Paris Loses Bentley in Poker Game

After recently telling Bluff Magazine "I'm obsessed with poker. It's my favorite game now. We love it. We play at tournaments in Vegas. I'm really lucky in Vegas - I always win!", Paris went and lost the family Bentley in a poker game at none other than the Hilton family's own casino! She lost the nearly $200k vehicle in what she calls a "bad" game. Maybe she should just stick to making those videos. The papparazzi were stunned as she handed the keys to the winner and her parents are so furious they have banned her from gambling in the family casino! Evidently the house doesn't always have the advantage!

Lack of Poker Posts

I think I need to discuss exactly why there has been a lack of poker posts recently (maybe to your delight). I have to tell you about the worst beat I've ever suffered at a poker table in my history of playing the game. I was in a full cash game in a casino, no limit hold-emwith high stakes (for me anyway). Blinds of $25/50 and I had about $8k to start out with (far too big a game for my bankroll, but c'est la vie). After a few hours my bankroll had swelled to about $35k, one of the best runs of my career. The final hand came so quickly it still gives me the chills when I think about it. I was dealt the ace and queen of spades in early position and made a nice raise before the flop. I was called by three players and we saw the flop four-handed. On the flop were two spades, one of which was the jack, also the highest card on the board. So I flopped a draw to the absolute nut flush and I had two overcards to anything that was out there. I put out almost a pot- sized bet and was called by two players. The turn was the six of spades, locking up my nut flush. I bet out again and was called by one player and then raised by the third player. I was hoping he had a lesser flush or a similar strong hand that he would be drawing dead on the river with. The pot was now over $30k. I thought for a moment and re-raised all in with my last $25k or so. The second player dropped immediately and the third player went into the tank contemplating a call. When he finally called I actually felt so good and turned over the nuts as he slowly turned over two pair, a jack and a six. Now what card do you think came on the river? I'll give you a hint, there were only two of them left in the deck. A total of four cards out of the 46 possible remaining cards that could help him and he hits one! Worse than a 10 to 1 dog and he gets the miracle six on the river to make a full house and beat my ace high flush! The pot of close to $80k was pushed to him and I was left sitting there with my heart in my throat and nothing but a bare patch of felt in front of me. I was crushed emotionally on that one and that is why the poker posts have been lacking and I am working on re-building my bankroll as the World Series of Poker is rapidly approaching and I need to make plans for Vegas this summer. Next Friday, Cinqo de mayo, I will be playing at the Borgata again in their Ultimate Weekend of Poker event. A good performance there should boost my confidence again and get me back in the game. Until then you might get a few more twinkie posts.

Deep Fried Twinkies

I want to take a moment to discuss one of the most outrageous deserts I have ever had the pleasure of indulging in. A Deep fried Twinkie! I came across these incredible concoctions on a trip to Vegas. Across the street from Binion's Horseshoe and catecorner to the Golden Nugget is a little hole-in-the-wall slot parlor called Mermaids, and in the back, where you can also indulge in a glorious $2 foot-long chili-cheese dog you will find the most decadent marriage of artery-clogging, deep fat frying and a sugary, cream filled confection! If you've somehow managed your way through life to this point without ever having tasted one, I suggest you put this at the top of your "to do before I die" list and get with the program.

Big Brother VS Poker

Since 1995, when the first online gambling sites opened their doors for business, legislators have unsuccessfully tried to stop the unprecedented growth in online gaming. Even though online gaming revenues are in excess of $12 billion annually, all these legislators can think of is how to stop it instead of thinking about how to regulate it. Previous legislation that was unsuccessfully proposed actually suggested that banks and financial institutions should "police" their clients and prevent them from sending money to online gaming sites. How insane is that concept? Would you want your bank inquiring as to what you are doing with your hard earned money on deposit at their bank? The newest legislation again attempts to stop the flow of money to these sites by proposing legislation that would prohibit online gaming sites from accepting money from financial institutions. Only one problem smart guys...these sites are all based offshore (online gaming is illegal in the USA) so they are not subject to these laws!! How do these people even get elected in the first place? Anyway, there are an estimated 70 million poker players in the US and if even a fraction of them made their voices heard it could have an impact. I sent the following e-mail to Sentaor Rick Santorum to express my thoughts on the subject and actually got a reply (probably canned, but what can I expect?).

Senator, I am writing to urge you to oppose pending legislation that would limit the rights of individuals to play poker online. Currently, there are two bills in the House, H.R. 4411 introduced by Rep. James Leach (R-IA) and H.R. 4777 introduced by Rep. Robert Goodlatte (R-VA). And in the Senate, Jon Kyl (R-AZ) is pushing similar legislation that he wants to introduce.

As an avid poker player, I feel strongly that these bills and any other legislation that deny Americans the right to play a game of skill such as poker on the Internet, seriously and egregiously violate my personal freedoms.

More than 70 million people today enjoy poker. And while most play at home, in taverns or poker clubs, many enjoy this game of skill with friends and family on the Internet. The possibility of the federal government stripping away this right to play online is very troubling to me.

These bills trample the freedoms of online poker players and represent a slippery slope that could lead to the federal government denying citizens the right to play poker in offline venues. The bills also hypocritically make exceptions for certain types of gambling, including internet state lotteries, placing online bets for horse races and select fantasy sports, while prohibiting poker, which is objectively a skill game.

Equally troubling, though, are the bill’s enforcement mechanisms. All three proposals contain banking enforcement provisions which would extend a “know your customer” relationship well beyond what I want my bankers to know about my financial affairs. This regulation would require bankers to monitor my on-line purchases and even review my checks. Like most Americans, I choose my bank, and deposit my paycheck for safekeeping, not for them to monitor my withdrawals, funds transfer or even individual checks. These provisions put the government too deep into my pocketbook. According to Forbes’ magazine there are 5 FBI agents assigned to internet gambling, I demand that American taxpayers know the full cost of enforcing a ban on my rights to play poker on-line.

Separately, in Rep. Goodlatte’s legislation, Internet service providers (ISPs) are forced to remove gambling related hyperlinks upon court order. Such mandates require ISPs to remove or disable access to online sites that the government deems violations. This is censorship of the Internet, plain and simple. Congress rightly criticized China for blocking the free flow of information to its citizens via the Internet, and now Goodlatte’s bill deserves similar scrutiny.

From average citizens to presidents, generals, Members of Congress and Supreme Court justices, Americans have been playing poker for centuries, making it a rich part of our cultural heritage. Today, the evolution of game on the Internet should not be restricted by overarching government interference, and simply by putting the word “internet” in front of poker does not make it wrong.

I urge you to take these concerns into consideration and oppose H.R. 4411, H.R. 4777 and the Kyl proposal that will make outlaws of poker players who enjoy the game online.

I think there are much more serious issues that these legislators should be expending their time and energy on. This is NOT one of those issues!

Russia Calf Shoes

Just like CNN, I too have been thinking of picking up a pair of new shoes. Not just any shoes mind you, but one of the most distinctive shoes in the world! The Russia Calf shoes that are made by New & Lingwood from London's Jermyn Street. What makes these shoes so unique you ask? These shoes are made from a limited cache of reindeer hides that were found aboard a ship that sank off the English coast in 1786. They lay at the bottom of the ocean for nearly 200 years until the wreck was discovered in 1973. Despite their prolonged submersion in salt water, the hides were as good as ever. The reason is that the hides had been processed by a secret technique that was lost after the Russian Revolution, and which made pre-revolutionary Russian leathers world famous for both their water resistance as well as their beauty.
First the hides were cured in baths of rye or oat flour and yeast , they were then hand finished and soaked in wood liquor. They were then hand-curried while still wet and soaked in seal oil and birch tan oil , which gives the leather its distinctive, rich aroma. Now these shoes don't have an anti microbial feature and they aren't odor resistant, so it may be difficult to justify the $1550 price tag, but then again that's a mere round of blinds and antes in a decent no limit game!

Where in the World is Chuck?

Since my Nigerian 419 scammer is nowhere to be found recently, I have turned my attention to another pressing matter; trying to find out what happened to Chuck? Just where in the world is Chuck? I have run down a few leads with no success. The first clue led me to Seattle, Washington, land of eternal sunshine, where I found Chuck B. was vice president of sales and marketing for Larry's Markets, the cash strapped grocery chain that just laid off 70% of its work force. This guy had a full head of hair so I knew right away I had missed my mark.
My next clue led me to Los Angeles where I found Chuck B. was a self-employed real estate developer who made a questionable donation of $1200 to John Kerry's presidential campaign fund. We all know Chuck is a devout Libertarian and would never have supportrd such a worthless cause. Since I was already in California I followed a clue down to San Diego where I found Chuck B. at a reunion of the Marine Corps Flying Tiger Squadron, but since this was a Vietnam era reunion, I quickly ruled out our beloved Chuck. I hopped back across the continent to Naugatuck, Connecticut to what I was sure would finally be success; Chuck B. was a licensed member of a national network of socially responsible investment consultants. Right up his alley, I thought, but alas, no luck! My final clue led me back to California where I was saddened to discover that Chuck was the former president of the Santa Cruz County Horseman's Association and had died in a myserious mountain biking incident that is still under investigation. I gave up my search there and am asking you for your help in finding Chuck.
Just where in the world is Chuck? Does anyone out there have a clue?

More Fun With Nigerians

I sent the following e-mail to the lawyer in London representing Mrs. Hariri and I am still waiting for his reply. When I get it I will add it below so be sure to check back here:

Mr. Johnson,
I am happy to hear the opportunity to assist Mrs. Hariri is still available and I can
assure you that my current legal issues will have no impact on our business at hand.
In regards to your request for information from me, I believe I may have
accidentally deleted your original e-mail while purging my system of unwanted spam.
What information do you need exactly for us to complete this transaction? I opened
a new account at my bank specifically to facilitate this transaction.
When I mentioned to the bank officer that I needed to open a new
account into which I could transfer $36 million,
he said " wow, you will certainly get free checking"!
I laughed at first, but then I realized that free checking is no laughing matter!

I must inform you at this time that telephone communication is going to be
difficult for us as my tongue was horribly mangled in a tragic cellphone
accident several years ago. In person, I can easily communicate with bits
of scrap paper and hand signs, but over the phone you would never be
able to comprehend my garbled attempts at speech. You will be happy to
know that while my handicap has been difficult to overcome, I have not
lost my sense of taste and still enjoy dining at gourmet restaurants
and sampling fine wines and cognacs.

Be that as it may, we will be confined to e-mail and/or fax messages for
the remainder of this transaction. I check my e-mail daily and will
promptly reply to any future correspondence.

I will be anxiously awaiting your further instructions.

Yours Truly,

Horace P. Manuer
Ceo/Media Wireless Group

Notice that I went back to the original spelling of my last name. Let's see if he picks up on it, too.

Lunch With a Playmate

I took a day off from playing poker and playing with Nigerian scam artists for a little B & B, which in my book means beer and bunnies! Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting and hanging out with a former Playboy Playmate. Colleen Marie, Miss August 2003, was very cute and very nice. We had lunch together and talked a bit about her love of extreme sports and Las Vegas, where she has a home. After lunch, I watched her attempt to climb a temporary rock wall (successfully) and then had a picture taken with her. Not a bad way to spend a Thursday afternoon!

Chuck Drops a Bombshell

Chuck has dropped the equivalent of a 20 megaton explosive device on the blogger community today. I am still in shock and may be for some time. CNN and I are already trying to organize a "Hands Across Sligo" vigil where fans and mourners of the Carlos/Chuck blog can gather and drown their sorrows in a pint of Guiness and discuss the current and often inflammatory topics that Chuck dared to divulge on his digital diary. Maybe if he switched to a "subscription-based" blog it would give him something more tangible in return for his heartfelt prose. A simple link and Paypal account would easily cover the logistics of that scenario. We need to band together and let Chuck know that he can't just walk away from this "thing of ours" like that. Viva las misadventuras de Carlos!!!

Matisyahu at Electric Factory

Last night was the Matisyahu concert at Electric Factory in Philadelphia. I only recently discovered this artist and really enjoy his music.
The show was great, bordering on uplifting if only for the fact that you genuinely sense that he is for real and his beliefs boom through the mic. The former resident of West Chester born Matthew Miller, became Matisyahu in his late teens after meeting a rabbi in a park in New York and taking on the Lubavitch Hasidic lifestyle. I only have his "Live at Stubbs" CD, but his new studio album "Youth" was recently released and I plan on getting that, too.

Say No To Tilt

I've played a little poker recently with mixed results, but have been able to stay in the black for the year so far. I've only played in one big tourney which is less than I had planned, but I know that the best route for me now is to accumulate winnings in the beatable cash games and play the tournies when I am at the top of my game. This Sunday the Borgata is hosting an interesting tournament called "The Ultimate Satellite". The buy-in is $1000 and for every sixty players a winner will walk away with the ultimate grand prize package that consists of the following:

• $10,000 Buy-in to the Foxwoods Poker Classic April 6-9
• $25,500 Buy-in to the World Poker Tour Championship at Bellagio April 18-24
  
• $10,000 Buy-in to the Borgata Poker Open September 15-19
• $10,000 Buy-in to the 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event at the Rio July 28 to August 10
• $4500 in cash for travel expenses

Now that is a tempting proposition!!

Hot & Cold Running Beer

This sounds like Chuck's greatest fantasy!! (Next to Inga vrom Sveeden)

OSLO (Reuters) - A woman thought she was in heaven when beer instead of water flowed from the taps in her apartment in west Norway."I turned on the tap to clean some knives and forks and beer came out," Haldis Gundersen told Reuters from her home in Kristiansund, west Norway. "We thought we were in heaven."Beer in Norway is among the most expensive in the world with a 0.4 liter (0.7 pint) costing about 50 crowns ($7.48) in a bar.Gundersen said she tried the beer but that it tasted a bit odd and was not fizzy.It turned out that a worker in a bar two floors below had mixed up the pipes on Saturday evening, wrongly connecting a new barrel to a water pipe leading to Gundersen's flat. The bar got water in its beer taps.

Riddle Me This

Here's an interesting riddle to ponder over the weekend:

You are in a room with three light switches. Way down the hall is a room with a light bulb that one of these switches controls. You can't see the other room or the light from the other room from the room you are in.

All three light switches are off and the light bulb is also off. Now, you can fiddle with the light switches any way you want. Then, you can go into the room down the hall where the light bulb is and come back to the original room where the switches are.

There is one specific way you'll know for certain which switch controls that light bulb.

This isn't a trick question at all, but you might have to think outside the box to get the right answer. I've never met anybody yet who got it.

Road Trip '06: Alcohol Was the Theme

Like any road trip embarked upon by 6 mature, tax-paying, upstanding members of society, alcohol consumption was the main goal and we excelled in meeting our objective! Here's the basic rundown: After the free beers at the brewery we moved on to Club 18, home of the 75 cent draft and the $5 pizza, a classic combo that really got us in the groove for the rest of the trip. The Drunken Monkey, while not quite as inexpensive as Club 18 with its pricey $1.25 drafts, had its positive attributes, as well, and gave us the final burst of momentum we'd need for the hour and a half drive to our ultimate destination. While the image is a little blurry, I have included below a photo of our next bar tab at Crazy Fingers where before we knew what hit us we had consumed a total of 4 beers and 17 margaritas in a little more than an hour. The final tab of $197 made us shudder to think what heights the bill could have reached if we had decided to stay there any longer!
Once at the cabin the real drinking began, and with an initial arsenal of 3 cases of beer, a half gallon of Captain Morgan, a fifth of Vodka and a bottle of Cabo Wabo Tequila, we felt pretty secure in the fact that we were well supplied, at least for the first evening. An intense session of the classic drinking game PIGS got us off to a great start which led to several heated rounds of PIT, eventually ending the evening with a halfhearted attempt at the classic dice game Mexican. While Fold the Laundry was mentioned it was never actually played to my limited recollection.
Day two began shortly after breakfast with a pitstop at Pat's Pub in Hawley (happened to be across the street from the Hawley Diner) where we enjoyed several rounds of Yuengling, some pool and some darts. This is the spot where we found our temporary replacement for Granger, who couldn't make the trip due to his prior committment to attend a fondue party in Media.
After the bar we decided to head back to the cabin and we made a quick stop at the local market to replenish our limited food supply and we pooled our money to purchase 43 tickets for the record-setting Powerball drawing to be held later that night (the fact that I'm even writing this entry should be proof enough of the outcome of that one). We decided we would only drink hard liquor from that point on as we only had 8 beers left and the group concensus was to put the money into lottery tickets instead of more beer. By Sunday morning we had depleted all forms of alcohol but a quarter of the Cabo Wabo and we left the cabin satisfied, if not hungover.
Here's some more miscelaneous pics including one of Paul and Ted checking the thickness of the ice on the lake:

Road Trip '06: The Brewery

We arrived at the Yuengling Brewery in Pottsville, PA at about noon on Friday, which meant we had an hour and a half to kill before the tour would start. We checked out the Yuengling Museum which housed quite an impressive collection of beer paraphenalia and beer art, as well as Yuengling family momentos. We were surprised at the level of access we were granted in the building and the lack of security on the premises. On several occasions we waltzed right past the "employees only' signage to investigate rooms and areas not included in the public tour, including the brewmaster's lab and the tap room where we helped ourselves to some free samples ( see photo below). The tour itself was interesting but the tour guide could stand to drop the decibel level of her presentation a few notches. A few interesting highlights were the underground caves which were used to keep the beer cold before refrigeration was invented, and the fact that during prohibition the company survived by making ice cream and their classic Porter, which was available by prescription for medicinal purposes only! Another interesting tidbit is the fact that it takes approximately 28 days to create a batch of beer from brewing to fermenting to canning to finished product, yet on the very day that Prohibition was renounced, the Yuengling's delivered a a truckload of beer to the White House to assist in the national celebration.
The tour ended with a visit to the tap room, which we had already discovered pre-tour. The good news was you could drink any of the 7 varieties of beer Yuengling currently makes, the bad news was you were limited ( by some vague PA law) to 2 beers per person. We are currently investigating loopholes for the next trip.
The brewery has been family owned since it was founded in 1829 and each generation has to buy the brewery from the previous which led us to an interesting conclusion. Since the current owner, Dick Yuengling, has four daughters the empire is ripe for a coup. We tried to fix Ted up with Wendy Yuengling, who works in the shipping department and is the most visually appealing of the four. Who knows, if he plays his cards right we could be enjoying frosty cold pints of O'Hara Lager at the Plumstead someday!

Road Trip '06: The Drunken Monkey

While we were driving from Pottsville to Centralia, we ventured through the town of Ashland and noticed a sign for a small bar along the main strip called "the Drunken Monkey". A sign out front proclaimed it was the "home of the Monkey Wrap" which really intrigued us and we vowed to check it out on the way back from visiting the adjacent burning mine town. After Centralia we figured we were ready for anything so on the way back we pulled up to the bar and parked right out front. Inside we were greeted with a suspicious nod from the bartender and several locals enjoying a mid afternoon beer as we ordered Yuengling drafts and proceeded to investigate the premises. There was alot of monkey paraphenalia ranging from stuffed animals to posters, so I assume the owner has some sort of monkey fetish. They did have a Rolling Stones poster on the wall, too. Turns out the delicacy that they are so famously known for, The Monkey Wrap, is actually a deep fried burrito. Go figure. I guess inflation has caught up with this booming metropolis just outside of Pottsville as the price of draft beer had risen dramatically to $1.25. Oddly enough, they had the same selection of pickled eggs and hot pickled bologna that seems to be such a great seller in the local drinking haunts of this region. And what oenophile would not love a place that has ice cold bottles of Boone's Farm wine in their take-out fridge!

Road Trip '06

Well, this road trip certainly had it all! It will take several posts to report all the drunken debauchery of the weekend, but I will begin with our stop at Centralia, PA. The warning sign posted at the entrance to the town says it all. If it weren't so damn cold we may have spent a little more time exploring the little hamlet, but with the wind chill factor already in the negative digits and the sun about to set, we decided to keep this leg of the trip to a brief minimum. We were somewhat disappointed in the fact that there really wasn't any exposed flame, just a lot of steam rising from holes in the ground. Parts of the ground were warm to the touch, and you could see where the ground was starting to collapse in areas. Ted found a nice chunk of coal which we later used to heat the cabin when we got to the the lake. All in all it was kind of eerie, like visiting the set of a creepy horror movie. While I half expected to see some banjo-strumming, mouth-harp playing townsfolk rocking on their porches, we did not see any residents while we were there. This was the shortest leg of our journey, and we were quickly back on the road headed toward our final destination at Lake Wallenpaupack.

Weekend Road Trip

I found out over the weekend that on Friday, February 17, 2006 I will be embarking on a fantastic road trip through central Pennsylvania and up to Lake Wallenpaupack. We leave Friday morning and will be making stops at Centralia, the coal mining town whose only claim to fame is that it has been on fire since 1961! After that, we will be heading to Pottsville for the Yuengling Brewery tour, which, rumor has it, includes two free beers at the conclusion. Then, I believe Tedman wants to stop at Cabela's 250,000 square foot outdoorsman store in Hamburg and then finally, it's up Rt. 81 to the Pocono's. With the group that's scheduled to go, it should make for some mighty fine blogging come next Monday.

Missing Money: Part Deux

OK, I see you seem to have an interest in this topic so I will divulge the links to the websites and I truly hope you all find something.

www.missingmoney.com
www.peoplefinders.com
www.unclaimed.org
www.patreasury.org


I got my claim paperwork from the PA Treasury over the weekend, which really surprised me for the response time from a government agency.
Good luck and happy searching!

Missing Money

I read an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer the other day about a lady that searches public databases for missing money and unclaimed property for charities and schools. She had just found $35,000 for the School District of Philadelphia that was being held by the State of Texas. The article listed the sites she uses and I went on today to check it out for myself. On the first site I tried, I ran a search for my name and found two items. One is an uncashed dividend check from a Dean Witter account I had in the early nineties (about $110) and the other is an 8000 share stock certificate from a Morgan Stanley account I had back in 1992! I called the 800 number and spoke to a woman at the PA Treasury Dept. and she told me what the items were and took down my info to mail me the claim forms. I am to fill them out, get them notarized and mail them back, then they send me my stuff! I thought that was pretty cool and now I am going to run a few more searches and see what else I can find!