Started off back online at SportsInterAction with $50 that my Life Of Sports rep sent me for referring some other college workers to him. Bubbles and bad beats all over again-ugh. A healthy 6 hour short-handed sesh at the house more than made up for it though.

Made a res at the Crowne Plaza hotel at the Commerce Casino for the night of the tourney. Been perusing the daily tournament schedules of the local casinos, looks like some inexpensive buy-ins to be had for me.

Kind of pissed I didn't even realize the WSOP Circuit at Tahoe was the same week. Been wanting to hit Commerce and the Bike though.

No Poker

Been a very refreshing reprieve from the seemingly nonstop poker of the past year or so. Saturday morning is the monthly CardPlayer freeroll which I plan on using as my re-entry capsule. Followed by a game here at the house is the plan since the natives have been restless with no action as of late. Sunday are the FCP freerolls: the FCPHUPL Losers Tourney and a Protege Seat 8 Qualifier. Get in some online MTTs for warm-up and Tuesday or Wednesday it's off to LA for the CSPC.

Went to a DMB gig at Raley Field in Sacramento last night. Good time but the heavy police presence sweeping the pre-show was a buzzkill. Great seats though, 2nd section, 4th row back, with a Full Moon overhead. Robert Randolph played a mean pedal steel. New guy with Dave on tour, a mountain with a trumpet. Shoreline tomorow night for more Dave. Been having fun spending time with an old friend whose vacation happened to coincide with mine in a manner of speaking. Showed me her new property and it's real nice; gotta say that's quite an accomplishment with prices the way they are in this area (and it's probably the only person I know who would wear a jean skirt while mowing their yard). Had a pedicure, hell yeah you heard me right, it was worth the foot & leg massage alone. Got me to even donate blood for the first time.

4 days of no smoking cigs, except for the few shared at the concert last night. I think I can do this. But Lord, a cigarette sounds good right now.

Oldboy, a Japanese movie I got from Netflix, is a pretty crazy film-if you like really twisted plotlines, I suggest checking it out.

And I missed out on the Mansion.com promo bet on the Steelers/Dolphins game. Minimum bet: $1100. Pittsburgh wins, you score an extra thou. They lose and Mansion refunds your initial bet. They are paying out some pretty serious cash right now.

And speaking of gambling and odds, I have been reading Savage Inequalities, a book about our nation's children and their schools. I'd say a poor, black child growing up in one of country's inner cities' ghettos has about the same odds of "making it" as a regular shmuck like me had of winning this year's WSOP. It's a frightening look at education in the U.S. in the 20th century. Thank God I have had the opportunities which my adoption offered me, as opposed to what might have been.

Poker Vacation

So this is what I've become in my old age? Saturday night and I spend it home alone, reading a book on the couch. And then watching a chick flick (ironically enough, it was titled "Failure To Launch") to boot (I didn't choose it, my friend brought it over FYI). The book, The Kite Runner, was actually a good read, passed on to me by an old friend. The movie was entertaining albeit cheesy; Hollywood in a nutshell. But aside from all the reading for school I've had to do (or not), I can't remember the last time I sat down and immersed myself in a novel (that wasn't a poker strat book!). Something I used to really enjoy. What with all the poker I've been playing, after the other day of frustratingly repeated online bubble-pain, I decided to take a week off before the LA trip to reset and regroup my game.