July 13, 2005

Ever been in one of those funks where there seems to be a dark cloud hanging over your head for a couple of days??? That's been me since Monday, and I'm not sure why.......

Played some poker on Monday night ($4/8...$5/10 tables were full) for about 2 hours and ended up down about $50 for the session....which is not too bad considering I was down over $200 at one point due to some overaggressive play on my part and some terrible suck outs by my opponents. The table was playing much looser than the normal $5/10 tables on UB and it took me awhile to adjust....had KK and QQ cracked a couple of times early for nice pots by fish calling Ax hands and chasing down a A on the river...seemed like we had an A on the board almost every hand and everyone was chasing for it. Made for some nice pots, but man did it hurt when my KK got cracked against A2os that reraised my pre-flop raise and then stuck around to catch his A on the river....thankfully I tightened up in time to make back most of my losses....actually I was ahead $15 at one point, decided to play very tight for the circut and then jet when the blinds came to me...I'm UNG (last hand and still up $15) and I hit AsKs....so I have to play it...hit 2 spades on a ragged 7s, 2s, 5d flop....I bet to see what's going on with everyone and get a caller than a reraise...a couple of people fold and I call the raise, looking for my nut flush draw. 5s hits on the turn, giving me the nut flush and pairing the board....needless to say I lost a nice chunk of money to the guys with pocket 2s that hit the full house on the turn....he called my bet on the turn and then reraised me on the river, I reraised back and he capped the bet, showing down the full boat and taking about $60 off of me.....I decided to call it quits and get off the table rather than play another hour to try and get the money back...I was just happy to only drop $50 rather than $250....

But, back to my initial comment...not sure why I'm in this funk the last couple of days...Jen and the girls are doing well...I'm still stoked about having a baby boy this fall, so I'm not sure what the issue is....It may have something to do with the ongoing issues between my parents. They sold the family home the other day, which now that I think about it, may have alot to do with this funk....I mean, after 40 years of marriage, it just crumbles in the matter of months, my childhood home is gone and my parents are now in different states. Going to be very interesting to see how the family reunion goes on July 30th when I see my parents together for the first time since Christmas.....sigh.

I surprised Jen and the girls yesterday by going home for lunch after stopping at the store and picking up flowers for all of them...some yellow roses for Jen and some small wildflower bouquets for the girls...they were all excited and happy with the flowers, so that was fun to do. Had hoped it would brighten my mood, but didn't really work...guess I'll just have to come to terms with the issues with my parents and let time heal the wounds.

Anyway, the WSOP is headed into day 5 and it's getting pretty intense....down to about 74 players...2004 champ Greg Raymer is still in the tourney, as is Phil Ivery and Mike Matusow....I'm rooting for Ivey at this point, as he's probably the best player left in the field...I do hope that Matusow makes the final table and then takes a serious bad beat to get busted, as he is one of the pros that I can't stand....always shooting off his mouth and talking like he's better than everyone else....this coming from a guy fresh out of a year in prison for dealing drugs and such....not sure how ESPN will spin that to the positive to promote the game. Will wait and see I guess.

Going to make some guaranteed money at poker over the next two weeks...yes, I said GUARANTEED money regarding poker......heh.....I'll be dealing at two charity events over the next 2 weeks...Monday night at the CCC ($50 for 4 hours work) and the again on Sat 7/23 ($75 for another 4 hours)....so that will help build my cash/home game bankroll back up a bit, as it's been awhile sine I cashed in a home game and I was getting short of funds. Of course, I may blow most of that money at the jazz and rib fest next weekend with Dave, Amanda, Burton and the rest of the gang, so who knows how much will be left for the bankroll...good times non the less.

Time for work...take care.