Sunday, December 8, 2013

Last full day of #WPBT 2013

So many memories.  I'm about to start the last day of the 2013 WPBT adventure that started last Thursday. This was the first year I had nothing planned but the tournament. Nothing. The plan was just see what happens and let adventures happen. 


Wow. So far, that plan is worked beyond my wildest imagination. 

Thanks to everyone that organized it. Thanks to everyone that followed the #batsignals. Thanks Short Stacked Shamus, John K. and BJ for letting my dream come true. Guys, this has been one epic weekend. 

I've got a lot to write about. The memory card in my camera is almost full. Actually hoping I have an extra one. Maybe, this has inspired the blogger in me to start again and post. Well, see. There's that whole finding time thing. 

Time to start the last 24 hours and make sure I head home with no regrets. Hope you have a great day!

Monday, August 19, 2013

Because it is 108 days away

Just booked round trip airfare to Las Vegas Nevada Dec 5-9. There's so much more I should be blogging about but there's too many excuses to whine about. Just know, I'm way too excited to be at WPBT this year. Who's joining me?

Thursday, July 4, 2013

Happy Independence Day!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday and remember just how important our independence really is.


Friday, April 19, 2013

I've got some exploring to do

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Superaged spirits: How old is too old for whiskey, gin, and chartreuse? - Slate Magazine

I found this article recently and thought I had to share it with everyone. Having attended a few whiskey tastings in my day and drank a few whisk(e)ys aged 30 and over, a lot of this came as no surprise. While it was fun to drink some aged spirits, I can't say that any of them really blew my socks off. The 30 year Canadian Club comes to mind. While it was indeed expensive and it sure was smooth and oaky, that's about it. No wow. Just "Hm, that's what a $200/bottle whisky tastes like."

Younger rye's are tasty. And 16 - 25 seems to be where Scotch gets awesome. Thoughts? What are your experiences?

We might need to take better notes at whiskey club :)

Superaged spirits: How old is too old for whiskey, gin, and chartreuse? - Slate Magazine:

'via Blog this'

Thursday, February 28, 2013

Just a few more days

The time is drawing ever so close to me heading back to Las Vegas. I fly out Sunday, today is Thursday. Yikes!

As the clock winds down, I'm struck by how different this trip will be from any other trip I've made to Las Vegas. My first visit was almost 17 years ago. OhCountess and I honeymooned in Vegas. Neither of us ever being there before. At the time, I didn't play any poker. It was 1996 and the boom was a ways away. Traveling with the Mrs was awesome. What a fun place to spend our first few days as husband and wife.

The next trip I can remember was a trip my wife won in 2008. By now, I played poker a lot of poker and this blog was up and running. It would appear on May 4, 2008, I posted my first Vegas poker tournament win. Good times.

By winter, the WPBT Winter Gathering was a must. This was my first and I was REALLY nervous. I mean flying 1300 miles to a big town and meeting up with people I never seen in the flesh? There's posts from that trip somewhere on this blog. For those of you there, you'll remember I had OhCountess by my side. While we were waiting to check in at the Imperial Palace (Holy long lines, Batman), I told her to go find the bar with the sign that read "Geisha Bar" and announce herself as OhCountess. Why? She asked...Hehehe, yep, there were hugs waiting for her from strangers. Great times! Oh, and I finished 5th in the blogger private tournament. For those of you scoring at home, that's two Vegas tournaments and two cashes. ;-)

The following year, I was back for WPBT in December. At this point, it's a no-brainer that I'm going to this thing. OhCountess stayed home and I went by myself, which isn't exactly true, I was flying by myself but I was meeting up with 100 or so friends. According to my trip reports, I had a blast. I didn't win or even cash in a tournament and to the best of my recollection, I sucked at the cash games. You can relive the stories here with this link.

WPBT 2010 was a blast again. Back in Las Vegas, much better at the whole travel by myself thing. Hanging out with the crew of bloggers is the best. So many people you proudly call your friend. That trip is chronicled here. But my last longer team, ya, we gots hardware. I seem to remember going pretty deep that year. Last longer bet money sure feels good.

2011. The last time I was in Las Vegas seems so long ago. I wasn't blogging nearly as much, but I think I won a poker tournament that weekend at the IP. I know I won one there sometime. I didn't cash in the WPBT but made it very deep again. Aces cracked by JJ.

2012 - I never went to Las Vegas. The horror. The horror.

Well, this time, I'm going to make the trip because my employer has decided it's a good idea. I fly out of Minneapolis on Sunday. Pick up a rental car and drive to the Hilton Garden. Not really on the strip, which is probably the best for the first few days when I'm supposed to be learning about a complicated medical system. I'm very much looking forward to seeing my fiends that live there: CK, PokerVixen, WriterJen, Dan. Who else lives there?

I've made no concrete plans at this time. When my class is done on Thursday, I switch hotels and move into Bally's. Lightning36 raves about this place. Let's see if it lives up to the hype. I get to bring a checked bag so all of the camera equipment is coming. This whole having a car thing is going to be really new to me. I've never been to Vegas and had a car. Any suggestions for things to do? I have a list but I would LOVE suggestions. Maybe WriterJen will cook something? I'd love to see everyone's pups. Dogs are cool. This trip will definitely be weird without all the bloggers.

Nervous excitement is building rapidly. What have I forgotten to get ready? Am I missing something? Can the clock move faster? Will I survive not seeing my wife and kids for 7 days? What will I get my wife for her birthday (it's March 11 - the day after I get back)? How much exploring will get to do?

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Thursday, February 14, 2013

The wheels are in motion

It's booked. I didn't get to go to the WPBT this year since I was attending some training for work. Maybe they felt bad and decided to sent me to Las Vegas for some other training in its place. Anyone going to be in the area March 7 - 10th? I'll be! Drop me a note if you are. I'll be in classes from Monday to Thursday (March 3-7) so general debauchery are our those days, dinner and photo walks with some light poker action might work however. Just let me know.

It won't be the usual 19 hours of sleep in 5 days I usually do, but...

Friday, February 8, 2013

Bulleit Rye

A smaller crowd this month so I found this on the top shelf at Northwest Liquor at lunch today. Not sure it's really a top shelf whiskey but really was bad at all. Our group tends to like the ryes and this didn't disappoint. A nice grainy flavor with just a very light sweet. The color is really a nice amber.

Some of us also got sample the Winter Warmer from New Glarus Brewing Co. A very tasty scotch ale. I've been missing scotch ales since Sam Adams quit making there's. On the tour of that brewery, I did ask. They ain't making it any time soon. Ugh.

As for the poker, ya, lets not talk about it. Card death with a new guy means I lose with AA vs A6o. Four card flush. Good times.



Thursday, January 24, 2013

Poker news stories

I was skimming through the news in google reader and came across this blurb on PokerListings discussing some cryptic tweets from Kid Poker.

Seriously? The song Arms Wide Open by Creed is too hard to figure out the meaning. Geez guys. Get a pair of big boy pants. The songs about a dude finding out he's going to be a dad. Not that big a mystery. There really are far worse songs to have to endure for 4 minutes. I mean he coulda tweeted a Taylor Swift or Lady Gaga song.

Thanks for the comments!

Cool! There are still people at the other end of this! Heck, even Waffles linked to me from Tao of Fear! (Ok, that link disappeared the same day)

While the name of this blog is OhCaptain Poker, the plan is to not tell wild stories about how I made $8,000,000 playing poker at Zynga poker. Those bastards won't send me the cash. Neither will the jerks over at WSOP Poker. Or for that matter the Pokerist. And no, I will not send you my for real cash. If I have no hope for calculating an ROI, you have no hope of receiving my money. I didn't spend all that time learning how to play poker in the hopes of becoming a winning player to send guaranteed -EV money to a software vendor. Patience and free money bankroll management work just fine.

I just miss playing real poker. My money has been held captive at Full Tilt Poker for 650 days.

I'm not bitter...well...maybe a lot.

But that's also 650 days without playing much poker at all. Being a husband and dad has made the journey to the casino a rare trip. Home games aren't what they used to be and frankly, the time has been hard to come by.

So OhCaptain, what have you been doing?

Remember my kids, OhPrincess1 and OhPrincess2? They have grown like weeds. OhPrincess1 is officially a teenager now. My mentioning her here now in this capacity may have already got me into trouble. Seems teenagers want to control the message. Basically, I can't mention her. OhPrincess2? She's grown into quite the fire cracker. She's got big plans for selling Girl Scout cookies. Need any? Her goal is like 7,000 boxes. Well see.

OhCountess is still the better half. Beautiful as ever. She's gotten a new, more exciting job, she's using that masters degree now. She gave us a scare last year, but that's even looking up.

All in all, it's been pretty good.

One thing I haven't done - 2012 is the first year since, I can't remember, that I attended no big blogger gatherings. There's was a one night meetup with Chilly, Drizz, Rama Rama and others in Minneapolis, but that was it. Frankly, that's a bit of blur, but that's another post, or, um, maybe not.

I can't begin to tell you how it broke my heart to skip Mastodon weekend. I've had an on again off again romance with training and really wanted to go. A series of events and bam. No can do. I had the Kayak airfare alert set up until the day I'd have to leave. Ugh. I just can't miss things like that.

Also in 2012 was a lack of WPBT. Ugh.

2013 is a new year.

On the plus side, I got to hang out with PokahDave in Boston. Might have to share the pictures of that. We got to have several beers together and even introduced our wives. My wife and I were travelling there on trip for her job. It was great! She worked by going to classes all day and I got to go to Fenway and Sam Adams Brewing Co. It was quite awesome to hang with another beer lover.

There's probably more, but I'll get to it later. Maybe. If the stars continue to say aligned, I'll be in Las Vegas in March. I'm trying not to get too excited. It's a work thing and someone could still change their mind. It won't be me, I'm can't wait to go!

Hope all is well with you.

Monday, January 21, 2013

How's it hangin'?

I miss this blog. Anyone still out there?

I have been playing just a little poker, but not much. With the demise of online and/or my lack of desire to leave money in the wind, free poker is just so, um, ugh.

Over New Years Eve weekend, I logged 3 straight nights of casino poker. For the first time, I played $2-$6 spread limit. Odd game. On the 3rd night I think I had it figured out, but it wasn't enough to erase the "Learning Tax" of the previous two nights. Well, there's the learning the new game and a seriously rusty poker table player.

Bourbonators is still a nice part of my life. That blog has had a few more posts lately. We will be celebrating our 10th anniversary this year.

I think the thing I miss most about blogging is the writing and expressing myself. It would be good for my soul to have a writing outlet again. There's a chance I'm going to be in Las Vegas sometime this spring. I'll let you know if it actually happens. Long story.

Leave a comment if this reaches you. Might be fun to get this stuff going again!

Laters