So last July, we went to Harrah's and when we got back home, my friend couldn't find his keys.

A couple weeks ago, we went to Chicago for a baseball game and I went to move some stuff around in the backseat and I see these keys stuck at the bottom of my driver's seat - right where the seat rolls back and forth. They're jammed there, and I pull them out finally.

The month before, I was at the same friend's place, helping his wife and son when they were locked out of a car. So I'm thinking these were dropped that day when I was with them.

Turns out, it's the keys he lost last July on the Harrah's trip!

Combined, we'd probably looked in that spot 10 times in the last year, and never saw them.

What are the odds I find them at his place when we're leaving on another trip together?

Wow, I suck so bad at updating.

I'm sitting here watching Up In the Air at 6 a.m. and finally doing my taxes. thankfully Excel helps. now time to read some of the circular E.

So my friend and I went to Harrah's Southern Indiana. They gave me a free night in the hotel.

So we get there, head down to the poker room and finally get on tables.

Early on, I was never more than +/- $20. I took down a pot early on when I cbet Q J on an A2 A board, got one caller. Turn is a blank K, villain instantly and pissed offedly checks. I bet, he takes it down, says "NH, you got the maximum value". I continue to just take down some small pots, and fold a ton.

Then, I lose 30bb or so when I cbet AQ on a KJx board, and put a shortie AI on an A turn. He'd just called down KJ on a QJxxx board. This time, he shows up w/ AJ. So I reload some. Still can't get any chips going.

I get 5 callers with AQ and flop comes up AT9. First three check. I'm contemplating my betsize. The other two check, and the dealer is about to burn and turn, and I'm about to say wait!, and the guy beside me points it out. So, I bet $30, it folds to one of the tighter players at the table who check raises to $80 w/ another $75 behind. I'm still pretty sure he had 2pair+, and I fold my AQ face up.

It was the first hand I'd had in an hour that wasn't 82o or something stupid. I floated along for a while, and watch this fish on my left hit every flush. Like I swear he was drawing on blank cards to make flushes. I said after one flush "Wow man, you're really good at hitting flushes!" like it was a compliment.

I value bet a couple streets w/ AA against him on a KJxxx board and he folds. Finally, I get QJ, raise, he's in the hand, and I flop T98r. Nothing better than being card dead for an hour and a half, and flopping the nuts. So I bet since nobody's folded at all. Huge fish calls, and then he folds to my turn bet, showing a J. The guy hasn't folded a draw since the Naganao games, and he folds there. I was pretty pissed.

I continue getting absolute shit for cards. I then get TT, and 3 callers, flop comes up T52sss. I bet $35. I'd dropped to about $130 and was planning on quitting pretty soon, so I didn't re-load. This other fish minraises me. I have about 87 left after my bet, and was planning on committing, so I push obviously. He snapcalls, turns over 7s3s, but I luckbox and hit a boat, bringing to about even.

This new guy comes to the table, sits two to my left. He pushes 3 times in his first 4 hands, either pre, or on the flop, and doubles up on one hand after losing a few chips, and has about 150 now. He says "I'm goin to do that every hand." So I look down second to act and find AA. I limp. He picks up a red chip, and I'm thinking "oh man, he's not raising." And he says "5". It folds around to a guy who calls. I re-pop to $25. Pusher calls, other guy folds. I flop a set, and he doesn't put money in postflop. I was pretty sad he didn't push like he said he was goin to. But I got some revenge later by repping an A and getting him to fold.

My friend comes up and says he's going back to the room, and I decide to leave too. I wasn't excited about only being up $30, but after being down at least 140, I felt like it was a good turnaround.

We go back, and we decide we're going back this morning, instead of playing with a bunch of nits on a Monday afternoon. So we wake up, and drive the 3 1/2 hours back home.

My friend puts his stuff in his car, and I come inside. He comes in and says "I think I left my keys in the hotel." We look in everything, and we can't find them anywhere. So I call Harrah's, and they look and make some calls. I call back a couple hours later, and they haven't found them yet. They're not in the room, they're not on any of the housekeeper's carts. I end up giving him my car keys, and fortunately I have a key to his house, and give it to him, and he's borrowing my car for a couple days until he either gets a new key from a dealership, or they find and mail his keys to us.

Poker's been going well lately - I suck at blogging.

But I fixed a couple leaks and started winning again. Yay manies!

I took a vacation right now, and am about halfway through.

Tuesday, I left home and met up at Thac's place with a few other 2+2ers. We were going to go to Cedar Point, but the weather was shitty, so only a couple people went for like 3 hours.

Thac and Dsmith and I hung around, grinded, then went to eat at Smokey Bones. While we're there, we're watching radar showing these hudge storms coming towards us. There's 2 meeting together, and forming an L, trapping us, and the one just north carries a tornado warning. Hooray!

So we get back, and totally luckbox the storm. There was a small part that was the lesser powerful part of the storm, and we hit that. It was like a 3 mile strip out of a 50 mile long storm. Everyone else gets back, we grind, and pass out.

Thac's internet is confirmed cursed. I don't think any of us made money while there. It sucked pokerwise, but was fun lifewise.

Then I left the next day, drove to Chicago. I get to Commiskey (I know, but I'm old school) at the same time the Sox game is letting out. I get stuck on 94 for about an hour, and have gone less than 5 miles. Finally, I say F this, and get off on the first exit - Rubles and 18th for any Chi-towners. I didn't get the impression it's the best of neighborhoods. So I drive up Halsted, and go to Lincoln, to Wrigleyville, hitting every freaking light. An hour later, I get to my cousin's.

We went to eat with my other cousins and his roommate at this place called D'Agostino's which was pretty good pizza. After a while of drinking and hanging, we all go home. My cousin, his roommate, and I walk back to their place. Along the way, I stop to tie my shoe.

I notice that this guy walking behind us stops when we stop. We continue, and he continues. So I immediately say "hey, what's this store?" and they stop, and the guy goes around us. I said "that dude stopped when we stopped, and started walking again when we walked." Then, he ran up and said "surprise!" to a chick in the group ahead of us.

So while I was right in noticing he was following us, I was wrong with his intention. I was ready to fight! We get back, I drop to go to sleep and think "man, it's got to be 2 a.m.!" I look at my phone and it's 10 p.m.

The next morning, I wake up insanely early, and head out to Minneapolis. I get in, help set up stuff for my cousin's graduation, and we're about to go eat, and bam - another tornado warning! This is after I was at my other cousin's graduation in Indiana 2 weeks ago and there was a tornado warning.

So this month, I've been in 3 states with 3 tornado warnings. I hate the midwest in the summer!

Trip is to be continued tomorrow . . .

Also, just tethered my laptop to my cell.

I went to Cincinnati (well, a small town in Southeastern Indiana called Lawrenceburg, about 10 minutes from Cincinnati to be exact) for the last two days with Thac and Pete. We played some poker and watched the WPT Final Table live today.

I got mixed up going there, and missed that I had to exit onto I-275 when I-74West split off and didn't exit. In my defense, if I'm on a road, I shouldn't have to take an exit to stay on that road, right? Well, a short night of sleep caught up to me, I didn't see the signs, and we were on 74.

No big deal, Pete and I look on our phones and plug in the address for Hollywood Casino - 777 Hollywood Ct, Lawrenceburg, IN. It directs us there through some backroads. 20 minutes later, we're in a residential neighborhood. Google maps says Hollywood casino is a block north, and we're on Hollyhedge Ln. Good job google maps!

Turns out, they haven't fully updated everything since Argosy casino became Hollywood Casino, and the road changed, and google maps doesn't have it right yet. So we try using Argosy BLVD instead, and it directs us the 15 miles to the right place.

We get there, settle into the hotel, eat some food, and go to grind. I had only brought 1BI for 1-3 - I thought it would be 1-2, but wasn't. I didn't feel like losing more than that, so only brought that.

I ended up folding JJ PF, because the one lady who had been fairly tight so far raised larger and it was an awkward stacksize - she had too much behind to shove profitably, but not enough to make me feel like I could play it profitably against her likely range, so I folded them. I also pick up a very big "I'm strong" read on her. She shoved on a 665 flop, got a fold, and showed AA. My read was right. Then, I flatted vs. a raise from a different lady - it was her only raise the entire we played together - in MP. A guy in LP called, and I called with QQ. The flop came up Jxx and she bet 35 into a ~50 pot, and I called. The turn was a K, and she bet 75 and I folded. Given the action and the fact that she raised one hand the entire time, and the next hand I describe, I'm pretty sure I was WB and could safely fold. I probably was behind on the flop, but I don't think I can fold QQ there.

I pretty much fold the rest of the time. I see a lot of 82o, K3o, etc hands. I have a guy 2 to my right who plays nearly every hand, and hits nearly every flop. He flops a boat with k4, he flops pair + sd, 2pair, hits every freaking flop. Then 2 guys to my left who raise if he limps. i probably should've chalked it up to being a bad card-wise day, but I feel like I'm playing well and soldier on.

5 people limp in, and I complete 8d7d in the SB. BB checks. Flop comes up T86 with one diamond. I check, 2 checks, lady I folded QQ to bets 15 into a 16 pot. one caller, I call. Turn is the Qd. I check, she bets 30, caller folds, and now there's about 76 in the pot, and I have 175 or so behind. I think it through, and decide that my best course of action is to push, maximizing my equity - I have 9 flush cards + 3 straight cards + 2 7's and 2 8's. So I have 16 outs and I might have some fold equity. She snapcalls. She called so fast, I said "What's that?" because it was quiet, and I was still looking down, I wanted to make sure. River's an 8, and she turns over QQ.

So I don't play any more the rest of the trip. Trevor thought I should have just called, but I feel like since I was playing the shorter stack - and this is where I don't know what to do when live and you lose some, like where to get up and get more chips - and since it was a 1-and-done, I think it's better to just shove. It was a slightly bigger than PSB. I was getting in on the river anyway when the 8 hit. But it solidified my thoughts that folding QQ to her earlier was the best play.

I meet up with Pete and we rail the tourney. At this point, there's still 15 people left. 12 make the money (144 runners - small field). 3 hours later, the bubble burst.

A very interesting hand went down - we missed it unfortunately) - just after the dinner break. 2 short stacks go all-in. Ty Reiman - who was a cool guy - calls, and Rizen shoves. Rizen was 3rd in chips iirc overall, and 2nd to Ty at the table. Ty calls w/ KK and Rizen has AQ. Ty knocks out 3 people in the same hand. Rizen seemed pretty nice - I just exchanged a few words when he was exiting the playing area right next to me, and I moved out of his way so he could walk through.

Ty was the first victim of Carlos Mortensen's clinic on how to be a calling station and run hotter than the sun. Carlos had 12bb and limps in. Ty raises and everyone folds to Carlos, who calls the raise. Ty shoves dark. Flop comes up AJT, Carlos calls, showing KQ vs Ty's AA. Ty then ran a multi-street bluff vs Carlos who called down with JJ on an AxxxQ board and Ty mucked. Ty then doubled up Frank Calo a couple times, and then busted out 8th.

Pete ended up making friends with Frank and a couple other players at the FT, and we were Frank's fan club.

If you've never watched a taping of a FT, it's a fun experience. We were about 15 feet from the table, front row. They walk you through what not to do, etc. They do a few audience pans to use for the show, and then the one camera guy would come to us when Frank was in a hand.

it's really different, because you obv are estimating stack sizes when you can't get a good look at all the chips, and you don't know what hands anyone has. The weird thing is, whenever you have a reaction, you're thinking "oh man, I might be televised, so I gotta perform." I think we'll make some shots. It airs in June. I wore a red UD hat.

Frank was runnin over Carlos for a while 3handed. He took a lot of Carlos' chips on a KK8 flop. Carlos bet and Frank called. The turn brought a third club. They both checked. The river is a blank. Carlos fires a bet and Frank calls with KxQc. Carlos shows an A and mucks.

Unfortunately, after that, Frank got shit on by the deck. Carlos and he played a pot where Carlos checked an A river and Frank checked behind. Carlos showed AT (had air until the river) and Frank mucked. Pretty sure he had him until that A hit. Then Frank folded on an AA99x board. After that, the 3rd guy 3bet Frank PF and he folded, and Frank was getting shortstacked. He ended up going out after he CRAI w/ 54 on a 542 board and Carlos snapcalled w/ 33. Even though the turn brought Frank a flush draw, Carlos hits everything and binked a 3 on the river.

Even though Frank didn't win, it was a lot of fun and something I'd do again sometime.

Disclaimer: Some of the numbers might not be exact - kinda tired, and doin this from memory.

So I'm taking the 1-2 of Feb off. No playing, no matter how tempted I am.

I'm doing some administrative things. I'm trying to figure out why I get such a crappy connection lately on my PS3. I'm contemplating setting up my old Linksys WRTG54 as a wireless bridge and connecting the PS3 to it. It seems to be running so much worse than my Xbox. the difference is, everything else in my house runs on N, and the PS3 is on G.

I've also been playing some MW2 and reading through the Phil Galfond well on 2+2. I'm watching a few videos as well. But mostly, I'm just chillaxing. I just needed a 2-day break.

January was a rough month. I thinkt he factors were:

1) I didn't run overly well. In the last week of the month, I undersetted a ton. I ran kk into aa. I lost with everything. It just didn't go well. Nobody would fold when I bet either.

2) I tried to kick it up and get a ton of stuff from the stars store that was on sale. This led to me trying to play 65k hands in the last week.

3) I tried to implement a few things and experimented with some ideas that I hadn't fully mastered.

So all in all, it created a bad time. I tried to do new things while running bad and playing 2x as much volume as I'd ever played. I don't think I'll ever make this mistake again.

Hey everybody!

Been putting in a ton of hands lately so I haven't had time to update. My sleep schedule is totally wack. Not wiggity wack, wack wack. I go to bed around 6+ and get up at 2. I just can't get up in the mornings any more.

I've been playing more FR lately. Been playing MW2 in my spare time. I really need to branch out in life!

Work has me working an extra day a week now too. I'm not too thrilled about that and hope they don't get frosty and add another day.

Toodles!




I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker! The WBCOOP is a free online Poker tournament open to all Bloggers, so register on WBCOOP to play. Registration code: 710168

I just laid down to try to sleep, and when i close my eyes, i see guys moving around and muzzle flashes. I gotta quit playing MW right before bed.

Hello Chris,

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tournament #208702409.

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Date Tournament Game Buy in Entries Rank Prize
03 Nov 09 No Limit Hold'em * HENL $2.20+ 1530 11 $102

DOH!

I got out with my roommate and our boss.

we leave the bar by work and drive to another bar that's owned/run by all the same people, same bartenders, same bouncers, and owners and ****. So we get there, we know everyone, I let some random girls in behind us that aren't even attractive, but I tell the bouncer they're with us and ****, he lets us all in.

Closing time comes, we all decide we're going to Waffle House with the one bouncer. So we eat our food and ****. Our boss had it out with this dumb girl he'd been seeing and was pissed. So he gets into it with the bouncer. I step in between them and make peace. We all get outside.

Now my roommate ran the streets as a kid, and is a badass. I don't ever worry when I'm out with him and his friends, I know that even if someone pulled a piece, we're good. So boss, roommate and I leave in roommate's truck. We stop for gas.

Boss starts talkin **** and is telling roommate and I he wants someone to whoop his ass. My roommate gets out of the car, suddenly, he opens passenger door, pulls boss out, throws him on the ground and is like "yeah, you want me to whoop your ass?" and I'm like omg! Finally, boss gets back in the truck, and is like "i'll walk home, my parents live nearby, I'll whoop your ass, wtf, I don't care". I'm like "Dude, Danny's got your back, if you get into a fight, he's got your back, just calm down, let's get back to work,, we''ll all sober up and things will be ok."

He starts talking like he's packing. So i'm in the backseat of the truck, and watching him the whole way. If he raises his arm, I'm knocking it down, and clockin him in the face. There ain't no way I'm letting him get the drop on my roommate. So we get back to work, we all give a bro hug, and everything is ok, and he parts ways, and we both come home.

So that was my crazy night where I almost got into a fight with my boss.
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