Off to New Orleans for the BCS Clash!!!

It's Sunday morning. My shuttle arrives in 1 hour to whisk me off to LAX, where I will fly home...see Squirrel and my dogs...and go (hopefully) watch Alabama kick the crap out of LSU and their stupid, pot-smoking honey badger tomorrow night in the Superdome.

I was hoping to pocket a nice cash before leaving...and damned if it wasn't right there teasing me like a Grand Canyon mule and a dangling carrot. Having just come off the Friday event with a min-cash (33rd for $630) and unable to play in the noon $550 because Day 2 if I made it back would be today...I played in the 5pm $150 deepstacks event. They attracted 580 of LA's finest. And by finest, I mean atrocious.

I won the first two hands of the tourney...and never looked back, well, for a long time (7 hours) anyway. The big one, was raising with AA...having 'new guy who was trying to run over the table as soon as he sat down' re-raise me (with 88) then get RE-RAISED (by another player with QQ) and then when I put in a fourth raise...shoving with his 8's, getting called by QQ and having my AA hold up. 

What sucks, is that after 4 levels, the blind levels went from 30 minutes down to 20 minutes. Which was compounded by those periods where we would get the in-house dealer who was slower than molasses and unable to count to 20 without using an abacus. Talk about frustrating. We were seeing 5-7 hands per level.

Well, we finally started getting close to the money. I wiped out three players when I decided to get it in against three all in players with AQd. I was up against K3, 10-10 and JJ. I river a queen. I now have over 200k. But its becoming a gigantic shove fest...and the blinds are getting out of control. 200k is no longer safe. And 'cashing' isn't really exciting me that much....$305? No...I was focused on first place....$16,000.

So when I raised UTG with AKs....and this old guy on the button, who looked like a lizard, and kept flicking his tongue out like a lizard, shoves all in over my 14k raise for 82k. I call. He has QQ. I miss. Shit. Then I raise with A10h....the big blind shoves only a few more thousand...he has JJ...and they hold too. Great....going in the wrong direction here. I blind down over three orbits....then pick up AK again...in early position...and shove for 75k at 5k/10k and 75 players left (paying 54). I run into JJ and AA. Really? Ugh. Isn't that perfect! I lose, and 8 hours of my life I can never get back have been stolen from my life.

I wiggle over to SNG-Land...where the freaks are assembled. We finally get a $120 going. The standard over-betting and trapping of themselves is taking place early. I order food and sit there wolfing down a meal while they eliminate themselves one player at a time. I pick up a pot here and there...and suddenly we are 4 handed. I dominate early, get to 2nd in chips....feel like there is a pretty good chance of winning the $1200, and getting out of town with a 2k profit over the week heading home...where I intend to win a butt load of personal side bets that I have on 'Bama vs over-confident LSU fans.

But no! That wouldn't happen. Why would it? Romanian dude raises on the button. I re-raise about 75% of my stack with AQ. Not sure what he was thinking with his KQ...wondering if he thought I might fold if he pushed all in, but he did anyway. I called of course...and felt good about inheriting a huge chip lead. Scratch that. He flops a King and it holds, of course. Cue the Pac Man death song.

The snafus between the house crew and the WSOP crew continue. In Friday's tourney...floor was called. Here comes 'one of theirs' and 'one of the WSOP's' to the table. One rendered one decision, based on 'their house policy' and the WSOP floor person issued another decision based on WSOP rules. It was, in a word....AWKWARD. Guess who won? The in-house floor person's ruling. Which was total horseshit. No...it did not involve me. But I was still equally stunned.

There are a handful of poker cliches and phrases that I will be very, very happy to see disappear in 2012. If you play poker, you know what they are. I refuse to write them down here. I will only ask that if you get a chance this year...please help me to bury them. All of them. Thank you.

Okay...I gotta get ready and get out of here. Who do I like today in the NFL? Pittsburgh at Denver? I think Pittsburgh destroys Tebow...he gets replaced by Brady Quinn, and Quinn gets destroyed just as bad. Pittsburgh doesn't score much since most of their weapons are injured...but enough to win....say 20-3. In the other game? Atlanta at NY Giants? A lot of people are on the Giants bandwagon it seems, and no one seems to be giving the Falcons a chance to get very far. I think they are very dangerous. And I also think they will go to New Jersey and beat the Giants today by two touchdowns.

Who do I like tomorrow night? Duh! I think you know. But I will just go ahead and post my prediction right here. ALABAMA 24, LSU 14. National Title number 14 for the Crimson Tide!

MONKEY