speeding tickets, coolers and ted russell kamp

well, what i knew would eventually happen certainly did.  i held it off as long as i could, but the deck cooled off for me about a week ago.   3 out of the last 4 tourneys i have played i have started the usual way in amassing a large stack of chips.   at the final 9 (on two of them) i have plenty of chips and then get no cards to work with at all.  no suited connectors, no A above a 5 or 6 (and that's when i'm usually under the gun or in the blinds and can't see a cheap flop), no pairs.  nothing.   so when this happens in these local tourneys the blinds go up so fast that when you go card dead for 30 minutes or more you are seriously in danger.   a week ago sunday i barely managed to min cash for $143 when my AK suited got out flopped by QJ suited and to make it sting even worse was the fact that my opponent and i shared the exact same suit. a week ago today i almost hit a crucial double up with AQ suited vs. JJ when i turned the nut flush, giving me 15 outs, but the river was a blank for me.  thursday at winstar was no different as i started off great, but just couldn't make much happen (seriously very bad blind structure).  then two days ago i bubbled, at 4 handed, when my friend jason took me out holding 1010 vs my AK (and if you read this jason no bad blood here, no doubt.  you have to make that call every time at that stage of the tourney.  i'm just mad at myself for shoving because my gut told me i was gonna lose if i did that....and i did).   i'm just not hitting my over cards when i face a lower pair.   these things happen.  i know it.  it still sucks though.  

and given the fact that i have some unpaid past speeding tickets crop up, out of state of all places, to suspend my DL right now, all my profit from two weeks ago has been spent on clearing those tickets up.......and they still won't give me my DL back.  yeah me.  thank goodness i have friends who like being paid in cigars to haul my ass around right now and my friend's incentive to take me to card games is my promise to pay him a % of my winnings.  although if i don't take down 1st or 2nd tonight i might have to peel the card playing back to tuesday nights only.  my cash has been drained seriously this last week or so.  i was well on my way to having my london trip half paid for by the end of the month and now suddenly all that money is gone........POOF!  time to figure out a way to build it back up........or sell some more of this crap at my house i'm tired of looking at.

as i have said before........the cards can turn on you in an instant.  they don't care who you are.  tonight i am going to seriously have to figure out a way to make some moves should i go card dead again in the latter stages of the tourney.   i will cash tonight and if there's a way to cash in 1st i WILL figure it out. 

since i got home from my west coast run on 4/21 i have had the best run of cards since i began playing. in fact, i have made more money playing cards than playing music.   card playing also is rating at much higher per hour profit than music right now.  i'm averaging, even with losses, about $48.50 per hour playing cards.   with gigs i'm LUCKY to make $25 an hour when it's all said and done (i've turned down a lot of gigs that would have ended up paying a measley $8-$10 an hour.  those aren't worth my time and they usually involve very very bad music).  the problem with music is when i do hit $20 + an hour i usually only have 2-3 gigs a week.   which clearly won't cut it.  so i am very very thankful for my profits at the card table these last two months. 

i hope i can keep this up.   it's my way out of the music business.  which i need to get out of as i get no longer get any joy out of playing music that i don't like.   the money just isn't worth it anymore.   so if you are reading this and i play a show with you in the future then you can know 100% that i like your music AND i like you as person.   of course i could have my arm twisted to do a european tour with just about anyone as long as you drop me off in london when it's all said and done.

speaking of gigs and GOOD music, my good friend ted russell kamp will be back in the DFW are in july for 10 days.  i will have 5 shows with him, one day in the studio and we'll be filming a video for a song off his new record as well.  also on the shows that week are chris claridy and josh davis.   seriously good band, fo sho.   i think ted is planning on recording the show at "love and war" in plano as well (audio only i think, but who knows).   if you haven't caught his live show you should and not because i'm gonna be there either.  it's good music, good tunes and good people.   i'll be sending out event invites for the shows that week so hopefully i'll see of you there.  even if you can't make a show, you should go buy this record (or any of his records for that matter as they're all quite good):

ok, i got 40 minutes until it's time to head to the card game and i have to set that deck back on fire tonight.  later.