Milestones

"I like the night.  Without the dark, we'd never see the stars..." -Stephenie Meyer-


Good morning everyone.  I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you again for stopping by 'Bikini Hill' and checking out my little blog.  It looks like the viewcount here is going to surpass the 25,000 mark sometime later today or early tomorrow.  I also wanted to say thanks again to everyone who has personally contributed something to these posts and to those who have let me share their stories here.  I didn't have any quantifiable expectations when this blog was born, but I wouldn't be writing if no one was following along...

The poker part of today's post is the first MSN "play money" game that I have played in since I got back from Las Vegas - this happened a couple of nights ago.  Since I returned home from the desert in December, I haven't really had the motivation to play at all since I knew that I wouldn't be playing for real money for some time...  Unfortunately, this play money game was a reminder of why it's very difficult to consistently make money playing poker.  And before anybody reads this and thinks that the play made by my opponent wouldn't have occurred if the stakes were actually real, I've seen PLENTY of questionable plays when the stakes were real.  The MSN format is basically an eight person tournament.  The top three players get "paid" - actually, 3rd place gets their 100 bucks back, while 2nd gets 200, and 1st gets 500.  Ratings obviously rise and fall based on where you place.  I was in the final four players, and in this hand I was up against a player that I had seen bluff before.  I flopped a pair and he made a huge overbet on the flop, one that was enough to put me all-in.  I called, he had a gutshot straight draw, and he hit it...  Again, the stakes were imaginary, so I'm not stressing over the outcome.  However, for those people out there who want to dismiss that luck plays a part in poker, I would again direct you to the highlights of the last few Main Events of the World Series of Poker...  You can make the argument that poker is a skill game all day (and you can definitely get better at the game), but don't try telling me that luck doesn't play a part in it.  Skill doesn't "run bad" in my opinion...  ;)

Speaking of poker (and before I forget), I wanted to say congratulations to my friend Jennifer and her husband Kristopher on the recent addition to their family.  How I met Jennifer...  :)  I was playing poker at the Winstar World Casino in Thackerville, Oklahoma (in a very cozy poker room that has only 46 tables) when this very attractive chip runner approached my table (if you're keeping score at home, the phrase "very attractive chip runner" was NEVER fathomed when I held the same position at the Rio during the 2005 World Series of Poker)...  :)  Anyway, as Jennifer got closer, my eyes were right there with her (DON'T EVEN ASK ME what cards were on the board), and as she reached me, she turned her head, made eye contact with me, and just SMILED...  I returned Jennifer's smile as the word BUSTED reverberated throughout my head...  :)  Thankfully, Jennifer became one of my facebook friends, as I've stolen quotes from her daughter SEVERAL times, and you would probably see more of them here in the blog if she would resume posting them on a more consistent basis (HINT, HINT)...  Anyway, congratulations again on the birth of your son!  ;)

It's baseball season!!  Okay, at least my alma mater is returning to the diamond today...  I plan on being there for the first pitch is less than two hours as the Texas State Bobcats host Missouri State at 2:00 p.m.  My alma mater has fielded a very talented baseball team in the recent past, getting into the Top 25 and beating quality opponents on a regular basis.  This season promises to be very interesting as we compete in the Western Athletic Conference for our first and final season (we're moving to the Sun Belt Conference next year for those of you who missed it).  The forecast high today for San Marcos, America is a very comfortable 64 degrees (yes, you can be jealous)...  :)  I am fairly confident that sometime next week you will be reading a report of some sort on this game...

I'm sorry to cut this short today, but I have a baseball game to get ready for...  ;)  Have a great weekend, and thanks again for helping 'Bikini Hill' to reach 25,000 views!