Happy Halloween

The last couple of nights I have been able to get off work at the regular time.  We had a tree branch fall down in our yard so I got it cut up the night before last.  We left one limb untouched so we could make a ghost tree off the front porch. 

 

Last night we carved the pumpkin.  All three kids got their hands slimy pulling out pumpkin guts.  We don't have a carving kit, but the ole buck knife did the trick just fine. 

 

For candy we got some plastic jars filled with gummy insects surrounded by gummy liquid.  It's pretty gross looking, but some boys around town should get a kick out of them.  For the kids that are hesitant we have chocolate.

 

Football is now over so I don't have any plans this weekend.  I am hoping to get a poker tournament or two in online.  I logged on last night and saw that I had an extra 20.00 on there.  One of my pre-season sports bets has apparently paid off.  I'm not sure which one yet.  I made quite a few bets on team wins, # of yards for receivers, running backs and quarterbacks, etc.  I will check this weekend to see how those bets are coming along.

 

Next weekend I will be traveling to my parents for opening weekend of pheasant season.  Depending on the weather, we may end up at the lake instead of the field. 

 

Two weeks after that I will be traveling there again.  I have been talking to my wife about trading in 2 of our older vehicles on a newer higher gas mileage vehicle.  We just bought the pickup, but I am tired of working on those other vehicles, and as much as we travel for sports and family, it would be nice to have a fuel efficient vehicle.  Another reason is that my wife works 30 minutes away.

 

Have a happy safe Halloween!

Two Monday Night Muck Em's

It must be time to catch up.  I have played 2 Monday Night Muck Em games now that I have been in and have not posted. 

The first one came after my horrific showing of 6 hands with 2 rebuys, felted, and out of there.  My plan was to last longer in this tournament.  I made it until right after break when I ran low on chips and made the painful all in.  I don't remember what I lost to.  I finished as the 3rd one out.  Not a good showing.

Last night I had to try to redeem all of my bad play the last several weeks.  The game started out slow for me.  I tightened my range and waited for playable hands.  Lately I have been playing very loose early in the game.  This time I was going to wait on my hands and catch them off guard.  Around the 2nd level I was dealt A6 in the BB.  There were no raiser's, but several callers.  Flop came out 9 6 6 two spades.  I checked and a late position player bet min.  I called as well as 2 others.  Turn was a J.  I checked.  The late position  player bet min again.  I called.  So did the 2 others.  The river was a 4.  No flushes hit.  This time I bet 2x min.  Only the original bettor called.  I showed my hand and he turned over his to show he had the 9. 

I loosened up a little and tried to steal a few pots.  It worked a couple times on some scary looking boards.  One time the other player checked and I bet all the way to the river.  He had it the whole time.  I showed my nothing hand.

A while later I had QQ as the dealer.  There was a bet and a raise before me.  I raised and both players folded. 

We made it to the final 5 with 4 getting paid.  I had a decent chip stack for the table.  There were a couple short stacks.  One of them went all in.  I looked down at A6 in the BB.  It was another blind to call so I did.  He had 7 9 and hit a 9 on the turn.  A couple hands later the blinds went up as they were getting back to me.  There was only one short stack, I only had a little over 4 bb's as an average stack.  In the BB I had to fold to a raise.  The next hand I get dealt QJo.  It was looking pretty good when everybody folded before me.  I went all in and the BB called with, of course, A6.  An ace on the flop and the turn sealed my fate.  I was bubble boy for the first time this year in the Monday Night Muck Em.

At least bubble boy gets a few valuable points.  I am still sitting in 3rd for the points.  1st and 2nd are pulling ahead.  I am still a little ways ahead of 4th so I need to keep putting up good numbers in order to take some end of the year money.

Regional Tournament Experience Sam Rayburn

 

My buddy Mizike and his wife came up on Friday night to visit and throw back some beverages.  Dad was coming in Saturday afternoon to spend the evening and night so we could hit the road on our way to Sam Rayburn lake in Texas to pre-fish for the regional tournament.

 

We had a few drinks at home before heading to the local watering hole on Friday night.  Once there, the three of us ran up a pretty good tab before heading home for the night.  There was a little shot bottle of dill pickle flavored Vodka on the fridge.  Before we left Mizike said that if somebody got sick they would have to immediately drink the bottle afterwards.  This was not good for me.  Of all the times I have partied with Mizike, I rarely remember him getting sick and if he did it was always after me.

 

We got back from the bar and walked into the house.  For some reason Mizike walked over to the sink and got sick a little.  Next thing I knew, he was grabbing the pickle vodka and downing it.  He raced to the bathroom and proceeded to unleash.  It was quite funny.  A few days later I was flipping through pictures on my phone to show somebody a picture of my daughter and realized I had video'd some of the late evening activities.  It was quite comical to watch how annoyingly obnoxious we all were.  I'm glad we were at home.

 

The next day was rough.  I had to change the brakes on my pick-up and get the boat and my gear ready to go.  I mustered through the hangover and got things done. 

 

Dad showed up and we went out to eat pizza.  I drank a few beers that evening while we sat outside and shot the bull.

 

Sunday morning we got up and were on the road by 8:00 AM.  It was a long drive through Oklahoma and Texas.  We made it to Jasper about 12 hours later.  We ate at Jack in the box after we got into our hotel room and I was ready to fall asleep in the chair.

 

The next day we got up and looked at the weather.  A big storm was coming in with a chance of tornadoes, hail, lots of rain, high winds and lightning.  We decided to just drive out to the lake to check it out instead of trying to get a couple of hours of fishing in, and chance getting stuck in the storm.  It took the storm longer than expected to reach us.  When it did I was glad we were not in a boat.  We would not have been able to get back to the boat ramp.  Several anglers had to pull up to shore and wait it out.

 

There were several people struck by lightning in the local area we were at.

 

That afternoon the storm blew over and we headed out to try the fishing.  We found a grass bed pretty quick and caught quite a few fish before moving on up the lake.  The wind was picking up and we tucked in behind a point to fish.  As the sun was lowering in the sky we started to make our way back to the ramp.  The waves had grown to 3 or 4 footers in the short time we had been out.  It was a rough ride back to the ramp, and a little scary. 

 

As I started to pull the boat on the trailer I gave it some throttle, nothing.  My throttle cable had broken.  We were very fortunate this had not happened out on the main lake. 

 

Tuesday we got the boat into the shop to have the throttle cable replaced.  We fished off the bank a little more.  That afternoon they got our cable fixed so we headed up to fish on one of the lakes bayou's.  It was awesome scenery and fishing.  We caught quite a few fish once again. 

 

Wednesday we had all morning and early afternoon to fish.  We started out at the Northern end of the lake and worked it pretty hard.  We found quite a few fish once again.  It was looking like I was going to have a good tournament.  A lot of other anglers were saying they were struggling.

 

Thursday was the first day of the tournament.  I liked my boater draw.  It sounded like he was fishing the same way I was having luck all week.  In the first couple hours of the tournament I had a lot of bites.  They were biting light, so I was missing a lot of fish and a couple came unhooked before I was able to get them in.  I still landed 3 pretty decent keepers and one that was so fat I could not get it to measure.  It was a shame having to throw it back.  The rest of the day I pulled in short fish after short fish.

 

The day finally winded down and I only had 3 decent fish to take into weigh in.  I was a little disappointed.  When I got to weigh in, I heard dock talk that a lot of co-anglers and boaters had not had much luck.  At the stage my three fish weighed almost 8 pounds and had me sitting in 6th place at the time.  At the end of the weigh in I was in 10th out of 134.  I was in good shape to make a run at winning a new bass boat. 

 

Then I got a call from my day 2 partner.  He said he did not catch a bass on the first day.  He figured he didn't have a chance to win so he wasn't going to burn much gas.  We were going to fish grass in a cove close to the ramp the next day.  No big deal I thought, I had found fish in grass and figured out how to catch them. 

 

The next day we went to our spot.  It was tea leaf grass, different from the grass that I had found all over the lake and found all the fish in up to this point.  He kept telling me this is where the fish were.  I caught 1 fish that came really close to being a keeper all day, and had another really big fish pull free.  The rest were all short.  With about 5 minutes left neither of us had a fish in the boat to take to weigh in.  Then I saw one surface.  I cast out and he hit.  I got him in and it was 14 1/4 inches.  Barely a keeper.  I had another hit right after that that got off.

 

At weigh in I fell to 33rd place, missing the money by 9 places.  After seeing me catch fish all week Dad was disappointed when I came in with only one bass.  He told me that if I had been the boater I would have came in with 5 fish each day and done really good on the boater side, after what we found pre-fishing.  I had a few keeper fish come off on day 1 that really could have turned my tournament around.  That could have still happened if I was a boater.  I more than likely would have had a lot better 2nd day. 

 

After 3 years of fishing these tournaments as a co-angler, I feel like I'm ready to get a bass boat and fish on the boater side.  Then I can fish my strengths, be the first one to cast to a good spot, and not have a boater get mad at me when I out fish them.  That happened a couple times in the few years I have been fishing, and they have went to great lengths to keep me from catching another fish.  One took out to the middle of the lake and sat down and ate a sandwich for a really long time, then re-tied all of his rods, and eventually went to the crappiest looking bank we could find and sat in one spot the rest of the day.  Another took me in to weigh in 45 minutes early after he broke off the only fish he got to bite all day. 

 

Most of the time boaters are happy for you when you catch fish.  Sure they don't like to be out fished, but most of them want you to do well fishing out of their boat.  Neither of my partners in this tournament were like that.  They both wanted me to catch fish, and went out of their way to make sure I had a chance to do that.

 

Today I filled out paperwork to acquire a loan to purchase a bass boat.  Hopefully by next spring I will find a deal that is too good to pass up and I can fish as a boater next year.

Monday Night Muck Em - 6 Hands and Out 3 times

Is it too soon to think about returning?

 

 

This last weekend after I returned from the promise land, I started preparations for my upcoming regional fishing tournament.  The weather Saturday was perfect.  My son had a football game and afterwards my wife didn't want to go home.  I needed to drive to Alva to pick up a wiring harness to go from my boat to the new pickup so we headed to town.

 

It was around lunch time when we got done shopping and I asked the kids what they wanted to eat.  At that time we were passing the bowling alley so they said they wanted to go bowling.  The bowling alley has a diner in it so I made them suffer through eating while the anticipation built to go bowling.

 

We bowled a couple of games then came home.  The kids had a blast. 

 

My plans were to drag the boat out of the garage and tinker with it all day, enjoying the nice weather.  One of my goals was to install a GPS/fish finder I had gotten a couple years ago that I have not been able to get working. 

 

The liquor store is right behind our house so I walked over and got some drinks and got to work.  Five hours later I had the unit installed and working.  I had to change out some wiring but it appeared that it was going to be just fine. 

 

In the midst of working on the boat my youngest son asked if we were going to go fishing the next day.  The wife said it would be o.k.  I needed to test out the GPS/Fishfinder unit anyway.  We went fishing on Sunday. 

 

Monday night we had our regular game.  This time I would be showing up late due to parent teachers conference.  It ran longer than expected and by the time I got to the game they were on the 3rd level. 

 

First hand I had an AK.  I came out of the gate with a decent raise.  4 callers.  Crap.  Ace on flop.  Yeah!  Big bet.  4 callers.  Crap.  Turn brings 3rd suited card.  Crap.  Bet ahead of me.  Crap.  I look at cards.  King is the right suit.  Yeah!  Call.  2 more callers.  River pairs the board.  Check to me.  Wait!  Is this a set up.  No he would bet there.  Bet by me.  Fold Fold Raise.  Crap.  He knows I would normally fold to him there.  Is he making a play.  He's the type of player that might.  Call.  Nope he has the goods.  Full boat.  Crap.

 

Next hand AK.  Action gets to me with no raises.  All In.  Two callers.  I don't remember what the other guy had but the winner of the hand had KQ.

 

Rebuy.

 

Have 1 foldable hand. 

 

Next hand have 3 5 in BB.  No raises, I check.  Flop comes out low 2 3 9.  Big bet.  I think, then get out of the way to maybe an over pair.  Couple of other callers.  Turn is a 3.  Crap, why didn't I stay in.  River is a 4.  There is a big bet and call.  Bettor has A5 for straight.  Glad I got out but crap how can you bet that way for a wheel draw.

 

Next hand nothing.

 

Next hand I have AQ.  Big bet before me.  I go all in.  2 calls.  Man, what did I just do.  Flop was Q high.  Betting on the side.  Oh great, dig money out of my pocket.  I lose to KQ when a K hits on the river. 

 

Rebuy.

 

Next hand AK.  It's raised before me.  I go all in.  He calls and tables AA. New record for early dismissal at the friendly Monday Night Muck Em.  I didn't even make it to the level before break.

 

 

Day 5 The final Day

It was difficult sleeping throughout the night with my face hurting.  I kept taking ibuprofen and Tylenol but it only lessened the pain.  I put a warm cloth on my face and it would feel good for a little bit then the pain would come back, it would seem like it was twice as bad.

Finally morning arrived.  We went over to check our keno ticket out.  Nothing.  We didn't even hit for a dollar.  I decided to try my luck on a 4 spot for 40 games.  I watched one of the first games and saw it hit 3 numbers for 5.00 then we took off. 

My face was feeling a little better by this point.  The swelling was still there.  I had taken some Tylenol when I got up.  I was starting to get hungry.  We didn't eat much the night before due to the buffet.  We decided to go back to the buffet again.  This time I took it easy.  I had a few glasses of orange juice and only a couple plates of soft food.

We got finished and went back by Harrah's and stopped in to see another draw on my 4 spot ticket.  As we watched 3 of my numbers hit again.  They were still calling numbers.  I started calling for 19 to hit.  The last number they called was 19.  I had just hit for 120.00.  I asked my buddy if he wanted to try one more time.  He said he did, so we got a 7 spot ticket for 40 games.

Back to the Quad for another shot at winning their poker tournament.  I sat down for about 3 hands when I get dealt QQ.  There was a raise before me and I popped it to 1/3 of our stacks, 30 X the big blind.  The original raiser calls.  The flop was 10 8 4 rainbow.  Perfect.  I bet the same bet, and they go all in.  Instant call by me.  He turns over 8 4.  Turn and River don't help.  I could rebuy, but decided against it.

On to the 50 hand poker machine.  They have the whole area roped off, moving machines around.  Great!  I figured my friend would be in the game for a while so I went back to Harrah's to cash in my Keno ticket.  I had hit for 130.00 total. 

On the way back through the Quad to check on my friend I see a Willy Wonka machine.  I had tried it a little at a couple other places but had not tried this one.  I sat down at a machine and was fumbling for my card when a couple of ladies walk up.  One sits at the machine beside me and the other is looking at the machine on the other side of me.  I tell the one I will move if she wants to sit by her friend.  She says o.k. but for me not to watch in case she hits.  I watched and on her 3rd spin she hits for 137.00.  Right after that, I hit a bonus.  I cashed out about 40.00 up.  I was happy for both of us.

When I got back to check the poker room, my buddy was not at the table.  I text him and he said he would meet me by the elevator.  He had gotten knocked out not long after I did.  He suggested getting a bottle of captain morgan and doing some shots in the room, so that's what we did. 

As it was getting dark out, I suggested we go check our keno ticket, then go over to Casino Royal for 1.00 beers.  We didn't hit anything on our 7 spot.  On the way out of Harrah's we walked by the Dueling Piano bar.  He said we should stop in there one of these times.  I told him I would pay, so we stopped in for a couple of drinks and had a great time.

We made it over to Casino Royal a little later and drank a few of those 1.00 Michelob's.  I played a couple slots, min betting to pass the time.  I got up about 15.00 and was watching a couple play the Green Machine.  They didn't hit about 4 times in a row and were leaving.  I looked at my buddy and he shakes his head no.  I had to try a couple spins.  It's too fun.  On the first spin, first line, a 100 hit.  Nice.  This is how Vegas should treat me all the time.  I cashed out 115.00 ahead.  The lady that had just left shook her head at me.  I shrugged my shoulders with a sheepish looking grin, a swollen sheepish looking grin.

On to the Riviera to play my 100.00 free slot play.  I had 4 machines picked out and was going to max bet what I needed to on all of them, then call it a night.  We had to be up early the next morning to get to the airport.  We took the bus to the Riviera and had to goof around a few minutes until my free play became active.  I got on the first machine and hit a bonus on the 3rd spin.  45.00.  I won a little more over the next 7 spins.  The next 2 machines were just tiny cashes.  I had 1 more machine.  I walked over to it and hit for 85.00.  I end up with around 150.00 from the free plays. 

The day was over and I was taking a little over 600.00 back with me.  I had brought out a little over 2000.00.  I felt fortunate to have gambled, drank, ate, and lost as much as I did, and still was going home with money.  Only in Vegas!

The swelling has gone down a little in my face.  I went to the clinic once I got back. They felt that it was a tooth problem.  I called my dentist and they got me in on Monday morning.  After some xray's, they saw that I have an abscess at the root of my top Molar and scheduled me to have a root canal the next day.  Yesterday was my root canal.  $1050.00!  Insurance covered $300.00 of it.  I have maxed out my dental insurance for the 2nd year in a row.  Braces suck.  Now my face is swollen again and I feel about like I did in Vegas, without all the fun going on around me.

In the back of my head another trip is brewing.  For now, I have to get focused on fishing again.  I made Regionals in the series I fish, and will be traveling to Texas all next week to fish Sam Rayburn Lake for a shot at a new boat and an entry into the All American Bass Tournament.

I will be pre fishing for 3 days then fishing the tournament for at least 2, hopefully 3 days. 

Day 4 Deep Fried Oreo's?

We stayed up a little later on day 3 so we slept in a little bit on day 4.  When I woke up I decided this would be a good day to hit the buffet at the Mirage.  My friend agreed.  We were a little slow getting ready.  Both of us were getting low on funds and were not in a great big hurry to go spend more. 

On the way, we were going to go check my keno ticket from the night before.  As I walked up to the window I was hoping deep down that my luck had changed.  The cashier read the ticket and says, "That's a good one."  a feeling of hope ran through me.  Then I saw on the screen that I had hit for 309.00.  Nice.  I had hit 7 out of 9 numbers on 1 game.

We bought another 8 spot ticket and went to lunch feeling a lot better.  At the buffet we ate way too much.  I didn't try anything that wasn't great.  I also had a few beers.  By the time I finished I had gone through 7 plates or bowls of food.  It was like I hadn't eaten the whole trip.  I wasn't miserable, but I was full.  I probably didn't need to eat that much, but I didn't even try a lot of things they had out.  For the price, I vote this the best buffet I have ever been to.

While we were eating one of my teeth or jaw started hurting. 

We had to go back to the room to take a nap afterwards.  The left side of my face was in major pain when we got back to the room.  I took some ibuprofen and laid down.  We lounged around until it was time to go pick up our tickets for Jubilee.  I wasn't sure what I was going to think of the show.  I figured it would be pretty good and kind of Nostalgic to see a showgirl Vegas show.  I took some Tylenol this time and we headed out.

We got our tickets and played around min betting slots until the show was ready to start.  I actually won a little bit. 

The show was outstanding!  It started out pretty basic and got better and better.  I had been to some small time productions and plays, but this was professional.  Constant stage changes, awesome performers, topless girls.  It was way more than I could have ever anticipated.  The best part was we had gotten the show passes free with our free room.

When we walked out of the show my buddy looked at me.  His eyes got big and he said, "WHOA!"  He said the whole side of my face was swollen.  The ibuprofen and Tylenol worked a little to alleviate some of the pain, so I thought I was in the clear.  I went into the bathroom and looked in the mirror.  It looked like I had taken a right hook from Mike Tyson.

On the walk back to the Quad, my face started hurting again.  It felt like my jaw was broken, or a tooth was shattered.  It was bad.  I stopped and bought some Advil to take. 

I didn't feel up to sitting on a bus to get to Freemont Street while I was in that much pain.  Sorry Anger!  Next trip fried oreo's will be on the list for 1st night quest. 

Back to the room to lay down and wait for the painkillers to kick back in.  It was a rough night.  I tried cold rags, warm rags, more Tylenol, more ibuprofen.  I couldn't kick the pain.

Day 3 The Move and Poker

We were up fairly early on day 3 watching the highlights on ESPN and getting ready for our move to the Quad.  Before we got going strong for the day it was time for some orange juice and breakfast.  I headed across the street to McDonalds.  I walked in and was surprised to see only 1 item on the dollar menu.  Breakfast Burrito's.  I heard something but was standing there looking at the 3.29 they wanted for a Sausage McMuffin.  Then I hear somebody saying, "Can I help you sir?"  "No Thanks!", and I walked back out the door. 

The night before we had grabbed a bite from the McDonald's inside Circus Circus.  They had a dollar menu.  I went around the corner and went into Circus Circus to check it out.  Sure enough they had a dollar menu.  We were back in business. 

With breakfast inhaled, we finished packing up and decided to hang around the Riviera for a while, since it would be a while before we could check in at the Quad.  We goofed around on some slots and I ended up winning a little bit by the time we were thinking of leaving. 

Then I remembered that I had 40.00 credit at the Tavern.  I mentioned that to my friend and he got excited.  We got right in and were sat at the bar.  We ordered some beers and a ribeye steak and fries.  While we were there, a couple of girls in crown royal skirt outfits approached us and said that if we ordered a $3.00 shot of crown we would get a free hat.  It didn't take us long to get our shots ordered.  I had started with a Blue Moon, but switched to a Guinness to drink with my steak.  We watched the end of the Buccaneers - Steelers game while we were eating. 

We were feeling pretty good when we left Wicked Vicky's.  We caught a cab to the Quad and got right into our room.  It was quite small, compared to the Riviera's room.  It was also a little musty and a lot noisier.  The floor was kind of gross.  On a good note the beds were really comfortable.  I've stayed at a lot worse.  We could make due for 3 nights. 

It wasn't long before we hit the poker tables.  I sat down at the 1-1 nl game.  Everybody was pretty short stacked and really friendly.  I played for a couple hours until the first tournament started and moved to the tournament.  I was down a little bit, the few hands I had gotten into kept me alive.

In the tournament, I played my normal game.  The blinds were going up quickly, every 15 minutes.  I was looking for my spot to make a move.  Finally, I found it.  I had QJ and called a smallish raise from late position.  The flop was QJrag.  I bet about 1/2 pot and the other player pushed all in.  They had me covered.  I turned my 2 pair and they showed AQ for 1 pair.  The inevitable Ace on the river sent me packing. 

I moved back to the cash game and started making a run there.  Then I ran into a big decision hand with AdKc.  I was about to get up and go to the room.  My friend had just finished 3rd.  The tournament of 18 players paid top 2.  I raised and had 1 caller.  The flop came out King high all diamonds.  What a flop for me.  Top pair with a diamond draw.  I bet and the other player raises.  An alarm went off in my head.  This player has something.  I knew I was on a draw at this point but re-popped it all in.  I couldn't see his chip stack as he was hiding it, but he only had a little left and called.  He turned over his set.  I did not improve.  I played a couple more hands and put the rest of the chips I had out with a pocket pair of 8's.  I was called by one other player.  He had 9's.  Back to the room.

We chilled out for just a little bit until the next tournament was about to start and headed back down to the poker room.  I made a little better run in this tournament, but ended up pushing with A5 with 6 left from the small blind, thinking I would take the big blind.  The big blind called with AQ.  I had AA and QQ busted already in this tournament so when I saw one of each of them I knew I was in trouble.  A 5 hit on the flop, but a queen hit on the turn.  The dealer giveth then he takeths away.

After that game I walked around and found a 50 hand poker machine.  I sat down for a while and tried my luck.  After about a half hour I was about break even after being down, so I cashed out.  From there I walked over to Harrah's to buy a Chipotle Burrito and a keno ticket.  I decided on a 9 spot for 50 games.  That was all the money I had left for the day, but I was ready for bed.

Day 2 Finally Playing Poker

 

After Losing Money On Day One, I woke up feeling a little bummed.  Here is a link to the ATM incident from the previous year.  My plans were to do some sports betting in the morning and watch football all afternoon.  No big deal.  I could skip the sports betting.  Watching football is free. 

 

I grabbed some money saved for Day Three and headed downstairs for breakfast.  I wasn't missing out on the orange juice that I had been looking forward to having every morning.  The little things can change one's day.  I ordered a chicken fried steak, eggs, potatoes and orange juice at the café.  The food was amazing and only cost 12.00.  My orange juice was great, but when I got the bill and saw the 7.00 charge for the small glass of o.j. I decided I would not be eating there every morning.

 

We watched football all afternoon and even got some pizza and wings to take up to the room to eat while we watched some exciting games of football.  That evening my plans were to try to play the 200.00 mega satellite to the 1600.00 Deep Stack game at the Venetian.  In order to do this I would need to cut down my spending money per day the rest of the week.  Still, I had to give it a shot.  Next to drinking orange juice every morning, and getting a fried oreo, this was something I really wanted to do.

 

The table that I drew had a ton of wreckless players.  We had 5 people go out in the first hour.  I think the rest of the field of 60 players only had 1 or 2 players go out from the other 5 tables.  I got tied up in a couple hands that flopped or turned badly for me and I had to bail.  My stack was getting shorter each blind level.  I finally got QQ and raised preflop.  There was a raise after me, that put me all in.  It was just him and I, so I called.  He turned over pocket K's.  GG!

 

We left the Venetian and went to check out the place we would be calling home the next few nights - The Quad.  We walked around a little bit and headed back to the Riviera, calling it an early night again.

 

The next day we would be looking forward to making a move to the Quad and being around some poker action.  The day after that we would be looking forward to some more poker action, a show, and a trip to Freemont Street.  Will we get to play more poker?  Do we make it to Freemont Street to gorge our faces in fried oreo's and twinkies?  Only time will tell.

 

Highs and Lows! My First Night In Vegas

 

I'm back!  It was a good trip filled with poker, lots of eating, some slot play, a show, more eating and a little pain and swelling. 

 

Friday morning I had to get the kids to school and daycare and figured I would take off for the airport after that for my 1 1/2 hour drive and flight at 11:50.  My wife dropped the kids off to let me pack.  I got sidetracked and tried unplugging a drain in the bathroom.  Then I could not find my lucky K-State visor.  Then I couldn't find my case with my casino cards.  I found the K-State visor, but did not find my cards.  I went ahead and left so I could get to the airport early so I didn't have such a high anxiety.

 

As I'm driving out of town I get behind a line of slow moving traffic after a bridge construction zone backed us up.  Great!  I was going to be cutting it close but figured I would fill the tank at the next town so I wouldn't have to worry about gas when I returned home.  I filled up quickly and got back on the road.  A couple miles later I was stuck at more road construction.  This time I was in the front of the line.  I had to wait about 25 minutes for the pilot car to return.  My nerves were on edge.  I was going to be cutting this close.  I had to get to the airport, park the car, catch a shuttle to the terminal, check my bag, get through security and load the plane.  It was looking like at the very least if everything went well I could still catch the plane, but it was looking like I would lose my early place in line.

 

For the first time in quite a few years, I purposely sped once I got out of the construction zone.  It may not have saved me much time, but as I parked the shuttle was coming by.  He waited a couple seconds as I scrambled to grab all of my stuff.  WIN!  At the airport the check in line was longer than I have ever seen it.  This was it.  I was going to have to carry on my bag.  It's small enough, I just hate carrying on a suitcase.  Then the lady at the desk asked, "Is anyone in line going to Vegas?"  I got called to the front and had my bag checked.  WIN! 

 

The security line was a breeze and I got to the gate just in time to step into line A40 and claim my seat.  WIN Again. 

 

I met a guy at the gate that said he was trying to get home to Salt Lake City and had been rerouted several times do to the Chicago fire.  I wasn't sure what he was talking about, but found out later.  It was his 70th birthday and he had a big party planned for that evening.  He wasn't sure if he was going to make it on time.  I didn't have much, but I gave him one of my free drink coupons for the flight.

 

During the flight the stewardess brought me several corona's.  I used a free ticket on the first one, but she did not charge me or take my free tickets for the rest!  WIN WIN WIN!

 

The plane landed around noon on Friday.  I was anxious to get to the hotel so I jumped in line for a taxi.  I've always taken a shuttle from the airport and when I saw how long the line was I almost turned around to catch a shuttle.  The line moved fast though and I was on my way to the Riviera in a jiffy. 

 

I called my friend who had arrived that morning and told him to meet me at the check in.  There was a long line.  I saw the check in machines and saw they were available.  I stepped up and had the room keys in no time.  My friend hadn't even made it to the check in area yet.  I caught him on the way to the elevator and we headed up to the room to check it out.

 

We were finally in Las Vegas.  We headed back downstairs for him to get his luggage while I grabbed a bottle of fireball and met back up at the room.  After a couple of quick shots we were ready to go do a little gambling.

 

After a few slot pulls my lack of eating was eating away at me and I had to grab some Chinese to take back to the room.  I ate and we drank some more before heading back downstairs.  Through the rest of the evening I mashed a lot of buttons with absolutely no luck. 

 

I wouldn't have wanted to keep track of the amount I spent on drinks and slots.  It would probably be sickening, but at one point I reached into my pocket to grab some more cash and my pocket was empty.  It either fell out somewhere or somebody else helped themselves to it.  That was sickening.  I had the next days money in with my first days money.  I hadn't touched the 2nd days money as it was all hundreds.  I went back to the room to sulk and go to bed around 10:00 P.M. my first night in Vegas, down $800.00 already. 

 

I've always left what money I wasn't planning on spending in the room.  I was careless this time and it bit me in the arse.  Lesson learned.  I made somebody's night!  The crappy thing is I wouldn't have had that much cash at all if I hadn't had the ATM incident last year when I was in Vegas.