a haircut and shampoo is. She tells me $15.00 total. Kinda' high I think. Well, I'm here, I'll just test it out I guess. She wants to shampoo me first, I tell her that I want shampoo after the haircut. She says no and says it's better to shampoo first, so that my hair is clean. She will rinse my scalp after the haircut, so that it will be fully clean. I was about to walk out, but decided that it's worth a try - I don't want to search for another hair salon all day. We then go to the shampoo chair, where I put a towel around my neck and sit down. She then rinses my hair for 10 seconds, dollops a squirt of shampoo on my head, then mixes it into my hair for approximately 7 seconds, rinses it off, then we are done. This is not going well for me. She then takes me back to her station to start the haircut. I asked her to give me "half guard" shave around my scalp. She sort of protests and says that it's better to do "half guard at the bottom, and one guard at the top of my head" - I don't want to look like a mushroom. I told her just to use half guard all the way around my scalp, easy right? She completes the haircut and rinses my
head for 10 seconds and we are done. I pay her $17.00 bucks total and I leave.

I miss Michelle. That's the last time I will go there. I'm going to have to find Indy and go out on a mission to find the Lost Ark of the Haircut/Shampoo/Scalp Massage Covenant. Hopefully I don't turn up any dust...

Vegas Baby...

2008-07-13T19:52:00.000-07:00

7/12/08

Vegas Baby...

Man…just got done with a poker session at Treasure Island. I have been playing tight, as most of the players I observe played very loosely. I started out with $300.00 bucks on the table. Toward the end of this poker session, my stack went down to about $140.00, when I woke up with pocket Aces (Heart and Spade) in the big blind. Prior to me looking down at my cards, the button raised it to $15.00. The small blind folded and I in turn re-raised the button to $40.00. The button contemplated for a minute and called my bet. The flop came out Jack of Hearts, Seven of Clubs and Eight of Hearts. The pot held about $90.00. My only fear is that he held pocket Jacks. I then went all in for my last $100.00 and was quickly called by the button player, with of course his set of Jacks. Turn came Ten of Hearts, so I’m hoping for a river Heart and/or Ace to scoop. Any non Heart Nine would chop the pot as well. But the 4 of Diamonds hit the river of course. How you like them apples? At least I got a $28.00 dollar poker room comp ($2.00 comp for every hour played, not bad) for food, which probably equates to food for 0.75 people on the Strip, lol…But no, I used $15.00 of it at Canter’s Deli to drown my sorrows with a Coke, a kosher hot dog and for dessert, frozen chocolate custard. Mmm, mmm…Will try to get further hours in at the poker room, so I can actually have enough to feed two or more people – that’s my motivation, hehe…I’ll tell you what, if you are a poker player, you’ve seen your Aces go down in flames as well. The day before, I was playing at Treasure Island. I too cracked the Aces with my pocket Jacks on a one outer on the river (it does feel good, so I have experienced both sides baby)…
As for my tournament sessions, I have played a total of 4 poker tournaments to date. I played in 2 $80.00 NLHE tournaments at Orleans, a deep stack NLHE event at Caesars for $235.00 and an Omaha 8 or Better Tournament. I couldn’t crack the top 30% of the field yet, but hopefully the cards will even out and I can cash in my future events. You still need some premium hands to get through these fields. I was pretty card dead throughout, and was surprised that I made it as far as I had in these fields. All in all, I thought I had done a pretty decent job, even though my actual results have not shown it so far.

I still think about this hand I had in the Caesars tourney, where the blinds were $50/100, in the second level. This tourney was a pretty good format, where you started with $7,500.00 in chips and the blind levels increased every 45 minutes. In this particular hand, I raised from mid position with Four/Five of Spades to $250.00 (trying to make a deceptive raise, as I would try to control the size of the pot and if I hit a good flop, I could then reap the rewards). I got a call from the dealer button and big blind. In the pot was $800.00. The flop comes out all Spades, Six, Queen and Ace. The big blind contemplates for a minute and shoves in the rest of her chips, to the amount of $5,300.00. That is a big over bet, I probably most likely have the best hand with a baby flush. I tried to put her on a range of hands. I thought she may have Ace with King of Spades, two pair Aces/Queens or maybe a set of Sixes. She would have probably re-raised preflop if she had pocket Aces or Queens. I had the nuts so far, but she could draw out on me on the turn and river for the nuts. I thought about the situation, I only had $250.00 in the pot, I still had $7,400.00 behind. If I called her and lost, I would basically be a short stack with about 20 blinds. I still had to think about what the dealer button player would do as well, but he looked like he was going to fold (his right hand was holding his cards near the muck – not a sign of strength). After a few minutes of thinking, I decided to fold. When the dealer button folded, the all in player showed her hand to me and the table. She had a set of Sixes. I probably would have called her if I had a redraw to the nuts (even though I had the nuts itself at the time). I guess you can make a case for folding and calling. I think in this situation, I felt that the fold was in order, as I still had effectively 74 bets, being this early in the tournament, I would have plenty of time to stack up in chips.

Another hand that bailed me out, was when I had pocket Kings and still held on to about $7,700.00 in chips. The action went like this. Under the gun player goes all in for $5.600.00, I quickly went all in after him, everybody behind me folded, and the dealer button called my all in. The small and big blinds fold. The UTG player flipped up Ace/Jack OS, I flipped up my Kings and the dealer button flipped up his pocket Queens. The flop brings up brings up nothing for each of us. The turn pairs a Jack for the UTG player. Jesus, blank it on the river! The river hits air. Wow, I chip up to about $20,000.00, lovin’ it.

During the $600/1200 blind level with $100.00 antes – I hold about $16,000.00 in chips – which is dangerous territory with my short stack. In this hand all the players folded to me in the small blind, where I held Jack/Four OS. The pot had $2,800.00 in the pot already. The big blind had approximately $4,000.00 left (including his big blind). I thought for a minute and felt that I wanted to gamble with the big blind at that time. If I fold, I would leave a much needed $2,800.00 on the table. If I lose, I would have $12,000.00 left in chips, pretty much leaving me on the same situation, but I still would have some fold equity during the rest of the round of play, before I get back to the blinds. I decided to put the big blind all in and he called with his King/Five OS. It was pretty much a random race situation. But of course the board blanked for both of us and he won with King high. In the very next hand, everybody folded to me in at the dealer button, I peeled the cards up and saw Ace/Eight OS. I paused for a second and pushed in with my last $12,000.00, leaving the small and big blind much fold equity. Anyway the small blind player agonized for a few minutes before calling with his King/Queen OS. A race situation again, at least I had the best of it. The flop brought out Eight, Nine and Ten OS. Cool I flopped a pair, but the small blind had 4 more additional outs with Jacks to win, along with Kings and Queens. The turn brought a sexy Two…but whattaya know, the river brought him his pretty Queen. Sucks…The next consecutive hand, all the players folded, but to my right the big stack player opened for $4,000.00. I then looked at my cards and saw Ace/Eight of Clubs. I had only $3,500.00 left, so it was a natural call. The dealer button, small blind and big blind quickly folded. The player to my right flipped up pocket Sevens. Cool, a race at least, a coin flip at best. Again the board bricked out for me and I was out of the tournament. I placed 120 out of 457. Not bad, but not good – no money!

7/13/08

Today I hung out with Ms. X (I don’t have permission to use her name yet) , who is a friend of my buddy Frank and my cousin Danny in Sacramento. She is originally from Sacramento and moved to Las Vegas a couple of years ago, when she was sent out by the card room she was working for in Sacramento, sent her to the Bellagio for a week for an employee appreciation event. She decided to call in sick after her event was up at the Bellagio and stay in Las Vegas to deal poker. She now works for of course the Bellagio in the poker room. We talked a bit about some of the players she has dealt for there. Tonight she is dealing in “Bobby’s Room”, which is where the big sharks play. The usual stakes are $4,000/8000 Limit Holdem, with a player pot cap of $100,000.00 (meaning any one player can only lose up to a maximum of $100,000.00 on each hand, cool…You can buy a decent two bedroom condo for that in Vegas, hehe). You gots to have some balls to put up the equivalent of your house value in play at any time. Crazy. It surprised me, but then didn’t surprise me that some of the players there (usually the old school ones) are pretty rude to the dealers and each other. Television doesn’t show that stuff – well, of course not, they wouldn’t be able to market these big time players. The thing that was funny to me was that she made more in tips at the lower level games (i.e., $2/5 No Limit Holdem, $4/8 Limit Holdem) than the “Big Game” at times. Sometimes she would get a tip of $5.00 after dealing a pot of over a couple hundred thousand. I told her I was tipping too much then, as I usually tip the dealer $1.00 to $5.00 depending on the size of the pot I won. I got to pick her mind about the game and got some tidbits about the games in Las Vegas.

I was feeling a bit down after all these early losses in the tournaments and cash games I’ve recently played. But I thought about it, it’s still early and I know it’s a process. Find the right game, just play your best each time and the success should come. You can also find a bit of short term happiness getting a lap dance from a half Chinese/Mexican stripper named Charmane (Thursday to Saturday nights only, as her “real job” is a hairdresser in Huntington Beach – I love interviewing strippers!) at the Rhino..Well maybe not, no potential to win your money back…Am I funny or what?