Wii + Agave + Mookie = WAM2

Thursday, May 1: What Ever Happened to Trot Nixon?

I arrived in Austin on time and waited for MiamiDon to arrive. When Mookie pulled his car up to the curb to load our bags, I thought he had sent his son instead. You would never guess that he's in his mid 30s and has 6 kids.

On the way back to Casa de Mookie, we stopped at a liquor store (aptly named Don's Liquor Store) to pick up some supplies. We grabbed a bottle of Patron Silver (standard tequila choice for me), but the proprietor talked us into buying a bottle of Casa Noble Crystal instead. We were a bit skeptical at first, as he described that Casa Noble Crystal was better than Patron Silver AND was $5 cheaper, but we decided to give it a go.

I think I found a new favorite tequila (it's a bit more smooth than Patron Silver).



After getting settled into our rooms (I had the room of Mookie Child #1), we decided to fire up the Wii. This was my first time playing Wii, but I figured that I would likely be hooked on it after the weekend (much like my fixation on Guitar Hero after Eh Vegas). We loaded Wii bowling and played with Mookie Child #4.

Mookie Child #4 is a Wii bowling machine. She schooled all of us during the first game. Not only did she crush all of our scores, but she bowled part of the time with her right hand and part of the time with her left. I could barely make strikes, as I was still trying to figure out the angles and speed and timing. Oh, and did I mention that Mookie Child #4 is only 4 years old? What is it with all of these poker bloggers and their child prodigies?

Mookie, Mrs. Mookie, MiamiDon and I met up with ScottyMc at a Mexican restaurant called Chuy's and then made our way to the Round Rock Express game. Steve T (Gilain) met us at the ballpark, and we took our seats directly behind home plate and a couple of rows back.


I love watching baseball in small parks. Sure, it's great to watch the big boys play at Yankee Stadium, but unless you have luxury seats, you always feel a bit removed from the action. We were so close that MiamiDon and I tried to call balls and strikes from our seats and were successful for a bit. Then all of the tequila and beer starting sinking in . . .

The Round Rock Express beat the Tuscon Sidewinders 4-1. Not only did the home team get the W, but we also got to see a couple of players that you may have heard of. The first big name was none other than Trot Nixon, who was batting clean-up for Tuscon. We got into a discussion as to whether Nixon got a World Series ring when the Red Sox won it in 2004. (I called it correctly - he did get a ring - because I remember the Yankees / Red Sox ALCS games and the World Series games pretty distinctly. In particular, N and I were screaming "Bellhorn??? Bellhorn???" from the couch quite regularly.) Reggie Abercrombie, who spent some time with the Florida Marlins, was in right field for the Express. And finally, Tim Raines Jr. came in to pinch hit in the top of the 8th for the Sidewinders.

Game notes can be found here. Game recap can be found here.

Friday, May 2: Keep Your Head Down

We woke up early and made our way to Crystal Falls Golf Club for a warm-up round. I warned Mookie that I hadn't swung a golf club in about 18 months, so there was no telling what to expect.

We didn't get a chance to hit the driving range before we made our way to the course, so the 1st hole was a bit brutal. On top of that, Mrs. Mookie snapped the head off of her 7-iron. (I would have been in tears at that point because the 7-iron seems to be the only club that I can hit with any degree of consistency.) I have a tendency to lift my head way too early (my first golf instructor told me to stop worrying about where the ball goes - that's what the rest of my group is there for), so all day long I could hear MiamiDon's voice booming, "Keep your head down." That, and "Stop trying to kill the ball" (also one of my major swing issues). I didn't even try to hit my 3-wood because that's just a recipe for disaster.

I hit a nice tee shot on the 8th hole (106 yard Par 3) that dropped right on the green. (Interesting note: I used my 7-iron. ScottyMc used his driver (135 yards from the white tees). Our balls both landed in about the same place.) It was probably the best shot I hit all day.

I was almost attacked by an angry swarm of fire ants, but Mookie and Mrs. Mookie saved me. Previously, I didn't know much about fire ants other than by way of Robert's hilarious account of the fire ant invasion at his house over the winter. Well now I know from personal experience that they bite.

Right before teeing off on the 15th, I looked at MiamiDon and said, "I feel pretty good right now. I think I could probably go hit a bucket of balls after this round." By the 16th, I could barely get my swing around. So much for that idea.

We decided to not keep score that day, and we didn't finish out some of the holes, so I have no idea what I shot. Then again, if we did finish out all of the holes, I might still be in Texas.

Astin managed to make his way through customs without incident and met up with us at Casa de Mookie in the late afternoon. Luckily, he learned from VinNay's border crossing snafu and texted me to get Mookie's full name in advance.

After taking a shower and a power nap, we loaded up the cooler and made our way down to the Salt Lick BBQ. April met up with us for dinner as well. We went with the all-you-can eat family style option, which was a pretty good deal. The brisket and sausage were phenomenal, and the ribs were ok (I'm not a huge fan of ribs). I opted out of the dessert portion of the evening, but I did taste some of ScottyMc's cobbler.

By that point, we were all quite a bit exhausted. I was in pain from the golf outing, particularly because I thought it would be a good idea to sprint to my balls instead of walking to them so I could get some added cardio in. Brilliant. Early to bed Friday night because the Casa de Mookie wake-up call was coming at 7:45am.

Saturday, May 3: The Crazy Asian Gambler Teaches Steve a Lesson

Saturday morning was the WAM Scramble. My group was ScottyMc, Mark (friend of ScottyMc) and me. Because we only had three people in our group, we had to rotate who took the extra shot. Just great. Not only was I still sore from the day before, but I also had to take extra shots.

We each took a bucket of balls over to the driving range to warm up. The Lago Vista Golf Club seemed to be a breeding ground for deer, so we decided to prop bet to see if anyone could hit a deer. (Nobody did.) It was nice to get loosened up a bit before the round started.

After the official WAM Scramble photographer (Astin) took our group shot, we were off. Things were slow in the early goings for us. We shot bogey or par on the front 9, finishing +5. It didn't get much better on the back 9, again shooting bogey or par on every hole, finishing +4. Yeah, +9 for the round, putting us in last place.

But there were some happy moments. Mark saved us a bunch of times with pretty shots off the fairways. ScottyMc sank a beautiful chip shot to save par on either the 13th or 14th hole. I managed to hit a couple of decent shots, including a couple of puts that fell just short of the cup. I felt a lot more comfortable compared to the day before. Plenty of room to improve before I take my shot at besting JC this summer in Vegas. Yeah, JC, I'm coming for you next!

The ringer crew of Mookie, MiamiDon and
JJ shot -4 for the round to repeat as WAM Scramble champs. Bastards!

After the golf action, we went back to Casa de Mookie for a cookout and some poker action. I finally got to meet Carter and Sed, but I didn't get to spend as much time chatting with them as I would have liked.

The Big O Tournament had 27 players with a $50 buy-in. If you busted during the first hour, you could buy back in for $50. The action at my table was pretty tight at first, but I didn't have a lot of room to move with MiamiDon, Justin (a Big O player) and JJ sitting behind me. I picked up my first pot when I flopped an OESD and turned a flush draw. Sed's cousin John folded to my turn bet, so who knows if I would have gotten there. I picked up my second pot when I turned a set with Presto and rivered the boat. From there on out, I didn't have a lot to work with, getting no action on Q-Q (which I suppose is a *good* thing) and whiffing with A-K.

By the end of the first hour, I was pretty much in push or fold mode. I almost shoved against Anna (Mookie's sister) when I had the suited AsianJew. The funny thing is that I've been trying to temper my aggressiveness with that hand. I opted to fold, and when I pushed my cards over to MiamiDon, he nodded in agreement. Of course the flop was A-J-rag, and I would have beat Anna's Q-Q, but I knew I made the right decision, even though the outcome would have been better for me if I had pushed.

I stayed in push or fold mode for the rest of the tourney. The problem was that nobody wanted to call and double me up. JJ thought about it on 3 different hands, but he didn't want to pull the trigger. When we were down to 12 players, I got moved to Mookie's table. He raised in MP, and I looked down to see A-K. I figured it was as good a time as any to shove with my A-K. The funny thing is that when Mookie saw my hand, he was pretty sure that his Q-Q was going to lose. He flopped a set on a Q-J-rag board, and we were all just waiting for the T to fall. The river was paint, but it was a J. So much for trying to crack the host's Q-Q!

After I busted from the tourney, we started up a $.25/$.50 NLHE game. $100 max BI. The line-up was Steve T, MiamiDon, ScottyMc, April (later replaced by JJ), Astin, Mark and me. Steve T bought in short and chipped up when he was dealt Q-Q on the first two hands. I lost a couple of pots but still had 2/3 of my BI left when this hand went down.

$1 straddle was on for most of the game, so Astin raised in LP to $3. I called the $3 out of the SB with 9h-Th, and Steve T (who was the BB) popped it to $10. I think someone else in EP called, so when Astin called, I was getting 3:1. The flop was 6-7-Q with one of my suits. I checked, and Steve T fired out $25. Astin went into the tank for a bit and finally called. I was getting a shade over 3.5:1, so I decided to put on my Crazy Asian Gambler hat. The turn was a J, giving me an OESD. The action checked around. The river was a miracle 8, giving me the nuts. I only had about $24 left, so I shoved. Steve T called, and Astin folded. Turns out that Steve T had K-K, which was his third big pair of the night in the short amount of time that we were playing. That would prove to be the big pot of the night.

We all started to fade around 3am, so we cashed out and got some sleep.

Sunday, May 4: Killing Time at the Airport

I slept in late on Sunday, and by the time I made my way downstairs, ScottyMc and Mark were getting ready to head out. Mookie and Mrs. Mookie made breakfast for Astin, MiamiDon and me, and shortly after that, I packed up to head to the airport with Astin.

My flight was delayed, so Astin and I grabbed a beer at the airport bar and chatted for a while. When he left to head down to his gate (bastard was flying on stand-by and ended up with a business class seat), I wandered around the terminal for a bit. I found one of those chair massage stations and got a 30-minute massage. It was much needed after two days of golf!

When we finally took off (about an hour or so late), I fell asleep immediately.

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I'm still feeling a bit sore today, but I think the airport massage helped. A huge thanks is in order for Mookie and Mrs. Mookie, who opened up their home to all of us. I had a great time over the weekend, particularly in regards to dipping my toe back into the nasty thing they call golf. But for me, golf is a lot like poker. There will always be ways to improve your game. And for the most part, the biggest obstacle to playing brilliantly is often yourself. So, my new mantra will be to stay out of my own way. Let it flow naturally. Good things are bound to happen!