Mook and Mrs Moook......thank you so much for opening your home to us degenerates. I loved this weekend just as much as last year's........
One thing you start to appreciate as a parent is seperate time. We all now that time spent with the family will almost always be time well spent. But there are pockets of time when you have to get away and gather your thoughts a little. Or just get away from the norm for a little while so you can let loose some.
That was this weekend. A weekend that was packed to the gills with fun and only a little bit of driving.......along with lots of thoughts, ideas, and genuine reflection for yours truly.
The plan was pretty simple and I stuck to it well enough to maximize my enjoyment. I left Houston at 6AM on Saturday morning knowing that the trek directly to the Lago Vista golf course would put me in place around 9:15-9:30AM. Tee time would be 10AM.
Surprisingly, the time driving went fast. As I said before, alot of that driving time was spent as an opportunity to think through my life and what surrounds me. What I need to expect for the next few months and the next few years. I thought about JJ going into toddlerdome. I thought about my physical health and it's downfalls of late. I thought about the girls and how one is struggling with what appears to be a pretty moderate case of dyslexia. I thought about the realistic probability that they will need to attend a private school for kindergarten and all the costs associated to that. I thought about our finances, how they are good but could be better and what I need to do to make it so. I thought about the wifey and how awesome she is. I thought about my job and job security and if there was a lack thereof. I thought about our house as it's seemingly becoming too small for us every day. JJ sharing a bathroom with 3 girls that are 4 years older than he just ain't gonna hack it.
I also thought about seeing my poker buds and playing cards and smacking the golf ball around "Hill Country". I thought about all the bullshitting, laughs, and the stories that will come out.
I got to the course at 9:30-9:40 giving me enough time to smack half a bucket before heading off to the first tee. Along the way I got to see
CK and
Astin again which was great. Hope they enjoyed their visit to Austin.
As for the golf? I sucked. I sucked bad. It had to be the mental fatigue of being up early......but I had the shanks bad. I hit some good drives, made some decent putts and had a couple of decent chip shots. But those 3/4 swing shots were almost consistently 45 degree shanks to the right.......embarrassing. Mook and Don picked up the slack that I was and we posted a 4 under score going into the clubhouse at 9. Unfortunately we couldn't get anything going on the back and broke even to finish 4 under for the tourney. Maybe it was the Heinikins.......yeah that's the excuse.
4 under ain't all that, but we were definitely the ringers in the party.
Oh, and I won the long drive contest after smacking the shit out of a Titleist HP2 ball that saw a 15mph wind in our faces. One of the very few shots that I actually felt good about.
Windburned and tired, I drove
Don and myself to Mookie's house so I could figure out where the hell I was. I said my hellos to Mrs. Mook, gave her Amelia's gift and then jettisoned off to the motel to check in at 4:30.
And then I woke up at 6 in a flurry knowing the tourney was to start at 7.
Quick shower and I was off to the Big O.
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The tourney itself was fun. We had 27 runners and lots of hoots and hollers. I played well overall, I felt. Unfortunately, I couldn't win the favorites in the midstages or final table, or else I think I would have had a great shot to win it all. 7 hours later, I did end up with 6th place and a cashout of double my buyin, but there were points along the way that gave me moments of "What if's".
So here are some of the highlights.
Hand 1:
I flopped trip 3's with 93 from the BB and took almost 3/4 of the stack of a gal that was on what appeared to be a draw. That was within the first hour and got me going.
I got moved to Don's table and had big hands see no callers until I found 44 in the MP. I limped in and mookie's sister in the SB raised me. I made the call looking for a flop. The flop was all low cards. She bet about half the pot. I gambled a little here and made the call. For whatever reason, I had it in my brain that she had a medium pocket.
When the turn card ace popped up, my face lit up. I had a gutshot and a potential scare card. Could I use it to my advantage? Even Mook's sister said aloud....."You're face shows you like that ace".
She checked and I deliberately waited about 15-20 seconds before I checked.
The river was a King. She bet and I immediately reraised her. She mucked pocket tens. That was niiiiiice.
Hand 3:
Still at Don's table, I had a good top 4 stack with about 20-22 left. A shortstack in the cutoff open pushed for 8K with the blinds at 400/800 I think. I have QQ and about 55K. I make the easy call and he has AQ.
Ace on the river and I was mighty mad. Shoulda folded them bitches like The Don always says. :)
Hand 4:
I got moved back to my original table, I had chipped up some more and was watching CK open pushing alot. I had those tweener hands like A9 sooooted and QJ that I love to play. But just couldn't pull the trigger.
Then the same guy with AQ hand did something bad in my mind. With him in the BB and the blinds at 2000/4000 I think, he has about 10K. Sexy Stacy UTG raised it to 10K.....and he folded. Now to me that was wrong. On the next hand, he was able to double through Don and got back up to about 12K.
So with him on the button, I find 77. I raise it to 13K and it's folded to him. He instacalls his whole stack and I'm headsup against K4 sooooted.
4 on flop. Blank on the turn. King on the river.
Hand 5:
I chipped up well enough to get the final 10. I have about 55K in chips and am on the button when the AQ guy, with 24K and the blinds at 4000/8000, again open pushes. I have KQ and have a moment to collect my thoughts. I'm on the button and have
Sed and Mookie's sister in the blinds. Mook's sister has me covered. Do I just dump the hand or do I make the call or do I push?
I decided the time was right and pushed.
Then Mook's sister called too and I thought I was toast. Mook's sis had AJ and the AQ guy had.......AQ. Flop had a King and turn was a Q and I almost tripled up and was now in 2nd place.
This was the only allin I won all night.....even though I was behind. Go figure.
Hand 6:
I lost about 20% of my stack when I played JJ into the big stack. I bet 35K at 5000/10000 and he made the call from the BB. I found this odd at this point.....something didn't seem right. The flop came down K34 and he bet 20K. I've got about 125K behind and thought long and hard.
In the end, I really thought that "Jacks R OK" but decided it wasn't worth tangling with the big stack. I'd still have 2nd place chips if I fold and that's exactly what I did.......even getting almost 5:1 on call.
Sometimes you just have a feeling.
Hand 7:
Again, I find Jacks when I am in the SB and the blinds are 6000/12000 I think. I've got about 175K. It's folded to me.
Sedric in the BB has about 50-60K. I raise it to 35K and he pushes.
Easy call by me and he shows A8.
And spikes an ace on the river.
It was absolutely 100% the correct play by Sedric and he apologized a ton for the suckout......just bad luck on my part.
Hand 8:
We decided on a save for 7th place which saw everyone guaranteed 100$. 7th got knocked out and we are down to 6. I just got caught stealing and have about 90K left and the blinds are 8000/16000. Sexy Stacy (did I mention that she's sexy and is
Rocco's hot wife?) limps UTG and I find A8.
The blinds are about to go up and I'm in a tough spot. I pushed in for 90K hoping to win the blinds and Stacy's limp. I had just enough to make any non pair hand fold.....or so I thought. It folds around to her and she thinks for a bit before calling with KQ.
And she hits 2 pair to send me to the rail in 6th place.
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Overall I was allin 7 times and was ahead in 4 of them.....including 3 of which I was at least a 70/30. 2 times I was a 60/40 dog against shortstack and they didn't do much damage.
1 time I was a big dog and it didn't do much damage.
I just got really unlucky. If I toot my horn for anything, it was my postflop play. I think I did, for the most part, play very well after the flop......and that's how I was able to manage a top 5 stack for most of the tournament without really having to show down.
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I owe
Don and
CK something for the Casa Noble tequila shots I bummed off them. They were fantastic.......and I wish I had the brainpower to think to buy some liquor to give to the group too........unprepared am I.
I got to only spend a brief moment with
Rocco and that was regrettable. I never sat with him during the tournament and he left after he busted. Regrets by me in it's entirety.
CK was exactly as she presents herself online. A fun gal that I hope does very well for herself in her trek out west with her skinny man. It was great to be able to talk to you.
ScottyMc. My nemesis. The guy whom I love so and loathe as much at my table. He wapped me on the head at least 3 or 4 times during the tournament and in the cash game that followed. BTW, no interesting cash hands for me to post. But Scotty is always one of my faves and this is the 3rd time in a year that I've gotten the opportunity to hang out with him. A true bud.
April......great to see her again even though I didn't really have a chance to talk to her much.
Astin.......funny. Period. Made me laugh alot during the golf and in poker. It was great to see you again.
Steve.......also great to see you again. Steve has a
Zeemish quality where he has a great dry humor that always makes me laugh hard. Moments of hilarity and fun coupled with just a great guy to talk to.
Sedric.......holy shit. Dude is like 7'3" and is about the size of a Mack truck. When I first saw him, I immediately thought of the WWF/WWE. Irony is that he links to WWE's site through his blog......hahahaha. I sat next to him for my entire stay at the final table. I had no info on the guy at all, and quite honestly didn't know who he was until
Moookie told me so. We made a casual intro and went about our business. At every opportunity, we showed each other our cards after they played out and just had a lot of general poker talk which was refreshing. Smart player that I found instant respect for.
Mook and Mrs Mooook.......awesome folks. The best hosts. Looking forward to doing this again next year.
Don.......my boy. Lots of talk about golf, poker, life in general as always. And always appreciated. Hope to see you in July.
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The drive home.
I busted out of the tournament sometime around 2AM (7 hours) I think and mosied over to the cash table. As I said before, nothing really interesting for me to talk about here, but I had a fun time as always.
Probably one of my favorite moments at the cash table involved a hand that I wasn't involved in........
Don and
Scott get into a little bit of a preflop war. Then the flop comes out with an Ace. Scotty bets. Don looks at Scotty long and hard. And as Don LOVES to do, he flips over his ace to see what Scotty does......
Without even the slightest hesitation, Scotty flips over his ace too. Don and all of us laugh.
Results aren't important as it was just another one of those "moments" that accompany a great trip. 2 great poker minds at work, looking at each other and trying to read each others poker souls......and notably with utmost respect as they decided to run it through as is.....no more bets.
I bid my farewells to everyone and treked back to my motel room (very nice and clean btw) and zonked out till 10:30 the next morning. The first time I have done that in forever it seems. The drive back was just like it's predecessor. Tons of thought with random moments of clarity. Driving long distances by yourself can do that......especially for me. I thought about all of the things I talked about before......and more.
I missed my family. I missed my dog. I missed home.
I was only gone for a day and a half, but........I wanted to be home again.
And at 2:00PM, I was.....
Fantastic......Fucking fantastic.
Until next week, my sincerest thanks that you make mine by folding on the felt with you.
Respectfully posted,
jjok
Sick. Less Fat than Last Week. Still Tired.
