Great Week for Hoops...Poker, Not So Much!

When Isaiah Thomas' last second fall-away jumper ripped through the hoop in overtime against Arizona...the mission was complete! My Huskies, for the second year in a row, had won the Pac-10 Championship in LA this weekend...and an automatic bid into the NCAA tourney, again. I was starting to sweat a little when they faded a bit down the stretch, but three wins in a row, two of them over tough teams...cemented their spot.


It was a great game that ended with a back and forth 3-pointer contest...I was stressed out thinking we'd blown the game, and while taking 2 and 3-outers in my online poker tourney...and feeling pissed about THAT...thought we were about to blow the game.


Didn't happen! Victory is ours! Then I see the brackets today. Holy crap...what a lousy draw. The 'Bracket of Death' was where they dropped us...with North Carolina, Ohio State, Kentucky, Syracuse, West Virginia (who knocked us out of the Sweet 16 last year) and Villanova ALL in our bracket...easily the toughest Region of all four. Well...I guess if you're gonna win the whole thing you have to beat the best to do it, right?





So now I'm sitting here thinking...'Hmm...do I wanna take off on some poker trip right smack in the middle of March Madness? I've got my main Bracket Pool, which last year had 418 entries...then my Sweet 16 pool, which had 122 entries...and then the Squares for the Title Game Board...which I've almost already filled the first board for.



Then...right as the Final Game in Houston is played...that Thursday the Masters begins...and my Masters Pool which just gets bigger every year. So I almost feel like just chillin out at home. By the way...if you would like to enter any of my pools...and you're...ahem, in good standing with me...shoot me an email at ThePoolMonkey@aol.com and I will get you the invite and info.



Now down below I have posted my FIRST bracket! Is this the winner? Who knows? Doubt it! I have never won my pool...which is going on 15 years now...this guy Greg Pike's pool...who I used to work with at TBS Sports in Atlanta, and I've been playing his now for 17 years! Just once it would be a thrill to take this sucker down!!!! I will end up filling up somewhere around 30 brackets all together.

Online poker has been one big kick in the nuts all week. Ever since posting a $4k Sunday last week, I have done nothing but get torched. Its so annoying. I tried to dodge the 'cashout curse' by not requesting payment...well, that strategy really worked great. Pffft. I've lost 30% of what I won in just a week...with some of the stupidest, craziest shit you've ever seen.

But why explain it or describe it? We all play online, we all see the same shit. It sucks. So today...after I logged on at 2:30pm...and getting KK in my first hand...only to raise UTG with it...get called by the SB with K8...flopping J-8-8....and going broke on the first hand, I should have seen this as a sign to sit out the day.

Naw. We'll just 'play through the slump' instead, right? Yeah...sure. I cashed a couple times, but min-cash all three times. Had the chiplead in a $12/180 with 16 left...and get bitch slapped three hands in a row, to go out 16th! (nice!) Then in the Sunday Million...I was cruising along...chipleader at my table for most of the first two hours. Then...what else...get QQ behind a guy who's been opening about every 3rd pot. I re-raise. Some Euro-Pro Babe who I'd never seen before wakes up with fucking AA in the BB and I don't have any fold equity. BOOM! half my stack. And it just got worse from there, losing AK to AQ...then ran JJ into KK. Super.

In the one I got real deep in...which was only $2.75 but had a first place of around $4000...I was sitting in about the top 20% when I get AA. Nice. At 1k/2k I raise to 5500. SB calls. Flop comes 2-2-J. Nice. He checks. I bet 6k. He calls. ??? AJ? Turn is a 7. He checks. I bet 8k. Calls again. What the hell? River 9. He bets...he only has a little left. I put him all in. He has...what else? Pocket fucking nines. jeezuz. I was out on the next hand.

Nice four hours of my life that will never return again. So stupid. It would be so incredibly awesome if I could just play online like I play everywhere else and have the same basic results. I swear to God...I would never leave my house.

The rake is SO much better. The travel and hotel costs would be non-existent. I would never have to be away from my wife and dogs. I could work out a lot more often. I could go to the beach whenever I want. And last but certainly not least...I could completely avoid all the ridiculous politics, drama and back stabbing that takes place on the live tourney circuit.

Oh...and there is never a mis-deal, never a blown floor call, you see a shit load of hands online. It just sucks because there is SO much to LIKE about playing online...on top of the list...the value! But the damn play is just so fucking bad...it drives you bananas! And then you have that 'ol question...is it rigged? Are there cheaters? Do they favor certain players? Their are questions that you will never get the 100% correct answer to. So we all sit down at our computer...pay our buy in...and hope for the best. It couldn't be any more comfortable and convenient...but jeezuz, for your mental health, I don't think there is anything worse!

Holy SHIT! How sick is this Earthquake/Tsunami in Japan?!! I sat, riveted, watching the coverage all Friday night as it was occurring...and was waiting to see if anything happened to Hawaii and/or the US west coast...since I have family in both San Francisco and Seattle. It was a bit nerve-wracking. Luckily they all were safe. But the people of Japan...oh my God! And as if the damage was bad enough, they are now facing the horrible reality that four of their nuclear power plants might be about to meltdown. Holy crap, eh? I mean...if that happens? I'm pretty sure Japan is toast...I mean, literally, TOAST. Imagine what THAT will do to the world's economy! I feel terrible for those people. Watching the news and seeing the aftermath, it was pretty similar to what we witnessed here when Hurricane Katrina wiped us out 5 years ago.

I don't know what the hell is going on with our planet...but its getting pretty scary. This prediction by the Mayans that we are set to expire in 2012? Maybe there is something to that. Guess we'll find out pretty soon, won't we?

The earthquake kind of tore the Libyan crisis off of the front page, but they are still duking it out over there...and gas prices continue to escalate. Obama is talking about tapping our Stategic Petroleum Reserve...which is nothing but a bargaining chip to get those clowns at OPEC to increase their output to stabilize the barrel cost. Personally, I hope that gas drops to about $2.80 a gallon the week I drive to Las Vegas for the summer....skyrockets to $5 a gallon while I'm there (and makes me thousands with my oil stocks!) then drops back down to $3 before I leave! Okay...that might be a little unrealistic! But I'm allowed to dream!

I've got two different people hunting for houses out in Vegas. I have immediate rental needs...and on the back burner, the possibility of a home purchase out there...along with two, maybe three other player/buddies...to use as our 'Poker Plaza' while we are there, and a rental/investment property the rest of the time. One of the gals I met through Facebook, and the other girl is a dealer at Venetian...so its nice, the whole Social Networking aspect of finding things you need in life. I have to admit...Facebook has really changed, or rather...impacted, my life. For the better mostly.

Anyway...I think we are getting real close to locking up a really nice place for the summer. I'm excited to have a house again...last summer, staying at the IP...I was pretty miserable. Being froze out from the WSOP didn't exactly help much either. Even if they blackball me again this year...it won't keep me from having a great summer, if we get a nice house with some great people sharing it with us. A pool, a hottub...a yard...good friends...what else do you need to recover from a bad day of poker? Whether it was at Rio, Venetian, or friggin Binions? The answer? NOTHING.

I'm currently watching 'The Hangover' with Squirrel for like, maybe the 15th time...and I swear go God...it gets funnier everytime I watch it. Can't wait for the new one.

We spent the entire day in bed...after a fun night out with her friends. We did hibachi and sushi at Saki in Ocean Springs...then we went over to a new place in downtown Ocean Springs called 'The Office' who one of her girlfriends from the Beau Rivage works at. Jessica...who I have annointed the title of 'Worlds Greatest Cocktail Waitress Walker' is a bartender there. The place was packed...but mostly with 21-28 year olds...so I got a lot of looks from them...you know the looks, right?

"Hey...who brought their Dad?"

Yeah...but for those of you single guys in your 25-35's...this place is really worth checking out. There was a lot of nice tail in there. Live music. Good location. Cool place.

After that we went to 'Venues' across the street from the Beau...and met a lot of people there as well. Squirrel went from 'sober as a judge' to 'whoa what the hell happened to Squirrel' in the time it took me to go to the bathroom and watch like two clips on CNN about the Tsunami. It was actually pretty funny...and she handled herself, well...better than usual!

All in all, it was a nice weekend. Probably should have got out and mowed this backyard that keeps getting longer and longer is now, pretty sure...nothing but weeds. I would drop some weed and feed on it...but the last time I did that, it pretty much killed the whole yard and I had to listen to Cheryl gripe about it for two months. So...I don't know...just keep mowing the weeds that pose as grass? Or kill that shit?

The iPad2 is out. Its March. I guess everyone was right. Wait until March, Monkey...when the new iPad comes out. Dammit. I kind of wish I had waited...but then again, I just downloaded the new operating system to my iPad and it hit me with a lot of the new features. Plus...now that Squirrel and I have gotten addicted to 'Words With Friends' and sit here playing each other...passing the iPad back and forth...and as she gets more and more dialed in on all the apps and stuff, I'm thinking if I have another decent score somewhere down the line...I might have to spring for the iPad2 and give her mine. Lighter...faster, longer battery life...cooler cover/stand...yeah...I've got that techno-itch again!!!

So...okay, think I'm done blogging tonight. Definitely not one of my funnier blogs...and for that I'm sorry. But some of you actually just care what the hell is going on in my boring, stupid life. Like my Mom! So there ya go!

March Madness....I'm ready!

Go DAWGS!

MONKEY