Quick Trip Report

I'm back from Vegas. It was a quick trip and a lot of fun. I didn't play any poker, but I did stop by and look at a couple of poker rooms as we were checking out the strip. 

I went to Freemont street on Sunday night to get fried Oreos and check out the light show. As soon as the light show was over we walked to Mermaids for fried Oreos. No luck. They were cleaning up shop. 

One thing I noticed out there was a complete lack of tourists. It was almost like a ghost town compared to usual. It is usually slow this time of year but on Freemont street during the light show I counted 5 people out watching it not including us. 

I bid farewell to the Riviera. From now on if I go to Vegas I will be staying at a casino that offers poker. My next trip will probably be during the WSOP with the intentions of playing a lot of poker. 

Riviera Hotel and Casino to be Demolished?

 

Last week I saw that Riviera Hotel and Casino was being sold.  Today on vitalvegas.com I saw that Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority is buying Riviera with plans of demolition.  Vitalvegas.com mentioned that the official announcement is still a few days off with an expected announcement at the sale on Feb. 17, 2015.

 

The Riviera Hotel and Casino has always been my favorite casino.  I have a lot of good stories that came from staying there.  I will miss this gem in the desert. 

 

With my upcoming trip and stay booked at the Riviera next Saturday and Sunday, I will be paying close attention to the news next week.   

 

 

2 Weeks and 2 Days

This month is going to fly by.  I tried to slow it down by booking a trip to Las Vegas the 21st - 23rd.  Usually it takes forever for a Vegas trip to get here.  Not this time.

I have poker on Monday nights.  Basketball is over, but my nights are now filled with preparations to buy a marina.  I have put together a business plan and my wife has helped tremendously by getting the cash flow projections together.  We have looked at personal finances, start up cost, calculated labor cost, and much much more.  We were able to get a lot of financial information from the original owners and they have been extreemly helpful in answering additional questions as they come up.

On Saturday they were on their way back to their Condo in Padre and sat in their car to keep cell phone reception just to answer questions for me as well as just talk about the business in general.

Tomorrow I meet with a SBA loan representative that also can write developement loans and authorize certain grants.  All of our hard work will be scrutinized tomorrow.  We have a bank that will carry the loan.  We just need the SBA to sign off on it.

I feel a lot better after looking deeply into the financials.  I knew there had to be a way to make money in the business and the financials show that I am right.  The owners confirmed that I was right and the owners accountant assured me I was right. 

If everything goes as planned I will be purchasing a marina by early March and transitioning to a business owner and operator immediately following.  I will be leaving a great job, so it has been a tough decision.  My dream is to wear shorts to work.  I may be doing a lot of that this summer.

I will still have some major work to do after tomorrow, and before we purchase the business.  I will be busy with my current job, preparing to leave.  I will be busy at night getting my ducks in a row at home. 

My wife is planning on staying behind for a while so we have a second source of income.  She can support us with her pay.  I will move up in a pop up camper and live behind the marina for the immediate future.  Campground showers and restrooms.  I'm planning on working 16 hour days, 7 days a week.  I know there will be some slow times I can take some breaks.  In the beginning the days will be a little shorter until we reach the busy season. 

I still plan on putting in my time to make this business venture successful.  I enjoy working hard.  With the business only being open 7 months a year, I plan on playing hard on my off time.  I may be able to find a job that I can work during my off time.

My life is crazy right now.  I have a whirlwind of emotions every day.  For the most part I am excited.  I feel alive.  I feel like all of the work experience I have gotten the last 13 years has been for this.  Marketing, Management, H.R., Payroll, Accounting, Purchasing, Bookkeeping.  All of this will contribute to the success of this business and make my transition a little easier. 

I have wondered why I have been tested so much the last 13 years.  This may be why.

Vegas in February - EllisMania 10

Last night we had our weekly game.  I was card dead the whole first half of the game.  I won 1 hand the first 2 hours.  Even the hands I folded I would not have caught anything on the flop had I felt like playing 8 3 offsuit.

After break I came back to 4 bb's.  I had just talked to one of the players outside before the break ended saying that I will come back to a mid pocket pair within the first 2 hands, go all in and get called and lose.  It always happens when I am low stacked. 

The first hand back was not quite a mid pocket pair.  It was 66.  I was early position and went all in.  One of the other players hem hawed around and said he was going with his gut and called.  Everybody else folded.  He turned over 10 3 hearts.  He hit a 3 on the flop and a 3 on the river to send me packing. 

After the hand he said he was sorry, he made a horrible play.  I told him it wasn't a horrible play.  It was the best call I could have asked for with him only having 1 over.  He went with his gut and it worked.  I told him not to worry about it.  I figured with my chips as amunition he would make it deep, just as I probably would have with his chips had I won.  He ended up cashing in 3rd place.

On a good note, I have booked another trip out to Las Vegas.  I will be bringing another newby out, so probably not a lot of poker this trip.  He plays a bit so we may be sitting at some tables over the weekend.  I booked it for Feb 21st - Feb 23rd.  We get there early Sat morning and leave Monday afternoon.  It will be a quick trip. 

I wanted to have something to look forward to after a busy start to the year.  We will be staying at the Riviera again.  I really like the size of the rooms.  Plus they let me use my comps for a room on the weekends.  Play a little too much on the slots there I do.  If only they had a poker room.

We've already booked tickets to EllisMania 10 Saturday night.  I am not sure exactly what it is, but the guy I'm bringing said he listens to Jason Ellis on XM radio.  They were having EllisMania 10 the same night we get to town.  This could not be coincidence.  I booked the tickets before I knew what it was about.  From what I have heard random people do challenges on the radio to have a chance to go to this and fight.  The last one had a musical chair fight, 4 man shock collar fight and some other crazy fights.  It sounds like they put on one heck of a show.  I'm excited to go see it and bring back some interesting stories to put on here.

Muck Em

After winning last week, I had a target on my back for the $20.00 bounty this week.  It was apparent at the start of play that I was going to have to have the best hand from start to finish every time.

I had pocket aces fairly early and had 2 callers all the way to rivertown.  I had 1 beat.  The other caught their flush on the river.  Painful. 

This week was not at all like last week.  I could not buy a hand.  Actually I got creative one time when I was about out of chips and called an all in from late position with 7 2 when nobody else called.  There were a lot of chips in the pot.  He had JQ.  I caught a 7 on the river to win.  It was pretty exciting.  It was apparent that I showed up last night to eat, drink and have fun.  With the cards I got I do not think things would have turned out any different if I had played seriously.

I did have fun.  The host always makes a meal for us.  This week it was a baked potato bar, with a snack tray and cakes.  It's a rough way to spend my Monday evenings.

My last hand of the night was 4 2 s.  I went all in and had 2 callers.  KQrag out the gate.  Big stack bets, other player goes all in.  Uh Oh!  Big stack folds.  Other player has a Q.  A 2 hit on the turn.  No love on the river.  I was third out of the game.  I had 1 BB left when I went all in.  I had just gotten out of the blinds with 8 3 and 9 2 with raisers and callers ahead of me.  I had 4 more hands to make a move.  When I looked down at the power hand 4 2 I knew it was time to put my chips in the middle. 

Not this time.

Poker and Basketball

This week I got back into the Monday night Muck Em.  The week before my daughter had been diagnosed with Influenza, I was exposed and I did not want to spread it to anybody else so I stayed home.

This week I came ready to play.  The cards were ready for me too.  I won the very first hand I have played this year with a pair of kings.  Nobody called my bet on the flop.  I caught several boats, sets, straights and all at the opportune times.  By the time we got to the final table I had a sizable chip lead.  The cards went dead.  Compared to what I had been getting.  I sat on my stack and watched as other players were taken out.

When we got down to 5 left I started looking for a spot to make a move.  I found a couple of spots and maintained my stack.  The blinds were starting to get to where I could not sit any longer.

When the bubble busted I was sitting with a slight lead.  From there one of the players continued on his run he was having since break.  He had been down to 1 bb at break and had went on a heck of a streak.  He took out the other 2 players and had me covered in chips. 

We played back and forth for nearly another 20 minutes.  I looked down at pocket 3's and thought I would do a semi-steal attempt.  He called.  The flop came out low.  He had called my raise so i figured he might have high cards.  I thought he had me covered so I announced all in.  He thought for a while and called.  It turned out I had a few more chips than he did.  I turned over my 3's and he showed 2 6 for a pair of 2's.  The board ran out not improving his hand and giving me the win. 

I collected my my hundo from finishing 3rd last year and collected more than that for my 1st place finish.  Nice start to the year.

We had our first basketball games on Saturday.  The boys played really well.  We lost 11 to 16 the first game and 12 to 32 the second game.  We fell apart at half time the 2nd game.  We were down 10 to 12 and looked like we had a chance.  Then I had a couple of kids start arguing and pushing each other on my team.  Another 2 kids forgot their positions and started running all over chasing the ball.  We are looking good.  We have 2 players that are scoring all of the points.  We need another player to step up and become a scoring threat as well. 

After practice this week I think we will have at least 3 kids scoring this Saturday.