1 Tourney in March, 1 Final Table. GOOD START!

Was at home, playing online...cashed in 3 out of 7 SNG's and was thinking I should stay put, keep it going, ya know? Spend some time with my dogs, before leaving tomorrow for Tunica.

Then it hit me. I really needed to go to Wal Mart to get some things for my car, some things for my trip. Better go play at the Beau, say my 11-day farewells to everyone, take my bad beat in the nightly tourney...and go hit Wal Mart.

I got to the tourney ALMOST on time. Oh hell, they had only 33 players! WTF!?? And they had only opened 3 tables. Oh come on! "You will be an alternate." No way. In a 10k chip tourney? Not acceptable. "Can you please make it 11 handed? Otherwise, we run the risk of not getting in til Level 3 or worse?" So Robin did the right thing and made 4 tables 11-handed.

Got AA early, had to lay it down to an apparant flush...which the guy DIDNT have, but the other old calling station dude had turned a straight, so either way it was a good laydown. Then I get them again, raise 3x UTG...and get three calls. Lovely. Flop comes K-Q-J....ugly. Blings were 200/400 and I had raised 1200. I bet out 4500. First guy to act behind me goes all in. A different old dude (we had about 5 at our table) calls the all in. GREAT. I fold AA again. First guy has KJ. Next clown has A7s. There were two spades on the flop. Turn 4d. River? Ad. SON OF A BITCH! I would have had over 40K right there.

Somehow I manage to battle my way down to two tables. I am picking up pots by moving in and not getting calls. Can't recall ever getting it in and getting a call, until the final hand. Long story short, I manage to somehow make the final table. It was over quick. I was half in sitting in the SB when "Slumdog Millionaire" looking dude raises 6K with AJ. I have QJd...and call of course. Cant hit the three outer or a flush, and I was out of there. I bought in for $130. I won $144. Sweeeeet.

Off to Wal Mart. What should have been a 15 minute, $25 trip turned into a 1hr, $165 trip. Added 4 very comfortable new pillows to bed. Pretty much everything I could possibly need on my car was acquired. Okay, okay. It was Wal Mart...we've all been there. You know the drill.

Got home, decided to try and play the new game, Mercenaries 2. Damn PS3 was having all kinds of problems downloading file updates. Probably because my internet was all screwed up. Whatever, finally got into it. Killer game. Though the accuracy on the assault weapons is shitty. Probably a little more realistic though. Some of these other games I am dropping guys from 200-300 yards. That can't be very realistic. Though, in real life, I havent tried to drop ANYONE with an assault rifle from ANY distance. Though there are a few I would like to try my luck against! I only got to level 3 when Squirrel got home. I have to leave for Tunica in the morning (afternoon, more likely!) so I thought it would be nice to spend some time with her.

Spending time on Wednesday means watching our three recorded shows. First of all, American Idol. We got to see who the three that were voted on from last night were. I was pretty shocked to see who got picked. Then they selected the 8 wild cards who go tomorrow night. WTF!??? Are you kidding me? The biggest shocker was that Drama Queen, Super Annoying Tatianna. Huh? The two hotties from last night who can both sing both got totally shut out. The black guy, Ja'Neau...got dusted too. I thought he was awesome. Thankfully, the creepy gay guy is toast. I dont know about this show. It seems like every year the talent is getting worse and worse. And this new judge, Kara? Is it just me, or does that chick just love to hear herself talk? I mean, there are 4 judges, and it really doenst MATTER what they say or think anymore, its all voting. Kara, put in your 2 cents and get on with it. And Paula? Seriously Paula...if you can just, maybe...complete ONE sentence this season without falling all over yourself, it will be amazing. I watch that show and I just get irritated. I truly want to fight Ryan Seacrest.

We are now watching Class Reunion...which had its first season last year, and was pretty good. I'm not too sure about this years 'crop' of classmates. So far, its pretty damn lame. When this is over, we will watch my newest addition to the lineup, "Lie to Me." This show is great. If you are a poker player, you have to really like it too...as its whole basis focuses on their ability to pick up facial tells from people and translate them. A lot of them, as good poker players...you will already know. Pretty cool, as you're watching, you might pick them up before they even say something about them.

Last night I took Squirrel to dinner, then we went to see "Gran Torino" with Clint Eastwood. Wow! What a great movie. My sister encouraged me to see it. I am kind of wondering why, though I think maybe I know. Eastwood's character played a old, dying curmudgeon of a character who learned a few things about life before he died a death that he orchestrated. It was a little over the top with the racial slurs. I really can't see very many people blasting people with the things the writers had him firing at the many Asians and Blacks in the movie. The acting by the Asian actors was also horrendous...but surprisingly it didnt ruin the movie for me. It was a great story. It reminded me of my Grandfather, who died a couple years ago. He was always an asshole my whole life. He was mean to everyone. I always wanted to find, and was convinced that there HAD to be a good person in there somewhere. Mainly because my Grandmother was so sweet and wonderful. But I just never got a chance to find one. Eastwood's character slowly let the good person come out..and he emerged as a hero by the end of the movie. The final scene was a real tear-jerker...made lighter by the reading of the Will to close out the movie. I'm glad we went. It was that or "Taken" which also looks good. Maybe catch that one later.

Squirrel is setting up a Facebook account, finally. See how long it takes her to eclipse my number of friends (229). I will predict she passes me within a month.

Spent 6 hours yesterday working on my taxes. Holy crap. Adding up ALL my tourney buy ins. Going through my little black book and coming up with my NET on my cash game, adding up all the buyings/winnings/net on my SNGS...and getting a summary from Pokerstars on my online buyins/winnings/net. I only have about 4 W2G's from casinos on the wins...but I know better than to just turn in those wins. I know that the IRS now pulls your name up on Cardplayer and/or PokerPages and KNOWS what you won. Granted, they cant see the wins from the $200 second chance tourneys, or the $100-$200 nightly/daily local tourneys. But I am not about to try and GET OVER on the government. I won over $200,000 last year in tourneys ($127K on Cardplayer reported cashes) and another $75,000 in SNGs...but I have a HELL of a lot of buyin receipts, so hopefully my tax burden wont be too bad, and I do get ALL of the state income tax witheld from Louisiana for those two back to back final tables over there ($3800'ish) in May. As an out-of-stater all you have to do is file an Out-Of-State non-resident tax return and they have to give it all back to you.

I hate packing. I hate driving 7 hours. I hate leaving Squirrel for 11 days. And I hate leaving my dogs. But I love going to poker tourneys. I get so jacked up for it. So excited for the opportunity to go and dominate a field of inferior players, to have my strong hands hold up. To make well-timed bluffs and take down big pots. To make great position raises and take down big pots without seeing a flop. To chip up. To make the money. To start drinking Red Snappers. Having fun. Chipping up some more. Making the Final Table. Drinking Snap Monkeys. And then hopefully winning a bunch of money! And having that feeling of realizing your ultimate goal! Then, coming back and doing it again the next day. And writing to you guys and sharing the experience with all of you. I love my job.

I'll talk to you all in a couple days!

MONKEY