AimlesslyChasingAmy

About a week and a half ago, I went somewhere I had never been before.  I had been curious about it for some time, but I had been a little intimidated about venturing into that part of town.  Finally my need and interest outweighed my apprehension.  I read somewhere that they opened at 10:00am and I decided to get in on the early action, before the “staff” was too played out.  As I pulled into the parking lot, I could feel my heart beating.  Outside, the only signs in English were to inform me that my firearms weren’t welcomed inside; all the rest were in Chinese.  When I walked inside the tinted glass doorway, I was greeted by a giant incense burning Buddha.  The Asian woman behind the desk looked at me curiously as she printed out a small ticket and handed it to me.  In broken English she asked, “You know what to do?  You do this before?”  I nodded yes but asked, “I can choose any one, right?”  She said, “Yes.  Any one that isn’t busy.”  I walked through the partially curtained entranceway.  I know this will sound stereotypical, but they all looked alike to me.  I finally picked one, basically at random; still clutching the small ticket in my hand.

So began my early voting experience at the grocery store in Chinatown.  Every election, my brother is fond of asking me whether I’m voting for the Turd Sandwich or the Giant Douche.  Thankfully, I thought my choices a little more palatable this year.  On Tuesday night, I drove over to the elementary school cafeteria to wait in line with 248 other Democrats to vote in the caucus.  Usually the nominees are set in stone long before Texans get their due, so this was actually the first caucus I ever participated in.  Our precinct caucus results: Obama 65%, Clinton 35%.

In other heads up matches, Chris Ferguson took down the NBC Heads Up Poker Championship.  This was good news as it spared readers from my planned Susan Lucci analogy in the recap had Ferguson ended up the bridesmaid again.  Of course the surprise of the event was Orel Hershiser’s defeat of Ted Forrest, Allen Cunningham, and Freddy Deeb to make in into the Quarterfinals.  Heads up is a different animal than table play and I have to believe that Hershiser’s pitching foundation (the pitcher being the consummate heads-up player in baseball) was a key to his success in this format.  I’ve already written about the benefits of thinking like a Roshambo player when playing heads up; advice wildbill gave me years ago.

While I bubbled last Wednesday in the home game tourney, this week I managed to squeak into fourth place; aided in no small way by Kevin’s double elimination of the 6th and 7th place players.  I think I am officially “even” at the home game.  I am also essentially breakeven in online play.  Almost exactly a year ago, I had $250 in my PokerStars account.  After my money finish two weeks ago in the “Saturdays with Pauly” event and a little cash game play, my bankroll is now $253.75.  How pathetic is that?  I neither qualify as a cult failure or a winning player.  Apparently, I pay a great rake. 

I’m happy to report that Shaniac has weighed in this week with a riveting report from the WPT Invitational.  And in other earth shattering news, I’ve started to shop around for the Green Monster’s replacement.  The Monster still runs great; 14 years old, 105K miles, although admittedly paint-challenged (green being more of a suggestion than a color at this point).  But I am probably going to need a car in Vegas this summer and I’m not sure the girl has too many more problem-free cross country trips left in her.  I doubt I’ll pull the trigger for at least a month, but I am a little verklempt by our pending separation. 

Today’s pictures are from the WSOP Heads Up event:
a) Dealers at the Ready
b) PearlJammer vs. Strassa2
c) Chan vs. Woolf
d) Hats Up: Tilly vs. James
e) Duke vs Bonomo (late add - forgot I had this one)