The Great White North

Most of last week was unexpectedly busy at work, so I had absolutely no time to write or keep up with reading. Then I get a call early Thursday from Mom up in Alaska saying to get the family packed up as we're flying up there for the weekend. Grandpa just had a stroke, and while he recovered well and is currently in good spirits, he made the decision to move back to Thailand and live out the rest of his days there. So he basically he wanted an impromptu family reunion, to be able to see most of the kids and grandkids one last time.

The family gathering went as family gatherings do, lots of hugging and crying and catching up with one another, and lots of spoiling of the children. But the young ones weren't the only ones to be spoiled: while there is no Great Alaskan Casino, there was plenty of poker to be had!

Turns out my brothers run a weekly Saturday night game with a rotating crew of their college buddies and other misfits. And with extra family members floating around, there was plenty of $5 and $10 buy-in action! And while Grandpa didn't participate, he did offer to stake some of the younger ones. So much for grandparents not choosing favorites!

Since I was the most experienced, in terms of hours spent sitting at live casino tables, I was the designated dealer at whichever table I was at. Unfortunately I spent more time dealing than playing, as I dealt myself bad-beat after bad-beat. Once I dealt myself AA, and then flopped quad 9's for my cousin. Oops! I went in as the favorite (at least in my mind), but couldn't money in any of the 5 mini-tournaments we ran over the weekend.

On the plus side, I played my first batch of online SNGs on my brother's Party Poker account, and did pretty well! Two firsts and two seconds out of 9 played (at the $5+1 level) for a profit of $26... which covered my losses from some of the ring-games I tried out!

While the reason for the trip to the Great White North that is Alaska was a somber one; Grandpa wanted to keep it upbeat and joyous, and everyone ended up having a lot of fun.

Gramps, here's to hoping the upcoming trip to your Great White North is just as enjoyable.