Cards Win!!!!

The St. Louis Cardinals won the World Series!!! They are not even my main team, and I was excited and just as nervous as the Otter watching the 9th inning last night. Needless to say, the victory did my job for me for the most part last night!! Hopefully this means my luck is changing! A big thanks is due to Missouri Piggy! The Otter bought him for me in St. Louis, so he is a Cards fan through and through! I brought him in during the Mets series and he did his job! The games the Cards lost he was mad at us for one reason or another.

His favorite food seems to be Calzones and his favorite players are So Taguchi and Scott Spezio!

So Congrads again to the Cards on their World Series victory. Missouri Piggy wants me to teach him about hockey since he is sad there is no more baseball until April. He likes the Blues and I'm a Flyers fan, so unless they play, I think we'll be okay!!

Bad Sports Weekend

I can't believe I'm writing this, but it was a real bad sports weekend for me. It all started with my alma matter Pitt getting beat by Rutgers on Saturday. Rutgers was a ranked team, and they could have proved so much by winning that game, but nope. The Cardinals managed to win game 1 of the World Series Saturday Night, so there was some silver lining. It wasn't the Phillies, so it was as good as it could have been. Then Sunday was the worst day of the whole weekend. Michael Vick rediscovered his passing game and beat the Steelers in OT. Unfortunately, it was a televised game, so I had to sit there and watch the beating. Every time the Steelers would score and get my hopes up, Vick and the dirty birds would send them crashing down. The Eagles lost to Tampa Bay. TAMPA BAY!!!!! I mean, come on!! And it took a 62 yard field goal by the Bucs. Then the Otter didn't finish as well as he hoped in the Poker tourney he was playing. Then the Cards lost game 2 of the WS to the cheating Kenny Rogers and the Tigers. Not to mention, I tanked in my football picks. I only had 5 right! And the Otter and I played each other this week in Fantasy Football and he beat me, (with all that Vick scoring, the Steelers defense only got me 6 points, and I'm lucky at at that). Was routing for the Giants last night in Monday Night Football since they're the lesser of the 2 evils in the NFC East. They won, and Burress got me close to beating the Otter, but my luck MUST change! The World Series is going back to St. Louis and the Cards must win for many reasons. A more peaceful, happier home life for one, and maybe they can snap this bad luck streak. The Eagles have to beat the Jags next week and I want to win Steelers-Raiders tickets!! I'm surrounded with good luck piggies at home, so I can only hope maybe they can come through for me!

Poker Tips

The Otter sent me this article, and I thought it was worthy of a Post since I mention something similar in a previous blog. It's just some tips from Clonie Gowen (courtesy of FullTiltPoker.net). I think there is more demand for articles like this with Poker taking off like it has. Article is in pink to avoid any confusion, and my comments are in the normal font. I thought it was a pretty cool article and I'm bored out of my mind just watching the clock tick away!

I am always trying to find the balance between family and poker, and I know a lot of you struggle with the same issue. For the serious player with a significant other, the poker lifestyle can be a real challenge. Here's a little advice for making poker work with the rest of your life. I've included five tidbits of advice for both the player and his or her partner.

Advice for the Poker Player

1. Don't punish your partner over your bad play or bad luck. Let it go when you walk away from the table. If you can't release that bad energy quickly, then let your partner know that you need a little while to cool off. Snapping at your partner isn't good for anyone.

2. Don't lie about wins or losses. Remember, you're incredibly lucky if you found someone who supports your dreams. If the money in play makes your partner nervous, sit down and discuss a business plan that works for both of you. Talk honestly about the pros and cons of serious poker. Don't even consider going pro until you can cover all of your bills for at least six months in advance.

3. If you make plans with your partner, don't play that day. If you get stuck or if a sucker sits at your table, you aren't going to want to leave, and feelings are going to get hurt. Believe me.

Clarification - if you make plans with your partner, you shouldn't play poker? Or if you have plans to play poker, you shouldn't make plans with your partner? Both should be true.

4. If you're traveling the circuit, be courteous and answer your phone . It's hard enough on a partner when you're out of town. There's no need to make them wonder who you're with or what you're doing..

I just don't call, (unless it's important). If I go to bed disappointed since I haven't talked to him, oh well. Better then wondering if they don't answer, or you happen to catch them in the middle of something and are rude.

5. Remember, there's life outside of poker. If you can remember a hand you played five years ago, then it's not too much to ask to remember your partner's birthday.

What's today - October 16th. . .hmmm. . . :)


Advice for the Player's Partner

1. If your future champion walks through the door looking a little grey, don't ask, "Did you win?" Just back off and give them some space. I promise they just need to analyze what happened and, maybe, replay a few hands in their mind. The last thing they want to do is disappoint you by talking about a big loss.

So I guess this means the question "how did things go?" is off limits too?

2. Poker players don't change. If you don't try to understand a player's fascination with the game, your relationship is going to see some very tough times. Andy Bloch, for example, has an incredibly supportive girlfriend (soon to be wife). She's smart and ambitious. Once she started dating Andy, she realized that if the relationship was going to work, she'd have to adapt to his travel schedule. You know what she did? She started a website called PokerWire. For a time, she traveled everywhere with Andy, reported on chip counts, and interviewed players. Now, Jennifer is back in school and Andy has moved to be with her, supporting her choice.

Men do not change in general. I know this. (Only going from what I've heard, I assure you).


3. Don't be quick to assume the worst. If your poker pro doesn't come home until 5AM, you can bet that they were stuck in some game or that a favorite fish walked in the door right as they were about to leave. Most poker players are honorable people. They might bluff an opponent, but they don't bluff in life. We are weird that way. So, unless they give you a reason to think they were up to no good, give them the benefit of a doubt.

Good to know about the honor. Assuming the worse for me is thinking someone was in a car accident. (Don't know why I always think that).


4. A player can't choose the day or time that a sucker will be at the table. Sometimes, they'll need to play on Thanksgiving or Christmas - or even on your birthday. If we get a phone call that "Ramin' Jamin' John" is in town, there's nothing that's gonna stop us... Except a car wreck because we were speeding to get to the game.

This, I would have a hard time with. The holidays/birthdays are important to me.


5. If you want to learn how to play the game, your partner may not be the best teacher . They will have less patience with you than anyone else. Get some books on poker, and start with them. It's hard to teach someone that has never played, and it's going to get frustrating for both of you. Play online at the lower limits to practice what you've learned.

I don't know - I think my partner has more patience with me then anyone!! And he does help me with any Poker tips/questions I may have.


I hope y'all enjoyed this one and, remember, bad beats make for lousy pillow talk.

Rockin' and Rolling Out

Well, the Phillies season officially ended on Sunday with them rolling their way out of the playoffs again. This year they finished 3 games back in the wild card. All I wanted this weekend was a little help from the Giants to sweep their hated rival to the south. Could they even win 1 game - NO!!!!!!!! It was so painful watching them on Friday/Saturday. But, in all fairness, the Phillies could have won a few more games on their own, so they didn't have to depend on the Giants or Diamondbacks. Here's to next year!! I will be routing for a Cardinals-Tigers world series. I thought this weekend about marketing anti-subway series t-shirts. Please not again. :( On the bright side - at the start of the season, the Otter and I bet on the Phillies-Cardinals record. We split their heads up match-ups, but the Phillies finished 1.5 games better then the Red Birds, so he owes me a few cents!! Was regretting that bet the beginning of the season, but the Phillies nicely turned things around.

I saw one of the BEST concerts last night! It was Shine Down, Rob Zombie and Godsmack!! WOW!! Shine Down was a pleasant surprise. Wasn't real familiar with them until last night, but they got me rockin' out! I bought the tickets for Godsmack, but Rob Zombie completely stole the show for me!! They were SO awesome. They didn't miss a beat. Had an awesome stage performance and sounded great live. I had really high hopes for Godsmack, but they sort of let me down. Granted, they were still pretty good, but how can anyone follow that Zombie act? It may be my imagination, but I think the reason I like all Godsmack songs, is that some sound very similar. I wasn't too happy with what they opened with and there was this period of time in the show were Sully disappeared and it was just the drummer going with a generic beat. The Otter said it was just for stage presence, but I was sort of bored. The 2nd half of the show may have made up for it. Sully sat down at the drums and they had double drums going. Even playing some Sabbath with crowd karoke! It was pretty awesome. (Just read on their website that Sully was a drummer before Godsmack, so one might not be so surprised). It really was a good show and I had an awesome time there with the Otter, I think I'm just being too critical! Plus it was all the way out in Concord and we took the train so didn't get home until pretty late.

Eagles on Monday Night football tonight!! :)