Good morning everyone, especially you weekend re-clickers out there! I hope everyone had a good week at work and is enjoying a fine weekend.
My Friday didn't turn out exactly the way I planned it. First of all, I went in to work at 1:00 am, and there was a nice juicy no-limit game going. I think I said at the end of my last post that if my next shift was half as good as my previous one, that I'd be happy--well, I did the math, and my Friday morning shift was 85% as good as the previous one, so yeah, I was pretty happy. Even better, the game wrapped up at 6:15, so once I closed the table down, the floorman and I took turns wandering to the back to pick up our paystubs, then we counted down all the banks on each of the tables (has to be done once a shift), and I was out by 7:00 am. No dealing the old farts game for me!
Not wanting to bang around in the kitchen while my roommate was still in bed (although I'm really wanting to make some biscuits and gravy), I stopped at Jack in the Box for a breakfast sandie and some juice. Again, my phone started to ring just about the time I was deep into my REM cycle, so whoever I talked to, I'm sure it was a one-sided incoherent conversation. And there were several of them.
Anyhow, I finally woke up around 3:00 pm and wanted to get down to the bank and make a deposit, because I knew there was no way I'd get down there on Saturday before noon. I shuffled around for a bit, but again, it was getting dark by the time I left the house, and I don't know why, but that kind of depresses me. I haven't seen the sun but for a few minutes each day on my drive home from work in the mornings.
Once I got back to the house, I showered, put on some decent clothes, and then sat down at the computer with some chips and salsa, looking for a decent activity for my Friday night. Eventually, I decided to head down to the Venetian and play in their 7:00 pm tourney.
Traffic was heavy again, and I took that to be a good sign, and when I got to the Venetian, their valet was all backed up and moving slowly, too. Hey, maybe the recession isn't so deep after all.
Once I got into the casino, it was just packed. Wall to wall people like I haven't seen in months. And almost all of the tables were $25 minimums, too. I made my way over to the Club Grazie desk to get a new card--can't play in a tourney there without one. When I gave my drivers license to the gal behind the desk, she said Oh, you're a local? Ok, tell ya what--I'll give you $25 in free slot play.
Nice.
I told her that I would use it all in the Megabucks machine, but then I found out that I coudn't use it in a progressive machine. Damn. Oh well.
I then wandered over to the tournament desk in their absolutely frickin' HUGE poker room, and paid my $120 registration fee. I asked how many tables they had so far, and expecting to hear three or four, I was blown away when the tournament director said that he was already up to NINE full tables.
Oh hell yeah. That sure beats the lame 13 player tourney I did at Binion's about two weeks ago.
On the first hand of the tourney, I was dealt pocket Fours, but the guy on my right raised the $25 blind up to $250. I thought that was a bit much for such a weak pair, and folded. He got one caller, and of course the flop was all rags, including a four. It turns out that the two players had a pissing contest with Ace high, and I would've started with a huge chip lead had I not been such a wuss. I mean, seriously--I'm an idiot. We started with $7500 in chips, so I probably should've called just to see a flop. Oh well... live and learn.
I actually did pretty well, and by the time the first break hit after an hour and a half, I had the third highest stack at my table and had knocked a couple of people out.
During the break, they finally updated the tournament info, and it turns out that there were 115 entrants, 80+ had made it to the break, they were paying only the top 9 finishers, and first place got like $3600. Not too bad.
After the break, however, I went card dead for about an hour. I didn't get to play a single hand, and was just blinded down.
They broke our table, and a few minutes into my new table, I was able to steal the blinds and antes twice and build my stack back up to a respectable level. But I got crippled on one hand--I had pocket Nines on the button, and the short-stack that was under the gun went all-in. Everyone folded around to me, so I called, the blinds folded, and it was heads up. He had Jack-Queen offsuit, so I liked my chances, even though he had two live cards. The flop came Ace-Ten-Nine, giving me trips, but giving him four more outs. The turn was a harmless five, and he was down to hoping for a four-outer King on the river to survive.
Of course he got it.
Devastating hand. I ended up shipping over half my stack to him after that train wreck. I was then the short-stack, but they broke the table after a couple more hands. At my new table, there were a couple of huge stacks, but I had a decent position on them.
After a few hands, I looked down to see a suited King-Queen, so I raised 3x the blinds, and immediately the chip leader came over the top of me. It was either all in or fold, so I opted to fold, not wanting to risk my tourney on no pair and figuring I was up against an Ace anyways.
I got two more orbits in with nothing but junk cards, so I couldn't defend my blinds. I was like the crippled gazelle getting separated from the herd, and I was down to just $3700 when the blinds got to $800/$1600 with a hundred-dollar ante. I had barely enough to cover my next blinds, so I was under the gun and went all-in with Queen-Ten suited. But then the three big stacks at the table each went all in, creating a main pot of about sixteen grand and a side pot of about $70,000. My Queen-Ten was up against King-Queen, Queen-Jack, and pocket Aces. Of course an Ace came on the flop, the board paired, and I went out in 52nd place.
Ouch.
After getting punched out, I decided to wander over to Noodle Asia and get some late-night dinner. I hadn't been there since September of '06 when Doc Al decided to stink the whole place up by ordering Kimchee, but I figured it was safe to go back.
I had some pretty good crab Rangoon and some decent stir-fried chicken with noodles and vegetables. And sitting next the the sports book, I was able to watch a bit of the NFR on the big screens while I ate.
Noodle Asia ain't cheap, and I think the dinner tab was like $24, and I didn't have any wine or anything to drink, either--just water. But I paid 'em off when I couldn't eat any more, and headed out to the casino to use that $25 slot play.
I found a lucky-looking quarter machine, and proceed to turn my twenty five bucks worth of credits into $12.50 worth of real money. I cashed out thinking, Oh hell yeah, some lucky valet attendant is gonna get TWO dollars for bringing me my truck!
It was a pretty cool night outside here in Vegas, down in the fifties, but it was clear as a bell, so it was a nice night to be on the Strip--I decided to take the slow scenic route home instead of jumping on the freeway at Spring Mountain. I had my jacket with me, so I left the window down and drove up the Strip listening to Dean Martin singing Who's Got the Action, and that really improved my mood. Driving up the strip listening to old-school Vegas lounge music, while watching all of the lights and the people on the sidewalks was just downright cool. For a few fleeting moments, it felt like I was part of a bigger Vegas movie or something.
Once I got past Mandalay Bay and all of the lights were in my rear view mirror, I got on the freeway and headed back here to Henderson. I pet the dogs and gave 'em each a treat, then I poured myself a small rum cocktail and hung out in the game room for a bit, just staring at the lights of the city.
So I busted out of the tournament forty-odd places away from the money. No biggie--I'll get 'em next time. But even though I didn't cash, it was still a great night to be in Vegas.
Mikey
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