Bring that Cheesecake Home Baby!!!!!

Ohhhhh Yeahhhhhhh!!! It looks like a slice of cheesecake, and it eluded me last Thursday...when Duy the Dipshit escaped the building with it, after signing for MORE money, but finishing 3rd....I was left feeling pretty empty and incomplete. Not the case last night. After holding it, petting it, talking to it, and keeping it sitting on the table near me, with on of my monkey's perched atop it looking out over the felt...it is now sitting right here next to my bed, the result of an 8 hour roller coaster ride that finished with me limping in with KK....and having my heads up opponent go broke with A5 on a flop of 235, turn 6, river 6....to close out a sweet, sweet victory.

What made it all the more sweet was the amount of tremendous support I had yesterday. It started with Kai Landry coming in late with another inspiring pep talk...which now makes me 3 for 3 on Final Table finishes when his speeches proceeded my 'March to the Promised Land'....I will give you his juicy rant later in this entry. I started the day 13th out of 21 players. On the first hand of the game I would raise with A9 on the button, and have a guy in the BB shove all in on me with K3. Yeah. King Three. Guy bagged his chips, sleeps (I assume) then comes back at 4...presumeably rested and ready to play deep, then ships it with K3. Very weird. Stranger was him not hitting two of his live cards.

I would get up to 650k from my starting stack of 245. Then I made a play that was either (a) brilliant and a great read or (b) retarded and never to be done again! We had a kid from England who came in with a ton of chips, and insisted on opening about every 2 out of 3 pots with a raise, position not important. People were keying on this and started re-shipping on the guy. On one hand, I raised UTG+1 with JJ...around to him, where he 3 bet me. Back to me and I just moved in on him. Causing him to run his fingers through his hair asking himself "why do I put myself in these spots!??" To which I replied, "Um, maybe you are just too damn aggressive?"

Well, he would raise UTG again. Thats when Shawn Rice...who had just completely donked away half of his very large stack...when the tightest guy at the table raised from cutoff, only to watch Shawn re-raise the guy...only to then CALL the same guys' ALL IN (for a LOT) with AJ offsuit. The guy had JJ. Shawn was down to 265k. I watch the first guy raise to 50k. Shawn re-raises him to 125k. I look down at 10-10. I can tell by watching the first guy that he has been caught, yet again. I know he is folding. (turns out he had A10 off) So I think all I can do is either put Shawn all in or fold. I decide to raise it to 265k...putting Shawn all in. He calls, um...yeah he sort of had to, he was holding AA. Ahhhh shit! I make a heart flush...only problem...he had two red aces. Bummer. I was back down to 240k. Very reminiscent of the same hole I dug on last weeks' win with 10-10 early vs. the guy with QQ.

Well, I would recover. Picked off a guy when I raised light on the button with KK and had him shove with J10d. It held. Used very good position and my tight image to pick up several other pots. We were 11 handed for a very long time...and was starting to wonder if I would make it back to the final table again. We finally got to 10. Monkey beads went on. But for some reason, I didn't order Snap Monkeys. Not sure why...but I was having a very low bio-rythm day yesterday. Wasn't my usual chatty, crazy self. Didn't seem to matter though. I know Gary the floor/tourney supervisor was happy not having to deal with my antics. I know this because he TOLD me!

I carried a small stack all throughout the Final Table and pretty much was content to sit there and let big stacks duke it out, allow some others to make mistakes and whack themselves...and before I knew it we were down to 7. I had almost made $10k, had picked up 9 points, thus taking over the lead for the All-Around chase...and was putting myself in position to maybe make a deep run. No save deals had been discussed because me and the other shortstack (who I would eventually get Heads Up with) just had to small a stack to warrant that kind of talk.

Thats about the time my Rail Sweaters started showing up. Special thanks to Bryan Lanoix, Jeff Timms, McLean Karr, Maurice Hawkins, Jackson and Justina Niolet, Jennifer Chantnicki and of course Mike Terrill, among others...for coming out to support me. Their presence there seemed to help propel me at times.

At 6 handed I picked up a huge double up with Bryan over my shoulder. Aggressive English kid riased me (with K9) and I find As5s in the SB and shoved on him for my whole stack. The familiar fingers through the hair resulted. Bryan telling me "good shove, Monkey..." and we were all a little surprised when he called anyway. It held. Huge double up. Then on the next hand...the super tight guy from Switzerland shoved all in at cutoff and when I looked down at AK on the button I called his 450k shove. He turned over AQ. I held, and now suddenly I was 2nd in chips.

Thats when they stopped the clock and started working on a chip % save deal. I was very cautious about doing ANY deals due to the way I hosed myself on the last deal. But when they came back with the numbers, it seemed pretty fair for everyone. Jamaal (same guy from the last Final Table) was the current chipleader....and would get the most, $33k. I was second, and would get the 2nd most, $26k. The other five would get their share. It would leave 10k on top to play for...which meant, if I could win...I would end up with the MOST money this time...thus giving me the right to sign for 1st, get the most POY points, and take home the 'cheesecake.' I was convinced this was a good deal. That my backer would approve. So I agreed to it. Started looking like a pretty good idea too, because I hit the skids. One dealer in particular (another Asian dealer) pushed in and just DEMOLISHED my chip stack. We were 4 handed and no one could seem to find a way to knock out Amarillo Slim.

Slim's demeanor was funny. To a point. He likes to act like he is old and stupid. Constantly skirting the rules with his...."I raise" as he puts only enough out to call..then tries to go back for more. They call that a string bet, sir. And I don't care who you are (not going there with the niece 'thing' from a couple years back) you can't keep pulling the same shit over and over and get away with it. I managed to develop a pretty good line on him. I knew when and how to get him off of hands. I must have dragged about 5 or 6 pots against him when I went over the top of his bets knowing he had nothing. I was about the only one at the table who was abusing him on a regular basis. Everyone else he managed to get to fold when he needed to. He is still a pretty competent player. I was secretly hoping that him and I would get heads up...as I was CERTAIN I would destroy him heads up. Plus it would be fun for the game and the crowd watching. But he would finally go out in 4th.

Three handed, the little Asian dealer was giving me one horrid hand after another. I tried to steal a pot against Jamaal, and when half my stack of 550k went in on a river bet...only to hear Jamaal utter "I call" I mucked my hand that couldn't beat the board...and started coming to grips with the idea of finishing 3rd.

Then it happened. A new dealer pushed in. Timms, McLean and Hawkins showed up. And I went on an unprecedented TEAR! I could do no wrong. 10-10 would crush Jamaal's A9. There were in total, about 10 hands where everything went my way. I would take Jamaal out...again. Then I got heads up with the other guy, Dan I think his name was...and his DUCK DUCK hat (not sure what that was all about...never did ask). I could sense that this guy was scared shitless of me. He played very tentatively. He was perhaps the most easy read at the table...and we may have been heads up for only about 20 minutes before I limp/trapped him with KK to end the tourney. He was a very nice guy. In fact, pretty much the entire Final Table were good guys. No issues ever arose at this table. And of course I was pretty calm all day...so that helped! When the final hand was over...I was just sitting there with a permanent grin on my face. I was feeling so happy, so relieved, so....I don't know. That feeling when you are sitting there...the last one...with a lot of friends there with you, is just SO special. And these were guys who had no PIECE of me either...they were actually there because they cared about ME. And that felt DAMN good. That's what I was talking about yesterday and in other entries...knowing who your REAL poker buddies are. Not just the ones who want to get something FROM you when you are running good. Having them there made it that much more special last night. And then all the incredible amount of shoutouts on Facebook just added to it. Just a great, great night!

I now sit on a pretty commanding 36 point lead for the All Around.

I gave Maurice a ride to his hotel at Luxor, which took a ridiculous 35 minutes. Not sure why there was so much damn traffic. Probably saved him $40, which I was only to happy to do for him. He has been a really good sport about this race we are locked up in. We actually traded a 10% save on our finishes in that contest. Not a bad deal for either of us. I just hope one of us gets 1st, and the other gets 2nd. On top of it comes a really beautiful trophy that I really want. There are now only three events left, today's $550, Saturday's $1080, and the Main Event on Monday...a $5000 buy in. Not sure if I will play today. Kind of feel like taking the day off, but who knows? With these big fields, and time running out...I would almost rather just play everything I can...try to win as much as I can...get home, pay a bunch of bills, shoot my backer a fat check (for a change this year!) and maybe take a month off.

Can't decide whether to go up to Tunica or not. I guess I will see how many show up for those first few events before I decide to commit to that or not. Squirrel's brother and her nephews are coming down to Orange Beach the last week of July...he has expressed a desire to get together and golf, maybe I will just blow off Tunica and go over there and spend time with my new 'family.' I think it would make Squirrel happy.

I waited to call her last night until things had calmed down. She was so happy, and so proud of me. Wished so much that she was here, as did I! I think what makes me feel the most happiness is when I hear her voice after a win. She loves me the same, whether I am winning or losing...but when I win, all the pain and suffering that comes with tough losses and awful bad beats seem to cease to exist. I went straight to my hotel after dropping off Maurice, as I was mentally and physically exhausted. Also, I seem to have some kind of weird pain that I can't explain..

.

The night before last, I had this very dull pain in my right side of my back. It came out of nowhere, about 8pm...lasted about an hour. It stopped for a little while. Then it came back again around 11pm. It was freaking me out. A few people said it sounded like a kidney thing. That maybe I was getting a kidney stone. Someone asked if I had been consuming a lot of sugar. Huh? As in...drinking a TON of lemon drops??? Oh boy...really!?? Well, last night I was getting this terrible pain in my pelvic area. I don't feel it at all this morning, as I've just woke up. Not sure if thats good or not. But with all the horror stories I have heard about passing a kidney stone, I hope to GAWD that is not what it is. But then again....if that ISNT IT...what else could it be? Scary. Good news though is that I just went on Squirrel's health insurance, as a result of us being married. I see a plethora of trips to the doctor when I get home next week! I am having too much fun right now and running too damn good to just die!

Its now 8am. Almost time to trot out to the pool, to continue my assault on my killer Vegas tan! Then I suppose I can decide if I want to play today or not. Oh, almost forgot...KAI LANDRY's PREGAME (recieved one hour into the action yesterday) PEP TALK to MONKEY....quickly becoming a fan favorite!!!!!

Here you go:

"Monkey: Real nice picture of Amarillo Slim. Wow, he must have been really excited to run into you. Did he run off and get his camera too? No, it probably would have taken a while to set up with the tripod, thumb operated flashbulb, and the big curtain that falls over the photographers' body. I'm sure he thought you were Puggy Pearson, you fat, mongoloid bastard. If you wore plaid, you'd be a dead ringer. Take a good look at that picture, chief, because that's your future, no...that's you're PRESENT. I won't ask how the late-night Twister session in your room went with Amarillo, it's not my business how two grown, wrinkled men, one of them starstruck, behave in a hotel room...but I will say this: Return the man's rattlesnake hat and bolo tie, and maybe he'll return your dog-tag replica from "Wolverine." I'm sure at one point in the night in the dark cover of the hotel room, one of you stumbled across the obvious "raise!" joke, and the other giggled endlessly...ugh, I shudder to imagine the oil well jokes! Maybe if you weren't a persona-non-grata at the RIO, you could get a photograph with other Eldo-Americans throwing away their savings on the Slot machines. Just remember Monkey, old people hate you! They're no different from any other age group. Come to think of it, you'd be better off playing BINGO with the age-advanced in moldy, piss-stenchecd BINGO Halls than chasing after that Venetian Best All Around Player shallow dream of yours. Go....lose your tournament, and leave me the hell alone. I've got some serious pouting and sulking to get to." KAI LANDRY

Once again...classic shit from Kai Landry...one of my true friends in the poker world. I hate to say it, but Kai may have taken the top spot away from Allie Prescott in the Monkey Slamming department. And I truly never thought THAT would happen!!!!

Wow, two good, positive blog posts in a row...what is this world coming to?????????

Monkey