My Day Up the Hill

I was playing poker online Saturday (yes, with a few beers in me) and decided to see if my mom and step father wanted to go up the hill to Blackhawk and hit the casinos on Memorial Day. They are dedicated gamblers who try to to to the Riv in Blackhawk at least once a month. They only play the penny slots with the lines (up to 20, I am lead to believe.)

So, not having seen my parents in a while, I thought it would be cool to head up there. I haven't been there since I got into poker, so I wanted to check out the poker rooms.

After they agreed, I called my friend Ramsey. Before he moved to Phoenix Ramsey would frequently head to Blackhawk to play poker. I decided to ask his advice. He said that the Gilpin was the place to play tournaments, as they had a regular tournament schedule. I also asked him about playing cash games up there. They only play either 2-5 or 5-5 poker games - Hold-Em, Omaha and Stud (from what I saw.) I was told that things can get crazy up there, and to play conservatively, as more people call with crap that in a Vegas poker room.

I then went and checked the sebsite of the Gilpin Casino. As it was Monday, the tournament was a $40 shoot-out. My parents were scheduled to pick me up at my place at 8:00 (what did they think this was - a work day?) and that fit neatly into my plans of getting up there early enough to enter the tournament.

The pickup went smoothly, and we arrived at the Riv at about 9:20. My parents being "special people" or whatever they call it at the Riviera, took me to have breakfast at the buffet. I had sausage, bacon, scrambled eggs, a half-rind of honeydew, and some toast. It wasn't too bad. I then took the shuttle up to the Gilpin.

I was told over the phone that I could sign up at 10:00, when the poker room opened. It turns out that this was incorrect information. Sign-up would begin at 11:00 or so. However, if you sat down and played a cash game, you would get first dibs on signing up for the tourney. I passed because there were only 3 people in the room, so I left and walked over to the sister casino the Lodge to check out there poker room. They had a couple 2-5 tables going there, but they were talking of bumping them to 5-5. So I headed back to the Gilpin, sat at the bar, ordered a beer and water, and pissed away $30 playing video poker. I then went back upstairs.

I decided to sit down and play the 2-5 game. I had never played a ring game in a casino (and only a few times online), so I was a bit nervous. I bought $100 in chips (Ramsey advised me to do that) and sat down. Everyone at the table was nice, and the dude to the right was very helpful. After a couple of initial mistakes (like folding instead of checking on my first hand after posting the blind) I settled down. I got signed up for the tournament, and played until it was time to start. I ended up $22 before stoping to play the tourney.

I didn't do very well in the tournament. I wasn't getting any cards, and the couple times I did, I lost to the 30+ blonde with the pressed together boobs who would play A-Anything. The structure was really fast too. We started out with T4000, with the blinds 25-50. Every 15 minutes the blinds would go up. I made it to the break, but was out three hands after I returned.

There was still plenty of time until I had to meet my parents, so I went back to the 2-5 ring game. This time I bought in for $60 - since the $100 seemed excessive in my tight-conservative style. I ended up $57 that session.

All things considered, I ended up about $18 (which is more than I can say for my parents.) I think next time I go up there I will just play the ring games. While tournaments are always -EV, I think I will stick to playing the tournaments in Vegas and the bars and the home games. When I am in Blackhawk, I will just play ring games, now that I am comfortable with them.

And now here's a hottie picture for Roger:

2nd Annual Poker Stars Blogger Tournament

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 7330476

Last year when I played this tournament, I sucked ass. This was a prison tossed-salad type of sucking ass. It was brutal. But it was fun. I look forward to sucking a little less ass this year. Maybe sucking hottie ass will be my fate.

Speaking of hotties, here is a hottie picture for Roger:

George Clinton and the P-Funk All Stars - 5/13/06 - Fillmore Auditorium, Denver

(I originally posted this over at Coventry: A Phish Blog. I am posting this here as well because Roger needs a hottie picture.)

It's hard writing the first sentence, so I made it easy by typing this particular sentence. Now it is time to talk about the show. Joining me and Da Pickl at the show were Dan and Janet Baker from off of Exit 420 on Route 69. For this reason, Molly couldn't attend the show.

After a stop at Sancho's Da Pickl and I left Dan and Janet behind to go find spots on the rail. We entered the Fillmore, and were pissed to see that they brought the tables back out. That little shit lied to us last time! I was tempted to hunt him down, but opted instead for a Fat Tire. We did get lucky and find four spots in the corner of the rail nearest the stage just above the floor. Standing next to me was this guy wearing a blue blazer with a crest. He had this cheesy little mustache. He was a nice enough guy, but more than a bit odd. Who the hell wears a blue blazer with a crest to a George Clinton show? He ended up standing next to us the whole show - not leaving even once, even to piss. At least he kept quiet.

Opening the show was a local band called Yo Flaco. Their website says they are a Colorado based Hip Hop / Acid Jazz band. I guess that is what we got. I am not a fan of a lot of hip hop, and this band really didn't do it for me. The drummer was good, as were the horns. I was just not impressed with the white guys rappin'. At least there was a beat, which kept me from having to talk to Cresty.

The Bakers had shown up by the time the main event started. The lights went up, and Garry "Starchild" Shider came out. He was wearing a red sparkly jacket with matching red sparkly Huggy Bear hat and white diaper. The band started up, the jacket and hat were set aside, and we were off. After about six minutes, George came out. He was wearing a big white t-shirt for this show. He was all smiles.

I don't know what songs were played or the order they were played (I do remember "Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On") I am pretty sure they played a good hunk of these (scroll to the bottom). George spent a good portion of his time just directing the action and grooving along, with periodic (OK, more than periodic) taking of the singing lead. This was alright, as the men and women who were singing when George wasn't are great.

One of the back up singers was a white chick dressed almost exactly like Madonna in her early years. The only thing missing was the 95 rubber bracelets. She was a butter face, but she had nice legs in those fish net stockings. We got some good ol' GWBush slamming when the half naked dude decked out in a white feather pimp hat and white feather boa (he was way more cut that Garry Shider - it was apparent because he was much younger and didn't have his pot belly hanging over a diaper.) yelled out "Fuck George Bush" during one of the later songs. That got a big cheer from the crowd (though I don't know how Cresty felt about that - I didn't ask him.)

The band didn't stop the entire time they were on the stage. It was high energy all the way. The place was hot. Shows in May at the Fillmore are hard to attend because the room get really warm. George was showing this as the top half of his t-shirt was soaked in sweat. But he kept going. Toward the end of the show about 20 young hotties from the audience were invited on stage. I put the binoculars to good use.

At midnight, the lights came on mid song, and the power to the stage was cut. All you would hear was the drums, a couple of horns, and the singing. The band quickly finished the song, and the show was over. This bothered me quite a bit. i've seen several shows at the Fillmore, and I have never seen this happen. Usually they just fine the band for each extra minute they play. The only reason I can think for this happening is the make-up of the crowd. I am only speculating here, but I suspect it is because there were a good number of black people in the crowd (as there should be.) The crowd was good the entire time. Nothing outrageous happened. I don't think it would have happened if it was a crowd full of hippies, like I usually see. At any rate, it was quite disappointing.

The show was awesome. Everyone had a great time and were glad I suggested it. Now comes the quest for a copy of the show.

(I inadvertently posted a picture of George Clinton, the first Governor of New York and 4th Vice President. Here is the picture I should have posted. It would have been interesting to see 18th century George Clinton get his funk on.)



And here is a hottie picture for Roger:

OW!

I hurt my back Saturday. I hurt it bad. Almost as bad as when I originally threw it out in 2001.

How did I do it? I bent over to empty an ashtray. This was just about an hour before my buddy Rick was supposed to pick me up for the Mammoth playoff game. I almost didn't go to the game, because I knew that it would get worse than the normal tweaking I occasionally get.

"So why did you go, dumbass?" Good question. Da_Pickl, the person of account for our six season tickets was out of town. He had mailed Andy and DJ their tickets before he left. Unfortunately, they didn't arrive in time for the game. Da_Pickl and his password was unreachable, so Plan D was for Andy and DJ to buy the crappiest tickets possible, and then I would stub them up into club level. Unbeknownst to me, plan C ended up working, and I didn't need to go.

(Well that was a good ramble.) Anyway, my back didn't hurt that bad until I started walking from the parking lot to the arena. The standing and walking caused my back to go into spasm. I had to lean on Rick a few times as we approached the arena. I barely made it to my seat.

The game was awesome. The Mammoth are now in the finals (WOO HOO!!!) Afterward, I was sitting out in the smoking area, waiting for the crowd to disperse. I was talking to one of the employees at the Pepsi Center, and she said that I could get wheelchaired out of there. I knew it would be embarrassing, but the pain was so bad that I readily agreed. And that is what happened. They were really nice about it.

Anyway, I finally saw the doctor yesterday. He gave me a prescription for Vicodin and a soma muscle relaxer. The Doc also put me on the massage table. That was awesome. I may have to go back and get that done again.

I am walking around like the old man from scene 24. I can't stand up straight, and when I sorta of try to, my upper body is like two inches to the right of my hips. Fortunately it doesn't hurt to drive. I was able to drive to work and retrieve my laptop so I could work from home.

Big BIG thanks to Da_Pickl who drove me to the doctor, to the grocery store, and then to the bar yesterday. I am good to go here at home for the rest of the week.

(I just re-read what I wrote above. God it's ugly. It must be the muscle relaxants talking.)

Anyway, here is a hottie picture for Roger.