"that's lemur"

My beautiful underutilized table. I had it custom made over a year ago by a local ATL company, Big Slik Poker. I can't find their website or I'd pimp them (EDIT: I was able to hunt them down, so you can go to their site). I decided against cup holders (two beer spills to date by guests), but I do like the race track alot. Billiard felt. You can see the chairs in the background, which came from my office. Adjustable, lean backable (better than the Bellagio). Now if I can just fill all the seats...

First, a few points of interest. NY Times has an article about the demise of the $5 blackjack table in Atlantic City, created by the-- surprise!--increase in Hold Em. A great video from some Georgia State students filming their act of civil disobedience, going 55MPH on I-285 in the ATL. Felicia Lee has the second of a two-part post on the demise of Stud. Seven card stud used to be poker along with five card draw. Read both parts of her post, and it will definitely get you itching to expand your horizons a bit--then find a $0.25/0.50 stud table! Head to ESPN and go down (can't figure out any way but to go down to the videos) to the video of Jason McElwain, the autistic basketball team manager for a high school outside Rochester. Jason gets to suit up for the final game and enters with a little over four minutes left in the game. Even girls will shed tears after watching (for us guys, it should be somewhere between Brian's Song and calling the all-in with your 66 on a board of 7453A only to have some chump roll 68o). I'm not quite sure what Blogniscient is, but Closet has been in the Top Ten of Poker Blogs all week, so it must be some sort of brilliance measurement analytics site. Compliments of Paul Phillips, the sickest marital agreement in the history of the US found on Smoking Gun. In WPT Bay 101 Shooting Stars tourney, David Williams has made the final table on a sick run, which included a donkified suckout Wednesday on Allen Cunningham. Williams goes all-in on a board of KsJs9s, Cunningham calls with KJ0, Williams has QdJd, and he sucks out the T. Instead of walking to the rail, he's at the final table in 5th chip position (down from chip leader late yesterday).

I'm not sure why I'm spending time on FullTilt, although I've built my $70 into $300 playing $2/4 and trolling away at my stud experiment. Lost $32.50 as I was leaving, sitting at a NLHE, limping with KsQs/calling small raise. Flop comes Qxx, and the guy bets $4/I raise $10/he goes all-in for the rest of my $9. AA. I do admire you guys who can consistently beat NLHE cash games--I can't at any level and have really bad behaviors (playing scared, waiting for monsters, etc.).

Down 27 pounds on Atkins since mid-December. Walking around with a dialysis machine is a bit of a chore, but I'll take it (Atkins supposedly damages kidneys fyi). I'm not sure what the weekend holds for play. It's absolutely gorgeous here, 55 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. I do need to put in a full session some time. I've got a very busy week still ahead, with two proposals to complete, a packed week next week. I've got to find stock photos for a consumer print ad campaign that the client has decided has to be produced in a week when we've been waiting for their product to be shot. Concepts we showed over a year ago, and I have no idea where the parts that we used for the comp are. I may skip out of a Vegas trip week after next with this client as soccer starts the same weekend. I have to see. I do still need to fire this client and either shut down the advertising/marketing part of what I do or shut the entire thing down and get a job. I have client who broached a VP job which only paid $XXX,000. His number was fairly close to what I was making five years ago. It is a continual challenge to stay disciplined within myself, to measure my success in my own terms. For most of us or most men, our salary and title are two key yardsticks to measure where we are on the totem pole. I am also plagued with revisionist history and what-if's, not to the point of depression but at least self loathing.

Last poker note: raise with the Hammer in soft, tight games. I did so UTG, blinds folded to me, I show the Hammer, then get paid off by five people with KK three hands later. Like clockwork. Also had a nice payoff after winning two hands. I raise in early position with KhJd, with a with a re-raise and a call. Flop comes Tc6dQd (bet/call/call), 8s on turn (bet/raise/I call/call), Ad (bet/I just call/fold). 88 gets taken down by my straight. Initial three-better then chats, "Keep raising with that junk, lamer." My reply, "That's lemur."

gl at the tables this weekend.