Happy 2006!

I spent the dawning of the new year asleep on the couch next to our Gordon Setter, Angel. No marital distress: my wife and the boys went to the mountains north of G-Vegas to be with her parents while I worked yesterday and today. I did get in some poker yesterday on FullTilt, which is new for me. I'm working off my 100% sign-up bonus, which is an absolute no-brainer. Ended up down $100 for December online and up around $1,300 or so live.

We'll have our neighbors over for our annual New Year's dinner this afternoon. We don't ask them over every year, then ask them at the last minute. In the South, New Year's dinner is the following: BBQ ribs and/pulled pork, greens (either turnip or collard), black-eyed peas, corn bread, and rice. The greens are for financial fortune for the new year, and some folks put a dime in which is +EV for the person who finds it (but -EV if they don't find it until the next day...).

I have my proper jumper from London (sweater) over my Bellagio cool Nike collarless stretchy burgundy t-shirt. I got to watch some poker over the weekend: the Tournament of Champions, the Monte Carlo Millions, the 1993 and 1994 WSOP Main Event, the 2004 US Poker Open/Championships at the Taj. I've seen the last one before, but I had forgotten what a brutal, brutal beat D'Agostino caught vs. Hoyt Corkins. Hoyt is in the small blind with 78o or something and goes all-in when it's folded to him. Dags calls with some pocket pair like TT or JJ I think. This was a stupid steal for Hoyt as he could have done the same with less, and Dags had been a monster chip leader only to get these brutal flops when he was ahead all day, so he'd lost like half his chips to that point. Flop comes 77x, then a 7 on the turn for quads. He was absolutely stupified, counting out chips then finally just shoving his stacks at Hoyt, who was to his right. He then is short-stacked with KK and watches two players raise and re-raise in front of him with JJ and QQ. Flop comes QJx, and he's sent packing.

The Tournament of Champions was some amazing play. Hellmuth is an absolute diva, and I can't see how anyone can be in his corner. He's great to be sure, but he is risk-averse and would rather outplay than outwit. It makes a player like Hoyt particularly dangerous, who is the poster child of the Sklansky school of all-in-put-the-pressure-on-the-other-guy-poker. I also saw the Tony G/Surinder Sunar WPT Paris for the first time. Tony G is a couple of orders of magnitude worse than Matusow or Hellmuth. This guy is beyond unacceptable: I would assume he would have a high likelihood of taking a beating if he pulled his shenanigans (sic?) on Vegas dirt. Or the AC, where it would be cheaper to hire someone to conduct the beating, I assume.

Time to focus on my final report, get it printed, get a bit to eat, get the ribs, get the groceries and the flowers, and welcome my beautiful bride and the boys back home. For you slugs with a special someone out there: let this be the year you start bringing home flowers for no reason. It's +EV and a no-brainer to boot.