Karri and I walked outside at 5pm ready for the gala.  She was lookin' hot in a formal gown, I was feeling out of place in a tuxedo as she introduced me to DB Sweeney.  I recognized the name and the face but had no idea from where.  "When you're in the presence of a legend and you're unfamiliar with their body of work, you have to divert from that fact."  He likes toast too.  Turns out he was the navigator in Memphis Belle, one of my favorite movies that Jared and I watched all the time as kids.  The family of the soldier that just was awarded the Medal of Honor was also in the car, and we were driven over to the Navy Pier.  Past the taxi line.  Past the parking.  Past the authorized vehicles only sign, past the "NO VEHICLES BEYOND THIS POINT" sign and some soldiers, and to the end of the pier where we were dropped off.  They took a few pictures in front of a beautiful backdrop of the lake and Chicago skyline in magic hour and then walked inside.

There we went to Karri's green room she was sharing with Bonnie Hunt to drop off stuff.  It was guarded by a marine.  Upstairs to the VIP reception where Karri and DB were whisked to the end of the red carped where they stood with Gary Sinise and Bonnie and took pictures with groups of people standing in a long line waiting to do so.  I fetched Karri a Jack and diet.  Way outta my element but I'm a good blender.  Karri was then appointed a marine guard who followed us around for the entire evening.  We offered him a drink and he declined.  

After the VIP reception we entered the regular reception hall for cocktails, mingling, and a silent auction.  We bid on a few lots of wine and lost.  We offered our marine a drink and he declined.  I met  Admiral Mike Mullen.  I met a lot of other neat people that could all individually have books written about them. I enjoyed taking it in and watching Karri be herself.  We headed inside to our table, center stage second row, and watched the opening ceremony.  Presentation of colors, National Anthem, invocation, speech, and the coast guard silent drill team.  I was impressed nobody took a rifle butt or bayonet to the head.  We ate, offered our marine a drink which he declined, heard a couple more speeches, and I was moved seeing the Gold Star families who had lost sons overseas.  Gary Sinise who presented the USO Heart of a Patriot award to Karri last year introduced her who then presented it to DB.  He gave a speech, and the ceremony was closed.

The Lieutenant Dan Band then took the stage with Gary at bass.  Kick ass cover band 13 heads deep.  The party kicked off, the night started getting blurry, we offered our marine a drink and he accepted, and somewhere around 2am we were leaving the hotel bar saying good night.  That took us to the waterfront where we watched the golden leaves of fall float on the stagnant waters of the Chicago river blocked at Lake Michigan.  It was beautiful though, Wrigley building reflecting on the water and giant rats running in the bushes behind us.  But seriously it was beautiful.  

Sunday I woke up intending on writing the blog that I was supposed to write on Friday and realized that I left my laptop charger in Las Vegas.  Whooooopssss.  That took me on a mission down Michigan Avenue to Best Buy past the gay/anti-war parade which I successfully returned from in 45 minutes.  Plugged in, wrote, won a few bucks playing cash, and then went to Old Mother Hubbard's to meet Bill and company for the Cowboys/Vikings game.  Post game we launched a spontaneous Irish Pub crawl.  The first two were accidental, but when the third was a block away we realized we had a theme.  Ended the night at Dublin's in the Viagra Triangle, then back on the waterfront.  

Monday was a bummer because I had to put Karri back on an airplane.  I lost a couple of buyins quickly in the morning getting kings shoved up my ass twice, we had lunch, and then I hitched a ride to Bill's place in her car for O'Hare.  Bye honey.  Spent most of the night grinding at Bill's, won a tournament, and still ended up stuck $5-600 on the day.  I've been playing these UB Perfect 10 tournaments this month and have a score that's 43rd overall and best amongst the other pros so far.  Take that Hollywood Dave.  I've got a 1st, 3rd, 8th, 14th, and 2 15th's in my first 12 events.  They're soft you should try some.  

Tuesday I woke up jonesin for some live poker.  The Horseshoe in Hammond, IN is about half an hour away without traffic and in the midst of WSOPC prelims.  I called down at 12:05 to inquire how late registration would be open for the $560 6max NLHE that just started.

"At least the first level."

"At least?  How long are the levels?"

"Half an hour.  We generally close registration when people stop registering."

LOL.  I texted Nolan Dalla and he talked to Charlie and they said no problem come on down.  I made it into the tournament by 1pm, lots of people registered after me, and that's where bad things ended.  The structure was great, the field was big, the venue was sweet and reminded me of the River Rock in Vancouver, the dealers and staff were competent, and I enjoyed my time there. 

I didn't enjoy the end of my tournament though, when I busted less than half an hour after a dinner break that I came off of with 61 bigs.  First hand back it goes limp, limp, I make it 5500 in the sb at 500-1k/100 with AKo, fold, fold, and the 2nd limper shoves 36k total after about a minute.  I snippity snap and lose a flip to his sevens.  "I didn't think you were that strong."  Obviously.  I hate when you're crushing their range and end up getting it in flipping and then losing.  Couple orbits later I open the cutoff with 23k on his BB, he thinks for about 30 seconds and shoves with K8cc and makes a running club flush to beat my jacks.  Back on the Skyway to downtown, tournaments can be so annoying sometimes. 

Peace and good luck,

Devo