June 09

June was an interesting month in many regards. I always look forward to the beginning of summer, as I always think of the many things I will do in the coming months. Unfortunately, summers pass quicker than they used to and there never seems to be enough time to do all the things I want to do (spend time with the kids, play golf till sunset, go shoot hoops at the beach, see a movie and of course, play poker). The news was filled with stories of Iran. These stories brought a new perspective of that country and although the government is wrong and standing firm, the people expressed themselves publicly in the eyes of the world for the first time in a long time and it is clear they want to be part of the world and all it has to offer and I support their efforts and hope. My son plays club soccer and they won the California state championship for boy u-13 and we got to go to Washington. Amanda, Kory and I and all the boys and parents travelled to Pasco WA via Seattle. We rented 6 mini vans and drove the 4 hours outside Seattle. The first 90 minutes is scenic and beautiful and then as you get more east, it becomes more desert like. We had a great time there and beat Oregon 12-1 and Washington 9-1. Our soccer team is now ranked 8th in the nation...one of the other boys on the team is from Iran and his parents and I had some good conversations about the current events there.

POKER

I had won a seat for event 54 at the WSOP with Cake and travelled there in late June. Rooms are crazy cheap there now and I stayed at the Oreleans for $30 a night. I wanted OFF the strip as the events i would be attending (Palms and Rio) are on the other side of the freeway. I got there at 12:15 and wanted to get some poker in right away so I got the room and hustled down to the poker room and got the last seat for the noon tournament. There were 110 players and it paid 10. i grinded it down and got close, 13th but didn't cash. Event 54 was a $1500 buy in NL tournament and Cake had planned a get together for all the winners at the Palms the night before the tournament. My son, Kyle, happened to be in town with his buddy and their girlfriends so I had them meet me over at the Palms and I got them into the party. It was in the Fantasy Suites tower and on the 30th floor. The suite was very nice and actually had a private pool on the balcony outside the room overlooking Vegas from 30 stories up. Cake gave me my buy in and said ' you better get over to the Rio, they are gonna sell out' WHAT ? i hopped in a cab and got over there and they were right, there were about 300 people in line registering for the tournament. I did get in and was relieved. Back to the party, I ran into a new friend and great player, dougblazers, and a couple buddies I met in Ireland, brutus44 and luckyshaun, from Ireland. It was a kick ass party with models running around in bikini's and in the pool and open bar, etc. The next day arrived and I was ready to battle. I chipped up a little in the first couple levels and then after the break, I raised a couple times in late position with A Q and A J and got pushed and decided to lay em down, putting me on a shorter stack. Chris 'Jesus' Ferguson came to the table about this time with a very short stack, about 1600. The blinds were at 75/150 and a 25 ante and he played NO hands until his stack was down to 1100 and he minimum raised to 300 under the gun, leaving him with 800. Two players behind him re reraised and it folded around to him and he mucked. Two hands later, he pushed his last 800 from the button with A J and the big blind called with A A and 'jesus' was done. I hung on for about another hour
and reraised all in with 9 9 to the other short stack and he turned over A K and turned a K, ending my day.....maybe next time