Pinche Rio

OK, I think that today, I'm just gonna lie around the house and whimper for a few hours.

I'm still under the weather, and you know how it is with a cold--you always feel like shiat in the morning. And this morning, I definitely feel like I've been run over by a large angry vehicle.

Yesterday was a fun day, though. I met up with Big Drew from Wisconsin--we had lunch at Grimaldi's. I hadn't been there in over a month, so it nice that he chose it as a place to meet up. The pizza was excellent, of course.

After we finished eating and catching up, Drew and his wife wanted to head over to the M Resort and check it out, so I gave them easy directions from the restaurant, and I headed out to run a couple of errands. I still haven't found the post office in my new neighborhood, but since Grimaldi's is so close to the old 'dog house', I headed over there to the post office that was damn near directly across the street from my old place.

Now, the main Vegas post office across from the airport on Sunset is a model of efficiency, but the 89012 outpost on Horizon Ridge is staffed by the most ridiculous collection of inept morons ever to pass a civil service exam. I *hate* going in there because it's always a clusterf*ck, and a thirty second transaction always manages to take five minutes. Even if there are only four cars in the parking lot, I know that at least a half-hour of my life is going to be wasted.

Well, thankfully they got a new toy there--an ATM style stamp dispenser. Normally, I'd just buy stamps at the grocery store, but twice this week I'd been shot down--both stores were out of stamps. That's the only reason I broke down and went directly to the source. Anyhow, in the past, that particular post office had a vending machine, but it was always out of the 'Forever' stamps, it only took cash, and unless I wanted to spend $40+ on a hundred of them, I usually had to wait in line.

But the new ATM-style stamp machine saved me the trouble this time. I bought a book of 18 with my debit card and was out of there in less than a minute. The six people in line, of course, had that exasperated look of DMV patrons, all knowing that they'd be there for the long haul, while the morons behind the counter took full advantage of the fact that they were indeed being paid by the hour, not per-customer.

I also hit the local Smith's grocery store for a few things--normally I've been going to the WallyWorld super center, but as big as their grocery section is, they seem to have a limited selection of things (like salsa), their produce ain't that great, and they ridiculously over-charge for bread. But with stamps and groceries in hand, I made it home and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon.

Around six in the evening, one of my gals called, seeing if I wanted to go play some poker. I did, but I didn't want to go the same room she was looking to play in--I wanted to go back over to the M. She didn't want to drive all the way out there, so I told her maybe I'd just meet up with her later.

I took a shower and got dressed, then called down to the M poker room and had them put my name on the waiting list. When I got there, I was still about 7 or 8 spots down on the waiting list, so I was hoping that they'd just open a new table. That didn't happen, so I just sat in the sports book watching the College World Series.

But while I was sitting there, I saw my favorite dealer, that cute gal with the kookie blond hair and the pierced tongue. She was just getting up from a game and saw me, so she came over to say hello, asking me where I'd been for the past month.

Mikey, I haven't seen you since before you headed off to Phoenix for the Jimmy Buffett concert!

True, I'd been gone awhile--I spent a week in Phoenix, then a week or so moving, and then after that, the bad beat jackpot over at Stations was so high that I was either working every night or playing there trying to get a piece of the action. So I hadn't been to the M in quite some time. (Actually, I went there on Sunday with my gal Hailey, and we played cards for a few hours and went to dinner, but my favorite dealer is off on Sunday and Mondays).

Anyhow, we spent a few minutes chit-chatting and catching up and then they decided to go ahead and open a new game--and since she was the break dealer, she would start it. Nice! So we sat down and a few other players came over, but then they realized that there was no rake-box under the table--it was just a big empty bracket--the box was never replaced after they did the drop the night before. So, they couldn't use the table.

We were getting ready to move to another one when a seat opened up in the main game and they called my name. So I went over there to play.

Unfortunately, I was just card dead for about two hours. I couldn't get a 'mustache card' to save my life and up until around 11:00 pm or so, I'd only had three pocket pairs for the entire session. Jacks, which of course lost. Pocket Jacks always lose. Sixes, which were no good after the flop, and Fives, which actually won a small pot for me when I flopped and outside straight and turned the winner, only for it to cost me a bet when the third heart hit the river. Grrrr... I still won the pot, but I couldn't bet the river from early position.

Anyhow, I was running so badly--a never-ending parade of stuff like 6-3, 9-2, 7-4--that I asked for a seat change and got it when somebody finally called it a night.

I should've just stayed put, because in one hour, I flopped two-pair five times! Unfortunately, I was rivered by a three or four-outer each and every time. It was just ridiculous--I've never seen so many people make ridiculous suck-outs on the river against me--it was like I was playing four games at a time on Poker Stars. It was just an endless string of bad beats. And of course, every time I'd flop four to a flush, I never got there, but everyone else did, so suited cards only cost me more money.

There was one huge pot that I felt I was sure I was going to win--I had Nines full of Jacks, and when all was said and done, it was about a $150 pot. Of course, somebody else had the same thing, so we split it. My best hand of the night ended up being a split pot--that's how bad I was running.

On my last hand of the night, I had Six-Five of hearts on the big blind. There were six limpers, so I just checked when it came to me. The flop came out Six-Five-Deuce, so I bet right out, and everyone called. The turn brought a King, so I bet again and got a couple of callers. It was a nice pot by then, so I was anticipating finally getting nice payoff. The river brought a Three, there was no possible flush out there, so I bet. Of course some jackass called, and when I showed my two pair, he turned over 9-4 offsuit to make his inside straight.

Unbelievable run of bad luck.

I was so fed up by that time--stuck almost $180--that I didn't even play my small blind or button. I had $14 left in front of me and I was just pissed off. So I got up from the game, went over to the table where my favorite gal with the kookie hair was dealing, waited for her to push her pot, and then gave her all of the shrapnel I had left and said goodnight. No use standing in line at the cashier for fourteen bucks.

It was just a sucky night all around.

I got out of there sometime after midnight, tired, pissed off, and hungry. No, there was no chance of going to the Red Cup Cafe for breakfast--the staff there seems to have taken customer service lessons from the doofusses there at the Horizon Ridge post office. So I just came home, fixed myself a pimento & cheese sammich and watched TV for a couple of hours.

Finally, when I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer, I took some medicine and put a mellow big-band CD in the player and went to bed.

I'm hoping today turns out a little better, although I don't have a thing on the agenda. I'm gonna chill out here at the house, do a few chores and whatnot, and just relax today. I'm still not feeling well, but it's nothing that a pot of coffee and some good drugs won't fix. Maybe later tonight I'll bang around in the kitchen some--one of the cocktail waitresses at work hooked me up with some homemade tortillas and refried beans two nights ago, so I might marinade a flank steak or something and make some burritos or fajitas.

Mikey