Hella Hold'em

Pauly's book, Lost Vegas, is now available!!

Get it here: Lost Vegas on Lulu and get free shipping during their summer free shipping promo (no coupon codes required - it's automatic).

Mine is on its way! Can't wait to read it! Congrats, Pauly!

Oh, my pretties, it has been years... YEARS... since I've seen most of your precious faces. At long last, finally - I will see you this December in Vegas for the Winter Classic :)

I have booked at MGM, thanks to CA April for alerting me to a wicked sale that they've got going on (but only through tomorrow!) Here's the link - it's the MGM 3 Day Sale. Excalibur was even cheaper, but I've wanted to stay at MGM all my life (oh, my tummy is aflutter just thinking of it!) so I splurged :)

Woohooo!!! Vegas, baby!!

Found this while catching up on blog reading. May try and enter tonight if I find myself around a computer at the right time! Good cause. Go get some.

OK, so Bill Rini made some excellent points about just how contrived the World Series of Poker and its coverage appear every year. Then Hoyazo came back with his ideas on why the WSOP is such a big deal (admitting that Bill's points were right-on). He then threw down the gauntlet, asking the rest of the poker world: Why do you think the WSOP is such a big deal?

Since I obviously have too much time on my hands (I LOVE SUMMER!), here's my answer.

It's my one chance every year to get a zero-effort fix of reality poker tv, except not on tv....

There are a few professional poker players that I enjoy watching. Sure, I TiVo "High Stakes Poker" and occasionally some other poker shows. But, like any TV show, the seasons come and go, and there's a long stretch of dead air and reruns in between.

I could make the effort to read up on various web sites what my favorite pro's are up to, but honestly... that's too much work for what little free time I've usually got. The WSOP and its coverage, contrived as it may be, brings me all the juicy nuggets I crave - including the back-alley deals and side stories that won't make it on the Big TV Broadcasts of the games.

It's my poker reality TV fix, via blogs. I love the tangents - the prop bets, the celebrity sightings, and even reading who Pauly pissed next to that day. Because even if I was there, I wouldn't be privy to most of that information (particularly what goes on in the men's bathroom), and the part of me that loves drama-for-entertainment with a little voyeurism mixed in for good measure thinks THAT is the good stuff! Oh, that, and, who won what.

And all of that good stuff comes to me with zero effort, delivered right to my RSS Reader inbox throughout the WSOP.

So, keep on keepin' on, my WSOP-covering-friends! Even if all you've got to cover is the Year of the Prostate Hindered Bladder.

Ding a ling! I won me another league tourney on Full Tilt Poker :)

My play in the poker league this season has clung to the pendulum of extremes. I either place in the top ranks, or bust out first. I suppose I like it that way - much less wasted time on the losing runs. With just 3 games left to finish out the season, I don't think there's any shot at placing in the top 3 (even if by some miracle I won the remaining games), but I'm pleased with the games I have done well in.

Last night, I was not expecting to win the thing. I knew I'd go deep, as I caught some cards early on and had a healthy stack. But somewhere around the 3/4 mark, I coughed up far too many chips on a hand where I was clearly beat but tried to push my opponent off of his hand. I gave up on the river when it became clear that his hand was much too strong to fold (I had second pair), but easily lost over half of my stack with the over-zealous pushing.

Then, the luck train rolled through and I split an all-in where I was a huge dog when the board came a straight, and from there on out I was back in business. It's strange how there is actually some form of momentum in poker, even though the cards coming down the line are completely random.

When it got down to 3 players, it was a tight race. We traded chips for what seemed like an hour, until finally I took out the 3rd place player and went heads-up with a 3:1 chip lead. My opponent basically blinded out, with no real massive swings, and I took the game.

I think the thing that contributes the most to my "good" poker days is, ironically, running. All of my wins in this league so far this season have come after I'd had a great run. I've only been running for 10 weeks (having just completed the Couch to 5K training program last week), but it really does seem to help me focus and think much more clearly. My brain feels "on" after a good run, and what better to do with an "on" brain than play poker?

I'm pretty proud of my play on those "on" days this year, and I'm pretty proud of completing the Couch to 5K program - so here's my shameless badge of honor (for the running part, anyway):



I'm running in what will technically be my second 5K race this weekend on Father's Day. I did a 5K at the zoo during Week 5 of my 9-week Couch to 5K training, and ran/walked it for a finishing time of 46:48. I am hoping to run the entire 5K on Sunday and beat my previous time. (Hey, it still counts as a Personal Record, even if it's only my second race!) If anybody finds themselves out in Oswego, IL on Sunday morning, come check out PrairieFest and cheer on the runners (and me!)

Maybe getting off the couch and beyond my degenerate ways is helping my poker game. I'll take it! All I know is, I feel better than I ever have before - both in life and in cards. Who knows what the future holds! But I'm looking forward to it :)

If you aren't reading Pauly's coverage of the WSOP, you are missing out. You don't even have to go anyplace else - he links up everything that is worthy of your time (and other things that are just plain amusing).

Go to the Tao of Poker. Do it. Do it now.

I never even finished watching the TV coverage of last year's WSOP because I thought Pauly's coverage was better!

I haven't seen the WPBT Vegas crew in several years. I miss the days of being half of a DINK (dual-income, no kids). DINKs have a lot more money to spare than SINKs.

Still, I live vicariously through Pauly's updates (and particularly enjoy the fashion sidebars by change100).