The Not So Much WSOP

"I hope you have a good grip on those reigns, because it's going to hurt to fall from a horse that high..." -Kourtney Chalmers-

"Optimist:  Someone who figures that taking a step backward after taking a step forward is not a disaster, it's a cha-cha..." -Robert Brault- (via Sara Elizabeth Knowles)

"Hey, I've been trying, to get your attention, yeah, and I'm very close to thinking of a way, hey, I could be big and tough, and other funny stuff, yeah, but you, you just keep looking the other way..." -Breakfast Club- (Right On Track)

"If you're ever feeling curious and wondering what pepper spray feels like..., yeah..., don't do it..."
-Belyne Gonzalez-

"Some people will only love you as long as you fit in their box.  Don't be afraid to disappoint..."
-via KayCee Bruce-

"This city desert makes you feel so cold, it's got, so many people but it's got no soul, and it's taken you so long, to find out you were wrong, when you thought it held everything..."
-Gerry Rafferty- (Baker Street)



Good evening everyone.  Let me make a quick point here before I let you know how incredibly lucky you are to have me doing an entry on a night when both the Canadiens and the Spurs are playing.  I've expressed my desire to do another edition of a previous post that I referenced here recently, one dealing with the pros and cons of living in Las Vegas.  When it comes to the negative side of living in the desert, I don't know if I've ever seen or heard it relayed so well as in the song lyrics by Gerry Rafferty (shown above).  Maybe one of you that is a little more savvy about music can help me out - does anyone know if Mr. Rafferty was talking about Las Vegas in this song? Like I said, when it comes to the dark side of Vegas, these lyrics fit the city extremely well...

Okay, we all know that you're incredibly UNLUCKY to have me doing another post of any kind at any time, so we'll skip that nonsense and move along...  When I did my non post (non did my post?) last Tuesday, I then neglected to include my friend Randy's photo in the blog on Saturday. Randy has evidently been visiting every baseball stadium on the West Coast (with a pretty girl I might add), and they both managed to get on t.v. at a recent game between the Astros and Angels...

    

The prevailing wisdom (i.e., facebook comment) is that they became famous (and now they're famous plus my TWO blog readers) due to Randy's retro Nolan Ryan Astros jersey.  Whatever the case may be, well done y'all...  :)

Speaking of Texans who are out west, my friend Chris (great name) is pitching cards in his first World Series of Poker.  When I saw this on facebook, my only advice to him was to sleep when he can...  The series began today and will run through July 14th.  It was eight years ago when I played in my first and only WSOP Event (to this point).  I "competed" in the $500.00 buy-in Casino Employee Event at the Rio, played too tight, and ended up getting busted when my short-stacked all-in pocket aces squared off against pocket queens and pocket 6's, my expensive bad beat story materializing when the river brought a queen...

Speaking of poker, I played a little bit yesterday, capping off a completely unproductive weekend. I've mentioned here before (I'm pretty sure) that I usually splash free chips around on the Microsoft Network (MSN) game site whenever I eat (a full meal).  The eight player tournies usually take about a half hour.  Well, for some reason, when my computer is running Windows (which is required using the Microsoft site), it runs very slow.  There seemed to be more problems than usual yesterday, so I ventured back to the Bovada poker site.  My only problem with the Bovada site before was that any tourney that I was going to be involved in was going to take more than an hour. HOWEVER, I found something that I like VERY MUCH there yesterday.  It's a 3-table sit-n-go, 27 players, and it's called a "beginner" sit-n-go because it pays out 10 spots.  In my experience, events with 27 players usually pay out 5 spots.  I prefer ten spots being paid out because I'm practically guaranteed to get paid every time that I play.  Before I come off as sounding too cocky there, let me tell you about my results so far.  Now keep in mind that this is a $2.20 event, so I'm not matching wits with Phil Ivey and 25 of his closest friends...  In my first attempt at this yesterday, I carried over my MSN play and was much more aggressive than I have been in the past for real money.  Well, I was in a hand with J 9, and the turn card left the board reading Q 8 x 10 with 4 different suits, giving me the nut straight.  Just as I was clicking the 'bet' button, BAM!, the power goes out..., for like TEN MINUTES...  I was able to get back into the tourney, but eventually short-stacked, I called an all-in with K 10, and faced K 6 suited.  I flopped a ten, but my opponent rivered a flush, and I finished in 11th place.  However, I played twice more yesterday, and my results improved...

That's me finishing in 5th place, while experiencing ANOTHER power outage (it came back on immediately this time though, and I just had to reboot).  Oh yeah, we had thunderstorms in Austin yesterday, for your information...  In my next attempt at the sit-n-go...

Second place?  Who is this Coach guy???  :P  I feel a little like Memphis Mojo right now, posting these photos, except that I'm not winning substantial money...  Anyway, I played the sit-n-go once more today after work (because WHY would I do this blog entry immediately when I could run it into the Canadiens and Spurs games???).  I finished eighth today, so I'm pretty confident that I'll continue entering this event...

One humorous story for you (yeah, I know..., my first one ever - y'all are so mean), and then I'll say goodnight.  I was doing my grocery shopping this weekend at WalMart, and I grabbed a couple of Grilled Onion Cheddar Burgers from McDonald's before I proceeded.  My first stop was the Clif Energy Bars (I buy these by the box, and bring one to work each day for lunch - one BAR, not one box.  SO FUNNY...).  Now I'm a little overweight, and as I'm surveying the flavors that I want to pick up this trip, I see another guy (a little hefty himself) who is basically looking over my shoulder, like he's never been in the energy bar section before.  As I reach for my Clif Bars, I see him move onto the other choices, and in my head I can hear him thinking to himself, "Well, those Clif Bars don't seem to be doing much for the guy that's wolfing down the McDonald's, so I think I'll move on..." You know, if I had to bet...  ;)

Have a great week and I'll see you again on Saturday...





  

Where Have I Been?

"I paid attention to the construction signs and got in the correct lane.  You ignored them for miles and now you want me to let you in.  Not going to happen..." -via Cynthia

"Alex has been helping me pack all day and I made a donation box.  I said, "Whatever you want to donate, put in here."  He fills it up, and I say, "Wow, you want to donate all this?"  He's like, "Wait, what does donate mean?"  Donation box is now empty..." -Raquel Ayala-



Good evening everyone!  Where have y'all been?  Wait..., what's that?  You're saying that I was supposed to do a blog entry on TUESDAY, and that I haven't been heard from until now?  Doesn't sound like me, but it is...  I hope that y'all had a great week.  Things picked up for me a little bit at work this week, and I knew that this three-day weekend was on the horizon, SOOOO...  I decided that I'd give you a short little entry while I'm watching hockey and basketball.  If I was one of those people who make predictions, I'd venture a guess that you shouldn't be expecting too many posts on Saturday evenings after the start of August however...  Just a hunch...  For you gambling types, I put my money on the Kings (-1 1/2) and the Pacers (straight up) to win tonight.  The Kings bet pays (+230) and the Pacers bet pays (+260), so I'll come out ahead if I hit on either of them...  The Pacers are up 7 at the end of the 1st quarter, and the Kings are down 1 at the end of the 1st period.  Let me throw in a couple of photos for you before I do a little typing.  This beautiful shot is from my friend Kristen...

God blessed Texas, eh?  Have I ever mentioned that I've seen some beautiful sunrises in Las Vegas when I was still awake at 5:30 in the morning???  ;)  This next picture is from my friend Chamberlain, who somehow convinced professional golfer Adam Scott to pose with her on the course...

Chamberlain titled this shot "Me & Adam Scott!" - she also said, "I followed Mr. Scott around all day today, so we pretty much are best friends now..." 

It's going to be difficult for me to proceed after that, but I'll give it a shot...  If you were able to get inside my head, you would discover that it's the same old story in there.  My thoughts keep drifting to the desert, and the countdown to being there is now under ten weeks.  Moving and poker and football keep running through my head...  The most exciting thing about reaching Memorial Day Weekend and the three days that it gives me is the opportunity to make more progress toward moving - sad, huh?  :)  The World Series of Poker begins in Las Vegas on Tuesday, and while I'm sad that I won't be there for it, I know that once it ends on July 14th, I'll have less than 3 weeks to wait.  I mentioned earlier that you can expect fewer (if any) Saturday evening entries once August gets here.  I would also guess that the posts that you'll start seeing at that point will become shorter, but that you'll see more of them.  You can also expect to see a LOT MORE content about poker and sports betting, and the various observations that I'll be making about living in Las Vegas. I'm going to attempt to transition in that direction as my moving date draws closer.  I think that I've mentioned that although I LOVE San Marcos, it comes become small at times.  The same thing goes for Austin...  I actually went down to 6th Street again a few weekends back (and I may tonight also), but pound for pound, I prefer the nightlife in Las Vegas.  After spending much of my life growing up in small towns, and having even taught and coached in a few, I find it comical that I eventually get bored and restless in places like San Marcos and Austin.  I am SO SPOILED...  ;) Like I said, I'm eventually going to have to find some water to live near (or at least take a LONG vacation near at some point), but I'd like to make some money first.  And let's be clear, when I say "water," I don't mean the San Marcos River or Lake LBJ, but the OCEAN...  After visiting Atlantic City five years ago, I was ready to move there RIGHT THEN, but I intend to be less lazy and see what the Pacific Ocean has to offer on this visit to the left coast.  I just keep getting this eerie feeling that I'm going to LOVE California, and that I'm gonna be like, "WHY did I take SO LONG to get myself out here?!"  I'm not a betting man, but if I was...  ;)  #justahunch

Okay, well since we've established that I'm still alive, I'm going to watch the end of these games, but I'll do my best to get you another entry by Tuesday.  Have an outstanding Memorial Day Weekend and I'll see you again in a few days!          

Fried Chicken

"The real power of a man is in the size of the smile of the woman sitting next to him..."
-quotespaper.com- (via Francesca Welsh)

Lyndi:  "Mommy, mommy, look, it's hairless, it's hairless!!!!"
Me:  "What?...  Oh, it's hilarious?"
Lyndi:  "Yeah, ha ha, it's hairless!!!"  -Kelley Senn Leeds-

"I want to grow my own food, but I can't find any bacon seeds..." -via Patti Thompson-

"Negative people need drama like oxygen.  Stay positive, it will take their breath away..."
-via Amy Aubin Ingerson-

"What if the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs was a UFO..., and we're the aliens???"
-via Ginger Maxwell-

"Hey Dad, I know the Tooth Fairy isn't real, and neither is Santa or the Easter Bunny, but I won't tell my brothers.  I'll let them find out eventually like me...  #6th #grader #problems"
-Marcus Bundage-

"You get what you work for, not what you wish for..."
-via Training Truths:  The Good, The Bad, The Ugly- (facebook page)



Good evening everyone.  Before I say anything about Las Vegas (what are the odds?), let me refer you back to that quote directly above.  I realize that sometimes I'll start writing and writing, and then I'll send you back to the quotes at the top of the page (and yeah, that probably won't stop). However, I am keeping you in mind, this time...  ;)  My friends Leanne and Francesca from Training Truths:  The Good, The Bad, The Ugly https://www.facebook.com/pages/Training-Truths-The-Good-The-Bad-The-Ugly/600392829996057  (a facebook page that I've mentioned SEVERAL TIMES here, and if you haven't 'liked' it already, then shame on you) are about as diligent as anyone I know in posting facebook statuses that I end up stealing...  :)  These ladies are also more diligent in sticking to their exercise regimen than anybody I know, and the status that I stole from them tonight happens to coincide perfectly with a few recent photos that they've posted.  Now I've known Leanne since she was a freshman in high school, and if we ever would have gotten into a fight back then (NO, I don't get into fights with girls that are in high school..., just HUMOR ME...), I probably could have taken her.  Okay, well that's not true, because there's NO WAY that I would have caught her...  :)  But if I could have taken Leanne in a fight back then, the caption of this photo would probably be 'NOT NOW...'

   

I'm glad that Leanne is on my side...  :)  And as for Francesca, I have no idea what she looked like in high school, but I could probably caption this shot with the title 'NOT HER EITHER...'

And again, I'm glad that Francesca is on my side...  :D  But yeah, "you get what you work for, not what you wish for..."  That's a very appropriate quote to get the ball rolling tonight, and congratulations once again to both of you on your hard work (and thanks for letting me steal from y'all REPEATEDLY)...  ;)

Before we get to the section that we should probably call 'Punks In Las Vegas,' let's talk about fried chicken.  While I love fried chicken as much as the next guy, I haven't had any for quite some time due to the diet that I've been following.  Now don't get me wrong, I look NOTHING like Leanne or Francesca, and if I showed up at the pool at Treasure Island (yes, that's a teaser), the tourists would probably be panicked about the WHALE that somehow got beached at the popular resort, but I have been avoiding fried foods.  However, my friend Brigette did share a photo earlier this week that I thought you'd enjoy...

  

Fried chicken is just SOOOO..., wait a second.., it's PUPPIES!!!  Pretty clever little photo that someone decided to post on facebook, eh?  I'll totally admit that I thought this was chicken when I first saw it earlier in the week...  :)  Okay, now let's talk about some punks in Las Vegas...

  

My friend Kristi posted this picture earlier in the week after arriving in the desert.  I think that I've mentioned once or twice here before that one of the best things about living in Las Vegas is that your friends will ALWAYS be coming to town...  :)  And that reminds me, we actually do have a photo from the pool at Treasure Island (and no whales were spotted or harmed in the taking of this photograph)...

That would be Nellie on the left, and Carly on the right.  Now I don't know Carly, but do me a favor and tell her that's she's famous Nellie (if two people seeing her makes her famous)...  One of the reasons that I'm sharing this snapshot is to inform you that despite having LIVED in Las Vegas, and having visited SEVERAL TIMES outside of living there, I've NEVER BEEN to one of the pools at its various hotels and resorts, NEVER...  A second reason that I'm posting this is to show you that the pool scene is obviously very lame in Vegas, as no one is around, the drinks are very small, are these ladies are CLEARLY on the verge of depression...  ;)

And no, I wasn't going to post a photo of Nellie and not include her sister and my friend Ali.  Again, very small drinks, and no one in Las Vegas is having any fun...  :D

So..., "what's going on?" you ask...  Well, the days til I move west just keep on passing.  The University of Texas at Austin is holding the last of its Spring Commencement Ceremonies tonight, and the first summer session will begin here in the next few weeks.  If everything plays out as expected, I'll be in the desert two and a half months from now.  August looks a lot closer when you view it from May 17th than when you peek ahead from the first week of January, that's for sure.  I'm trying not to get too bogged down in the fact that I'm going to miss the entirety of the World Series of Poker once again (May 27th through July 14th - YES, it begins in 10 days).  I'm also trying not to fixate on the fact that I'll miss seeing my friends Lucki Duck (who will be competing in a WSOP event) and Memphis Mojo (who will be competing in the Main Event of the Hollywood Poker Open in Vegas at the end of June).  And yes, you're correct, Hollywood, California is not in Las Vegas - just relax...  ;)  WOW..., right as I'm typing this, they're setting off fireworks over campus to celebrate this round of graduates.  I was actually wondering if someone was knocking on the window in front of me when I first heard the fireworks going off.  The person knocking would have to have been floating, since I live on the second floor, but anyway...  :)

As far as the sports world goes, I'm obviously extremely pleased that both my San Antonio Spurs and Montreal Canadiens have reached the conference finals in their respective sports (that would be basketball and hockey to you lay people)...  The Spurs have exceeded my expectations with their 62 wins in the regular season and their success in the playoffs to this point, and it's possible that they'll be the beneficiaries of an injury to Serge Ibaka of Oklahoma City.  Tony Parker is dinged up for San Antonio, but it might be very difficult for the Thunder to win the series without Ibaka.

As for Montreal, they had a great seven-game series with the Bruins.  In my opinion, it was much greater than the SEVEN GOALS that they allowed the Rangers to score today.  It should not come as any surprise to you that I took the Canadiens (-1 1/2 goals) today, and that I took Anaheim (-1 1/2 goals) last night.  Yeah, the Ducks lost 6-2 to the Kings...  I'm ALL OVER this sports betting stuff...  ;)  Wouldn't it be amazing if the Spurs and Canadiens both became champions in the next month?  Then I'd have the Red Sox, the Steelers (wait, where were you Pittsburgh?), the Spurs, and the Canadiens in one sports year.  

Well, I'm either going to head down to 6th Street to help the graduates celebrate, or I'm going to make more headway toward my impending move.  Either way, I win...  ;)  Have a great weekend and I'll see you again on Tuesday!
    

Lose Your Debit Card

"For our one-year anniversary, my husband saved a turtle that was crossing River Road.  That guy was almost roadkill!!  Best part...  The turtle unleashed a massive stream of pee and hissed at Josh!!  My hero!!!" -Gabbie Hiller-

"Everybody knows you've been stepping on my toes, and I'm getting pretty tired of it, stepping out of line and a messing with my mind, if you had any sense you'd quit..."
-Hank Williams Jr.- (Only Daddy That'll Walk The Line)

"I think she was brainwashed and there's nothing to wash..." -Mad Men-

"This is what happens when I watch '24' and look at houses online before bed:  I dreamed that I was hiding from bad guys in a sealed underground bunker, but it was very spacious with lots of natural light and the nicest guest bathroom I've ever seen..." -Rachel Barnes Smith-

"The most important factor is to keep your cool and not give away an inch..." -Gus Hansen-

"I feel like every eye roll, shoulder shrug, and bobble head action is all payback from the attitude I gave my teachers....karma :P" -Brittany Flores-

"Ohhhh, so you think I'm cute when I'm angry???  Well get ready, because I'm about to be GORGEOUS!!!!!" -via Leanne Calderon-

"Every single time a realtor shows our apartment, they step on my bed.  Seriously.  The long cord is the light.  It's not that difficult!" -Jennifer Marie Hernandez-

"Be Bruce Wayne until the play requires you to put on the cape and be Batman..." -David Carr-

Open tweet from bank on Twitter:  "What tips do you have for easy ways to save money?"
Ms. B (@b_jai2012):  "Lose your debit card.  That works for me.  Lol" -Belyne Gonzalez-



Good evening everyone.  And you believed me when I said that I was going to stop stealing so much from my friends...  ;)  Speaking of friends (yes, I have to pay each of them exorbitant amounts of money), a couple of my poker playing friends with blogs reported recent success stories in poker tournaments, and I thought that it would be appropriate to share their blog links with you...  'Memphis Mojo' pokerandbridge.blogspot.com consistently cashes in poker tournies, and he has put together another string of cashes recently that is noteworthy (or blogworthy, as the case may be).  Pete P. Peters thepokerbarrister.blogspot.com recently wrote a post in his blog summarizing how he cashed for about $2,000.00 in a $65.00 buy-in tournament.  You can read about how Pete wasn't exactly sober during the course of this tournament, and this reminded me of a story from my original Las Vegas days (with the future Las Vegas days to come of course - HEY, it's all that I've got right now, so humor me)...  A friend of mine that I went to dealer's school with (and who I hadn't seen for quite some time prior to this meeting) told me about his success at a Bellagio tournament.  My friend wanted to get rich playing poker (sound familiar, especially in the past ten years?)...  Anyway, he had carefully worked his savings/bankroll up to $3,900.00.  Just prior to us running into each other, he had gotten drunk (sound familiar Pete?), and he "foolishly" entered a $1,000.00 nightly tournament at the Bellagio.  Well, evidently he played very aggressively during the tourney, and when the dust settled (desert ya know), he won the tournament and the $39,000.00-ish first prize.  Maybe I should start drinking when I play poker...  :)

So yeah, I watched ALL of the NFL Draft - 3 1/2 hours on Thursday night, 4 1/2 hours on Friday night, and 7 hours on Saturday.  ALL OF IT...  I already know when the Phil Steele college and NFL preview publications are due to hit the newsstands also.  I am an addict...  :)  Johnny Manziel you ask...  I've written a little bit about him before, but I'll go into more detail now.  Manziel plays hard and he plays with a lot of heart.  However, I think that his size and his penchant for scrambling around are going to get him hurt in the NFL.  I could have given you this assessment before the draft, and now Manziel has been drafted by the Cleveland Browns.  At the moment, with Josh Gordon possibly facing a year-long suspension by the league, the Browns really have no wide receivers of note.  Cleveland addressed this during the draft by picking up zero players at the position.  Additionally, the Browns play in the AFC North, where they get to meet up with the Steelers, Ravens, and Bengals twice.  Mr. Manziel is selling a lot of jerseys right now, but I honestly think that Mike Evans and Jake Matthews (players also drafted from Texas A&M on Thursday) will have more successful careers in the league.  As always, I can't wait for football season...  :D

Speaking of not being able to wait for football season, it became really obvious (wasn't it already?) where my viewing loyalty and the majority of my future sports betting will reside over the weekend. I PREFERRED watching the NFL DRAFT (that's teams PICKING PLAYERS) over watching NBA and NHL PLAYOFF GAMES!  Since you're begging me, I will talk a little bit about those sports though.  My Canadiens are currently fighting for their playoff lives, trying to force a Game 7 in their second round series against the Bruins.  Things are going well at the moment, as Montreal is currently leading 3-0 after 2 periods.  In basketball, my Spurs are currently holding a 3-0 lead over Portland in the second round of the NBA playoffs.  San Antonio is faring much better than I expected to this point, and if the Spurs can close out the series later tonight, things will look very promising heading into the Western Conference Finals.

As you can obviously tell, I have many, many things to keep track of on my television set (and Go Brooklyn!), so have a great week and I'll see you again on Saturday!
      


              

Eight Hours Of Football

"I have learnt through all my past mistakes, not to let the hurdles sap my energy, time will tell and time is all it takes, you won't see the bastards knock the running out of me..."
-Cutting Crew- (One For The Mockingbird)

"You see a person's true colors when you are no longer beneficial to their life..."
-via Jessica Johnson-

"We were timeless dreamers of another day, and we were free, in a dawning age we had so much to say..." -Boston- (Hollyann)



Good morning everyone.  This is going to be one of my shorter posts, but I may come back with a bonus entry sometime soon.  Just imagine that the photobomber in this picture is watching eight hours of NFL draft coverage, and it wouldn't be a stretch to say that we share the same expression...  :D  I have no idea what I'm going to do after 7:00 p.m. tonight when the draft ends, and the first preseason game kicks off in August.  Thanks for sharing the photo Brigette...

As you might imagine, if I continue typing this post after 11:00 a.m., I wouldn't be getting very far, trying to track the draft selections while simultaneously attempting to keep my thoughts straight. With that being said, it is now 11:00 a.m., so I'll see you soon.  Have a great weekend!

The Imperfect Storm

"Life begins at the end of your comfort zone..." -Neale Donald Walsch-
(via Training Truths:  The Good, The Bad, The Ugly - facebook page)



Good evening everyone.  There's gonna be a lot less raiding of my friends' lives and a little more content from me in tonight's post (I can hear your collective sighs already)...  As the days count down closer to my return to the desert, you'll probably see more of this trend, because I suspect that once I do return to Las Vegas, I'll have plenty of sports, poker, and Strip-related content to write about.  With that being said, let me share a couple of photos from my friends before we get underway...

This is a photo that my friend Craig shared on facebook last night.  Craig is a member of The Shady Rest Band www.theshadyrestband.com - the band is an Americana group from San Marcos (big surprise).  I think that this is an awesome photo, and I believe that it has the potential to be a future album cover.  You can find several Shady Rest songs on YouTube.  I know that you're thinking between The Shady Rest, Blue October www.blueoctober.com/amiaalbum, and Halleyanna www.halleyanna.com/home, this has the potential to become a music blog, but I'm not even doing sports and poker right yet...  ;)  This second photo that I found was shared on facebook by my friend Valerie...

   

I just think that the expression on this baby's face is AMAZING (and I happen to get this a lot too)...  ;)

What is "the imperfect storm" you ask?  Glad you asked...  Well, as you might imagine, I've been looking forward to the NFL Draft for quite some time.  When I talk here about sports betting, football is the sport that I will be focusing on for the majority of the year.  In case you've joined this party late, when it comes to following sports, this is my current sports year:  football (studying during the August preseason and watching through the Super Bowl in early February); college basketball (early February through the title game in early April); the NBA and NHL (early April through the title games in mid-June); and baseball (mid-June through the start of football)...  The addict that I am, you already know that I watch bits and pieces of other sports (soccer, golf, tennis, auto racing, etc...), and that I will continue to do so in hopes of finding something of value to wager on.  Okay, we'll get back to this betting stuff in a minute...

"The imperfect storm," they ask impatiently...  Tonight I'll experience a minor, yet significant storm, while Thursday will be a major headache.  As I started to say, I've been anticipating the NFL Draft for a while now.  Well, last night I looked ahead to Thursday in my Time Warner Digital Cable T.V. Guide, and this is what I found:  Boston Bruins at Montreal Canadiens (6:30 - 9:00 p.m.); 2014 NFL Draft (7:00 - 10:30 p.m.); and Portland Trail Blazers at San Antonio Spurs (8:30 - 11:00 p.m.). Have you ever met me?!  Yes, my favorite hockey team will be playing in a second round playoff game before and during the NFL Draft coverage, my favorite basketball team will be playing in a second round playoff game during and after the NFL Draft coverage, and ALL THREE will be taking place between 8:30 and 9:00 p.m. (and that's assuming that the hockey doesn't go to overtime, which would be JUST PERFECT)...  On the bright side, the Canadiens and Spurs are in the second round, but GEESH!!!  Now the NFL Draft coverage does continue on Friday and Saturday, but still..., it's the FIRST ROUND...  In case you're wondering, I passed on tonight's Texas State at Texas baseball game to watch hockey, basketball, and type this entry up for you, because I'm a team player...  ;)  By the way, I'm pretty happy at the moment, as Montreal is leading Boston 2-0 early in the 2nd period, and the Nets are only down 3 to the Heat at halftime.  P.S.  I'm rooting almost as hard for the Heat to lose as I am for the Spurs to win because I CANNOT STAND LeBron James (more to come in future posts, I'm sure)...  And yeah, get me started on the McDonald's commercial with James and Johnny Manziel, meeting in that place where the best players in their sports meet...  PFFFTTT...

Anyway, back to gambling (and to that quote at the top of the page).  First, I'll once again be leaving Texas, and everyone and everything that I'm very comfortable with to venture back out to the desert.  I'm very (persistent, tenacious, stubborn..., pick your word).  For those of you who think that I'm just a careless gambler, that's not the case.  Now I'm not saying that it's not possible that I'll lose every sports bet that I make, and every poker hand that I'm involved in.  What I am saying is that I study, and that I try to make informed sports bets, and that I play poker with a plan.  I'm also saying that I don't play slots, craps, roulette, blackjack, and the endless number of other table games with any regularity.  I might buy in for twenty bucks at the roulette wheel if a friend is in town - shoot me...  :)  Anyway, you can expect the sports and poker content to pick up here as I make my transition from the ATX to Las Vegas.  I also have to...  THREE NOTHING CANADIENS!!!  :D  ... revisit that post about the pros and cons of living in Las Vegas - so much to do...

Since I have so much to do, I better rest up (watch hockey and basketball)...  ;)  Have a great week and I'll see you again on Saturday!

        







       

See You Sunday SA!!!!

"Exercising would be so much more rewarding if calories screamed while you burned them..."
-via Francesca Welsh-

"Surround yourself with those on the same mission as you..." -via Courtney Parisi-

"I probably have like the worst patience ever.  Like I don't even like to plant seeds because I hate waiting for them to grow..." -Belyne Gonzalez-

"The reason good men are hard to find is because they're usually busy working..."
-via Kastle Ford Durst-

"It's simple things I appreciate and look forward to..." -Melanie Ramirez-

"But it's our story and my favorite story ever..." -Megan Stremmel-

"WOW!  I love playoffs!!" -Katherine Jennings-

"What a game!!!" -Analuisa (Salsa) Salcedo-

"If you can't love our determined Dallas Mavericks, we just can't be friends!  Game 7!!!  MFFL!!!!"
-Traci Rust Benson-

"See you Sunday SA!!!!" -Jenny Marie Morales-



Good evening everyone.  There's a very high probability that we'll talk a little bit about sports tonight, so prepare yourself accordingly (Miletus).  ;)  Since that's the case, we'll begin with our semi-regular pictorial showcase.  I spotted this gem today from my friend Alyssa, with the caption, "It took all of my willpower not to adopt this little one..."

And we're going to call that just about the cutest photograph ever...  I've had several complaints (actually, no one has said anything at all) about my recent absence of Las Vegas snapshots, and you're not getting one tonight either...  However, I wanted to show you a couple of views that you're not likely to see from the Strip.  This is a beautiful shot from the Lone Star State that my friend Mike took...

A gorgeous frame full of water is about as anti-Strip as you can get.  This next shot speaks to how Mother Nature can sometimes solve your problems for you.  Up in Canada, my friend Matt was wondering if he should mow his lawn this weekend...

Problem solved...  So now we'll proceed with our sports programming.  Has anybody been watching any basketball?  My friends have...  Those last four quotes above were plucked from the MANY hoops statuses that have graced my facebook page recently.  As I suspected entering this season's playoffs, the Western Conference has been cutthroat since the postseason began.  We were 9/10 of a second last night from seeing all 4 first round series in the West decided by a Game 7.  The Mavericks, carrying the #8 seed in the West, won 49 games during the regular season.  That would have given them the third best record in the East.  Yes, the only teams from the East whose records would have qualified for the playoffs in the Western Conference are Indiana and Miami - think about that for a minute...  Although I'm a Spurs fan, I'm here to tell you that anyone is capable of coming out of the West (except for the Rockets of course), and I've addressed this in the blog dating back to last year's finals.  I put my bonus prop bet from Bovada with the Spurs (where my heart is), but nothing is going to surprise me in this postseason.  Five first round series are going the distance this season, a first for the NBA.  As I write this, the Pacers have advanced against the Hawks in the East.  For those of you keeping up with my monumental $1.00 "warm-up wagers" at Bovada, I took all of the visitors with the points tonight (Hawks +6 *Loss*, Grizzlies +9, and Warriors +7).  Ha ha - Rob from robvegaspoker.blogspot.com just commented on my most recent post here, saying that myself and three members of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders could have placed third in the Eastern Conference.  All I can say is that those cheerleaders must be REALLY GOOD basketball players...  ;)  A friend of mine at work told me that I shoot like Manu Ginobili on Friday (which of course, I will ALWAYS take as a huge compliment), but the comment came in reference to me firing at (and missing) a trash can, and I was promptly informed that the remark was indeed NOT praise...  :(  Katherine happens to be the only Spurs fan that I quoted above, and I'll give all of you the same advice that I gave her - if you're a fan of the NBA, do yourself a favor and attend a playoff game if you ever get the chance.  The electricity in the building during the playoffs makes regular season games pale in comparison.  The atmosphere and intensity is INCREDIBLE!  As for Salsa, Traci, and Jenny, I don't know where I went wrong...  ;)  However crazy the Mavs/Spurs matchup is tomorrow (in addition to the rest of these seventh games), I'm borrowing this photo that my friend Linda was tagged in, just to remind you where my heart is...

                       

Hopefully we'll be talking about Spurs/Blazers here next week...  Actually, that reminds me that I forgot to talk about something here in my blog that is equal to few and superior to none.  :)  I wanted to revisit the Orange/White football scrimmage that the Longhorns held recently.  I think that I neglected to tell you that one of the highlights of the day was the fans booing because the defense wasn't allowed to hit the quarterbacks (two-hand touch), followed by additional disappointment because every punt resulted in a fair catch.  The popular sentiment seemed to be, "C'mon, let us crush our own players..."  :)

Speaking of football, I can't begin to elaborate on how excited I am about the upcoming NFL Draft, and I'm talking about, "Young child waiting to open up his presents on Christmas excited..."  For one thing, once the draft has concluded, then the various college and NFL magazines can go to the printer.  Second, I can't wait to see how the make up of each team is going to shake out.  The draft begins on Thursday night my friends...  :D

As for me, my countdown to Las Vegas is now at 89 days, and the countdown for the number of blog entries that I'll make before leaving for the desert is now at 25 (and yeah, I am always counting things down - SHUT UP)...  :P  It appears that I have some more preparations to make in order for this to happen, so I'll get you go for now.  Have a great weekend (Sunday), and I'll see you again on Tuesday!  ;)