It’s early a.m., the wind stopped but the damn temperature is in the low 40’s and today is garbage day. That means Linda will be shivering her tush off as she takes out all the crap that should have been thrown away years ago, but is definitely going now because it’s time to downsize. S-H-I-V-E-R…ugh! Where’s the perfect climate? Or is there even such a thing? I know we need a ‘perfect climate sphere’ with 24-hour poker…that’s going on my Christmas wish list.

*****

Well, blogger tournament buddies, I spoke with Mike Matusow, in person, tonight at Bellagio. He did get my email asking if he could make it to our pre-tourney gathering. He said he’s going to be sequestered for a ‘reality TV show’ for about two weeks. That may be a slight exaggeration but he wasn’t sure if he would be out and about for anything. Now how in the hell can this guy miss all the Five Diamond events that start tomorrow at Bellagio? BTW, the final event of that is a $15,000 + 300 buy-in. Well…back to the blogger’s tourney – bet we have more fun than any other tournaments around the world. Can’t wait to hang out with everyone and laugh and giggle…just 12 more days.

*****

Jack it up – crank it down! One of the $30-60 H games I went through found everyone agreeing to put the ‘live $60’ on it for two full rounds of the table. Kee-rist! Talk about chip wars. And what exactly does that mean – ‘live $60’? The player UTG made it $60 to go before the cards were dealt, giving them last option to raise, and most of the time, they did. The game was huge. One guy signed up to play $80-160, he was moving up in limit trying to get even for the chip throwing frenzy that was going on in this game. Scary! Move up to catch up.

I thought I’d fall off my chair when this happened: $2-5 NLH. The 9s looked like any bigger than average guy off the street, plain clothes, drinking and a little slow with his speech and actions but he wasn’t slow with putting chips in the pot. He raised it anywhere from $60 to $80 pre-flop, and after the Flop, he would bet/raise $100 or a little higher, almost every hand. No one had a hand to contest the 9s with and he stacked chip after chip. The 1s even whispered in my ear that she was sure the 9s had nothing most of the time but she didn’t have anything to slow him down with.

The 9s went to the bathroom (yes, I know it was the bathroom because he asked where it was), and put a napkin over the top of his chips when he left. Umnhhh! When he returned the gamble, gamble, gamble continued. Finally he and the 3s ended up heads-up.

The 3s checked the Flop – a small bet, like $40 or $50, by the 9s brought a call from the 3s. The Turn paired the board with 8’s. The 3s checked, the 9s bet $105, and the 3s raised to $315.

The 9s called and accidentally hit his own chips, knocking some of them into his lap and onto the floor. He bent down to pick up chips and the 10s helped him. While he was picking up chips, that damn napkin ended up falling over his cards. I reached over and grabbed the napkin, tossing it onto the floor as the 3s declared that he was going all-in before the River card came.

The 3s pushed out the remainder of his chips, approximately $200, and I burned and turned off the River. The 9s sat up, looked around, looked at his hand, and asked, “What just happened there?”

I said, “He went all-in before the last card came.”

“No, I mean what just happened there? Those aren’t my cards.”

For some reason, without even thinking about it, I said, “Unless they fell out of your sleeve, they are.”

Several people at the table tittered, “What does he mean those aren’t his cards.”

The 9s was still trying to look bewildered.

I said, “Those are definitely his cards.”

The 9s finally threw his hand away and I pushed the pot to the 3s. I believe the 9s rarely even looked at his hand throughout his time of play. He just raised/bet when it came to him and he finally got caught with a check-raise. He may have discovered a draw that would bring him in for $205 more but on the River, he was finished and just didn’t want anyone to know. Or he completely misread his hand and was playing a previous hand on this hand. It happens to all of us at some time or another…we think we have one hand and look back and the cards have changed.

Well…hell. Time to freeze, shake, shiver my tush off with the garbage expedition. If I’m not back by tomorrow, send backup, with flamethrowers to thaw me out.