Truckin' Is Out
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Truckin' - June 2009, Vol. 8, Issue 6
Welcome back to the birthday issue of Truckin' as we turn seven years old this month!
1. Pink Dragons by Paul McGuireCharles was skeptical and accused me of being a CIA or DEA agent, not to mention the evil offspring of George Bush. There was a strong anti-American sentiment in New Zealand and Charles epitomized that angst. When I unfurled a wad of multi-colored Australian dollars, he abruptly ended his rant and asked me how much I needed... More
2. Holly of Houston: Google Me! by Johnny Hughes Holly was a former board member of Houston's chapter of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). She had donated $140,000 to the Texas Strippers for PETA tour. Her frequent comments in Texas newspapers were strongly anti-gun... More
3. I'll Read Your Madness Later by May B. Yesno The agent freezes; there on that glorious bed lay two figures. The face and name was banging a woman. The woman clawing gently on the back of the face and name, eyes silted in pleasure, yet aware enough to look at the agent coming through the doorway... More
4. The Collector by Milton T. Burton He was questioned by two detectives from the Organized Crime Squad---one older, tall, thin and gray haired; the other younger, short, thickset and bald. Raymond Chandler said they always came paired that way. But the old man didn't read Chandler... More
5. Morrison's Lament By Michael Friedman Society no longer values the divinity of the self, so I find myself amiss all of the technology, discontent, and terror and although it takes only a moment to imagine that I am free from the nastiness that the universe leaves on my lips with every gut-wrenching soul kiss... More
What a Long Strange Trip It's Been...
From the Editor's Laptop:
The June edition of Truckin' marks the seventh anniversary of this monthly rag. I'm honored to have a stellar cast of writers this month including veterans Johnny Huges, Milton T. Burton, and May B. Yesno. And Michael Friedman makes his debut with something inspired by the Lizard King.
Please spread the word about Truckin' and increase your karma tenfold! Tell your friends and family and co-workers about your favorite stories. The contributors write for free and you'll be doing me a huge favor by helping get their name out and about.
If anyone is interested in being added to the mailing list, or perhaps you are interested in writing for a future issue, then feel free to contact me.
Seven years. Hard to think that we're still alive and kicking despite the many instances when I wanted to pull the plug and give up forever. I have to sincerely thank the writers for sharing their blood work. Thanks for taking this leap of faith with me.
And a special thanks goes out to you, the reader, for your loyalty and support over the years.
Be good,
McG
"Do one thing and do it the best you can." - Harry Snyder, founder of In-N-Out Burger
posted by GaryC @ 3:32 PM,
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Thoughts
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Since it is now just 3 short weeks away, I give you the tourney structure. A tad different this year as we will be doing the tourney at the lake place, rather than our house in the city. If you need directions, give a holler.
2009 OKIE-VEGAS TOURNAMENT STRUCTURE
SATURDAY, JULY 11TH, 3:00 P.M.
$40 BUY-IN – 5000 CHIPS
ONE SINGLE $20 ADD-ON OR RE-BUY(during the first hour) – 2500 CHIPS
I treat the add-on/re-buy as a save just in case somebody takes a horrific beat during the first hour, they are able to get back into the tournament, however, after the first hour, you may use it as an add-on after 60 minutes (three levels) if you haven’t rebought –OR- you can re-buy immediately and sit down with 7500 chips. Your choice.
BLIND LEVELS
10-20 - 20 MINUTES
25-50 - 20 MINUTES
40-80 - 20 MINUTES
Break-color up
50-100 - 20 MINUTES
100-200 - 20 MINUTE
200-400 - 20 MINUTES
400-800 - 20 MINUTES
Break-color-up
500-1000 - 20 MINUTES
1000-2000 - 20 MINUTES
2000-4000 - 20 MINUTES
4000-8000 - 20 MINUTES
I fully expect the tournament to be over at this point, but if not, we will continue on probably capping the blind levels at 4K-8K. I expect to have one table of players and will decide on the payout structure after the first hour when I have a total amount in the prize pool. It will probably be something in this neighborhood though:
1st – 60%
2nd – 25%
3rd - 15%
The cash game to follow will be $.50-$1 NL with a max buy-in of $100.
If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to call me on my cell phone, if you have it, or shoot me an email at work. That address can be found here on the blog.
Until next time, I fold.
G
posted by GaryC @ 3:22 PM,
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Boog And Me
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Here's my boy Boog last January. He was still a bit small for those big old ducks, but hopefully we'll have him out there in the lake this year, fetching them up.
posted by GaryC @ 3:27 PM,
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Agenda + A Bad Beat Story
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Well, after few emails back and forth yesterday, it appears we have settled on a "loose" agenda for the upcoming Okie-Vegas 4.
In case you are unaware, the dates for OV4 are July 8th through the 12th, right here in fabulous Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. That's in the "flyover state" for those of you unfamiliar with our little part of the country.
Wednesday will be day one of the arrival(s). As of now, I only know of one arrival, that being Kat from the Great White North. The tentative plan for Wednesday will be for anyone interested to meet up at Oossuuu's house on Wednesday evening for a little cookout, pool-time, maybe a few Keystone Lights and then to play the Mookie. No live broadcast this year as Buddy and Jo are busy planning their impending nuptials, so they unfortunately cannot attend. Perhaps we can hook up through the miracle of the interwebby, girlie chat thingy though and supply a bit of drunken humor.
Thursday will bring a trip to Norman, America, home of the fabulous Miss Maudie and the now-annual trip to Ozzie's for chicken fried steak that is bigger than your head. There have been enough bloggers make this trip and enough pictures posted regarding this, if you look hard enough, you can find them, but suffice it to say, it is so big that they have to bring your side orders on a totally different plate. Ummm, okra.
Following this excursion will be an immediate 2 hour nap, er, I mean a one-table SNG at Maudie's house. I've been told that there might be some desert involved, as well as a few Keystone Lights to boot.
Friday, and this is the part that is still "loosely" planned, we are thinking of a road trip to Okarche, Oklahoma, population +/- 1100. now, you might be asking yourself, what in the world could be worth driving an hour out into the country for? Fried Chicken, that's what. Eischen's Bar, which bills itself as Oklahoma's oldest bar, is actually a restaraunt in this little town and they serve Fried Chicken that is famous state-wide.
You don't go in and order a 2-piece meal here though, it's a whole chicken for everybody and it's well worth the trip as the leftovers that you take home are as good or better than they were the day you ate them.
After the Eischen's trip is still a bit up in the air. I'm waiting to hear from a couple of people regarding attendance and arrival times, but we might be skipping the trip to the lake this year. If not, of course, we will drive straight to the lake after Eischen's and play some poker down there. (and maybe sneak in a trip to the world famous Crows Roost Bar) If we do decide to skip the lake, we'll probably head to the Lucky Star Casino for a while on Friday and sling some chips with the locals there in El Reno.
Saturday is shaping up to be just like every other Saturday in the past. A little barbecue, a little poker, a little karaoke and whole lotta Keystone Light. I'm working now to woo a few local friends into coming over and we will hopefully have a full table for the tournament.
I'm going to change the structure just a bit this year, as last year took 19 hours to play down to the final table and it was entirely too long, so it will be a bit quicker structure. I'm working on that and finalizing the rest of the plans, but if you would like to join us, come on! We'll find a place for you to stay, if need be, and I promise you won't regret making the trip.
--
What do you think about a short post containing some actual poker content? I know, I know, dogs and cats are now officially sleeping together, hell hath frozen over, etc. etc. etc.
I had to tell this story, because I played this hand about as poorly as one can play it and you know what? I sucked out and doubled up! Score one for the donkeys out there. I won't even owe you a dollar because the bad beat was administered by me, not against me.
First off, a little background. I was tilting due to a couple of 60-40 spots playing PLO that, needless to say, went the way of the 40%, as is often the case, what, 2 out of 5 times or so, right? Anyway, I had an old site slide me $10 free money last week and I had managed to get that up to about $25 and I jumped on a .25/.50 NL table, shortstacked, with my whole roll. It was 6-max, so patience was out the window.
I was in the big blind with 4-5 of diamonds, nice little sooted connectors that usually either play very well or are very easy to get away from post-flop. There was a raise to $1.00 ahead of me and everybody else at the table called, so I called too.
Flop was 2-4-6 with one diamond.
With my gutterball, small pair and backdoor flush draw, I forcefully checked. The original bettor bet the near $6 pot and everyone folded around to me. I am hovering over the foldl button when something evil takes over my body and I ship the rest of my chips in with what I believe are 9 outs twice.
This is one of those sites that does not turn over hole cards until the end, giving the loser the opportunity to muck, but they also have the hand replayer so you can go back and see what they had.
When he insta-called, I knew I was going to need some help and here came the help. Diamond on the turn and diamond on the river for runner-runner flush and it wasn't even crubs. I looked back and the opponent had 10-10 and was way ahead of the donkey in the 2 seat.
Oh well, I didn't hang around for the berating. I was already in a bad mood and didn't want to read his insults or type back any of my own, so I checked out, $25 richer. He probably got me tagged with all kinds of flowery names, but he probably won't see me at that table again any time soon.
What a donkey am I!
Until next time, I suck out runner-runner!
G
posted by GaryC @ 3:49 PM,
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So, Who's In?
Thursday, June 04, 2009
Well, here we are one month away from Okie-Vegas 4.
It doesn't seem possible that it is that close. When we (meaning all my smart friends) put the web-site up with the countdown on it, it seemed like it was years away and yet, now, it's just a tad over 30 days. I'm nowhere near ready for it yet, but that should change in the coming weeks.
Right now, it appears that we will have a much smaller group as there are a lot of people that are either still "on the fence" or otherwise tied up in Vegas during the time we will be gathering.
I know that Tragedy and his fiancee will be making the drive in from Texas.
I know that Kat (God bless her) bought her tickets in January and will be flying in to OKC International Airport.
I know that Oossuuu will be joining us locally and perhaps even hosting the Mookie pre-party on Wednesday night. (if not, he'll be joining us at my house for sure)
I am assuming that the fabulous Miss Maudie will be joining us at times for the usual hijinx in and around OKC.
We have one added wrinkle this year. We are still going to eat Chicken Fried Steak bigger than your head at Ozzie's in Norman, perhaps on Wednesday this year, depending on travel schedules. I am going to include a little side trip to Okarche this year, home of Eischen's, Oklahoma's oldest little bar. They serve some tremendous fried chicken down there and it is worth the couple of miles out of the way to stop there and eat.
It is also only about 15 minutes north of one of the casino's here so swinging through either before or after a little poker will work out just fine. It is also sort-of on the way to the lake.
I guess if anyone that I didn't mention is planning the trip, I probably need to know here in the next few weeks. I've heard from many people that "we're gonna try" or "we'd love to" or "we're thinking about it." It's time to get off the fence and make those plans.
I've even been playing a little poker of late, trying to get myself stoked up for the event. Unfortunately, I'm more stoked for the Keystone Lights at the lake than I am about the poker, but you know, that's nothing new either.
Let me know if you have plans to attend, so I have an idea how many to expect. Also, if you've already booked, email me your travel info and I will start my annual airport run spreadsheet.
Until next time, I fold.
G
posted by GaryC @ 5:21 PM,
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