Today's The Big Day!

At some point today, I will get a phone call from my wife. Although my wife could let me know that my chip set arrived in the mail (at least I think it's a chip set - not sure yet), the call will most likely be about the keys to our new house. Today, my wife and I become homeowners.

That's right! Downpayment has been made, all the papers have been signed, and everyone, from the bankers to the real estate agents, have been paid.

Today, it's our turn to get something back. The 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath, fully finished basement slice of suburban heaven is finally ours.

However, I do have some poker and blackjack stuff to discuss before I shift into homeowner mode later today...

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After this past weekend, I've managed to fully recoup all the money I pulled out of the bankroll to purchase a new camcorder. Partly blackjack, partly poker - everything seemed to work alright.

Friday night, my wife, MrV and I went out to grab a bite to eat and watch Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. I thought the movie was pretty good. However, there were a few things I didn't like:

• Captain Jack Sparrow seemed a little different than in the first movie - a little more "evil", somehow.


• Keira Knightley's story line and character were both a crappy this time round.


• The first hour of the movie was a little disjointed and took a little too long to pull the movie and the characters together. Plus, a little Jack Sparrow Captain Jack Sparrow goes a long way

Lest you think otherwise, I did enjoy the movie quite a bit. Things that I liked:

• Davey Jones was cool! The actor playing Davey Jones is the same guy who played Viktor in Underworld (Bill Nighy). He plays a mighty good bad guy!


• Special effects were mind-bogglingly great! There is not a single sequence in the movie where you can spot the difference between live actor and CG stunt double.


• The movie has a lot of good, tense action sequences.


• There are a lot of funny scenes, although the first movie was much funnier at times.

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On Saturday, I noticed an e-mail I'd received from Party Poker. They were offering me a 15% reload bonus up to $75 with a 10x raked hands requirement. Remembering that the $1/$2 FL tables at Party were insanely fast for clearing bonuses, I decided to reload for the maximum.

It only took me about 16 table hours to clear all the raked hands. Lately, I've found myself able to play 3 tables at a time on my small-ish laptop screen. All in all, I was up just over $25! That's right - I actually made money playing $1/$2! Throw in the $75 bonus and I cleared the bonus at about $20 for every hour that I played.

I also managed to finish my $100 InterCasino reload bonus as well. I started playing 5 hands at a time to speed things up a bit. I actually finished the bonus with a total profit of $140, but then gave back about $30 trying to make a big score.

Honestly, I don't mind giving a little back to InterCasino since they're the most generous casino out there. Who else offers 100% up to $100 each and every month with WR of only $2500? No one, that's who!

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On Sunday, my wife and I went to church then went back to the in-laws for lunch.

My brother-in law and his wife (does anyone know if that makes her my sister-in-law - how does that work?) are also expecting a child. While my wife is due in November, they are expecting their baby in the four weeks or so. It's crazy to think that pretty soon, my wife's belly is going to be sticking out that far...

After lunch, my wife and I did a little shopping at Pier One, Farm Boy, and Best Buy.

Once we got home, we had dinner and watched Mr. & Mrs. Smith. We'd already seen it in the theatres, but it was "free" for us to watch on The Movie Network, so what the heck, right?

After the movie, I started (and finished) clearing my £25 monthly bonus at Littlewoods Casino. I managed to make a profit of just over £33 in about an hour of blackjack - pretty sweet return for some mindless monkey work.

After making a little money at the casino, I thought I'd hit a couple $25 SHNL tables at InterPoker (I think Huma's still making a killing playing those tables).

After an hour, I was up about $10 and playing pretty well. There were a couple monkeys sitting down and playing, but I was taking a few small pots here and there and forcing myself to lay down my questionable hands when faced with all-in bets.

And then, the following three hands happened:

• Heads-up pot, I lose $10 when I slowplay TPTK while my opponent was slow-playing his flopped set of nines.


• Lose $20 when I get it all-in pre-flop with my KK against the table maniac's ATo. I catch my set on the flop, but he catches an ace high backdoor-flush draw that fills up on the turn and river.


• Lose $8 when I get it all-in pre-flop when another maniac pushes pre-flop for his last $8. My TT is a favourite over his ATo until he spikes an Ace On The River to take me down to Chinatown.

By this time, I was a little grumpy. I knew that there would be a lot of variance introduced by these 6-max games, but I was hoping that I'd at least win a few of these all-in hands from time to time.

Luckily, I managed to win all the money I'd lost in the span of about 30 minutes. I guess variance goes both ways.

First off, I managed to win back some of the money lost to the "KK vs. ATo" maniac above - it all started with the following hand:

All folded to the maniac on button - he made a 2x raise (as per usual). I re-raised to $2 in the SB with QQ. All folded to the maniac and he re-raised me to $3.50 and I called.

At this point, I put him on a QQ - TT or any two non-paired cards ten or better. He played more than 50% of all hands and raised with most of them. I was pretty sure that he was not holding AA or KK because I think he would have re-raised a little more or possibly just pushed.

Flop came all rags with two clubs. I bet $5 and the maniac called. This call meant nothing - he never folded to a flop bet.

Turn was a blank. I bet $5 and he called. Again, this was pretty standard. I was pretty sure that he had a pocket pair at this point. While a set was possible, I was pretty sure that he had either QQ or JJ.

When the river brought a third club, I was faced with a little dilemma. I knew from past experience that if I checked here, the maniac would make a large river bet regardless of what he was holding. I decided that I would make a reasonably sized bet to try and buy my ticket to a showdown.

After betting $5, the maniac instantly re-raised all in for his last $11. At this point, I was being forced to call an additional $6 in order to win a (roughly) $45 pot.

After a few seconds, I called hoping to be shown JJ or a bluff (instead of a set or a flush). The maniac turned over QQ and we split the pot.

This hand turned things around for me. After making the call and splitting the pot. the maniac started chatting with the other players at the table. He started wondering aloud how I could call that bet on the river after a flush draw had completed.

That statement gave me the ammunition I needed to take down a number of pots from this player heads-up over the next half-hour. I knew that I could steal pots from this player on the river if a suitably scary card fell. I ended up stealing four or five pots this way as I continued to battle my way back to even for the night.

In case anyone out there wonders why I don't like to chat, it's for reasons such as those above. I find that everything you say and do gives away little pieces of information to your opponents. I find that the easiest players to beat (at my limits I play at) are those that chat a lot and those that like to show their cards instead of mucking.

I live and die by two rules at the tables:

• Never chat.


• Never, ever show my cards.

I ultimately ended up ahead for the evening after busting another player at a different table in the span of two hands. This other player also played somewhat loose and aggressive.

On the first hand, I again picked up QQ in the BB.

UTG limped and the LAG-gy button re-raised to $1.50. I re-raised to $4, UTG called and LAG-gy called.

The flop came down all rags, all clubs. I was holding the queen of clubs and was prepared to push on this flop if I had to. I bet out $4 as a feeler bet. I was pretty sure that I was ahead here and willing to back that up with all my chips if I my hand was forced.

UTG immediately folded. At that point, I had my game plan ready:

• If the button called, I was going to push on the turn as long no ace or king fell; I would have to fold to a big bet otherwise.


• If the button called and a club fell, I would come out betting and re-evaluate based on my opponent's actions. The most likely action to heavy aggression would be a fold unless the fourth club happened to be an ace or a king.


• If the button re-raised my flop bet, I was going to push immediately.

LAG-gy decided to re-raise my flop bet to $23. I immediately pushed all-in for my last $18.

At that point, I was hoping that the button didn't have AA or KK with either the ace or king of clubs.

The button thought long and hard, but eventually folded. After the hand, another player at the table admitted that he had folded A2s (clubs) pre-flop. At that point, the LAG-gy button player told everyone that he had folded the queen of clubs. I assumed that most people knew poker players were liars, so I said nothing...

The very next hand, I picked up J4s in the SB and limped along with four others (including LAG-gy...that's called foreshadowing).

Flop showed Q T 4 - checked around.

When the turn brought me a jack to give me jacks and fours, I knew that I wanted to get heads-up with LAG-gy. I was pretty sure that he would be tilting a little from the previous hand.

I decided to bet twice the pot. Everyone folded to LAG-gy, who pushed all-in for his last $9. I insta-called and he showed a Q2o.

Just like that, I'd busted my first opponent of the night and I'd made back all my losses and then some.

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All in all, it was a great weekend. Lots of time spent hanging out with my wife, spent some time with the family, and spent some time at the tables.

Well, busy day ahead!

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Have a great week!