GinohnNews

G: I did a lot of yard work this week, finally got all the leaves that will be raked raked and bagged. Friday night I went to dinner at Chef's Secret with Rna and Rizolda, then we went to see a movie (Miss Petigrew lives for a day) and then all but Izolda came back here to hang out and Renee and I worked on making some cds of funny music for her until late late late. John went off to a poker game at a Davenport's place and lost. Then he came home and won money in online poker.

On Saturday we bought a bunch of Billy shelf units. Dave and his dog Boomer went for a long walk with John and Katy.

We spent the evening putting together shelves. Sunday we worked on random house stuff some more, and that evening went to Alex and Renee's for Alex's birthday party. When we got there folks were already playing Dibs. Dominic, Satish, Chris, and someone I met that night - Denise - were there. Shortly after us Rich and Izolda showed up, and later Andy, Kristin, and Alison. It was Alison's actual birthday, so we were celebrating that too.

We played Taboo and Celebrities. We bought some Jonathan Coulton karaoke tracks online and tried to burn them to a disc that would work in the karaoke machine, but as it turns out you need some sort of program that costs money (and not cheap) in order to burn the discs correctly. We got to sample one of the programs and so had one minute of 5 songs. Just enough to taste and want more. But we ended up the evening with lots of karaoke. Fun!

Chris came to visit and see Kory who came to town too. Kory, Dave, Jake are driving out to Columbus OH in a couple days for The Gathering - a small invitation only game convention put on by Alan Moon. They got us invited this year, so we'll be heading out there later.

Wednesday night a gaggle of people came over to hang out and play games - Dave, Jake, Kristin M., Margit, and Sev. TVTom showed up later. I cooked a big pot of soup and made a huge salad and then went off to teach a class. When I came back they were playing Why Did The Chicken... after that we played Rock Band - and of course the song Still Alive.

J: Well, I had a surreal evening last night. I got to play poker with two poker champions. This would be like if you got to play a few holes of golf with Tiger Woods or you could sit and chat with the Dalai Lama or sing a few bars with Jonathon Coulton.

Here's how it happened. I was planning to pick up my friend Kory Heath at Dulles-- he's visiting for a couple days before we run off to a game convention. Then I got a last minute notice about a public meeting in DC featuring two of my three favorite poker all-stars, Chris Ferguson and Andy Bloch. (Dan Harrington couldn't make it.)

I wrote an RSVP to Reason Online:

I followed it up with a shorter email:

Reason replied:

Chris Welsh and I picked up Kory at the airport and raced to DC (not really possible during rush hour), just in time to miss the discussion. Ferguson and Bloch are lobbying Congress for regulated, taxed, and legalized online poker.

We did show up in time for the party though-- open bar, food, and lots of pretty, friendly people.

And there, in a big room with cameras and people all around, were Ferguson and Bloch, playing poker. I was standing there in a small crowd, gawking with the rest of them, when someone called out, "Hey John!" It was Seth, a guy I've played poker with before. I waved, smiled and said hi. He was sitting across the table from Ferguson and next to Bloch. Ross, another friendly poker acquaintance, was sitting there too. It was strange seeing two people I know playing poker with two famous players who I had previously seen only on TV.

Soon after, one of the players next to Seth busted out and Seth offered the chair to me. Initially I balked, thinking that the price would be too high, but it was only five bucks, so I happily sat down to an informal tournament with two world-famous players! Woohoo! Later Kory sat in, too.

I got to thank Bloch and Ferguson (in my own stammering way) for their articles, books, and advice, especially Ferguson's bankroll management system. He asked me how it was going for me; I replied, "Great! I started with 200 dollars, and I'm up over 700 dollars after only three years!" We both laughed, and I added, "but I'm learning a lot, thank you." He said, "One thing for sure-- if you use that system, you'll never go broke." Which is true, mathematically speaking. I got to talk with Bloch a little about their lobbying efforts. It's all a blur though.

Ferguson busted out later after an obvious run of horrible cards (he joked that he was going to fold his way into the money) and Bloch had to leave. I stuck around as more players busted out, and made it into the money with two other players.

So I guess, technically, you could say I placed in a tournament that included two professional millionaire poker greats.

One thing that impressed me was how easy-going and approachable they both were. After only seeing them on TV, in tournaments where they looked calm but kind of serious and very unapproachable (because they were playing for lots of money I guess), this was unexpected.

There were sliced carrots and cards lying around, and I heard that these were leftovers of Ferguson's other skill-- card throwing. He is able to throw playing cards and cut carrots in two. Too bad I missed the demonstration. People said it was pretty cool.

And then I woke up. Just kidding. It all really happened!