The holidays go on. I picked up some nice gifts from the folks at Fantasy Sports Live and extra cash by winning my fantasy football league. No more about that here, I'm trying really hard to keep that stuff contained to my FSL blog. Let's just say that I'll be sad when football season ends and I have to go back to playing (ugh) poker.

***

Not everybody had such a swell Christmas. Stop over to VinNay's blog and read about a good friend of his who had his house burn down. A relief effort is underway and if you're so inclined, click through and ship a couple bucks to help out.


I played a bunch of PLO over the weekend, inspired by FTP's triple points promotion. After doing so, I'm not sure why I bothered. It's the same old thing - if I have a draw it doesn't get there and every damned time I have the nut flush or straight someone ships their chips in behind on fourth street and boats up in the end. Every time. It's just ridiculous.

Stupid poker.

Anyway, with the new year coming up and exactly zero desire to go out - what's that term, amateur night? - I will probably stay home. If I stay home, I will probably fritter away the tournament ticket and Step 3 ticket I acquired in the Stars Blogger Championship. That should be good for at least twenty minutes of entertainment before I do something dumb.

I also had a cartoon idea for the first time in a while, so I'll be firing up MSPaint. Poker and bad doodles, two great ways to waste boatloads of time!

I think it's generally accepted amongst those who play that poker is a game of skill and not a gambling game.

Asterisk.

Just like anything else, you can turn poker into a gambling game.

I visited a home game last night. The host prefers tournament style play, so he set us up with that. With the chips allocated, everyone had an initial "M" of 8. Twelve minute levels. Yeah, you read that right. After about four hands everyone was in push or fold mode.

We ended up playing three of these. I donated each time, as I never came close to hitting a hand.

This post brought to you by beer, the beverage that makes you forget that you suck at poker.

Since I made the final of the Stars Blogger Championship (WBCOOP), I figured I should try to play.

So I did. Sort of. I had about an hour and a half to make something happen. It did. I flopped top set with KK and had AA stack off into me. I was in the top 10 at the first break. Time to sit out and start shoveling the driveway. Pushed the neighbor's car out of a snowbank while I was at it.

A few more minutes of play, then off to get cleaned up. A few minutes of play, then off for Sunday dinner. I got that underway, downloaded a copy of the software and fired it up so that I could play a couple hands while stuff was cooking. I got a timely AA and picked off a shorty.

We reached the "money" - the top 100 - and I made it with room to spare. I doubled up with AK and had enough chips to sit out a while. I squeezed in a few hands here and there when I thought I could get away with it - I don't think Emily Post ever considered just how rude it is to try and play online poker while eating dinner with the family.

I hung around until the payouts went up another level and open shoved the jackace, losing to AK. Final result: 43rd place and (I think) a $109 tournament ticket. Proving once again that I'm better when I don't play than I am when I do.

Thank you Stars for another fun blogger event and congratulations to all those who picked up a prize along the way. Last time I checked Buddy Dank was still alive, so gl to him.

Las Vegas 2008 with the WPBT is in the books.

The travel was easy - aside from the 35 minute hike between gates to make my connection home. The hotel was still a dump. You can always count on the Imperial Palace for that. At least it was free. The food was nothing to write home about, but that was by choice - no fine dining was done. I did manage to try In and Out for the first time, it was quite good.

The gambling was ugly. Other than a six dollar net win on sports, everything was a loser. I ran way below expectation at Paigow, with many bloggers witnessing a disastrous session which included the extremely rare 9 high paigow. So much for buying drinking time.

The pokering was fine. I basically broke even other than the tournament. I was pretty happy to go deepish, given that I had to take (and win) a coin flip against Bayne way too early. Finish somewhere in the 20 range, out of the money but lots of play. Got to watch an excellent heads up match between Maigrey and Obie.

I know I missed out on a lot. I didn't make it to the Pinball Hall of Fame. I crashed after the tournament, missing out on Saturday night fun. I spent a lot of alone time, which was needed.

I always leave these meetups kicking myself for all the things I missed, the people I didn't spend nearly enough time with. Not this time. This time I am grateful for what I was able to do, thankful for the time I did get to spend with invisible internet pals, and hopeful - hopeful we can do it again some time. Sometime soon.

Down to two chances to get into the WBCOOP final. Yesterday was an 8 game mix starting at 5:00 ET. Yeah, that's going to be a time when I can focus. Didn't matter, as the random number generator was brutal. Sure, I sucked, but still.

Last chance.

NLHE this afternoon.

In.

Sucked out like a champion. Got some work done on the blog while folding.

Finished 17th (AK lost to A9o, 9 on river, heh).

Entry won plus a Step 3 ticket which, in my hands, has an approximate retail value of zero.

W00t. Glyphic still in, along with Big Slick Nut. Time for dinner.

Today's WBCOOP finish: 75th.

$%^&*%^&*!

Horrible misplay with about 90 left cost me nearly half my stack and I was not a shortstack ninja.

Edit: I got owned by the eventual champ on the misplay mentioned above. Still on tilt, which makes no sense, since I probably can't play the championship event on Sunday anyway.

Tuesday's Stars WBCOOP qualifier. I played and finished 162nd.

Last night's qualifier: I passed out before it even started, blinded off and finished 121st.

Yes, it appears that I'm better at poker when I don't even play.

One of these years I will learn. Returning to the Eastern time zone from Las Vegas sucks. The next day is pure hell and the rest of the week is at least painful, at worst more pure hell. I need to start taking extra days off or something.

I will have a trip report of sorts up at some point. At the moment, I lack the energy and more work needs to be done anyway. I should probably start donkey shoving in this Stars WBCOOP satellite too.

We did have 24 entries (including the absent BamBam, Schaubs and PokahDave) in the donkey race. The winning entries were determined when there were still six (!) players left: Zeem took first for his picks of Maigrey and Dawn Summers, Alan from Geek and Proud took second for picking Maigrey, and Dawn took third by picking herself. Four entries had Smokkee, a couple had bubble boy Astin.

Work is as done as it's going to get. A small amount of packing remains, followed by a few fitful hours of sleep and an early morning drive to the airport.

I have noted all the entries received in the blogger donkey race thus far and will probably check a few more times before I crash. I will leave a comment on the last post cutting off entries at some point - additional entries will be taken in person only!

Come on clock hands: MOVE!


Off topic moment. I'm killing time here.

Times are tough in the 616. While many other parts of the country are just recently experiencing the economic slowdown, the economy has sucked here for years. The handful of big companies still around are laying off hundreds of people right before Christmas. It's depressing.

As of this week, though, we can point to something economy-related and say "we're #1!".

Too bad it's the unemployment rate.

The census department says that Muskegon's unemployment rate for the years 2005-2007 was 22.1%. Highest in the country. Ahead (albeit barely) of Detroit, Flint and other rust belt ghost towns.

I think there'll be enough interest, so here goes.

Blogger (& friends) donkey race. Venetian private tournament this Saturday.

15 buyin.

Pick five donkeys. I'm not going to list everyone who's planning on playing, but you can get a pretty good idea from checking out Pokerstage. He says about 70, could be as many as 90. Any entrant is eligible, blog or no.

Also pick an alternate (or two if you're not going to be in Vegas) if you wish. If one of your chosen donkeys does not start the tournament, your alternate will be subbed in.

Points are awarded for a final table finish -

13 points for picking the winner
10 for 2nd
8 for 3rd
6 for 4th
5 for 5th
4 for 6th
3 for 7th
2 for 8th
1 for 9th
Highest total score wins.

If we have 10 or fewer entrants, winner take all
11-20, will pay 2 places
21-40, will pay 3 places

You do NOT need to be present to play or win. You do NOT have to be playing the tournament. You do NOT need to pick yourself. You will pick Da Rooster because he will win, but doing so is NOT mandatory.

Entries can be posted in the comments below or emailed to me at res/ipsa/poker/at/hot/mail/dot/communism without the slashes (no spaces either). Cutoff for online entries is 11:59 pm Thursday (not that far away). You can also enter in person in Vegas. Changes are allowed up to tournament start time - if you're not going it might not be a bad idea to have a cell phone buddy who is, since I'm not bringing a computer.

Also, if any of y'all would mention this in your blog posts today it might bump up the pool of entrants, since not everybody stops by this dark, dusty corner of the blogosphere every day... TIA.

EDIT: FYI, according to LJ's blog, she won't be in Vegas, so those picking her might want to reconsider or name alternates.

The countdown rolls on. A mere five days to Vegas. It can't come fast enough.

Prompted by CK, is there interest in doing a blogger donkey race (last year's details here) again for the Venetian tournament? It looks like 60 or so people have said they're going to play. We had 32 entrants in the race last year at 10 bucks each making for a nice prize pool.

If there's interest - i.e. if at least 10 people want in - I guess I could do it again. Entry could be the same or we could make it $20 if that's preferable. If it looks like this is a winner, I'll repost the rules and start collecting entries - need not be present to play or win.

I feel rather disconnected from the game at the moment. No play, no poker on TV, no idea what's going on. Makes for a sad blog. No wonder I'm spending more and more time blogging over at Win at Fantasy Sports Live.

Okay, poker. Apparently you can now bet on a number of props related to the Bodog blogger tournament series. If you ask me, Waffles at 73/10 to win the poker blogger final is where the smartspecial money will be.

And then there's Stars:

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This PokerStars tournament is a No Limit Texas Hold’em event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 957603