Party Poker Blog

I'm less than 24 hours away from boozing in Vegas.
I land at 10pm, Wednesday.

I can't wait to see my friends. I can't wait to make new ones.
That's really what this is all about, after all.
The people.

I even bought a damn cell phone for this event. Will someone please add me to the flash mob list when we move around? Purty please?

My humble apologies for not getting an uber post up in time. I've got tons of poker content to blog but didn't have the time to put it together. Hell, I haven't even started packing or anything yet. Typical.

Anyone not attending our shindig needs to play on Party Poker, damnit.

Make sure to read Pauly's Bloggers Invading Las Vegas Tips 3.0.
Then read Otis's post What to Pack for Vegas.

And last, but most certainly not least, Joe Speaker ripped off a hilarious 'Twas the Night before Vegas. Bloody brilliant.

There is a reason I never post my picture or anything on this here poker blog.
It's my big secret and I finally spilled it in chat.

Of course, once I did so, this person decided not to meet me. I can't help the way God made me!

Here's a repost of that old chat. It's become customary for me to post this before leaving to meet everyone.

fpb = fellow poker blogger

iggy: i have something serious to tell you
fpb: the borgata serves free top shelf liquor in real glasses
fpb: all will be good
fpb: okay mr. iggy, tell me
iggy: i am a dwarf
iggy: did you know that
iggy: ?
fpb: yeah me too
iggy: i can drink alot for a dwarf tho
iggy: im serious
iggy: what the fuck is wrong with you
iggy: i hope you are kidding
fpb: that's fine with me...I certainly don't mind
iggy: ok
iggy: just dont want you to act weird around me
fpb: I act weird around everyone lol
iggy: well
iggy: i know everyone will be VERY surprised so i HAD to tell someone
fpb: alright man. take it easy
fpb: not that it matters, because it truly does not to me, but are you being serious or just fucking around with me?
iggy: hrm
iggy: it sounds like it DOES matter
iggy: i'm getting offended, i'm not from the zoo or anything
fpb: alright man. take it easy - it's cool dont worry
fpb: it doesn't matter to me
iggy: its ok
iggy: im used to it
fpb: um. it really doesn't i was just curious because you've never mentioned it before
iggy: i am a little person
iggy: big deal
fpb: it's fine
fpb: honestly
iggy: i dont mind flying - i fit in the airplane seats better than most people
iggy: i just wanted to warn you
iggy: dats all
fpb: hey no prob man
iggy: shrug - anyway, if you could -
iggy: sometimes i like a boost into a chair at the bar. the chairs can be pretty tall.
iggy: and i dont like sitting in peoples laps
iggy: people take pictures and shit
iggy: that sucks
fpb: don't worry. I promise you won't have to sit in my lap
iggy: k
iggy: ty - i don't mind sitting in girls laps tho. just not guys. that's queer.
fpb: i'm a fat guy so don't sweat it - we've all got our imperfections
iggy: lol true
iggy: maybe you could carry me around in case i get tired?
fpb: you got it
iggy: k ty
iggy: i might take you up on that
fpb: i'll be glad to oblige
fpb: alright man, i have to get to bed...work tomorrow and such.
iggy: ok
fpb: i am looking forward to meeting up with you next weekend.
iggy: same here
iggy: bring a backpack
iggy: to borgata
iggy: to carry me around in
fpb: LOL now cmon iggy.

I don't know what to say. I've been waiting 15 freaking years for this.
My humble apologies for the non-poker content but I'm giddy. Overjoyed.
Superlatives won't do it justice.

I'm gonna try doing some reading and perhaps bang out an uber, but for now, here's the story from ESPN.

---

PITTSBURGH -- Revolution typically doesn't occur overnight. Unrest usually foments for a while before the status quo finally comes unraveled. Overthrowing a longtime power in the NFL doesn't happen until you eventually quit overthrowing open receivers.

So when the Cincinnati Bengals all but completed their coup d'etat in the AFC North on Sunday afternoon, with a 38-31 victory here over the Pittsburgh Steelers, coach Marvin Lewis reminded everyone in his post-game briefing that his team had to lay the foundation for its first winning season since 1990 by first cobbling together consecutive non-losing campaigns. And right offensive tackle Willie Anderson, one of the Bengals' longest-suffering veterans, quickly seconded the motion.

"It seems like we've been climbing (mountains) ever since I got here," said Anderson, a 10-year veteran who, until Sunday, had never played on a team with a winning record. "I guess we're finally near the top. I mean, we're not the (division) champions yet, and there is still some work to be done, but we're feeling pretty good now. It's very gratifying."

As well it should be.

In defeating a Steelers team that had won the previous meeting at Paul Brown Stadium by 14 points on Oct. 23, the Bengals moved to 9-3 for the year and extended their lead in the division to two games over slumping Pittsburgh, which lost for the third straight week. Almost as important, Cincinnati continued to reinforce the notion that it might be a force in postseason play, and perhaps the favorite in the AFC North for the foreseeable future.

Lewis has assembled a young team -- every point scored by the Bengals on Sunday was by a player aged 28 or younger, standout quarterback Carson Palmer is in just his third NFL season, and Cincinnati got a ton of key plays from rookies like middle linebacker Odell Thurman, wide receiver Chris Henry and kickoff return specialist Tab Perry -- and one likely to only get better in ensuing seasons.

That the Bengals did so in a manner heretofore anathema in a division principally noted for its stodginess and blue-collar approach, trotting out a diverse and high octane offense the likes of which hasn't been seen for a while in the AFC North (see AFC Central), was especially impressive. Lewis still has some holes to fill on defense, and Sunday marked the sixth time in its last eight outings that Cincinnati permitted 23 points or more, but the Bengals offense continued to render all the opponents' scoring, well, pointless.

This is certainly not the way games are historically won in this division. Sunday marked just the third occasion since the league realigned into eight divisions of four teams, and the AFC Central was rechristened, that both teams scored 30 or more points in a division matchup. The difference in the game, clearly, was the turnover margin, with the Steelers losing three interceptions and one of four fumbles. The Bengals offense did not turn the ball over at all and, during some stretches, looked virtually unstoppable.

Cincinnati ranked second in the league in total offense entering the game, and was No. 5 in scoring, and lived up to those numbers. The defense, No. 21 and still a sieve at times, which must rankle Lewis, whose acumen on that side of the ball is well documented, played poorly for long stretches. But it mattered little, because the defense snatched the ball away four times and the offense was rarely held in check.

Cincinnati potentially possesses, veterans in both locker rooms acknowledged, the most explosive offense the division has witnessed in recent memory. For years, this has been a division in which defenses tried to pitch shutouts. But with a trigger man like Palmer, who probably won't win NFL most valuable player honors this year but who should be on the short list of candidates, the three other franchises may have to refocus now on prevailing in shootouts instead.

"We're kind of revolutionizing the division," said wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh, who had five catches for 88 yards and two touchdowns. "We knew we could score on them with this offense. It's a great offense, really, with a lot of weapons and a great line. We've got playmakers all over the place, a smart quarterback, and we like to attack. We can play you tough or we can finesse you. It's certainly the best offense we've had since I've been here."

Cornerback Deltha O'Neal, who notched his eighth interception of the season with one of the three pickoffs of Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, practices every day against the Cincinnati offense. Told that the Bengals defense played a huge role in the victory by often providing the offense with a "short field" -- the Bengals, as a result of takeaways or kick returns, started four of 13 possessions in Pittsburgh territory -- O'Neal agreed. But he also acknowledged the potency of the Palmer-led attack.

"I don't want to take anything away from the other offenses (in the division)," O'Neal said. "But this offense, I mean, there are times it looks like it can score at will. I wouldn't know how to begin game-planning for it, because it has so many ways of moving the ball and scoring, you know? It's an offense that has a whole lot going for it. They can move it up and down the field. And it seemed like every time the Steelers scored to make it close, our offense answered right back."

Indeed, the Steelers' 31 points represented their third-highest output of the season. And Pittsburgh held big advantages in first downs (28-21), total yards (474-324) and time of possession (33:18-26:42). Despite playing with an injured right thumb, which several media outlets reported is broken, Roethlisberger threw for a career-best 386 yards and three touchdowns. But in addition to the turnovers, Pittsburgh was deficient on special teams as well, permitting Bengals rookie Tab Perry 197 yards on five kickoff runbacks.

The most costly was a 94-yard return that immediately followed wide receiver Hines Ward's first of two touchdown catches, which tied the score at 24-24 nearly six minutes into the third quarter.

In a superb individual effort, Perry burst up the middle, cut to the left and simply bulled his way down the sideline. He dragged Steelers cornerback Ike Taylor, but unofficial count, for 27 yards before being finally hauled down at the Pittsburgh three-yard line. The Bengals scored two plays later, on tailback Rudi Johnson's one-yard run over the right side, to take back the lead for good.

"It seems like we've been climbing (mountains) ever since I got here. I guess we're finally near the top. I mean, we're not the (division) champions yet, and there is still some work to be done, but we're feeling pretty good now. It's very gratifying. ” — Willie Anderson, Bengals OT

"I just kept moving my feet as best I could," said Perry. "I kept thinking, 'Well, sooner or later, someone else is going to come and jump on (me),' but it didn't happen. It was a good feeling to make a play like that. I mean, if you can give this offense any kind of a boost like that, well, it can do the rest. Those guys are really clicking."

At one juncture of the first half, in fact, the Cincinnati offense scored touchdowns on three straight possessions. Over a stretch that began late in the first quarter and went into the third period, the Bengals scored on five of six series as Palmer mixed the power running of Johnson (21 carries, 98 yards, two touchdowns) with connections to wideouts Chad Johnson (five for 54 yards), Henry (five for 52) and Houshmandzadeh.

Not surprisingly, Johnson conducted a virtual filibuster after the game and, as he had in the days preceding the contest, donned a Terrible Towel as a bib. And the loquacious wide receiver wasn't the only talkative player in a Cincinnati locker room where players were clearly long on bravado.

Houshmandzadeh cited a quote from after the previous meeting of the year when Steelers linebacker Joey Porter had suggested the Bengals' "measuring stick game" had become a "whipping stick game." Bellowed the confident Houshmandzadeh: "So what kind of stick was this game, huh? Let's here it from them."

Given what Anderson termed "our well-known history" in reference to the Bengals' mostly miserable existence over the past decade and a half, Cincinnati players certainly earned the right to crow a bit following Sunday's outcome. But Lewis, who earned one-year contract extensions after each of the previous two .500 seasons, and could well be appointed coach for life after Sunday, might do well to temper things some in coming days. While there seems little doubt now that Cincinnati will claim the division, with just one remaining game against a team with a winning record, there is still a ways to go.

The victory over the Steelers, while a giant step, was not quite a quantum leap. But this is a Cincinnati team that, with its ability to score big, could surprise people in the playoffs, especially if it earns a home game. It's a team, as well, that won't be nearly as stealthy, Lewis suggested.

"We have an opportunity to do something special," said Lewis, a onetime Steelers defensive coach. "We still have a lot of football to be played. But it's time to stop hiding from it. It's time for us to go sit in the front row."