Steve's Wedding

I was in Missouri from April 24 – April 30. I flew out to attend Steve and Amanda’s wedding, and visit my Jill, Chris and Alexandra for a few days. Jill and Chris are in Kansas City until 2009. Chris is completing a residency program in gastroenterology and working like a dog. His first year in Kansas City has been demanding and stressful. He puts in an untold number of hours each week while Jill stays home with the baby. Jill sometimes gets a little bored. It’s baby time 24/7. Alexandra is a very cute and well-behaved baby. She is so sweet and adorable. She warmed up to me the three days I stayed with Jill & Chris prior to driving to Columbia for Steve’s wedding. I flew into Kansas City Tuesday April 24, arriving at 7 p.m. Jill was there to pick me up. Alex was sick with an ear infection, so we met Chris and Alex at the pediatrician’s office and stayed about an hour or so. From there we got a pizza, went home and played some poker and watched TV. I stayed up fairly late. Played a few satellite games for WSOP entries. It’s now May and I have to hit the tourney circuit hard!
I’m in the midst of poker season now. Poker all the time, though I have some screenwriting duties to take care of as well. If I stay real busy I keep myself active.
Anyway, back to Kansas City. We had lunch the next day at the Ameristar Casino, at a bbq joint that served up some mean pork and beef barbecue. Very tasty. I played poker the rest of the afternoon while Chris played some table games. I ended up playing in a tournament and split 1st with 2 other people, winning around $300. Nice! My big hand was making a flush with Q7 against AJ on a AK4 two-diamond board. I doubled up to 10k in chips and never looked back, pushing blinds off their stacks and knocking the bubble guy off with AT against his 99 (I hit two As...nice!). I left in the afternoon and went to Harrah’s with Jill later that night, playing 3/6 at a very weak passive table. I ended up about even for the day at 3/6.
A funny story about the a freeroll online tournament...I’d played a few that morning and had one left when I hopped into the shower before lunch. Chris took over and doubled my chip stack to 20k. I joined him and we pushed all in several times, and kept on winning with 47, 75, etc. At the end of the day, we were in 2nd place, going heads up with some guy who had a chip advantage on us. We went all in on a draw and unfortunately lost, but it was so much fun to play crazy aggressive poker and do so well. I can see why these crazies win tournaments. They get lucky with crazy holdings and build such a big chip lead that everyone fears them. That’s how you win tournaments, when you’re perceived as being fearless and not caring whether or not you win or lose.
The next day (Thursday), Jill and I went to Crate & Barrel to pick up Steve’s wedding gift. We then checked in at Harrah’s where Kevin and I were staying for the night. Kevin and I played 3/6 until 4:00 a.m. I don’t know why I suck at limit hold’em but I do. I just can’t win that game. I don’t know what it is, but I always seem to lose. I rarely have a really good night. The players in Kansas City are very loose passive. They don’t like raising at all. The players at the Oaks are so much more aggressive than at the riverboat casinos in the midwest.
On Friday, Kevin and I drove to St. Louis to pick up Will, then drove back to Columbia. I stayed at the Courtyard in a room to myself, a good idea since the rooms were small and comfortable. I was very comfortable actually. I slept in most days and stayed up until 4.
Steve’s wedding was a huge success, one of the most enjoyable “gang” get togethers in memory. Everyone, of course, was there, Kathryn & Tom, Susan, Jeff & Laura, Ron & Jeni, Neal & Karin. Amanda looked so beautiful, like a model. Steve was beaming from ear to ear. The food was terrific. I had two pieces of wedding cake. I saw Suzanne and her family...I almost didn’t recognize Suzanne in her glasses. The wedding was at 5 and we partied until 12. Afterwards, we gathered at Ron & Jeni’s for a little Sit-n-Go, which I ended up winning. Jeni and I played heads up for about 30 minutes. It was an exciting match. I was behind, then ahead, then behind, then ahead again.