Weekend Rambling Update

Ok, lots to say but work have been really busy. This will be a meandering brain dump.

First, the boss gave his notice on Friday, which wasn’t a complete shock, but it does change the work landscape a bit. This guy had basically bribed me to come back to this job about a year ago to help him get a handle on the product I work on. He hasn’t been able to share where he is going yet, but if it’s local, and he wants to bribe me again, I’m here to listen.

I gave the update on my son’s tryout from Saturday already. Saturday night, I had my home tourney. It ended up being only 34 guys this time. Lot of people couldn’t make it but it was still a good time. The top 6 made the money with first place taking $650. I went out in 10th this time. This is my third tourney and I have yet to cash. I took a big hit to my stack when I got it all in pre-flop with KK against AQ but two biatches hit the damn flop. I was still alive though and was able to chip up a bit, but not enough to scare anyone away with steals. The big stack at my table had been bullying big time with marginal cards, but his stack was so big that no one could call him. With blinds at 500/1000, he raised it to 4000 3 pots in a row and continued to show KQo, 55, etc.

Finally, when the blinds were at 1000/2000, and I had 5000 left, he bumped it again and I pushed with A2o. I figured I might have a shot. The BB ended up also pushing for some reason, with 10d4d. The bully actually had pocket Jacks.

The flop came 7 4 4 so the BB pulled ahead. The turn was an A. I had outs but the river brought the third Jack for the bully and I and the BB were out and the final table was set.

The greatest hand that I saw in the main tourney was when were at about 14 players left. The blinds were 1000/2000 and the BB to my right had 2500 left, including his blind. There was a MP raise and then the bully called. The action came to the BB and he had 37o, with only 500 left. He was ready to muck when I said he might as well throw it in, since there was a good pot already. You already know the ended. His hit a 7 on the flop, it held up, and on the next hand the doubled up again with pocket 7s. He went on to win the whole damn thing.

We ended up playing until 4am. My Sunday was spent on the couch with a big head and the kids. My wife is getting ready to go to Florida this weekend with her girlfriends and she needed to shop so I fired up the laptop while the kids watched the Inspector Gadget movie. Shortly after I logged on, Veneno shot me a yahoo hello. We chatting for a bit and she honored me by inviting me to a heads up match with her. After I got unceremoniously trounced by AussieDave in the HUC3, we had chatted about possibly playing, and this ended up being a good time for both of us.

I got some nice cards, including a nice hammer raise and ended up avoiding the Poison that so many others have submitted to. Thanks for the game V and it was great talking to you too. The rematch can be scheduled at your leisure.

I unfortunately I had to go to a couple wakes this weekend and Sunday night’s was terrible. Not that nay wakes are fun, but I went to one after work on Friday for a friend who’s father passed away from a battle with cancer. He had been suffering as of late, so it was for the best. He had been pretty active in the community as a member of some of the men’s clubs and the local golf course. The atmosphere was like a freakin party.

The wake I went to on Sunday was just the opposite. It was for a guy that I had worked with at my last job. He was only 51 and had no health problems at all. He was at the hockey rink with his 11 year old son and had a heart attack. For whatever reason, he didn’t get CPR until the EMT’s arrived, which was about 10 minutes after his heart stopped. They were able to revive him but he was especially brain dead by then. While in the coma, he got pneumonia and passed away within 2 weeks. It is such a sad thing. Steve was a great family guy with 2 young children. It took about an hour and a half to get through the line at the wake. It was very somber of course and a reminder to keep the priorities straight and enjoy your life while you can.

I played at the bar last night and did ok. It started with about 50 people I think and I made the final table. Unfortunately, I took a huge hit just before getting there and went out 8th. I had stolen blinds twice to increase my stack nicely when, down to 5 at our table, I looked down at pocket 6’s UTG. I pushed since we were on the bubble at the time and the woman to my right had just finished telling me that she had never made the final table and how excited she would be if she got there. Bad info to share. With her in the BB and me having her covered by 8k, I pushed with my pocket 6s. The problem was that she woke with pocket aces! Doh. I didn’t improve and limped into the final table and got bounced in the first hand.

Best hand of the night though was when were down to 12 players. It folded to the big stack who was on the button. He put in a raise of double the BB, which was 8K total. The SB only had 9K left and pushed. The BB folded and the big stack says,”oops, bad move” but obviously had to call the additional 1k. The SB flips over pocket Kings and the button flips over…the HAMMER.

I say, you are all set man, you got the hammer. The rest of the table laughs at me, of course. The flop comes with a 7 and 2 diamonds. The turn is another diamond. Yeah, the button had a diamond. The 2 of diamonds. The SB didn’t have a diamond. The river? Uh-huh, another diamond and the SB almost punched the dude. It was a riot. I tried to tell him that he almost cracked the hammer, but he wasn’t listening.

Ok, sorry for the ramble but this is the last thing. This was a real kick to the junk. Our state lottery is part of the Mega Millions. When the jackpot gets up there, I play a few quick picks. Why not I figure? I mean, I know the lottery is a tax on people that are bad at math, but WTF? Anyway, when I check the number, I do the same thing each time. I dream about how I would spend the money as I turn on the laptop. When I get to the site, I look at the jackpot to see if it has gone up. If it has, I know I didn’t win. Saturday morning, it had gone up. No surprise, I didn’t win. The next thing I check is the “mega ball”. If you hit that, you at least get something. I checked it and I didn’t have it. One of the 3 quick picks I had, had the number 20, and the mega ball was 19, but that was as close as I got. Close is no goot unless you are talking horseshoes or hand grenades. With that, I check the numbers to see how pathetic my 3 were. There are 5 regular numbers that you have to match and with the mega ball, you win the jackpot. Well, I hit 4 numbers out of 5! I was all excited, figuring, that must get me something pretty good right? I checked the “how to play” page and saw that, all 5 without the mega ball pays $250K. 4 out of 5 with the mega ball pays $10k. 4 out of 5 without the mega ball pays…$150. Huh? Are you freaking kidding me?

I cashed it at the general store where I get my coffee everyday. The Indian dude there has called me “the loser” the last 3 days straight.

BTW, how would you spend $86 million?