Friday, April 27, 2007

Poker is a tough game!

Those of you who frequent my blog (or those of you who scroll down a little bit) know I took part in the Second Annual Marist College Poker Tournament this past Wednesday night.


Unlike the way ESPN televises the World Series of Poker's main event over the summer and goes months before televising it in November and revealing the winner, I'm not going to make you wait: I didn't win!

To make a long story (which will run in Saturday's Journal) short, I didn't have the best luck at Wednesday night's event.

I didn't expect to make the final table. I'm no "Kid Poker" (that's Daniel Negraneau) or "Jesus" (that's Chris Ferguson) or "Poker Brat" (that's Phil Hellmuth). Still, I thought I'd be able to hold my own.

But just a half-hour into the event, I went all-in with Ace-9, only flop nothing and get beat by a guy who paired the board and won with two 8s.

Still, I had a great time and I've gotta say, the event was run amazingly well and all the money raised went to a great cause, the Hope For A Cure foundation, which supports Parkinson's Disease research. Marist junior Matt DePace formed Hope For A Cure in 2001 at the age of 15 and has done an amazing job. Click on the foundation's Web site to learn more.

Thursday, April 26, 2007

The Force has come to the mall

OK, so since I'm expanding this blog to include entertainment and pop culture items (I'm not JUST the good-looking guy in the Sports Dept. here at the Journal!), I had to include this:

Coinciding with the new 41-cent "Star Wars" postage stamps that will be released on May 25, a little droid has landed outside the Poughkeepsie Galleria. That's right! R2-D2 now sits outside the mall entrance near Houihan's. Maybe R2 can summon the Jedis, and they can use The Force to fix the parking garage.

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Shuffle up and deal!

So I'm set to take part in the Second Annual Marist College Poker Tournament on Wednesday night.

Now, I don't proclaim to be a great poker player (I had a semi-reoccurring poker night at my place a couple of years ago for some fellow co-workers until interest died out) but I can't stop watching the game!

Bravo's "Celebrity Poker Showdown."
"Poker After Dark" and the National Heads-Up Tournament on NBC.
The COUNTLESS poker tournaments (be it the WSOP, the US Poker championships or whatever) on ESPN.

I'll watch them all.

All that viewing, I'm hoping, will reap benefits tomorrow night. If nothing else, the $3 entry fee goes to Parkinson's research, so it's all for a good cause.

For more info, feel free to e-mail the organizers at MaristPoker07@gmail.com. Even though it's late, they'll still be happy to save you a seat at the table.

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Back from vaca

After spending most of March on the road (be it in Connecticut or California or Ohio), I finally got a week away from it all ... right here in town.

There's nothing more refreshing than a vacation when you don't go anywhere, get to stay home and relax, and return to work only to find out your first two work assignments have been washed out!

So ... what did I miss? Please, tell me...

On a sports-related note, the women's and men's basketball teams from Marist College were to be honored by the Dutchess County Legislature this past Monday, but that ceremony has been pushed back to this upcoming Monday (April 23rd) at the legislature's 6 p.m. meeting.