Hella Hold'em

I just got off the phone with Randy for the night, having just finished off a wonderfully delicious half-of-a-leftover-burger from a local sports bar that puts their burgers on garlic bread (mmm mmm goood!) I got home from work about 45 minutes ago, and finished the task of lugging the garbage out to the curb. It's damn cold outside. 19 degrees. I'm sick of winter!

So I popped into Empire to see if anybody was playing, and alas, all of the day dwellers have hit the hay for the night. But, I just caught the registration for a 5+1 $1,000 guaranteed daily multi-table tourney. 3 minutes left to register - should I do it???

Yup. So I just folded my first hand, J9 offsuit in early position. In in the chair with an orange shirt on - orange being my favorite color. I always forget about this seat in Empire. I need to sit here more often. It looks nothing like me, but the shirt feels lucky! I'm at table 4 of 22 - cool. Hopefully I won't be moved anytime soon and can get a good read on my table. 211 entrants.

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Fold fold fold. So the NHL hockey season has been officially cancelled. Somebody please remove the dagger from my gut so I can bleed out my soul in unobstructed fashion. Yeah, it's that important to me. I'm completely irate at the NHL Players' Association (the player union). Idiots. The sickest part of the whole thing is that they're not even unified amongst themselves; I'd bet money that more than half of the 700 players would have gladly accepted the NHL's last offer, early in the week. Instead, they held their tongues and here we are. No season. Weak. Honestly, I'd be surprised if the NHL even survives in the United States.

Looks like I'd better move to Toronto...
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Why is it always either chilly or roasting in my house? I just cannot find the sweet spot on my thermometer this winter.
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SAILBOATS!

Flopped the low end of a gutshot straight draw, hit the str8 on the turn, and won me 270 with blinds at 10/15. Tasty!
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Nice little book review post over at Ship It Poker. (What's the significance of "ship it?" I'd love to hear that story). Maybe someday I'll come out of hiding and have the courage to admit in the face of ridicule (as these boys did) that I, too, have read Phil Hellmuth's "Play Poker Like the Pro's" a whole lotta times. What can I say - I really like the book. People call Phil a big whiny baby, but that to me is just part of his charm! (LOL I'm kidding - but his whining doesn't bother me. It very greatly amuses me!) Maybe I'm just a sadist at heart and take pleasure in his misery. Naw. I just crack up at his antics. His ego is so over-the-top that it's hysterical. I find it ironic that I'm not a more aggressive poker player than I am, having read his book a zillion times as my initiation into the game of poker. Maybe I need to read it again.
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Entire orbit passed... no hands even remotely playable. I wish I had some Reeses Pieces. Those might be my favorite candy of all times.

I spoke too soon - American Airlines just doubled me up against a 7-handed raised pot that resulted in a snowman going all in after the flop. I win. I'm not a big stack but I'm twice the average... not bad for playing 3 hands. It's the shirt.
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Alas, a level later, my stack is now merely average. I re-raised to 4x BB with pocket queens preflop in late position. One caller. Flop comes a rainbow of undercards. My opponent (VP$IP 67%) bets out half the pot. I put him all in, about 800 more. He calls - AK offsuit. I'm in great shape until he spiked an A on the river. Oh well.
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My pocket 8's just fell to trip 7's on a board of 772 - versus a guy playing 5-7 of diamonds under the gun in a 3x-BB raised pot (which I raised). That sure was a nice hand. I'm down to 555 chips. With blinds at 15/30 I can surely come back... but it sure feels like all in or bust time. Patience, young grasshopper. Wait for a hand... 120 players remain at 12 tables.
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Would ya listen to this? I win a small pot on the tail end of the level there, just before the 5 minute break, to bring me up to 750. I get up to grab a can of pop, and come back to find "Connection lost..." blinking on my screen. A quick scurry downstairs, and I find my cable modem blinking it's no-signal blink. Grrrr!
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Forty minutes later, and my net connection still isn't back up. Tick tock. I'm sure I've been blinded out by now. Frustrated.

I figured out why it's so cold in here. One of my fat ass cats is sleeping on top of one of the two heat vents in this room. I'm sure he's toasty!

Well, that was six bucks wasted. At least I got to read through the latest PC World magazine while I sat here.

Oh mad.
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Well, it's noon now. Internet is working again, so I'll post this post for the heck of it. I went to bed at 2am and the net was still down. Why can't Comcast send out an email for planned network outages?