Wednesday, December 27, 2006

2006 In Review

I thought I would make a year-end post, because that's a cool thing to do these days. As I am not inspired by the muse much (and thus have little to write), let's try bullets.

-- My wife, as always, has been an angel. Thanks for all you put up with and loving me despite my flaws.
-- My kids -- can't wait to meet you!
-- My friends -- you've been too good to me.
-- My DBPoker buddies -- thanks for the good times in AC, CT, and elsewhere. Thanks for teaching me more about this game and having a great attitude.


This year has not been a great poker year win-wise, but I have learned so much and that is surely worth the lower returns than I would have hoped. Further, this year has been more about family than poker, and my focus has appropriately been drawn elsewhere. If I get more time, awesome, if not, may my time be devoted to my family.

May God bless my family in the coming year. May you all find what you are seeking, or what you need, whichever is better.

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Babies at 19 Weeks

It's a boy and a girl, both appear to be perfectly healthy!

Look inside!




Galapalooza Trip Report Part 2


Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Bad Beat

Tried to go with my office to a Christmas party in Philly today. Because there were 14 of us going, we got a limo bus. Awesome, right?

Wrong. Instead of getting to a party and having a nice evening, we wound up an hour and a half outside of Pittsburgh on the Turnpike with two shredded tires, only to sit on the side of the road for three hours plus, and finally giving up and turning around.

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Galapalooza Trip Report

Warning to my non-DBPoker readers: there may be some content in here that will read like an inside joke to you and I may not be able to explain it all. Apologies.

Well, my 20 hours in Columbus was certainly a lot of fun. Here's my trip report, although the fine DBPoker folks have already covered most of the bases.

He won't acknowledge it, but Bob (my fellow Pittsburgh DB-er) talks so much that 4 hours in a car and a Ruby Tuesdays passes like nothing due to good conversation. Also, Bob is the dbtony of driving, as much like Tony bricking in Stud 8, every slow moving car on a freeway will pull in front of Bob.

We arrived at around 1:45, hung around the hotel for a while with MK in tow, and then headed off to dinner at Buca DiBeppo. The beer was flowing, as was some good food and loud chat. I'd hate to be anyone sitting near us....

I took lots of pictures which I will be putting up tonight most likely, and will probably add some to this post. Dinner was a great time, and it was nice to meet some new folks live.

Dinner attenders: Me, rjs162, PurposelessPlay, fishintimber, Maego, jjfunk, scottjf8, Leo1972, Galaxy500, mk, sage.

We then head over to Galaxy's house in a gated community. Very nice place, with a finished basement for the nights activities. Plenty of good beverages and a metric ton of Colonel Pops popcorn. Man that stuff is good.

We start the tourney 12-handed, as Chris is the only one of Gal's friends willing to put up for the tourney (several more would show to play cash later though).

2500 chips to start, 30 minute levels. I chip up early with Aces and turned quads against Kings. I then proceed to waffle between 4000 and 3000 chips for two hours because of card death plus Norm (PPlay) sitting to my left and loving him some reraise. Nevertheless, I make the final table with a decent stack.

Not much of note at the final table from me, I think I finished 6th or 7th. I had Jacks once and got some chips, and mostly I stole some blinds to keep alive depite not having much in the way of cards.

Finally, with blinds of 150/300 (I think), I get it in with sixes against Bob's QJ. A Jack on the flop cripples me, and I am forced to go with QJ a few hands later which is called by KQ. IGHN.

The eventual winner was Galaxy, and three handed play (top three paid) lasted about 8 hands, as the blinds went crazy near the end because the final 5 were playing no flop poker.

I set the camera to record the final table action and went over to the cash games. Loads of fun. A couple of Gal's friends are playing. They're real pleasant to talk to and willing to learn the game alongside some loud drunks. Play lasts about 3 hours while I am there, and besides losing to a 7-high flush draw on the first hand (thx mk), I chip up well. Norm's ruthless aggression gets him to about $500 from a $60 buyin. It was fun to win a little money, but it was even better to spend time with good people. Funk was particularly hilarious at the cash table, as he had an endless supply of beer and rebuys, and somehow was also in charge of the chips....."I'm not sure I have a pair" and "You're not going to make me look at my cards, are you" were common phrases.

We wrapped up about 3am, and a good time was had by all. Looking forward to editing the video of the event. I've been uploading the footage I got, and that plus the slew of pistures and the video taken by fish should result in a fun finished product.