Bill to License Online Gambling Introduced

Yesterday morning, Rep. Barney Frank introduced legislation in the House that calls for online gambling to be licensed and regulated in America.
This bill goes directly against the intent of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act that was passed late last year, which forced many online sites and online gambling-related businesses to cut off customers located in the U.S. The UIGE Act was snuck into a must-pass bill designed to increase the security of the nation's ports at the twelfth hour.
Frank has been an outspoken opponent to the UIGE Act. He believes that the UIGE Act tramples individual freedom.
“The existing legislation is an inappropriate interference on the personal freedom of Americans and this interference should be undone,” Frank said.
The Financial Services Committee will hold a hearing entitled “Can Internet gambling be regulated to protect consumers and the payments system?” at a date to be determined in June.
I'll keep my fingers crossed but won't bet on it passing.

Guess How Many Chips

OK, this is a take on the jelly-bean jar contest. Guess how many chips ( $ amount) I have in front of me without going over. At Borgata red chips are worth $5, greens are $25 and blacks are $100. Closest to correct total without going over wins!
Winner shall receive a free pint at Sligo!

Weekend Update

After being sick for three days this week I thought I'd better get my ass down to the Borgata and get some time in at the tables, so I headed down before noon on Saturday (a feat in and of itself). I sat immediately upon arrival in a no limit cash game and summed the table up fairly quickly. Fishy, fishy, fishy, fish! There were two other players that seemed to have a modicum of poker sense so i was careful to play pots with them, but the rest of the table was easy pickings and I quickly tripled my starting stake in under two hours. I played until about 6 and then headed over to the Pier at Caesars, initially intent on dining at Buddakhan, but ended up eating at Phillips, the seafood house from Baltimore. It was very good. While my stomach cried for steak, I instead opted for the bounties of the sea, starting with a half dozen Malpeque oysters on the half shell and then easing into my entree, which was a humongous steam pot, placed in the center of the table and overflowing with a whole lobster, mussels, king crab legs, potatoes, corn on the cob and colossal shrimp. I washed it all down with two pints of Phillip's Amber. It was a huge feast and I nearly finished it all. For dessert it was chocolate-pecan pie. Then back to Borgata where I decided to sit in a bigger game and barely avoided donking off my entire day's profit in a brutal game of raises and reraises among some seasoned pros who had the run of the table.
Sunday I took it easy, but on Monday, with the power out in half of Media for who-knew-how-long, I headed back down to my home by the shore once more. I sat in a lower stakes game and went on one of the best card runs of my career. The odds of being dealt pocket aces are 1 in 221 hands. I had them three times in one fifteen minute period alone, and a total of 8 times for the session! One of the times I was last to act and I sat in awe as the first player raised, the next player re-raised all-in, the next player called and then it was on me with pocket rockets. I had to pinch myself to make sure this wasn't some vivid erotic dream before pushing my stack in to the center of the felt. Lucky for me, one player dropped out to my re-raise, and that player showed his pocket nines when he folded. I was up against two players with all our money in the center and five cards to come. My opponents held Ace-King and Ace-Nine respectively, and were huge underdogs to my monster hand. My pair held up through the flop, the turn and the river and I took down a huge pot, but when a nine came on the flop, I knew that I had narrowly escaped execution and was happy that the other player had folded. That set the tone for the session and just a few hands later I had the aces again and built another nice pot with one opponent. I spiked an ace on the flop to make trips and took down yet another big pot. I saw more pocket pairs than I have ever been dealt before in a single session. Kings, Queens, jacks, tens, nines, eights, sevens, sixes, just about every pair possible was dealt to me. I am actually afraid of the next session because mathematically I am sure to get screwed with crappy cards! When I announced that I was playing one more hand before heading to dinner the table resounded with a sigh of relief and I was sure I would look down at two rags and get up and walk to the restaurant. No, I looked down at pocket aces and my raise was seen as a bully tactic by the others and I was called by several non-believers. A moment later I stacked my new chips and headed off to dinner laughing (dinner was prime rib and roast pork with chorizo sauce and several glasses of Bachus Cabernet).
Upon my return my first hand was pocket eights and my very next hand was pocket queens, so I quickly showed the table that my streak was far from over. In the last two hours I played after dinner I actually got aces twice more! I had played from noon until 11pm and I was ecstatic when I left. I'm going back down tonight to test the poker gods yet again!

Separated at Birth-The Poker Edition

Tuesday at Borgata

I have been trying to play as much as possible lately, both because I am running well and I am trying to build up maximum comps for Vegas. Turns out that My Borgata Rewards points are actually good at the Bellagio and MGM properties out west so it will be sweet to use those comps for all my gourmet dining while I am out in Vegas.
I sat in a smaller no-limit game last night and played for about 7 hours, cashing with a profit of close to $50/hr. Not too bad, but not enough to get my juices flowing either. It was a bit of a grind and took alot of patience to deal with some of the fish at the table. Dinner was rare lamb chops ( ireally wanted medium I think), the first of which was awesome, but the second was actually so rare it had a Hannibal Lecter/Silence of the Lambs appearance to it and I couldn't even eat it. My new favorite dessert down there is the Oreo Parfait and I had two of them last night. (In retrospect it is actually my second favorite as nothing compares to the Creme Brulee at the Old Homestead!)

Travel Updates

For those who keep track of such things, I have recently firmed up some travel plans and just thought I would spout off about them here for no particular reason other than I am slightly bored at the moment. Aside from the mandatory Vegas trip during World Series of Poker (which will run from June 1 thru July 16 this year, for those of you who keep track of such things), I will be heading to the beautiful blue waters and white sand beaches of the Caribbean and more specifically, the always sunny, western side of the Dominican Republic known as Punta Cana. It's for a family friends' wedding and I will be staying in a stunning, oceanside villa at the Secrets resort the week of August 9 - 16. I have already mapquested the area casinos and I will pack accordingly. I also have checked the travel advisories: Only drink bottled water and stay away from any Haitian-Homosexual-Hemopheliac-Heroin users!
I also have firmed up plans for a Thanksgiving in Vegas! Yes, I will be heading west again in November (16th to the 25th) for some round the clock poker and turkey with all the trimmings. While the condo has been booked, I actually haven't firmed up the turkey part yet, but there are so many great restaurants to choose from and I'm sure I will be fine!
And that is about it for the travel plans that I know of at this time. I will keep those of you who keep track of such things updated of any additions to my itinerary as neccessary.

Happy Easter

After an impromptu blogger meeting I was inspired to post this weekend. CNN, Chuck, Ted and I met for a few pints at Sligo on Saturday night (CNN had slightly more than a few, but that may be an entirely different blog entry) and the mood was festive and blog-inspiring, as was Isabella, the newest addition to the wait staff.
While Chuck left us early for a prior committment somewhere on the main line, CNN, Ted and I remained for a few more and even made a trek down the street to Quotations for some warm Hoegartens.
on Friday I headed down to my second favorite city and logged about 10 hours of play at the table. The Borgata poker room was overflowing due to the huge turn-out for their $50k guaranteed tournament so open seats were hard to find and I headed over to Harrah's to wait out the rush. I hadn't been there in at least six months and the new expansion was impressive. I sat in a new no-limit game that was forming and played for about four hours before heading back to the Borgata for dinner. I only managed to play a few hands in the four hours, with one stretch of at least an hour and a half without playing a single hand. I took advantage of the few playable hands and left the game winner.
After a little filet mignon and pecan encrusted salmon at Borgata I made my way to the poker room and was seated right away at a no-limit table. I doubled up my stake fairly early on when I flopped a set of eights, got all my money in with one other player and I survived his nut flush draw. Later in the night I got involved in a big hand with the same player and he was able to extract his revenge on me by getting lucky enough to make two pair against my top pair. That hand alone cost me about $1600 and since it was approaching 1 am, I decided to call it quits for the night and head back to Media with a small loss for the night thanks to my earlier win at Harrah's.
So now it is early afternoon Easter day and I am awaiting the start of the Masters coverage where I will be rooting for Tiger to take down yet another green jacket.