Hopefully Junior will find the time to post the final results from his last-minute tourney that he threw yesterday. I finished 9th and was relatively pleased with the afternoon (I think, however, that there is a reason that “Ned” rhymes with “Ted”).

Anyway.

We threw a big housewarming party on Saturday night – about 50 people showed up in all and everyone had a great time. In fact, my wife had such a great time that she went to bed relatively quickly after everyone left and I stayed up with my aunt (who was visiting for the weekend) and we cleaned the house until after 2 o’clock in the morning.

When Mrs Johnnymac woke up yesterday morning, she wandered into the kitchen to get coffee and was very pleased that the house was already clean and thus wasn’t going to be something that she was going to have to worry about for the rest of the day. I then took the opportunity to casually mention that Mark was playing poker later and asked if she would mind if I went to play. She was very happy to let me go and wasn’t even grumbling when I got home 6 hours later. She did however call me “Eddie Haskell” as a sort of shorthand description of my “deviousness” (personally I would call it cleverness), but that was the extent of her protest. I had a plan and it worked.

I think I am getting this marriage thing figured out.

March starts in 2 hours. It is difficult to put into words just how excited about March I am. Not only will work ease up, but I have the following to look forward to:

1. March 13 – Selection Sunday. Ahhh, Selection Sunday…I love Selection Sunday. The first day of the tournament is exciting because of the basketball and all, but it is only on Selection Sunday that I can completely convince myself that my bracket is infallible. Unfortunately, halfway through the first day of the tournament, my bracket will be in shambles.

2. March 17 – the first day of the tournament…Although I come <this>close to hanging myself after finding myself 0-4 by lunch, there is solace to be had. I am skipping work and I have a buzz before 1:00. It is a good day. March 17 doubles as St. Patrick’s Day. It triples as my birthday.

3. March 31 – head to Vegas. Play in the Bellagio Friday night tournament, likely flanked by Morris and Junell. Win buckets of money. Order a bottle of champagne. When the waitress says, “that will be $250″ I say “I just won 50-large, and it is not possible to kick any more ass than I do.”

March will be good.

All I can think about is the Bellagio tournament. Mrs. Dr. Fro and I have discussed it and I have clearance to play. I have permission to pay the $1,000, but that is not my first choice. Plan A is that I will have already won $1,000 by Friday night and will press my winnings as my entry fee. Plan B is that I get in doing the $240 satellite tournament. Plan C is just to pay the fee. I prefer Plan A.

Junior will be playing and many of the guys there that weekend will have a stake in him. I think Morris is looking into Plan B – win the satellite. I trust he will; out of the 3 of us, the smart money is on Morris. He won more money in tournaments in Lake Charles last year than you can shake a stick at. This is a different crowd that Lake Charles and the Bellagio calls for a different strategy, but Morris has the ability to adjust.

I like the format of the tournament – there is plenty of time to wait for a real hand. I’ll wait.

I was looking at recent winners and notice that it ain’t exactly the WSOP. Who are these guys? They ain’t Doyle. Maybe I will win. Yes, I am sure I will.

I also noticed that the $1,000+$60 ain’t $1,000+$60. In addition to the $60 fee, evidently $30 per person disappears (to M. Wynn). If you multiply the entrants x $1,000 and subtract the prize pool it is off by $30 per player. Hmmmm. I guess that’s how they afford to build a faux Lago di Como with dancing fountains.

That’s Friday of the big weekend. Saturday is going to be very little poker: I intend to sit at the sports book with a portion of my 50 G’s on the Final Four. More champagne for Signore Friou! We have dinner plans on Saturday night. After doubling up my fitty, I reckon I’ll be living large.

“Cheese on that burger, signore?”

“Two slices!!!!”

I’ll be in Houston playing in a friendly 25c-50c NL Holdem home game on Friday March 4. If interested, let me know and I will see if there is space.

This guy used my table design website to build this incredible table (which he sold for $1,200). It’s the same as mine except he added pedestal legs and tack/buttons under the rail (both of which make it appear much classier).

A comedian that will be at the Improv in Dallas tonight was on the radio this morning and said:

“If Holdem is a sport, let’s put it in the Olympics. Countries would have to buy in for what they are worth.

Costa Rica: I am all in – 15 coconuts
United States: I call”

He was pretty funny, but I think he missed an easier joke:

Germany: I raise
France: Fold

Continuing on my poker fashion posts is this nice summary.