You Know Have A....

...Gambling problem

when you go to watch your friend play softball and start making over/under prop bets in the stands. My weekend started out innocently enough as my wife prepared the yard and garage for the yearly selling of junk at LOW LOW PRICES!!!! Another wise known as a garage sale, its a way to make enough cash for a dinner or two (if you're dining at McDonald's that is...). But, due to an error by the local paper her sale got listed in the antiques section of the paper. Granted my Transformers t-shirt from the 80s could go as priceable aged garments, the listing did not help with foot traffic. We got about half of the normal amount of people to buy our second hand wares. Its good for the Lupus foundation because they'll get a bigger then normal donation of clothes this year :)

When the garage sale was done for the day, the ladies went golfing, leaving me and my brother-in-law Burnsie to baby-sitting duties. Instead of sitting around the house and drinking the only beer left in the house (Mich Ultra *shudder*), we decided to go cheer on our friend BJ at the Dudley Softball Classic. In years past we would head straight to the beer garden and grab a souvenir mug for $8 and get sloshed with $2 refills. But, we're responsible parents now and we at least shared the mugs with our kids. I kid :) BJ's squad got beat badly by a top ranked team from out-of-town and during the 30-7 drubbing I turned to another friend and proposed this bet "7 runs over/under by the team on 'roids next inning", he took the under and I took his money when the other team decided a 5 run lead wasn't enough and scored 18 from 12-7 lead.

... Drinking problem

when you find yourself wishing a quick and painless death over the hangover you've been dealt. I don't get it, I can drink half liter or more of Captain Morgan and Coke and be fine in the morning but drink just seven Sam Adams Summer Ales and wake up wishing there was a 12 gauge nearby to take away the pain. I had a great time throwing horseshoes and playing a quick SnG with the boys but I wasn't drunk. If I'm going to suffer hangover that bad I'd like to at least get drunk! Not to mention I drank a good three gallons of water/juice/milk the next day and I'm still thristy this morning. Maybe I'll need to consult the Duke of Drinking should I ever insist on this type of behavior again.

... Horseshoe stuck up your ass

when you win your first three exacta bets at the races. I dropped by Canterbury on Sunday afternoon (Chad were you there? I looked all over for ya) after the hangover headache was at a tolerable level and Little Drizz had a long enough nap. Wow, three bets and three wins. Thanks BG for the tips you emailed, especially the one about watching the odds near post time. Gold. I wasn't a high-roller but walking away with +$65 is definitely +EV. Beautiful weather, a fun time with the wife and little one, and some poker. Yes, there's a card club connected to the racetrack (or is it the other way another?). Between races I'd sneak in to take in some of the action. This was the lightest I've ever seen the track for nearly five years, there were actually open tables and the list was no more then a five minute wait. I saw the new auto-shufflers being used, very nice, can't wait to try em out. The play was about as expected, somewhere between bad and stupid. I don't like to berate other players, but when you cap the turn and river and flip up a busted straight draw, then argue for the next five minutes that you won the hand over a full house and a nut flush, its time to consider that Three Card Poker game in the back room. Or please go grab my wife and tell her you're going to pay our next mortgage payment and let me play (by the way... this was a $6-$12 game that this occurred at).

After booking a win at the track, why not book a win online? A third and a second on two $20 SnGs when I tucked in the wife and little one gave this dad a perfect ending to a wonderful Father's Day. I also dabbled in the $3/$6 O8 game at UB. My draws didn't come in, but I was more excited to see that I can play at this level and I'm not over my head competition wise. Too often players bet their unsuited/no low high pocket pair way too hard. I know I said I'd $4/$8 but I'd like to try out this level for a bit since it looked very profitable even for this break-even player.

Thanks for dropping by, now go here and check out my first "major" purchase with my poker winnings. Now I can rock to Queen, Metallica, and Clint Black while serving my cube monkey time. Have a good Monday folks... oh make sure you're checking out Pauly (are we on for the last longer prop bet?) and The Prof's WSOP updates, and Otis soon.... charmed life these folks lead.