Merry Xmas, Happy New Year and all that other crap!

Christmas is now a not-so-distant memory and we are all looking forward to New Year's Eve with great anticipation (at least I am anyway) even though I have no plans as of yet. I'm still hoping someone will call with last minute news of a killer party being held somewhere in the area. The big day was relaxed and enjoyable and at this stage in life it is all about the kids anymore. We get to re-live all the joys of Christmas' past vicariously through our children, or in my case, my seven nieces and nephews. Maybe its just me, but it just doesn't feel like the same holiday it used to be anymore, although the cookies still taste the same as they always did! I spent Xmas with my mom and my sister's family out in bucolic Oxford, PA, where you can still hear the romantic clip clop of horse-drawn Amish buggies on the road and you can gently awake to the nauseating stench of manure from the nearby mushroom farms. Oh yes, give me the country life!
In another wonderous Christmas miracle, Granger and his Easy Money team racked up the points exactly when they needed them to come from behind and win so Kro and I finished in 4th place in Fantasy Football this season! We still feel good about making the playoffs in our team's inaugural season, but the pain of having to listen to Granger brag about his miracle victory for the next 12 months is a little too much to bear right now.
I plan to just take it easy for the next few days and gear up for the new year. I'll give some thought to some resolutions I may or may not make and set some goals for 2007, as well.
If anyone knows of a rocking New Year's Eve Party you know how to reach me!

Fantasy Football Playoffs

Well, for the second year in a row, and that constitutes my entire history playing fantasy football, my team has made it into the playoffs and has a shot at the big cash prize! ( we finished in 3rd place last year and did a bit better than break even!) Kro and I pulled it off in grand style with a complete rout of our opponent in the final "must-win" game of the regular season! Special thanks go out to Drew Brees for his 384 yards and FIVE touchdown passes! Both Granger brothers' teams made it and the infamous Mr. Wigs, as well. So this weekend is another do or die game and we have to win! I know you will all be rooting for us!

Trump Classic

So I am back in Media with my tail between my legs. I failed to cash in either of the two events I played (I slept in Tuesday, missing that day's event, but that will be an entirely new post in itself) and had mixed results in the side games (cash games). I got down to the Borgata Sunday afternoon and mostly relaxed and stuffed my face with free food (primarily a rib eye steak, baked potatoe, onion rings with a horseradish dipping sauce, green beens, 2 glasses of wine, and a spicy bloody mary, all topped off with a slice of coconut custard pie and 2 cups of coffee). I sat in a no-limit game that was so aggressive that I mostly just folded, played very few hands and managed to win a few pots when the time seemed right to strike. The last hand of my night I was in the Big Blind and had a pair of aces in the hole and was raised pre-flop. I re-rasied, more than tripling the bet. He called me with all but his last $200 which I bet out blind before the flop even came. He called that with no help on the flop and turned over Ace-King of diamonds. Of course he hit his diamond flush on the river and I took that as my sign to head back to my room and get some sleep. I gave back most of my winnings on that hand, but my main focus was on Monday's event at the Taj.
Monday morning I awoke, had a nice breakfast and checked out of the Borgata. I headed over to the Taj for the 11 am start of the No-Limit Tag Team event. My partner and I decided that I would start us off and the event was set up so that the blinds went up every 40 minutes and each partner had to play 20 minutes of each level. There were 280 entries with 18 places receiving cash prizes. We started with $3000 in chips and blinds of $25 and $50. We built our chip stack up to about $10,000 but were knocked out in 30th place with blinds of $500 and $1000. 12 seats out of the money!
You're always a little down after getting knocked out of a tournament so I headed over to my new room at Bally's and gorged myself on another comped steak dinner. I played in a small cash game and won about $400 in just under 2 hours. I went to my room and watched Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, which was funny and got my mind off the tournament. Tuesday I slept in, as I said before, had breakfast in bed and then checked out the shops at the new Pier at Caesars. Then I actually walked to the Taj on the boardwalk, with no coat on, and had a late lunch. I taxied back to Bally's, played a little more in their tiny poker room and lost a $200+ pot when some donkey called my raise with nothing and got lucky on me. My pocket queens went down in flames.
Wednesday I was at the Taj about an hour before the start time and the line was already fairly long. They would easily have over 300 players (still very weak compared to last year) and I talked with a few familiar faces while we waited for the starting bell. It was a slow start and I had a few early setbacks but managed to rebuild my stack just in time to donk it off with my pocket nines to another player and his pocket aces! I could have gotten away from the hand, I should have folded, it was just a stupid move at the wrong time. I was out after about 4 hours and headed home to Media.
There are more Trump Classic events next week leading to the main event and the World Series of Poker Circuit events start at Harrah's on Monday, so I will chill this weekend and decide what to do next.

Class Reunion

Last Friday was my high school reunion and it was great to see some of the people I hadn't seen in almost ten years. Of course there was the cast of usual suspects that I still keep in contact with and all in all it was a great time. I expect to keep in touch with a few more people now, as well. We started at the Town House and ended up at Brodeur's where we kept the late night action going until almost 3 am! Saturday and Sunday night we continued the celebration with a few of us getting together on our own in Media. A week ago I was a little apprehensive about the whole affair, but now I am very happy to have been a part of it all. (even if did mean missing the Chili Festival, which I know Ted and CNN attended!)
On the Fantasy Football front Kro and I are now firmly ensconced in 3rd place after having our solid victory of two weeks ago "adjusted" to a tie due to the fact that the NFL ruled that Reggie Brown fumbled that catch and McNabb got the points for the pass completion...FIVE DAYS after the friggin' game!!!!! We have to win this week to make the playoffs and its our toughest competition of the season (although we did beat this team in our first match up with, they have become quite stronger as the season has progressed.)
I leave for Atlantic City on Sunday night and will be getting up bright and early Monday to register for and enter the "No Limit Tag Team" event of the Trump Classic, the first of its kind in AC. I'll be down there through Wednesday and will see how I am doing at that point before I decide how long I will be staying.
Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving holiday!

Friday Night and Beyond

Tonight I am off to AC with my friend Randy (Yes, that Randy for those of you from Penncrest) and the plan is to play some poker at the Showboat/House of Blues, then check out the Live concert (Live being the name of the band) and then hit the Foundation Room for some VIP bottle service!
This Sunday is week 11 for my Fantasy League and Kro and I are currently in second place with an excellent chance of making the playoffs if we can post another win this weekend. We had to sweat it out Monday night with our opponent ( Mr. Wigs) still having two players in the Monday Night game and we were sitting with a thin 28-point margin of victory going into the game. We pulled it off and now we face the second-worst team in the league this weekend! We need this victory and it would be ideal if the two players tied for first place both had losses to go with our win!
I'll let you know what happens!

Trump Classic

This month brings the return of the Trump Classic poker tournament at the Taj in AC running from November 27 to December 17 with 24 events scheduled . I didn't play in this one last year, but the year before I had some good results with two satellite wins and a 20th place (in the money) finish in the No-Limit Hold-em event which had a starting field of 245. The numbers this year will be much higher with closer to 1000 entries likely in some events. If the structure of the tournament is good, I plan to play the Limit event (#1) that kicks off the series on November 27. I booked my complimentary room today and I am going to follow in Ted's steps and commit in this public forum to play in the following events (so far). December 4th is the No-Limit Hold-em Tag Team event (#11). This is the first time I have seen this format and it should be interesting. You enter the event with a partner and each player takes turns playing the same stack of chips, swapping seats every thirty minutes or so. December 5th is the No-Limit Hold-em Six Handed event (#12) where instead of starting with ten players to a table, there will only be 6 players to a table, including the final table. This requires a slightly different strategy to full table play as the rising blind structure forces more action faster with less players at the table. December 7th is a regular No-Limit Hold-em event (#13). In between these events are some seven card stud and Omaha events as well as the Ladies Only and Seniors events (I have heard of guys dressing up as girls to get into the ladies event, but I don't even want to think about playing in a senior's event just yet, especially with my 20 year high school reunion this month already reminding me of the passing years!).
After these events I will see how things go and may play in more events as we approach the Championship event on December 16, which is a two-day event with a $5000 buy-in.
So now I am committed to playing those events and reporting the results, good or bad, for everyone to see.

Weekend Update

Not much to report from this weekend, no "fake" costume party invites, but did manage to get a few poker sessions in and was winner in both. Also, looks like another victory in Fantasy Football, unfortunately the losing party this weekend was none other than State Street (aka Tedman)! Actually, he still has a chance to pull from behind tonight, that is if Tom Brady can score about 75 points for him in Monday Night Football against the Vikings!
I've been putting in more hours playing online lately, trying to keep a regular schedule of Tuesday and Thursday night play. I won my first 9 player, single table Omaha Hi/Lo tournament online last week, too! The $320 buy-in paid $1350 for 1st place. Omaha is played like Hold-em, but you get four hole cards (instead of two) and you must play two and only two of your hole cards and three and only three of the five community cards, add in the Hi/Lo variance and now you are talking about high hand winning half the pot and low hand winning half the pot, but you have to have five cards lower than an 8 without making a flush or straight to have a low. It requires a lot more thinking and is considered by many to be a tougher game, but I still prefer No Limit Hold-em!
Next month is the Trump Classic at the Taj and I will be staying in a Rock Star Suite next door at the House of Blues. I think we should set up a night on the town with some fellow bloggers like CNN, Tedman, AKJN and Chuck if he is allowed in AC!

Happy Halloween to All!

Let me be the first to wish you all a Happy Halloween!

Anti-Gambling Legislation Passed

I'm more than a little upset that President Bush signed a bill Friday that has had a tremendously negative impact on the online poker world. Hidden deep in the stinky bowels of the Safe Ports Act (a homeland defense initiative to make our ports safer) by a sneaky Senator from Tennessee was the Unlawful Internet Gambling Act. It's really a BS law because most poker sites are based offshore and are not under the jurisdiction of US law anyway, but a few of the bigger sites have buckled already and are no longer accepting action from US-based players. The bill really tries to make it illegal for US financial institutions to allow their gambling customers to send funds to offshore gambling sites. The largest site, Party Poker, based in the UK was bringing in almost $3 million a day in profit with 60% of their business coming from the US. They have now banned US players from their site and their stock has already lost billions in market value. Of course my favorite site, PokerStars, has benefited greatly with a huge influx of players since they have decided the new law is meaningless to them. Their weekly Sunday tournament attracted a record 6,517 players this weekend and paid out over$1.3 million with $176,000 for first place!

Senator Frist (R-TN), the author of the bill, feels that gambling is "destrying the moral fiber of America" and warned Congress that terrorists could be using these sites to launder money. First of all, I find it hard to believe that I've ever sat at an online poker table with Osama bin Laden or any other muslim extremist, but second, even if what he says is true, then why did he make exceptions for online horse betting and state lotteries in the bill? (By the way, Tennesee is a huge horse racing state, hmmm nothing suspicious about that, right?).
Just another reason why we need to allow the President to have Line-Item Veto powers so deceptive and sneaky legislators can stop hiding needless legislation in "must pass" bills!
Just thought I'd vent a bit!

The Borgata Story (My Version)

As expected, the trip to Borgata this weekend was awesome! CNN drove, which was nice, and we arrived with plenty of time to spare before the kickoff of the Eagles game. Upon arrival we checked our bags and hit the B-Bar for some much needed libations and I needed to see some game updates to see where I stood in my Fantasy League. The drinks were good and the game updates were even more uplifting! Team Rastamon crushed its opponent 149 to 82!
While the lounge chairs in B-Bar were comfortable, the view of the TV screens was not acceptable and we decided to relocate to the Gypsy Bar and it's theater-sized screen. We snagged 4 seats up front and started sampling the world's largest Tequila menu. While we were all tempted to try the new $300 Margarita, we stuck to the Cabo Wabo and Patron selections! The Prickly Pear was superb! We ordered a snack selection consisting of chips and salsa, habenero wings and an olive plate. While we had an incredible view of the huge screen from our seats, more incredible still was the view of our waitress, Virginia, a blonde, twenty-something who most likely hailed from Sweden. CNN and I debated at length on whether or not the particular "structural assets" this beauty possesed were "fake or "natural", and I feel confident they were 100% natural, along with here blonde hair!
The drinks were going down fast, the Eagles score was rising fast and we barely noticed that the paper products accompanying our snack baskets were dangerously close to the candle on the table. They burst into flames sometime in the first quarter and while we all stayed fairly calm, it was my quick response with a fresh Heineken Light that ultimately saved the day! When I informed Virginia that I had single-handedly saved the entire establishment from certain death with my quick response, she gave me a replacement Heineken and a bat of her beautiful baby blues!
Just before half-time we went up to the room and had our bags brought up. We popped a bottle of bubbly and watched the rest of the game while preparing for the concert. The view of the ocean from the 42nd floor was breathtaking (maybe just slightly more than Virginia bending over to take a drink order from the table next to us)!
Soon we were off to the concert hall to see Los Lonely Boys and Carlos Santana.
I had heard some of their songs on a CD, but Los Lonely Boys were great live! I only wish they had played more than five songs! There were barely 2000 people at the show and we had excellent seats right in the center of the room. There was a huge bar setup in the lobby which was just s short distance behind us, so it was easy to keep the beer flowing. Carlos Santana was absolutely amazing! The sound he can generate from a guitar is extraordinary! I was very impressed and was actually disappointed when his set ended.
After the show we wanted to get Tony Luke's cheesesteaks, but had to settle for a Fatburger instead, as TL's was closed for the night.
Shortly after that, CNN retired for the night and I headed to the poker room for a little late night action. I sat from 11:30 until almost 3 am when I decided that sleep was a better option for me. After going all-in three times, winning twice and chopping once, I was actually down $30. A dismal session to say the least and I feel I would have won if I had stayed and played, but I was really tired and feeling the effects of the beer and tequila.
We checked out and were on the road about noon Monday and all in all I think it was a great time! Now we can compare this version to CNN's when she gets around to updating!

Borgata, Baby!

This weekend I am headed down to the Borgata along with CNN and two other non-blogging party people. We will be ensconced in a beautiful suite and will be attending the Carlos Santana/Los Lonely Boys concert with the compliments of the Borgata (actually, compliments of my consistent level of high action when I visit!). I'm sure CNN will take advantage of some photo ops and I will have an update when we return. For those who care, Team Rastamon could not pull out the victory in week 2 and now stand in the middle of the pack with a 1-1 record.

Fantasy Football Week 1 Results

Team Rastamon came through in flying colors (red, gold, black and green to be exact!) in week one of the Delco Delinquents League with an early rout of Tedman's State Street and a final score of 114 to 96!

Punching Pussy

This what it would look like if a kitten was kicking your ass!

Annual Bellmawr Pig Roast & Block Party

So this weekend was the annual pig roast and block party up in Bellmawr, NJ. This was my fourth year attending (although I missed last year). Goose and I drove up early Saturday and helped set up as two of the hosts were involved in a wedding that day. We didn't get the pig on the spit until about 4 PM but it was worth the wait when it came off the coals around 10 PM. Goose ate both eyeballs out of the hot carcass and claimed they were delicious. The meat was awesome! Prior to the pig we had been grilling dogs and burgers and there was plenty to drink. Multiple kegs of beer ranging from Coors Light to Heineken and an entire bar set-up with prtemium Vodka, Rum, Gin and Tequila! Of course the highlight, as always, was the 350 pound ice block which we carved runs in so that you could do ice shots. I have a photo of the block below. Yours truly did the carving and let me tell you there was some very drunk people stumbling about this party after giving the block a try. There were also some very unhappy husbands and boyfriends (and a few happy ones, too).
Another highlight and a new edition this year was a live band. THese guys were about 15 years old and they were AWESOME! Their mom's had to drop them and their equipment off at the party, but they played like they have been doing this for years, and not only did it sound great, they actually had awesome stage presence, too! The lead guitarist, who looked about 14, would jump into the crowd as he belted out riffs on his lead guitar and danced about.
Everything was going great until the cops showed up at 11:30 and made us shut it down. The band was on their last song anyway and it was approaching their curfew, too!
Once the cops left we kept the party rolling sans the live music and continued to have fun into the wee hours with a mandatory hottub session to end the night off. The hottub soothed my muscles and prepared me for the uncomfortable sleeping situation I faced: The front seat of Goose's truck! I only had to suffer for a few hours as we were back on the road at 7 am (apparantly the husbands had some strict intstructions from their wives about the hour of their
return to Media).
All in all it was a blast and I am looking forward to the next one.
Pics are of the ice block, the band playing and Miss Piggy, the 80 pound guest of honor.

Fantasy Draft Party Part Deux

The Fantasy Football Draft Party was alot of fun, so much fun that I forgot to take any pics all night and before I knew it I was stumbling out the door to my car with no digital content for this update. Kro and I brought along a case of Red Stripe in the spirit of our team (Rastamon) and I even wore a tie-dyed shirt, Jamaica windbreaker and a necklace made of marijuana leaves (of course they were plastic simulations, PinF).
There was BBQ'd pulled pork, meatballs, tri-color pasta with proscuito, hot pepper shooters and the obligatory assorted chips, dips, chains, whips...wait a minute, I lost my train of thought.... Who's your name again?
Oh, and we had the beer.
We ended up with a decent team and I think we have a good shot this year. Our first matchup starts Thursday night when the regular season kicks off and we are playing against none other than Tedman's "State Street" team.
I predict a rout!

Draft Party

Tonight is the Fantasy Football Draft Party for my league, The Delco Delinquents. This will be my second year playing in the league and I have a new partner this year, too, Mike Krotow, who hails from Saratoga, NY. Last year I came within 2 points of winning the overall league and the playoffs which would have resulted in a very nice payday. Unfortunately, I had to settle for third place and look to make another run at the title this year. I have a new logo and team name to go with my new partner. We are Team Rastamon and the logo is shown here. The party is always alot of fun with good food, drinks and friends. I'll take some pics and let you know how we make out in my next update.

New Sony PSP Ad

Can someone explain to me what this ad means?

New Winner Crowned at World Series of Poker

A former Hollywood talent agent has won the 2006 World Series of Poker and the $12 million first place prize. Jamie Gold outlasted 8772 players to take down the championship being held at the Rio casino in Las Vegas. The favorite going into the final table, poker pro Allen Cunningham, finished in 4th place for a $3.6 million payday. The 2nd place finisher was a 22 year old who took home over $6 million!!
The pic is of the winner and his cash being congratulated by his mentor and winner of 10 World Series of Poker bracelets, Johnny Chan.

World Series Main Event

The World Series of Poker Main Event has been underway since last Friday. To accomodate the over 8,600 players who ponied up the $10,000 buy-in, they had to divide Day 1 into 4 groups that played each day from aprox. 2100 players down to 800 or so (day 1 lasted 16 hours). Then they had two flights of Day 2 with about 1600 players each . Tomorrow will be the first day that all the surviving players are combined in one room to play simultaneously and they will play every day until the final nine are seated next Thursday August 10th. The winner will walk with the greatest prize in sports history, a gold bracelet encrusted with 170 diamonds and, oh yeah, $12 million dollars in cash!
I regret not being a part of it again this year, but there are some good events coming up shortly where I will be participating. The World Championship of Online Poker is in September as is the Borgata Poker Open. Then we have the U.S. Poker Championship at the Taj and then the World Poker Finals at Foxwoods and finally the Trump Classic back at the Taj.

A Weekend of Poker

This past weekend I was able to play poker like I used to do back in 2004, non-stop- all night. I got to the Borgata at about 3 pm Friday and immediately headed to the new room. Thanks to all the new tables (85 total) I was able to get into a no-limit cash game very quickly. My first hand I was dealt pocket sevens, raised and was called by several players, then immediately flopped a third seven for a set. I won a nice pot after betting again. The next hand I played was when I was in the Big Blind, (which for those of you in bikinis, means I had my minimum bet already in before I was dealt my cards) and I looked down at a 3 and a 4 of different suits. Noone raised and nearly all of us saw the flop which came 3-3-4 a beautiful sight for me. I put on my acting hat and slow played the hand by checking it after the flop and the turn. On the last card I finally bet out and everyone dropped but an older asian woman a few seats to my right. She raised me about 4 times my bet and I acted like I was thinking about it and said "all-in" in the meakest voice I could muster. She asked if I was sure about that and then said "I call". She had made the straight with her A-5 on the last card, but my full-house was the nuts and she pushed me all her chips with a disgusted look on her face. I made a bit over $500 on my second hand and was starting to really like this table! In fact, I was able to pull off some great bluffs because everyone at the table remebered that hand for a long time after.
I ended up playing until about 2 am and cashed with a low 4- figure profit.
Saturday I slept in, ate breakfast around noon and then hit the tables by 3 pm again. I was playing middle limit (as opposed to no limit) but had a bad run of cards culminating in my ace-high spade flush being beat by a full house. After losing a couple of hundred on that hand as I raised and re-raised this player, I decided to head back to the no-limit tables where I could recover from this minor setback.
Another brutal table choice had me short stacked again in no time. After rasing before the flop with pocket jacks (7 times the blinds) I had two callers, flopped a third jack and then had my substantial bets called by one schmuck who made a diamond flush on the river after calling me with only one diamond and no pair on the flop! He had called my pre-flop raise with 9-7 of diamonds!
Anyway, I took my time, poured an ice cold drink on my steaming head and waited for the right moment. It came when I called a raise with a crappy jack-4 hand and flopped trip jacks. The fourth jack on the turn gave me the absolute nuts with quads and the ace on the river assured me a nice pot as it helped another player make a strong hand. I checked, he bet, I raised, he called, I won! The best kind of revenge!
I played into Sunday morning again and then was back around 4pm Sunday but only played for a few hours before heading home. It was a great weekend, I got to play alot of poker which is what I really needed to get going again and came out with a profit, some nice meals, some nice comps including a new Hawaiin-print embroidered Borgata-logo bathing suit. In fact, when I found out my friend Bill's favorite band was playing at the Borgata on September 24th, I had them use my comps for 4 center-stage tix to see Santana and Los Lonely Boys. CNN herself is going to be coming along that evening and I have a Fiore Suite reserved so we can experience all the late night action of the clubs and bars and maybe even test the maximum capacity of those showers once and for all! Stay tuned for that update!
It will be hard, but I have agreed not to play poker that night!