Take The 'L' Out of Lover Football, and It's Over

Today is a most depressing day, as the realization sets in that there will be no more football until late August, more than six months away. Oh, there will be a few pre-season games which will get everyone excited, but the novelty wears off after the first couple of games and it makes the wait for the start of the regular season and the college season that much worse. Seriously, now that football is over, it marks the beginning of the least enjoyable part of the year--tax season, the interminably long NBA playoffs, and the return of summer.

Those of you in cold places look forward to summer, I know, but those of us that live in the desert don't much care for it. It's the painful price we have to pay for living in a place that for the most part, has wonderful weather for the rest of the year (this year being the exception. It's been cold and rainy for what seems like forever). I'm ready for some sun, but I can certainly do without the 110-degree daily temperatures and roasting in my own juices every time I get into my truck. And that whole sensation of walking into a blast furnace every time I open my front door kinda sucks, too. Spring is cool, but Autumn is where it's at...

Anyhow, as much as I'm going to miss football, there are a few things that help tide me over. The Daytona 500 is next weekend, and my redneck roots can't help but love me some Nascar racin'. March Madness is on the horizon, followed by The Masters. Cardinals baseball is just around the corner, and maybe this summer I might find my way back to the ocean and get some sailing done. And just about the time I've had it with the blazing heat of summer, football will start up again and then I've got that cruise to look forward to. But still--it seems like it's going to be a very long summer.

But right now, it's still very much winter here in Vegas. As far as my rainy weekend went, it was quite mellow. Illinois Marty popped in to town for a quick visit and we got to hang out for a bit on Friday night. I picked him up from the airport, and after he got checked in to his hotel room, we had a nice dinner at Ruth's Chris. Surprisingly, of all the good restaurants I've been to, I'd never eaten at Ruth's Chris.

It was damn good though--I had a superb dinner of French onion soup, a perfectly cooked ribeye, and a huge loaded baked potato. And we had some great Oregon Pinot to round out the meal. And we had a nice visit, too.

Once I got home that night, I went straight to bed, and got the middle-of-the-night wake-up call from work. I rolled in at 4:00 am to a very busy poker room, and I worked a full shift. That was a nice surprise, and I made some good money, too. I stepped out of the casino into the pouring rain--it was cold, foggy, and more than a little drizzly when I finally got cut loose. A perfect day to do nothing but curl up in bed with a good book and a hot cup of coffee.

I ended up going out on Saturday night to the M to play some poker. But it was a total grind. I played for almost six hours, getting absolutely crappy cards all night long. My biggest hand was a flush, and I only got one of them. Oh, I got me some pocket Aces three times, but the first two times, everyone folded in front of me, and even with a small please-call-me bet, all I could do was pick up the blinds. I got 'em one more time and only won a $22 pot, getting only one caller. It really sucked because the guy directly on my right was like the biggest fish ever, dumping a thousand dollars into the game. Everyone else was racking up as big winners, but I just couldn't catch anything. And with all the big stacks in the game, it was tough to bluff at pots, too.

I finally gave up, down $150, unable to make any sort of hand or any sort of play. It was just one of those nights where no matter what I did, I couldn't grind out a profit. No good bluffing opportunities, couldn't hit a draw, and I never got a big hand.

There was one hand that bothered me for awhile, where I'm pretty sure I got outplayed, and I kicked myself over it for the rest of the night. I thought I had the best hand with middle pair and a flush draw after the turn, so I bet $15 into a twenty-and-change pot. I got check-raised all-in, and I thought about it for a long time before finally laying it down. But the more I thought about it, the more I was sure that I got bluffed, or maybe semi-bluffed (had I made my flush, it would've been King-high, so I'm sure it would've been good). Anyhow, just from watching my opponent play the way he did the rest of the night, I have to admit that he got the better of me on that hand.

But that's about how my night went--no bad beats, but nothing good happening either. It was probably best to just go home stuck a few bucks than to go home completely broke.

On Sunday morning, I slept in, and saw that I'd missed a middle-of-the-night phone call from work. Had I heard my phone, I could've picked up a few more hours and easily made back my poker losses from the night before. That pissed me off. I hate hate hate missing a chance to pick up a shift. And since the bad beat jackpot is so juicy right now, our room has been much busier at night.

Anyhow--I spent the day chillin' here at the Batch Pad. I didn't go down to the book to watch the game, and most of my friends had to work anyways. And my inherent laziness saved the day, too. I was talking about parlaying the Colts and the Under, and thankfully I never got down to the book to make the bet--it would've been a loser.

After the game, I stayed up watching all the coverage on ESPN, but I still made it to bed relatively early. I woke up around 3:00 am and called down to the poker room, just to maybe see if they were busy enough to have me come in for a few hours. They still had some games going, but they were covered. I was tempted, for about a minute, to go down and try and make a few bucks, but I opted to stay in bed and sleep in again. Who knows, maybe that bit of laziness saved me even more money...

I don't have anything on the agenda for today, but the sun has finally come out again and it seems to be a clear day outside. I'm not gonna get too excited though. It's only like fifty degrees, and we've got more rain coming. I might head down to the store this afternoon and pick up a few groceries, though. I'm thinking Beef Stroganoff tonight.

Mikey