Im Sailing!! Kinda...

The last thing I heard my friend Rich say was, "dont let nature beat you" That sunday we decided to motor sail from Great Neck to Glen Cove LI, N.Y. and back. When we arrived at our destination on this beautiful Sunday afternoon, Rich and I had challenged ourselves to swim from the boat all the way to the shore, which is a debatable quarter mile or so... I was three quarters of the way there and something seemed wrong. I took a quick look back to check if Rich was on my tail, and he was no where to be found. After a few seconds I saw his hand flapping and the top of his head bobbing about thirty yards back. I twisted my body quickly to make a U turn, and began swimming back to help. Apparently Richie swallowed quite a bit of water, lost his buoyancy mid way through the swim. He was quite shaken up, so I helped him tread back to the vessel from which we came. Climbing up the drop ladder, Richie then began to vomit off the side of the boat, repeatedly into the already polluted Long Island Sound. Thats when my friend Gill told me about "Sound Sickness" lol.... apparently "The bacteria in the water cannot penetrate the skin, but if swallowed, can produce flu-like symptoms." I've convinced myself I have a very mild case of sound sickness = ) , And as for Richie, I think he's fine now, think I should give him a call. Just for the record, the story is not about my father Richie, but a dear friend, and thanks again Gill for yet another successfull trip...

This is the first hole at Alpine CC. We started here,
but Mitch and I didnt play the second hole or the
ninth for that matter, but we made an expert play
by jumping to #14 and playing out to the clubhouse.
My par put went in and out of the cup from about
3 feet away on the 18th. I made up for it however
when i sunk a miracle 20 footer to save par on the
15th- big ups to mitch for the profesional read.

* * *

The weirdest part of the day was when an older woman asked us to play through. Also mind you that Mitch and I were in the center of the fairway at this point of a par 4, ready to take our approach shots into the green. The lady screams from the woamns tees, and for some reason we let her play through. She hit a pretty good drive right past us, but then she blew it. She duffed her next, I'd say, four shots, none of which went over ten yards. She then proceded to pick up her ball in embarrasment and move on to the next hole. "That turned into quite a disaster" lol!

* * *

Also had lunch that day at Ben's Deli with Grandma Hannah. Coincindently, during the meal she say something to the effect of. "I read this weekly insert in The Times called "Circuits" and I was reading about this new thing called a Blog... What is a Blog?" Its not the easiest thing to describe. I told her that a blog has many uses, some that I probably dont know about,.. But I use it as basically an online journal.

* * *

Big ups- Lee Podolsky's bachelor party and Phelipe

GG DIDDY!

After Puff Daddy busted out of the first annual Celibrity

Poker Tournament, I happen to catch a great shot of him

watching E-dog taking down a crucial pot. The first round

of the tournament was a "shootout" which means that only

one player advances from each starting table. We started

with 3,000 in chips and blinds started at 100-200, doubling

every 15 minutes. I tend to agree with E-dog when he said

"Its kind of a crap-shoot" My plan was to play only premium

hands even if I had to wait a round or two without playing.

I can only blame myself for the following happenstance, but

I dont think the sub-par dealer helped at all. There was a lot

of commotion during the tournament: Celebrities, Papparazzi,

Body guards, ETC... So I was a little distracted when I made

my first mistake. The dealer says "$600 to you" So I threw

out $600, thinking it was my big blind. It checked around to

the real big blind, and when he checked, I realized what happened.

The flop came out

K-J-10

At this point I still havent looked at my cards, but it didn't really

matter when the little blind went all in for about another $1,200.

The big blind folded, and I disgustingly look at my hand...

-A-10-

Wow, i thought... I definately had the best hand pre-flop... I

decided that if i called, I had outs to win if my opponent had a

made hand, and if he was drawing, then I had him beat with a

pair, I was just a little dissapointed that I had no control over

the one and only hand I played in the entire tourney. My

opponent turned over a pair of jacks, and they held up. My

remaining $600 went into the pot for my big blind on the next

hand. Then I started to streak... I hit Kings full, on the big blind

to tripple up, and then moved in with -A-2- to double up.

I won another small pot, and i found myself with over $12,ooo in

chips. "Wow, i am chip leader just like that..." I thought to myself,

I had a good chance of winning the table. Then, I get -J-J- with

one limper. (blinds were still 300-600) So i make it $2,500 to go,

and I get re-popped for another 7,500 all-in bet from one of the

four guys remaining at my table. I folded my jacks face up, and he

showed his black aces. Of coarse I was happy with the fold, but I

still lost a lot of important chips, because the blinds immediatedly

jumped to 500-1000. A few hands later I get -J-J- again, this

time in the little blind. There was one limper, and I pushed for my

last $4,000 chips. The big blind folded and the limper called my

all in with -A-9-. I was good, until he spiked his Ace on the river.

I finished in fourth place at my table, and E-dog the same, respectively.

I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN...

This picture says it all... I should have

known that the guy to my left, was going

to take all of my chips. He was giving the

finger to the "thousands" i had just won in the

prevoious hand. It was one of the biggest

hands i have ever doubled up on...

I limp in the pot with

-K-K-

and it worked perfectly...

Ethan raised to 500, E-dog called, and

I make it 1500 to go, with two callers,

Flop comes

Q-K-8

rainbow

I bet out on the flop, and E-dog was

the only one left to beat. I put him on a

straight draw after he called my bet,

maybe because it was the only

hand that could possibly beat me. The turn.

-Q-

When E-dog pushed, I "insta-called"

of coarse, showing down my full house

over his set of queens...

When the hand was over E-dog said

"I thought i was a genius when that queen came out"

I had the table dominated, and...then...

"I donked off all of my chips..."

I did the classic three moves that

that lost me over 42,000 in chips. First was

Re-raising with nothing before the flop, and

then getting out-played with the best hand.

Then, risking half my stack on an obvious coin

flip and losing with -7-7- , and then calling an

all-in with a small Ace. So, everyone raise a glass...

This one goes out to anyone that has ever blown

an enourmous chip lead in a poker tournament.

-F-U-