I survived the AlCantHang experience

I'm still buzzing (not from the alcohol...) about the mini-blogger get together yesterday. Myself, AlCantHang, Chris Halverson, and Pokeramarama met up at the Prairie Pub on Sunday afternoon to watch the Vikes self-destruct vs. Al's Eagles.

Chris was gracious enough to pick me up at home for this occasion (I know I said thank you 15 million times but he it is again THANK YOU CHRIS!) and on the way I thought I'd bring a little snack for Al from Krispy Kremes. We chatted about my new house that I'd recent bought (and moving to next month whoowhoo!!) . Chris had mentioned how he's got family (a brother if I recall correctly) that lives very close to him, whereas I'll be 2 blocks from my parents.

We arrived at the Prairie Pub around 11:00 am at the same time Al and his two friends get there. This was no ordinary bowling pub either, they had about 9 pool tables, big screen TV, about 12-15 smaller TVs in every direction. Excellent spot of venue to view the game, AlKnowsHisBars. The bartender was a very friendly guy and explained the $1 shot deals. Apple Pucker for the Eagles Scoring, Purple Pucker for the Vikes (Al described the taste as Welch's Grape Jelly, I agreed). Since I'm not a fan of straight shots of alcohol (a.k.a SoCo), I opted for the collector Vikes glass with $2 refills of Miller products.

Chad from Pokeramarama joined us around the start of the game. Ah, yes the Vikes game. Impending doom on the TV screen as we watched Culpepper make a couple of bad throws, a couple of plays/calls don't go our way, and the Vikes slog to a 27-14 defeat. Al was talking up how big a Pittsburgh/Philly Super Bowl party would be. It was sad to see the Vikes lose like that, I thought they came out flat and stayed flat. Of course a couple of plays would have turned the game around drastically but it wasn't meant to be. During a game, Al happened to find the only other on-line poker player in the bar besides us four (ESP?). I can't remember his name but he was a friendly guy in a personalize Vikes jersey like mine and mentioned his affection for Pokerroom.com (which I'll be trying out as soon as this current round of bonus whoring is done). He said there's a poker chip set under the bar if we'd like to play...

So, we started up in a little SnG between the 5 of us with $10 a piece and winner take all. I'm fuzzy on the hands but I'll recount what I can...

I was the dealer, Al sitting on my left (GREAT!!, hope you catch the sarcasm), Pokerroom dude, Pokeramarama, and Chris H. on my right.

- Chris cripples and knocks out the Pokerroom guy with a turned straight taking down his flopped top pair.

- At the 15/30 level I make it 120 to go with AA in the hole and Al starts counting up his chips. At this time I'm a little "woozy" from the several beers, shots of "Pucker", and a hard shot of Rumple Minze (everyone else had a SoCo shot...). Still dazed I finally figure out WHY Al was counting up his chips, he was going all-in! I slowly think about it, and kept staring at this blonde in a tight velvet top with her black bra straps showing... yes I got off track from seeing a Minnesota woman in something less then a full Parka and snowpants but then remembered my hole cards and causally called. Al flips over A5o, but the board was no help and I doubled up.

- I believe Chris was crippled vs. Rama when his turned inside straight draw came through. As I said things were very fuzzy for me and my lack of tolerance (I prayed I'd sober up before going home to the wife that I promised I wouldn't get drunk)

- Heads up with me and Rama... I hit TWO full houses, tried to slowplay twice, won the blinds, whoo whoo! I had a massive chip lead but Rama came back full force. Two hands in a row he doubled up on me to bring it to a virtual dead heat. Then came....

- THE HAMMERS!! Yes, two hands in a row I caught the Hammer. First one, I made it 150 to go for Rama at the 25/50 level, he laid it down. But the second time he raised me and since it was a blogger table I felt confident with having the best hand in poker (are you listening Taylor????) to push all-in. 72o vs. Rama's A6s.... flop a 9 - 8 (I think) - and... a 2!!! RAWR! Turn and the river show 9s for a full house!

After the game was done I'd gotten a round for the blogger folks (a small token since the tab was taken care of by Chris). And saw the time as it was getting late and that I should get going. If this get together was any indication of how the Vegas blogger trip was, I can't tell you how comforting it was to be around these guys. The generosity, the friendliness (including Al's friend who confide in me that he once had hair longer then Al's!), and of course the love of this game we play. Being able to chat about poker and hear Al's stories about the Vegas and Bahama trips made me glad that I had an understanding wife to not question me meeting a bunch of guys that she'd never met (and gave the green light for the next Vegas blogger tourney!!).

Thank you again guys for the great time, and I sincerely hope we meet up again in the near future (next time Chris, I'm buying you a couple of rounds at least!). Thanks for reading :)