The Dog Whisperer and Fresno

Last Friday I spent the morning taping “The Dog Whisperer” with Ceasar Milann.

If you have a dog, or know somebody with a dog you need to know about him. He was an illegal that came across the board a few years back. Had always been interested in dog behavior and “dog psychology” and started shampooing dogs for someone. They saw how he was with dogs and promoted him up the doggie ladder to handler and then trainer.

Today he has a successful consulting business with specials on the National Geographic channel. We have learned much from him. I am taping some of his specials, off my tivo to vhs tape so my daughter Carrie can watch and learn.

Carrie lives in Fresno with her husband David, who is the Worship Director at an Assembly of God Church. They have some interesting conversations about Poker. In fundamentalist churches “Card playing” historically has been considered a “sin”. Now it is being reconsidered, along with many along things, such as dancing, movie attendance, drinking, & other self-pleasuring behaviors that according to church policy, used to send people “straight to hell.”

Carrie is a pretty good no-limit tournament player and often calls to discuss “poker strategy” with her daddy. I sometimes to Fresno to visit her. There is a poker club, and a couple of Indian Casinos outside of town that have poker rooms. The one downtown, called Club One is almost an ATM machine for me. Fresno City law forbids “no-limit” games and places a cap on a single bet at $200. Therefore, they have historically only played limit. Recently, someone figured out that they could play a “limit game” of 4-200, where the blinds are 2/4 and any bet could be from $4-200 and still be within the letter of the law. That structured game plays identical to the 2/4 no-limit game I usually play at Sycuan where the max buy-in is $200. So in this “sea” of limit players, I have the most experience playing this particular game.. I usually triple up and leave within a few hours . Each time I have visited I have paid for my trip and come home with about a “grand”. Eventually, their regular players will become a lot stronger, resulting in many more stronger players in that game, and I won’t have the same edge, but I want to go back again whenever I can before that time comes. (grin)

Usually when I take a poker trip I spend 2-3 days playing a lot of poker. I often play all night and go to bed around 7 A.M. and get up in the afternoon to go at it again for the next night. I have always broke even or come home with money from those type of poker trips.

That is, until this past weekend one I went on. But, that is a story for the next entry.