I'm a first-time uncle. My nephew, named Oliver (seen above in the arms of his maternal grandmother), was nearly two weeks overdue before making a loud appearance into the world the morning of December 30th, and he was a hefty 10 lbs 7 ounces. Both he and her mother (my younger sister) are doing fine after a stressful delivery and a tense couple of days.
I have to admit, this makes me reconsider my stance not to become a parent (let's ignore all the necessary intermediate steps for that to happen! I'm indulging in sentimentality). I'm very proud of everyone involved.
Sadly, I didn't get to go to the WPBT this year. I had so much fun last year in my first appearance, that I was really gutted that I couldn't make the trip. However, family duties prevented a weekend in Las Vegas.
Oddly enough, I did manage to play some online poker hands and my own personal Ferguson experiment is going well (I've turned $5 into $250 during the past two weeks). I've been steadily crushing the low-stakes mixed games, with some occasional time put in at the micro-stakes PLO tables. Here is an example of the latter, where I actually hit one of many redraws on a nice freeroll opportunity:
In the second hand, I scooped a nice Stud eight-or-better pot (by far my most profitable game in the 7-game mix) and spent five minutes in chat baiting an apoplectic victim who didn't understand why I capped the betting on fourth street vs. multiple opponents ...
Limit Stud H/L
*** 3RD STREET *** Dealt to Noobitronix [4s] Dealt to Lefty_Two3 [Ah] Dealt to DJrabibit [Ad] Dealt to Brizzy23 [3h] Dealt to KGB_05 [8d] Dealt to PirateLawyer [8h 5h] [7d] Brizzy23 is low with [3h] Brizzy23 brings in for $0.05 KGB_05 folds PirateLawyer calls $0.05 - I want to see a flop cheaply with many opponents in the hand Noobitronix folds Lefty_Two3 completes it to $0.20 DJrabibit calls $0.20 Brizzy23 folds PirateLawyer calls $0.15 - I can still see a flop profitably three-handed at this price *** 4TH STREET *** Dealt to Lefty_Two3 [Ah] [7c] Dealt to DJrabibit [Ad] [6c] Dealt to PirateLawyer [8h 5h 7d] [6h]- boom! time to get busy with a disguised OESD; this is now quite a scooping hand opportunity Lefty_Two3 bets $0.20 DJrabibit calls $0.20 PirateLawyer raises to $0.40 Lefty_Two3 raises to $0.60 DJrabibit calls $0.40 PirateLawyer raises to $0.80 Lefty_Two3 calls $0.20 DJrabibit calls $0.20 *** 5TH STREET *** Dealt to Lefty_Two3 [Ah 7c] [Jc] Dealt to DJrabibit [Ad 6c] [3d] Dealt to PirateLawyer [8h 5h 7d 6h] [Ks] Lefty_Two3 checks DJrabibit checks PirateLawyer bets $0.40 Lefty_Two3 calls $0.40 DJrabibit calls $0.40 *** 6TH STREET *** Dealt to Lefty_Two3 [Ah 7c Jc] [As] Dealt to DJrabibit [Ad 6c 3d] [9s] Dealt to PirateLawyer [8h 5h 7d 6h Ks] [4h] - Eureka! Lefty_Two3 bets $0.40 DJrabibit calls $0.40 PirateLawyer raises to $0.80 Lefty_Two3 calls $0.40 DJrabibit calls $0.40 *** 7TH STREET *** Dealt to PirateLawyer [8h 5h 7d 6h Ks 4h] [Qh]- bonus flush! Lefty_Two3 checks DJrabibit checks PirateLawyer bets $0.40 Lefty_Two3 calls $0.40 DJrabibit has 15 seconds left to act DJrabibit folds *** SHOW DOWN *** PirateLawyer shows [Qh 8h 7d 6h Ks 4h 5h] a flush, Queen high, for high and 8,7,6,5,4, for low Lefty_Two3 mucks PirateLawyer wins the high pot ($3.63) with a flush, Queen high PirateLawyer wins the low pot ($3.62) with 8,7,6,5,4 *** SUMMARY *** Total pot $7.63 | Rake $0.38 Seat 1: Lefty_Two3 mucked [Kh Kc Ah 7c Jc As Tc] - HI: two pair, Aces and Kings Seat 2: DJrabibit folded on 7th St. Seat 3: Brizzy23 folded on 3rd St. Seat 4: KGB_05 folded on 3rd St. Seat 5: PirateLawyer showed [Qh 8h 7d 6h Ks 4h 5h] and won ($7.25) with HI: a flush, Queen high; LO: 8,7,6,5,4 Seat 6: Noobitronix folded on 3rd St.
I'm sure those of you who went to Vegas had a lot more fun than I did, but I had to make lemonade with the lemons I was dealt. I'm anxiously awaiting all the trip reports to hear about all the debauchery I missed out on.