3/22/2007

Sorry.....Update

My apologies for not keepin up to date with my blog. Sometimes a man just does not feel like writing, that was obviously the case for the past few months. I will be in and out of the blog till June, than it will be back to full go in Vegas for the WSOP. Also, one of my best friends is getting married on July 7th! Congrats to Adam!

Till next time,

Boke

1/18/2007

Enjoy Your Freedoms While They Last

A few days back the two founders of Neteller were arrested here in the United States. This was than followed by Neteller disallowing U.S. citizens from transferring money to and from online poker sites or "gambling" sites. Eighty to ninety percent of all online poker players used the Neteller service as a secure way to protect their money online. Unfortunately the Unlawful Gambling Bill has now taken a step forward to ban online gambling and take away our freedoms. I truely feel as though I have been robbed of my freedoms. It's almost like getting fired from a job with no substantial reasoning. This all stems from the Republican party.

Again I state, the Republicans sponsored the HR 4594 Bill which passed very simply in the House. Bill Frist was successful in sneaking this into the Safe Port Act without much time for anyone to realize what exactly the Bill included. A typical "scum bag" move in which most politicians are capable of. So basically, the Republican Party made it impossible to vote against. If any Democrats voted against it, they would be seen as people who wanted terrorists to kill your family and ruin our country. So what happens is the terrorists are in a WIN/WIN situation and get exactly what they want. They made our own people take away our own rights away!

Very well played Republican Party. I thought the Republican party was all for small government and individual rights? I geuss I am wrong. Maybe its because the Republican party has been taken over by religious fundamentalists who have lost their minds in recent years?! I mean how does the Republican party feel that online poker is immoral, yet online lottery and horse-racing gets an exemption? Fuckin Hypocrits! Get a clue you Bastards! The funny thing is poker is a game of skill that many of our greatest Presidents enjoyed and played for years.

Possible solutions:

1. Seperate Poker as a skilled game and not as a form of degenerate gambling such as: Sports betting, Table games such as BlackJack, roulette, craps, online slot machines and other casino games.

2. Have the major online sites open up their wallets and start lobbying. Eliminate all other forms of "gambling" on the major sites and become "Poker" only.

3. Setup Poker funding sites. Allow such company's to fund poker sites and keep strict records for Tax purposes.

4. Vote: Non-Republican at the polls.


One last thing, by no means do I feel that banning any gambling activities is correct. I feel people should be allowed to spend their money on whatever the fuck they want to. GFY Bill Frist! End of conversation.


Boke

1/16/2007

Something New for the House

Yorkie #2 was purchased on Friday. We named him "Junior", which leads to many many nicknames. I call him "Uncle June's", Leandra calls him "Junior Mints". He is quite the work and Ziggy is not real thrilled. Im sure I will look a little fruity walking these two down the street. HAHA. Here are some pics:




1/10/2007

Pictures From Bahamas



The beautiful Atlantis Resort. If only looks were everything!



Chris (aka MarvinGarden) getting his game face on.



Level 1 boredom setting in! Got to sport the bucks gear before the big game.



Christian, Leandra, and Chris having drinks in the lounge. The lounge was filled with laptops everyday. Internet connections from the rooms of the Atlantis were not exactly speedy, however in the lounge room the connection was much better.




From left, Roothlus, Zeejustin, and Brett Favre play some intense Magic. Most of these young guys were big Magic players before they started playing poker. It is almost scarey how intelligent these guys are when it comes to games and game theory.



From left: Imperium, Annette, Mkind, and BelowabOve in the lounge room doing what they do best! That's right.....Sucking Out! They are all top ranked players on the net.

Good Game From the Bahamas

The weather was beautiful given the time of year, the food was fair and way over priced, and the service was awful. A pretty standard visit to the Atlantis in the Bahamas. When I say that the service was awful, it is still a major understatement. For example, we ate at the Outback on Saturday night. Eight people in our party and we were there for nearly three hours. Talk about a long dinner. However, my wife and I, along with Chris (MarvinGarden) and his fiance Christian had dinner at a place called "Gray Cliffe". It was amazing food and the service was excellent. I highly reccommend this establishment to anyone who visits the Bahamas.

As for the tournament, well.... not so good either. I was unfortunate to draw a table of a few well knowns. I was seated in seat 3. Next to me in seat 4 was Pokerstars representative Isabelle Mercier, in seat 5 was David Williams (second place finisher to Greg Raymer in 2004 Main Event), and in seat 8 was Tom Mcevoy (Won the Main Event in the late 80's I believe, and now writes poker books). Everyone in the tournament started with 20k in chips. The big starting stack led David Williams to play 90% of the pots. He played a crazy aggressive style in which it seemed as though he was ready to gamble every hand. The majority of my key hands were against him, unfortunately so was my very last hand of the tournament. Here was my exit hand.

Im on the big blind with 66. David Williams raises preflop to 700, I was the 3rd caller and 4th person to enter the flop.

Flop: 864 rainbow (bink)

I check obviously knowing David Williams will bet, which he does to 2k. Everyone folds down to me. I repop him to 7k. He instantly calls. I now have about 11.5k behind at this time, and David has a bit more, but not much.

Turn: 7

I know he doesnt have a 4 to make the straight, but it wasn't the greatest turn card for me. So I bet half of my remaining chips, 6k, leaving me 5-6k behind. This is a very unusual bet that I had made. Most people at this point would just shove their stack, but I had noticed that if I had given some sort of pot odds to David that he would not be able to fold. He showed this the entire tourney to this point. The guy simply could not fold a hand. I got my wish and he instantly called.

I now bet my last 6k in the dark. (Meaning I bet before the river card had even came)

River: 10

Williams instantly calls in a hurry and shows his straight. HAHA. He called me down with 89. Now many may ask, why didn't I shove after the turn. Believe me it would not have mattered. Williams was not getting away from his hand after the turn. The guy simply can not fold a hand like that as he had shown all day. Like they say "That is Poker".

Wowzers has it been a rough week it terms of sports. Let's see.....Jets lose to Pats, Buckeyes game was great for 15 seconds.....Florida looked unstoppable! Than to top it off Buckeyes Hoops lost yesterday in a key Big Ten battle. DOH!!!!!! Things could be worse :)

Boke

1/03/2007

Good Start to 07' and the Bahamas

Finally, I took 2nd last night in the nightly 150 buy in on Pokerstars. A few months back I had a streak of around 55 straight non-cashes in this tournament. It is a HUGE start to 07', and also a boost of confidence in that nightly tournament in which I had struggled for so long.

Let's keep our fingers crossed for that same success to carry on at the WPT-PCA (World Poker Tour - Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure) starting Saturday in the Bahamas. I leave tomorrow morning, and Leandra meets me there on Friday afternoon. It is going to be a great time! Many of the elite online players will all be attending as well. Best of all, at least 2 of my housemates from Vegas are also coming, Elop2555 (Efrain Lopez) and MarvinGarden (Chris Birchby). Wish us luck in the tournament and I will post pictures of Paradise in the upcoming days!

Peace and Hair grease,

Boke