A TRIP TO VEGAS, AND ONE TO CHOCTAW COMING UP! SUMMER, 2021

www.gulfcoastpoker.net

Hi everybody! Hope you're all having a wonderful, safe summer. If you happen to be a kid still in school (unlikely-and if so WHY are you reading MY blog!!!??) or a parent (more likely) of a kid about to be going BACK to school, the summer is quickly coming to an end. Which as far as I'm concerned, is perfectly fine...because that means one thing!  FOOTBALL SEASON! It's going to be a pretty exciting season in Tuscaloosa with a handful of unknowns at several positions to find answers to. As for the NFL, well, I'll always be a Seahawks fan until the day they put me in the ground...but without Drew Brees around, it's going to be a little bit harder for me to root for the Saints. He was the one shiny object that kept me interested in them. I certainly won't be rooting for them very hard if Jameis Winston is their starting QB. I've hated that guy since college. Guess we'll see how it all shakes out. 

I would say I'm ready for summer to be over...so we can get into the cooler season, but all of us living in the south KNOW that would be a huge, fat lie! I've had my sprinkler system turned off since May! No joke. It hasn't run ONE TIME. I've never seen so much rain. Half of my yard I can't even cut with the riding mower because the ground is so soft it completely tears it up. So if I want it cut, I have to either delicately use the push mower...or in some cases, a weed-eater. Everyone is having all the same issues. I know one thing for sure...I better not hear ANYONE complaining about a drought for a LONG time! Oh...except for those 'nice folks' out west! I'm sorry, but maybe this is just a little bit the poker player in me, but I'm a heavy believer in karma. As far as I'm concerned, everything bad that is being thrown at places like Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, L.A., and a few other places out there...they've brought it on to themselves. 

Not sure if I mentioned it in my previous blog post...but over the winter I let my wife talk me into going in on a river house with her brother. He's got a wife and three boys, and of course they have a ton of friends, as well as relatives in the area. Meanwhile...we live 6 hours south, have only Carley...and might make it up there 3 or 4 times a year, max. They live 25 minutes from where the house is in Rogersville, along the Tennessee/Elk River. We are there right now...our second trip this summer. It's a quaint little place, but the property itself is fantastic. We are surrounded by really nice neighbors. My brother-in-law already had a really nice ski boat, so I chipped in for some nice used wave runners so the kids would have something to keep them entertained. I really didn't think (because of my bad back) that I would get much (if any) use out of them...but as it turns out, they are super-stable and really don't beat up the body as much as I anticipated they might. I've been out on them several times, mostly to pull the kids around on the big tube. About six years ago, my family rented a house for a couple weeks on Lake Chelan out in Washington State. I bought a wake board off of Craig's List while we were there, and actually got up on it and did a fair amount of wake boarding that week. So I brought the board (which I hadn't used SINCE that trip) up here to the river, and had hoped to be able to get up on it and do some boarding. Pffft. No such luck. I tried and failed about 5 or 6 times before I finally gave up. The next day I could barely walk, my hamstrings were destroyed!!! And my forearms hurt like hell too from all the failed attempts to get up. 

Who remembers my 'Ol Buddy Kai Landry?

Well, he came out to Vegas and got married!

It was a really great night! 

That's called....GETTING OLD! And it sucks! If I have ANY plans to be able to do that kind of stuff in the future I am simply going to have to get my ass back into the gym. Maybe one of the two that I'm being automatically debited each month for $20!!!! One thing I've learned about getting old; it's really easy to fall into a lazy routine. You start putting on weight. You find yourself wanting to take naps all the time. It gets harder and harder to get motivated to do little projects on your "To-Do" list. I've really been battling all of those things, and I need for it to END. Like...soon! There are things I WANT to do, in my spare time. And there really isn't anything keeping me from doing them...other than a lack of motivation. So I think once Carley gets back into school the first week of August, I'm going to get my butt in gear and start jump-starting my life!!!

POKER!  Why yes! Yes I HAVE been playing some poker. And in addition to that, I've gotten back to staking, and putting together staking/investor packages. It started with me getting a "hall pass" from Squirrel to go out to Vegas last month to play the big $10m guaranteed $10k buy in event at the Wynn. I stayed at Encore, and played the 3rd and final flight. Things were going pretty normally the first 4 levels. Win a few, lose a few. Hit a draw. Miss five draws. You know the drill. But after rallying from 12k (starting stack of 40k) back up to 46k...I literally picked up AA on the VERY next hand. From under the gun....I raised to 1100 (blinds 200-400 with 400 ante) and it folded around to this newish player...an Asian guy, who came with quite a few chips, and who had immediately been pretty active since he sat down. He had the button, so I guess in HIS world, that meant he needed to apply pressure to me with a 3-bet. You know...me, the seemingly tightest guy at the table, who'd been showing down nothing but mainly Top15 hands all day. He re-raises it to 3600. The blinds both fold. Okay. Cool. Obviously I'm going to put in a 5th raise here...though it would be fun to just flat and let him double me up with some wild play. I just managed to chip back up, and the last thing I wanted to do was "get cute" and screw myself. So I fired a warning shot over his bow...letting him KNOW that I had a huge hand, and that he might want to just fuck off. 

Well...he remained undeterred, even AFTER I bumped it up to 9800! He calls. Ugh. Here we go. Flop comes 10-high...with two diamonds. Pretty innocuous board for everything but a set of tens. I lead out for 12,500. And...truth be known? I'm never folding to whatever move he makes here. But when he instantly ships all in, I put him on either JJ (mayyyyybe QQ- but I think he would have put me all in preflop if he had queens) or AK suited...which is obviously the worst-case scenario there. I was wrong on both counts. He was clear on the other side of the table...and I didn't have my "up close" glasses because I had accidentally left them in a bathroom at Aria the night before. So when I looked at his exposed cards...I THOUGHT I was looking at AK. Which would have seemed pretty normal, and standard. I asked somebody, "Is that AK suited?" And they replied..."No man...it's KING freaking FOUR!???" And...trying not to be THAT guy (you know, Hellmuthiuan in my reaction!!!) I kind of blurted out...."what? King four!???? How the....." and before I could even complete the sentence the dealer slapped a fucking diamond on the turn. I was drawing completely dead to the river...which, adding insult to injury was another GD diamond. Fuuuuuuck ME! Fortunately, the other TWO players who I had raised money by selling shares to stake in that event, were both in close proximity to my table, and literally watched the hand play out. That always makes me feel a little better, because we all know how easy it is to just kind of embellish the telling of a bust out hand. Having witnesses gave me some sense of calm...as I picked up my bag, and zombie-walked to the elevator and back up to my room. 

There is NO worse feeling in poker, am I right? I can handle losing...but please, I beg of you, beat me with a hand that makes some damn sense. I hate plunking down $10k in a tournament where there are guys playing that kind of poker. That's a cash game play, as far as I'm concerned. Whatever. I lost. Time to root for the other two. I went and played PLO, and won a couple dimes. The next day, I went to Venetian and played the PLO tourney there...$600 buy in, I busted, rebought, busted again, rebought a 2nd time...and nearly ran that to the money. I went on a big heater...grew a nice stack...then got into a hand with the only guy at the table with a bigger stack when we were 3 from the money. I think he was chasing a weird draw of some sort against my top set (with a flush draw) when he hit a stupid gutshot straight he didn't even know he had. Yeah...THAT sucked. I was really hoping to snap off that tourney and take $14k back to my room. Well...I didn't. 

Instead, I went across the street to the new casino that just opened the night before, Resorts World. They say they spent 4.3b on the place. Frankly...I don't see where all the money was spent. I mean...sure, it was "nice" and all that. But $4.3b nice? I struggle to see it. The poker room was nice. Spacious. Good dealers. I ended up playing two sessions there. The first session went very well. Cashed out with a $3200 profit. The next session, a couple nights later, not so hot. Missed about every draw. Best hands never seemed to hold up. And THAT... in a nutshell, is Omaha for you! I lost about 4 dimes that second session. 

While I was losing all my early cash-game PLO profits, my other two players were trying to make a big score still in the Wynn Main Event. Jason Bond ran into some bad luck and busted at the end of the day. But Kristen Deardorff ran pretty pure the entire day and bagged up a nice stack. With around 1400 entries...she would end up making it to Day 3...and wind up busting out 94th for close to $32k. For all the investors who bought a share for $200...they all ended up getting $154 back per share. So they almost boke even. They proceeded to use a lot of that ROI on the next to staked events for Kristen, since she lives in Vegas. She played the $5k Main at Venetian, and didn't have any luck. Then she played the $2400 there, the following weekend...and bricked that one also. Currently, we are in the throes of what I've labeled "The 3-Prong Series Package."  It includes the $600 multi-flight Main at Orleans, then a $600 and another $400 at Venetian to round out the package. I sold a total of 96 shares, for $50 per share, to raise $4800...which covers 3 "bullets" in each event. She has had to use all three buy-ins for the first event, this weekend's $600 Main at Orleans. But on the 3rd and final attempt, she managed to bag $107k...and when she returns today, they should be real close to the money, hopefully she picks up some big hands early...and can grow that "M of 7" / 15 BB's to about three times that...and make another deep run. She certainly has the skills to make it happen. She's a player I really have no hesitancy to stake, for a lot of reasons. (1) she's a solid player  (2) she's great about posting updates on our Facebook Group Page...a private group I created just for the players, the investors, and their friends/family. No one else is allowed to view the group page.  And (3) she's very trustworthy...so no matter what happens, I know I am getting a photo of her buy in slip, and if/when she wins money...I know I don't have to ever worry about getting access to it. For the record...Jason is the same way. 

So I promised my wife and (more importantly) Carley that if I busted before my flight was scheduled to come home...I would change my flight and come home early. I kept my word. I took one day to relax, chill out at the pool, drink some frozen drinks...and then headed home. Well...lucky me, I get the driver who decides he's going to take the most leisurely drive to the airport in history. While I THOUGHT I still had plenty of time to make it...I was starting to get real nervous. We finally pull up with 40 mins before my flight is to depart. Okay okay...should be okay, plus I'm Diamond Medallion now with Delta...which I've been working for years to achieve, so they SHOULD cut me some slack if I'm a little late. NOPE! I get the Bitch From Hell. I think her name was Amy (probably spelled something like Aymey or something equally stupid) And she was in NO MOOD at ALL to be helpful. "You are late, sir. We aren't going to be able to check you in. We ask that you arrive at least 45 minutes before your flight! We're just going to have to rebook you for a later flight." I say "Um yeah, hi...Amy, the flight doesn't leave for 40 minutes. If you really can't get my bags on, I'm happy to take them through security, and check them at plane side. (which, in case you didn't know, is ENTIRELY okay...so long as your baggage will fit through the xray scanner, which mind do) I really don't feel like missing this flight." 

Nope. She tells me she has already given away my 1st class seat. I literally want to kill her. She rebooks me on a flight alright. The freaking red-eye! The flight she just booted me from was at 10:45am. Whatever. FINE! Can I please check my bags at least. NOPE! They won't check bags until 6 hours before the flight. Great! So I find a Centurion Sky Lounge (member via my American Express) and make it my homeless shelter for 7 hours...until they closed for the day. Then I went to the gate 4 hours before the flight...found a nice little cubby hole, and passed out for a few hours. The flight home was fantastic! I got lucky and got one of the newer planes with that newer Delta One 1st class cabin where you have basically your own pod...and the seats recline into an actual bed. I think I slept most of the flight home. Went from temperatures around 115 degrees in Vegas...to a monsoon in New Orleans when I walked out to my car!!! Quite a difference! And...since I've been home from that trip...it's literally rained almost EVERY day, as mentioned! 

Once home, I got back on my iPhone/iPad and started back in my PokerBros club. The latest popular game has been the 5 and 6-handed PLO Hi/Low game. But then they went and added another new game...DOUBLE BOARD! Talk about major action! So far, I've found most of the players in those double boarded games to be pretty shitty. I've run my account up a couple grand in the last two weeks. IN addition to those juicy cash games...they run some very decent tournaments. I just don't play as many tournaments as I would like to because I have a hard time carving out that much time to sit and play one. Maybe you'd like to join the club...and take me on!??? No problem...just be prepared to NOT screw over the friends of mine who run the club. They are a married couple who I've know for years, and who worked on the WSOP circuit for a long time. The network, as mentioned...is POKER BROS. The CLUB ID is 21699. And my REFERAL ID is 663632.  If you DO sign up...shoot me an email at ThePokerMonkey1@aol.com and tell me your handle so I can look for you when I'm playing!!!

So the other night, my wife asked me if I would mind if she took (yet another!) trip to the beach with her girlfriends in a couple weeks. I told her..."Okay, I'll make you a deal. There is a tournament I'd kind of like to go play next weekend. If you let me go play that, then I'm okay with you leaving for another 4-day weekend." She agreed! Much to my relative surprise! So...next weekend, I am climbing in my car...because flying in to Dallas, then renting a car, and having to drive a couple hours from THERE...seems stupid, and I'm driving to Durant, Oklahoma to play in the $3700 WPT Main Event there at Choctaw casino. It's been several years since I played up there. I liked the place, for the most part. So I called and got myself a room reserved, and am all set to go. Drive up Thursday. Bringing enough for two bullets...play on Friday, hopefully NOT on Saturday...then take it from there. If I happen to bust out, I drive home. Easy Peasy! The last time I went up there, I also drove. It was an easy trip. I've put feelers out with a couple of my poker buddies in hopes of finding someone (that I can tolerate for 8-10 hours in a car!!!) to share the ride up there with me. If not...no biggie, I'll just watch movies on my iPad while I drive like I usually do! I'm expecting a pretty good turnout.

As far as me playing staked or on my own dime? I put some feelers out to my current staking group, which consists of about 50 people, telling them I hadn't decided yet whether to play it for 100%, or 40% (if I sell shares, they will hold a 60/40 advantage). Well, I got a bunch of emails from people saying they would love to buy some shares if I DO decide to sell a package...so it looks like I will sell one for BOTH bullets. Then, if I bag on the first attempt, they will already get HALF their investment back! 

I was telling my wife that I don't so much miss poker, as much as I miss the feeling of the competition. I miss that feeling of making the right call...and a player mucking his cards. But most of all, I miss that feeling when all the players remaining move to the Final Table. Because at that point? It becomes like something I have played 2 or 3 thousand of in the last 15 years....a Sit n Go. Nine players. Lose, and your gone, and we all get more elbow room! I LOVE playing Final Tables! But the thing I love the MOST..is being the very last player at the table. Just me...and ALL the chips. I hate chopping...and will almost NEVER agree to it...unless its just the dumbest (economically speaking) decision to refuse chopping. I don't play for hours and hours...and even sometimes days...so that I can get to the Final Table, make some kind of deal, and call it a day. Screw that! 

And finally...I really discovered while on my last trip to Vegas, that I kind of miss the notoriety, the respect that I used to sort of hold in the poker community. It used to be I could sit down at a tourney table, and there was typically 5 or 6 player, minimum, who knew who I was. Knew I was highly-regarded, successful. I took it for granted back then. I think people in all kinds of fields probably do the same thing...taking things for granted, until they don't have it anymore...then they miss it. I miss it. More than the money. I don't really NEED the money now, like I did back then. Back then, I was playing staked...and needing a score to pay my bills. To survive. Now? Not so much. I just want to WIN! I want to experience that taste again. Bad! And I know...if I should put everything together, but fall short, say, finish 3rd, or even 2nd...it's just gonna motivate me even more. I hate losing. Always have. Whether it was sports, or school/grades, or job-related or poker...I f'ing HATE to lose. Granted...I certainly have learned how to handle losing a lot better than I used to! Thank god! Now it just burns me on the insides...without me showing my ass to everyone around me. Because lets be honest; poker? No one, I repeat NO ONE...gives two shits about your bad beat story. They don't really care about your flame out. No one. So when you DO lose? Just take it. Eat it. Bury it. Go find a nice quiet place, alone...and work it all out, mentally. Don't go find the first pack of poker buddies you can locate and whine to them about your bust out. Because...while they might act (and I mean ACT) like they actually give a shit? Trust me...they don't. At all! 

And in saying this? It's the same (at least now) for me when I win. I don't need anyone's adulation. I don't need to post a "sick brag" post on Facebook. Nope. The satisfaction is internal. I guess I've come a long way in that department. At least, in the way I'm perceived by others in the poker world. So yeah...there ya go! I now have a wife, a little girl, and her best friend...down there on the dock...wanting me to come down and play with them...tow them around behind the wave runner. Jump off the top deck of the boat house...about 15 feet high. You know...be "The Fun Dad!!" We've been here 4 days now. This is the last day. Home tomorrow. Then, a couple days to do some yard work, run some errands, then kiss my girls goodbye for what I hope is FIVE days!!! Some of you know, I run sports pools. I've been doing that for close to 30 years now. It's how I was fortunate enough to develop the vast network of people I have that make up my staking groups...and other investment "stuff" that I put together. Some players in the past have demonstrated some bitterness towards me, for the great "staking deal" I played under. Well...I wasn't about to feel bad, or guilty because I spent decades building a credible relationship with so many people that gave me opportunities like the one I enjoy in poker. And in fairness, I haven't made anyone what I would say "rich" but I have made a lot of people "some money" and they always get paid RIGHT AWAY! Which...if you are a poker player...and you're playing staked? You should make your number ONE priority! Don't make people who took a chance on you...have to go way out of their way to get FROM YOU...what is rightfully THEIRS. Those kind of people are a disgrace to this profession. And they keep other well-deserving players from GETTING those kind of opportunities. The more "good guys" there are in poker, the more chances other players will get from people with the finances to take a chance on them. 

So? Moral of the Story? Don't be a F'ing Douchebag!!!! Perhaps I'll see some of you up in Choctaw! Feel free to tap me on the shoulder, or shake my hand, and say "Hi!" It's always good to see either old friends, or make some new ones! Bye for now!!!

MONKEY

Remember When Poker Mattered?

www.gulfcoastpoker.net

APRIL 15, 2021  (picked back up and finished 4/20/2021!)

IT's TAX DAY!!!! Wheeeee!!!!! For those of you NOT under IRS audit, in which case...you have an excuse to NOT file YET....you better have your taxes done by midnight...or make sure your CPA has filed an extension for you!!!!

Yes. It's 2021! YES...I know! I haven't posted a blog in...lets just say FOREVER! I'm also acutely aware that I've become relatively irrelevant in the World of Poker. Over the course of the last 12-15 months I've made a few efforts to sit down and post a blog. IN fact...this was my LAST attempt. It might bring a little entertainment, even humor. Browse this snippet...then catch me on the other side! I am appearing today as a guest (why me??? NO idea! I'm flattered) on Bill & Gene's Gulf Coast Poker Podcast in less than an hour!!!

THIS WAS WHERE MY ATTEMPT at a BLOG UPDATE STARTED and STOPPED last JUNE!!!!!

Here we are, in June 2020. The WSOP is in full swing in its first full week out in Vegas, the MLB season is nearing its midseason point. In the NBA, we should have a new champion crowned this weekend. And the same goes for hockey...where someone will lift the Stanley Cup. What an exciting spring it's been! And how about that crazy finish in the Master's? Not to mention that amazing stretch run in the Kentucky Derby. I mean...is there anything MORE exciting than being a sports fan in the good 'ol United States of America? 

Yeah...that's the paragraph I SHOULD have been leading with after having not blogged in a number of months. In January, after the "Heater" at the Beau Rivage...I actually started a blog entry...and was pretty close to being done. Then I stepped away from my computer for a few days...and suddenly, the world started changing dramatically all around me. The more time that went by...the more irrelevant my "poker post" started feeling. By mid-March...I became resigned that I would never post that previous entry. Now, here we are...the first week of June...and we have graduated from one huge issue to another. Even while the first one is still going on. In the 53 years I've been living in this country...I'm not sure I've ever seen things more chaotic, more confusing, more frustrating and more divisive. Anyone who insists that they have the answers to all that ails us...is simply a fool. 

AND NOW....here we are!  A new year. A new president. A "new normal" that has been foisted upon us by a new administration, with help from a liberal media that simply can't bring itself to report anything that resembles honest news and/or information. Covid protocols still remain in place in some places. Deaths are still being reported nationwide, and worldwide. A vaccine was miraculously developed in record time...not just in America, but in numerous countries. I'm still perplexed by THAT simple fact. Despite a virus that 99.875% of people are expected to be able to defeat, we are being frantically urged (ordered?) to run out and get a vaccine that has been wreaking havoc with some of it's recipients, either with an unexpected side affect, or in some cases...even death! I'm in the camp of 40% of active Marines in this country...who are simply maintaining that they have NO reason to get a vaccine for something they are 99% certain to beat if they get it. Being young, and in the best shape of their lives...WHY would they EVER worry about a vaccine? I'm not getting it. I'm not letting my wife and child get it either. Nope. 

So the boys at Gulf Coast Poker have started a podcast on their website. They've asked me to appear as a guest today. Why, hell I don't know! I hardly play anymore. I WAS playing pretty regularly in a Pokerstars Home Game that featured a bunch of you players out there who I've known for years. It was entertaining...frustrating at times, but I had a bit of success on there. It went dark a month or two ago due to some concerns based on information that convinced the operators to step away from it. Understandable. NO need putting your livelihood in jeopardy if you don't have to. So aside from that...I'm a participant in some other online sites, and have been playing the app-based PokerBros, and am a....ahhhh what's that word? I always forget it. When you promote a site, and give out a referral code, so that you can earn a little money on the side? I should know that word...I've been "one of them" for several sites over the years. At any rate...I've been somewhat active on PokerBros...and actually made a pretty good chunk of change referring people to the poker club I play in. When I play on there, I lean towards the cash-game PLO6 Hi/Lo game...which is NUTS! I really don't like playing with THAT many cards...and that many WAYS TO LOSE...but getting a game going in the 4 or 5 card versions of Hi/Lo is almost impossible. SO I sit in on the 6-card version...and take my lumps. 

As for LIVE poker? I've been getting closer and closer to venturing out. I ALMOST ran up to Pearl River to play that main event. But things came up with the family that kept me at home. I've been eyeballing some events, one in South Florida...and one out at Venetian, to go get my feet wet again. The one thing that has me really interested, is the fact that nobody is playing 9 or 10-handed. I LOVE having elbow and leg room. And when these places are playing 7 and/or 8-handed...that's like a dream come true for me. I don't know how they are about rules and Covid-enforcement though...and I am NOT someone who likes being told what to do if the reason for doing it lacks ANY logic whatsoever. It's probably one of the things that drives me the MOST crazy. THINGS THAT DON'T MAKE SENSE!  I have NO problem following rules...as long as the rules make SENSE! I am not a f'ing sheep. I never have been. I never WILL be. It's caused me problems in my life. I know that. I've reconciled that with myself. I'm aware that being a "yes sir, no sir" guy might have led to me avoiding some of the bullshit that I've been subjected to in my poker career, and upon close inspection, and reflection with myself, I have no regrets. You only live this life ONCE. How do you want to be remembered? I cling to my morals, my ethics, my values, and my beliefs. I have what I consider to be a lot of pride. People have the right to agree or disagree with me. I've never been delusional enough to think that I would EVER make everyone like me, or even agree with my views. I'm not in the business of making people like me. 

Trust me, if I was? I would be in politics. I have a LOT of knowledge about politics. I have a lot of acquired experience in that field. Have a lot of connections in that world. Were it not for the path of destruction I've left in my wake over the last 30-40 years...I'd enter that arena. But with my checkered past, it would take the vultures in the media and in the political arena itself, to devour me within hours of dipping my toes into the political waters!!! So I operate on the outer fringes, contributing where I can to the causes I most believe in. It's true that 2020 was one of the biggest setbacks in my life...as it pertains to politics, and the overall health of our country. It's been a rough 2021 so far. I've had to pry myself away from the 24-hr cable news cycle...as it just leads to bouts of depression, frustration, aggravation, and deep contemplation about the future of our country. I think that were it not for being the father of a young child...I might not be as emotionally invested in the future of our country, from a political standpoint. I've been urged by several of my followers on Facebook to start a politically-based Podcast. Trust me...the thought has dawned on me many times. But I'll be totally honest...I'm scared. I've watched the way Big Tech has treated Conservative voices in this country just in the last 5-6 months...and it's terrifying. 

I've already seen weird things going on in my own life. I don't how much of it is circumstantial, and how much of it is due to my political leanings. I'm reading a book called "The War on Cash" and that has probably fed into some of my suspicions. I've actually read a LOT of books over the course of the last year...most of them from authors on the Conservative right. I try not to inundate myself with ALL conservative readings...so I balance that by reading newsletters from leftist publications...as well as daily briefings from the New York Times. Each side accuses the other side of being tone deaf, of being shut off to the other side. That they exist in an echo chamber. I've tried hard to welcome liberal voices in my own Facebook wall. (I am currently serving a 30-day Facebook jail term, 13 days from being freed...for engaging in a heated conversation with a diehard liberal on one of my own friends' walls...I made a comment that the libbie didn't like, reported me to the FB gestapo, and got me suspended for 30 days. Ridiculous) I would say I have 4 or 5 people I still consider "friends" who's views I wholeheartedly disagree with, however, I respect their opinions. I respect their right to disagree with mine. We manage to maintain a level of decorum. We manage to maintain a friendship. I'm of the opinion that this is something that is dying a slow death in our country, and it's sad. I think that Social Media...born around 2004...but not FULLY employed until right about the time Obama came into office in 2008, has been the leading cause for the dysfunction of how we get along in this country with our fellow Americans. It used to be...most people kept their political beliefs to themselves. And if they DID talk about it...they knew when to stop the conversation. 

NOW?  Whoa! Social media has basically empowered people, giving them this weapon (essentially) wherein they feel their opinion is a lot more powerful than it really is. The ingredients, that being social media, a liberal media overtly opposed to Conservative views/beliefs, racial divisiveness that has been promoted by those with their own agenda...all of this has led to a nation that is desperately trying to find itself right now. And lost in all of this, is how this has left us vulnerable to the rest of the world. 

Okay. I keep getting sidetracked...pulled into political talk. Sorry. This should be about poker right? I'm trying, I'm trying! Promise! 

Hey! How about my good buddy Joe Hebert!??? One of the truly good guys in poker who I've been really good friends with for over a decade!??? I've never been happier for a poker player's success than I was for him! Winning the WSOP Main Event...granted, it was under some whacky circumstances...still! Home boy beat EVERYONE! And won what? A million and a half? This is a guy who I've roomed with at poker events. A guy I've swapped "pieces" with at other events. We've done a lot, experienced a lot. We've had our ups, and we've had our downs. We had baby's just a month or two apart. We've been there for each other in times of need...emotionally, and otherwise. And he was on the short list a couple times to be on my WSOP Team that has quite affectionately come to be known as "Monkey's Minions!!" I spoke to him a short while after his win...probably one of the few people who didn't reach out to him with ulterior motives! As much as I like to try to see the good in everyone...there is an undeniable element in the poker community that prey on those who are enjoying success financially.  And one thing that is inevitable, any time you make a good score in poker: the moochers come out of the woodwork. 

Moochers are the worst. They will present themselves as "good friends" and tell you how excited they are for you, and how closely they followed you in your big tournament, as though THAT is supposed to have earned them some kind of reward from you....like, you know? Them sweating you had some kind of affect on your "run good" for that tourney. It's annoying. And it's so predictable. It's one reason I'm always hesitant to contact a friend after they make a big lick. I don't want to get lumped into that category. The 'moocher' category. Ugh. But, with some people...they just know that I'm not calling them to ask them for something. And that is in and of itself, a nice feeling...knowing you aren't being scrutinized in that fashion.

So I ran out of time to write this before we went live for the podcast. So I did 90 minutes with Gene and Wild Bill, then let a week slide by...and I'm back trying to finish this post. The interview was nice. Went really fast...and we definitely had PLENTY to talk about. I try really hard to NOT be long-winded in things like that. Sometimes its tough, but as I am a very critical viewer/listener of others' interviews...I'm always seeing/hearing things that I want to avoid if ever in that same spot. So yeah...I had a lot of that going on. 

What else is going on!?? Carley turns 9 this weekend. Crazy. She's halfway to being a legal adult and moving out. After taking piano for two years...she quit a couple months ago, much to my disappointment. But she has taken an interest in golf! We've been out a few times and she seems to really like it. Her Godfather...and my business partner and friend, Barth...got her a set of clubs for Christmas last year. For Christmas this past year...she took it up a notch. Just a NOTCH. She asked for a freaking golf cart. Huh??? Did you say, GOLF CART? The main shock...was that my wife didn't immediately shoot down the idea. So, umm...little girl is driving now. A red golf cart. Took her about 3 days before she slammed it into the corner of my shed...which caused the entire wall of bricks to collapse and messed up the door jam. Needing a little repair job there! But her driving has improved, no more accidents...and her and her buddies have really gotten a lot of use out of it. 

Both the bars are still open and doing well...despite all the COVID protocols, and interruptions in business. MY tenants in my rental homes are still my same tenants. So...stability! I'm still playing the investment game in online stock trading...a lot more these days then when I previously blogged. I've taken up a new hobby...as an investment vehicle, getting REALLY into buying gold, silver, platinum and even palladium rare coins. I've gotten Carley really interested in it too. I'm in the middle of trying to acquire every year and mint location of every Morgan Silver Dollar in circulation. Carley, after I educated her on it...did a presentation on it...to her 3rd grade class. She did great, I was really proud of her. 

With the economy being in the state that it's in...and the dollar being devalued every day with all these TRILLIONS of dollars that the democrats are pumping out...there couldn't possibly be a better time to invest in precious metals. The other thing I've got on my bucket list in the next few months is to fly out to the Bay Area to take a friend up on this 3-day workshop to learn everything there is to know about crypto-currency...so that  can get into that arena. Hypothetically...I should have started that a long time ago. But I don't like jumping into things that I don't have a workable knowledge in. And where crypto is concerned, I have none! So I'm going to change that...as soon as possible!

Bought a tanning salon back in July 2019 so that my wife, Squirrel...could finally, after 20 years...get OUT of the cocktailing gig at the Beau Rivage and do something else. There had been a lot of changes, not many of them good, at the Beau in the past 5 years or so, and the job was making her miserable. But she isn't someone who would EVER be content to sit at home spinning her wheels. It would drive HER crazy...and her being driven crazy would drive ME absolutely berserk! So an opportunity came up to buy this tanning salon. She knew the owner real well...and they worked it out where the gal would come in and train Cheryl...and be on call to help her with anything that came up. So we pulled the trigger. The first year was mostly learning the business...and implementing some upgrades to the business. Then when COVID hit...it was RIGHT before what WOULD have been her busiest time of year. SO that hurt a LOT!  We had just changed all the bulbs in all 8 beds (pricey!!!) and bought her a Spray-Tan machine...which everyone was requesting. So we definitely took a big loss in 2020. This year has obviously been a LOT better.

In addition to the business just being better, she won an online poll run by...mmmm....sorry, I don't know!! Maybe the radio station? But out of 5 places that were nominated, she won the BEST TANNING SALON on the Gulf Coast!!!! I was so happy for her, and proud! And for the last month she has been absolutely SLAMMED. For winning, I guess she won a bunch of free advertising and some other stuff. I think the best thing that came from it though was a boost to her self-esteem...as she's poured all of herself into that venture. So it was basically a form of validation for her.    

Alright! How's that?? Is that enough!?? I haven't posted in so long, the last thing I want to do is drown you all!!! Besides, it's sunny out, and I really don't think that yard is going to cut itself!!!

MONK