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So far, my brilliant idea of Blogger Day at Del Mar has generated overwhelming response in the form of two "Yay's," two "Maybes" and one "oh, but I have to move to Florida two days later." Lame. What kind of beer-drinking in the sun degenerate gamblers are you? I may accept "no" for an answer, but I will not accept APATHY! I mean, The Bracelet is coming all the way from Michigan! Hear that ladies? Yeah, I hear it too, it's the sound of BG going on tilt. So, it's me, Bobby and Veneno at this point, with Hoff and Glyph on the "also elibigle" list. Those of you in the area (and really, the invite extends coast to coast) with the deafening silence thing are getting an e-mail in the next couple days. It will not be safe for work.

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I played some pretty good poker the other night, moneying in the Crazy $11 Re-Buy on Stars, doubling my investment. My game has been sporadic as I've lacked a lot of free time to play and when I do play it has not been anywhere near my 'A' game. I think the primary reason for that is I was focusing on the Special $10 Re-Buy on Paradise where there is little to no room for anything but ABC poker. Even though it's a re-buy and a profitable tourney for me, the blinds go up so quickly that it's "wait for a monster and push it," a factor which means my game has become stagnant. There's no improvement to be had there.

For a time, right around the end of last year, I felt like I was improving in leaps and bounds. One of the primary reasons for that was Murderer's Row. Playing in that game forced you to elevate your game and I learned something every single time out. Since, of course, the game was forcibly disbanded and my personal life went through a few changes. So I haven't gotten that back. I've not played at that higher level since.

So that's why I'm going to start playing the Stars Re-Buy instead. There's much more room for play after the re-buy period. There's a better standard of player than at Paradise, so I can learn by watching when not in a hand. And hell, the prize pool is over $65K on weekends and if I have to wade through 1800 players to taste it, so be it. I felt a little of the old me coming through on Sunday night: better focus, better reads. It wasn't perfect. I made a couple mistakes, but only small ones. And I got my money in with the best of it all the way until the end when I had to push with a less than stellar holding. I was encouraged.

I figured I should talk about poker a little since you may have noticed a growing ad section over there. Yes, I'm in high demand. I'm trending upward. I'm slowly moving away from my core paradigms and thinking outside the box. Click a couple if you love me. Even if you just kinda "like" me. And before you call me a whore, I did turn down a few offers.

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So I had to do something last night that I was REALLY dreading. I'm an idiot, you see, and needed to correct a misconception, which was a misconception because of me. And while I felt some relief at unburdening myself, I felt even better with the way my confession was received. Wow. I really think I'm on to someone special here. That's not a euphemism.

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I got four phone calls from dozens of bloggers last weekend.

"Hey Speaks, we're in NYC. How many times have you been to Sephora?" (The over/under was 5; the under took it)
"Hey Joe! We've got 11 people in a limo cruising down The Strip and we wanted to call and tilt you say "Hi!"
"Speaker, just wanted to call and say I loved your AJ post and you're a big pussy."

Thanks, guys. During one of those conversations, a familiar question came up, "Have you told her about the blog?" I have not mentioned my TGOD to the young lady I am currently seeing. I don't know when I will, either. It's not that I have anything to hide, which should be patently obvious to all. And, in fact, would love to share some of my "creative" side with her. It's just that there's a lot of stuff here, a lot of raw, emotional stuff and I guess I'd like her to hear some of the bigger pieces of my past from me instead of experiencing it for the first time in cyber print. And there's also the whole profane hperbole that might set her to wondering. Anybody have any sort of experience with this kind of thing?

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Don't look now, but the A's are quietly playing .714 ball since The Break (15-6) and have, in the last four or five games, looked considerably more impressive than they have all season. The defense especially has been fun to watch, capped by the sick Web Gem from Chavez last night. All of which means squat since the Angels aren't going away and the division will come down to the last two weeks--and seven games v. Anaheim--where the A's recent history of passively giving it up looms. Still, when Esteban Loiaza (aka The Tijuana Turd) manages a win against the high-powered Texas offense, maybe things are breaking right for a change.