I....Bluffed...JamesWoods! (Sung to the Family Guy tune of "I love James Woods")

While it only happened once, it did give me a chance to write that headline. To be honest, I think he was on to me, but had no hand whatsoever and had to fold. But James is so good, you can't tell when he's acting, on screen or at the table. (Yes, that is a complement.) What....OH! You want an explanation. Geez.

OK, so last weekend I shot down to LA to play in a few of the Big Poker Oktober tournaments and interview some of the regular players in the Live At The Bike webcast high stakes game for www.lifesabluff.com while I was there. This was also a warm up for a few big tournaments I have won my way into locally, the Bay 101 Open Player's Points Freeroll, the Oct. 21st 1K event and the Oct. 22nd 2K event. How the hell else can I afford to fly everywhere, visit everyone and send out Christmas gifts to all you wonderful people?

A few bonuses happened along the way, unfortunately, one of them was not me winning the tournament. I only played one tournament. It was an expensive one and the bad luck that kicked me out was palpable for about a 3 table radius. But, I kept my chin up and kept it fun and light. Brooding leads to bad play and besides, ya can't win them all. What this DID do is end up putting me in a cash gam on the casino floor with none other than James Woods and his darling girlfriend. Both quite excellent players. I left the game up 150% from my buy in, so I was a happy man at 3 a.m. but not nearly as happy as the fellow who left up about 5K or Mr. Woods who was probably sitting on a couple extra grand. I'll have to tune into his new TV drama "Shark" (sleazy defense lawyer turned tricky prosecutor) to see how he does there. He's planning to appear at the Bay Area's big event, the Bay 101 Shooting Star and we joked that we'd see each other at the final table. At least he did. He can watch me in reruns on TV next year.

I got an interview not only with the team of Live @ the Bike fame (all of these faithfully transcribed by Piggy, the darling) but also poker pro and fast rising star Kenna James. What most impressed me was his work with the Wounded Warrior Project and I knew that I had to get him on tape for an interview. Kenna is pleasant, jocular and took time for an AMAZING amount of people from pros and well knows (Jerry Bus, James Woods etc.) to people from his old playing days in LA. A class act. Look for those write ups.

Well, fast forward to me surviving a late night drive back up the state and you get to where I am now. Itching for this weekend and the Bay 101 Open freeroll and next weekend and the big events.

Hope you enjoyed hearing about this little poker romp. Cheers big ears!!