Back in the day, I looked forward to blogger tournaments. It was a place for bloggers to sit down bluff, steal, nit or donk their way into bloggament history. It wasn’t about money. It was about putting your best texas holdem poker game together and coming out on top of a field full of drunken degens.
Then along came the BBT, changing everything we knew and loved about blogger tourneys.
AlCantHang and Full Tilt Poker put together a series of tournaments overshadowing any other blogger series. It’s the king kong of bloggaments. Huge prizes, absurd suckouts, rail rantage and even the possibility of WSOP glory for the winners who choose that path. But in most cases, more coin for the lady of the house to do with as she pleases.
Even with BBT5 in full swing it’s been difficult for me to play my best and be patient enough to claim my seat into the next TOC. I just don’t have the patience for tournaments anymore, especially low buy-in tournaments. Even with all that’s at stake in the TOC, I just can’t seem to put together one good tournament run in BBT5. The closest I’ve come was a final table in the first Poker from the Rail tournament.
Hopefully, my mindset will turnaround and my online poker strategy will improve enough to win my way into the next TOC. In between BBT5 tournaments, I’ll continue packing and getting ready for our big move next month.
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April 15, 2010 by smokkee
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Growing up, my brother and I had a real passion for the game of baseball. During our childhood we inherited our dad’s team, the Dodgers as our own. My favorite Dodger player as a kid was the “penguin”, Ron Cey. It was his power and solid defense I came to appreciate. Cey was a perennial Dodger all-star from ’74-’79. I cheered along side my dad when the Dodgers were finally able to overcome the hated New York Yankees in ’81 after losing to the Bronx Bombers back to back in the ’77 and ’78 World Series’ and then beating the heavily favored Oakland A’s in ’88 (queue Kirk Gibson WS home run trot).
Double fist pump!
When I moved to Newport Beach in ’97 my allegiance to the Dodgers was altered. I began following the Angels who trotted out the likes of Garret Anderson, Tim Salmon, Darin Erstad, Chuck Finley and my favorite Angel until he left the club in 2005, Troy Percival. Percival was introduced late in the game with Godsmack’s “Keep Away” blaring over the stadium speakers, a kick ass way to come into a game IMO.
The Angels were generally a pretty mediocre team in the ‘90’s. That was until Mike Scioscia was brought in to manage the team in 2000, a former Dodger player and member of the L.A. championship teams in ’81 and ’88. Mike brought in several former Dodger players onto his coaching staff including, Mickey Hatcher, Alfredo Griffin, Ron Roenicke and Bud Black. This made the transition from a Dodger fan to an Angel fan pretty transparent. These were all guys I grew up watching in Dodger blue who went on to win World Championship rings with the Dodgers and were now coaching my new home town team, the Angels.
Scioscia turned the team around pretty quickly winning the 2002 World Series against the heavily favored San Francisco Giants led by a juiced up Barry Bonds. That was a magical year for the Halos, I was fortunate enough to attend World Series games 2 and 7 in Anaheim. Percival got the save in both games. It was an experience I’ll never forget, jumping around in the stands after that final out in game 7 was exhilarating. High fiving other fans as the trophy was brought onto the field and given to Mike Scioscia. The Anaheim Angels were World Champions of Major League Baseball.
The Angels have had continued success behind Scioscia winning the AL West 5 of the last 6 years but coming up short in the LDS and ALCS.
I was given a $100 Ticketmaster gift card a while back and finally got around to using it. Two seats in the club level on the 1st base side at Angels Stadium for opening day 2010 against the Minnesota Twins, April 5th. The Angels start the season with a 6-3 win over the Twinkies including homeruns by our newest free agent acquisition DH Hideki Matsui, first baseman Kendry Morales and catcher Jeff Mathis.
Here’s to hoping the Halos can regain the magic of that 2002 season and bring home another trophy to Anaheim.
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February 22, 2010 by smokkee
I’ve spent my entire life in Southern California. I grew up surfing and playing sports with the neighborhood kids. I had a real love for surfing. We’d bike to the beach every weekend with a trailer hooked to the back of someone’s bike hauling our surfboards, boogie boards and fins. We’d spend all day at the beach and ride back.
Hermosa Beach was about 7 miles each way from the house I grew up in. When we made that final turn up the block to my house, my brother and I would dump our stuff in the driveway and run into house to gorge on whatever we could find in the kitchen. Meanwhile, my mom would be telling us dinner would be ready soon.
“Don’t spoil your appetite”.
I loved the beach and loved surfing. During high school, my life was spent at the beach when I wasn’t in school. Once I got my car during senior year, my schedule was down to four classes so I was able to bolt from school and go straight to the beach at noon with whoever wanted to tagged along.
It was an awesome time for me.
Tina recently finished her matching process for internship. She applied and interviewed in NC and FL last month. This morning we found out she was granted a one year internship in Bradenton, FL. She’s worked so hard to get to this point. It’s a huge milestone and she’s pretty excited to start. I’m very proud of what she’s been able to accomplish working through her doctorate.
Why Bradenton? It’s partially economics and partially family reasons. Tina has family in Bradenton and we’ve come to the realization that we’ll never be able to afford a house here unless we move inland. We’ve been renting a 2 BR/2 BA condo here about 2 miles from the beach. Even the rent is rediculous ($1900/mo).
In four months, we’ll be packing up a truck and hauling all our possessions along with my car and our little mutt over 2600 miles.
I never dreamed I’d ever leave my homeland but, the time has come to move on. I don’t surf anymore but I’ll miss SoCal and my family dearly. It will be a difficult transition for me but, I’m excited to start this new chapter in our lives.
Posted in The Big Move | 14 Comments »
