Tuesday, May 15, 2012
2011 Roadtrip: January in Chicago and Minneapolis
What the hell, why not get right into it. Not like I have anywhere to be or things to do. I'm going to start shipping up a metric shit ton of photos the next fews days that I collected over the last year. I'll start with January and see how far I get before I get tired of editing pictures and loading them aboard.
The first trip of the year was an impromptu trip to Chicago in the middle of January. Not the best time for my first real time in Chicago but our boy GamblingBlues was just a few weeks away from moving to Australia and a bunch of us flew in to suprise him. Booze, great food, good times, and more booze.
"Brunch" time for beers and basketball
Learn it, Live it, Love it
The bar tab from the previous night including "basket of bacon"
Shots!
Menu at the famous Kuma's Corner
Decided the Mastodon burger was the way to go, I was correct
After Chicago, I went north to balmy Minnesota for some Drizzle prop betting on Big Buck Hunter...
and this idiotic thing
Naturally this happened
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The first trip of the year was an impromptu trip to Chicago in the middle of January. Not the best time for my first real time in Chicago but our boy GamblingBlues was just a few weeks away from moving to Australia and a bunch of us flew in to suprise him. Booze, great food, good times, and more booze.
Monday, May 14, 2012
Time to Catch Up
"Where the hell have you been?" is the question not asked by many people. Somewhere along the line I forgot the notification that my hosting account was expiring and it never occurred to me until someone sent me a message asking why I shut my site down. Never known for it's high brow content or deft touch at handling tough topics, the site (which at one points WAS a real site and not just a blogspot mirror) was so far in the back of my mind that I couldn't even remember the various logons to get it all back.
Then a few people tweaked me about letting it die, a few more situations came up where I wished I had a proper place to vent, and then I found myself unemployed for the first time since I was in high school. So it's back alive and actually restored pretty well thanks to a rigorous backup strategy so I would not lose 600mb of half or completely nekkid girls. God damn priorities.
Plus I missed my blogging brethren. I still chat with Pauly and Otis and Iggy (when his ass isn't knee deep in swamp) but I've avoided most of the blogging world once "blogging" actually became a job with Full Tilt and then the behind the scenes work with Epic Poker. Two companies. One DoJ indictment, one Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. I rule. But it seems things keep right on rolling as I'm going through my ancient links on the right and finding a number of old friends still splatting the internet with written diarrhea.
I was saddened when I learned Pauly was hanging up Tao of Poker. He was the first one around these parts who I met in person, and like everything else turned into one of the funny/crazy stories we continue to find ourselves playing out. The site will be missed if it never returns, it was a bright spot in the land of quote poker media unquote which is covered from end to end with under-qualified chuckleheads getting into the gig just to meet their favorite players instead of actually reporting on anything of substance. Pauly never gave a fuck what anyone thought and still doesn't.
~
2011 was cruising along like a goddamn champ. I was making good money with Tilt, spending most of my time flying from one fun location to another, meeting a ton of great people, and usually drinking every bar out of SoCo. I was a roadtripping fool. Then my phone blew up while I was travelling back home from Ocean City, MD on April 15th and my life went sideways when the Department of Justice indicted Full Tilt, PokerStars, and UB. It wasn't a complete cock up of my life because somehow I managed to save a few ducats and bounced a few more trips including hitting Las Vegas even though Tilt was dead.
My next gig went something like Jennifer Newell put me in touch with old blogger friend Michael Craig who turned around and got me in touch with the bigwigs at Epic Poker. That was a *short* fun gig acting as content manager but more importantly continued money flowing into my account to keep up my roadtrip. Before the end of the year, my silly schedule had me flying over 75,000 miles all within the continental US.
Three separate trips to New Orleans where I fell back in love with a city. It has everything you can find in Las Vegas without the soul suck and the food/music/environment is better. I went to California a few times, most importantly with the boy to catch the Big 4 Festival just a few days after Black Friday. Reno, the Outer Banks, Daytona, Key West as well as the requisite half dozen trips to Las Vegas rounded out a year that was probably too much fun for one guy to handle.
Perhaps I'll begin to fill in the blanks for everyone as I go along. There were too many to plug them all in with my first "screw it, I'm back" post but I'll throw some pictures up over the next few days as the poor writer's crutch.
~
Another thing I actually missed last year was running the always anticipated, eventually hated Battle of the Blogger tournaments. If you don't know, that was such a huge pain in my ass it took a big kick in the ass for me to ever get it in gear. But the stat geek and fine hearted man I find somewhere down deep went ahead and built it back up to give away a bunch of free WSOP seats or whatever else they threw my way.
That's all gone the way of the doodoo bird unless you count the free home games on PokerStars but where's the fun without prizes. I've actually been talking to a new company about doing something similar to what we used to do but no promises at the moment. Everyone talks great until it's time to put their money where their hole is located. Battle of the Blogger Tournaments 6? I'd give it about a 20-to-1 shot, mostly because I'm not sure I want to put myself through that crap again.
~
Steve and BadBlood wait for Slayer
Friday, April 13, 2012
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
2010 WPBT: Good Food Good God
Philly 'burbs
December 2010
It's not uncommon for me to wake up on my hotel room floor in Vegas. First nights and last nights get me on a regular basis plus a few times during the WSOP I would go off the rails on occasion. Day 2 starting off that way seemed normal.
Even so I didn't feel too bad when I finally opened my eyes. It was just a matter of climbing onto the bed, make sure all my pieces were where they should be, and naturally check Twitter to see if I made a fool of myself. Twitter is a blessing and a curse. What I did find on Twitter was something from Joanada, it seems someone died that night out by the jacuzzi.
Could it be possible we finally killed someone on these trips?
I chanced the blazing Vegas sun to peak out of window and sure enough there was police tape help up by various plastic lawn furniture and traffic cones. Luckily our entire crew was accounted but some poor dude's last moments on this earth were tragically spent at the Imperial Palace. If I go out that way can someone please drag my corpse somewhere like the Rhino or Aria?
It was a wasted "non-hangover" day since there was nothing on my agenda except the Geisha bar and friends. Whatever booze left in my system was washed out by bottles of water and blessed pound cake (professional pre-stocked hotel room) and I was ready to hit the Venetian/Palazzo for football and setting up Lagasse's. That portion of my day consisted of walking over with CK and Snuffy, running into the G-Vegas degens, getting lost in the Palazzo, and calling bullshit on the packed sportsbook.
Back to my comfort zone, Geisha bar.
I would just butcher so many names or leave them out if I went for the list, but there were a shit ton of bloggers getting looped around the bar. The rest were equally dispersed between the craps and pai gow tables. The Blogfather was holding court, Falstaff once again drinking from his private beer pitcher (no cup required), I was knocking back shots and everyone was complaining about the technological black hole that is the IP.
It was the Garthmeister who came to the rescue with a good reason to stay sober-ish. There was a spot to join a crew for dinner at Picasso's in the Bellagio. I snap called.
I am a life nit. I will find the cheapest flights, hotel rooms, deals, specials, anything. Except for booze and food. For those two I will mortgage the house without blinking. Naturally I was up for a fantastic meal with friends. Luckily this is Vegas and they won't care my entire wardrobe consists of jeans and t-shirts, cash plays.
Garth, Saunter, Gracie, SSPablo, OhCaptain, Katitude, and Drizzle were a witness to the crimes committed in the name of fine dining. Five course Chef Degustation is basically a meal consisting of whatever the hell they decide to send your way and you kick back and enjoy.
Ending Day 2 with great friends and great food was a fine way to go out. I tried to drink after dinner but was just too damned full to have any effect. I chose my "one big meal" over booze and it was an easy decision.
~
Funny moment of dinner was running into Antonio Esfandiari in Picasso's celebrating his victory the night before in the WPT Five Diamond event. His table was loud and packed, our table was loud and packed, but in the end we won the night as the last table standing.
Also, below you can see the view we had from the restaurant (taken with crappy iPhone). It was a little distracting with water cannons exploding every 30 minutes but we put up with it just fine. We know how to sacrifice with the rest of them.
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December 2010
It's not uncommon for me to wake up on my hotel room floor in Vegas. First nights and last nights get me on a regular basis plus a few times during the WSOP I would go off the rails on occasion. Day 2 starting off that way seemed normal.
Even so I didn't feel too bad when I finally opened my eyes. It was just a matter of climbing onto the bed, make sure all my pieces were where they should be, and naturally check Twitter to see if I made a fool of myself. Twitter is a blessing and a curse. What I did find on Twitter was something from Joanada, it seems someone died that night out by the jacuzzi.
Could it be possible we finally killed someone on these trips?
I chanced the blazing Vegas sun to peak out of window and sure enough there was police tape help up by various plastic lawn furniture and traffic cones. Luckily our entire crew was accounted but some poor dude's last moments on this earth were tragically spent at the Imperial Palace. If I go out that way can someone please drag my corpse somewhere like the Rhino or Aria?
It was a wasted "non-hangover" day since there was nothing on my agenda except the Geisha bar and friends. Whatever booze left in my system was washed out by bottles of water and blessed pound cake (professional pre-stocked hotel room) and I was ready to hit the Venetian/Palazzo for football and setting up Lagasse's. That portion of my day consisted of walking over with CK and Snuffy, running into the G-Vegas degens, getting lost in the Palazzo, and calling bullshit on the packed sportsbook.
Back to my comfort zone, Geisha bar.
I would just butcher so many names or leave them out if I went for the list, but there were a shit ton of bloggers getting looped around the bar. The rest were equally dispersed between the craps and pai gow tables. The Blogfather was holding court, Falstaff once again drinking from his private beer pitcher (no cup required), I was knocking back shots and everyone was complaining about the technological black hole that is the IP.
It was the Garthmeister who came to the rescue with a good reason to stay sober-ish. There was a spot to join a crew for dinner at Picasso's in the Bellagio. I snap called.
I am a life nit. I will find the cheapest flights, hotel rooms, deals, specials, anything. Except for booze and food. For those two I will mortgage the house without blinking. Naturally I was up for a fantastic meal with friends. Luckily this is Vegas and they won't care my entire wardrobe consists of jeans and t-shirts, cash plays.
Garth, Saunter, Gracie, SSPablo, OhCaptain, Katitude, and Drizzle were a witness to the crimes committed in the name of fine dining. Five course Chef Degustation is basically a meal consisting of whatever the hell they decide to send your way and you kick back and enjoy.
Potato and Leek SoupEvery dish was one more step along the path until we sat back with those silly "fat and happy" grins. The most intense was the "Steak" of Foie Gras. I love me some sauteed fatty goose liver but god damn, this was a STEAK. Biggest piece anyone has put in front of me and I'm just a little ashamed I did not finish it.
Maine Lobster Salad with Apple-Champagne Vinaigrette
Pan Seared Boat Scallops with Potato Mousseline and Jus de Veau
Sautéed Steak of Foie Gras
Roasted Lamb Chops with Zucchini Farci and Bordelaise Mustard Sauce
Warm Chocolate Fondant with Almond Mocha Ice Cream, Amaretto Caramel
Ending Day 2 with great friends and great food was a fine way to go out. I tried to drink after dinner but was just too damned full to have any effect. I chose my "one big meal" over booze and it was an easy decision.
~
Funny moment of dinner was running into Antonio Esfandiari in Picasso's celebrating his victory the night before in the WPT Five Diamond event. His table was loud and packed, our table was loud and packed, but in the end we won the night as the last table standing.
Also, below you can see the view we had from the restaurant (taken with crappy iPhone). It was a little distracting with water cannons exploding every 30 minutes but we put up with it just fine. We know how to sacrifice with the rest of them.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
WPBT 2010: National Irresponsibility Day
Philly 'burbs
December 2010
It looks like everyone has returned from blogger hijinks in Las Vegas all in one piece. I know I feel a whole lot better returning from this trip then normal. It usually takes a few days hunkered under the blankets before I can pull my head of my ass and resume life in the real world. But I set some weird drunk record by only waking up on my floor once during the trip and then making an appearance in the morning AFTER sleeping instead of still being awake.
Wednesday was going to be my easy day. No responsibilities other than getting silly, catching up with friends, and perhaps drown in a bottle of Soco. I didn't have anywhere to be until sometime late Thursday night living a big window open for a possible alcohol induced coma. Day 1's are always rough on my system.
The flight out was uneventful, check it went smoothly, and I found the Joanada/Buddy Dank contingent sitting at the Geisha bar as my welcome. My next step was stock the shitty IP hotel room for future good health. I loaded up the place with bottles of water and food-ish items for bounce back assistance. There would be no rehash of the Burger Palace hangover stumble or gag inducing room service pizza.
Things kicked off just like every other drunken mess, Geisha Bar and shots. CaityCaity and BWOP joined us at the Geisha Bar where somehow I got it in my head they were loving the cheap shots of Gentleman Jack. Turned out to be a bad read but not before I pumped 3 or 4 shots down some guts setting the foundation for later.
It seemed like a great idea to walk over to the Bellagio where they were taping the final table of the Five Diamond Classic with Bob (aka @scsuhockey10). There was a big line to get into the room but thank god the Fontana Lounge was right there for drinking entertainment. It seemed like every time we grabbed a shot, another person we knew walked by. Before long my head was swimming and we were chastised by the film crew for yelling during hands, who knew it was just a thin curtain between us and the action.
CaityCaity, BWOP, and PokerVixen set up a nice, goofy 3/6 mix game at the IP while we were busy getting ourselves in trouble. We thought it best to stagger back in that direction to spend money on buyins instead of bail.
/insert fuzzy head
I don't remember much about the game other than I was winning games I'd never played and losing games (and badly misreading my hands) in those I've played before. Two days later my neck was inexplicably sore until I remember getting a massage at the table that night/morning. If I didn't fall asleep, I'm surprised. I finished pretty much even for the session before one last drink(s) with PokerVixen at the bar.
A few hours later and I said good morning to my hotel room floor.
Nasty Imperial Palace poker chips
|
December 2010
It looks like everyone has returned from blogger hijinks in Las Vegas all in one piece. I know I feel a whole lot better returning from this trip then normal. It usually takes a few days hunkered under the blankets before I can pull my head of my ass and resume life in the real world. But I set some weird drunk record by only waking up on my floor once during the trip and then making an appearance in the morning AFTER sleeping instead of still being awake.
Wednesday was going to be my easy day. No responsibilities other than getting silly, catching up with friends, and perhaps drown in a bottle of Soco. I didn't have anywhere to be until sometime late Thursday night living a big window open for a possible alcohol induced coma. Day 1's are always rough on my system.
The flight out was uneventful, check it went smoothly, and I found the Joanada/Buddy Dank contingent sitting at the Geisha bar as my welcome. My next step was stock the shitty IP hotel room for future good health. I loaded up the place with bottles of water and food-ish items for bounce back assistance. There would be no rehash of the Burger Palace hangover stumble or gag inducing room service pizza.
Things kicked off just like every other drunken mess, Geisha Bar and shots. CaityCaity and BWOP joined us at the Geisha Bar where somehow I got it in my head they were loving the cheap shots of Gentleman Jack. Turned out to be a bad read but not before I pumped 3 or 4 shots down some guts setting the foundation for later.
It seemed like a great idea to walk over to the Bellagio where they were taping the final table of the Five Diamond Classic with Bob (aka @scsuhockey10). There was a big line to get into the room but thank god the Fontana Lounge was right there for drinking entertainment. It seemed like every time we grabbed a shot, another person we knew walked by. Before long my head was swimming and we were chastised by the film crew for yelling during hands, who knew it was just a thin curtain between us and the action.
CaityCaity, BWOP, and PokerVixen set up a nice, goofy 3/6 mix game at the IP while we were busy getting ourselves in trouble. We thought it best to stagger back in that direction to spend money on buyins instead of bail.
/insert fuzzy head
I don't remember much about the game other than I was winning games I'd never played and losing games (and badly misreading my hands) in those I've played before. Two days later my neck was inexplicably sore until I remember getting a massage at the table that night/morning. If I didn't fall asleep, I'm surprised. I finished pretty much even for the session before one last drink(s) with PokerVixen at the bar.
A few hours later and I said good morning to my hotel room floor.
Nasty Imperial Palace poker chips
Friday, December 03, 2010
WPBT Additions
The WPBT drink-fest/poker tournament is just a few days in the future and I decided to add a little to the mix. Not to be left behind by PokerStars, I went to my Full Tilt Poker overlords and pulled some resources. We kicked around some ideas and here's what we came up with.Full Tilt is kicking in another $1,000 to the WPBT tournament prizepool at Aria on Saturday. It will be distributed with $100 save for the bubble boy/girl, $300 for first, $200 for second, $175 for third, $125 for fourth, $100 for fifth.
Full Tilt is also adding five $100 bounties on random players which will be announced before the tournament. I'm working on a few "blogger friendly" FTP pros to pop in so you can knock them out. Both the added prizepool and bounties will be transferred to your Full Tilt account (as per the casino rules, not mine)
The big ticket item doesn't come until Sunday, football day. I have reserved the big room at Lagasse's Stadium in The Palazzo. Full Tilt is putting up $2,000 for the food tab throughout the day, that is a lot of tasty Emeril food to go around.
April has all the details of the WPBT tournament.
Facebook event page to RSVP for the tournament.
Up for Poker has the complete list of added on prize money.
~
For those who will question, Full Tilt is not paying for any part of the booze tab. I did not want them responsible for anyone over-indulging (that would be me) plus not everyone drinks. This gives everyone a piece of the action. Eat up.
That also means we will have a separate check for the booze, everyone drinking is on the hook to pay their part. Last year quite a few people pulled the old drink and dash leaving behind a big tab. I'll leave it up to your imagination what will happen if you ditch on my tab this year.
~
While I'm busy doing announcements, we've also set up a poker training session before the WPBT tournament. I realize every poker blogger in the world is already the best on the planet but who couldn't use a refresher?
Alex Outhred from Deepstack University, friend of bloggers and drunks, has offered a drastically discounted rate for a little two hour session. The cost is $25 and runs at Aria from 10am until noon (start of the WPBT tournament). $10 from each will go back into the prizepool in the form of bounties on players.
The session caps at 18 players so let me or April know if you are interested.
Wednesday, December 01, 2010
Dive Bar Fail
Philly 'burbs
November 2010
Last night I decided to do everyone a favor and get myself happy at the same time. I walked up to the dive bar, bringing along my new Flip cam to take a short video of the place to show what I was speaking of yesterday. We could all decide whether my description was accurate or I was full of crap.
Then I had my first huge shot and the next thing I know the bartender was dropping me off at the house 3 o'clock this morning with a prestine, and video free, camcorder.
I did manage to meet a girl there who was way out of her element. She wasn't fall down drunk, twitchy from various drugs, or spewing filth from her mouth. Some would say the only downside to this 23 year old girl was her taste in music, she asked me to put some Foghat and .38 Special on the jukebox. I complied and still ended up with a ride home from the staff. It's in their best interest that I don't die on the way home.
~
During my "hiatus" you may have noticed Dr. Pauly released Lost Vegas upon the world. I'd love to do a proper review but I'm not exactly an objective writer. Somehow I manage to find my way into a few spots throughout the novel without seeming to be a complete wacko. I'm still waiting on someone (ahem Julius Goat) to finish up a proper review for me to post on the Tilt blog but the few readers I have left already own it. Here are some of the early reviews.
I personally enjoyed it, brought back some old memories and highlighted some stories I hadn't heard before. You can pick it up here a Lulu or at Amazon.com (both print and Kindle versions). Click on the link above for your options.
I was excited to see Dr. Pauly is also doing a rewrite on his first novel Jack Tripper Stole My Dog. I'm lucky enough to have an early manuscript and it is easily my favorite story. I can't wait.
~
Random crappy iPhone pictures
You can tell by the attention, I was cooking bacon
Some tailgating supplies for an August Phillies game
Unable to prop bet anyone into eating all the cheesy puffs
Two great tastes that taste great together
Bonus points if you can name the bar
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November 2010
Last night I decided to do everyone a favor and get myself happy at the same time. I walked up to the dive bar, bringing along my new Flip cam to take a short video of the place to show what I was speaking of yesterday. We could all decide whether my description was accurate or I was full of crap.
Then I had my first huge shot and the next thing I know the bartender was dropping me off at the house 3 o'clock this morning with a prestine, and video free, camcorder.
I did manage to meet a girl there who was way out of her element. She wasn't fall down drunk, twitchy from various drugs, or spewing filth from her mouth. Some would say the only downside to this 23 year old girl was her taste in music, she asked me to put some Foghat and .38 Special on the jukebox. I complied and still ended up with a ride home from the staff. It's in their best interest that I don't die on the way home.
~
During my "hiatus" you may have noticed Dr. Pauly released Lost Vegas upon the world. I'd love to do a proper review but I'm not exactly an objective writer. Somehow I manage to find my way into a few spots throughout the novel without seeming to be a complete wacko. I'm still waiting on someone (ahem Julius Goat) to finish up a proper review for me to post on the Tilt blog but the few readers I have left already own it. Here are some of the early reviews.
I personally enjoyed it, brought back some old memories and highlighted some stories I hadn't heard before. You can pick it up here a Lulu or at Amazon.com (both print and Kindle versions). Click on the link above for your options.
I was excited to see Dr. Pauly is also doing a rewrite on his first novel Jack Tripper Stole My Dog. I'm lucky enough to have an early manuscript and it is easily my favorite story. I can't wait.
~
Random crappy iPhone pictures
You can tell by the attention, I was cooking bacon
Some tailgating supplies for an August Phillies game
Unable to prop bet anyone into eating all the cheesy puffs
Two great tastes that taste great together
Bonus points if you can name the bar
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Catching Up
Philly 'burbs
November 2010
So what the holy hell have I been doing with myself over the twelve months since I barely posted during 2010 with the exception of getting reamed for BBT5 by friends and enemies. I honestly spent a good part of that time getting nice and drunk without apology.
I found myself a little dive bar which fulfills most of my desires, my version of the FDA requirements to call itself a "dive bar".
Starts off with the tobacco cloud filled tiny room thanks to a Pennsylvania loophole which allows certain bars to allow smoking. There is one tiny pool table with the expected rips in the felt and the usual arguments between players, players/drunks, players/drunks/players/bouncers, etc. They have a series of beer coolers across the back wall containing various beers, coolers, and malted liquors available for takeout. I understand their selection of 40 ouncers is top of the class. 1970's style linoleum lining the slightly off plumb bar top, drunk old guys sleeping face down, a bathroom that is literally a hole in the wall.
None of those are necessarily negatives, just a little color in a world gone bland. Throw in cheap shots of booze plus women of questionable morals and you've got yourself a recipe for a fine home bar. It's also walking distance giving me no excuse to slow down. We plow right through last call after I was granted "favored patron" status. You would think it was an after-hours bar with the number of times I've stumbled down the middle of the road during sunrise.
Throwin' the drunken goat
It's good to have a home bar even if it's for just a short amount of time.
Another quick story/brag. The bar used to be covered in that 70's linoleum and only had a two tap system with Yuengling and Bud. It turns out I spent enough money there during the spring they did a little upgrade while I was in Vegas for the summer. I came back and the owner proudly showed me the upgraded bar top and new 6 tap system so they could expand to such premium brands as Miller Lite, Bud Light, and Coors Lite. I'm so proud.
~
What did I miss around the blogging world while I was ratholing stories and shielding my eyes from others? Not very much it seems. It was nearly impossible to pour through thousands of hand history posts and the worst I could find was some insignificant gruff about Doc Chako enjoying his well earned success. Chuckleheads and Douche Canoes abound. I've got a Porsche in my future if I'd just get over this addiction to booze and travel.
My most recent accomplishment was probably why I'll find it so easy to just jump back in here. For the first time I gave NaNoWriMo a shot and managed to finish a few days early. 50,000 words during the month of November, with a week spent working in Las Vegas, was pretty damned tough. I have an all new respect for guys like Dr. Pauly, Otis, Falstaff, etc who do this on a regular basis.
Turns out I could find all those words just talking about my old days of banging around the bars before I started putting them here. My formative days ya might say. I doubt anyone would give a flying fuck enough to read a bit of it but the he process was cathartic (big fancy writer's word right there) and it felt good to get through it all.
So no, you can't read it although I may pull out some of the better stories to put on here.
|
November 2010
So what the holy hell have I been doing with myself over the twelve months since I barely posted during 2010 with the exception of getting reamed for BBT5 by friends and enemies. I honestly spent a good part of that time getting nice and drunk without apology.
I found myself a little dive bar which fulfills most of my desires, my version of the FDA requirements to call itself a "dive bar".
Starts off with the tobacco cloud filled tiny room thanks to a Pennsylvania loophole which allows certain bars to allow smoking. There is one tiny pool table with the expected rips in the felt and the usual arguments between players, players/drunks, players/drunks/players/bouncers, etc. They have a series of beer coolers across the back wall containing various beers, coolers, and malted liquors available for takeout. I understand their selection of 40 ouncers is top of the class. 1970's style linoleum lining the slightly off plumb bar top, drunk old guys sleeping face down, a bathroom that is literally a hole in the wall.
None of those are necessarily negatives, just a little color in a world gone bland. Throw in cheap shots of booze plus women of questionable morals and you've got yourself a recipe for a fine home bar. It's also walking distance giving me no excuse to slow down. We plow right through last call after I was granted "favored patron" status. You would think it was an after-hours bar with the number of times I've stumbled down the middle of the road during sunrise.
Throwin' the drunken goat
It's good to have a home bar even if it's for just a short amount of time.
Another quick story/brag. The bar used to be covered in that 70's linoleum and only had a two tap system with Yuengling and Bud. It turns out I spent enough money there during the spring they did a little upgrade while I was in Vegas for the summer. I came back and the owner proudly showed me the upgraded bar top and new 6 tap system so they could expand to such premium brands as Miller Lite, Bud Light, and Coors Lite. I'm so proud.
~
What did I miss around the blogging world while I was ratholing stories and shielding my eyes from others? Not very much it seems. It was nearly impossible to pour through thousands of hand history posts and the worst I could find was some insignificant gruff about Doc Chako enjoying his well earned success. Chuckleheads and Douche Canoes abound. I've got a Porsche in my future if I'd just get over this addiction to booze and travel.My most recent accomplishment was probably why I'll find it so easy to just jump back in here. For the first time I gave NaNoWriMo a shot and managed to finish a few days early. 50,000 words during the month of November, with a week spent working in Las Vegas, was pretty damned tough. I have an all new respect for guys like Dr. Pauly, Otis, Falstaff, etc who do this on a regular basis.
Turns out I could find all those words just talking about my old days of banging around the bars before I started putting them here. My formative days ya might say. I doubt anyone would give a flying fuck enough to read a bit of it but the he process was cathartic (big fancy writer's word right there) and it felt good to get through it all.
So no, you can't read it although I may pull out some of the better stories to put on here.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Holy Crap!
Philly 'burbs
November 2010
It's been a long time since I've thrown anything down in this space. If it wasn't for the occasional reminder from my hosting company about bills coming due it might completely slip my mind. I would love to say I miss this blackhole of drunken desperation but don't know if I can. I spent a lot of time putting my thoughts down in print, those things I could remember, for a few people to read along.
But I've enjoyed the reprieve from the desire to share. I throw my liver in a wagon, drag it off to the local dive bar and let it have it's fun. Sure I spew a few golden idiotic quotes out in the twitter world but the vast majority of the craziness is safely confined in my ever slowing brain. I have the ol' Full Tilt blog to keep me busy during the "work day" but there is little creativity involved and not nearly as much degeneracy as you would expect from a professional poker blog.
You'd think spending another summer in Las Vegas would provide a shit ton of stories to spew further upon the world but for the most part it was just taking care of business. Doesn't mean there were more than a few occasions when I found myself waking up on the Gold Coast hotel room floor surrounded by piles of room service trays or a camera full of images requiring instant deletion. There were plenty of nights which ended with me passed out for a few days, but I'm keeping those to myself.
For now.
Things have been uneventful since returning to the east as I prepare for a 2011 which promises to kick my ass. I've squirreled away a few dollars here and there, been relatively responsible with my drinking (which means I'm going to cheap bars, not drinking less) and I'm ready to hit the road with the new year. Plans are already set in motion to take me everywhere from the east coast to Texas to Minnesota to California and even a little hop across the Pacific to Hawaii. No particular order so far but I'm packing up the laptop, camera, and even a brand new Flip cam for some video.
I'm going to fit some "work" into the trip as well, figured I might as well throw some poker in as a common theme and visit as many casinos, home games, back room session that I can fit into the schedule to provide a little content for my Tilty overlords. Just give me a passable internet connection, bottle of booze and pack of smokes then I'm good to go.
Before that of course is the little blogger gathering which is going down in just over a week. After flip flopping several times I decided to head back to the desert to drink with my degenerate friends. Not the easiest decision after spending the summer (and a week in November) but there are enough reasons to make it happen. See y'all at the geisha bar.
I miss checking in for some of the crazy inter-blogger silliness. Flame wars, hurt feelings, and other silly things. It's been so long since I've read a poker blog that I didn't even realize bloglines.com went belly up, I managed to copy my blogroll over to Google and it stopped counting at 1000+ unread posts. I'm trying to catch up so you'll have to be patient. It's fun to run across posts from last spring ripping me for the BBT Challenge, good times.
So time to fire the old drunken story telling machine back up and see what she has left in the tank. Here are a few pictures from the last six months.
Decided to go fishing with Eva and the new hubby, no tuna on the line but I did manage to pull in a nice mahi mahi
We had a hitchhiker later in the day as this wee lil bird hopped on the boat and took a liking to everyone on the boat except me (I told him he probably tasted like chicken)
Sunrise 90 miles out in the Atlantic Ocean
Sunset on the way back into to Belmar, NJ
September brought a nice week long vacation on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, this was the final dinner sitting beach/ocean side
That trip also introduced me to the "John Daly" which is sweet tea vodka and lemonade
The picture on the right is my "shot" for the Drunk Olympics
This is what we found each morning, it was a good week
There was also an evening that involved a bikini contest
In October I had a nice double header, Eagles game in the afternoon and Phillies playoff game that evening
|
November 2010
It's been a long time since I've thrown anything down in this space. If it wasn't for the occasional reminder from my hosting company about bills coming due it might completely slip my mind. I would love to say I miss this blackhole of drunken desperation but don't know if I can. I spent a lot of time putting my thoughts down in print, those things I could remember, for a few people to read along.
But I've enjoyed the reprieve from the desire to share. I throw my liver in a wagon, drag it off to the local dive bar and let it have it's fun. Sure I spew a few golden idiotic quotes out in the twitter world but the vast majority of the craziness is safely confined in my ever slowing brain. I have the ol' Full Tilt blog to keep me busy during the "work day" but there is little creativity involved and not nearly as much degeneracy as you would expect from a professional poker blog.
You'd think spending another summer in Las Vegas would provide a shit ton of stories to spew further upon the world but for the most part it was just taking care of business. Doesn't mean there were more than a few occasions when I found myself waking up on the Gold Coast hotel room floor surrounded by piles of room service trays or a camera full of images requiring instant deletion. There were plenty of nights which ended with me passed out for a few days, but I'm keeping those to myself.
For now.
Things have been uneventful since returning to the east as I prepare for a 2011 which promises to kick my ass. I've squirreled away a few dollars here and there, been relatively responsible with my drinking (which means I'm going to cheap bars, not drinking less) and I'm ready to hit the road with the new year. Plans are already set in motion to take me everywhere from the east coast to Texas to Minnesota to California and even a little hop across the Pacific to Hawaii. No particular order so far but I'm packing up the laptop, camera, and even a brand new Flip cam for some video.
I'm going to fit some "work" into the trip as well, figured I might as well throw some poker in as a common theme and visit as many casinos, home games, back room session that I can fit into the schedule to provide a little content for my Tilty overlords. Just give me a passable internet connection, bottle of booze and pack of smokes then I'm good to go.
Before that of course is the little blogger gathering which is going down in just over a week. After flip flopping several times I decided to head back to the desert to drink with my degenerate friends. Not the easiest decision after spending the summer (and a week in November) but there are enough reasons to make it happen. See y'all at the geisha bar.
I miss checking in for some of the crazy inter-blogger silliness. Flame wars, hurt feelings, and other silly things. It's been so long since I've read a poker blog that I didn't even realize bloglines.com went belly up, I managed to copy my blogroll over to Google and it stopped counting at 1000+ unread posts. I'm trying to catch up so you'll have to be patient. It's fun to run across posts from last spring ripping me for the BBT Challenge, good times.
So time to fire the old drunken story telling machine back up and see what she has left in the tank. Here are a few pictures from the last six months.
Decided to go fishing with Eva and the new hubby, no tuna on the line but I did manage to pull in a nice mahi mahi
We had a hitchhiker later in the day as this wee lil bird hopped on the boat and took a liking to everyone on the boat except me (I told him he probably tasted like chicken)
Sunrise 90 miles out in the Atlantic Ocean
Sunset on the way back into to Belmar, NJ
September brought a nice week long vacation on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, this was the final dinner sitting beach/ocean side
That trip also introduced me to the "John Daly" which is sweet tea vodka and lemonade
The picture on the right is my "shot" for the Drunk Olympics
This is what we found each morning, it was a good week
There was also an evening that involved a bikini contest
In October I had a nice double header, Eagles game in the afternoon and Phillies playoff game that evening
Monday, May 31, 2010
2010 WSOP: Beer Pong Warmup or New Home?
Las Vegas, NV
May, 2010
I have one major problem with spending so much time in Las Vegas. It's very tough for me to find a bar that fits me, somewhere which feels like a damn bar should. Everything thing here is either in the middle of the casino, a god forsaken dance club, or a sportsbook. Even going to catch a Steel Panther shows feels more "clubby" then a proper rock show. There are still a few hidden gems, including the one bar in Vegas that a lot of us have claimed as our own and is still mostly secreted away from the creetins.
Wednesday I found a place that felt like home.
A few weeks before heading out west I was approached about participating in the Doyle Brunson Beer Pong Invitational to be held a few days before the WSOP kicked off. I'm always up for a little craziness so I immediately threw my name in the pool and looked forward to a little boozy release before the grind. Nevermind I hadn't thrown a ping pong ball at a plastic cup in a decade, booze and friends were a worthy draw.
The tournament was schedule to kickoff sometime after 2pm at Hogs and Heifers downtown. Never one to delay the inevitable, I grabbed a cab and was the first person to enter the bar. Cute bartenders barely dressed in tiny leather bikini tops, beat up bar, HUGE surly bartenders, classic rock. Workable first impressions. My first drink was a Bass instead of jumping straight into the hard stuff since there was no way to know how decent my head would need to be.
Lesson learned from being fucking ripped out of my mind at the blogger tournament in December.
I enlisted Matt "All In At 420" Stout as my partner thinking he likely had more recent experience at the game and had the tolerance beyond most. We drew Hoyt Corkins and Steve "gboro780" Gross in our first match right in the middle of the room. We quickly fell behind 6-1 in cups with them hitting the final cup but Stout saved us with the rebuttal. From there we battled back to get heads up cup-for-cup. We were the team of destiny! That's what we kept telling ourselves. We kept repeating it after we lost and were chugging shots at the bar while the Corkins team moved on.
But now the real fun kicked in. The bar owner, Michelle Dell, was standing on the bar yelling out the action over a bullhorn while we were shooting our match. She seemed to take great join in my CantHang nickname and called it out often. Remember the "Lil" character who owned the bar in Coyote Ugly? That was her, except louder. And cooler. I was already doing shots with the bartender before my match (Jameson, go figure that one) but it was time to get friendly with a bar owner.
I haven't a clue what hell-mouth kind of booze she was knocking back but it looked a combination between whiskey and moonshine. Shot, shot, carbomb, beer, shot, etc. All this was going on during the tournament and the CantHang yell would be heard from atop the bar. My call to pony up for more liquid torture.
~
Some horrible iPhone pictures from the night
Shots were all over the place
A little dancing on the bar
Cute bartender through the five-hole of the bar owner
TUBE SOCKS! Wish the picture was better
|
May, 2010
I have one major problem with spending so much time in Las Vegas. It's very tough for me to find a bar that fits me, somewhere which feels like a damn bar should. Everything thing here is either in the middle of the casino, a god forsaken dance club, or a sportsbook. Even going to catch a Steel Panther shows feels more "clubby" then a proper rock show. There are still a few hidden gems, including the one bar in Vegas that a lot of us have claimed as our own and is still mostly secreted away from the creetins.Wednesday I found a place that felt like home.
A few weeks before heading out west I was approached about participating in the Doyle Brunson Beer Pong Invitational to be held a few days before the WSOP kicked off. I'm always up for a little craziness so I immediately threw my name in the pool and looked forward to a little boozy release before the grind. Nevermind I hadn't thrown a ping pong ball at a plastic cup in a decade, booze and friends were a worthy draw.
The tournament was schedule to kickoff sometime after 2pm at Hogs and Heifers downtown. Never one to delay the inevitable, I grabbed a cab and was the first person to enter the bar. Cute bartenders barely dressed in tiny leather bikini tops, beat up bar, HUGE surly bartenders, classic rock. Workable first impressions. My first drink was a Bass instead of jumping straight into the hard stuff since there was no way to know how decent my head would need to be.
Lesson learned from being fucking ripped out of my mind at the blogger tournament in December.
I enlisted Matt "All In At 420" Stout as my partner thinking he likely had more recent experience at the game and had the tolerance beyond most. We drew Hoyt Corkins and Steve "gboro780" Gross in our first match right in the middle of the room. We quickly fell behind 6-1 in cups with them hitting the final cup but Stout saved us with the rebuttal. From there we battled back to get heads up cup-for-cup. We were the team of destiny! That's what we kept telling ourselves. We kept repeating it after we lost and were chugging shots at the bar while the Corkins team moved on.
But now the real fun kicked in. The bar owner, Michelle Dell, was standing on the bar yelling out the action over a bullhorn while we were shooting our match. She seemed to take great join in my CantHang nickname and called it out often. Remember the "Lil" character who owned the bar in Coyote Ugly? That was her, except louder. And cooler. I was already doing shots with the bartender before my match (Jameson, go figure that one) but it was time to get friendly with a bar owner.I haven't a clue what hell-mouth kind of booze she was knocking back but it looked a combination between whiskey and moonshine. Shot, shot, carbomb, beer, shot, etc. All this was going on during the tournament and the CantHang yell would be heard from atop the bar. My call to pony up for more liquid torture.
Have a great conversation with some poker friends, time for shots. Meet some new people, time for shots. Random hot girls walk into the bar, time for shots. The theme was repeated constantly until I realized two things.
One, I was completely broke.
Two, the bar was empty of every "poker" person.
It was just me, the bartenders, big burly bouncers and the regular Wednesday crew in downtown Las Vegas. Neither situation was terrible, it was just a matter of hitting up the Bank of CantHang then continuing the destruction. The second crew of bartenders took their spots while the first shift pulled up a barstool on the drinking side. Stories were passed around as much as the glasses, there might have been some dancing, there was certainly a lot of fun.
When the fuzzy alarm went off in my head I decided it was time to hoof my wasted ass back to the hotel. Problem was finding a cab on this little street and actually having enough money to get back to the strip. I was pointed towards Binion's with a laugh where I found someone willing to take my last few dollars bills to get me home. I amazingly ended up back at my hotel without getting rolled or buried in the desert because I passed out the second he pulled away from the cab.
The next morning I found a note in my pocket. "Come back anytime CantHang, Michelle".
I found my new drinking home. Watch out.
One, I was completely broke.
Two, the bar was empty of every "poker" person.
It was just me, the bartenders, big burly bouncers and the regular Wednesday crew in downtown Las Vegas. Neither situation was terrible, it was just a matter of hitting up the Bank of CantHang then continuing the destruction. The second crew of bartenders took their spots while the first shift pulled up a barstool on the drinking side. Stories were passed around as much as the glasses, there might have been some dancing, there was certainly a lot of fun.
When the fuzzy alarm went off in my head I decided it was time to hoof my wasted ass back to the hotel. Problem was finding a cab on this little street and actually having enough money to get back to the strip. I was pointed towards Binion's with a laugh where I found someone willing to take my last few dollars bills to get me home. I amazingly ended up back at my hotel without getting rolled or buried in the desert because I passed out the second he pulled away from the cab.
The next morning I found a note in my pocket. "Come back anytime CantHang, Michelle".
I found my new drinking home. Watch out.
~
Some horrible iPhone pictures from the night
Shots were all over the place
A little dancing on the bar
Cute bartender through the five-hole of the bar owner
TUBE SOCKS! Wish the picture was better
