More often than not, if you raise from MP/LP (heck even UTG works sometimes) and someone from the SB or BB three bets, slide out a 4th bet and they will most likely fold.
My theory is that they think that you think you can steal their blinds, so they raise. Therefore, you think that they think they can three bet and push you off... so what do you?
Four bet those weak tights!
Oh and guess what, surprise surprise I am a losing player at Rush... LOL
My name is Schaubs and I suck at poker!
...but that won't stop me from playing a few hundred hands tonight! Find me and you "takes the money Lebowski."
30.1.10
29.1.10
Vancouver City
Here's a great video I heard about this morning on my way to work. In fact, they were interviewing the creators on Larry & Willy and went into great detail about what it took to make this time lapse video capture... 2 hours of clicking for 8 seconds! Crazy.
Just another reason why you should all be coming to Vancouver at some point in your life. Enjoy.
Just another reason why you should all be coming to Vancouver at some point in your life. Enjoy.
26.1.10
Gotta Love it
Gotta love it when you comment on someone's blog out of sheer boredom.
Gotta love it that I suck at poker.
Gotta love it when someone turns your comment into a post.
Gotta love it that I played my first round of golf of 2010 last Saturday.
Gotta love it that the Colts won the AFC Championship.
Gotta love it when I know poker is just a hobby.
Gotta love it when that comment you made is used for a new post and still no props.
Gotta love it that I started off my round with a double bogey.
Gotta love it that I shot 76.
Gotta love it that my job is going well.
Gotta love it that I just got a hair cut.
Gotta love it when you miss a one foot par putt.
Gotta love it when that hair cut looks and feels good.
Gotta love it that I am done with gotta love it.
Gotta love it that I suck at poker.
Gotta love it when someone turns your comment into a post.
Gotta love it that I played my first round of golf of 2010 last Saturday.
Gotta love it that the Colts won the AFC Championship.
Gotta love it when I know poker is just a hobby.
Gotta love it when that comment you made is used for a new post and still no props.
Gotta love it that I started off my round with a double bogey.
Gotta love it that I shot 76.
Gotta love it that my job is going well.
Gotta love it that I just got a hair cut.
Gotta love it when you miss a one foot par putt.
Gotta love it when that hair cut looks and feels good.
Gotta love it that I am done with gotta love it.
20.1.10
Rushing back to Cash games
Bloglines has been blowing up with a bunch of posts regarding Full Tilt's latest crack version of cash games called Rush Poker. I've gotta say that after only trying it for 15 minutes last night - I love it.
It's got this non-metagame aspect to it that I find extremely desirable when I want to just pound out a few hands in the evening. If I've got 10-30 minutes to spare while I wait for Lola to finish whatever it is she wants to finish before we start up a show on the PVR, then this is where I will be from now on.
Instantly, I came up with my own strategy that seemed to work well. First off, I selected 6 max at the lowest limit. After all, I had 10 bucks and fifteen minutes to either blow it or double it... and double it I did, and then some. I walked (logged) out with $15 profit in 15 minutes and I was itchin' to play more. Having already gone 5 minutes past my self imposed deadline it was difficult to log off, only because I kept getting dealt hands so quickly and didn't want to walk away from a potential monster.
I chose 6 max because I thought it would be easier to steal the blinds with Ace-rag type of hands, and the frequency that I could do that was much higher than when sitting a table with some stat tracking nit whore (ok the whore part I just threw in there for fun). Whore. So far so good.
Flying from table to table (yes, I actually felt like I was really truly flying at some moments) made it easy to raise in position with a wider range of hands. The real money is to be made post flop IMO. If you have any clue how to play post flop positional poker you can really put the pressure on some players depending on how deep the stacks are. Bluffing and cbetting are a must if you want to take down those small raised pots uncontested. If someone pushes back and you don't have the goods - fold and move on! Raise again at your new table!
This aggression will not stand man. (anyone who can name what movie that line came from will get a virtual high five from me, dude.) There will be adjustments made and the novelty might wear off but for now I say join the fun and make some quick cash.
Strike while the iron is hot fellow poker junkies, there is new dead money to be had!
It's got this non-metagame aspect to it that I find extremely desirable when I want to just pound out a few hands in the evening. If I've got 10-30 minutes to spare while I wait for Lola to finish whatever it is she wants to finish before we start up a show on the PVR, then this is where I will be from now on.
Instantly, I came up with my own strategy that seemed to work well. First off, I selected 6 max at the lowest limit. After all, I had 10 bucks and fifteen minutes to either blow it or double it... and double it I did, and then some. I walked (logged) out with $15 profit in 15 minutes and I was itchin' to play more. Having already gone 5 minutes past my self imposed deadline it was difficult to log off, only because I kept getting dealt hands so quickly and didn't want to walk away from a potential monster.
I chose 6 max because I thought it would be easier to steal the blinds with Ace-rag type of hands, and the frequency that I could do that was much higher than when sitting a table with some stat tracking nit whore (ok the whore part I just threw in there for fun). Whore. So far so good.
Flying from table to table (yes, I actually felt like I was really truly flying at some moments) made it easy to raise in position with a wider range of hands. The real money is to be made post flop IMO. If you have any clue how to play post flop positional poker you can really put the pressure on some players depending on how deep the stacks are. Bluffing and cbetting are a must if you want to take down those small raised pots uncontested. If someone pushes back and you don't have the goods - fold and move on! Raise again at your new table!
This aggression will not stand man. (anyone who can name what movie that line came from will get a virtual high five from me, dude.) There will be adjustments made and the novelty might wear off but for now I say join the fun and make some quick cash.
Strike while the iron is hot fellow poker junkies, there is new dead money to be had!
19.1.10
Bloglines unread = 0
There are multiple reasons for this:
1. I am an efficient bloglines reader. If I don't like what you have to say by either the title or by the first few paragraphs - I just move on. Too bad, so sad. If you happen to catch my attention then chances are I am clicking over to your blog and often leaving a comment. Comments are fun and let people know you are reading them without them having to guess via statcounter.
2. You tools aren't writing enough. Get on it... I know I know, I should talk.
3. I don't have all of you on my bloglines. I know this is a fact. Actually, there are a few of you out there who I count on to update their twitter feeds when they have a new blog post because I am too lazy to add them to bloglines (it's a lot of work you know).
I use to have this widget that I could click whenever I wanted to add someone to bloglines. I lost it and now I am also too lazy to go and look for it again...
Laziness plus boredom equals emply bloglines.
Get on it, and so will I.
That includes you as well LURKERS. You know who you are. You are the same type of people who lurk on facebook. Never write an update and never make a comment. You sit back and read everyone else's updates and pretend like you don't exsist. Facebook lurkers are the worst. Especially when you run into them on the street, at a party etc.
They usually start up some sort of conversation about something that you never knew they knew about. Like "Oh hey I saw that you have been playing a lot of golf, how's that going?"
Or "what does all this "FTW" and "AA cracked by KK AIPF"" business mean. You are weird.
Whatever tool, why don't you just make a comment about it and I'll do my best to explain.
Tool.
1. I am an efficient bloglines reader. If I don't like what you have to say by either the title or by the first few paragraphs - I just move on. Too bad, so sad. If you happen to catch my attention then chances are I am clicking over to your blog and often leaving a comment. Comments are fun and let people know you are reading them without them having to guess via statcounter.
2. You tools aren't writing enough. Get on it... I know I know, I should talk.
3. I don't have all of you on my bloglines. I know this is a fact. Actually, there are a few of you out there who I count on to update their twitter feeds when they have a new blog post because I am too lazy to add them to bloglines (it's a lot of work you know).
I use to have this widget that I could click whenever I wanted to add someone to bloglines. I lost it and now I am also too lazy to go and look for it again...
Laziness plus boredom equals emply bloglines.
Get on it, and so will I.
That includes you as well LURKERS. You know who you are. You are the same type of people who lurk on facebook. Never write an update and never make a comment. You sit back and read everyone else's updates and pretend like you don't exsist. Facebook lurkers are the worst. Especially when you run into them on the street, at a party etc.
They usually start up some sort of conversation about something that you never knew they knew about. Like "Oh hey I saw that you have been playing a lot of golf, how's that going?"
Or "what does all this "FTW" and "AA cracked by KK AIPF"" business mean. You are weird.
Whatever tool, why don't you just make a comment about it and I'll do my best to explain.
Tool.
16.1.10
Vancouver Olympics Countdown 2010
With only four weeks to go until the first Saturday of the Olympics, the buzz is a bit overwhelming. It's everywhere, on every channel. You can't run, you can't hide.
Apparantly not a single Canadian has ever won an Olympic Gold Medal on home soil in the history of the games. I hope that changes, specifically with Men's Hockey.
When I planned my ticket attack almost a year ago I thought I had it figured out. My thoughts were that at least one of either team Canada or team USA would be playing on a Saturday (Feb 20th). Of course, being the gambler that I am I was cold decked. Instead, Lola and I are attending two preliminary games on that date:
Latvia vs. Slovakia 2pm
Germany vs. Belarus 9pm
We'll spend the entire day downtown sqeaking in a nice dinner with family in between events.
Bat Beat - Canada AND the USA play their respective games on Sunday... obviously. Stupid random draws without knowing the actual schedule prior to my lottery entry. Probably a blessing in disguise as we can now watch both of those games from the comfort of our own living room (Actually we'll probably head over to a friends for beers and good times - oh and they have a super sized tv...)
However, I am very happy to have received any tickets at all. The Gold Medal game would have been nice... but at almost $1000 a ticket... that's a wsop lottery ticket in itself.
If you're looking for a place to watch the games and are in a jam (i.e. - at work) check out the following options:
CBC Sports : free viewing for Canadian residents, with excellent quality and coverage designed for Canadians.
Watch Olympic Games is a paid subscription channel. It costs $99 for the duration of the Games, and there is a brief pre-games window during which the price will be down to $49.95 until some time tonight. The quality and national bias of the feed are unknown.
NBC Olympics is a state-of-the-art site with excellent and clear statistics, but will not stream live content into Canada. NBC has also placed other restrictions on its coverage; no events scheduled to be televised on normal NBC channels will be available online until after they are seen on TV.
YouTube, a special channel for random clips. The IOC supplies the footage, about 500 to 800 segments over the duration of the Games. You watch for free, but YouTube will sell advertising around the channel, but only be to official Olympic sponsors. Not available in Canada.
Enjoy the games everyone!
Apparantly not a single Canadian has ever won an Olympic Gold Medal on home soil in the history of the games. I hope that changes, specifically with Men's Hockey.
When I planned my ticket attack almost a year ago I thought I had it figured out. My thoughts were that at least one of either team Canada or team USA would be playing on a Saturday (Feb 20th). Of course, being the gambler that I am I was cold decked. Instead, Lola and I are attending two preliminary games on that date:
Latvia vs. Slovakia 2pm
Germany vs. Belarus 9pm
We'll spend the entire day downtown sqeaking in a nice dinner with family in between events.
Bat Beat - Canada AND the USA play their respective games on Sunday... obviously. Stupid random draws without knowing the actual schedule prior to my lottery entry. Probably a blessing in disguise as we can now watch both of those games from the comfort of our own living room (Actually we'll probably head over to a friends for beers and good times - oh and they have a super sized tv...)
However, I am very happy to have received any tickets at all. The Gold Medal game would have been nice... but at almost $1000 a ticket... that's a wsop lottery ticket in itself.
If you're looking for a place to watch the games and are in a jam (i.e. - at work) check out the following options:
CBC Sports : free viewing for Canadian residents, with excellent quality and coverage designed for Canadians.
Watch Olympic Games is a paid subscription channel. It costs $99 for the duration of the Games, and there is a brief pre-games window during which the price will be down to $49.95 until some time tonight. The quality and national bias of the feed are unknown.
NBC Olympics is a state-of-the-art site with excellent and clear statistics, but will not stream live content into Canada. NBC has also placed other restrictions on its coverage; no events scheduled to be televised on normal NBC channels will be available online until after they are seen on TV.
YouTube, a special channel for random clips. The IOC supplies the footage, about 500 to 800 segments over the duration of the Games. You watch for free, but YouTube will sell advertising around the channel, but only be to official Olympic sponsors. Not available in Canada.
Enjoy the games everyone!
14.1.10
Bigger me
Lady at the McDonald's drive thru yesterday morning asked me if I wanted to make my hash brown bigger. I knew what she meant but decided to have a bit of fun and play dumb so I asked her what she meant.
Her: "Bigger, do you want to make your hash brown bigger?"
Me: "You mean the hash browns come in different sizes?"
She didn't find it too funny and final corrected herself and said "super size" (with an underlying tone of "you moron").
Ummmm no I am fine with my one fatty potato patty thank you... even if I am only allowing myself one trip to McDick's per week... breakfast only obv.
Her: "Bigger, do you want to make your hash brown bigger?"
Me: "You mean the hash browns come in different sizes?"
She didn't find it too funny and final corrected herself and said "super size" (with an underlying tone of "you moron").
Ummmm no I am fine with my one fatty potato patty thank you... even if I am only allowing myself one trip to McDick's per week... breakfast only obv.
11.1.10
The Triple Upgrade II
After golf I got a ride back to the IP from F-Train. Pebs, BamBam and JJOK were in the back. Somehow I scored shotgun. Score one for the tall guy. Reccess Rampage was kind enough to take my bag over to upgrade #2. The Palazzo. I had a nice pull out and RR had the other Queen bed. I had my own TV... this was no regular pull out couch. The blinds had a a remote control. There was a shower AND a tub etc etc etc I could go on. Needless to say, RR and I both benefitted from our degenerate friend Bayne being such a baller at the video poker machine a while back that he was able to snag two free nights in a saaawweeeeet suite. He's kind of a big deal.
You stay classy Bayne. You are one generous mofo.
So when we got back to the IP we all went out seperate ways to cleanup, eat, gamble etc. being lazy, I grabbed a cab over to the Venetian. I met RR in the poker room and eventually, the always gleeful LJ showed up. We decided to play poker. I think you might recall that my name is Schaubs and I suck at poker?
Once that torture was over with we went to our rooms. LJ and Bayne went off to get LJ's room booked and RR went up to the Palazzo room. RR took forever to get ready so I grabbed a cab over to the MGM at around 10ish. I met up with a whole bunch of blogger types - new and old, drunk and sober.
A buddy of mine that I've played golf with for about 20 years now was also in Vegas. He plays golf for a living and was in town for a tournament. I met him and his new gf over by the sportsbook and we talked for a while. It was fun to hang out with someone I knew from my own city. It was like old times, he was drinking and he isn't a drinker so he was buzzed and by this time so was I. I grabbed another 32 ounce beer and bought Mr. HighOnPoker a birthday drink.
At this point a lot of people were talking about the Steel Panther Experience. I had already decided that I wasn't going to take part. I hung around and didn't play any poker. Kept drinking.
Now the details get fuzzy. I remember leaving MGM with Bayne. We cabbed it back somewhere. I think the IP. Drank some more and then met up with RR. We went to some place in the V for dinner. I think there are two of the same restaurants, one in each of the Palazzo and the Venitian. I remember having steak and eggs and tweeting about it. I also drunk texted this donkey.
Twitter was a huge advantage this time around. I can't tell you how many times it helped in knowing where people were, what people were doing, winning, losing, laughing, #table16 making fun etc. I don't have an iphone but I did bring my itouch. As long as there was free wireless, I was connected.
I think we finished the night with some $15 craps. Not the best idea for this short rolled craps rookie. I spewed a bit and then called it a night.
You stay classy Bayne. You are one generous mofo.
So when we got back to the IP we all went out seperate ways to cleanup, eat, gamble etc. being lazy, I grabbed a cab over to the Venetian. I met RR in the poker room and eventually, the always gleeful LJ showed up. We decided to play poker. I think you might recall that my name is Schaubs and I suck at poker?
Once that torture was over with we went to our rooms. LJ and Bayne went off to get LJ's room booked and RR went up to the Palazzo room. RR took forever to get ready so I grabbed a cab over to the MGM at around 10ish. I met up with a whole bunch of blogger types - new and old, drunk and sober.
A buddy of mine that I've played golf with for about 20 years now was also in Vegas. He plays golf for a living and was in town for a tournament. I met him and his new gf over by the sportsbook and we talked for a while. It was fun to hang out with someone I knew from my own city. It was like old times, he was drinking and he isn't a drinker so he was buzzed and by this time so was I. I grabbed another 32 ounce beer and bought Mr. HighOnPoker a birthday drink.
At this point a lot of people were talking about the Steel Panther Experience. I had already decided that I wasn't going to take part. I hung around and didn't play any poker. Kept drinking.
Now the details get fuzzy. I remember leaving MGM with Bayne. We cabbed it back somewhere. I think the IP. Drank some more and then met up with RR. We went to some place in the V for dinner. I think there are two of the same restaurants, one in each of the Palazzo and the Venitian. I remember having steak and eggs and tweeting about it. I also drunk texted this donkey.
Twitter was a huge advantage this time around. I can't tell you how many times it helped in knowing where people were, what people were doing, winning, losing, laughing, #table16 making fun etc. I don't have an iphone but I did bring my itouch. As long as there was free wireless, I was connected.
I think we finished the night with some $15 craps. Not the best idea for this short rolled craps rookie. I spewed a bit and then called it a night.
9.1.10
WBCOOP
I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker! This PokerStars tournament is a No Limit Texas Hold’em event exclusive to Bloggers, you too can take part by registering on WBCOOP
Registration code: 741444
2.1.10
The Triple Upgrade
I never get sick of Vegas. If someone mentions that they want to go, I am usually the first one to speak up and say that I am in. Often, my buddies will throw around the idea of a guys trip. I've been to a couple. I've only ever gone to Vegas once with Lola, and that was for a wedding.
This most recent trip did not go as planned, in that I had visions of a similar trip two years ago when I went to my first WPBT with none other than Dr. Fag. For months he guaranteed me that he was going, and for months I held off booking my trip in anticipation of booking some sort of package deal with him as we did two years ago. Yada yada yada, he bailed. No big deal, seriously. There's always next time, Vegas isn't going anywhere and neither is the WPBT from what I can tell.
So I booked my flight two days before I was to leave. I didn't book a room and was a bit worried about where I would stay. I had a few options and as always people were very generous and supportive. Specifically, Recess stepped up and said I could stay with him on night #1 at the IP. LJ said she would offer her place up for night 2 and 3 but then followed that up with "Lucko said no guys." When I mentioned this to Lola... she agreed. Weird. We laughed, obviously it was out of the question, but it was generous nontheless.
Anyway, the IP is not the best place to stay, but it was right in the action and how could I pass up a free night? Recess said it best "the casino is a dump, but the rooms are perfectly fine."
I tried something new this time. The carry on only strategy. At one point I was going to bring my own clubs to the first annual WPBT Invitational Golf Tournament. I really have a problem with using rental clubs. They usually suck. I think I have rented clubs maybe one other time in my life... in twenty years of golf. Heck, I even brought my own golf clubs on my honeymoon to Hawaii three years ago and I only played one round at Wailea (gold course). So yeah, I am a bit of a club snob... if there is even a chance that I can bring my own clubs, I will.
This time was different. I didn't want to have to check my clubs, wait for them on the other side and consequently cut into my drinking time at the IP hooker bar. Not to mention avoid the chance of them getting damaged or lost or stolen. For the $35 rental fee that CK arranged, it was a no brainer. The only downside was that I was going to be without my driver and putter for the big tournament. I knew that this would cost my team a few shots, and evidentally it did.
The upside was that I could stumble off the plane (yeah I had a few warm up vodkas) and walk directly to the cab line. In the cab and over to the IP in less than 30 minutes from landing?
That's like holing out from the fairway.
Writing this recap three weeks later is starting to get difficult. I know there will be key moments that I will miss, and others that will be left out intentionally. Those times are often the best times. The times where you just had to be there. There is no other way to describe it.
When I woke up Friday morning I was working on three hours sleep. Speaker was texting me to get downstairs as he kindly offered to pick me up. I jumped in the shitty IP shower. This shower was one that was either in desperate need of draino or a complete replacement altogether. Again, how can I complain. RR had already been living there for a week and I wasn't about to be ungrateful guest and bitch about something as lame as a clogged bathtub.
I threw on my shorts and brought my rain pants just in case. A big downside of only bringing a carry on bag is that I had to pack effciently. My rain pants were the perfect solution with the pending weather. Being a Canadian and having golfed in ALL types of weather systems (yes, even snow) I was not worried about the cold weather... but I hate the rain.
Thankfully, the rain held off and I sported the shorts partially for the shock value and partially because I really didn't have any other choice. I didn't bring any other pants that weren't jeans! So I sort of forced my own dress code with that plan and sure enough, the rain pants were pulled out and slapped on after the first hole.
My team was a lot of fun. JoeSpeaker is a real character. We drank and laughed and drank some more. Oh and there was golf shots. There were some beauties. Astin's buddy was also on our team. We were a man short, which really sunk our chances. We were a shot short on every single attempt. I am sure you, the educated reader, can understand how that this would be a disadvantage. Only getting to see two putts instead of three was obviously tougher.
We weren't going to let that get to us though. We were all very competitive and wanted to take this thing down, three man style. We started off well (so we thought) when we continuously made pars on the first 3 holes. With the handicapping system that BamBam put in place I knew we would be in tough. Astin's buddy was a decent player, but he just couldn't find the club face early on. Joe and I held us in there and on the fourth hole we had an eagle putt from just off the green. We two putted and we were finally in the red. Astin and April were railing the putt, but unfortunately all three of us left it a bit short.
All three of us needed some aiming juice but there was still no sign of the cart chick. April said she would have brought us all beers but we forgot to arrange that before we got to the course. Usually I am all over that sort of stuff and have the cooler preloaded and ready to go. I guess the foggyness from night #1 had clouded my focus on the important stuff - more drinking.
So we nursed our caesars/bloody mary's until we finally found the cart girl on the 6th hole. Speaker piped one down the middle and we almost hit the group in front of us who were also stopped for some well deserved beverages. They were leading the tournament. In fact I am pretty sure they lead it wire to wire.
Putting is always the key to winning these types of scramble tournaments. If you can't drain the odd 20-30 footer, you have no chance. If you don't make every single par putt inside 10 feet, you have no chance. Sure there are those rare occurances where you miss one and make a bogey. All four (in our case three) putts somehow doen't find the hole and you take your medicine like men. Still winning it usually involves making up for those types of errors with either a chip in or a tight shot to a tough pin.
We pushed on. Loaded our coolers with beer and continued to laugh and drink. Speaker hit some great drives and somehow both of us hit it into the rough on the long drive hole. Congrats to F-train on taking it down.
Wow, I just realized that I am totally rambling about the golf. I tend to do that. Golf is one of those things that I can recall so easily. It's always been that way for me. Ask me about the best round of my life and I can recall every putt, every shot, every decision. It's just that way.
So if you are still reading up til now, congrats. I won't fault you if you have skimmed most of that golf talk.
At the end of the golf tournament we realized we had finished second and paid up our debts. Believe it or not, this would be my first gambling payout of the entire trip. I didn't make a single bet on night #1. Instead I decided to drink and do a lot of people watching. I caught up with Pauly and met Bammer for the first time along with a handful of others like OhCaptain, Peaker and Lightning36 to name a few. LJ and Recess were just as I remembered them and they continued to take there jabs as they always do.
There were many more familiar faces this time and I didn't feel like I need to introduce myself as often. Which was nice., but not always necessary anyway. Bloggers are so easy to approach, and they will often approach you. Many times followed by a round of drinks.
It felt a bit odd to show up to Vegas solo, but I knew when I arrived I would not be alone.
When I first started to write this little recap I thought I would pound it out in one post... but my writing stamina is one that is pretty pathetic and I've decided to take a break!
Come back soon for part two.
Later.
This most recent trip did not go as planned, in that I had visions of a similar trip two years ago when I went to my first WPBT with none other than Dr. Fag. For months he guaranteed me that he was going, and for months I held off booking my trip in anticipation of booking some sort of package deal with him as we did two years ago. Yada yada yada, he bailed. No big deal, seriously. There's always next time, Vegas isn't going anywhere and neither is the WPBT from what I can tell.
So I booked my flight two days before I was to leave. I didn't book a room and was a bit worried about where I would stay. I had a few options and as always people were very generous and supportive. Specifically, Recess stepped up and said I could stay with him on night #1 at the IP. LJ said she would offer her place up for night 2 and 3 but then followed that up with "Lucko said no guys." When I mentioned this to Lola... she agreed. Weird. We laughed, obviously it was out of the question, but it was generous nontheless.
Anyway, the IP is not the best place to stay, but it was right in the action and how could I pass up a free night? Recess said it best "the casino is a dump, but the rooms are perfectly fine."
I tried something new this time. The carry on only strategy. At one point I was going to bring my own clubs to the first annual WPBT Invitational Golf Tournament. I really have a problem with using rental clubs. They usually suck. I think I have rented clubs maybe one other time in my life... in twenty years of golf. Heck, I even brought my own golf clubs on my honeymoon to Hawaii three years ago and I only played one round at Wailea (gold course). So yeah, I am a bit of a club snob... if there is even a chance that I can bring my own clubs, I will.
This time was different. I didn't want to have to check my clubs, wait for them on the other side and consequently cut into my drinking time at the IP hooker bar. Not to mention avoid the chance of them getting damaged or lost or stolen. For the $35 rental fee that CK arranged, it was a no brainer. The only downside was that I was going to be without my driver and putter for the big tournament. I knew that this would cost my team a few shots, and evidentally it did.
The upside was that I could stumble off the plane (yeah I had a few warm up vodkas) and walk directly to the cab line. In the cab and over to the IP in less than 30 minutes from landing?
That's like holing out from the fairway.
Writing this recap three weeks later is starting to get difficult. I know there will be key moments that I will miss, and others that will be left out intentionally. Those times are often the best times. The times where you just had to be there. There is no other way to describe it.
When I woke up Friday morning I was working on three hours sleep. Speaker was texting me to get downstairs as he kindly offered to pick me up. I jumped in the shitty IP shower. This shower was one that was either in desperate need of draino or a complete replacement altogether. Again, how can I complain. RR had already been living there for a week and I wasn't about to be ungrateful guest and bitch about something as lame as a clogged bathtub.
I threw on my shorts and brought my rain pants just in case. A big downside of only bringing a carry on bag is that I had to pack effciently. My rain pants were the perfect solution with the pending weather. Being a Canadian and having golfed in ALL types of weather systems (yes, even snow) I was not worried about the cold weather... but I hate the rain.
Thankfully, the rain held off and I sported the shorts partially for the shock value and partially because I really didn't have any other choice. I didn't bring any other pants that weren't jeans! So I sort of forced my own dress code with that plan and sure enough, the rain pants were pulled out and slapped on after the first hole.
My team was a lot of fun. JoeSpeaker is a real character. We drank and laughed and drank some more. Oh and there was golf shots. There were some beauties. Astin's buddy was also on our team. We were a man short, which really sunk our chances. We were a shot short on every single attempt. I am sure you, the educated reader, can understand how that this would be a disadvantage. Only getting to see two putts instead of three was obviously tougher.
We weren't going to let that get to us though. We were all very competitive and wanted to take this thing down, three man style. We started off well (so we thought) when we continuously made pars on the first 3 holes. With the handicapping system that BamBam put in place I knew we would be in tough. Astin's buddy was a decent player, but he just couldn't find the club face early on. Joe and I held us in there and on the fourth hole we had an eagle putt from just off the green. We two putted and we were finally in the red. Astin and April were railing the putt, but unfortunately all three of us left it a bit short.
All three of us needed some aiming juice but there was still no sign of the cart chick. April said she would have brought us all beers but we forgot to arrange that before we got to the course. Usually I am all over that sort of stuff and have the cooler preloaded and ready to go. I guess the foggyness from night #1 had clouded my focus on the important stuff - more drinking.
So we nursed our caesars/bloody mary's until we finally found the cart girl on the 6th hole. Speaker piped one down the middle and we almost hit the group in front of us who were also stopped for some well deserved beverages. They were leading the tournament. In fact I am pretty sure they lead it wire to wire.
Putting is always the key to winning these types of scramble tournaments. If you can't drain the odd 20-30 footer, you have no chance. If you don't make every single par putt inside 10 feet, you have no chance. Sure there are those rare occurances where you miss one and make a bogey. All four (in our case three) putts somehow doen't find the hole and you take your medicine like men. Still winning it usually involves making up for those types of errors with either a chip in or a tight shot to a tough pin.
We pushed on. Loaded our coolers with beer and continued to laugh and drink. Speaker hit some great drives and somehow both of us hit it into the rough on the long drive hole. Congrats to F-train on taking it down.
Wow, I just realized that I am totally rambling about the golf. I tend to do that. Golf is one of those things that I can recall so easily. It's always been that way for me. Ask me about the best round of my life and I can recall every putt, every shot, every decision. It's just that way.
So if you are still reading up til now, congrats. I won't fault you if you have skimmed most of that golf talk.
At the end of the golf tournament we realized we had finished second and paid up our debts. Believe it or not, this would be my first gambling payout of the entire trip. I didn't make a single bet on night #1. Instead I decided to drink and do a lot of people watching. I caught up with Pauly and met Bammer for the first time along with a handful of others like OhCaptain, Peaker and Lightning36 to name a few. LJ and Recess were just as I remembered them and they continued to take there jabs as they always do.
There were many more familiar faces this time and I didn't feel like I need to introduce myself as often. Which was nice., but not always necessary anyway. Bloggers are so easy to approach, and they will often approach you. Many times followed by a round of drinks.
It felt a bit odd to show up to Vegas solo, but I knew when I arrived I would not be alone.
When I first started to write this little recap I thought I would pound it out in one post... but my writing stamina is one that is pretty pathetic and I've decided to take a break!
Come back soon for part two.
Later.
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