Happy Easter!!!

This is one of those holidays that would obviously be a lot more special if I had some children to celebrate it with. Waking up to their faces when they discover their Easter basket that Squirrel had created...and then watch them scurry all over the house searching for the eggs they had painted the night before. Then taking them to church later so they could also grow up understanding the meaning of Easter. But unfortunately, we don't have that in our world yet. So for all of you who DO...I am both envious, and happy for you...and hope you all have a wonderful day!

I am holed up in my hotel room right now at 6pm. I slept til 4 today. Why? Because I was busy having one of my best cash sessions of all time. Well, in a $1/$2 game. I have had a couple of $2/$5 sessions where I won between two and three thousand...but to cash out of a 1/2 game with $1986 after buying in for $200...was pretty incredible. I got on one of those two-hour heaters where you just never miss a board. Where every bluff makes everyone fold...with them assuming that 'I must have it...since I always have it.' Every time I would raise...they would ALL call, trying to get into my stack. It was incredible.

It's a good thing I had that great cash game run...because my tourney day SUCKED. I played the first event in the big Hard Rock Live concert venue, that the WPT crew showed up and got running. The first event was a $560 buy in...and attracted 362 players...a nice turnout, with $44,000 for first. I had a miserable tourney. I got AK five times in the first three levels, and never won with it. Had a table with 5 very good players, and 4 horrendous players. I kept losing to those guys.

So when we reached level 4...at 100/200...and my 10k starting stack sitting at 5500...I wasn't panicking or anything, but was certainly ready to find someone nice/generous enough to shoot me a little 'CDU' to get me healthy. So when this kid raised under the gun to 600 and I looked at AA...I decided this was my chance to get that double up I'd been looking for. I flatted the raise. In retrospect, it wouldn't have mattered if I had raised to say 1500-1800'ish...the kid would have called me anyway with QJs. There was a girl in the big blind who was very short...and she called the raise too. The flop came Q-J-5 and she moved all in for about 1600. The kid called. And I moved all in for my whole stack. He snap called and I saw the bad news. Damn! And of course, why would I improve? So gross. If I win that hand...I'm in pretty good shape, and cashing that tourney wasn't going to be too difficult. When I went out...half the field was already out...that's how bad they play down here. No way there should have even been 60 players out in Level 4...but these clowns love to go broke with top pair...or bluff off all their chips after missing their draw. So yeah, I was pretty bummed.

So what to play? There was a $1080 event...that I think they must have added to the schedule. It consisted mostly of some really good players like Matt Brady, Allie Prescott and some others, or guys who had busted the $560 from earlier. There were only 46 players. I liked my chances. It was the same excellent structure. So I bought in. I got off to a pretty good start...winning more than losing.

We got to the 150/300 level..and a guy who raised my blind nearly ALWAYS...did so again, and I called with A9c. The flop came 9-6-2 rainbow. I checked the flop, attempting to check raise...and he checked as well. Damn. The turn was an ace and I had to assume I was good there. I bet out 1500. He raised me to 4200. I re-raised all in..and he snap called...turning over his set. Ugh. Punch in the gut. Damn.

"Nice hand, man...good luck guys...." and I slinked out of there. The bad news was that I was 10 minutes too late to get into the 8pm $30k guarantee $125 buy-in that had another huge field. Or was it? I might have played that for 5 hours and bubbled, or min cashed. Instead I left the Hard Rock Live, went back over to the poker room, chatted with Allie and Mike Beasley, where I found out the plans to go to Scarlett's had been scrubbed (much to my dismay) and sat down at the $1/$2 table next to them and got to work. And by now you know how that story ended.

Had another delightful exchange of emails yesterday with Chad Burns. And by delightful, I mean ridiculous. He has taken to calling my wife a big, fat ugly gorilla. Yeah. Says she is the ugliest piece of shit he has ever seen. This is how I know that this dweeb has to have mental issues, now. At first I just thought he was a short prick. But now, its pretty clear that he is just insane. For those of you who have seen or met my wife...you are laughing along with me. I am way over my pay grade when it comes to landing a hot wife. To listen to him...well, I know how 'good of a hand I have!'

It was the source of a bit of a hostile rant by my wife yesterday, and not towards him. Towards ME! She suggested that any further waste of 1 ounce of energy with this orange troll is just foolish, and makes me look bad, kind of lowering myself to his level. As always, I have to admit that my wife is right. She usually is. But its just so hard to resist the temptation to respond to the utterly moronic shit that he spews. But I guess I will take her advice.

I am, however, going to keep my word on one thing. If I do ever see this scrub, and we AREN'T in a casino (where I wouldn't want to deal with the repercussions) I am going to just walk up to him and smash him in the mouth. Without saying a word to him. I know my wife might frown on that...but sorry, no one is going to say the things this twit has said, especially about my family, and escape without some kind of repercussion. Maybe he will just manage to avoid me. Or hell, I don't know, maybe someone else gets to him first. I would love to know how this psychopath made it to the age he has made it to.

My fantasy baseball team SUCKS! And I can't figure out why. Maybe because none of them are hitting. Its getting pretty annoying.

I keep having dreams about my dogs. Squirrel tells me Mollie, the little one...keeps turning up missing. She keeps finding her all balled up in the back of the closet where my clothes are. Ahhh....she misses her Daddy! I had a dream the other night that we were out in the yard and she ran in front of a car and got hit...oh man, I freaked out...and it caused me to wake up thank god.

Ive been here, in sunny South Florida for two weeks almost. I arrived tan. I am now pale. Whats up? That is stupid.

I am getting more and more addicted to Whopper Jr's with cheese. This can't be a good thing. But they are so freaking good. Dammit!

I am trying to finalize this deal I have with an internet site. I figure with the 100 people in my Homegame, the 6500-8000 hits from you people I get on here every month...and my deal with Bustout Poker and the folks who access that site, as well as the close to 2000 people on my pool distribution list that I have...and with the three poker giants being shut down in the US...I have a golden opportunity to attract a nice, healthy throng of players to their site.

I have been getting beat up by people's emails lately asking me where they can play, well...if I can get things finalized with these guys, I will have a major announcement hopefully in the next couple of days. The big hangup for me right now isn't even in the terms of the deal, they basically offered me a pretty nice deal last fall after my 45 days of kickass poker success...I was just wanting to wait on a few things first. The big hangup for me is making sure that if I send out a massive e-vite to everyone, and to you readers on this blog, with a fat deposit bonus, and a possible juicy rakeback deal...that you can all be given a nice, easy way to fund your account...and can be assured of a smooth transaction when it comes time to cash out.

I just want to make sure that my affiliation with an online poker site is one that doesn't lead to a lot of you being pissed off at me if something should go wrong. Ya know what I mean? So stay tuned for this potentially great news.

When is the NFL draft? How awkward. Are these guys going to show up for it or not? Can't wait to see how this all transpires. And once they are drafted, then what? They can't be signed without a collective bargaining agreement, right? Weird.

This place, Hard Rock...is really nice. If you have never been here...you should definitely check it out. All kinds of great restaurants and shops are spread out over an outdoor plaza...with the casino in the middle of it all. Whoever built/designed the place really did a good job.

Its also a great place to people watch. Sure there are gorgeous women everywhere, but there are also those freaky people that are so fun to watch, too. I love it. But honestly...after two weeks, I am getting a little homesick, missing my wife and dogs. I am ready to make a big hit of 10k or more...then getting home for a month before leaving for Las Vegas.

A place where...dammit...I STILL have not figured out where I am staying for the 7 weeks. I thought I had it all figured out...with a guy I thought was totally on top of everything. But now he has virtually vanished, hasn't told me anything...and I have no idea what the hell is going on with him. And the realtor I was working with out there just keeps coming back with stuff that is WAYYYY to expensive. I'm trying to get a place for me, Kai Landry, Don Norman, Jason Young and Christian Iacobellis...five of us. For like $5500-$7000 for the period of May 25th-July 15th. A place with a pool/hot tub, preferably a garage, and 4 or 5 bedrooms. I mean, it can't be THAT hard, can it??? I just really, REALLY don't want to spend another summer in a freaking hotel!

If you have a line on a rental property out there...holler at me! ThePokerMonkey1@aol.com

Okay...I am going to get ready now and head over for tonight's $30k guarantee. I need to play a 1k Mega satellite, just cant figure out when its going to be...because tomorrow at 5pm I'm playing the Omaha 8 or better and Tuesday at noon is a $550 that should have a huge field...then the Main Event starts on Wednesday. Guess I will just play it by ear!

MONKEY