Help a Girl Eat, Will Ya?

To follow up on yesterday's post, this morning's breakfast involved Poker Chick making blueberry pancakes for the California family. Now, Poker Chick knows how to cook. She just does it so rarely it's a major event when she does. The repeated "PC cooked!?" reactions had her thinking: she's leaving CA tonight for a week in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Never mind the fact she's never been there and rented a house sight unseen (is she really doing this?). But she's realizing that "remote" and "beach" mean cooking every night. And let's face it, cooking every night is not much of a vacation.

And there's the rub. Remember the mini has food allergies? So, if anyone knows any restaurants in OBX that are allergy-friendly please help a Chick out. There's a special souvenir in it for you!

Hidden Talents

We all have them. Things we didn't know we could do. "They"* say that it's important to put yourself in different environments once in a while. It challenges your brain and helps you achieve personal growth.

Some people don't listen to this, some take it to the extreme (we're talking about you Mt. Fuji-climbing type peeps here). But most of us aren't climbing mountains. We're just living our daily lives and doing ordinary things. Occasionally, we try a "new" ordinary thing and those days become extraordinary to us. Even though they're far from exciting to most people.

So, allow Poker Chick to demonstrate her not-so-hidden talent for dramaticizing would-be boring moments:

The Scenario: our die-hard New Yorker finds herself in sunny California. What new skills has she discovered in two days? The natural ability to hit a golf ball (who knew?). And unsurpassed Jell-O making talent. We're talking the whole thing gone in minutes. People swooning, exclaiming "wow! I've never had Jell-O like this before! So delicious!"

Ok, ok so there was no swooning. But exclamations were made. And all agreed that if there were an international culinary medal for Jell-O making, she'd be sporting it right now. (Ha! "Sporting"! See what we did there? We worked in the golf reference. That's so awesome).

Makes one wonder what new and exciting events will be uncovered tomorrow, doesn't it?

*Who are "they"? Good question. If you know, please tell Poker Chick as she's been looking for them forever. "They" are the same people that tell you too many sweets are bad for you, that you should exercise and eat your vegetables, that smoking is bad, and basically that anything else fun you do should be making you feel guilty. "They" have been hiding for years. If people actually found out who "they" are, all the mystery and power of their decrees would be gone.

Happy Hour, Indeed

For the time being, Delta is back in favor with Poker Chick. First, they restored her elite status for another year. Next, she was able to use miles for a last minute transcontinental flight and even get an upgrade. No, she’s not here to gloat. It’s just that the extra miles were SO worth it she thought she should share for future reference.

First of all, you cannot underestimate basic perks such as a clean bathroom, quiet place to sit and basic food/drink. Now add to that shorter lines in a redonculously crowded terminal and you have the nirvana that is luxury travel.

Skip two hours from leaving home and we find Poker Chick eating deviled eggs with caviar, drinking a surprisingly good Bloody Mary, and typing on her computer (which is charging along with her cell phone and blackberry). Did we mention the comfortable chair?

Repeat after Poker Chick: “’Tis good to be a snob. ‘Tis good to be a snob.”

Now you must excuse Poker Chick. She’s up and running to the nearest table faster than you can say “dessert bar.”

And the Gold for "Best Olympic Flub" goes to.....

There ere are so many laughable things coming out of this year's games it's almost no fun because it's too easy. Nevertheless, here you are, selects of Olympic ridicule. These can also be filed under the headline, "oh no they di'int!"

American runner, Tyson Gay. This may be old news to some but it's still relevant and Poker Chick had to make peeps aware of this one. OneNewsNow, a division of the American Family Association apparently took offense to the name of Tyson Gay, the fastest man on the US track team. See if you can spot the flub below:Did you catch the headline? Horror of horrors, there seems to be a homosexual ruining the games! Oh wait, that is Tyson Gay. Confused yet? Apparently they have software that does a mass find and replace on the word "gay". Somehow "homosexual" is a less offensive term to these peeps. (We can't quite figure that one out. Maybe they're appalled that the word "gay" is also associated with hapiness, and g-d forbid "gay" people should be happy? Who knows). Regardless, the software obviously caused a highly embarrassing boo-boo for them. But at the same time, Poker Chick would like to thank them, as they have contributed much-needed belly laughs for us all.

Poker Chick's going to assume all you peeps have already read about the lip-synching debacle during the opening ceremonies in Beijing. This article is a great summary. The whole situation left Poker Chick struggling with two questions:

1. Did they really think no one was going to notice?
   
2. What could possibly be considered wrong with a 7 year old who has crooked or missing teeth. Isn't that an inherent part of being 7? The only way to describe the reaction here is: W-T-F Chinese Olympic Production peeps?!

Chinese gymnastics team member He Kexin is really 13. Oh wait, China corrected that. She's 16! (yes, He is a she. Get over it). Obviously no one knows how old she (rather, He) really is, but we're ready and excited for the news to come because Poker Chick is convinced this one's not over until the fat lady sings. Oh, wait........ fat ladies probably can't sing in China either.

In the meantime, allow Poker Chick to suggest a new Olympic activity for spectators. It's called "guess the age of the Chinese gymnasts".

Poker Chick will start posting more often later this week, she swears. She's been caught up in new business. Much to her disappointment, the product was not "best Olympic respiratory mask".

The Thrill Of A Good Call

First things, first. Poker is not gambling. It's a game of skill, and while there is some element of chance (isn't there in any game? weather in baseball, for example) people who play well will win more consistently than people who play poorly. Practice makes you play better. And intelligence and people skills help. So, no, it's not gambling. It's an intellectual sport.

Now that we've got that cleared up......

It's about time the "Poker Chick" blog had some Poker around here. For you skeptics, we swear this happened much more often before the mini came around. But fortunately, we saw some action this weekend. And anyone who plays poker knows that playing well can be even more thrilling than winning. So allow us a little anectode. We'll call it "you know you're good when..." And apologies to newbies in advance. There's some technical terms here.

The hand started with lousy hole cards. So Poker Chick folded but of course she was using the opportunity to take in information about her fellow players. The flop was boring as hell. Jack, three, seven; a rainbow. No one raised pre-flop so we can only assume no one had a pocket pair of Queens, Kings, or Aces. So with this flop the highest likely hand was a pair of Jacks. Someone probably had a Jack. But still, not great. Not one to stake your stack on. So Poker Chick expected a quick series of checks and limp calls so we could move on to more interesting cards.

But then the old lady who doesn't bet often bet when she could have checked. A guy quickly called her - but no raise. He was clearly hoping for a free ride but had something or he would have folded. He was probably as puzzled as I was. Turn comes and she checks. But now this guy comes out swinging. And she raises him. And he calls her before her chips fall into the pot.

What do these people have? That's what Poker Chick was thinking. Before we tell you, you should know the turn and river cards were blanks. So no straight draw, no flush, no pairs on the board, nothing higher than the Jack. It was all about the hole cards. So Poker Chick thought on it a while and figured it out before the showdown. This was her thought process....

The guy must have had two pair. Jack, seven probably. It made sense. Otherwise he would have folded after the flop. But he didn't so he must have hoped it was the best hand. And when the lady checked after the turn he probably assumed he did so bet it. But he wasn't bullying, because Jacks and sevens, even a two pair isn't anything to write home about. Especially this one. OK. So let's assume this crazy theory is right. What does the lady have?

Poker Chick put her on pocket threes. She bet after the flop (where there was a three) and she wouldn't have bet like that if she just had a pair. And if she had pocket Jacks or pocket sevens, she would have been raising earlier. But she didn't. But after a lousy turn her threes were looking better. So she bet more aggressively.

Anyway this is what Poker Chick is thinking but there were many possibilities that were just as likely.

Showdown comes. Guy flips over Jack seven. And the lady has pocket threes.

Imagine, if you will, the smugness she was feeling when she heard the reactions all around the table "What a hand! I would never have put her on pocket threes! wow! Nice one!"

Damn, we're good.