MissT74

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Location: United States

Too much about me to list here...read my blog...you'll get to know me quite well.

Tuesday, January 31, 2006

HodgePodge

I was in Phoenix last weekend, met with one of my clients, went to Casino AZ to play poker. BIG mistake. I got killed in the 4/8 game, so I decide to move to 8/16 and got killed there. Good Grief. Someone needs to remind me, maybe tatoo it to my forehead, NOT to play cash games. If and when I play for fun, while drinking, it should never be more then 2/4, for REAL. Sigh. I hate poker.

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Realized that I need to hire 1-2 more people due to a client that has opened a 2nd office, so offered a position to my Mom and I do believe she is going to move to Kingman. This will give her a nice change of pace after Grandpa died. Grandma will more then likely move with her, but not for after a few months. This will give Mom time to relax after taking care of GM and GP for the past 2 years. Plus, Mom hates her job and is also kicking her current boyfriend (well, hasn't really been her boyfriend for awhile now) to the curb.

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You'll have to wait a little bit longer for the announcement of which sites I will be promoting. I'm waiting on banners and making sure the affiliate links are all squared away, etc.

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I was hired today by my local community college to be an Instructor for BUS 223, that's a Medical Billing and Medical Records class. I'm very excited! I used to teach at Bryman School in Phoenix, and I enjoyed it tremendously. Plus, I'll basically just be training people who may end up being potential employees for when I need to hire, and since it's so hard to find good help in this area, I'll be getting first dibs!! The bad news is that it's on Tuesday nights from 5:30-8:30pm, so I may be missing a few RGP Donkey Starfest events. Bummer.

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I am going to Vegas for the Superbowl this weekend, so hopefully will win some money that I can gleefully report. I plan on taking part in the Caesars tournaments that everyone has been raving about.

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It's end of month for me in work, and due to my meeting with my client this past weekend, I have a huge task/audit to go through, so I will be extrememly busy this week, already have been and worked 14 hours yesterday. So I won't be online that much over the next 2 weeks.

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A special congratulations to my friend Matthew Hilger who ended up in the money and in 34th place at the WPT Borgata Main Event. Sooooo close!!!

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Some link pimpage:

http://taopoker.blogspot.com/

If you've never heard of this forum, check them out a little, they're pretty cool people over there. I impressed them when I won their Monthly HU Championship that I happened to stumble across, and then impressed them even more with my PokerDB results. Nice folks here. http://www.pokerflea.com/pokerforum/index.php

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Have a great week or two, folks!!

Friday, January 27, 2006

News Flash

I have finally made the decision to be a pimp.

For poker sites, that is. As you may have noticed I do not have any banners on my blog. I have posted an affiliate link to PartyPoker ONCE and that was almost a year ago and that link is dead as I no longer play on nor endorse PartyPoker.

I have been debating with myself on whether I wanted to turn into a shill for a poker site. Shills seemed to be looked down upon, or maybe it's just the way THEY go about their shillingness.

So, I decided to do it, but then had the next task of choosing which sites I wanted to endorse/shill for. I am going to choose the 2-3 sites that I feel treat their customers the best, have excellent customer service for their players, and that I have developed personal relationships with.

I will announce the sites once I have the banners set up on my blog page and give my analysis and recommendation at that time.

Can you hardly wait???

Welcoming an RGP'r to Kingman

Last night I was able to meet one of my favorite RGP'rs in person, Mukwrm. He hasn't posted on RGP for about the past 3 months, but that's where I met him and he is also one of my AIM group regulars, although he hasn't been online much lately due to his work.

His real name is Matt but he's been blessed with the nickname of Marco by myself. There is a long standing joke with me and a group of friends, if I like you, I actually re-name you. It all started because of ecr when I made the horrid mistake of forgetting who I shared a meal with at the WSOP. So then I started calling ecr every name that started with "E", except for his real name. He, in turn, named me "Trixie", and I then started re-naming all my online friends. So, if I call you a name that's not yours, but it starts with the same letter, then feel blessed. ; )

Marco's from Phoenix and about 3 months ago he tells me that his company got a job on a new building/store here in good old Kingman, so he's been living in a hotel room with his co workers and traveling back and forth on the weekends to Phx. We finally were able to work out our schedules and I invited him over to meet the family and have a nice home cooked meal.

I made my yummy enchiladas and told him to be here around 6pm. Around 6:10, I called him, letting him know that my dinner was getting cold, around 6:20, I'm tapping my fingers on the kitchen table. He finally arrives around 6:40 but he was having issues with his co workers and the use of the work truck, so I forgave him.

We had apple martinis, Bill had margaritas and we had a lovely dinner. Afterwards, we headed to my office to finish the RGP Donkey Starfest Limit event, I was able to donk out very quickly with Marco watching. Then we decided to head out to the bowling alley and play that trivia game that most bars have. He boasted that he was the King and would slaughter me, I, of course, should have placed a wager as I kicked his ass, mwa ha ha.

So we hung out at the bar in the bowling alley and proceeded to get drunk. There was an ex professional boxer there that wouldn't leave us alone...there always seems to be a drunk person that is very friendly and all, but just won't leave you alone, you know the guy I'm talking about?? We had him last night. I introduced Marco to a few people I knew and it turned out he was already very familiar with the bartenders, him and his co workers have been hanging out there almost every week.

We closed the bar down and I got home around 12:30am. Pretty boring post, I'm sure, but the point was that I was able to meet an online friend in person and it was just fantastic, I had a great time and I always enjoy meeting the "friends" I meet online in person, as it seems to bond the relationship/friendship even more.

Monday, January 23, 2006

For RGP'rs ONLY

A G++ PKR+ PEG B+ TB ADB M

My code of the BARGE Geeks from:

http://zbigniew.pyrzqxgl.com/bargegeek.html

What's yours???

The excitement is building as ATLARGE approaches and the smack down talk has already started for BARGE, which doesn't happen until August, how fun is that??

I am a virgin, although I won't be an -ARGE virgin at BARGE due to my going to ATLARGE, I will still be a BARGE virgin, or does your virgin state go away once you attend the first -ARGE event? Hmm...I need to find out so I don't go around BARGE declaring myself a virgin and then find out that I'm not really due to my ATLARGE attendance. I'll find out for sure while there....

As you can see, I'm a little bored today. My neighbor called and told me that her new puppy, a scottish terrier, was diagnosed with Parvo, so I called my vet and it appears our dogs (Mohave and Oscar) are months behind on their Parvo shots, so Bill and I get to spend the afternoon at the vet. Oh. Joy.

Once I get back I plan on spending some time on the 180 person $20 SNG's on PS. I finished in 8th last night in one, after making a very bad read on the 3rd place person when I was in 1st in chips with 12 people left. Sigh. I HATE when I do that, WHY do we do that? I had TPGK and should have laid down, but he moved all in in 1st position with the turn card putting the flush out there and how can I put him on the flush? I was right, he didn't have the flush, but had TPBK. Sigh. What a waste of hours when I was SOOO close to winning another one of those. Oh well, live and learn.

Book NOW, Don't Forget St. Maartens!!!!

Rooms are going fast, if you haven't booked already, you really, REALLY, need to call Trina at CI Travel right away at 1-800-582-8069 to get your room reserved. Special room rates of only $56 a night, that's better then Vegas room rates!!

For all information go to www.WorldPokerShowdown.com but what more do you need to know? 10 glorious sun-filled, poker-filled, days in St. Maartens, how can you go wrong??

Besides, I will be there for the whole 10 days, so come on, get off your ass, reserve your room and LET'S GO!!!

Sunday, January 22, 2006

Started Off Good...

..the weekend that is. Friday night I played a $20 180 SNG on PS and ended up taking first for $1080. I immediately did a cash out, but then reversed it in order to play some more over the weekend. Bleh.

I was suppose to go up to Phoenix this weekend to visit with one of my clients. I was showered, dressed, packed and the car was ready to go when I decided that I just didn't feel like going, I was feeling lazy so I made my excuses with my client and will have to go next weekend instead.

So, I decided to just make it a poker weekend and played non stop but alas, no other good results. It's about noon on Sunday now and I am so pokered out, I'm going to go take a nap, unless by some miracle I make it through this $11R Turbo to today's big event on PS. I doubt it though as there are still 468 players left, and I'm in 408 position. LOL. This event is giving away 145 seats though, so maybe I'll get lucky and double up a few times, who knows.

Other then that, my spirits have been pretty down lately. I've been somewhat depressed lately, not sure why, except I know it has to do with my job and my business. I'm just so burned out on what I'm doing, it's depressing when I sit and really think about it, so I try not to do that, but sometimes it's hard. So I've just been laying around a lot and watching a lot of TV. I've really come to like the Discovery Health channel, my only complaint is that they keep showing the same shows over and over again, LOL.

Hopefully the next week will be better.

Thursday, January 19, 2006

ATLARGE 2006!!

I am going to Atlantic City, Baby!!!

I noticed a thread on RGP today about the ATLARGE, which is scheduled for 3/2-3/5 at the Trump Taj Mahal.

ATLARGE is an annual gathering of poker players who originally "met" and/or still participate on RGP.

See www.AtLargePoker.com for more details.

I have booked my flight into Philadephia, printed out the train schedules to get to Atlantic City and all I have left to do is book my room with the poker room tomorrow.

I'm very excited about this! It will be my first time in Atlantic City.

If there are any regular readers of my blog who live out there or want to meet up that weekend, just let me know!!

If there are any regular female readers that want to share a room in AC for this weekend, let me know! We already get a discounted room rate, so to be able to cut that in 1/2 would give us more money for gambling!!!

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

From Humble Beginnings

As a child I thought that our family was "middle class" maybe even "lower upper class". Man, how delusional is that? I found out as I grew up that we were in fact probably considered "upper lower class" if not "lower middle class". Times were tough sometimes, Dad was in construction, Mom was either in a secretarial type job or working day care, either at home or in a center, or not working at all. During those times, we always had home baked cookies coming home from school and the house was always sparkling clean.

Saturday was always "Cleaning" day and I don't know where Dad went on those days, but we would clean the house from top to bottom, front to back, starting around 7-8am and ending around 1-2pm. EVERY. SINGLE. WEEK. How messy could our family possibly be? Or maybe it was just my Mom and her OCD. (Kidding, Mom! I love you!)

We lived in what is now the "bad" part of Phoenix, cockroaches were in abundance but mainly because our house was about 100 yards from the canal. We were lectured quite sternly about never, EVER going into the canal, but of course I did....ONCE. Almost got swept away and it scared the shit out of me, of course that was a week before we were planning on moving to California, so although it took me about 7 years to do it, I just felt I had to do it once before we moved.

We always went out to dinner on Friday nights, or had Pizza at home, Friday was the end-of-the-week-last-day-of-work-or-school-so-let's-celebrate day in our house. I remember we would almost always go to our favorite Mexican food restaurant called "La Cucaracha". They sold shirts with huge cockroaches on them, with the cockroach eating a taco. We had several in every shade they sold throughout the family. I remember for P.E. in high school, after moving to California, we had to wear a red Tshirt and the only red Tshirt I had was the "La Cucaracha" shirt, so I then became known as "Roach". Affectionately, I might add. Of course, most people thought it referenced a certain smoking habit, so I let them believe that. They thought I was cool (for a minute, lmao).

I remember the bad times too. The having to move a lot due to unpaid rent, I think I've lived in a total of 12 different homes/apts/condos growing up. The nights we had popcorn for dinner because that was all we had. My mom might disagree with my putting this on my blog, but I gotta tell ya, I'm proud of my background and my upbringing, and I have NO shame. My parents did what they could for us, and with 4 kids (6 after 1990) and being blue collared, what can you do?

My background and upbringing has totally made me who I am today and makes me appreciate the things I have now more then ever and more then others who were "born" with it.

Becoming pregnant at 17 (gave birth at 18) and a being a single parent for 9 years, I can recall the hard times we (Cherissa and I) had. I was on welfare in the state of California for the first 2 years of her life. I used the system the way it was suppose to be used and enrolled into a Medical Assistant program, they paid for her child care and for the program, so that I could become an "independent" adult and not need the system anymore. Upon graduating from the MA program, I moved back to Arizona and went off the welfare system the same week.

I can quite easily recall the "Robbing Peter to pay Paul" mentality and how I had to live it every single paycheck. I was always having to borrow money from my parents or from one of my siblings and to me, broke meant BROKE. NO money, not even $5 for gas, THAT is broke in my opinion. I was never, ever brave enough to venture out onto my own and start my own company, even though I had the idea and passion to do it for 3 years before I finally did it. I couldn't take the risk of losing what income we did have, because I had a child.

Enter Bill. Bill gave me the support and courage I needed to finally make the attempt at my own business. It was rough at first, very rough. We moved from Phoenix to Kingman the day after our wedding and for the first year, we struggled. I opened my business on basically a shoestring budget, and when I say shoestring, I mean it. $50 was what I started with. Instead of buying boxes of envelopes or packages of Insurance forms, I would buy them by the dozen instead. I would buy what I needed, as I needed it, and only that, never more. Then things started to get better.

My reputation and my skill as a medical biller started getting me more clients. All by word of mouth too, I never advertised except for my website and the annual Christmas gift I would pass out to the local doctors. I grew and my company grew to the point where I now have 9 employees and am planning on semi retiring by March 1st.

You may ask, why is she writing all of this? Well, today, I hit a milestone in my life.

I took my daughter to get braces put on her teeth and didn't have to think twice about paying for them.

This is huge to me. Monumental. I knew when she was born that she would need braces as a teenager. I had horrible teeth, her natural father had horrible teeth, and besides, what teenager doesn't "need" braces? So, I always had the fear of not having the money when it was time for her to get them put on. When I had braces myself, it was rough financially for my parents, and I had to actually keep them on for an extra year because they couldn't afford to pay them off. I ended up paying them off myself and getting them removed a few months before Cherissa was born, at age 18.

I am the kind of person that has a lot of pride. I take pride in my work, I take pride in my life...where I've come from, where I've been, and where I'm at now. This, I think, is one of the key factors that will also help me to always remain humble and down to earth. No matter how "BIG" I make it, I will always be the same girl who grew up with cockroaches and eating popcorn for dinner.

And believe me, I will make it. One day.

Monday, January 16, 2006

Home for Now

So I'm back from Phoenix. Left home on Saturday around 6am, arriving in Phx around 9:30, just in time for the memorial for Grandpa. Grandma was looking very good, she said she had gotten some sleep (with the help of 1/2 a sleeping pill) but that she was finally able to rest, so that was good. The entire family was out in full force (Mom's side) and it was nice seeing everyone again, even if it was for a somber occasion.

I felt guilty after the ceremony, as I seemed to be the only member of my immediate family who didn't cry. My mom, my sisters and I are usually very connected, when one of us starts to cry, the other ones start so we're all blubbering together. However, for some reason, I just couldn't cry. I did get a little teary eyed with Corrie, but I just didn't feel like crying when I know that Grandpa is in a better place now. His health had been deteriating so badly over the last few years, that I know it was a blessing, for him.

I do feel for my Mom though, of course, but I think she's handling it very well, and I'm very proud of her. She seemed to have prepared herself before it happened, which I am a BIG advocate of. It's why I imagine Bill or Cherissa dying all the time, so that if and when it does happen, I feel like I may be better prepared. (See my previous post from last year called "Morbidity" if you missed this part of my character)

After the prayer meeting, we gathered at Mom's house and we (the family) just chit chatted and talked about what we've been up to, memories of Grandpa, and etc. Afterwards, I had to go meet with my Chandler client. Since I had been up since 5 am, and didn't get to bed until 1am the night before, I was very fatigued and wasn't feeling like working much, but we plugged away until about 5:30pm, then we went across the street to the new sports bar for a drink.

Afterwards, I headed over to Casino AZ in order to meet Howard Beale (NOT his real name), an RGP'r and what a night we had! The boy would not let my apple martini glass empty and I ended up sleeping for about an hour at the smoking tables set aside from the poker room until the security guard woke me up. I was exhausted! I left and tried to find a hotel but because of the Rock and Roll Marathon there was not a hotel room for under $150 to be found. I don't think so! So I called momma and she threw a blanket on the old sofa for me.

Sunday, I decided to stay another day since Monday was a holiday (Martin Luther King Jr. Day) and headed back to Casino AZ to play some poker during the football pool. Howard Beale couldn't make it, apparantly he gets hung over and I got him drunk the night before while he was busy trying to get ME drunk. So, after a few hours I got bored and left but not before I hit 4 Aces on the $1 slot machine for a nice $800 jackpot win! Add that to the $175 I won the night before playing poker and my entire weekend was free, including a nice night at the Millineum Resort in Scottsdale Sunday night with Cherissa and her friend Christina. That's where we stayed for the night, they were able to go swimming in the heated pool, and then we rented/watched movies on the TV until I crashed at about 10 pm and they stayed up until 1am or so.

So now I'm back home and am currently playing in the PS Deep Stacks tourney. It started over 4 hours ago with 686 players, and there are still 145 left. I am currently in 11th and if I make it to the end, will be up for another 3-4 hours. Sigh. Why, oh why, did I enter this thing? I want nothing more but to crawl into bed with some Nyquil and some cough syrup (with codeine, of course) and float my way into sleep.

Friday, January 13, 2006

Rest In Peace, Grandpa

My grandpa passed away this Wednesday, January 11th, which also happens to be Lorrie and Corrie's (my twin sisters') birthday. He was 91 years old.

He was admitted to a nursing home just last week and his last week was a good one. He had started eating again and was using the restroom on his own. I had planned on visiting him this weekend as I have to go to Phoenix for the next two weekends to meet with one of my clients. Unfortunantly, he couldn't hold on for a few more days and I truly believe he is in a better place now.

The funeral service will be tomorrow, Saturday at 10am, then I will be meeting with my client in the afternoon and then I plan on playing poker at CasinoAZ in the evening. I also plan on meeting Howard Beale (NOT his real name) from RGP and hopefully I'll get there in time for him to take me out to dinner and buy me some drinks!! (He doesn't know what he's getting into, huh??)

Have a great weekend everyone.

Thursday, January 12, 2006

One Day.....

...I'll win the big one. By "big one" I refer to the 500K guaranteed, $200/$15, on PS every Sunday. I've really only played it 3-4 times due to my always being gone on the weekends, but each time I play it I seem to place a little bit higher.

This past weekend I played a $10R Turbo satellite, spent $50 and won my entry into Sunday's event on my first try.

(Note: Bill was gone this past weekend, went to the CES and the Porn convention in Vegas. OK, so he SNUCK into the porn convention, but as I told his friend Roy, who he went with, "Go, get him drunk, take him to a titty bar, have FUN!" Bill rarely goes anywhere so I was excited to get him out of the house. Sorry, darling, but it's true.)

So from Thursday to Sunday, Cherissa and I hung out together, I played some poker during the day, but then we would watch movies together, pigged out on junk food and just had some excellent mother-daughter bonding time.

So, Sunday comes and I settle down for, what I hope to be, a long day.

Almost 4,000 people entered this event and I remember being down to 150 during the 4th level, but was able to claw my way back up to the top. Next thing I know there's only about 100 people left and I was able to stay in the top 5 from 100 down to 30 players.

I'm not going to discuss any hands, I know some of you will be disappointed, but really, it was SO long ago and there's really only ONE hand that matters, so that's what I'll discuss.

I made a boo boo. I made a mistake. I called an all in player when I should have folded. I held the oh, so powerful, A J os. UTG position moves all in for what equaled to about 40% of my stack. I was on the button. I thought about it for a LONG time. I clicked the time button. Here was my thought process:

This player has been seen going all in with A rag a few times; this player does NOT have a powerhouse of a hand. I'm thinking she has a mid pocket pair OR she has an A with a kicker worse then my J. If I call her and I lose, then I will move from 1-2nd position in chips to 15th position with 30 people left. I will be able to build my stack up again; it won't be the end of the game for me. If I win, then I would have a HUGE chip advantage that would be able to propel me to the final table, if not the win.

It's my infamous "Risk vs. Reward" theory. Am I willing to risk being moved from the top to the middle of the pack in order to try and win enough chips to propel me to the final table? Yes, I decided I was. So, I called.

She showed 10,10. OK, so my read was right. Now, I had turned off AIM and the chat box about 30 mins earlier as I was getting quite easily distracted and I could just FEEL the chat box going bezerk with my call. So all I needed was an A or a J and I would be golden, of course, it didn't come and I've had to live with the repercussions of that call since then.

Being results orientated as most humans are, I do regret that call, NOW. Since one of my overs didn't come. However, if just ONE had come, I'd be golden. I would have been told, "WOW, good call!" But alas, it didn't come and I ended up sinking to 15th place and unfortunately, was unable to get back up again and ended up in 24th place for about $3,100.00.

In hindsight, I realize that I should not have been willing to lose such a healthy chunk of my stack for what I felt would have been a race. If I could do it all again, I would and could have easily folded.

You learn from your mistakes, or that's the goal anyways, and I have learned from this. As most players do when they make a mistake, you KNOW when you've done it and it racks your brain for DAYS. If I had lost due to a bad beat or just being unlucky, no problem, but because I basically did it to myself, then it's been hounding me for DAYS.

I take some comfort in the fact that I have learned from this, and out of almost 4,000 players, 24th ain't so bad! Last time in this event I placed in the 70's, so next time in this event, all the way baby!!!

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

2nd Notice: MissT74 WSOP Qualifiers

This is the 2nd notice for the announcement of MissT74 WSOP Qualifiers. I've
actually gotten quite a bit of interest shown with each event having anywhere
from 10-25 people on the "Interest List" already. I plan on getting these
together and posting a schedule February and running in March and April, as we
can.

Please make sure to email me the events you're interested in to tanya at pecks
medical billing dot com and I will add you to the interest list and further
details will be following.

As posted on 12/21/05:

I have decided to grab the bull by the horn and get some satellites going for
some 2006 WSOP events.

I am taking an interest list only from people who are interested in playing in
satellites with other online poker players on PokerStars or FullTilt, depending
on the game, for WSOP events.

I will be working on this over the next few months, with satellites to be
started in March. I will mention this frequently on my blog and on my forums in
order to get the word out often, and in order to get more players in.

At this point buy-ins will not be discussed as that will be dependent upon the
number of interested people, however, I will be trying to keep the buy-ins
within the $10-$50 range (again, all depending on the number of people wanting
to play) so at this point, I am ONLY interested in hearing from people who are
interested in playing.

I would like an email sent to me at tanya at pecks medical billing dot com with
your real name, your PokerStars name, your FullTilt name and your common
online/forum name (if different). Tell me what events you are interested in, and
I will put you on that event's list.

Think of me as the "Floor" and if there's an event that you're interested in
that's not listed, let me know. If you're interested in playing a single table
with 10 others for $100 for a $1000 WSOP event let me know. I will be using my
contacts and the people I know to see how many satellites I can get going.
Whatever you want, let me know, and I will do my best to pull it together.

This will be a big project, but I am organized that way and have my own reasons
for doing this, so let's get moving! We have about 2 months to get these
together and get going for the WSOP. We can keep them going for months, as we
have time, and we can run multiple satellites for eventes, they don't have to be
a "one" time event.

The only "juice" will be what the online site charges, there's no money in it
for me, I'm doing it so that I can try to win my own way into the 14 different
events that I'm interested in playing this year. I will be playing the
satellites on PS as well, of course, but I would so much rather play with a
group of people I know and send someone I personally know to the WSOP then some
schmuck on PS. : )

So here's the list I've compiled so far:

6/27/06 $1500 NLHE
6/29/06 $1500 LHE
6/30/06 $2500 NLHE/6 handed
7/6/06 $1500 LHE
7/7/06 $2500 NLHE
7/10/06 $1000 NLHE
7/14/06 $2000 NLHE
7/15/06 $3000 LHE
7/15/06 $3000 Omaha H/L
7/16/06 $2000 NLHE Shootout
7/21/06 $2000 NLHE
7/22/06 $1500 Razz
7/24/06 $1000 7 Stud H/L
7/25/06 $1500 NLHE

So again, if you're interested, if you even THINK you're interested, send me an
email with the information requested above and we'll get this ball rolling!

INTEREST LIST ONLY!!

Friday, January 06, 2006

Worst Idea of 2006....or BEST??

I'm a pimp! I'm a shill!

Let's go poker players...UNITE!!!

I want ALL bloggers to blog this, just once, ONE time!!

(Or more, if you're even partially as serious as I am!!!)

http://letsbuypokerstars.com/index.html


Why can't I LINK anymore?? SHIT!!!

Wednesday, January 04, 2006

New Years Weekend Trip Report

THURSDAY 12/29:

I was planning on heading to Vegas on Friday AM, but of course, I left early! Bill gave his blessing and after having dinner and some dancing with our friends, the Van Pelts, I headed for Vegas, arriving in time for the 2am tournament.

I was able to make the final table, but ended busting out in 7th place, with only 5 places getting paid. However, I did make the final table! For those who haven't played at Binions before, their final table is set on an elevated "stage" with a lighted area on the table between the felt and the edge of table, where players can put their chips, etc. Anyways, I managed to put the table on "light" tilt, as they ALL wanted the light turned off, but because I objected, it stayed on.

Hey, gotta get the lights, camera, action feeling whenever and however I can, right?

So, I headed over to Plaza next and ended up sitting at a 2/4 table getting drunk and just trying to have a good time. It worked for an hour or so, then the resident table asshole decided to show his true colors. When I first sat down, I was the only female in the room, with about 25 people playing, milling about, etc. I started joking around with everyone, as I always do, including him. (I'll call him DS for dipshit.) Anyways, DS decided to start with the sexual comments and innuendos and at first, I gave them right back to him as I know that being a woman in this situation, I need to give as good as I get or I'm toast. I'd end up as a babbling brook and then I'd REALLY look like a woman, and what female wants that at a poker table? I want to be seen as a poker player who happens to be female, not as a female poker player.

Anywho, DS ended getting into it with a local named Phillip, who I just met that night, but I liked him. He was in his 20's, having fun, did some shots with me, we're just having a great time! Then DS decides that we're talking too much so he turns into an asshole and continues the sexual (very, very inappropriate) comments towards me. Phillip tries to stand up for me, so then DS and Phillip get into and Phillip got a little too carried away and was kicked out of the poker room. (He made some racial comments to Lewis, the floor manager, after Lewis threatened to kick Phillip out, but never made a threat or comment to DS, so that just pissed off Phillip and myself) Keep in mind that I agree that Phillip overstepped the line and was tossed out on his ass, which I agreed with, but DS should have been kicked out as well.

So, I continue playing for about 5 mins, then DS purposefully moves over to the seat to my left after being across the table all night long. He's now sitting between myself and the other floor manager (can't remember name, but he was just playing in the game to keep it going) and started making comments again. I got very, very upset and racked up my chips, not saying a word until I got to the cage.

Then, all hell broke loose.

The floor man who was in the game, starts telling me to come back, play, have fun, and then Lewis got into it too, telling me to stay, everything's OK, etc, Phillip's gone, we'll just have fun, etc.

HELLOOOOO was I the ONLY one hearing the shit that DS was saying to me? I was livid. Furious. This is a casino (The Plaza) that I frequent every single time I go to Vegas. This is a casino that I bring conventions to (ITH Baby!!), this is a casino that I pimp all the time about on RGP and they are going to treat ME better then some fucking dipshit tourist who was insulting one of their biggest supporters/gamblers?? I don't think so.

I calmed down, in a scary way, and used the phone at the cage, with Lewis right there, called the Sales/Convention manager (it was about 8:30am now), and told her that I wanted her to ignore the request I made for a quote for the ITH 2nd annual convention and that there was no way I was going to bring back a convention to a casino that allowed players to treat me the way I was treated that night.

She immediately went into PR mode and had me go see her up in her office on the 3rd floor. So, I went up there (because I like her, and I knew that if anything was going to happen, she would do it) and spoke with her for about 30 mins in her office. We then went back downstairs, she spoke with Lewis by herself, and then came over to me with him. She said that she spoke with Lewis and that he would take care of me and then left. Lewis said, "OK, Tanya, before we start, give me a big hug" and I did, because I liked him, I just didn't like how the situation was handled, however, in his defense, he had no idea what was going on, it was the other floor that was at the table hearing the comments, not Lewis.

I told Lewis, "Bottom line. He either gets kicked out right now, and I continue playing, or you call over head of security and I file a sexual harassment claim and I never step foot in this casino again."

Lewis took it a step further and banned him from the casino for 6 months. Woot. Ahhh...the power!!! So, I sat down and continued playing for another few hours and left satisfied. SIDENOTE: While all this was going on, I was drinking, but was no where near drunk and as my other blogs/posts will admit, I know when I've had too much or when I've overreacted due to alcohol. This was not one of those times AT ALL.

FRIDAY 12/30:

My sister Corrie's flight arrived around 1:30pm, so I headed to the airport to pick her up. Got there about an hour early and hung out at my favorite Las Vegas bar while waiting. Ran into the head engineer of the Hoover Dam Expansion, and had an interesting talk with him regarding the project. I can't wait until it's done, it will cut my drive down by almost 30-45 mins!!! Met a few other people and I tell you, every time I hang out at this bar, it's amazing the different people you meet and how friendly everyone usually is. The bar/Vegas combination is awesome.

So Corrie arrived and we headed back downtown in order to play the 2pm tourney, didn't do well there, but then Corrie and I just hung out waiting for Mom and her friend Lonnie to show up. They ended up not getting to Vegas until almost 7pm, getting caught on the Hoover Dam with traffic/construction for almost 3 hours. Wow, sucked for Mom, LOL.

Can't remember doing much from 7-11pm, just gambling and hanging out with Mom, Corrie, and Lonnie but then by 11pm, I had to crash from lack of sleep and overconsumption, so I headed to bed leaving them to fend for themselves.

SATURDAY 12/31:

Nothing much to report for Saturday day, downtown was getting geared up for their Freemont Street Experience, I played the 10am and the 2pm with no good results and then we decided to have dinner at Tony Ramos around 7 pm, then start partying on Freemont Street. We picked up a loner who had come to Vegas by himself from Denver, and let him hang out with us, I think his name was Chris, anyways, the cost was only $40 for a wristband and the talent was Cheap Trick, Gin Blossoms and another band that I can't think of, but was pretty big name IMO.

HIGHLIGHT OF THE NIGHT: I was able to work my way up to the front row while Gin Blossoms was on and handed my cell phone to the bouncer. He then took the phone to the lead singer (see, don't even KNOW his name, but I LOVE him now) and he sang into MY phone (and the microphone) TO Bill for almost 5 minutes. I think he did it because I made eye contact with him and threw up the ASU Devil sign with my fingers (tuck your ring finger into your palm, with your thumb holding in down, then your 1st, 2nd and pinky fingers are held up in a pitchfork like manner) since they are from Tempe, AZ, they KNOW what that means and took the phone from me because of it. WOW, what a rush! That was one of the two coolest things I experienced this weekend, 2nd one was on Sunday, will talk about that later.

So, midnight rolls around, the party continues on and it was just a super blast. Everyone was friendly and kissing everyone and the dancing continued with a local band at the other end of the street, was a LOT of fun.

Around 1:30am, we get this BRILLIANT idea to join the 2am Binions tourney. Everyone. Mom, Lonnie and Corrie included. Lonnie and Corrie have never played a hand of HE in their lives. LMFAO.

18 people entered and not a SINGLE one of us made the "final table", LMAO. We were TOASTED!!! Took a taxi home and the night was over.

SUNDAY 1/1:

The Binions TOC started at 10 am and I was feeling fine, although I could tell that I was starting to lose my voice from the yelling, screaming, smoking, drinking, etc. I sat down at the table and started to play. I played one hand and noticed that I was on table 20, which is usually reserved for the 10 am tournament. I said, "No 10 am today, huh?" and no one commented but they all looked at me weird. 2 mins later, turns out I was sitting at the normal 10am tourney at table 20, when I was suppose to be at the TOC tourney at table 30. LOL, and I wasn't even drunk!!! Lordy me.

So I made my table change and played the TOC. There was about 102 entrants, so my prediction about players not coming out was way off base. A few key hands that I remember.

I'm in the SB, blinds are 100/200, and EP raises to 600. He gets 4 cold callers behind him, and I look down to Js 7s, so I figure, what the hell, and call, the BB folds. One of the biggest reasons why I called was because I wanted to beat him, the EP raiser, with a really bad hand as I know that that would put him on tilt, because he was one of those players that berates other players for the hands they play EVEN WHEN they lose to him and double him up. A real piece of work.

The flop came 3s, 5s, 8s. Tee hee.

I move all in. The EP raiser immediately calls and everyone else folds. I know what he has, and yes, he flips over As Ac and gives me this look that would kill when he sees my made flush. Of course, no other spade came and he was on tilt like you would NOT believe.

However, he still lasted longer then I did when my K, K all in move got called by Ah, Jc and the guy hit runner runner hearts on me. Ces La Vie, IGHN, busted out in about 64th place.

Next we go shopping, we all head over to Fry's Electronic and I buy Mom a new computer since her's crashed. She was very appreciative, but I loved being able to do it. Spoiling her and Corrie (the daily "allowance") was cool as Mom and Corrie have always tried to help me out in the past, when I was a single Mom, loaning me money, helping me out, etc. A little payback for the past is all, and it felt good doing it.

So next we headed to the strip, I particularly love hanging out at Harrah's and there is this really neat outside bar with a band, D.J., and bartenders that do tricks. It's right between Imperial Palace and Harrah's, and I've always wanted to go there, but never had anyone to go with. Now that Mom, Corrie and Lonnie were with me, that's where we went. Had a GREAT time, the band was playing a lot of 70's and 80's music and we were just having a ball, getting drunk and dancing our asses off.

This is when the 2nd coolest thing happened.

HIGHLIGHT OF THE NIGHT: I walked outside the club/bar area, so now I'm on the public sidewalk between the two casinos, and I'm just chilling, cooling down, smoking a cigarette, etc. I'm sitting on the edge of a planter, and there are two girls with a guy sitting next to me. We start talking and joking around and a good song comes on, so I start dancing a little while sitting, and they encourage me to get up and dance, so I stood up and we all danced a little bit on the sidewalk.

So a guy, who can dance very, very well walks over to us and starts dancing near me, but not with me, thus producing his challenge. (A challenge is when the first person dances, then stops and the other person dances and it goes back and forth while the crowd determines the "winner" It is never verbalized, only motioned and only people who dance would "get it") I, of course, accept and we get going.

Next thing I know, there is a HUGE crowd surrounding us, pretty much blocking the foot traffic (as keep in mind that we are in the public sidewalk area) and I am LOVING IT. I get a lot of cheers, probably because I'm female, but he was definitely better then I, IMO, so I conceded to him. Once I conceded, he left, and I kept going, so then I got 2 more challengers and those two, I was able to beat. What a rush, I've mentioned before that I love attention and really, if you're reading my blog, YOU KNOW THIS. So I was in my element, for sure. I love dancing and always get compliments and comments on it so I was loving life until the cops showed up. LOL

Turns out since we were blocking foot traffic, they had to break up the circle and that was all she wrote, so I went back down into the bar/dance floor area. WHAT a night. Awesome.

MONDAY 1/2:

I wake up with a very sore throat and NO voice what so ever. We pretty much just hung out and gambled all day, didn't even feel like drinking, I was feeling pretty bad. LOST my ASS gambling, couldn't win a single thing to save my soul, but spent what I took, so even though I didn't come home a winner, or even, I lost what I planned on losing, so it was the cost of entertainment for the weekend. Mom and Lonnie took off around 1pm and Corrie and I hung out, we did go back to the club from Sunday night, but it was pretty dead. Then tried to go over to the basement club at Barbary Coast, but it was closed. So I headed across the street to Bellagio and decided to play some 4/8 with the drunk college boys.

Turned out there weren't any at my table, so I decided to play the drunk college girl and ended up going from $100 to $460 in about 30 mins (LUCK. BOX) then lost it down to $60 over the next 3 hours. LOL. Gotta love the ups and downs of poker.

TUESDAY 1/3:

Woke up around 11am and felt like SHIT. I could tell that there was something more wrong with me then just losing my voice from talking, screaming, smoking, drinking...so I decided to leave early to go home and see my doctor. My throat hurt so bad, I couldn't swallow, I just knew I had strep throat, plus I felt like I had a fever and I was just feeling crappy in general. So, I, the Vegas lover that I am, left Vegas almost a whole day before I was suppose to. You KNOW I had to be feeling bad to do THAT. LOL

Got home, saw the Dr., got some antibiotics and Lidocaine to gargle with and have pretty much just hanging out, trying to sleep, getting rest, etc. I'm feeling a lot better now, but still feel pretty crummy. Only got about 2 hours of sleep last night from coughing, so I have another prescription of cough syrup with codeine coming my way today. Woot!! I love codeine. Tee. Hee.

So that was my weekend/trip, had a great time. Lost money, but made up for it in entertainment and in the company I had.

GOOD TIMES, GOOD TIMES.

Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Another New Year!!

I perused my blog entry dated 12/29/04 to see if I had met any of my goals set for 2005.

They were written as:

For 2005, I hope to accomplish quite a few things. Some goals might be harder to reach then others, and maybe even considered "unrealistic". However, if I don't set these goals, I can't accomplish them. Mind over matter. My goals:

1. To lose 60 lbs by June 1st. That's about 12 lbs a month, which is certainly "doable"
2. To completely train my contractor and move her into Management position, so that I can work less.
3. To become "officially" a professional poker player. This is in direct relation to #2, because without her, I can't do it. I have no plans on selling or quitting my business, it's too lucrative. I just don't want to work anymore, so I'll let her and other staff do it.
4. To win a WSOP bracelet.
5. To win my way on board the PPM IV Cruise.
6. To win 3 or more tournaments that have results published in magazines or on their website.
7. Successfully master the STEP tournaments offered at PartyPoker.com.


OK, now that 2005 is over, I can reflect on the past year, my goals, and what was reached or done for that goal.

1. I did not lose the 60 lbs, probably even gained 10lbs, however, I put this goal back on the slate for 2006. The only difference is I only really want to lose 40 lbs, but should lose 60-70 to be considered in the "perfect" body weight range.

2. My contractor, my Manager, has been completely trained. I have added 8 more employees through the past year, and she is ready to "take over". I don't see it being official until March 1, but it's on the right track and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!

3. I did not become "officially" a professional poker player, but it's still on the goal list and a lot more attainable in the next 2 months due to being in direct relation to #2 above.

4. Ah, if only I could have won a WSOP bracelet this year. Goal not reached, but definantly still on the list. I did play in more events then I had ever played in before (9) and I did do very well in the satellites (approx. 30K), so this year, the goal is to do better then what I did in 2005.

5. I did not win my way on board the PPM Cruise, but I did get to go on a poker cruise with the WPS II, as Head of Public Relations. Still a free cruise, still played poker, just had to work a little was all!

6. I don't believe that I was listed in any magazine or website for any major wins this year, however, publicity was what I was going for and I can confidently say that I have achieved that. I've become very well known on the internet through RGP, ITH, and WPC, and I even have a regular column in the Women's Poker Player Magazine published bi-monthly.

7. Pfft. Mastering the Party STEPS was damn near impossible after I got the cash out curse from last year's STEP successes. However, I'm happy that I found a different "home" and for 2005, PokerStars was the site for me. The goal will be to do well on the TLB on PS for several different weeks, or at least one month of the next year. Not neccessarily the top, but damn near close is all I want.

Accomplishments for 2005:

Business:

Went from 1 employee to 9.
Went from 4 clients to 6.
With those clients, went from 7 providers to 13 providers.
Trained my Manager to take over about 90% of the business, leaving me with only 10% to do, which is only about 3 days a month.
Net income tripled.
All in all, a very good year in business.

Personal/Family:

Had a great year with a (now) teenage, straight A's, she-is-her-mother's-daughter
daughter.
Became closer, better connected, with Bill, as we suffered through the miscarriage, and compromised on poker and traveling, together.

Poker:

I was doing very well at the end of 2004 and beginning of 2005 in tracking my financials for poker, but then dropped the ball and gave it up in Feb/March. I do know that I am in the black for poker/gambling, and have been extremely lucky with the slot machines this year (getting about 6 W9 tax form thingys), and have won about 4 major MTT's this year (5K +),finished the year with a BANG with a MTT win, and cashing quite often in MTT's throughout the year. I have mainly stayed away from online cash games and don't usually play SNG's. So, in the end, I can't give an exact figure, but estimate a 25-35K profit.

Other Goals for 2006:

To go on as many cruises as I possibly can.
To continue working for The WPS and traveling around the world with them.
To continue writing for WPP Magazine, and perhaps another media outlet?
To be officially semi-retired in the next 2-3 months from the business.
To officially become a professional tournament poker player.
To play more live tournaments in Vegas.
To continue my pursuit of reaching fame and being well known in the poker world.

I feel very positive about 2006, as 2005 was a phenomenal year. I've met a lot of great new friends, traveled quite a bit, it was an AWESOME year.

Even if 2006 only equals 2005, it will be fantastic, but I believe it will surpass!!

Happy New Year to EVERYONE!!