The Cruel, Cruel Mistress

Ah poker, how I hate you so. Sometimes. So after my last post, I've managed to put in two lengthy tournament sessions, with the expected horrendous results. As the Good Doctor Mondo reminds me, at least I'm doing a far better job of not letting emotional tilt ruin my days post-poker.

But my last two sessions have resulted in 15-18 tournies per session, with only a single min-cash each time, usually in my lowest buy-in of the day. Out on the absolute bubble twice, both times on 70/30s, losing on the river each time.

Had a nice stack in one of the early Daily Doubles yesterday, about 100 spots before payouts begin, when I picked up KK in the small blind, where I reraised an EP raiser. Bet out the Q high flop. Bet out the turn (which didn't improve the board and left no draws; call the overshove raise to find I'm up against KQo of all things. Naturally, the 2-outer Q hits the river, so fuck it, I piss off my stack in the other early DD about 40 spots short of $$$.

Go out the absolute bubble boy in a $10 NLO8 tourney on Tilt, when my A842 double suited (yeah, not great, but I was short) was called off by A862, who naturally hits trip 6s by the turn and left me with less than one BB in the BB.

Naturally, given my terrirunbad these days, on the absolute bubble of a $5 LO8 tourney, and the final remaining tourney I'm in, Full Tilt decides to polish off the day by sending its software tits-up. At least I got to share in the prizepool in that one.

Oh yeah, made a couple bad plays, shoved KK on the river into a QQ high board (had him on AK) when villian held....QQ. D'oh. This was in the Stars 1/4 Mil after tripling up early. Also went out near the bubble of the World Record (well, I guess finishing 31,000-something can be considered the bubble of 30,000 get paid and 160,000 started)...when I lost another 95% hand on the river. But not going to whine about a 10 FPP tourney.

Yeah, poker sucks for me these days. I won't even play Bodog given the abuse it's given me, though I've got a few hundo left there. No more whining.

Christmas was actually a pretty wonderful time in the Mondopad. The Good Doctor Mondo's dad came out last Wednesday to join her mom, who's been here for five weeks. The Good Doctor Mondo received a Wii for Xmas, which has been invaluable in her continued rehab, for balance and fitness reasons. She used one in her rehab hospital, and it's been a real aid in parts of her recovery. Of course, we both agree that Rock Band must be on the horizon. ;-)

Not much else to report. After 44 years on the miserable hunk of rock, I'm actually giving a half-hearted attempted at growing a pathetic beard. We'll see how it goes...

Happy New Year, and to 2009, don't let the door hit you on the ass on the way out.

Oh How I've Missed Thee

Not much to say on the poker front, as I haven't played a hand in over a week. Last weekend was spent doing an online document review project for work which remains ongoing. I'd be working on it again this very moment, if not for a server crash...

It's been pretty impossible to find time to play any cards at all these days, what with all the interruptions that would ensue if I tried to sit down for even a 45 player turbo SNG. While the Good Doctor Mondo continues to improve incrementally nearly every day, the fact remains that our daily lives haven't returned to anything resembling normalcy. Since her own abilities to do the most simple things, such as getting up to get a glass of water, require someone to go to the tanks to turn up her O's, or being behind her every step of the way on the staircase..well, I just can't trust starting a tournament with any sense that I can actually play it through.

In better news, the Good Doctor Mondo's oxygen requirements continue to trend down. At rest, we now have her on 1/2 the oxygen she was at when she first came home, and her needs under exertion are about 18% lower, so she continues to progress. In fact, her doctors do now see a likely eventual 100% recovery. This is great news, indeed. Given how terribly sick she was, and the normal 12 month horizon for lungs to reach whatever final recovery level they tend to plateau at, her current pace indicates a higher final plateau than anyone would have thought as recently as two months ago.

Hoping to find a way to get a "day off" of sorts to get some play in this weekend, however. Of course, poker is of little importance in the grand scheme of things, but I'm feeling a real sense of withdrawal, especially having missed out on the recent #WBPT shenanigans, and seeing a fellow blogger take down a tidy $27k score in the mini-FTOPS...well, I miss the game.

Which reminds me, while I do think Hoy can reach levels of internetz douchebaggery at times unmatched by us mere mortals, he's a hell of a player whose game I've respected for some time. Congratulations Hoy, on your huge score. Not your first, won't be your last.

Speaking of fellow bloggers, one of my favorite bloggers in the pokerverse has just written a well thought out piece on the pitfalls and vagaries of staking arrangements -- well worth the read. Thanks, CK!

Oh yeah, one lil' band snippet -- New Ben Franklins got our pressed CD back from the manufacturer yesterday, well in advance of our CD release show next month.

This makes me happy on so many levels...those who've known me for a long time know that this is either the 6th or 7th album I've been a part of recording, and yet the very first one to actually make it all the way to getting a proper pressing (even if it's just a short run EP). Feels good to actually have something you can find on the shelves of local independent record stores soon. Previous bands of mine may have hand-burned small volumes to sell at shows, but having one properly packaged, shrink-wrapped, and all that other jazz, is just kinda cool.

Well, good luck at the tables...glad to hear none of the #WPBT crew got hooker-rolled in Vega$, or lost a kidney, or got to be a bad man's boyfriend in the Clark County Jail....

Onward, Mighty Bloggers

Ahhhh...I wish I were there. Be safe, be sound, be excellent, and most of all, do not be weak tight.

Set Twitter to Stun.

CD Review - The Woggles - Tempo Tantrum

The Woggles
Tempo Tantrum
Wicked Cool Records


From my most recent assignment at Hybrid Magazine:

Over nearly two decades, Atlanta's prime purveyors of reverently retro rock and roll, The Woggles, have released a veritable cornucopia of albums, singles, compilation and tribute tracks, spanning a handful of lineups. Most of The Woggles' releases have had at least one toe firmly planted in a sort of southern trashy garage soul vibe. Yet their catalog has also clearly indicated an abiding appreciation of a wide swath of vintage flavors, such as surf music, spaghetti Western soundtracks, and other appropriate drive-in sonic fare. This appreciation is demonstrated by the way the band has sprinkled various tracks reflective of this admiration throughout their releases over the years, often either as b-sides to singles, or on tribute compilations.

Which brings us to their new release, Tempo Tantrum, which is essentially a retrospective collection of instrumentals (originals and covers), all but one of which have been previously released, though many on very obscure, out-of-print, issues. For those relatively new to The Woggles, this is pretty much a must-have record, in large part due to the inclusion of their instrumental cover of The Monkees' "Valleri", and their cover of The Fleshtones' "Theme From The Vindicators", each an homage executed with deserved respect, yet tinged with the raucous sweaty energy for which The Woggles have long been known. Even longer term fans who may not have kept pace with The Woggles' exhaustive release schedule over the years will find this collection an interesting recapping of the band's instrumental lexicon, underscoring the various lineup changes and guest players who have aided the band in its exploits over the years.

A couple of songs in particular stand out above the others. Notably "El Toro", a worthy homage to the spaghetti Western soundtracks of Morricone and Nicolai, but brought to date with rock drums and a driving bass line. Another highlight is "Los Angeles No Niseimaturi", which originally appeared on a vinyl only EP release a few years ago, and was apparently recorded as an act of sonic reverence towards Nokie Edwards-era Ventures. "The Elbow Twist" is a fine go-go combo organ driven stomper. Even the one true vocal track on the album, a cover of Dick Dale's "Mr. Peppermint Man" (taken from a 15 year old 10" vinyl tribute release appropriately titled "Dickheads") has 1962 stamped all over it. Given the very nature of The Woggles as a band, this is a good thing indeed.

The above notwithstanding, the band is now at a point where two of its last three full-length releases have been retrospective collections and The Woggles, who are indeed still active, have only put out one new release of new recordings sine 2003. Here's hoping that the Professor, Flesh Hammer, Dan Electro, and Buzz Hagstrom get back to the business of penning the best in balls-out revival retro rock and roll sooner rather than later. After all, as Meredith Ochs (of NPR's All Songs Considered) once said, a Woggles show "will change your life," and there is nothing like a brand new release of brand new songs, to give cause to bring The Woggles to your town.

Number of The Beast

It ain't 666, because that would be one too many. Effin' 66...goddamn I hate that hand. Played a few turbos tonight, after the Good Doctor Mondo went to bed. Seven of them, in fact. All my play in and out in less than two hours.

Ran into 66 three times, in AIPF situations.

First time, AJ lost to 66 when the devils held up.
Second time, AQ went down when the ace in the door was followed by the case devil (another player noted he folded one devil).
The final fucking of the night? AK lost to 66 in the worst way. Ace on the flop, but two diamonds. Diamond on the turn. Diamond on the river. Yup, he held the fucking devil of diamonds.

Now up to 18 straight non-cashes in a row. I know that's hardly a long streak, but it's pissing me off. Especially as some of them have included large stacks, only to go out just a few spots off the bubble. JokerStars hates me these days.

I guess it's a good thing after all that I'm not in the WPBT Last Longer competition. Given how JokerStars is putting up the mobnies, I'd be sure to screw whatever team I was on.

Edit: Of course, right after I type this, I break my non-cash streak...with the mini-est of min-cashes, a whopping $3.52 in a $2.20 PLHE/PLO turbo MTT...naturally AA78 double suited couldn't keep up with 6543 rainbow in PLO.

Wha? December Already?

What a long, strange trip it's been...2009, that is.

A lot of you poker bloggers worth your weight in bytes, or in cheeseburgers, or even bananas, will be taking your own long, strange trip next weekend for the 2009 Winter Blogger Gathering, WPBT, what have you. Drunken wheelchair races, getting rolled by hookers at the Geisha Bar, collecting bounties at Caesar's...what a way to start a winter, no?

For what it's worth, I would have loved to join the Last Longer on a team with Waffles and $mokkee, just to watch the incendiary fireworks between my teammates.

For the umpteenth time in a row since starting this pathetique excuse for a poker blog, I shall not be taking part this year. Oh, that was not my intention, to sit out. Not at all. But the events of this year have taken their toll, and it is too important for me to take care of the Good Doctor Mondo, now that she's at home, to take a few days off out further west than here. I do wish to all of you much much merriment, and lots of Aleve-laced waters when you wake at 3pm each day. If there's another such gathering next year, I really do hope to be able to join. As it is, perhaps I can make a run for the Vega$ border shortly after next April (when I have to be in North Carolina for a trial, for several weeks).

So how is the Good Doctor Mondo doing? Better every single day. Her first week at home was sort of a transitional week, where her mom and I were getting used to managing all the various oxygen-giving appliances, learning and administering the various medical routines (which the Good Doctor actually does much of herself), cleaning her trach tubes, and the like. But for the last few days, she's actually been able to sleep upstairs (gasp!) in our own bed. We truly feel like we are somewhat returning to some sense of normalcy.

Normalcy is relative, as she's limited to one trip up and down the stairs each day, and each trip takes a good 8-10 minutes with several breaks to restore her O2 saturation. But being in her own bed carries other benefits...she can now use the hand-held shower I installed last week...no more sponge bathing in the downstairs foyer bathroom. And now that we're together, we're both sleeping much better.

As I suspected, the Good Doctor Mondo's return home has, naturally, put a crimp in the amount of poker I've been playing these days, but it's more than a fair tradeoff. Typically, I'm either too tired to play after working a full day, then coming home and taking care of her until her routines are finished around 9:30 or so...though once or twice I've jumped on to play a couple of low buy-in 180 man turbos, to pretty much little success. It's hard to get in a groove when you start late and force the action, and feels like you're playing just so you can remember where the click buttons on your mouse are located.

I do hope to have a nice session on Sunday, though, depending on the weather. We've had a pretty significant cold snap here, and even with all the supplemental oxygen, it's really not a good idea for the Good Doctor to go outside in low double digits. So maybe Sunday will be a pokering day, we'll see.

Oh yeah, in other tidbits, my band just sent our five song EP off for pressing, so our January 21st show will be a CD release of sorts. We were hoping our Holiday Hootenanny show next weekend would have worked out as a release show, but we spent too many sessions mixing and remixing to have pressing/manufacturing done in time in an economical fashion. Sweet!

2 Turkeys, 1 Cup

Bah.

Thought I'd play Dr. Pauly's annual Turkey Cup, and actually started off building a nice stack, until I misplayed TPTK against a -1000% ROI player who limped called AA against my preflop raise. When the Q hit the turn on an all raggy board, I really felt my TPTK was good. Put him on no better than AK, and called his turn shove.

Of course, I should have probably known better, when he min-raised my c-bet on the 8-high flop...

Still, limp calling AA preflop with three players to act is pretty dangerous poker.

Still had about 800 chippies left, and shoved AQo (yes, again) PF. I raised preflop, then a 3 bet and a call after me, so I shoved. It was my AQ v. AK v. AK. Hated my chances, but at least AK only had two kings left in the deck. Felt much much better with the Q high flop (though I was going to have to fade runner runner spades). Turn was pretty. River? Bah, a two-out K. If that flop had held, I've have recovered to a top 15 stack.

As it was, I was one of the first dozen or so out.

Bah. I fuckin' hate tryptophan tournies.

Click Your Heels Three Times

and say "I want to go home...I want to go home...I want to go home..."

The Good Doctor Mondo came home this week, on Monday, five months to the day when she first went into the hospital. Life is good. Allow me to rephrase. Life is fanfuckingtastic. We have so very much to be thankful for this year, her very survival being first and foremost, as well as all the support we've received from our friends -- local, virtual, bandmates, family, colleagues, and otherwise. Cliches often become cliches because at their very core, they are usually essentially true...you truly never know what you have until you almost lose it.

That's not to say that there are not significant changes in our lives, even today. The Good Doctor Mondo is home, yet she will remain bed/wheelchair/walker-bound for a long time to come, in a way we can't really measure yet. Our home looks like some combination of a medical lab/dairy. You know those huge metal canisters that hold hundreds of gallons of milk? Well, we've now got four of those in our living room/den (now known as the master bedroom), except their full of liquid oxygen. Those, plus five portable oxygen cylinders. Plus two portable oxygen devices that resemble jet packs. Plus miles of tubing. Plus large, prominent, bold red type signs outside our house warning against open flames/smoking.

Anyway, that's our lives now. A schedule of medications, trans-trach cleanings, anti bloodclot injections, it goes on and on.

Yet we're thankful beyond belief, for this Thanksgiving, we do indeed have one another. And if you just hang on tight enough, you never have to let go.

So to you and yours, spare a thought this Thanksgiving for those in your own families who may be struggling with their issues, great and small. Because you never know what you have until you almost lose it.

Sick Flop

Cliffnotes - 66 > AA > AA> QQ, and brought a howitzer, where a .38 cal would have done the trick.

PokerStars Game #35242067774: Tournament #211784419, $3.00+$0.30 USD Hold'em No Limit - Level IV (50/100) - 2009/11/11 22:10:28 MT [2009/11/12 0:10:28 ET]
Table '211784419 15' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: rafaberlin (1450 in chips)
Seat 2: mike_031000 (725 in chips)
Seat 3: tevoyarupiar (6100 in chips)
Seat 4: grant (1490 in chips)
Seat 5: heffs976 (7165 in chips)
Seat 6: Mondogarage (5593 in chips)
Seat 7: lupri30 (3000 in chips)
Seat 8: BecomTheBull (13265 in chips)
Seat 9: The Rogue (5790 in chips)
tevoyarupiar: posts small blind 50
grant: posts big blind 100
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Mondogarage [4s 2s]
heffs976: folds
Mondogarage: folds
lupri30: folds
BecomTheBull: raises 250 to 350
The Rogue: raises 550 to 900
rafaberlin: calls 900
mike_031000: calls 725 and is all-in
tevoyarupiar: folds
grant: calls 800
BecomTheBull: raises 12365 to 13265 and is all-in
The Rogue: calls 4890 and is all-in
rafaberlin: calls 550 and is all-in
grant: calls 590 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (7475) returned to BecomTheBull
*** FLOP *** [6c 6d Tc]
*** TURN *** [6c 6d Tc] [Kc]
*** RIVER *** [6c 6d Tc Kc] [7s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
BecomTheBull: shows [Qs Qh] (two pair, Queens and Sixes)
The Rogue: shows [As Ad] (two pair, Aces and Sixes)
The Rogue collected 8600 from side pot-3
grant: shows [9d Qd] (a pair of Sixes) (oh, and wtf is this guy calling 4-bets here with, so LOL, but irrelevant)
The Rogue collected 120 from side pot-2
rafaberlin: shows [Ac Ah] (two pair, Aces and Sixes)
The Rogue collected 1450 from side pot-1
rafaberlin collected 1450 from side pot-1
mike_031000: shows [6h 6s] (four of a kind, Sixes)
mike_031000 collected 3675 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 15295 Main pot 3675. Side pot-1 2900. Side pot-2 120. Side pot-3 8600. | Rake 0
Board [6c 6d Tc Kc 7s]
Seat 1: rafaberlin showed [Ac Ah] and won (1450) with two pair, Aces and Sixes
Seat 2: mike_031000 (button) showed [6h 6s] and won (3675) with four of a kind, Sixes
Seat 3: tevoyarupiar (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: grant (big blind) showed [9d Qd] and lost with a pair of Sixes
Seat 5: heffs976 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: Mondogarage folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: lupri30 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: BecomTheBull showed [Qs Qh] and lost with two pair, Queens and Sixes
Seat 9: The Rogue showed [As Ad] and won (10170) with two pair, Aces and Sixes

Where We Learn About Software Updates the Fun Way, and Pending Arrivals

I guess sometime in the maybe-recent past, Full Tilt Poker implemented a chopping feature? Duh. I would have never guessed, as I hadn't made a final table on that site in about a year. I honestly had no idea whatsoever that FTP had implemented this feature in their software.

It's actually a pretty neat feature, as it allows chops based on ICM, or chips, or a custom amount, and players have to click whether or not to accept.

Anyway, I got to see it in action first hand, when my opponent and I did a straight 50/50 chops once head up in last night's $5 Limit O8 tourney. Sweet. At one point with four left, I had about 75% of the chips in play, but finally managed to start running badly, and my HU opponent ended up knocking out the two short stacks. I still started HU play with a 2.5:1 chip lead, but with blinds at 6,000/12,000, I only had to lose one pot for us to have virtually identical chipstacks, so the split down the middle was appropriate, especially in a four card game where a single river can turn a scoop into a "ZOMG how did I lose that hand?!?!?".

At least now, I have enough of a Full Tilt teeny tiny roll to not have to avoid logging on there (especially as Bodog's "random" number generator continues to treat me as if I were on my way to a leper colony. And the overall roll (split amongst three sites) is as healthy as its been all year...no real complaints.

Well, except for losing to the river three outer on the final table bubble of Stars' $3.30 triple shootout...everyone else was waiting for our table to finish, and HU took about 20 hands...had him right in my sights to have 95% of the chips, and someone flicked the doomswitch. Ah well.

Tonight is the Good Doctor Mondo's birthday. We had a small informal party for her at the hospital last weekend, but tonight it will just be the two of us, and some takeout Bonefish Grill...possibly while watching some of ESPN's final table coverage, who knows?

The one thing we do know is her hospitalization is coming closer to a close, and we couldn't be happier, though I'm really quite nervous about it. You see, the return home may not ultimately be because she's ready...but because her rehab hospital insurance benefit runs out 11 days from now. Fucking insurance companies. She's had some relatively minor issues (at least in light of everything else that has gone on) slow down her rehab and therapy over the last week, and I'm really concerned that when she's forced home, she would not have been able to have met the goals set out for her in rehab.

Nevertheless, we celebrate those things that we can, and today, my darling turns 40. There were times this year when I wasn't certain I'd ever be able to say this, but I can say to her now, "Happy Birthday Jenn, I love you."

After Three Plus Years...

...and nearly 1300 tournaments, I've finally achieved Waffles status on PokerStars (check the ROI)

Like Crack On A Chipstack

Given recent developments in my family situation and schedule...well, playing MTTs like I've always enjoyed just doesn't seem to fit any more. These days, it's work all day, go to the Good Doctor Mondo's rehabilitation hospital fifty miles away for a few hours, and then finally get home around 9pm or so at night. This is my daily life, at present, and everything else has to work around that schedule.

But there's got to be something more than that, right? How to squeeze in a bit of poker, at least in the couple hours at home between dragging my hang-dog ass in the door, and merciful sleep? How to feed that jones and yet still be able to maintain responsibilities? How to stand being in that outsized house by myself at night, restless at bitter at one's lot in life, and find a way to squeeze in the one solitary activity that pushes all that sad bastard crap aside for a while?

Well, I found the answer over at PokerStars. 180 man, $3.30r turbo SNGs. That's right, rebuy SNGs. Woohoo, with lots of value. Damn, the whole things are over in just over two hours. Of course, variance is high. I manage to play one, sometimes two a night (if they register fast enough), and still get decent sleep. So far, they're not half terrible bankroll builders, as long as you have the discipline to rebuy upfront and not chase a mincash by rebuying 3-4 times afterwards. Of course, always, always take the addon.

Now, this is an entirely different form of poker for me, in some respects, because most players are already into shove-or-fold mode within an hour of the tournament. I've missed out a couple of good late position shove opportunities, probably because of not being particularly well-versed in ICM. But I've managed to cash often enough to make a tiny bit of scratch, and a couple final table appearances haven't hurt.

Typically, I'm in these for only $9 (once in a while I'll do a second rebuy to top off just before the end of the rebuy period, if I'm low enough). And either way, it feels like getting a lot of poker for the money because even when I don't cash, I'm going out anywhere from, say, 25th to 40th place, and outlasting enough of the field for it to truly be bedtime at the end.

Played one of these last night, and finished 3rd, for a nice chunk of change. Sadly, went out when AT couldn't fade A9, when winning that hand would have given me and the chipleader equal stacks, and leaving villian with about one BB. Even going out 2nd would have been worth another one-fiddy. Hope to actually take one of these down, it's been a while since I've been able to get heads-up in a relatively decent sized field.

At least it's helping me overcome the life-tilt that has been Bodog's 11:30pm EST $2k guarantee turbo. Won some nice stakes in that tourney over time, but I swear I've been knocked out early the last ten or so times I've played this thing. In fact, my Bodog $Ts are completely gone, so I'm spending a lot less time on that site. Their RNG hates me these days with a passion in a way I'm not sure even Fraud Tilt Poker's ever had for me.

May you find the felt to your liking.

When Being A Calling Station Pays

PokerStars Game #34633944073: Tournament #206545239, $3.00+$0.30 USD Hold'em No Limit - Level XX (700/1400) - 2009/10/28 20:49:20 MT [2009/10/28 22:49:20 ET]
Table '206545239 8' 4-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: nerv1 (26823 in chips)
Seat 2: Mondogarage (83670 in chips)
Seat 3: Thxalot (102091 in chips)
Seat 4: ironrat317 (34156 in chips)
nerv1: posts the ante 175
Mondogarage: posts the ante 175
Thxalot: posts the ante 175
ironrat317: posts the ante 175
Mondogarage: posts small blind 700
Thxalot: posts big blind 1400
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Mondogarage [Ac Qc]
ironrat317: folds
nerv1: folds
Mondogarage: raises 2800 to 4200
Thxalot: raises 7000 to 11200
Mondogarage: calls 7000
*** FLOP *** [2c Kh Kc]
Mondogarage: checks
Thxalot: bets 8800 (could be a value bet with a K, or protecting less than nut flush draw? pocket pair?)
Mondogarage: calls 8800 (why not, I do have nut flush draw)
*** TURN *** [2c Kh Kc] [3h]
Mondogarage: bets 8400 (okay, time to protect my flush draw now)
Thxalot: raises 8400 to 16800 (okay, he's gotta have a K, right?)
Mondogarage: calls 8400
*** RIVER *** [2c Kh Kc 3h] [9c] (not the nuts, but a lowercase yahtzee?)
Mondogarage: bets 7000 (trying to induce a raise here)
Thxalot: raises 53200 to 60200 (hmm...tell me he didn't play 99, plz)
Mondogarage: calls 39695 and is all-in (in for a penny, in for a pound)
Uncalled bet (13505) returned to Thxalot
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Thxalot: shows [6c 4d] (a pair of Kings) (holy CRAPTASTIC stone cold bluff)
Mondogarage: shows [Ac Qc] (a flush, Ace high) (thank you, come again!)
Mondogarage collected 167690 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 167690 | Rake 0
Board [2c Kh Kc 3h 9c]
Seat 1: nerv1 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: Mondogarage (small blind) showed [Ac Qc] and won (167690) with a flush, Ace high
Seat 3: Thxalot (big blind) showed [6c 4d] and lost with a pair of Kings
Seat 4: ironrat317 folded before Flop (didn't bet)

That hand ended up setting me up for a really deep run in what was, I think, a 1000 player tournament. What even made this better was that at one point, a short bit before the money bubble, I was in the BB holding 52o, with less than one BB behind, when UTG raised and everyone else folded. I thought, fuck it, I got nothing left, and I'd be headsup either totally crushed, or with two live cards. So I called, and he flipped up something like AT or AJ. Flop comes A34 rainbow, and BOOM! I survived. And then thrived, big time.

Weird spot...with five tables (20 players) left, four of the top six stacks were all at the same table. All the chips. I came into that table 3rd in chips.

It was a real chance to make hay, and the tourney winner really would have been expected to come from us four.

Of course, I went out 15th, when small blind caught his OESD on the turn. (I was holding TPTK, and he waited to raise me all in until the river. Meh. Still, given the comeback, I could go away sorta happy.

"On the Road Again"

...I just can't wait to get on the road again...

Wow. I was just getting ready to write about how it sometimes feels as if the healing process never, ever, ever gets there...when I get a phone call from the Good Doctor Mondo, telling me that tomorrow, we once again move her. This time, from a long term acute care hospital, to a rehabilitation hospital in northern Colorado.

This is simply wonderful news!

When I was touring the various rehab hospitals last week, one of the main points I took from them was that the average length of stay is along the lines of 14-21 days or so. Undoubtedly, this is in large part due to the thieves who run our insurance companies (don't worry, theirs is coming soon...). But the upshot of that is that there is now a high likelihood of the Good Doctor Mondo coming home in time for Thanksgiving.

Believe me, we will be giving thanks this year. For many many things. But perhaps simply for the very instance of the occasion most of all.

As for last night's pokering...that's a subject better left unsaid. Gawd I can be a donk sometimes, and my inability to fold TT on an 8-high board cost me a top 20 stack in the Bodog $50+5 10k guarantee after 2/3 of the field were gone...oh yeah, let's keep that unsaid.

"Satellite Of Love"

Continuing the short-run of song titled posts...ah, who am I kidding, that could end as soon as I reach the end of my short leashed creativity tether.

But have I mentioned how much I love Bodog's $Ts satellites? Because I do. I do, I tells ya. Yes, yes, they can get quite frustrating at times, when you run 3-4 of them, which typically pay only one or two spots, and you finish 3rd or 4th in all of them. But when you win a couple...wow, certainly makes up for it.

Had a nice run the other day, winning three in a row. Two were $16 buyins, the other a $7r, but the end result of the three was a net gain of around $430T. Sweet. Maybe, just maybe, one of these days I'll take the plunge into the $100k (with juicy overlay) that these satellites feed in to. I think I'd first like to reach a point where the buyin is no more than 10% of my Bodog roll. And no, we're not there yet. Perhaps 2/3 of the way there, but not there just yet.

In the meantime, I'll keep taking a few shots at their $30-50 buyins, but my last two attempts at the $30 3k guarantee have gone down in flames to early donktardo play by villians that have gotten horribly rewarded on the river, such as calling into my PF, flop, and turn all-in bets (with me holding JJ) on boards with nothing but rainbow number cards with KQo, only to hit the Q on the river. Pretty gross, but when you're buying in with $Ts, the loss is easier to chalk up to the value of getting great notes on a fish. Well, sometimes.

On a similar note, I followed my own head, as well as the advice of a couple quality bloggers (as well as Tycou, whose blog I can't find), and cashed out my Sunday Million ticket for the $Ts. Now that I've exhausted the $T216 from that win, I can report that the overall results were...well, let's just say Waffles-like. That is to say, pretty much break even. I'll take it, I suppose...over a series of SNGs, and a decent cash in a $3r 180-man, the tournament bucks became right around the same amount in cold. hard. cash.

So overall, poker's actually been pretty good to me these days. Except on Full Tilt, of course, where I don't think I've cashed since...oh...2002, it feels like.

Taking a hospital night off, and rehearsal's bumped to Thursday. Aaaaand, one of my two blog sponsors re-upped for another 90 days (thus dropping a few $$$ into my FTP account), so I should actually be able to play the Skillz game tonight. Of course, it's on Full Trashmondo Poker, so my money is dead before I even register for it. Tonight it's PL Omatard Hi, which makes the previous sentence triply true. So join in for shenanigans, won't ya?

Surreality - Part 1

Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

Click the photo for the punch line frame...

"Walk, Don't Run"

I can't think of anything more emblematic of what has to be the best day in my life in a really, really, really long time.

You see, the Good Doctor Mondo took her first steps today, since falling ill. Ten of them, in fact. In groups of two or three, and most certainly not unaided. But she took steps. She walked!!

So yeah, I need some Ventures today. It's a great great day indeed. We're holding out hope for her to be home by Thanksgiving, we'll see!

Oh, and thanks to Waffles for linking that wonderful post by Kid Dynamite regarding new FCC disclosure...umm..."guidelines" regarding blogger endorsements. Not that anyone's ever actually asked me to endorse anything. But here, I'll endorse the FCC for their FCCing rules. Why? Because I think they're going to lead to much quality blogging and snark about the FCCing rules. Hell yeah.

CD Review - The Len Price 3 - Pictures

So Hybrid Magazine's put up another one of my CD Reviews, and I thought I'd share it with you guys here. Frankly, the review probably undersells the CD, which is bloody brilliant. Of course, the full length CD doesn't hit the streets until January 10th, but whatev.



The Len Price 3
Pictures
Wicked Cool Records



The Len Price 3 – “Pictures”

England’s Medway Delta region has long contributed a steady stream of excellent, yet under-appreciated, garage rock and power pop bands, going back at least as far as Billy Childish’s earliest works, through to the present day. A good number of these acts over the years, from Thee Milkshakes, through The Prisoners, to The Bresslaws, often go unnoticed beyond the area’s working class pubs or the occasional hard core garage rock aficionados. With the release of The Len Price 3’s latest full-length, “Pictures”, there is now yet another opportunity for the broader audience to move beyond the past and revel in the underground legend that is the Medway sound.

In line with their previous work, The Len Price 3 (in which there is no one in the band named Len Price, naturally), the band once again paints a masterful canvas using a palette of colors appropriated from freakbeat, mod, and traditional power pop song structures, and borrows somewhat liberally from the same type of working class lyrical ideas typical of Ray Davies. The sound is big and jagged, with boomy toms, crackly snares, alternately jangly or fuzzy Rickenbacker guitars, effective harmonies, and enough ferocity behind the pop façade to hint at the frustration of one’s station, while never forgetting that rock and roll is still about fun.

The thirteen tracks that comprise “Pictures”’ clock in at barely more than 30 minutes, and most individual tracks are here and gone in under two and a half minutes. Within this idiom there is really no need for anything more. Get in, get out, quit fuckin’ about. The album’s opening eponymous track punches brightly with a meld of Mick Jones-spittled verses and a chorus that is very reminiscent of early Who, circa “Circles”, and provides a worth launching pad for the record. Additional highlights include “Keep Your Eyes On Me”, “Mr. Grey”, “Jack in the Green”, and the Daviesesque “If You Live Round Here”, the latter replete with cautions against pretentiousness and warnings to know your role:

You think you’re better than the population

Don’t get ideas so above your station

You’re gonna have to lump it, baby if you live round here

You say you’ve had an education

Round here, boy, that’s an affectation

You’re gonna have to lump it, baby if you live round here

“Pictures” is one of the more enjoyably buoyant and fresh-sounding pop albums to come out during this year. While much of the credit certainly goes to the boys in the band, a nod is due in the direction of Graham Day, one of the most enduring purveyors of the Medway sound from his founding of The Prisoners through today, and one of the producers of “Pictures”. In fact, much of the record bears his unmistakable hand. Other tracks on the album hearken back to the poppier side of bands such as The Easybeats or The Small Faces, particularly “Jack in the Green” and closer “The Great Omani”. As a whole, the record is a triumph.

As with many of their Medway contemporaries, The Len Price 3 do not seem to be interested in expanding the boundaries of popular music, or breaking any new ground. Rather, the band seems to be intent on simply making the most riveting and entertaining music they possibly can while remaining true to the very essence of their creation. To that end, “Pictures” meets the demands of that mission in spades. Perhaps this will be the record to break through to the masses that have heretofore missed out on one of the most vital subsets of rock and roll.

Something New Every Day

$3.30r Satellite to the Sunday Million



$3.30r Satellite to the Sunday Million



$3.30r Satellite to teh Sunday Mirrion!!!

Of course, here's the fun part. I can't play this weekend, I've got Rockies playoff tickets (well, depending on what happens in Games 2 and 3, and the weather, of course)

I want to play in this so bad. But a Sunday Mirrion buy in also represents 40% of my current Stars roll, which would be entirely irresponsible.

So I guess I'm looking for advice. Do I just take the $Ts? Or do I try to sell one time pieces of myself and play the Mirrion the first Sunday after the Rox are out of the playoffs, in order to reduce the massive variance? (Of course, I'm lifetime -8% ROI on Stars, but a positive ROI on Bodog, I do believe.) Looking for some advice and guidance here.

I think the worst possible choice would be to just suck it up and play the Mirrion on my micro roll. But winning these crapshoot Satellites is unlikely to happen again anytime soon.

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Tick Tock, Tick Tock - It's PLAYOFF TIME!!!

ZOMG, only 2.5 hours before the Colorado Rockies open up the 2009 National League Division Series against the World Champion Philadelphia Phillies.

Man, the excitement here at work is palpable, and yeah, I'm wearing a purple and black checked oxford to work. Gots ta support my boys. That said, I'm feeling rather skeptical about our chances this year. In the end, everything's going to come down to a couple of factors. First, how well can the Rockies' starting pitching keep Rollins & Victorino off the basepaths. After all, both Rockies catchers pretty much suck this year at throwing out runners.

Second, which Phillies' starting pitchers will show up? The Cliff Lee who handcuffed the Rox during one of his first National League starts? Or the very ordinary Cliff Lee from the past month? The Cole Hamels who shut down the world last post-season, or the current seemingly very ordinary Hamels?

A lot of writers talk about how the Rockies are much better against righties than they are against lefties, and this would be true. That said, the Rockies are a .500 club against left-handed starting pitching, so no, they are not ZOMG horrible in this department. The key will be whether or not Atkins and Barmes can avoid the punchouts and get on base. They've both had rough seasons at the plate (even though Barmes does have a couple dozen dingers), and the Phillies bullpen is fairly weak. So going deep into ABs will be critical.

I'll post more later on this....

The Good Doctor Mondo continues to improve. I haven't written much lately on this, because...well, I just don't blog much these days. Two weeks ago, we moved her to a Long Term Acute Care (LTAC) hospital down here in Denver, mostly because her insurance company would no longer cover a normal hospital ICU unit. That said, she is in the LTAC's ICU, and will probably be in there for another week or two. But she continues to make small strides every day in her recovery. We're hoping we can move her to a rehabilitation hospital in the next month or so. But as of now, we're at Day 107 of her hospital ordeal. And frankly, it's really fucking lonely living in a big house by yourself.

Poker continues to be a lollercoaster for me. A week ago Sunday was about the worst day ever. Bubbled *three* consecutive Bodog $100k satellites by one seat. Played about 20 tournies with no cashes...and just ran really really really bad. The worst part was that I had decided that if I could have hung on for two of the seats, I would have actually played one of them.

Results were a bit better this past Sunday, so perhaps I've stopped the bleeding a bit.

Nice Day, And A Nice Finish

Thought I'd try one or two more quick Bodog tournies before bed, and I'm glad I did. This was a $7+1:





All in all, I managed to add around 50% to my Bodog roll today, and maybe 18% to my PokerStars roll, so no complaints out of me for a while. While I'm certainly no high-rollin' baller in these parts, I've finally managed to reach what appears to be a high water mark of the calendar year. And yeah, it feels good.

Better to be lucky than good?

Sometimes, you just never know quite how lucky you've got to get, to get what you've got.

PokerStars Game #33040822484: Tournament #195646742, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level XI (125/250) - 2009/09/19 15:09:57 MT 2009/09/19 17:09:57 ET
Table '195646742 214' 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: illhustler (2983 in chips)
Seat 2: Mondogarage (4965 in chips)
Seat 3: lee trum (8530 in chips)
Seat 4: MrAura (8535 in chips)
Seat 5: sudnik (1101 in chips)
Seat 6: KaiLee04 (29865 in chips)
Seat 7: saldorf01 (9603 in chips)
Seat 8: Daigger (9315 in chips)
Seat 9: I'm a fn sta (4265 in chips)
illhustler: posts the ante 30
Mondogarage: posts the ante 30
lee trum: posts the ante 30
MrAura: posts the ante 30
sudnik: posts the ante 30
KaiLee04: posts the ante 30
saldorf01: posts the ante 30
Daigger: posts the ante 30
I'm a fn sta: posts the ante 30
saldorf01: posts small blind 125
Daigger: posts big blind 250
HOLE CARDS

Dealt to Mondogarage

I'm a fn sta: folds
illhustler: folds
Mondogarage: raises 500 to 750 (low pair, but open limping is weak)
lee trum: calls 750
MrAura: calls 750
sudnik: folds
KaiLee04: folds
saldorf01: folds
Daigger: calls 500

*** FLOP *** [8c 4d Ts] kaching, pays me my monay!

Daigger: checks
Mondogarage: bets 750 (only straight draws here, but figured overcards or pairs would call)
lee trum: raises 1750 to 2500 (?????????)
MrAura: calls 2500 (?????????)
Daigger: folds
Mondogarage: raises 1685 to 4185 and is all-in (not going anywhere, so get it in now)
lee trum: calls 1685
MrAura: calls 1685

*** TURN *** [8c 4d Ts] [4s] (GIN!!)

lee trum: checks
MrAura: checks

*** RIVER *** [8c 4d Ts 4s] [Qs]

lee trum: bets 3565 and is all-in
MrAura: folds
Uncalled bet (3565) returned to lee trum

SHOW DOWN :
lee trum: shows
(a full house, Tens full of Fours)
Mondogarage: shows
(four of a kind, Fours)
Mondogarage collected 15950 from pot

Oh SNAP! Really, who could have known I was drawing to one freakin' out. I don't think I would have played the hand any different under any circumstances. And I can probably count the number of one-outers I've ever caught on...well...one hand.

Nice triple up, just the same.

I ended up going out in this event around Level 16, when EP raised, I shoved QQ, he called with A7o (naturally), and the flop came 77J (also naturally). The A on the turn was just a gratuitous turn of the knife...

Today's been spent pokering it up in Jenn's ICU room, and I've actually managed to cash four times today, out of about seven events. None deep, except for turning $14.70 into T$162 in another one of those juicy Bodog $100k satellites. I really wish I felt like I had the bankroll to play the $100k itself, but right now, that would represent 20% of my Bodog roll, and about 15% of my overall online roll, so keeping the $T makes more sense.

Still, I haven't played a Sunday major on any site in at least two years...sure would be fun.

Clearing Out Some Cobwebs

(BANG BANG BANG)

There. That's better.

The more time passes, the more many things stay the same...and time continues to trudge forward, with good things on the horizon, but seemingly further and further out every day.

The Good Doctor Mondo continues to get better. As of two days ago, when she was fitted with one of these, she can actually speak for a few hours a day. This has probably been the single greatest heartwarming development of our entire ordeal. I have no idea who Passy and Muir are/were, but I thank them.

Still, we're on day 85 in the ICU, with what appears to be another week or two in front of us. Still, we progress. The Good Doctor now undergoes physical therapy twice a day, instead of once, and we can see the results in her movements, and feel the slow return of a certain level of muscle tone. She even wriggled her toes for the first time a couple of days ago. Her arms and hands have come much much further, though she's still extremely fatigued by the least amount of work.

But we move forward.

Poker's actually been pretty good to me lately. I've only played once or twice a week, but usually manage to get one nice outcome per session, whether it's turning $10 into $T109 in a Bodog satellite, or final tabling a $4 FLHE MTT...at least I've been able to stop the bankroll bleed and even get it back up to where it was around 3-4 months ago. Which still isn't much, every so barely into the 4-figures (of which FT is still at a rollicking $20, lol). Mostly, it's been fun to restore some confidence in my game.

I've really enjoyed the nightly $3 triple shootout NLHE at PokerStars. I think I've cashed five of the last eight times I've played this (including one 2nd place finish). And the last three times I didn't cash, I went out heads-up at the first shootout table. Last time, I ran a rivered set into a turned gutshot, oh well. But I seem to be either just running pretty well in the shoothouts, or getting a better handle on how to play them. Oddly enough, I can't seem to turn that into success at true single table SNGs.

One thing I haven't talked about much this year is my beloved Colorado Rockies. Probably mostly because I've been hanging out at Purple Row and getting internet-talkin'-'bout-baseball over there. And partly because of our medical situation, which has limited me to attending only six games this year, all but one prior to June 23rd. But we're having a hell of a year, and are currently 87% to make the playoffs.

Still, how many of you have had AA go down to 66 after an all paint flop multiple times. That's why we play the games.

I've got very mixed feelings about going to any playoff games this year without my Good Doctor. She tells me I should go, but it just doesn't feel right. I'll have to sit and dwell on this one.

Either fortunately, or unfortunately (depending on your perspective), I will likely have to once again miss the Winter Blogger Gathering, of which I have never ever ever made one. Why? Well, it's actually a reason I don't mind in the least...see, based on present developments, the Good Doctor should be home some time early Novemberish, and she's shooting for her first public outing to be my firm's annual holiday party, as it's one of her favorite dress-up events each year. Which just happens to fall on the Saturday of the....yup...Winter Blogger Gathering.

So if I'm not there this year, it's because she's home, she's healthy, and out on the town. That's okay by me. I was truly looking forward to trying to get there this year, though....

For Richer and For Poorer, In Sickness and In Health

Tomorrow marks the Good Doctor Mondo's 72nd day in the hospital, all but two of those days in intensive care.

Tomorrow also marks the 4th anniversary of the date we ran off to Vega$ to get all wedded and such, during our glorious "classy yet trashy" first sojourn to sin city as a couple. Between the chauffered limos and ultra luxe Wynn stay, and the midnight wedding in Chuck Taylors, with Elvis as escort, we could not have asked to have enjoyed ourselves any more.

I could not have imagined, not even a few months ago when this started, that not only would we not be home together for our anniversary, but that the Good Doctor would be continuing to face complications and hurdles that threaten to extend her life-as-ICU-patient untold weeks into the future. Still, we celebrate.

We celebrate that still have each other.

We celebrate that we are surrounded by friends and family who love us both dearly.

We celebrate that her prognosis has improved daily since the devastation of last week.

We celebrate that she may yet still be home before what we actually consider the more important anniversary of January 2nd - ten years to the day from when we first became a couple.

As one of her nurses reminded me on Sunday, just two days after everyone felt we were losing her, "at least you *will* have an anniversary". Kinda puts everything into perspective.

In sickness and in health.

Speaking of anniversaries, something my lovely wife and I can only aspire to is to match the 15(!!) years of wedded bliss of fellow pokah bloggah GCox and his lovely wife. Please stop by and wish him continued happiness.

I Think I Found the Biggest Online Douchebag Ever

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

LOL Fake Outrageaments

I wish Barney Frank were my Congressman. I'm all about the 1st Amendment, because only in America would we allow this nonsense. "Trying to have a conversation with you would be like arguing with a dining room table."

Frankly, I think ...the poor woman simply can't stop confusing socialism with Nazism, which is odd, because she doesn't *sound* uneducated. She only carries herself as if she were.

I really don't mind that a lot of the rabble-rousers at these town hall events are actually organized plants of various far right groups. I mean, that's the American way, and that's their 1st Amendment right to be there and speak up. That's part of the American political process and, in fact, part of what actually separates us from totalitarian parties such as the Nazis, the Taliban, the North Korean Communist Party, Ahmendinajad's party, etc. The debate is healthy. Hell, I'm a big Obama supporter and I'm hardly 100% convinced of the wisdom of all the aspects of his plan.

But if you do want to exercise your 1st Amendment rights (as I encourage you to do) in a manner that reveals your abject ignorance of the most basic truths, don't be alarmed when your bald faced stupidity is reveled in by everyone else. I mean, that's a lesson Sarah Barracuda keeps having to learn nearly every week, no?

LOL Fake Mustache On A Photoaments

Since It's Been A While....

Yes, it's been a while since I've blogged any further regarding the Good Doctor Mondo's continued recovery from her battle with pneumonia and its aftereffects. In part, this is due to a combination of a couple of factors. First, I've been updating hers and my Facebook pages daily, if not more often. And secondly, there's really very few people who read this blog, and even less who aren't already seeing the Facebook daily updates. Thirdly, I'm too lazy to blog this year generally...

BUT!

I just wanted to share the most awesome news we've had yet.

Yes, the Good Doctor Mondo is still in ICU, but she's been improving rapidly every day for the past week, to the extent that she's now spending chunks of each day virtually off the ventilator (only enough to add a small amount of pressure to her system, but she's doing the actual breathing), and writing on a whiteboard, and doing arm stretches, and such.

In fact, she's improving so much that...they're releasing her from ICU and moving her to a long term acute care hospital. The day after tomorrow. Or the day after that, at the latest.

We could not be more thrilled, she really is recovering, though she's still probably several weeks away from walking, but that will come too. She may be talking within a few days.

In some ways, I can't believe this ordeal is still going on. After all, she entered the hospital over eight weeks ago, and this is her 56th day in intensive care. But we can now truly see the light at the end of the tunnel, it's really happening. I thank each and every one of you who have send messages of well wishes and support over the past couple of months. This has been an experience I truly hope none of you have to endure.

But I'm getting my baby back, and the Good Doctor Mondo will once again be...herself.

Close, But Only Half A Cigar

Erm.

No complaint outta me, but I did have a 2.5:1 chiplead at one point during HU at 400/800.

Still, as much as a drain as my roll's taken lately, I'll take it and be happy.

Pay It Forward

I know this blog has taken on the patina of being much more about my Good Doctor's own battle with life-threatening illness, but at this point, it certainly appears that she is going to make it (recovery length be damned).

However, one of our felllow poker bloggah, the delightful LJ, is in a hell of a predicament herself. Or rather, her cousin is.

Her cousin Mitchell has been diagnosed with lymphoma, and has already had his spleen removed. Unfortunately, the chemo treatments have not had the desired effect, and here is where we all can jump in:

After meeting with a team of doctors, it was decided that my greatest chance of survival would be to start a new regiment of Chemotherapy called R-IVAC, followed by what is called a Blood Stem Cell Transplant. This new Chemotherapy is a different group of drugs with a much higher potency aimed at killing any and all remaining cancer cells. Because of the potency of these drugs, I will need to be admitted to the hospital while undergoing treatments. Each treatment will last five days with a two week recovery in between. Soon after my treatments, I will have another scan of my body to determine the success of the R-IVAC. Depending on the results, I will then need one of two types of Blood Stem Cell Transplants.

If after my next scan, there are any residual cancer cells remaining in my body, I will need what is called an Allogeneic Stem Cell Trans plant. This is where I need your help! An Allogeneic Transplant is where we try to find a donor whose DNA typing best matches mine. The hope is that the donor’s stem cells can be transplanted and start to regenerate new white blood cells that are then capable of destroying my cancer cells. Because finding a donor can be a very time consuming process, and I will need a Blood Stem Cell transplant within four weeks after my last scan, I am asking as many people as possible to get tested now to see if they are a potential match for me. This is possibly the only chance at survival I may have and here is what you can do to help:


First you need to call Lab Corp at 1-800-533-1037 and ask to speak to Sharon, Tanya, or David. Please tell them that you would like to be tested as a potential donor match for Mitchell Brown (Date of Birth: 1-5-1977). You will also need to let them know I am part of the Hackensack University Medical Center Friends and Family Account, so they know where to send the results. They may ask you a few questions and will then send you an easy to use testing kit. The kit will arrive with instructions and will require you to swab the inside of your cheek. It will also ask you some medical questions, which will help identify you as an eligible donor. You will need to follow the directions and mail the kit back to Lab Corp ASAP. When filling out the paperwork, please be sure to give Lab Corp permission to fax your results directly to: CarolAnne Carini, Transplant Coordinator at Hackensack University Medical Center. Her direct fax # is: 201-996-5691. Please understand that there is a cost associated with the kit that is typically not covered by your insurance. Lab Corp will bill you a charge of $150.00 after they receive your kit back in the mail.

After Lab Corp receives your kit and processes your information, they will then forward the results directly to my team of doctors at Hackensack University Medical Center (with your consent). Lab Corp will NOT disseminate your information to anyone else such as a national registry.

More information can be found on Mitchell's blog.

Sometimes, even when your own family is facing crisis, events hit home that illustrate that even when you do have it bad, there's always someone else facing at least a big, or bigger, hill to climb. Good luck, Mitchell.

A Better Evening

Just an update from earlier...the doctors inserted a new trach a few hours ago, and the Good Doctor Mondo's been stable and reasonably comfortable this evening. In fact, if there's no further signs of trach complications, they expect to begin pushing her back towards further progress tomorrow.

I think that's how you spell relief.

Essentially, as potentially (and very nearly) catastrophic as this morning was, it should ultimately just become another bump in the road. I fucking crater sized pothole bump, but one which, once passed, is truly in the past. Hopefully, we can begin moving forward again in the morning.

As she's been sedated and asleep and stable this evening, I have sat here and played some poker, to some success. I played an $11 sat into Bodog's $215 5k guarantee and took it down. Took the $T instead of entering, since that doubled my Bodog roll. But I'm actually likely to put about $165 of that into one of their $100k guarantees soon. Why? Bad Bankroll Management, to be sure, but I've never played the $100k, and in the end, I'd still be playing it for $11. Actually, $22, because I was in two of the sats. Sadly, I went out 3rd or 4th in the other sat, and came really close to winning two of the $215 seats. Oh well. Seriously, I am untiltable in poker anymore, given the far far more important things in life.

Thanks for your continued well wishes, I know the Good Doctor is gaining strength through them.

Well, Crap

Dammit.

I should probably just stop posting, because every time something good happens, it's followed up by something....not good.

Today's "something" was nearly fatal. "Something" happened (nobody's really been able to figure out the cause) which led to a blockage in the Good Doctor Mondo's trach, and she went into VTAC. I don't know what the acronym actually stands for (aside from likely Ventricular Arrythmia something something), but it means a potentially fatal arrythmia. Essentially, with her awake and moving around the last couple of days, something happened that caused her trach tube to be obstructed from getting air where it needs to go.

The doctors had to perform CPR on the Good Doctor, and during the process, she developed a pneumothorax, a small hole in the side of one of her lungs, because of a combination of the chest compression they had to give her, with the already weakened state of her lungs and chest wall muscles.

She has stabilized, and her oxygen numbers are actually pretty good right now. However, she's in a very fragile state, and she's been put back under sedation. Needless to say, any plans of moving her to a rehab facility are indefinitely on hold, and she's likely to be in ICU for several more weeks. It feels as if we're almost back to step one (though not really, because she's pretty much beaten the pneumonia itself).

With all that said, I *do* believe we've made it past this crisis. But now the healing has to begin again.

I can't help but think I shouldn't be putting this out on teh interwebz, but so few people actually see this blog, and I needed to write it *somewhere*. It didn't seem right to Facebook it. But I need the release...we almost lost her this morning, and I'm still kinda freaking out about it.

So yesterday, I went back to work. Today? I'm back to pull a 24 here at the hospital, but I'm going to try to go back to work tomorrow morning because...well, because I have to. But let's get her through today first.

If she's resting comfortably this evening, I may donk a bit to relieve some stress, as she's really too fragile for me to disturb, or wake up, or even to touch right now.

Some Long Awaited Great News

Finally!!!

It's been a pretty whirlwind last couple of days in Mondoland...as of Sunday, the fine doctors removed all of the Good Doctor's sedation, and my darling wife has been awake and alert, and can mouth words. She's still on a ventilator and cannot speak, and she will likely be in ICU for at least another week or two, but ALL signs point to an eventual and full recovery.

Wow.

The last six weeks have alternately felt like an eternity, and an instant. But we're getting there, we're getting there, we're getting there.

So I don't even mind the horrific beat I took deep in the Sunday 1/4 Million the other day. After getting past about 28500 runners, but with a short stack, I overshoved QQ over a standard raise from EP. Flopped a set of queens, and lost runner runner Broadway to the donk who called my overshove with...you guessed it, the mighty A5. That was probably one time where I could have flat called and shoved the flop, but I didn't want to have to potentially fold to an A-high flop and leave about 4 BBs, so IGH around 290th. Ugh. Thought I'd have a major poker brag post coming, but it's not to be.

2nd bad beat...thought I could work from home tomorrow, and thus spend more time at the hospital. That's not going to happen.

But no matter -- all I keep returning back to is...ALL signs point to an eventual and full recovery.

And the Beat Goes On

Seems like forever since my last post, but it's really only been about ten days. There's not really a whole lot going on, other than my continuing to sit by the Good Doctor Mondo's side in intensive care. Yeah, we're still there, it's been what, almost six weeks now, it seems.

The news is good, in many respects. The pneumonia which brought her here in the first place is largely cleared out. That's the great news. However, her long battle with the pneumonia has left behind extremely savaged, scarred and damaged lungs, and she's having a most difficult time trying to recover from the damage left behind. At times, her O2 needs drop a bit, only for her to require increases later. While her sedation needs are overall lower, they've had to restore some of what they previously took off.

The road remains endless, it seems.

My road to poker oblivion is much shorter, and the less said about that, the better. No bad beat stories today, and I have no other stories to tell. Since time eternal, fish find it fit to call good size raises to the river with nothing but 3rd pair, in the face of heavy PF and flop action. I could go broke playing with such bad players, including the one who knocked me out of a big field $3r just before $$$...who had only ever cashed in ONE tournament ever. Once again, I've lost over half my overall online roll. Except this time, it's only take me a week to do so.

Catharsis, Of Sorts

Yeah, so I played the show last Friday, and I have to admit that things went well for the most part. We had a decent crowd, the room sounded great. You have to love a venue that's combo rock hall, BBQ joint, and bowling alley. The Big Lebowski approves.

Anyway, I know we showed a bit of rust (especially that suck ass bass player), but the energy level was high, and people seemed genuinely pleased with the performance. I suppose when we're rocking the fuck out that most of those little mistakes may not really reach the ears of individual audience members, unless it's glaring.

I managed to make it through the first seven songs of the set just fine, but then we played "Boy". This is a song our guitar player wrote that is particularly haunting and sad, and about fear and death. Not to mention the bass carries the melody, and about 80% of the tune, musically. Well, I asked for us to play that song, because the lyrics hit home with particular impact these days. We rehearsed pre-show, and I started crying towards the end of the song.

Wouldn't you know it, about halfway through "Boy" on state, I pretty much began sobbing uncontrollably, thinking about my Good Doctor Mondo, now in the ICU bed for a full month. It hurts just typing that last bit. Anyway, it was pretty brutal, but I somehow got through it and only donked a couple notes of the melody. Of course, we still have three more songs to play after that point, and I was pretty ragged the rest of the night, but I (and we) got through it. Cathartic...yes, it was. I think I *need* to do this band thing during our difficult process right now.

The Good Doctor's mother is back in town and staying for...ever? Certainly through the next six weeks of so.

Okay, happier stuff...I made TWO final tables on the same day a couple days ago. One in a Bodog $30 NLHE, and one in a $5r LO8 tourney. Yep, you read that right...a Limit Omaha 8 that is also a rebuy. Head asplode. Naturally, I didn't finish better than 7th in either event, but a final table is a final table, especially when it feels like forever since you got there.

Carry on.

What Does Go On

Here we are, seemingly where we were an eternity ago...in the ICU, the Good Doctor Mondo hooked up like nobody's business. Time, while it passes eternal, seems like both an instant and an eon, even at the same time.

Today is her 26th day in the hospital, 24rd day in intensive care, and 22nd on a ventilator in a coma. And in some ways, nothing has changed. But she's resting in peace under the same sedative that killed the wacked out gloved on. Amazing how that stuff works under proper medical supervision.

Tonight I rejoin the band for the first time in a month. I'm not sure if I feel like it, or if I'll even make it through the show without breaking down from emotion or exhaustion. But everyone, from our families, to the medical staff, have urged me to do it. So I'm going to try.

What does suck is this...my firm informed me that they're no longer paying me until I come back. On an intellectual level, I 100% completely understand this. I mean, I haven't worked in the last...three or so weeks, I guess. I can't remember my last billable hour. But it sucks just the same, especially as a couple of the lawyers suggested this wouldn't happen. But I can't really complain, it is what it is, even if it makes me think it's "just another law firm" and not the "award winning best place to work in Denver". I'm just venting, really. They already paid me 64 hours in the paid-time-off hole. Fortunately, we've got a bit put away so I don't think we'll have to put the house up for sale and max the credit cards any time real soon.

If I can share one piece of wisdom, it is this. Don't just not take each other for granted, but remember to not take for granted all of the little moments you share with your loved ones, from the most mundane to the most significant. Because, in the end, they are all significant and equally important.

Have a good weekend.

And Now, Recovery?

The Good Doctor Mondo has finally had her tracheotomy this morning, and she is out of surgery and back in her room. Much like my only poker bankroll, she is deeply sedated but relatively comfortable.

And now, we wait.

I've been told that events, such as the pace of reducing levels of sedation will be directly proportional to her ability to improve her lungs and oxygen saturation. I've been told any real significant improvement will still be slow, and I have no expectation that she'll even be out of ICU for another week or two.

But I actually got to give her a wee kiss on her lips! I'll say this much...surgical tape residue tastes like crap.

But the Good Doctor Mondo has never looked more beautiful to me.

Oh, brief poker comment to make this blog relevant, and the most minor of brags. That JokerStars $4.40 LHE event I final tabled last week? I've now played it three times over the last week and cashed...three times. Sample size, I know, but I seem to be getting a handle on when to be aggressive, and who I can push around, at this level. We'll see...when the Good Doctor awakes, I'm likely to be off of poker for quite some time, so I may play more limit today.

The Opposite of Awesomeness

Thanks, doc. Thanks to your unfathomably stoopid donkeyfucker absentmindedness, the Good Doctor Mondo's tracheotomy has had to been postponed to 8am Monday morning.

Why?

Because as her surgeon, it was your job to ocommunicate to the nurses to stop her blood thinners 24 hours prior to surgery.

At least you had the good sense to not actually go through with the operation today.

And Yet, A Diversion

Over the last week or so, the longer this medical drama has gone on, certain nurses and social workers here have been urging me to do the kinds of things I would normally do to reduce stress. I've already missed two gigs with New Ben Franklins thus far, and numerous rehearsals. And that's not about to change because I'm not going 35 miles down to Denver while my baby is up here in a medical coma. I'm just not.

The band's been wonderful about this, and after two shows sans bass, it appears one of my nearest and dearest friends is going to stand in for me at our next show or two, but I digress.

In order to relax while sitting in her room overnight, I've actually begun to play some poker again. Mostly to give myself some relief from all the constant phone calls and text messages to answer, and part because I can't sleep. Since she's under heavier sedation now, while I will never leave her...the immutable fact is, she probably isn't even aware of my presence.

Anyway, I've managed to play some, and for the most part there is nothing to report.

But I did make what I believe to be my first final table in a LHE event, a $4.40 $1k guarantee on Stars. Amazing. I won something like 22 of my first 24 showdowns. Then I lost when my flopped set of queens went down to runner runner aces, and from then, it was a case of hanging on. Went out 7th of about 970 runners. And then barely slept.

I have to admit it was a good distraction, and there may be a bit more of that to come.

I want to thank everyone in this poker bloggiverse for all of their thoughts, well wishes, healing vibes, prayers, what have you. It has to be helping, it just has to.

Brief Update

It's now been just over two weeks since the Good Doctor Mondo was intubated, and to date, her progress has been interminably slow. In fact, she's pretty much as she was over a week ago. But there are some signs of improvement, and some signs that she may be beginning to give up some of this fluid in her lungs.

However, we're running into territory where keeping her on the ventilator risks possible serious, permanent damage to her mouth, throat, and vocal cords. As such, the doctors will be performing a tracheotomy in a few hours. The hope is that once they can lift her from the sedation she's been under all this time (because she'll no longer be on the vent), that she may actually be able to begin to recover.

Be well.

Just A Mere Side Story

The Good Doctor Mondo continues to battle and give it all she's got. Unfortunately, the end result of the last couple of days is that she's still pretty much where she was last Friday, which sucks. Hard. But I take comfort in knowing that's still a lot better than she was doing a week previous.

Anyway, I'd remembered I wanted to post a tiny bit about our Alaskan cruise, specifically, the casino action.

Yer boy Mondo won a tourney on the boat. Boy howdy, a single table tourney with $30 buy-in for a big pile of $175, woohoo! But for those itching to play on the boat, I offer one word of advice...don't.

Honestly, I've never seen a worse structure in my life. 2000 starting chips. Blinds start at 50/100 (that's right, you start with 20 BB). Blinds double. Every. Fifteen. Minutes. That's right, by 30 minutes in, you're at 200/400 with tourists who wouldn't know a fold button if it were glowing red in front of them.

Of course, that didn't stop me from playing almost every tournament on the boat. Played five of the six tourneys. Top two paid, and that was my only cash. Normally, I'd end up raise/folding to a highly uncoordinated flop and shove at some point in the first orbit or two, and then lose my push'n'pray flips. Got two outed at least once. But had a blast all the same on the trip overall.

Oh yeah, played my first ever casino craps on the boat. Man, that game could lead to a bad end for me, even if I broke even there.

Now that I think about it, didn't I already tell this story? Fuck it, I needed the distraction given current events...

Be well all, and remember those that truly matter, because none of this side shit does.

And Now Comes the Tough Part

Happy 4th of July to all, especially all you firecrackin-poppin' 'mericans out there. Try not to lose a couple of fingers this year, okay?

Today is the 4th of July...

...the Good Doctor Mondo's 11th day in intensive care...

...the Good Doctor Mondo's 13th day in the hospital...

...the Good Doctor Mondo's 9th day on intubation/ventilator, and...

...the Good Doctor Mondo's 2nd day of relative awareness.

This is truly where it becomes difficult, for her and for me. For her, under a lighter load of sedation, she no longer has the luxury of going back under and losing her ongoing memories of this terrible experience. This is something she's going to begin to carry with her, going forward. When the nurses come to futz with her positioning, suction her mouth and the vent tubes, etc., not only is she going to remain exceedingly uncomfortable...she is going to be cognizant of it happening, and quite possibly remembering significant parts of it, too.

For myself, this is the most difficult part to watch. In fact, seeing her at this level of physical anxiety and stress is pretty much the worst thing I've had to witness since the last minutes before they intubated her last Friday.

The pace of recovery of the human body can be a fascinating, and yet frustrating, thing. My wife was simply so close to dying, that her body is taking an extremely long time to recover. While the pneumonia takes up less of her lungs, it is still there. At the most base levels of exertion (e.g., the nurses adjusting her positioning in bed), her oxygenation levels drop pretty fast. The positive is that her recovery time after each such episode seems to be decreasing...and that is the most tangible sign that she is improving.

The positive upshot of this is what leads the doctors to want to back off the sedation. That is, she's doing better. Not much better, but better. It finally took until a couple days ago for me to reach the point where I just knew my wife was going to live through this ordeal. And she will. But her road remains unfathomably long and hard. By all accounts, she's really not close to being able to be removed from the ventilator, and not close at all to leaving intensive care. So the vigil continues. And after that, all the vague hints I get from the medical staff are that it may even be a matter of a couple of months before my darling can come home. There's talk of telemetry wards, assisted care rehab centers, etc., but nobody's really telling me anything.

Sometimes, I wonder how we're going to cope. Her university and my employer have been wonderful thus far. But then, she's largely on a summer break, and my cases have slowed down, so we're not really missed yet. However, I have no idea what the future holds.

All I can hope is that this is not a mirage, and that my baby *is* getting better. I will be here for her no matter how long it takes.



In other news, one of our favorite distaff lawyers appears to have survived Day 1A of the Main Event with a fair bit more than double starting chips (or at least was there with 90 minutes to go). Go LJ!!!

I bought a small piece of her ME action last year and sadly saw her get outdrawn on and roached. Unfortunately, I wasn't really focusing on things, given my wife's issues right now, and missed out on my chance to back a strong player whose already barely missed one final table this year. I hope you guys out there didn't miss your chance. This may be LJ's year, and I'll say this much...she'd make the November Nine a heckuva lot more fun than Kelly Kim.

Oh, and Go Rockies!

When Poker Just Does Not Matter

I've really been struggling for the last few days about how much, or even whether, to share certain parts of my life with this blog. After all, aside from CK, I've never actually met any of you, off of the virtual felt, that is.

But I just felt the need to briefly express here about one of the most frightening experiences you can possibly imagine...and that is seeing your spouse, the love of your life, and your entire world slipping into very severe illness.

My wife, the Good Doctor Mondo, did not return from our Alaskan cruise in good health, and while I know I can write as much as will spill from my brain here, I don't feel I can completely express all the details just yet, as they're too painful. Of course, most of my trip reports suck, too, because my blogging skills are weak.

At any rate, over the past week, my darling sank into an extremely serious pneumonia, the cause of which they have not been able to ascertain, even a week later. By Friday midday, I was starting to seriously doubt she would live through this past weekend, as the doctors placed her in a medically-induced coma. But she's as tough a cookie now as she is at the poker tables, and she has refused to succumb to anything.

Thankfully, I can report that she's making steps in the right direction. These are baby steps, truly, and I can't even fully grasp how far she has to go. But she feels the love and support of those around her, and by extension, those around me. Still, as of now, the doctors aren't even contemplating trying to bring her off the ventilator and awaking her from her coma until at least a few days from now. And, as is common when someone is befallen with life-threatening illness, complications arise now and then. It's almost a sick twisted game of Whack-a-Mole, where doctors give her steroids to help her lungs, but then the steroids raise her blood sugar to where she needs insulin, to where the insulin leads to needing something else.

But the medical staff here have been uniformly brilliant, and she's getting the best care anyone can imagine. And she's getting better, baby step after baby step after baby step. Right now, I only wish that baby would start running, rather than crawl.

Giddyup!

For the 2nd time in my life, I've bought a piece of the action of someone's upcoming WSOP event. Hopefully, the returns are greater this time than last time. By that, I mean any return would be greater than it was last time.

Okay, I only bought 2% of the action for 1% of the gross, so it's more of a pony than a horse. But I believe in this player's skill.

Fingers crossed for lots of "nut nut" held by my horse.

Felt Feels Good

In a virtual way, of course.

Finally got back to playing some online MTTs yesterday, with mixed results, but it felt good all the same. Managed to cash in three NLHE rebuy events, the huge $3r and a $5r on Stars, and a $12r on bodog. I don't know what attracts me to rebuys...perhaps is really a matter of being able to not have to exit after an early junk-kicking.

Came close to the final table in the bodog (there were only 131 runners), and took a terrible beat in the $3r which would have finally gotten me to average chips (60k or so), when my AK couldn't beat AQ. All in preflop, JT9 on the flop, I'm thinking "no K no K no K". The 3 on the turn was nice, but I couldn't fade the card I originally wanted on the flop.

Tried my hand at my first 8-game mixed tourney, and didn't play well. Will try again.

Ultimately, I managed to chip up my roll, but only a small bit, as my Stars cashes weren't much over my rebuys.

What truly jazzes me now, however, isn't poker. It's my Colorado Rockies. WTF, 15 wins in 16 games? That's a better run than our regular season ending in 2007. And the parallels are eerie:

In 2007, the Rox were 35-33 after 68 games.
In 2009, the Rox are 35-33 after 68 games.
In 2007, the Rox' longest winning streak was 11 games.
In 2009, the Rox' longest winning streak is 11 games.
The 2007 Rocktober run included a dramatic game ending HR by Todd Helton to cap a comeback.
The 2007 RockJuneber run now includes a dramatic game ending HR by the Toddfather to cap a comeback, his first walkoff home run since.....2007.

Anyway, the truth is that this team is actually a better team than that 2007 edition. They underperformed badly early, but some sabermetric numbers reveal some bad luck in there, too. They should end up with at least four (and possibly five) players at around 25 home runs, which is very respectable post-'roids. Overall, their starting pitching is a bit better.

Hopefully the run continues. Of course, there are still over 90 games to be played, but the upcoming trip against the Angels, Dodgers, and A's will go some way towards determining whether the 2009 Rockies are real or not.

Slight Return

Back from Alaska, The Yukon and such and such. No, I could not see Russia from any part of Alaska, but I did see the Governor's Mansion. You know, the one Sarah Palin won't live in because it's in Juneau, not Wasilla. You know, the actual capital of Alaska.

Saw plenty of whales, but unfortunately, none on the cruise ship poker table. Wow, I knew cruise ship poker was a bit dodgy with their truly horrible tournament structures, but it didn't really hit me until I played. Played five NLHE tournies on board. Won one, bubbled another, and crashed the rest. These tables were single table, 10 player tournaments with 2000 in starting chips and blinds that double. Yeah, double. Every. Fifteen. Minutes. Starting level gave you 20 big blinds, and by the end of the first orbit, even if you havent' played a hand, you're down to roughly 8 BB. So of course I found myself where I'm shoving ATC from unopened cutoffs or buttons when I'm sitting on less than 4 BBs only 30 minutes into a tournament.

In truth, these tournaments are designed to be over within about 75 minutes from the start, and the last thing any of the casino staff is worried about is providing a good structure. The one basically unforgivable issue took place in the first tournament, where the dealer would not allow the BB to raise after a button SB call during heads up. Her understanding was that "the small blind had the option". I attempted to correct her of this, but she wasn't having it, and the first-time-in-a-casino donkfish who lasted to heads up actually didn't know any different, and didn't care, and his opponent (who seemed to know different) didn't seem to care.

Oh well, such is life, and I was cool with it. I did manage to take one down, which paid for the remainder of my tourney play. The one thing that bummed me about the play was that over the entire cruise, we managed only once to get a cash table going (3/6 LHE). Otherwise, played my first live casino craps (slight loss), Caribbean Stud (broke even, but what a terrible game), and donked around blackjack for a while.

And saw glaciers, humpback whales, sea lions, otters, a couple bears, and had a brilliant time. I highly recommend cruising the Inside Passage if you can.

Of course, given my virtual denial of net access, I was left in the dark during at the time, but found my blogger catch up reading most pleasant, indeed, thanks to the deep WSOP runs of a couple of our blogger queens. CK and LJ, I'm proud of you, and surely these are only the first of many deep runs and cashes for each of you in that lil' ol' WSOP thingy. Especially LJ in her first. ever. live. HORSE. tourney. Pretty stunning, actually.

Anyway, I'll put up a couple photos of the trip once the Good Doctor Mondo gets them from her vid camera to the laptop....