As a note to all of you...I appologize for the lack of updates on the Blog. It appears that the world of Facebook and Twitter are a bit more absorbing than I thought.

Anyway, I hope to fix this as I begin posting about the WSOP this year and the interviews and events that go with it.

Cheers!

Post 101!! Hey hey! Missed a reason to celebrate on my last post, I've made it to 100 updates. Seemed to be running out of steam lately, but oh...don't you worry, I'm not quitting anytime soon. Some folks might be disappointed. ;)

Anyway, this weekends travel (and I was NOT going very far away after the LAPC, etc. the last several weekends.) was to Wondercon! (the San Fran version of Comicon) where piggy and I gawked at the Cos-players (folks in costume) met some legends and heroes and saw some generally fun stuff. Mainly, its all pretext to show you some photos!

Speaking of which, be sure and go to your right for the pictures on Flickr of the LAPC 10k Main Event, 10k Heads Up Event, 10k HORSE event and some smaller events including a 5k NLHE, 5k PLO w/rebuys and some of the smaller NLHE events.

Awesome this statue was.

You might know him as the Giant Mute from Superman 2.

JAWS!!

Not one of THOSE Baldwins, but that is why he's in all the good shows.

Greg "The Hammer" or "Spagetthi Head" as he was called by the Waldo Brothers.

Well he's the Honkey Tonk Man. And he likes Clamato.

Cobra Commander and The Baroness from GI Joe.

Lady "Sweeny Todd"

I fanboyed up pretty hard here, this is one of my MOST favorite artists and he can be yours two, Phil Foglio of GirlGenius.net and many, many other awesome projects.

Blade let himself go, but he's still badass.

Marie and her favorite super heroe -- Wonder Woman! (sing it!!)

And I am not making this up "Jedi Professors Holms and Watson, Private Investigators."

The Fairy Godmothers Redux.

The Changling Bounty Hunter from Starwars.

Nintendo's Paid Cosplayers.

Street Fighter 4. 15 years after the last great arcade standup...its back.

This is a very telling picture you see. I felt like a little kid here, I would have been dressed as Indy and the Darth/Storm Trooper Combo would have been awesome. Also, kid looks like my brother Charles.

Long overdue Christmas photos!! Yes, I know it has been a long, long time. Ima be sorry now, a'ight? Anyway, its been busy since South Beach. Flew back to San Fran just to hop a plane to the UK and ran from city to city almost every night for work over the first two weeks there. Managed to avoid being sick (and I was terribly clobbered by a cold at the end of the year) during the trip, only to get home and almost keel over. I missed my work holiday party (a Bond themed Fancy Dress party) so I don't have any interesting pictures of myself or piggy in Bond-themed costume wear. I was going to be Jaws and I was to be accompanied by a very sexy 70s Bond Girl, but, alas, I couldn't get up from a one hour power nap to try to rally the strength to go on. From there, I recuperated a bit and then shortly thereafter it was off to Missouri for Christmas. We had a great time staying at the Lil' Otter's house in the new room in the basement and spending Christmas with her family and friends. Piggy got delayed on the way in and ended up in Salt Lake City overnight (of all places) and I myself was delayed getting in till almost 1 am. We danced around weather issues but ended up making it through fairly well with only a short period of good 'ol Missouri "ohmygawd" icy coatings. Even that could not tamp down the Christmas spirit and we had a heck of a night with good food, great people and much shared love. Truly a time to realize how blessed I am to have these people in my life and things working out for me the way they have. And now what you've all been waiting for...the photos!!

Cute, cuddly and fuzzy is always welcome.

The new art studio is all set up!

Dad all wrapped up for Christmas.

Two heart breakers!

Pawpaw and MaeMae

Proud of the finished tree!

You must be THIS intense to play the Wii.

World Series of Poker, State of Poker, PokrPokr.net and missing poker in Miami.

Hello! I'm alive. Really. Hiding in the very tip of Florida. Came down for a conference, stayed for a nice weekend with Piggy in the South Beach side of Miami Beach (DUCK TOUR 2 Successful!), ate WAY to much Cuban and Italian food (after one year on the diet, thought I'd take the holidays off), partied at MANGOS last night, got up and peeled myself awake to post this and make sure you guys knew I was alive.

What have I been up to? Well, I covered the World Series of Poker final table this year for www.lifesabluff.com, Flush Magazine UK, as well as some photo journalism for Sky Poker (part of the SKY Satellite Network in Europe.) Don't ask me how I get into all of these things, I just don't say no when the opportunity arises. Well, as part of the festivities, Hoyt Corkings and the folks from DoylesRoom.net were sponsoring a very high end charity poker tournament for the JDRF (Juvenille Diabeties Research Foundation) at the brand new, MASSIVE (and good lord it is bigger than a Sear...a back-in-the-day Sears) Red Rock Harley Davidson in Las Vegas. A ton of pros showed up to lay down some cash for a great cause and play for a $20000 signature Harley. I did not win. Meh. Check out the photos to the right on my Flickr site for more notes. One below of Doyle, Hoyt and Me at the Life's A Bluff autograph booth signing prints by Mr. Ryan Estrada.
From there is was on to cover the Final Table as the November Nine battled for the WSOP Main Event Bracelet and 9.1 MILLION US Samolians. It was ESPN and Harrah's first run at doing a delay to build up the Final Table and show it mostly live. It was a huge feat and they should be commended. Again, photos and notes to the right...hope you enjoy them. Also did a lot more Random Questions interviews that you will see there soon as well as some follow up videos with Tiffany Michelle after her rather controversial behaviour at the 2008 WSOP. Again, right column folks...I don't put this stuff up for Skittles and Giggles.

Was recently interviewed on podcast by Duke over at PokrPokr.net about the SuperMix Game played with www.pokerroad.com forum members, my Random Questions and general this and that at the WSOP this year. It was fun and the podcast will be up soon. It hits some real highlights from the trip, so be sure and give it a listen and save me some typing. If nothing else, here how a 4/8 limit Razz game ended up with a pot of over $800.

While we are on the subject of Poker...I have a sin to confess. While I was in Miami I did NOT make it to the GulfStream or HardRock Casinos to play some poker and thus fulfill my traveling poker requirement. Mea Culpa, Mea Culpa. Lo Siento. Oh! And with a brave new world via the US election, come a note from the PPA (Poker Player's Alliance), a lobbying group myself andthe crew at Life's A Bluff have had a go-around with in the past but has now changed its ways and charged forth to just do what it really started out to do...and that is lobby to get online poker regulated and legalized so we can make some money off it in this country and stop shipping profits abroad. And here is that closing note, anti-poker nutjob politicians beware, there are more than a million of us now, and we vote!

The Poker Players Alliance (PPA) played an important role in the national elections this year by supporting pro-poker candidates for Congress all across the nation. While the voters casted their votes based on a number of important issues it is clear that poker players made a significant difference in several key races.

The PPA was successful in helping to unseat a number of anti-poker U.S. Representatives; we also achieved our goal of electing many pro-poker candidates. Of the 54 candidates PokerPAC, the political action committee of the PPA, endorsed (12 of which were challengers) 46 won their elections on November 4, 2008. Moreover, we are pleased to announce that more than 40 of our lowest rated Members of Congress will not be returning to Washington next year.

Some quick shots from the APE! (Alternative Press Expo) in San Francisco. Some great folks from web comics were there as well as some fun alternative art and publishing.

Jeenie Breeden poses with her illustrated self at her booth. Read Devil's Panties damn it.

J. Jacques of of Questionable Content. I am sooooo jealous of his clean line work.
Sam Logan of Sam & Fuzzy and J. Jacques shared a booth at APE. Great Gear, get to their store.YES! The game is here soooooon. Home Star Runner.Bob the Angry Flower Creator as Bob the Angry Flower.SKULLBUNNY!Chainsaw-Baseball bat. Enough said.

Some pictures from this Halloween! We actually got 6 trick-or-treaters. Up from 1 last year. Overall, it was sitting in and watching some scary movies whilst waiting for the bell to ring. And now the photos.

The Queen of Halloween!

Pumpkins carved and unlit.

Franken-pumpkin through the grate.

Panda Pumpkin through the grate.

Just a couple of updates from the world of interviews!! Two new Random Questions Videos up now: I give you Polar Opposites in teh world of Professional Poker.

Clonie Gowen:


Todd Brunson:

Wow...what has been going on huh? Its been a bit, but here I am again.

FOOTBALL WEEKEND!! One game in and things are blowing up already. Brady hurt so my big Fantasy Football weapon is screwed, hopefully that won't be a long lasting one. Got Farve as a backup and apparently...NOT having a kicker is the best way to squeeze extra love out of your new-to-the-team QB. However, sometimes you do things like trade a prime Defense and running back to you end up getting your ass kicked by the woman you love. Willie Parker and the Eagles defense somehow cleared up all those questions people had about them. Big time.

Poker Update: Back from the Legends of Poker and paid for the trip on the felt and got some GREAT interviews and photos to boot. All in all, it was quite the success. Some photos below from the event. Pardon the odd formatting, I don't feel like wrestling it at the moment. Sometimes free, cheap and easy has its drawbacks. Thanks Blogspot. Anyway, met some great people this time and hooked up with old buds from Cardplayer, PokerPages, PokerListings, PokerNews, and PocketFives as well as the WPT crew. (Hang on gang, things will work out.) Mo Faithipour did a great job taking care of the high limit section at the Bike even though, like some fall-back Frat house, the big games and players went down the road (a scary, dark, east-Los Industrial road...) to the Commerce. My nights went long and I did not join them however so no stories from the big game(s) that were all over there. Reports state that it was one of the Commerce's best weeks in a while however, even with the pros scattered all over for big tournaments coming up in Maccau, Cannes, London and then the Borgata next week. Whew. How much money do people think is IN poker? Above is 10K US, 20K Euros, 10K Pounds, and then 10K US. So, a total of about 70k in 3 weeks for JUST the main events...assuming you are capable of getting to all of them. We are getting dangerously close to butchering the "sheep" of poker we are sheering it so close. Come on folks, lets get organized.

VACATION UPDATE!!: Well, Piggy and I made it to Seattle and then drove up to Vancouver on the long weekend. Wow, I am really pleased to have got to see both these cities as a tourist. Vancouver is like the incarnation of what San Francisco TRIES to be. They are obviously liberal, green and progressive but they are actually friendly, helpful and enacting a lot of the things that folks in Frisco are still just getting off the ground. Weather was cool but bright for most of the trip so we got lucky there. Seattle was grundge incarnate in many places, but they were in the middle of Bumbershoot, so that might have said something to do with it. In the end it was saved by the Duck Tour and dinner at Fado. Vancouver gets an A and Seattle gets a B on the "weekend vacation" report card. Gotta get the pictures off the other PC folks....give me a bit.