GENERAL:

I recently found myself telling someone I had had a great day. It had been so long since I had those words that I had to stop and think about them. Coincidently, the next day, someone IMed that they were, ¡§having a good day¡¨ today. My first reaction was to say, really, what did you do? The response was no, I won a tournament, and won X dollars at a cash table. I said WTG. Since then I have been wondering exactly how many times on here is something said that is taken totally different than it is meant. I know of times when people have misunderstood what I meant, and gotten angry, only to later talk and find out the whole thing was a misunderstanding. When you are speaking in person you can see body language, facial expressions, and can almost see what the person means. On here, it is strictly typed words. You really have no way of knowing for sure, if there is a hidden meaning. I honestly do not believe that any member of our group would even intentionally say anything to hurt someone else. Therefore, if someone has hurt your feelings, or upset you, it is best to flat out ask what they meant. I can almost guarantee that there was some misunderstanding, or miscommunication. It is not really those hurtful things I am worried about, as I know, no one would do that on purpose. It is more the plain ole how do I answer a question without being misleading. I know many people care about how I am doing, health wise, and often, how are you, how have you been, are feeling better, etc. Sometimes I am at a loss as to how to answer. I don¡¦t want to always be negative. I don¡¦t want to mislead. My ¡§generic¡¨ answer is always hanging in. That is a true enough answer, and does not really indicate that I am doing better, worse, having a ¡§good¡¨ day, or bad day. This brings me back to my original quandary. What exactly is a ¡§good¡¨ day. To a recovering alcoholic, a good day, is any day without a drink. To a gambler a good day, is any day that yields a nice profit. To an Aussie, ¡§good day¡¨ is simply a greeting. To a workaholic a good day, is any day they get a lot accomplished at work. To an athlete it means a win in a competition. To a sick person, a good day could mean absolutely anything from waking up that morning, to not throwing up that day, to not crying in pain that day, a pain-free day, or finding out they are actually getting better. To me, a good day, is any day I get to see my family or friends and smile. The recent good day I had was spending the entire day with Mary and Xavier, even went out in public. We shopped, ate out, and had a great day. Despite that pain wise, the day was not so great, the day was still wonderful. So if you had that asked that day, I would have said, I had a wonderful day, and it had nothing to do with health. When someone tells me they had a good day, I assume it meant a happy day, whatever that happens to mean that person. I guess the point of all this, is to just understand, it is easy to have a misunderstanding online. One person means one thing, but the other takes it totally different. Always remember, we are friends, ask for clarification, if they have hurt you in any way, or your unclear about what was meant. Okay, enough rambling about that. Now let¡¦s talk some poker, even though that¡¦s the common bond for most of us, I don¡¦t talk a lot about that. I¡¦ve been getting pretty unlucky, with some pretty mean tables, recently. This seems to happen in sit n go¡¦s more than regular tourneys. I guess it had been so long sing I had played a sit n go, I had forgotten how mean some people can be. I sometimes let these people get to me. I am working hard on not letting that happen. It not only throws my game off if I do, it also defeats the purpose of being here, to smile, have fun, and winning a lil, is just a bonus. I¡¦ve recently discovered that I am not as sucky at NLHE as I thought I was. I placed 7th of 5081 in a 10 FPP NLHE, won a 45 person sit n go the next night, and cashed in a 3 dollar one tonight. That is much better than I have done in razz, in a long time. I will not be giving up my nightly razz tourney, I still love that, and that¡¦s where we all find each other nightly, but don¡¦t be surprised if you see me in a NLHE from time to time too. Any Hold Em experts out there, want to offer tips, or suggestions, feel free. Post them in comments, or email me them. There will be more poker in the comments section this time, it¡¦s going to be the question of the day.

I think the last think I want to talk about is my last blog. I did not get many comments posted at all. Just 5 last time I checked. The lowest ever I think. I think that is because it was such a serious one. I did get many IMs, and emails, about it. The response was incredible. Almost everyone said it was the best one yet. This shocked me. That blog was the most heartfelt one I have ever written. I cried most of the time I typed it. The fact that you all liked it, and told me, touched me more than you will ever know. Thank you, to everyone, for that. Hugs to all my friends, for putting up with all my ramblings.

Be sure to check out the pics. I am posting one of a new friend to the group, but someone I have played with, off and on, for a very long time, elmuhfewwit. He will also be joining us for our next tourney. The other one I am posting for Robin. Talk about good days, she had a great day the other day. She is a huge fan of country music, and of Keith Anderson. He was passing through town, on his way to a concert, maybe in Lexington, not sure. He stopped here to help with a fundraiser for St. Judes and Robin got to meet him, take a pic with him, and get his autograph. That sure made her day good. ļ I am posting that pic in the check it out album.

TOURNEY INFO:

We had a record breaking turnout for our last tournament. We had whopping 24 people in. Our first 3 table tournament. Wtggggg everyone. Remember to always make our new friends welcome. And now, with Terri¡¦s permission, I will post the results. She said I couldn¡¦t post them unless she beat me, and she did. LOL
PokerStars Tournament #73524631,
Limit Omaha Hi/Lo
Buy-In: $5.00/$0.50

24 players
Total Prize Pool: $120.00

Tournament started - 2008/01/29 - 22:05:00 (ET)
Tournament finished - 2008/01/30 - 00:58:35 (ET)

1: leodow43 (Mississauga), $60.00 (50%)
2: sunshinesam (Richland), $36.00 (30%)
3: spike420211 (Scranton), $24.00 (20%)
4: backgammon1 (Alta Loma),
5: clawrules (Marienville),
6: Ak.fish (Ninilchik),
7: fastreader (Vernon),
8: newerthanu (lithia springs),
9: Karen L (Big Bend),
10: Hilarity (Temple City),
11: MelissaEMT (~~~~ Iowa ~~~~~),
12: DAWGWA (Somewhere),
13: 86fxrd (Oroville),
14: sl8kid (boise),
15: oivayaz (Sparks),
16: TooKrool (Willits),
17: byamsellem ( ca),
18: frosty73 (Walden),
19: justalady42 (New Albany),
20: STUDMANRONN ( ELKHART,IN),
21: 1leg (Saint Petersburg),
22: SinCityAces (Hesperia),
23: I//inois_// (milwaukee),
24: JustaDreamin (Bronson),

Congratulations to Leo for winning, wtgggg. Great second and third sam and spike. Thank you to everyone who played in it.

Our next tourney is this Tuesday, February 19th, 10:05 pm. Leo won the last tourney and called horse as the format for this one. The buy-in is $5.00, and the tourney number is 75758542. You can find it under tourney, private, nightcrawlers. The password, as always, is friends. Let¡¦s have another great turnout. See you there.

SUNDAY FUNNIES:
God Said, "Adam, I Want you to do Something for me." Adam said, "Gladly, Lord, what do You want me to do?" God said, "Go down into that valley." Adam said, "What's a valley?" God explained it to him. Then God said, "Cross the river." Adam said, "What's a river?" ! God explained that to him, and then said, "Go over to the hill........" Adam said, "What is a hill?" So, God explained to Adam what a hill was. He told Adam, "On the other side of the hill you will find a cave" Adam said, "What's a cave?" ! After God explained, he said, "In the cave you will find a woman." Adam said, "What's a woman?" So God explained that to him, too. Then, God said, "I want you to reproduce." Adam said, "How do I do that?" God first said (under his breath), "Geez....." ! and then, just like everything else, God explained that to Adam, as well. So, Adam goes down into the valley, across the river, and over the hill, into the cave, and finds the woman. Then, in about five minutes, he was back. God, his patience wearing thin, said angrily, "What is it now?" And Adam said "What's a headache?" FEATURED PLAYER: Originally Krayz volunteered to be a featured player. Due to some personal problems he has stopped playing for a while. I hope he is able to return soon, and look forward to getting to know him better, so I can do a feature on him. AKfish has also volunteered to be one, when he returns from Hawaii. Look forward to his also. Today¡¦s featured player is leodow43. Leo, and yes, that is his name, is one of our newer players. Although he is fairly new to our group, almost everyone has had the pleasure of playing with him. The one thing that strikes me most about Leo is his politeness. He is genuinely nice to absolutely everyone he meets. He does not have messenger so all of my conversations with him have been at the tables, or email. He emails me daily, and I have to admit, he makes me think. Leo is very spiritual, and always shares his faith with me. He has faith in everything, even me getting well. He tells me stories, when he hears them, of people who beats cancer, or has a miracle. He always tells me mine is coming, never give up. Many people tell me this often, what strikes me most about his, is I truly believe he believes it. I don¡¦t think there is a doubt in his mind that I will beat this. He is far more hopeful about it than I am, this kind of encourages me, in some ways. Leo is always there to cheer me on, as many are, and to cheer on everyone else too. I¡¦ve never seen him get mad at a ¡§bad beat¡¨ and he¡¦s upbeat. Some facts about Leo: He works in a bank approving stand alone business visa applications. As his ID suggests, he is 43 years old. He is 6 ft tall¡K. Hello up there¡K from the short person. LOL He was born on July 3rd. He is an avid news junkie, and likes the business channels. Of course his main hobby is poker, with us. Hehehehe. Leo is married, but currently separated. You have our thoughts and prayers with that Leo, I will be praying it works out whichever way makes you the happiest. Leo is a very hard worker, and writes a lot about his job and ambitions to continue excelling at it. Welcome to the group Leo, I hope you are here for a very long time. Whatever it was that brought you into our path, I am glad it did. I hope others will get to know you, as I have. Who wants to volunteer to be next?? Don¡¦t be shy, let me know. I believe Lone said she would also, if she is not too busy I will get with her about it. In the meantime, I still need volunteers. QUESTION OF THE DAY: A straight poker question: I know my ¡§best¡¨ game, and fave games, changes over time. So, the fact that I have asked this in the past, does not matter, yours may have changed too. What is your favorite game? Best game?? Do you like tourneys, tables, or sit n go the most? Also, share you best poker story, if you¡¦d like.