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| Daniel Negreanu's Poker Blog |
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| Golf, Make A Wish, and Weekend at Daniel's |
June 10, 2006
June 7: I woke up excited about another day at TPC Summerlin. I never check
the weather, it's not something I've ever done really. When I got to the
driving range, though, I noticed some dark clouds and it looked icky. That's
not what it's supposed to look like in Vegas? I'm used to 105 degree weather
everyday during the summer months.
After hitting balls for about 10 minutes the horn sounded which meant that
everyone needed to head back into the clubhouse due to the lightning. Erick
threw out a stat saying that an average of 10 golfers a year get struck which
was good enough for me!
Inside the clubhouse they had a card room so it didn't take but three minutes
until we were playing some Chinese poker. Chinese poker is a pretty simply
game that's a lot like pai-gow poker. In Pai-gow, you get seven cards and
have to make a five card hand and a two card hand. The five card hand has
to be better than the two card hand.
In Chinese poker, you use 13 cards and have to make three hands 5-5-3.
The bottom hand stronger than the middle, and the middle stronger than the
top.
There is very little skill to the game, but it a fun way to pass the time. Well, it
wasn't so fun for me early as I lost a bunch. Just as the rain appeared to be
passing, though, I made a comeback and broke dead even.
We still needed clearance from the starter to go out and play, but then
someone said something I thought was really funny. I won't tell you who said
it, but here goes, "C'mon now, let's get out there and play. All you atheists
must be scared but I'm not worried a bit."
Finally we were given the go ahead so it was time to argue over the
handicaps. That's always quite the process, only this time we were doing it in
the pouring rain. It was coming down pretty hard, but by the second hole it
finally stopped.
As for me I had a rough go on the front nine shooting 56. The back was a
little better for me as I shot a 56-52-108.
*************************************************************
**
June 8: Surprise, surprise, we were back at it at TPC Summerlin for a 1:00pm
tee time. Only this time, I decided to get out there at 10:00am with my new
caddie Josh and play nine holes prior to the big money match. Man did that
help. I was hitting the ball great and it helped me to get loose. I seem to
always do better on the back nine because it takes me about 7 holes or so
before I really get loose.
The usual suspects were out: Ivey, Doyle, David Grey, Barry Greentien,
E-DOG, and myself. After about five holes I was playing above my head, but
so was everyone else. David Grey started with a birdie-par-birdie and shot a
35 on the front! Pretty sick for a "mid-80's shooter."
Everyone in the group seemed to bring their A-game. I had my best front
nine there yet with a 49. On the back nine I was super unlucky. I was striking
the ball great but was getting some very unlucky bounces. On back to back
holes I hit a 3-wood that made the green, only to kick left into a greenside
bunker.
I was still able to put together a 49 on the back for a 49-49=98. It's the first
time I've broken 100 since I started playing again and it felt great.
*************************************************************
**
June 9: At 1:00pm I dialed into a WSOP Advisory board meeting. It was the
last meeting we'd have before the WSOP started and Jeffrey Pollack went
over some of the last minute details concerning this year's WSOP. I'm
confident that this year's WSOP will run much smoother than last year.
After the cal I had to quickly get ready to entertain some guests. I was
contacted by the Make-A-Wish Foundation and asked if I would play some
poker with a young fan from Miami who's had some bad luck in the health
department.
Ignacio (hope I spelled that right dude :-) and his entire family were flown
out to Vegas so that he could get the chance to test his skills against me
heads up.
Not really knowing where to meet, I decided to invite the whole family over to
my house since I've got a poker table set up in the living room.
Ignacio and company arrived on time at 2:30pm in a stretch limo. We greeted
each other (they brought me a pretty pimp Argentina soccer jersey) and then
got right down to business. We started with 10,000 each and 100-200
blinds. Ignacio was playing pretty tight early and I took a small early lead.
Then, I couldn't hit a flop for a while and he had me down to about 7500.
When the blinds went up to 200-400 I started to make a push back to even
and slowly grinded my way to a lead.
Then Ignacio tried his first bluff and I saw it coming from a mile away. On a
board of 9-8-6-2-6 I beat him in the pot with KQ, telling him even before I
called that this was his first bluff off the day.
At 300-600 blinds it took three all ins before I finally won the match. A lot of
you might be thinking that was mean. Why wouldn't I let him win. I don't
think he wanted me to let him win, what would be the fun in that? I tried my
best to win and I hope and believe that's what he wanted.
After the match we hung out with his parents and his two brothers. Very cool
people. My mother seemed to get along really well with his mother (no
surprise, my mother is a special lady) and I think they are going to get
together for brunch on Sunday before they have to leave.
Before Ignacio left I had Patty put together a gift bag for him. STACKED, some
FCP hats, shirts, a mouse pad, a chip set, and all kinds of other goodies.
All of this wasn't going to take me away from golfing though! I brought Lori to
Golf Galaxy to get her fitted for some clubs. From there, we headed to the
practice range at Angel Park. I had my caddie Josh tag along to help Lori with
her swing.
After hitting a bag of balls we headed to the par 3 course. I hit every green.
Lori, was hitting the ball much better after Josh made a few minor
adjustments to her swing.
*************************************************************
**
June 10: I'm writing this blog this morning before heading down to Caesar's
Palace for another edition of "Weekend at Daniel's." This one being the
hockey edition. All of the winners won their way to Vegas by participating in
the survivor hockey pool that I ran earlier in the season.
The plan today is a poker tournament at 1:30pm followed by a trip to ESPN
Zone to watch the game and play some games. Then tomorrow, the gang will
be coming over to my place followed by an afternoon of more fun and games.
I'll let you know about all of that in the next blog.
In closing, I want to say that I AM preparing for the WSOP by playing as little
poker as possible. by keeping my mind fresh for the long and grueling month
ahead. I don't even want to think about poker right now, really, and golf has
been a great escape for me.
Come WSOP time... I shall be ready.
Read More Entries from Daniel Negreanu's Poker Blog
June 7: I woke up excited about another day at TPC Summerlin. I never check
the weather, it's not something I've ever done really. When I got to the
driving range, though, I noticed some dark clouds and it looked icky. That's
not what it's supposed to look like in Vegas? I'm used to 105 degree weather
everyday during the summer months.
After hitting balls for about 10 minutes the horn sounded which meant that
everyone needed to head back into the clubhouse due to the lightning. Erick
threw out a stat saying that an average of 10 golfers a year get struck which
was good enough for me!
Inside the clubhouse they had a card room so it didn't take but three minutes
until we were playing some Chinese poker. Chinese poker is a pretty simply
game that's a lot like pai-gow poker. In Pai-gow, you get seven cards and
have to make a five card hand and a two card hand. The five card hand has
to be better than the two card hand.
In Chinese poker, you use 13 cards and have to make three hands 5-5-3.
The bottom hand stronger than the middle, and the middle stronger than the
top.
There is very little skill to the game, but it a fun way to pass the time. Well, it
wasn't so fun for me early as I lost a bunch. Just as the rain appeared to be
passing, though, I made a comeback and broke dead even.
We still needed clearance from the starter to go out and play, but then
someone said something I thought was really funny. I won't tell you who said
it, but here goes, "C'mon now, let's get out there and play. All you atheists
must be scared but I'm not worried a bit."
Finally we were given the go ahead so it was time to argue over the
handicaps. That's always quite the process, only this time we were doing it in
the pouring rain. It was coming down pretty hard, but by the second hole it
finally stopped.
As for me I had a rough go on the front nine shooting 56. The back was a
little better for me as I shot a 56-52-108.
*************************************************************
**
June 8: Surprise, surprise, we were back at it at TPC Summerlin for a 1:00pm
tee time. Only this time, I decided to get out there at 10:00am with my new
caddie Josh and play nine holes prior to the big money match. Man did that
help. I was hitting the ball great and it helped me to get loose. I seem to
always do better on the back nine because it takes me about 7 holes or so
before I really get loose.
The usual suspects were out: Ivey, Doyle, David Grey, Barry Greentien,
E-DOG, and myself. After about five holes I was playing above my head, but
so was everyone else. David Grey started with a birdie-par-birdie and shot a
35 on the front! Pretty sick for a "mid-80's shooter."
Everyone in the group seemed to bring their A-game. I had my best front
nine there yet with a 49. On the back nine I was super unlucky. I was striking
the ball great but was getting some very unlucky bounces. On back to back
holes I hit a 3-wood that made the green, only to kick left into a greenside
bunker.
I was still able to put together a 49 on the back for a 49-49=98. It's the first
time I've broken 100 since I started playing again and it felt great.
*************************************************************
**
June 9: At 1:00pm I dialed into a WSOP Advisory board meeting. It was the
last meeting we'd have before the WSOP started and Jeffrey Pollack went
over some of the last minute details concerning this year's WSOP. I'm
confident that this year's WSOP will run much smoother than last year.
After the cal I had to quickly get ready to entertain some guests. I was
contacted by the Make-A-Wish Foundation and asked if I would play some
poker with a young fan from Miami who's had some bad luck in the health
department.
Ignacio (hope I spelled that right dude :-) and his entire family were flown
out to Vegas so that he could get the chance to test his skills against me
heads up.
Not really knowing where to meet, I decided to invite the whole family over to
my house since I've got a poker table set up in the living room.
Ignacio and company arrived on time at 2:30pm in a stretch limo. We greeted
each other (they brought me a pretty pimp Argentina soccer jersey) and then
got right down to business. We started with 10,000 each and 100-200
blinds. Ignacio was playing pretty tight early and I took a small early lead.
Then, I couldn't hit a flop for a while and he had me down to about 7500.
When the blinds went up to 200-400 I started to make a push back to even
and slowly grinded my way to a lead.
Then Ignacio tried his first bluff and I saw it coming from a mile away. On a
board of 9-8-6-2-6 I beat him in the pot with KQ, telling him even before I
called that this was his first bluff off the day.
At 300-600 blinds it took three all ins before I finally won the match. A lot of
you might be thinking that was mean. Why wouldn't I let him win. I don't
think he wanted me to let him win, what would be the fun in that? I tried my
best to win and I hope and believe that's what he wanted.
After the match we hung out with his parents and his two brothers. Very cool
people. My mother seemed to get along really well with his mother (no
surprise, my mother is a special lady) and I think they are going to get
together for brunch on Sunday before they have to leave.
Before Ignacio left I had Patty put together a gift bag for him. STACKED, some
FCP hats, shirts, a mouse pad, a chip set, and all kinds of other goodies.
All of this wasn't going to take me away from golfing though! I brought Lori to
Golf Galaxy to get her fitted for some clubs. From there, we headed to the
practice range at Angel Park. I had my caddie Josh tag along to help Lori with
her swing.
After hitting a bag of balls we headed to the par 3 course. I hit every green.
Lori, was hitting the ball much better after Josh made a few minor
adjustments to her swing.
*************************************************************
**
June 10: I'm writing this blog this morning before heading down to Caesar's
Palace for another edition of "Weekend at Daniel's." This one being the
hockey edition. All of the winners won their way to Vegas by participating in
the survivor hockey pool that I ran earlier in the season.
The plan today is a poker tournament at 1:30pm followed by a trip to ESPN
Zone to watch the game and play some games. Then tomorrow, the gang will
be coming over to my place followed by an afternoon of more fun and games.
I'll let you know about all of that in the next blog.
In closing, I want to say that I AM preparing for the WSOP by playing as little
poker as possible. by keeping my mind fresh for the long and grueling month
ahead. I don't even want to think about poker right now, really, and golf has
been a great escape for me.
Come WSOP time... I shall be ready.
Read More Entries from Daniel Negreanu's Poker Blog
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