Thank God for the Cash Room!!!!

Never thought there would be a day that I uttered those words. But you heard me right.

Arrived on time yesterday. Had a tough table. Things started awful. On the third hand in me and a guy get about 2k in a pot both holding two pair, him A4 me A3. Not a good way to start. I was missing EVERYthing early. I was down to 3200 and beginning to lose hope.

But then things turned around. I started getting some hands and actually played them right. A guy in the 3 seat, who looked just like Beavis had been making me crazy all day. This guy was so predictable. 2 or 3 limpers, he would raise 5x. If he got a caller...and that caller checked the flop, he would fire out a pot size bet. Automatically. If anyone re-raised him, he would almost always fold. I was developing my strategy.

The first time, I limped with AQs. Two others fell in behind....thats when he did 'his thing' to which I shipped all in when it got back to me. "Too much Monkey," followed by him folding. Then I called his terroristic raise on my BB with 55. Flop came 2-3-6. I check. He fires. I raise him 3x. Fold. Yup.

Things were looking up. I was back up to 10k. Then TK Miles gets moved to my table. TK and I have a strange relationship. We aren't quite 'buddies' but we are relatively tight. But at the poker table? He will take my chips in a heartbeat. He is a tough opponent. Likes to raise often. Likes to put pressure on the blinds. Just glad he was on my left and not my right. Well I get a great moment to get into his stack of about 25k but it doesnt materialize.

I am sitting in the SB with AA. The guy on the button LIMPS for 300. Ohhhhhh wow! TK is NEVER going to allow that to happen. No reason for me to raise here. Cuz I know TK will. I just complete to 300. What does TK do? CHECKS! Dude! Flop comes J-6-6. Nice. Two pair. I check. Check, check! No! This is not going well. Turn is  freaking J. Come on! TK bets 600. Button folds. I call. I check dark...a good play there, I think. TK just says, kind of chuckling..."6 is good Monkey..." but when I show AA he laughs even harder....knowing what I was attempting to pull off.

Our table breaks shortly after that. Following me from the table to the next table is Justin Allen's chip stack. Thats right. Not him. Just his chips. Why? Because he is currently at the Final Table...which he would end up winning. Yeah. From sucking out on the river against me and my 10-10 the night before to winning the tournament. Thats how it goes in this game. You are always one river card away, it seems from either winning the whole thing or having your heart ripped out and losing. Granted, Justin is a very good player, and I am quite certain he made a lot of good plays along the way to winning...but it just hurts I guess, knowing that had those chips gone my way I could have very easily been up there doing the same thing he was. But oh well, I have had my share of days like that...and will have more in the future.

Or will I? I got this message on here this morning that I refuse to publish because the guy wouldn't sign his name to it. It was a pretty cowardly statement the guy made. He focused on the sentence where I mentioned taking it easy on some guys I like yesterday...and not going after ALL their chips. Called me some pretty choice names. Tells me I suck as a player. That my backer is a few not very nice names for backing me. That I will be broke and looking for a real job within two years. He gurantees me this. Tells me I am a lousy online player simply because I am a lousy player, not because I run bad on there. That I only win live tourneys because live players suck so bad. Yeah, it was pretty nice stuff. Not even really sure how exactly to respond to him...so I don't think I will. I just wish I knew who it was. Another person who can't say this to my face...so they post it on here without a name. Thats very manly.

So anyway. We are into Level 6 and I am really needing a double up. We are getting down to about 40 players...from 106 starting. A double up and I can start to think about a win. It wouldn't happen. From UTG I raise wtih AQh. I had that hand about a million times yesterday and hadn't won with it yet. I get called by both blinds. Great. The flop comes 4-7-8...two hearts. They both check...and I say..."Well, if you guys check raised me here with a set, you got me....ALL IN!" To which the SB says..."Sorry Monkey...I call..." and turns over a set of 8s. Shit. I told him "nice hand man...nice play....good luck...." and took off. Disgusted. I did have another fun day of poker though. The whole week was really a lot of fun. Ran bad all week after winning those two Omaha tourneys (1st and 3rd) but still had a real good time.

Well, I would wait around and then play the 4pm $340 Mega. Started great...winning the first two hands. Then on hand #4...I pick up KK. Sweet. Guy behind me limps. I raise. Get two callers. Guy behind me RE-RAISES. Uh oh. I just call. Flop comes 9-8-4. He checks. ??? I bet 250. He just calls. Strange. J on the turn. He checks again. What is going on here? I have to think now he has AK. Right? I move it in. He calls and shows me his AA. Good lord. Again? Everyone have aces against me this week? I double him up. Leaves me with only 325. Which I get up to 2300 by being sneaky and ninja-like. I am feeling the comeback of the century coming. But a couple of bad hands take me back down to 1100 at 150/300...and I have to ship it with A7d. I also have to piss like a mother...so I go all in, and protect my hand. Im either coming back to a double up..or nothing. I can see by the looks on their faces, that I lost...and might have lost ugly. I did. The sideline reporter (not Erin Andrews unfortunately) tells me I turned a flush...only to be rivered by a boat. Hey! Just like last night. How awesome! So that was over.

Started to turn my attention now to the Lenny Kravitz concert. But it was only 6pm. Might as well go with Dan Walsh to the cash room and see if there is an Omaha game. There wasn't but we started one...with Morty (from...where is he from?) and Keith E. and some woman named Meredith who didn't know what she was doing. Ooops. I bought in for $400. We were playing high for a round and Hi/Lo for a round. Things got ugly very early. Dan and Keith would get into a hand together...and on the turn Dan feigns to shove all in and Keith just shouts out I CALL before Dan gets his money in there. He tries to pull it back out. Keith freaks out. A little too hard. Then it got ugly. Floor was called. They rule that Dan hadn't released his bet yet. Keith freaks out some more.

Keith is quickly getting this reputation. Actually, he may already have had it a long time ago...but I was never as aware. He has a lot of people that just can't stomach playing with him. I've never heard it as much as this week. And I feel bad because he is a friend of mine. I even have poker room managers telling me 'yeah he has been a real pain in the ass for my staff all week....they are really getting sick of him.' Its not a good thing. And on about 4 different occasions during this game I found myself wanting to punch him in the nose. I don't get too wrapped up in wanting to bust people. I just want to win a little money, have some fun...and go on about my way. I know how much it sucks losing everything you have in front of you...so I really try not to clean people out. Keith lives for it. We were playing pot limit...and Keith loves to come up with the EXACT number that can be bet. And God forbid the dealer should get that number wrong...Keith is there to QUICKLY correct the person. "POT! ONE TWENTY FIVE!" "POT!!! TWO TWENTY EIGHT!"

And the plays he was making sometimes were just stupid. We were in a high/low round. We had three players in. Me, him and this other guy. A nice guy who had just gotten creamed. He would suck out on me the hand before and win back about $120...which I had no trouble giving him. He needed and deserved it. Plus he was a nice guy. So on this next hand...I either flopped quads or turned quads, cant remember...but obviously at no time was I folding. Well, I am betting out like $25...when I could have bet the pot. But why bet the pot? With three in...you want to bring in as much money as possible...in the event of a high/low chop. Why chase the third guy out? Well, Keith does just that...potting the damn thing. Sigh. Nice play Keith. He has a low draw. A nut low draw. Big deal. About three times he pulled that move, potting with a nut low 'draw,' and chasing out other potential donors. Well I didn't fold there of course. And when he completely bricks his low draw on the river...he ends up shipping me close to $500.

This game went very well for me. I cashed out for $1900 in just over 1 hour. Paid another $60 for an hour massage, which by the way has gone down in price now to just $1 per minute. Sweet. I gave Morty back $35 to get him back to even on his session...after dealing him a rough blow a while earlier. I like Morty...hes a nice dude. I had no problem getting him square. I almost threw Dan a hundo too, but I know he will get it back...which, according to my text messages at 2am is exactly what he went back and did!

So then we went to the Lenny concert. Squirrel couldn't get off of work to join me. So I took Dan, who really wanted to go. Thanks again to Jim Sterling for the tickets. Ended up meeting up with Claw and some other friends and did some drinking pre-concert then went to the show. It was a kick ass show. Lenny is a great live performer. And his band is amazing. The dude who played the saxophone was phenomenal. During the concert...some girls who were sitting next to me, and really thought there were something else...but were anything BUT...were joined by a guy who almost caused me to fall out of my chair. It was like seeing a ghost.

A few years ago, one of Cheryl's best friends started dating this guy. I won't mention his name...but  a lot of you locals probably would know his name...as would a lot of the local authorities. Simply put, he is a very bad guy. Has done a lot of time in the slammer. Well, he did a lot of beating on this girl. And just tore her down emotionally. At one point she moved to Vegas to escape him. But he went out there and tracked her down. Then one night there was an altercation where Squirrel got involved and ended up with him spitting in her face. I didn't know what to do. This guy is about my size, but crazy. And I am guessing a pretty good fighter. I didn't exactly want to die. I walked a very thin line with this guy for two years...choosing to just stay silent. One night at a club in New Orleans, the owner, a friend of ours...had given us a private booth/room to ourselves. This guy was with our group. When Cheryl and I went out to dance for a few songs...we came back to our booth. Cheryl went to buy us some drinks and noticed that her wallet was missing, along with $450. Great. We were all pretty sure we knew where it went. But what could we do? Accuse him and have him go ape shit?

So yeah, this guy pops up last night. And it was eerie. When he figures out who I am...he makes the mistake of saying...'oh yeah didnt you use to date that fucking cunt cheryl, who was friends with *****"? Uh...yeah, I did. "Whatever happened to that bitch!??" "Well, that bitch is now my wife." "Ohh, dude, Im sorry man...I didn't mean any disrespect dude." Yeah, I kind of didn't take it that way at all. Wow. I just let it go. What could I do? Plus he looked like he had put on about 30-40 lbs since I'd last seen him and was acting even crazier then ever before. He leaves. Then the girls leave. About 15 minutes after they left he comes looking for them. Comes up behind me and about knocks me out of my chair, smashing his hand against the back of my neck...my neck which has been fucked up all week. I cringe...and turn to see his face. "You okay man?" "Uh yeah dude, I've just been seeing a chiropractor all week to try and fix my neck and back...but please...feel free to hit my other side." Like a caveman this guy. Wanting to know where his girlfriends went. I dont know dude...they went THAT way...pointing to my right. And he was gone. Not a moment too soon.

Was telling the guys with me the story about him, and told them...and I meant this..."if there was a way I could put two slugs into that guy...and not worry about getting prosecuted, I would. And I wouldn't feel bad about it." Thats how much pain and misery this guy has dispersed to the human race...enough so that I would feel no remorse in sending him to a place he could no longer do what he does. He makes my skin crawl. And knowing what he does to women? Just makes me sick. Anyway....other than encountering him...it was a really nice evening.

After the concert I went to meet Jason Bozzzz at Chill and Jim Sterling...but I didn't see them anywhere. Didn't feel like playing any more poker, so I sat down at a little $5 blackjack table, where I met up with Tim Burt. Him and I played for a couple of hours...and drank some tequila. I actually WON money playing blackjack! Yeah! I know! Crazy right!???

Then called home and found out Squirrel was home from work...so decided to call it a night. I was invited by a bunch of people to go to Hard Rock...but I only have a couple more nights to spend with my wife before going to Vegas and would rather be home with her...so off to home I went.

It wasn't a great day. But it was far from a bad one. I am excited to get out to Vegas and play in these 450+ fields and try to win some GOOD money before the holidays arrive. Although...according to that one anonymous poster, I suck at poker...so I am sure by the time I get back from Vegas, I will be broke and without a backer...and looking for a job.

MONKEY