Monday, November 29, 2004

Mondays Are Fundays
"People on 'ludes should not drive." - Spicoli
It feels good to be back after a full week of blogging. I got sick yesterday and spent most of last night and this morning in bed fighting a brutal fever. I'm trying to shake it off.

I forgot to give source credit to the lovely Mrs. Cant Hang who shared a recipe for French Toast with me when I crashed at chez Hang in September. Al Cant Hang is a lucky guy! Anyway, my French Toast from scratch idea went off without any problems. I'm never getting married, but if I do... one of the requirements will have to be kitchen competence. And you know who that comment is directed to!

In 11 days I'll be in Las Vegas and that is all I can think about. I played a lot of poker this weekend on Party Poker working off a reload bonus and trying to win some money to cover my airfare and hotel to Vegas. It's cool that I am able to shift between two passions of mine. Ten days ago all I could think about was writing and finishing the novel. I blocked out the rest of the world during that process. It was fun to come back into society and catch up with friends, surf my favorite blogs and read my favorite news sites. I've been watching a good amount of basketball (including my favorite sport, college hoops). I've also jumped back into movie viewing. I hit the video store for the first time in months and picked up a couple of flicks I had been wanting to see for sometime.

The night before Turkey Day, I watched Dazed and Confused with my brother. Wooderson is the coolest fuckin' dude on the planet. I had this thing that I used to say to myself before I talked to a woman I really liked. I'd say, "Act like Wooderson. Be cool." And instead I always ended up talking and acting like Woody Allen.

On Saturday, Briana and I watched Mean Girls. I was impressed with Tina Fey's script. I think that might have been her acting debut as well, playing the math teacher. SNL cast member Amy Poehler played the "cool mom" and I wished she had gotten more screen time because she's hilarious. Too bad Lindsey Lohan got all skanked out after she shot the movie. She had so much potential and took the Tara Reid path to Hollyweird slutiness. I'm glad that I did not attend public school. I was fortunate that I was educated at private schools and without a doubt that kept me in line. Just imagine how much more of a loose cannon I'd be if I weren't disciplined by nuns and priests in my formative years? Anyway, Briana had a rough time in high school. She went to a stuffy all girls private school on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and she told me some horror stories. Some of the other girls used to hate her because her family happened to own a certain famous cultural institution which bared the same last name. And yeah there was a clique of "Plastics" that were the ruling hierarchy of the tenth grade. They made her life miserable. I'm trying to get her to write a blog about her experiences or even a Truckin' story. At some point we were all picked on as a child and that material is something we can all relate to on some level.

Bankroll Me

I said I'd discuss my partnership with my friend Briana in more detail. She's bankrolling me on Party Poker and loves seeing her name blogged. She's a whore for attention. Aren't most blondes? So, I'm solo when it comes to other poker sites and live play.

What exactly does bankrolling mean? She covers all my loses and we split my winnings 50-50. I won $90 the other night but technically, I only got to pocket $45.

Before my hiatus, I had been suffering a horrible losing streak starting from my birthday (late Sept.) through Halloween. My Party Poker bankroll took almost a $900 hit. My cash bankroll was fleeced for more than $1000. All the badbeats, suckouts, and loose mistakes caught up to me. That trip to the Borgata with the bloggers killed me, along with a bad performance at the Blue Parrot and a few losing sessions at Foxwoods which helped deplete my cash roll.

Yep, my overall bankroll is looking thinner than a strung out, anorexic, Eastern European, cokehead model. I was concerned about having sufficient funds for the upcoming Vegas trip and luckily Briana was open to hearing about investment opportunities specifically regarding becoming my backer. I explained to her that I had made an error cashing out $200-250 a week (for ten straight weeks) out of my Party Poker account to pay for my summer traveling and fun in the sun. Because I withdrew money from my bankroll to cover my expenses, that left me with a very small cushion to absorb any bad streaks. I was also skimming out of my cash bankroll, another no-no. I knew what I was doing was a mortal sin for poker players and took a chance. Life's short and I'm one to live in the moment. Following Phish on their last tour and seeing friends this summer was a bigger priority than padding my bankroll. Obviously, that's a flaw in my overall poker outlook that I'll have to address in the future. For moment, the temporary solution was to find a backer to absorb any incurred loses between now and Vegas, in order to preserve whatever cash I had lying around.

The first problem I had with this partnership was the friendship factor. Never do business with friends. But I don't know too many people who were willing to hand over $500 in cash and take a walk to a Western Union office to send a wire transfer to Gibraltar. Yep, in the last six months, I have sent cash to several countries -- Venezuela, Costa Rica, Curaco -- mostly in South America to fund poker accounts and my sports book account. I wonder if that suspicious financial activity will get me flagged by the suits at Homeland Security? Alas, it came down to a simple fact that she's got faith in me. Poor girl. I wonder if I blow her seed money, if will she still trust me?

The second factor of concern was having to split my winnings 50-50. Sure I won't be losing with my money, but my online income will be cut in half. The only thing I can do to counteract that is to move up in limits (especially in SNGs from $30 to $50 and $100). Since I play no limit I guess after I clear my bonus, I'll head to the $100 and $200 tables. Hopefully I'll go on a decent run and I'll be able to rebuild up my bankroll and go back to being solo next year.

So far this has been working out and although I thrive on pressure, Briana hasn't been on my case breathing down my neck expecting results, like a George Steinbrenner. Our partnership will give her more incentive to read my poker blog, but she still admits I'm speaking another language when I ramble on relentlessly about poker. And watching Celebrity Poker Letdown won't help her much, although it might hold her short attention span enough that she'd pick up on some lingo.

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