Ice Cold in Atlantic City

Both literally and figuritively!!!!

Picture that old dude out on the beach with a metal detector...you know that guy, right? Suspenders connected to shorts...pulled up to his chest...along with a skinny black belt. Long black socks. White loafers. Big black glasses that look like a welders goggles. Comb-over hairdo flapping in the wind...and then...suddenly his 'device' starts beeping.

What could it be? Gold? Hell no! Buried not too far down in the sand is another set of aces! And that old bozo in the bad-times outfit is me! I am the KING of finding ACES this week. There is nowhere for them to hide. I will find them!

Cue the theme music from JAWS.....duh duh....duh duh....duh duh duh duh duhhhhhhhhh duh duh....>GOTCHA!

Pocket Tens! No good. Pocket 8's! No good! Pocket Q's! Get outaaa here. Pocket Jacks. Pfffft. Beat it Monkey!

The last three days have sucked holy hell...and now, with 21 minutes left until today's 3pm Consolation Contest...I am watching that C-*-*-* Nancy Grace in her 'Swift Justice' show...just to torture my inner being...and flippin you guys a quickie blog so the emails and text messages asking me how I'm doing will stop.

Quick rundown. Oh but wait...who IS it good to be this week? Jesus Cabrera. Y'all should know Jesus. He has been hanging around the circuit for quite a few years now. Making little pops here and there but never really making a breakthrough win. Well, he almost did yesterday. In fact...were it not for Max Waxman (yes, the same one who I ran Jacks into Aces the other day in the 1k) hitting a set of 3's against Jesus' pocket 6's...he would be running around today wearing a Main Event ring. But instead he took 2nd place. But he has also collected a number of scores this week...so he is having an extraordinary event up here and I would think is a lock or close to win the Casino Champion title. Happy for him...he's a good guy. A bit loud, a bit crazy....but look who's talking, right!???

Yes, rundown. Main event for me...shitstorm. Lost 6k right outa the gate when I turned a straight...and pretty much echoed to the other guy that we were chopping when I called his raise. Then just checked the river. He fires out a ridiculous bet...and I figure he is just trying to steal a shared pot, so I call. Then I see a flush. Wait, what? Oh man. Wow. Yeah...nice start. So I grind my way out of that 6k hole for 5 levels, and finally get back over the 20k starting stack. Get a double up with AQ vs. 10-10...then win another decent pot and seem to be on my way.

Then I get friggin 'El Diablo'd' for the millionth time in my poker life. At 500/1000 this guy shoves 14k. I find AK suited and call. K10...flops 10. !*(&#@U!@#*O*)(. Now I am short...and end up shipping on a guy with AJ after he raised my BB with 10's. I missed. And was out.

Then I go downstairs and play the 8pm poker tourney down there with 61 players. It was paying 5. And with 6 left I was 2nd in chips. I lost AK vs 99. then I lose AK vs. AQ. then I lose A5 suited to 44 to finish me off on the bubble. That was pretty kick ass.

Come back the next day and play the 3pm tourney for $230. Get about half way through it with a decent stack. This guy who claims to be friends with Dwyte Pilgrim (later disputed by Dwyte) and who smells like he rolled around in a barn before coming to my table...limps on the button for 500. I raise out of the SB to 2400 with AQ. Flop comes J-7-5. I lead out 3000. He calls. I turn a Q. Whew. Now I bet 7500. He CALLS AGAIN! What the hell? I will tell you what he has now.....9-10. Yeah...the board is now J-7-5-Q. I have left 2800 chips in my stack. What would the river be? Why not an 8 for the straight? Unreal. And I was out of that.

There has been a lot of that crap this week. Its either someone making a retarded play against me and getting lucky...or me just finding AA like its my mission in life. This week, it fully sucks to be Monkey...but I am keeping my head up. The only solace is that I am only losing $200 here, $300 there...instead of $500 here, $1000 there. And I have managed to book a couple of winning cash game sessions, not a lot, but enough to keep me from losing my mind completely.

My roomate situation up here turned out to be a really good experience. This guy Jimmy that I met down in Biloxi is a really good dude. Only thing is, he hasn't won anything yet. He did win a satellite to get into the Main Event, but that doesnt count. Everyone that I've roomed with this year has made a big score. Maybe he's saving it up for the Big Main Event this Sunday! Hope so for his sake.

Cliff Lee shocked the sporting world and signed with the Phillies...which has this place abuzz. Lots of Philly fans around here. Also a lot of Yankees fans....so while they are all pissed...the Phillies fans are already talking about winning the World Series next season. That is some SICK pitching staff they have now. Wow! The other team kicking ass in free agency is Boston. Looking like those two are the favorites going into preseason.

Would like to thank the New York Jets for knocking me out of Jason Young's $100 Survivor Pool. I don't think I have seen a team look that bad on offense in awhile. There goes another $14k I won't be winning. Last week I was getting knocked out of the Loser Pool this other guy runs...that was good for $4k, when Oakland forgot to lose in San Diego. Well, I am still in my $100 Survivor Pool with 9 left...but I'm sure I'll find a way to donk that one off too somehow. My Bowl pool is now up to 117 entries with 4 days left to get in it. Looks like we might be heading for a record number in that deal. Here comes my fearless prediction for this year's Super Bowl. Y'all ready? And dont forget, I predicted last year's Super Bowl and almost nailed the final score.

NEW ENGLAND vs. NEW ORLEANS. Not predicting the winner or the score yet. But both teams are peaking right now. New England...once they got rid of Randy Moss, its like the whole team just came together like they do when they have always been successful, and with everyone on the NYJets bandwagon this season, I think for the first time this decade they have come out with a chip on their shoulder with something to prove. And in New Orleans...you can feel things starting to click, if they can get healthy on defense...and to a degree, on offense, and can maybe make up that one game gap on Atlanta to take the division title and the home field advantage, they could cruise to another NFC title. Atlanta keeps trying to lose but keeps getting let off the hook. There is nothing about that team that scares me.

Pretty sure I have given up on PCA this year. For a couple reasons. But mainly I just don't feel like being away from my wife and 'kids' for two weeks after having been gone a lot this fall. And since there is an event going on in my own backyard, what's wrong with just staying home? And it's real expensive down there in the Bahamas. Not real psyched about going off and spending a lot of money to kick off the year. So I think I will just play the event at the Beau Rivage. Was thinking about playing the first half of it then shooting up to Choctah in Durant, Oklahoma and playing the last week of that WSOP circuit event...but not sure about that right now.

Okay...its 3:02 now...that 2nd chance event is starting...and they give away chips early and often, so I don't wanna miss out on that, but I felt like I owed some of you an update so there it is. Really appreciate all of you who come up to me and tell me you read this and enjoy it. See ya on the felt!

Monkey