It's Newt!

       Poker has become extremely elusive in the last few weeks. As i said earlier without the option of an authorized online alternative, playing consistently is my biggest obstacle. This week/weekend was packed with family dinners and work to the point it didn't seem like it was going to end. My only somewhat free day was yesterday afternoon, and knowing that if i went to the casino i would be there till 3 or 4 in the morning. Those times don't work well when you are on an early schedule. So my alternative to playing poker was to see if it was on any particular candidates agendas. Newt Gingrich was speaking at the Jim Thorpe center last night and a friend and I decided to go and listen to him talk. 

      Newt is a very motivated and captivating speaker who is not easily ignored. As i expected online poker was nowhere near the front of anyones mind. I mean; how could it be? Being in the bible belt contraception and religious freedoms are hot topics, as well as oil and job production. I was still very impressed as he spoke with great conviction and determination. They opened up the speech by saying that Oklahoma is no longer a "fly over" state for Republican Candidates. Something tells me that this is only because this has been one of the craziest primary elections I have seen. Once one of these three candidates wins the Republican nomination I will be anxious to see if they make a return trip to our state. Either way I am still undecided who to vote for and with the way things are going we could have an entirely new candidate tomorrow!

Finally!

 

   So Ladies and Gentlemen, my shower is finally complete! Here are the before and after picture THE shower that I'm sure you are all familiar with by now. Not to shabby. It took twice the time that was expected but I am very happy with the outcome. Actually it could have looked like crap and I would be happy just to get my shower back. But, needless to say, it turned out great! We also got rid of the terrible yellow paint and now our bathroom looks like it belongs in a slightly newer home. 

On the poker side of things; I played in that Irish Baseball Charity tournament over the weekend. The turnout was about half of what it was last year and the quality of play and structure was ten times worse . I ended up placing sixth of about thirty or so which seems great, but the tournament only paid the top five. Suck. So I missed the money by one and was very glad to be out of the tournament with the pace of play mimicking that of a crawling snail. It was excruciating. It was filled with first time players and grandparents who used to play "back in the day". So my night consisted of explaining basic poker procedure and listening to "when i was a boy" stories. You could pay $10 for a cup that got you all the beer you wanted all night, and for that I was extremely grateful. After striking out on the tournament I went home and did a little political research about online regulation. Word on the street is it may be added to the coat-tails of the Pay Role Tax Cut bill currently sitting in Congress. I kind of doubt it will be added in such short notice though. And I have accepted to fact that I can't base my election vote strictly on online poker. There are to many problems much greater than that to be focused on. 

I really enjoyed Dr. Hochenauer's talk on Tuesday. It was nice to see how just a small blog can turn into such a highly respected, award winning publication. I don't really agree about anything he says from a political standpoint, but I respect that fact that in such a conservative state he has chosen to still talk in what he believes in. I think that is the main reason why his blog is still so successful. He is passionate about what he writes about.  

This shower better be Awesome

Ever so slowly the tiles are going up. We are looking at completing all the tile and floor work today and grouting it all tomorrow. That means Saturday we will be sealing everything and by Sunday i will be enjoying my brand new shower. ($1600 later) Oh well it was much needed. Now we just have to get rid of that gross, tacky yellow paint and we will be in good shape. So painting the bathroom will probably consume my entire day Sunday. Lucky me.

Now for some poker!!! (I know, this has been looking like a home improvement blog, I promise to stay as much on topic as I can from here on out). This Saturday night I will be participating in my little cousins annual charity poker tournament for his little league baseball team. Last year was the first year i participated and won the whole thing, something around $800, so that was nice. It's basically full of all these parents (who are both loaded with cash and alcohol) playing the type of poker they think they saw on ESPN the night before. Last year I made it heads up with this guy who had to be in his sixties who thought he was hot stuff. All I heard about was how he won a bunch of tournaments and that he has his own poker "room" at home that him and all his buddies play at every week. Anyways... We started out and he had me covered like 3 to 1 in chips. He thought he was in good shape and so did everyone else. 20 minutes later I had the chip lead and he was feeling "tired" (sucks for him). He tried to make a deal with me where we add up first and second place money and split it. I would end up getting around $400. Not a bad score, but i didn't spend the last five hours to not win so I respectfully declined. It didn't last much longer after that. I took him out and hopefully crushed his poker confidence .  So thats what I have to look forward to this weekend. Hopefully I come to class Tuesday being the two-time Irish Baseball Poker Champion (and with a new shower) 

Still no Poker!

Well this week has been a little less than spectacular when it comes to my participation at the poker table. Non-existant in fact. My life has become completely consumed with one thing, and one thing only; finishing my shower. Getting the guy to come work on our shower is like pulling teeth. If we do get a full day of work we also get a two hour lunch break and at least two hour trips to the hardware store. What was supposed to take a little less than a week is now a two week job. We have ran into every imaginable problem like three feet of dirt in the walls that are from what appears to be a gopher. Awesome. Then the drain wouldn't come out of the ground. With all the problems behind us (for now) we are looking at Saturday as the day of completion.


In poker news, my absence at the table has allowed me to catch up on some reading and checking up on where online poker is at in the eyes of Congress. Now as i previously said I will try to stay out of politics as much as possible on here, but this is something that directly effects me. I was doing some research of the Republican nominees, and where their stances were on the issue of online gambling. Turns out the only one in support of the matter is Ron Paul (not happening). Romney and Santorum both have come out within the last week and stated that regulating online gaming is dangerous for the country. (????) I don't see how it is any less dangerous than alcohol or tons of other things that we have legal here. The only one who hasn't officially take a stance yet is Newt Gingrich. He did however just take a 10 million dollar endorsement from Sheldon Adelson; who is one of the biggest opponents to the legalization on online poker. Everyone says "money talks" so its time to see if its true. If Newt condemns online poker strictly due to the donations he received I will be very disappointed. Nevertheless I am hoping to have some sort of legalization within the year. 

Well this was unexpected!

Looks like class is going to be a little out of the question today. Friday of last week my shower began to crumble. That little crumble has turned into a complete shower renovation. Now I have to sit here for a few hours and watch this lovely gentleman chisel out my shower floor with a jack hammer. Needless to say poker was placed on the back burner this weekend and endless hours of watching HGTV with my girlfriend replaced it. Now we have every bathroom makeover show recorded on our DVR. Joy. Looks like I might be able to make it to the casino sometime tomorrow. I'll post something about how I do and if I do t post anything then it probably wasn't a good outing. Anyways.... Sorry I will not be in class today. I will be back on Thursday without a doubt!

My Future Bracelet?

This picture is anyone who plays pokers' primary goal throughout the year. This is the bracelet you receive after winning the Main Event in the World Series of Poker. This is the highest prize you can win and something that every elite poker player strives for. It is (if all things go according to plan) what I will be playing for in the up coming summer. The tournament is in Las Vegas and over 6,000 people usually pay the $10,000 entry fee for a chance to win. In more local news the WSOP Circuit event in Durant, Oklahoma just came to a close. The winner of the $1600 Main Event was Abraham Araya who took home a little over $270,000. Not a bad score for a couple days of work. Some guy named Huy Nguyen, who I've played against a few times at Firelake, won three smaller events and took home about $50,000 total. This was the second year Durant has hosted a circuit event, and the only one in the state of Oklahoma. I will be playing this event next year especially if it continues to grow. There were some pretty big names in the field as well as some no name randoms that still managed to make the final table. 


Not looking good on the online poker home front. Ira Rubin, one of the nine people charged with sending millions of online poker dollars to off shore accounts, plead guilty yesterday in court. This means that he openly admitted to money laundering and basically threw the remaining members under the bus. However, when faced with an 80 year prison that could be reduced to 2, some people will do just about anything. 


I'm going to try to make it to the casino a couple times this weekend to see if I can continue my current winning session streak of ONE,  alive. Wish me luck! 

The Blogosphere and What it means for me

After reviewing the Technorati page today about the evolving world of blogs I learned that there are no limits to what you can do with your blog. It can be used for hobbies or a full time profession. It can be about anything from sports to stocks. The ideas are limitless. It seems that the one crucial element to keeping a blog going is the frequency in which you post. The more you post the more followers and potentially more money you can make. It is amazing how many ways you can go about blogging. It seems like another important factor is getting the word out about your blog. Its no surprise that Twitter plays a huge roll in the effectiveness of a blog. Hopefully with a little work I will have this blog up for many more years.