What a Crazy Ride!!! Next Stop: Day 2B

Hi! Its 3am. And I can't sleep. Why? Well...these things happen when you are laying in bed fantasizing about all the things you might do with $8.7m!

You get the picture!!!

But to adequately describe how it is I have come about laying in my bed on July 12th, 2010 even being in position to cash in the Main Event of the World Series of Poker for the first time since 2008...would take forever to explain. Unless you've been reading my blog from the start, or are married to me.

This has been a rough summer. Yes...there have been some cashes...even a nightly win at Venetian, and a 2nd place in the same event. Lots of min-cashes though, and most of them coming courtesy of a fatal river 'kill shot.' Almost always in position to win...only to get sniped from the guy 13 floors up with masterful aim. And holding something in his hand like Q2.

Yes...QUEEN DEUCE...this post almost became a sad tale about a goombah wrecking my summer plans with that horrendous piece of shit hand.

We will go back a few days. Fresh off those two IRRITATING near-bubble disasters in the $1k Mega at noon followed by the heart-breaking river 10 followed by the 'El Diablo' debacle in the 8pm $2k Mega...I spent the following day sleeping in and moping in my room. When I finally came up with an effective game plan...it came out feeling like this:

Go to Rio. Play SNG's all night. Try to win some. Then come back the next day and give the $1k ONE more shot on Saturday. Part of that plan worked. Kai was busy playing the $2k Mega...which he would eventually WIN...Yay Kai! I...played a SNG. I lost. In the same glorious fashion I had been losing all summer. Make a flush, lose to bigger flush...half my stack...POOF! Lose with straight...to a rivered full house. Rest of stack GONZO! Tried to play another SNG. Oooops...not enough dealers/tables. Huh? Dammit. So I decide to make another stupid decision...to go play the nightly tournament.

Big mistake. Came in with a lot fewer chips than everyone...not that it mattered, the hand would have played out the same way anyway, I'm sure...because nobody this summer seems to be blessed with the ability to fold any hand that contains an ace in it. So when my QQ raise was re-raised by the dipshit in the BB holding A7....it was a certainty that when I shoved the remainder of my chips in that he would hit an ace. Yup. Peace out.

Oh! Great...SNG-Land has found some more carnies to operate the rides....we're back in business! Played two...lost two. Started flashing back to Star Wars...where dude was in that nasty critter filled sewage tank...and the walls started closing in on him.

Fortunately...I managed to find a titanium rod to jam the walls...and won my next SNG. Phew! Needed that for shizzle.

I lost my final SNG...as Kai was dropping by to deliver me the golden news of his victory. I was very happy for him. We left together. Pretty sure we ate one of the best meals of the summer, at All American Cafe at Rio. A long walk to get there was rewarded by a great meal...served to us by a waiter who was (a) very enthusiastic (b) a bit like a car salesman and (c) received a 40% tip from Kai and I. Then it was an Ambien and 8 hours of sleep.

I woke up feeling pretty good. One critical error from the night before. Did NOT register for the $1k Mega before we left. Whooops. Upon waking, Kai and I struck a deal. This was to be my last shot at the WSOP Main Event...at least on my backer's dime. My next ploy was going to be trying to hustle my way in by selling percentage shares...or mooching a stake from one of my bigshot poker buddies. That was not the route I was hoping to have to resort to. I could name a laundry list of players who have NO problem doing that...but I won't. And will go to great lengths to avoid adding my name to that list. But hell! This is the damn WSOP Main Event we are talking about...and after the long, arduous struggle I have endured to get BACK INTO this event...coupled with my summer-long drought...this was the chance to redeem myself in SO MANY ways. I just had to get in...somehow.

So Kai...who now owns the title of MONKEY SAVIOR...struck up a deal with me. He would play the $1k Mega with me. If we both won...great! He would pocket $10,200. Like who can't use THAT? If I won...and he lost...no big deal, but he would get a 10% save on my Main Event. If we both lost? Don't think you need an abacus to figure that one out. But if HE won and I lost? I would get the seat...and he would get half of my action. A pretty kickass gesture by a pretty kickass friend. Something that seems to run in pretty short supply when you are running bad.

So we arrive to a 'line from hell' at registration. Shit! So stupid! How did I not think to register the night before! Carwash has texted me to tell me the start is being delayed to 1:15...not that its going to be much help...since it is currently 1:05 and there are easily 120 people ahead of us. Dammit dammit dammit!!! And with only 6k in chips...30 min levels...and blinds that start at 25/50...missing two or three levels is a VERY bad idea.

Kai once again thinks of a great idea. Heading over to Pavilion and seeing if that line is any shorter. It is. And after a text message telling me he is 25 away from the cage...and I count easily 100 in my line ahead of me...I beeline it over to his line. 10 minutes later...we are in. Sweet!

Get to my table...Kai is the next table over. The players start to assemble. Within 7 minutes, hated my table. Seated next to me...asshole internet twerp who wants to 'lay' on the table...both elbows on the rail...jeezus. Ask him three times...politely, to please get on his side of the table. He refuses. Insists that he is fine. I finally call floor...floor man tells him he MUST move over about four inches...and that if he gets called back for the same reason, he is getting a penalty. Thank you!

About that time...the guy in the 2 seat...who I had already started to obsess over how ugly he was...decides to chime in on the matter. Huh? WTF is it to you? Why are you yapping about it?

"Cuz man...that's my boy!!!"  I see. Then they begin furiously text messaging each other back and forth like a couple of 9th graders. Am I becoming a grumpy old man? Or are all these little 21-27 year old assholes just driving me insane? It's one of the two...I'm certain of it.

Mr Ugly. Stands about 6'6. Has the same, almost exact body of that fu**ing assclown who's picture I posted a while back...the dude who looks like a bowling pin. Yeah...real sexy. Wearing a damn Mariners hat (which just offended me to be reppin my team with his ugliness) with a straight bill...askew like his Bowling Pin Assclown look-a-like...and sitting atop his head, instead of pulled down like a normal person. He had this mouth...ugh...tiny tiny lips...and about as round as a golf ball..maybe smaller. And every time he would raise? He would pucker his mouth up...so he looked like the world's fattest goldfish. And lets not leave out his eyebrows.

You're driving down the highway...its late at night...and you begin to get mesmerized by the lines in the road that divide the lanes. Know those lines I'm talking about? The ones that almost lull you into a hypnotic state? Take two of those lines...color them black, and slap them on Bowling Pin Clownboy's forehead...cuz that's exactly what they looked like. All I wanted to do was take a bottle of really cheap champagne...shove it (forcibly) into his tiny little piehole...then get one of my favorite Seattle Mariner's player to step up to the plate and smack that bottle down his throat with a fantastically polished Louisville Slugger!

"Annnnnnnd heeeeee's outa hereeeeeee.....HOME RUN!!!!"

Now...were there even a tiny little shred of love in the universe for Senor Monkey....or a shred of karma going my way...it should have occurred at this table full of ingrates. But would it? HELL FUC***G NO!

I have literally played about FOUR hands...and have only raised ONCE...with 10-10...which had to be folded on an A-Q-7 board and the BB betting out. It folds around to me...and I look down at KK at cutoff. Sweet! Finally! A real hand! Now I just hope I get some action. Oh I do. The button calls (call station) and the big blind...who is the perfect candidate for a future episode of Chris Hansen's 'To Catch A Predator' decides to 'look me up' with the always powerful drawing hand...Q2h.

See it and WEEP! I did!!!!

What this joker was thinking...I have no idea. Yeah...great the flop came Q-high. Whatever. I raised to 550. Three calls. 1750 in the pot. He checks. I bet 1300. He doesn't even think. Snap call. Turn nothing. And oh yeah...I do have the K of spades as you can see. I wait...think I hear him say check. The dealer does too. Points to me. I go all in.

"Hey!!! I didn't act yet!!!!"  Me and the dealer both raise our eyebrows. You didn't? We both thought he had. Whatever. Fine, I pull my bet back. Now he wants to know if my action is binding. Being an idiot...he obviously doesn't know that if he CHECKS...then yeah, it's binding. Which has me worried. Or that if he bets, I now have the option to fold. Which the dealer clarified for him. So what does he do? He puts me all in for 2900. Which immediately lets me know he didn't flop a flush...had he flopped a flush, or even a set, I'm almost positive he would have checked and let me kill myself. But he didn't, so my call was pretty simple. Then I see his hand, and before I can snicker to myself, and get excited about my double up to about 8400 chips...a see the red deuce hit the river...and almost throw up right there on the table. I just closed my eyes. Then took a photo. Then alerted Kai...who ambled over, took one look and gave me that..."oh my God, Monkey....what next??"

Kai later posted on his Facebook...."my friend Monkey is running so bad right now, I'm afraid if he was playing someone heads up right now he would finish third!" Pretty good one.

I walked over to the rail...and as I did so turned to see the smart ass in the 5-seat simulating his new-found joy at all the room he now had to Gossamer Condor himself all over the table...as well as the Bowling Pin yukking it up. At that moment I prayed for them both to have AA cracked, not on the bubble...because that would earn them a free entry in the next's years Main Event...but three and two from the money in the Main Event. That would give me happiness. That or they both get attacked by a vicious Shepherd with rabies that escaped from Animal Control.

Kai sent me a reassuring text promising me that he would bring it home. Okay Kai...sure, thanks, whatever. Good luck.

SIDE NOTE: I know that the poll over there has expired, and I see that everyone's chosen sporting event to attend if one had the choice would be the Super Bowl...with the final round of the Masters very close (which I thought a bit odd) followed by Game 7 of the World Series. Really surprised to see the low numbers for a Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals...or a BCS title game. Hmmm. I will work on getting a new poll up there since you all have been so good about participating in that new 'wrinkle' to my blog. :)

I know I know...this blog is now very long...and only going to get longer. The good news...is that I am finally starting to get sleepy.

I walked like a zombie to SNG-Land...where the carnies were handing out seat cards like stuffed animals to the guy lucky enough to knock over the 127lb weighted bowling pin with a softball. I grabbed a seat in a $275...and promptly went off and won the thing. I suppose I should have been happy. Not really. So I went to play another $275. And oh, whoops, won that one too. Whoa. Hmmm...starting to feel a bit better, and actually contemplating playing the $2k Mega at 8pm. Naw...better not. Play a 3rd SNG...and finish...dammit, third.

About this time I start wondering what is going on with Kai. He isn't answering my texts. Hmmm...did he bust and feel bad and sneak off somewhere to hid from me? Or was it possible that he was trying to avoid any kind of a jinx, so he just was avoiding me? My curiosity continued to grow...to I wandered over to where they were playing...and noticed that they were now 3 or 4 from the seat. Whoa. I saw Carwash...nice! Really wanted to see him get a seat...we had swapped 1% before the thing started. And I'm looking....looking....and then BOOM! I see that little shitbird...sitting flagpole upright in his seat as always, with his treacherously gay white glasses on his face...but I can't see his stack....

So I maneuver into a better vantage point...careful not to let him see me. And then...holy shit, I see what causes the biggest smile (I think) of the summer to spread across my face. Three huge stacks of 1000 unit chips...and a lot of other colors. Kai has a monster stack...and not even Gabe Costner could blow that. It's in the bag! I have my seat! Kai is God! Life is great!

I walk back to the final SNG that I have bought into. I really want to end the day on a good note, but wont be upset if I don't. So what happens? I destroy the table. I get heads up with this guy and have a 3.5 to 1 chiplead. The problem? TK Miles has happened by and decided to sit at the other end of the table. TK is constantly offering to provide me the 'final touches' of poker wisdom (for the low low cost of only $25k) that will make me the consummate poker pro. That I am 'oh so close' but just need to fine tune a few things...that he can make that happen. He also has historically gave me a lot of shit for chopping.

So what do I do? I decide to NOT offer any kind of a deal to this guy. What happens? You know what happens. This guy makes a huge comeback...wins two flips against me...and I am all in with J10 against his K8...which he managed to hit both of...and I left that table...with ZILCH! I was NOT happy with myself. But it wasn't enough to take the luster off a fantastic day...and the excitement of waking up the next morning with a date in the Main Event. Thanks to Kai Landry!

Another summer like this one and I'll be like these classy folks...packin it in...7 or more at a time in the 5-star Travel Lodge in the shadow of Circus Circus.

On the way to the Rio...we pass the TraveLodge...and snapped this picture, to remind ourselves what could lay ahead for us if we don't get our butts back into the winning circle. Seeing homeless people scattered all over the streets of Vegas is also pretty good motivation to play well and stay focused!

I arrive. On time and ready for Freddy. I size up my table. There is no one in the 10-seat and for a moment I start to think/hope that the kind folks at the WSOP have taken pity on our souls...and afforded us the privilege to play this $10,000 event nine-handed, like they should all be played. That hope would fade when David "The Dragon" Pham showed up after about an hour of play.

I pretty much loathed my table after about two hours. The dude pictured below was a trip. He had this scowl on his face nearly the whole time. After one hand...where I was ahead all the way to the river, and lost to an eventual flush...I muttered something to the tune of "incredible...ugh...sure would be nice to fade a draw once in awhile..." when he chimes in with "what you the problem is? It just is a game..."

What the hell are you babbling over there Belke? Shut the hell up! Shrek!

Arrrrrghhhhh....Grrrrrr........Raise Raise Raise!!!!!

Then something very peculiar happened on our first, maybe second...break. Shannon Elizabeth...who was seated at the table next to me, and who I later chatted with while waiting in valet later on...and was, I'm not sure. It was like she wanted to be nice, but then wavered and thought about turning into a guarded, privacy clamoring bitch...then settled on non-committal either way and somewhat cold. Anyway...we go on break, and this choad rushes over to her table...starts babbling, I see her crack a smile, take off her glasses and pose with him while the dealer takes a picture of them...with him smiling that kid who gets to go see Santa Claus at the mall for the first time. Kind of made it hard to take him seriously after watching that display.

It always cracks me up watching the WSOP newbies get all ga-ga over the poker pros and celebrities who show up to play every year. Out in valet it's really funny...because all of them are in valet...you see the weasels hanging out there, trying to get pictures and autographs. Its really quite pathetic. At least in my opinion. Oh boy. An autograph from Brad Garrett. Gee...whats that going for on eBay right now, I wonder?

Dragon...meet Monkey. Oh wait...you've MET Monkey...he was the one who busted you from the Main Event at the WPT $10k Beau Rivage a few years ago...sitting right next to you, too.

Pham showed up and immediately started in with the three-bet re-raising. Then I watched him as he stole not one, but two monster pots by shipping on the river, when I was 99.7% positive it was nothing but a stone cold bluff. But hey...credit to him that he was up against two donkeys. Him and I actually had some pretty good conversation during the day. He's a lot nicer, or was BEING a lot nicer...than the day he was on my left in the Beau Rivage Main Event a few years ago...the day I was trading verbal barbs with Captain Tom Franklin and TJ Cloutier...who were across the table seated next to each other and getting a good laugh out of preying on my big blind all day.

The first level for me went fine. I had about the 30k I started with. From that point until the end of Level 4...it was a complete nightmare! I must have raised at least 5 times...where I had either a raise and a re-raise, which I had to fold to...or someone just jam it all in and have to fold. And none of those times had me holding onto AA or KK. Oh...yeah, getting those hands would have sure been nice. One hand I was grateful to NEVER see yesterday, was the one that knocks me out of EVERY Main Event...and a lot of other various Main Events too...those damn QUEENS!

No, I was getting a lot of naked queens though. Q4 about 20 times. Q8 was popular. It felt like one big, gigantic set up...like I was going to get them both at any moment...and ram them right into aces. But fortunately, that scenario never transpired. The best pair I got in the first four levels was 10's...and they lost. I saw AK twice...and lost both times.  The two biggest pots I won, I had to completely bluff, with air. So as you can imagine...I was skating on pretty thin mental ice.

World Series of Poker Main Event...and she calls clock on a player 'she felt' was taking too long to act on his hand? Instant Classic!!!

Yeah, once again...our table wasn't lacking for clowns who took way too long to act on their hand. You know how throughout the year, you will be at an event...and some guy is tanking forever? And invariably, some player will utter that famous line?  

"Dude...what is this? The Main Event or what?"

Well...this was the Main Event....so, ugh...that line couldn't really ever be used. Which meant someone had to get creative. That someone? It would be the dealer. Yeap...can't say I've ever seen this happen other than that time in Reno last year when that newbie dealer decided I had taken long enough...3 from the Final Table (and money...nice turnout!) and called a clock on me...which only make me laugh hysterically! Well...this dealer...stole a page out of Jimmy the Simpleton's playbook...and decided enough was enough and tells this guy he now is on the clock. What the!!!!????

Another player calls the floor. It is explained to him that the dealer has decided to put the player on the clock. Floor asked the players if anyone had asked for the clock to be called. Everyone shrugs...shaking their heads....and that was that. Wow!

On dinner break...yea, I somehow made the dinner break...with a whopping 4500 remaining in my stack...and all the wind now stolen from my sails, I was invited to go to Buzios with Kai to join Men the Master, JJ Liu and his friend Greg (sorry, can't remember his last name...and Kai is asleep over there) who won a bracelet back when Chinese Poker was an event in the WSOP. Now he serves as a middle man for a backer who has about a 5 or 6 player stable, including those two we joined.

I've never been a big fan of Men's. But he had his two granddaughter's him...one 8 and the other 5...and they could not have been any cuter. I opened up to them, and by the end of dinner they were my best new buddies. They seemed to think it was pretty awesome that my name was 'Monkey!' Well, Men was so sweet to them...and you could tell that he was just a really sweet granddaddy...which I have to admit, scored major points with me. Those little girls just adored him...so say what you will about him...he clearly has some good sides to him.

Kai had a bone in ribeye, I had the Idaho Rainbow trout...and there was about a ten pound lobster floating around that I got to take a couple stabs at when the little girls did not agree with their first sampling of Ocean Gold...but loved my sweet potato fries....so a trade was consummated...with me coming out with the better deal, again...in my opinion! Though I'm sure those little cuties thought they got over on ME!

RAGIN pet peeve. Warm bread served with ice cold, rock hard butter pats.

I will never understand why...and its going on five years now...that the jokers who run these restaurants at Rio can't pull their heads out of their asses and properly staff their joints to handle the onslaught of business that is about to come crashing down on them on Thursday-Sunday between the hours of 7-8pm...but they just never do. So what you get is shit-ass service. And it's not the waiters fault. Which makes it real hard to get angry at them.

But our busgirl? Oh...now there was a little bitch. Not sure what she ate for breakfast...but it obviously was served with a side of 'Bitch Flakes.' As she was passing us out our ice water, I asked her for lemons. Nothing. I asked her again. Again...no response. Then as she came around to my other side, and I could look her directly in the face...I asked her one more time.

"Hi...its loud in here, and I'm not sure if you heard me (since you GAVE ME NO indication whatsoever that you did!!!) but I would like to get some lemons for my water please."

And she snaps at me: "Yeah! I heard you!!!!"  Whoaaaaaaa!!!! Easy there Casey Anthony-in-training!!!!  (too soon for that one?)

Our bread arrives. And I am presented with one of my biggest pet peeves in the restaurant industry. You are at a place with an average entree price of $25-$30...the bread is nice and warm...and yet, you are serving us those fucking foil wrapped butter pats, that are cold and hard as a rock and never possible to spread on anything...other than a Las Vegas sidewalk. It drives me crazy.

I would return to my table in the Amazon room...which I had been moved to a while back. At my new table...I had a guy who revealed a lot of tells by the way he would chew his gum. Aside from almost always thinking I knew where he was in the hand...watching all the muscles in his face, neck and head fluctuate while he was gnawing on his gum was giving me mental fits. That and he was chewing it with his mouth open...which is a big strike two. All he needed now was a straw or toothpick hanging from his lip, and to start riffling his chips, and I would be looking for a $55 hitman to take him out (because that is about all I could afford right now!).

I will cut to the chase. We played three levels after dinner. The first two were a nightmare. I was on the cusp of elimination. When level 5 started...I looked down at 2200 measly chips with the blinds at 200/400 with a 50 ante. I was running out of time. Patience was not appearing to be paying off.

Then I was dealt the Monkey Savior. In 6 years of tracking my favorite hand in elimination situations...I am an amazing 40 for 47 (after last night) with K9 when I move all in with it. And there it was. Good 'ol King Nine! Suited! I let the dealer know I was all in...and boom! I get called by the guy right next to me. He opened up AQ. Ooof! But it's K9...I wasn't the least bit worried about it. Or wasn't...until the flop brought an ace...along with a Q...oh boy. But I didn't get up out of my chair....because it was K9. Turn.....10!!! Giving me hope.......and....on the river........a JACK!!!!!! Yes!!!! I was back in it.

That started a heater like I haven't seen since...well? Since I was down to the skin of my teeth in the Beau Rivage Main Event last fall...that, coincidentally, Kai and I both made it down to the final 3 in. I picked up K10h...in good position...went all in. FOLDS! I picked up 66...in good position...ALL IN...FOLDS! Now I was picking up some momentum.

Then 'THE BIG ONE.'  Guy raises to 1000. Guy on the button re-raises to 2200. And I look down at KK. Finally! A monster hand. I have 11k...and decide not to screw around...and shove all in. First guy folds. The other tanks...forever...and finally calls. With 99. He does not two-out me like everyone else this summer. He just loses. In fact, I turned a set. Up to over 20k!

Then the super-aggressive guy from Brazil raises my big blind again...to 1000.....gets another caller, and I decide to complete with 9c10h. The flop comes all clubs...with a K. Turns out the guy flopped a set of kings. Well, he played it like shit. And I kept picking up outs...and calling his puny bets...till the final club on the river...with me also have a double gutter straight draw...completed a live flush for me...which I checked, and he didn't even bet it, just turned over his set of kings...and said "Well Played" which...in his accent I couldn't determine if it was sarcasm or serious. Didn't care either. I knew a re-draw was on the horizon, that I would likely never see any of these clowns again...and was enjoying the shift in the mood of all the players as I continued to rack up chip after chip.

The final big pot...which resulted in me knocking out the guy who had at one time had over 80k...and who had caused me to fold numerous hands...when I had a hunch he was bluffing, but didn't want to be wrong...was the most satisfying of all.

I raised UTG with AJs. And from middle position this guy calls me with J8h. Nice hand sir...and by sir, I mean F-I-S-H....the big blind came along. The flop came jack high...with two hearts. Hmmm...bet it, or check-raise? Almost positive this guy will bet if I check to him. So I do. He leads out for 2200. The BB folds. I raise it to 7700. He immediately goes all in. Hmm...interesting.

My poker instincts instantaneously tell me he is on a flush draw. Set made no sense. I also am positive he doesn't have an over-pair. Would have obviously re-raised me. If I'm real lucky he has like KJ. I think all these scenarios out...count out my chips...realize that if I lose to this guy, I am going to be back to 4700 chips with 15 minutes left in Day 1...not exactly where I want to be coming back for Day 2. But I know I am ahead...and I make the call. Yup. Flush draw...come on dealer...fade it pal! He does! My heart skips a crazy beat...I watch all his chips come my way. The dealer leaves shortly after that...I thank him...to which he replies:

"Well, at least you didn't kiss my ear like you did that time in Tunica when I shipped you a huge pot!" and banged my knuckles as he moved on to his next table.

That put me up to 48k...and I became satisfied to just sit on my stack...and play nothing but tens or better for the last few hands. I was just sitting there feeling ecstatic! About the same time that I was on life support, Kai was getting the shit kicked out of him over in the Pavilion room. He texted me that he was down to 9k...and I was starting to fear we may both be walking out together at the end of the night feeling miserable.

Screw that! Kai went on a heater of his own...even better than mine, and bagged up around 60k. Awesome! The stage was set for a big night out!

The lucky boxer shorts from the Day 1 Super Grind Fest!!! Now bronzed and hanging on the wall in Room 43** at Riviera Hotel and Casino!!!

So with very little time left in the night...I started ordering drinks. Greyhounds and Red Snappers...managed to knock down three rounds before the plastic bags came out. Right before that, I get a text from my buddy Jeff Giraldi, who is in town from Atlanta. Jeff was a great friend of mine when I lived in Atlanta ten years ago. I made a trip to Biloxi with him one weekend to go play blackjack. That was the weekend I met Squirrel...she was our cocktail waitress. The rest, as they say...is history. So Jeff kind of holds a special place in our lives. Well a mutual buddy of ours from Atlanta...Troy Gibson, who also survived Day 1...but just barely...but remains optimistic after Kai and my big comeback, had reserved a table at Vanity (at the Hard Rock) and demanded we make it.

My Good buddy Jeff Giraldi from Atlanta...who is responsible for me meeting Squirrel.

So we sped off to the Riviera, changed into some club duds...and headed out. It was okay...we weren't there long...and they wanted to go to Drai's after hours club...but Kai and I had made a mutual decision that if we both made it out of Day 1...we would go visit all the little beasts at the Spearmint Rhino. Can't mess with fate. We had a date with destiny...and we brought it home. It was a good time. We really didn't spend much, or stay long...but it was nice to just sit and reflect on the day...and dream about possible things to come.

Five years ago...at the Bellagio, for the Super Bowl between by beloved Seahawks...and the hated STEALERS. That's right...it was stolen from us!

Oh how father time has taken a toll on this Monkey...ten years ago...when Jeff and I both bartended at the same club in Atlanta, Tangiers. Nice look I'm sporting there, eh? WTF?

We both woke up today (yesterday now!) at around 3pm...then spent a couple hours at the pool doing what you're supposed to do in Vegas on days off! Chillin! After that he went to deal with his nightmare of a car that he is still trying to rescue from the firing line...and I took a four hour nap. Which might be contributing partially to my inability to sleep right now. Yeah..its now almost 6am. I'm ridiculous. The things I do to please you folks! Just kidding! Its a pleasure to have so many of you providing me with your emotional support both here and on my Facebook!

There continues to be no news on the missing Raising Monkey...and yeah, I miss him. Look how handsome he was back when this picture was taken. No chipped ear, or eyebrow, or fractured foot...all golden and shiny. I miss that little guy. But the crystal monkey is taking over for now...and yesterday he did a great job. I will continue to rely on him to help me bring home a big cash in this event that has the whole world watching. I really like my table draw tomorrow...no big names, no crazy Euros or Asians...from what I can see...and a lot of stacks smaller than mine. Not that I have any intention to go in over-confident, or not be cautious. I know a lot of crazy shit can happen...always.  But I feel good...I feel right...and I am ready to have a great day! Hope I have more good news to write about tonight!!!

Sorry I waited so long to let everyone know I made it into 'The Big One!'

Monkey

Monkey...before the weathering, and abuse...looking all stoic in front of my favorite hand, and Main Event savoir....KING NINE! I miss you Monkey...you're gone, but not forgotten!