Ok, y'all win. I'll make another post before Monday--if only because I can't sleep, all of my housework is done, and I don't care for ESPN's programming for another hour or so.
I had a pretty good Thursday, though. Once I got my nap in after work, I woke up in time for the UPS man to drop off a batch of those cask-aged Partagas Black Labels, which are now resting comfortably in my humidor as I write this. I've realized that I really need to get smokin'--I can't squeeze another single stick in the thing and get the lid to close, so I'm thinking that this weekend I'm gonna be spending some quality time out on the patio in my camp chair, fondly remembering what it was like to not have furniture.
Later in the afternoon, I took off and headed to the bank to make a deposit, then dropped off the utility bills in the mail. I'm so glad that autumn has finally made it to this corner of the Mojave desert--my September electric bill was $107, but October's was just over fifty. I then made my way over to the casino to submit my direct deposit paperwork, then found my way over to the poker room and took a seat at a 4-8 game.
It wasn't a great start, and I took a significant beating early on. Whenever I play 4-8 limit, I almost always buy in for $100, and in that session, I started off so badly that I ended up rebuying, twice, for a total of $215--basically all the cash I had in my wallet. But it's not like I was playing badly--actually, I was playing very well--but I took a couple of ridiculous beats where all I could do was shake my head and think Wow, you don't see that every day...
But I screwed it down and knew that the law of averages was bound to catch up sooner or later, and if I kept getting my money in with the best of it, I was bound to get paid off. And that's exactly what happened. I caught a few nice hands and was more than happy to take the chips of folks who stayed in on draws that never made it, or somehow never quite grasped the concept of having a kicker.
Eventually, after about four hours or so, I had exactly $300 in chips stacked in front of me, so I figured it was a good time to rack up, take advantage of the furious comeback I'd made, and walk with an $85 profit. Besides, I wanted to go over to the 'a.t. M' and play at their juicy tables. So as I cashed out, I called the poker room over at the M and had them put my name on the waiting list, telling them I'd be there in about a half hour or so.
It was raining on that side of town, making it feel even cooler outside than it already was, but once I scurried in from the roof of the parking garage, there was an open seat at one of the 4-8 tables. I grabbed a 'rack of white' (a hundred bucks worth of chips), and took my seat.
On my second hand, not a minute after I sat down, I got involved in a sick sick sick hand. I was on the big blind, and about five or six players limped in. I looked down to see an 8-3 of diamonds, so I just checked.
The flop came out 8-8-4. Bingo--I'd just flopped trips!
Since I was first to act, I checked, hoping to check-raise somebody in late position. The action checked around to the button, and he bet. I raised, everyone else folded, and he re-raised me!
Thinking that he probably also had an 8 and most likely had me outkicked, I just called, pissed off at myself for succumbing to a case of 'fancy play syndrome'. I was probably beaten, but it was only four more dollars to see the turn, and trips is still a monster. I could lay it down after one more card with minimal damage.
The turn card was a three, pairing my kicker and giving me a full house! Oh hell yeah, it was on!
So I bet out, and my opponent raised me again! I couldn't believe how lucky I was, so I popped him back. And he re-raised me again.
Unbelievable.
Now, I'd played against this guy on several occasions in the past, and he's truly a horrible player--I beat him like a drum all the time, so I figured I had him beat. Thinking for a second, I put him on something like King-Eight or Queen-Eight (if he'd had Ace-Eight, we would've raised preflop on the button--some things you just know. And I couldn't put him on 8-4--What kind of donkey would play that?).
So I re-raised.
He immediately came back at me. So I re-raised again, figuring that the second-nuts were a lock. It went back and forth like that until there were eight bets and raises each, before I put the brakes on and said to myself You know what, this jackass may just have 8-4...
The river was a harmless Nine, but I still checked, just in case. He bet, I called, and yep, he turned over 8-4. Not suited, no reason whatsoever to play that crap, but he did and got extremely lucky. At least I was on the blind and saw the flop for free, so I had a reason to be in the hand.
Talk about a kick in the gut--I hadn't been at the table five minutes and I was already stuck $84. Yep, that's how much I lost on that one single hand. Ouch.
On the other hand, at least I lost it to a complete donkey, so I knew it wouldn't take long before I got my money back. So I called for another rack of chips, and pulled another Benjamin from my wallet.
I also put on my iPod and went into the tank, determined not to say anything or give away any kind of tells, hoping to just play my A-game and grind my way back.
Luckily for me, I got paid off on a couple of other big hands--I turned another full boat a few hands later, and my nemesis had three pair and bet them all the way, thinking they were good, so I got a nice chunk of my chips back less than 15 minutes later. I also bet on-the-come on a flush draw that got there, so nobody had me on it at the river. And that same guy made a nine-high junk flush with his crappy cards, so he built the pot for me on the end, and again, I dragged a nice fat pot.
I was within five bucks of being even when I had pocket Sevens on a six-way pot pre-flop. The flop came out King-Ten-Seven, and Mr. 8-4 flopped top two pair and did all the work for me. Everyone else at the table knew he was kind of a crummy player, so he always got lots of action. Of course I raised him on the river when there was no possible straight or flush lurking in the weeds, and he couldn't wait to re-raise me. I hit him back, hoping he'd go to war again, but he just called, but before I could get my cards turned over he stood up and slapped his cards down face up and yelled TOP TWO PAIR, BABY!, like he was on TV and fully expecting to take another huge pot off of me.
I calmly sat there, slowly turned over my set of Sevens, and said Three of a kind, BABY!
Heh. I wish I could've captured the look on his face--I would hang the picture over my desk for days when I'm feeling a little down.
He sat back down, stunned, and I decided to twist the knife a little. Heh--I knew I'd get all my money back from you, and then some, but damn, I thought it would take a lot longer...
He didn't play much longer, and as usual, didn't need a rack when he left.
However, I went on a huge rush after that. I caught a couple of other nice hands, and I was reading other players cards like they were face-up. Seriously, I was really playing my A+++ game at that point, and I just kept stacking chips. Not only that, but every time the smokin' hot Cuban waitress would come over and talk to me, I won a pot--like four times in a row! It got to be so obvious that one of the guys down at my end of the table said something along the lines of Damn dude, you've got the best good luck charm EVAR!
The problem with running over the table like I was, is that it tends to break the other players, and if nobody else comes in and sits down, the game breaks. And by the time I had over $400 stacked in front of me, we were down to just five players. I didn't want to play short-handed, so I decided to call it a night. The game broke at that point, and even though there were seats available at other games, I called it a night, happy to book another big win, especially after getting bent over and reamed on my second hand of the night.
A buddy of mine was working the floor on the graveyard shift last night, so instead of going straight home, I decided to stop back by his casino and say hello. Of course there were a couple of games going, and there was a seat open, and well, I can't pass up an opportunity like that.
The problem was, the game was kinda lame--not a lot of action, I was kind of card dead--and I kept yawning. I felt like I was going to fall asleep at any second. Also, there was on uber-creepy guy in the game, and I remember thinking to myself Man, that dude looks like he's got a freezer full of body parts...
To make things worse, after about a half hour, he decided to change seats and come sit right next to me. No problem, he was probably the most aggressive player in the game, and he was moving into a seat directly on my right, exactly where you'd want him to be. But oh dear god--he stunk so bad. Truly eye-watering. I lasted exactly one hand and asked the dealer if I could move to the 8-seat--the spot he'd just come from. I just couldn't handle the stench.
About two hands later, it was a kill-pot, and since four other players had limped in, I did the same with my 10-7 of hearts.
The action got around to Buffalo Bill and he raised it--$9 to go. Since there were seven other players in the pot, I was getting the right price to call.
It was a crappy flop, King-Ten-Four, all spades. Yuck. It got checked around, but Mr. lotion-in-the-basket bet $6 from the button. Again, everyone called, and since the pot was so big and I had a pair of tens, I joined the call-party.
The turn was the Seven of Diamonds, giving me two pair. Now I knew beyond any reasonable doubt that NOBODY had a flush--the pot was too huge with too many callers--anyone with spades would've bet out on the turn, or raised on the flop. Since nobody did, I felt like my two pair might be good. So when it was checked to me again, I put out a feeler bet of $12, ready to run away like a scared little girl at the first sign of a raise. But nobody raised, everyone just called--all six players!
The river was a rag, no pair, no straight, not another spade. Again it was checked to me, and I gambled with another $12 bet, feeling a little more confident in the strength of my hand. This time I only got three callers, one of them being the initial raiser. He immediately turned over pocket Aces, but the other players were reluctant to show, so even before turning my cards over, I knew that my two pair were the winner.
It was a HUGE pot. Well over a hundred bucks.
And since I was tired as hell anyways, plus not really feeling the vibe at the table, I immediately racked up my winnings, not feeling guilty in the least for doing a hit-and-run. I wasn't even there for an hour, getting home just a few minutes after midnight.
When I first sat down to play eight hours earlier, I had $218 in my wallet, and when emptied the wallet once I got home, I had just short of six hundy in it! A very nice night all around.
I went straight to bed, but couldn't sleep right away. And sometime around 4:30 this morning, I woke up in the worst way possible--multiple charlie-horses in both legs--bottom of my foot, my quads, my calves. It was awful. I couldn't even stand up! Seriously, I laid there going WTF is going on??!?!? Eventually, I made it to the kitchen and drank about a quart of water and downed four aspirin, then followed it up a little later with a big glass of grape juice.
I was fine after that, but damn, I must've been some kind of dehydrated to get leg cramps like that.
I finally got back to sleep for a few hours, but then spent my Friday doing housework.
AC came over early in the evening, and we watched The Warriors and ordered a pizza--still a good flick, and it holds up surprisingly well. After the movie, we sat out on the patio, shooting the shiat and smoking a couple of fine cigars and sipping on snifters of Grand Marnier, enjoying the good life.
We decided to go play some poker after that, and we called down to Sunset Station and got on the list. There were two seats available at the same table, so we took 'em. It was a good game, and after just an hour or so, I was up over a hundred bucks. Gotta love that. AC'c gal got off work early and was coming down to pick him up, so we decided to call it a night before the blinds hit us again.
I racked up a $125 win for the session, and I think he made five bucks (not bad considering he took a pretty bad beat a half-hour earlier). He took off to meet his gal, and headed over to the M.
Unfortunately, my streak is over--I just couldn't get a hand to hold up at all. I played for about three hours, had Aces cracked twice, and couldn't even begin to count how many other hands turned to shiat on the river. I had another full-house cracked by a bigger one again, but that second time it didn't hurt nearly as badly.
And then I went card dead--I think Queen-Nine was about the best hand I had in over an hour, and ended up calling it a night after another pair of Aces was cracked on the turn. As bad as it was, I only lost twenty bucks total for the night, but I just couldn't get the cards to cooperate at all. On a more positive note, my gal Sammi was there and I got to flirt with her over the course of the evening, so that was nice. However, she's been sick all week, and when she had the chance to take an early out, she grabbed it. She was gone, and the combination of exhaustion and being card dead were working against me, so I saw no reason to stick around.
That pretty much covers the past two days. Today I've got no agenda except watching college football all afternoon, and of course, I'll probably go play some cards later at night, maybe get my mojo back. We'll see.
Mikey
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Kicking Off My Weekend
Woot! My workweek is over... Thankfully. I don't know why but it was a tough one to get through--only last night seemed decent. Otherwise, it was below-par for me, money-wise. But talking to the cocktail waitresses, they all said the same thing--they all had a below-average week, too. I'm just glad that it's over, because I seemed very tired all week long. Of course, I'm still on call all weekend, and if the phone rings I'll be more than happy to pick up a shift. But knowing that I don't have to set my alarm for midnight tonight makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.
After work this morning, we had breakfast over at the Gold Rush (I'm really starting to like that place a lot. Yeah, it's a hole-in-the-wall, but the staff in the cafe are all really nice folks, the food is good, and their prices are very reasonable). After the tab was paid, I motored my way across the street to Wally world to do a bit of shopping--I needed hangers, desperately. All of those new clothes I bought? Well, I ran out of hangers. Not that I'm exactly diligent about hanging everything up as soon as it comes out of the dryer, but it's nice to have the option. And Mamasan was giving me a ration of shiat the other day about my lifelong aversion to the ironing board, so I also picked up a new Black & Decker steam iron and a countertop ironing board, too.
A couple of my new shirts are linen blends, and they wrinkle up like a mofo in the washing machine. So instead of taking them to the dry cleaner after every wearing, I decided to cough up the scratch and make an effort to iron my nicer shirts every now and then. We'll see how that plan works out.
It was a pretty cheap trip to the store this time around--just a few other household goods made it into the basket and I got out of there for less than sixty bucks. Once I got home, I wrote out the last of the bills for another month, and I've gotta tell ya, it feels great not being on the hook for anything but rent for another month.
Of course, later this afternoon, I have to go to the bank and deposit all my cash and drop the bills off in the mail, and then I'll be done with my financial responsibilities for a few weeks. Oh, I'll probably go over to the casino and drop off a new direct deposit form at the payroll department. I always forget about my paychecks--I mean, I live almost exclusively on tips, as the casino only pays me minimum wage. And since I never come close to working 40 hours a week anymore, the money on my paycheck is like a little bonus I discover a couple times a month whenever I log on to my bank account. And I never pick up my stubs, either--the window is never open when I'm at work, and hell, the food in the dining room is so bad that I refuse to eat it, and so I haven't even walked over to the back of the house area where my locker is in probably two months or more.
So while the rest of the world looks forward to payday every other Friday, I always forget about it. Anyhow, a couple hundred bucks every couple of weeks is always nice, and it goes directly into my checking account already. But I'm going to have 'em send fifty or sixty bucks out of every paycheck over to my E*Trade account, just so it's already over there before I get my hands on it.
That's my plan for the day, but it's all on hold until the UPS man gets here. Yesterday was like an early Christmas for me--I got three boxes of stuff at once. But today I'm waiting for a load of cask-aged Partagas Black Labels from JR Cigars, along with a bonus Dominican sampler 10-pack. That should pretty much wrap up all of my purchases for a few weeks, but I'm really looking forward to tasting one of those Partagas.
Tonight, I'll probably go over to the M Resort and hopefully treat their 4-8 game as my own personal ATM once again, and maybe flirt with my gal Sammi and probably overtip the smokin' hot Cuban cocktail waitress, too.
As far as the rest of the weekend goes, I guess it depends on how well the poker game goes tonight. But tomorrow, I think AC and I are probably gonna get together for a little film-fest. We're gonna watch the Mother of all Blaxsploitation films, Truck Turner, followed by a viewing of my new Director's Cut dvd of the cult classic The Warriors (Can you DIIIIGGGG it?!?!?). Word around the campfire is that we may indulge in some cigars and some Grand Marnier while we're at it...
Anyhow, that's the news from the Batch Pad. Y'all probably won't hear from me again until sometime on Monday.
Mikey
After work this morning, we had breakfast over at the Gold Rush (I'm really starting to like that place a lot. Yeah, it's a hole-in-the-wall, but the staff in the cafe are all really nice folks, the food is good, and their prices are very reasonable). After the tab was paid, I motored my way across the street to Wally world to do a bit of shopping--I needed hangers, desperately. All of those new clothes I bought? Well, I ran out of hangers. Not that I'm exactly diligent about hanging everything up as soon as it comes out of the dryer, but it's nice to have the option. And Mamasan was giving me a ration of shiat the other day about my lifelong aversion to the ironing board, so I also picked up a new Black & Decker steam iron and a countertop ironing board, too.
A couple of my new shirts are linen blends, and they wrinkle up like a mofo in the washing machine. So instead of taking them to the dry cleaner after every wearing, I decided to cough up the scratch and make an effort to iron my nicer shirts every now and then. We'll see how that plan works out.
It was a pretty cheap trip to the store this time around--just a few other household goods made it into the basket and I got out of there for less than sixty bucks. Once I got home, I wrote out the last of the bills for another month, and I've gotta tell ya, it feels great not being on the hook for anything but rent for another month.
Of course, later this afternoon, I have to go to the bank and deposit all my cash and drop the bills off in the mail, and then I'll be done with my financial responsibilities for a few weeks. Oh, I'll probably go over to the casino and drop off a new direct deposit form at the payroll department. I always forget about my paychecks--I mean, I live almost exclusively on tips, as the casino only pays me minimum wage. And since I never come close to working 40 hours a week anymore, the money on my paycheck is like a little bonus I discover a couple times a month whenever I log on to my bank account. And I never pick up my stubs, either--the window is never open when I'm at work, and hell, the food in the dining room is so bad that I refuse to eat it, and so I haven't even walked over to the back of the house area where my locker is in probably two months or more.
So while the rest of the world looks forward to payday every other Friday, I always forget about it. Anyhow, a couple hundred bucks every couple of weeks is always nice, and it goes directly into my checking account already. But I'm going to have 'em send fifty or sixty bucks out of every paycheck over to my E*Trade account, just so it's already over there before I get my hands on it.
That's my plan for the day, but it's all on hold until the UPS man gets here. Yesterday was like an early Christmas for me--I got three boxes of stuff at once. But today I'm waiting for a load of cask-aged Partagas Black Labels from JR Cigars, along with a bonus Dominican sampler 10-pack. That should pretty much wrap up all of my purchases for a few weeks, but I'm really looking forward to tasting one of those Partagas.
Tonight, I'll probably go over to the M Resort and hopefully treat their 4-8 game as my own personal ATM once again, and maybe flirt with my gal Sammi and probably overtip the smokin' hot Cuban cocktail waitress, too.
As far as the rest of the weekend goes, I guess it depends on how well the poker game goes tonight. But tomorrow, I think AC and I are probably gonna get together for a little film-fest. We're gonna watch the Mother of all Blaxsploitation films, Truck Turner, followed by a viewing of my new Director's Cut dvd of the cult classic The Warriors (Can you DIIIIGGGG it?!?!?). Word around the campfire is that we may indulge in some cigars and some Grand Marnier while we're at it...
Anyhow, that's the news from the Batch Pad. Y'all probably won't hear from me again until sometime on Monday.
Mikey
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
ESPN -- WTF?!?!?!????
Un-f*cking-believable!
The geniuses at ESPN and Cox Cable have conspired to keep me from seeing the last half hour (hell, maybe hour--I have no idea) of the final table of the 2009 World Series of Poker.
According to ESPN, and the Cox digital cable guide, the final table was to run for two hours, from 6 pm until 8 pm local time. No problemo. Since a two-hour show means 44 minutes of comercials, my plan was to wait until 6:45 to start watching, fast-forwarding through the commercials and ending right about the same time the broadcast did.
I got a late start and didn't sit down on the couch till a few minutes after seven, but no problem there. I watched all the way through, and then just as the action got down to three-handed and Joe Cada caught a deuce on the flop to come from way behind, the recording ended--in the middle of the hand. I quickly clicked over to ESPN, and frickin' SportsCenter was on. ESPN2 didn't even have it on... WTF? What happened to the rest of the broadcast?
Oh, I know what happened as far as the tournament goes--there are blogs and webcasts all over the place describing the action, and a guy I know was there at the Rio last night watching the final table live, so I know how it all went down, but I was really hoping to see it on TV. But the morons in charge--and I don't know who to lay the entire blame on--at ESPN and Cox Cable have kept me from doing so.
Nice going, idiots.
The geniuses at ESPN and Cox Cable have conspired to keep me from seeing the last half hour (hell, maybe hour--I have no idea) of the final table of the 2009 World Series of Poker.
According to ESPN, and the Cox digital cable guide, the final table was to run for two hours, from 6 pm until 8 pm local time. No problemo. Since a two-hour show means 44 minutes of comercials, my plan was to wait until 6:45 to start watching, fast-forwarding through the commercials and ending right about the same time the broadcast did.
I got a late start and didn't sit down on the couch till a few minutes after seven, but no problem there. I watched all the way through, and then just as the action got down to three-handed and Joe Cada caught a deuce on the flop to come from way behind, the recording ended--in the middle of the hand. I quickly clicked over to ESPN, and frickin' SportsCenter was on. ESPN2 didn't even have it on... WTF? What happened to the rest of the broadcast?
Oh, I know what happened as far as the tournament goes--there are blogs and webcasts all over the place describing the action, and a guy I know was there at the Rio last night watching the final table live, so I know how it all went down, but I was really hoping to see it on TV. But the morons in charge--and I don't know who to lay the entire blame on--at ESPN and Cox Cable have kept me from doing so.
Nice going, idiots.
Wine, Women, and Song
Sorry for the late start today, but this whole work thing has got me wrapped around the axle. It really interferes with all of the other things I'd rather be doing.
Anyhow...
I had a pretty good Vegas-style weekend, all things considered. It began on Friday night--I chilled out here at the house for most of the evening, but the plan was to meet 'Dr. K' and his entourage of nurses over at the Foundation Room at Mandalay Bay at 10:00 o'clock that night. I got an early start, planning on having a drink at one of the bars beforehand. Of course, I'd forgotten what a clusterf*ck the valet at Mandalay Bay is. After sitting in line for about 20 minutes just trying to move the last 100 yards or so, I was told that unless I could produce a room key, I wasn't parking.
But I'm going to the Foundation Room.
-Do you have a membership?
No, I'm a guest tonight.
-Beat it.
That kinda sucked.
Luckily, the guys over at the west valet at TheHotel were much more accommodating. So instead of walking in through the front door, I snuck in by the sports book and made my way across the casino to the lobby bar.
I ordered a Captain and diet from the bartender, who went all you-want-fries-with-that? and offered me a double for just $2 more. Ok, whatever...
$14 plus tip later, I was enjoying an eight-ounce glass of mostly ice and some very valuable booze, simultaneously watching the eye candy and trying to text Eric, telling him that I was there. He showed up about 30 seconds later with four chicks, the introductions were made, and we shuffled over to the elevators.
Of course, we had to pound our drinks before they'd let us on the private elevator that led to the club--no outside booze allowed up inside the Holiest of Holies. No problem there--we all had drinks in our hands at the time, but less than a minute later the table next to the host stand was full of empty glasses.
When we got up to the club, it was only about half-full. And the Foundation Room is a whole helluva lot bigger than I imagined it was, having never been there before. But the first thing we did was make our way out to the balcony and deflower all of the Vegas virgins with the view. Simply awesome!
The waitress came by, drinks all around, and the conversation flowed. The gals were all very nice, and lots of fun to talk to. I really enjoyed myself. As we got to know each other a bit better, it was picture time. Everyone had cameras, so I'll share what made it onto mine:
Eric and the ladies.
Behold, the power of rum!
What's better than hanging out with four attractive gals in little black dresses and the Strip in the background? Nothing comes to mind right away. Vegas, baby. Vegas!
After a few Long Island iced teas, I was told that I should rest my head. Who am I to argue?
You know what's better than $20 lappies down at the Rhino? FREE ones on the balcony at the Foundation Room!
I don't remember exactly what was going on right here--just one of those special moments captured on film.
Vegas Virgins no longer! I'm glad that I was there to see it.
Of course, as the evening went on, the conversation flowed, as did the cocktails. And I have to admit, I was quite surprised with the 'reasonableness' of the prices at the bar. It wasn't nearly as painful as I thought it would be to purchase a round of drinks. The Foundation Room might be a little exclusive, but they certainly don't gouge you at the bar.
We did a little drinking, a lot of socializing, and a bit of dancing, too. Oh, and being in a hip and happenin' place, we ran into a minor celebrity or two, also:
I've been thinking about it, Mikey--I want my suit back!
I dropped by bag in the corner, turned on the TV to watch some football, kicked off my shoes, emptied my pockets, and crawled up on the comfy bed and dozed for an hour and a half. Of course, I totally spaced going down to the sportsbook and getting a bet in on Zenyatta to win the Breeder's Cup, and even though she was a favorite, I feel like I missed an opportunity.
Around 2:15 or so, I got up out of bed, put myself back together, and made dinner reservations at Benihana for after the wine tasting. No longer a rookie, I was gonna do it right this time.
As I made my way through the casino and over towards the convention center, I noticed big red signs everywhere offering a room rate of only $59 that night for patrons of the Lee's Wine Experience. Hey, that's a much better deal than I was getting, so I stopped at a house phone and called the front desk. They kind of gave me the runaround, and I ended up talking to reservations, but it seemed that nobody could help me out--all I wanted was to be credited the difference--but it seemed to take an act of God to do it. I booked in advance for $119, but if I would've just showed up at the last minute, I could've had the room for sixty bucks less. Anyhow, it didn't seem like it was happening for me, and after about ten minutes of getting shuffled back and forth between people who couldn't, or wouldn't, help, I gave up and headed for the ballroom, telling myself that I'd take care of it at the front desk the next morning when I checked out.
I got there about 15 minutes before they opened the door, and there was already a line forming. They checked everyone's IDs, even those of us old enough to be 21 twice already. But after that, I didn't have to wait long--I was one of the first 30 or 40 people through the door.
Now, last year, Lars and I made the mistake of hitting all the hard stuff right away, and then a couple of hours later when we needed it, there was no food left to be had. So the first thing I did was hit one of the small buffet stations and grab a plate with some finger foods--mini quiches, stuffed pastry, cheese, crackers, etc. I was able to lay down a good base while I went over the tasting book, mapping out my strategy for the evening.
The first thing I did, of course, was go to the back of the ballroom and see what they had as far as cordials, liqueurs, and other goodies. I was sorely disappointed as I discovered that the 'booze' part of the event was only about half as big as it was the previous year. I don't know if it was the bad economy or what, but the selection was pretty lame. Nevertheless, I had a few sips of premium bourbon while I flirted with the cute redhead at the margarita mix booth.
I wandered back and forth for a bit, sampling this and that, but nothing really jumped out and screamed BUY ME! like last year with the Castries and the coffee flavored tequila. So instead of getting stupid right out of the gate on hard liquor, I decided to be a little more genteel and I grabbed my wine glass, heading back into the main part of the show.
I decided to expand my red wine horizons, so I tasted several varieties of Malbec--all good, I found, and lots and lots of my favorite red, Pinot Noir. As you may have guessed, in the course of my travels, I met a few gals here and there who wanted me to try other odd things--I ended up drinking a few sparkling whites that were pretty good, along with some of the worst Sangria I've ever had (it went straight into the rinse bucket after one sip).
I also had some sort of Argentinian shiat that was so tannic that it tasted like fermented bandaids. It also went directly into the discard bucket and I immediately ran over to get a cracker to get the taste out of my mouth.
But there were a few surprise finds. I really really liked the Sebastiani Russian River Unoaked Chardonnay. It was more sweet than dry, and seemed like the perfect fruit-and-cheese wine. And the Robert Mondavi Private Selection Pinot was also excellent. I also tried something called O'Brien Seduction, which was a blend of Cabernet and something else (maybe Zinfandel?--not sure, and my notes are incomplete). Anyhow, it got circled and I gave it a few stars in my tasting book, so I'll be on the lookout for that the next time I hit the liquor store.
There was one more standout wine, as far as I can remember, it was MacMurray Ranch Central Coast Pinot Noir--surprisingly good and it didn't have the 'burn' that Pinot can sometimes have. I really liked it a lot, and remember thinking that it could also be had at a surprisingly reasonable price point.
Those were the wines that really stood out for me, although I tried lots and lots of different ones. After awhile, all that red wine started to taste the same, so I grabbed a sample can of citrus-flavored Pellegrino, found a table, and sat down to go over my notes and enjoy my wine buzz. I'd only been there about two hours at that point--I still had three more to go, so I had to pace myself.
Other people had the same idea, so it was nice to sit and chat with strangers and go over our finds and hear about some of the things that they liked. After about an hour or so, I felt like I was ready for round two, so I got back in the game.
I went back to the booze section again, just because, and tried some Jeremiah Wood Country Peach Sweet Tea. It was damn good. Vodka-based, with a nice hint of iced tea and peaches. Reminded me of a summer day in Georgia, minus the humidity and the gnats. I tried a few different varieties that they had on hand, and I think my favorite came from making an impromptu Arnold Palmer, mixing the peach iced tea and the lemonade flavors.
The also had some of that Crystal Head vodka on hand, which I've never heard of before I moved to Vegas, and Dan Akroyd does local commercials for it. Somehow, the only picture I took during the whole event was of one of their hotties pouring fruit juice though the ice-skull:
It's good, but nothing I'm gonna run out and make a point of buying. I also tried some god-awful tequilas that I'd never heard of, but one thing that was a big hit was called a 'Merry Feckin Christmas'. There was a booth offering up that spiced 'Feckin' whiskey, and they mixed it with white chocolate liqueur. That was pretty damn good, on the rocks. I met a pack of gals about that time, and we spent a good twenty minutes or more at that booth enjoying the samples. Of course, I was all about the hot redhead named Lisa who was handing out the samples, and somehow I neglected to get a picture of her. That kinda sucks, because she was quite the hottie.
After that, I spent the balance of the evening revisiting my favorites in the wine section and getting seconds and thirds of the ones I liked. And I made my way over to the J. Lohr table and had a glass or two of their Merlot, one of my favorites (having bought a bottle of it last week).
It was pretty mellow this year--I tasted a whole lot more wine and a whole lot less booze, and even though my wingman Lars wasn't with me to provide comedic relief, I still had a great time. Around 7:15 or so, I was done. I grabbed a bottle of water and sat at a table up near the front of the ballroom, content to enjoy my mellow buzz and do some people-watching for the last 45 minutes before they pulled the plug.
Once it ended, I joined the herd heading back to the casino. But I had dinner reservations, so I stopped at the Benihana village, told the hostess I was there, and sat in the lounge watching the tail end of the USC/ASU game until I got paged.
I didn't have to wait long, unlike everyone else who didn't have reservations (two hours for a table, they were telling them). I went to the table with six strangers, and as much as I wanted some sake, I decided that ice water would be best.
I had some really good sushi for an appetizer, and enjoyed the conversation with my table mates. The gal next to me had that same Rita Wilson/Marcie-the-psycho look that I find so damn attractive, so it kinda put me off my game. Being pretty well hammered, I didn't want to say anything inappropriate, so I was pretty quiet and mellow during dinner.
The shrimp and soup was good, and for dinner I ordered the Land & Sea combination--filet mignon and sea scallops. Oh hell yeah! And while we were watching the chef put on his show, I was reminded of the last time I was there--over ten years earlier when Eddie B, my old roommate Tammie, and I took our first trip to Vegas together. Man, what a great time that was, and it was hard to believe it'd been so long since I'd been there. I remembered an inside joke Eddie tossed out at dinner that night-- Looks like Ma Brooker is feelin' horny tonight, Mikey! --which damn near made me shoot saki out of my nose at the time.
But I enjoyed my meal, realizing afterwards that it was about as Japanese as Pizza Hut, and probably not worth the $75 tab. Still, a good way to end my evening.
After I paid my tab, I shuffled off to my room, kicked off the shoes and crawled back into that comfy king size bed, the lights of the Strip just outside my window. I turned on SportsCenter, but ended up passing out pretty much as soon as my head hit the pillow. I was out cold, but at 4:00 am, I was more than willing to pay the $16-per-gallon for the bottled water on the nightstand. Good racket they've got going on there...
I finally woke up for real around nine o'clock or so, took a shower, got dressed, packed my bag, and headed out. My stop at the front desk proved to be a fruitless endeavor, as both the clerk and the manager refused to even consider discounting my room, no matter what amount of logic I tossed in their direction. It was a complete stonewall, and all I got was "Sorry, we can't help you, you booked a non-refundable rate". I was pretty pissed, but after ten minutes of going around in circles I just gave up, vowing that next year when (if) I stay there, I'm taking all of the towels with me when I leave. Sorry Hilton, but I really feel like you dicked me for sixty bucks, and I'm pretty sure you lost me as a customer, permanently.
Once the valet brought my truck back, I briefly considered going over to the Peppermill for breakfast, but I decided that I'd rather just get back to the Batch Pad and call it a weekend.
And it was a pretty good one, now that I think about it.
Mikey
Anyhow...
I had a pretty good Vegas-style weekend, all things considered. It began on Friday night--I chilled out here at the house for most of the evening, but the plan was to meet 'Dr. K' and his entourage of nurses over at the Foundation Room at Mandalay Bay at 10:00 o'clock that night. I got an early start, planning on having a drink at one of the bars beforehand. Of course, I'd forgotten what a clusterf*ck the valet at Mandalay Bay is. After sitting in line for about 20 minutes just trying to move the last 100 yards or so, I was told that unless I could produce a room key, I wasn't parking.
But I'm going to the Foundation Room.
-Do you have a membership?
No, I'm a guest tonight.
-Beat it.
That kinda sucked.
Luckily, the guys over at the west valet at TheHotel were much more accommodating. So instead of walking in through the front door, I snuck in by the sports book and made my way across the casino to the lobby bar.
I ordered a Captain and diet from the bartender, who went all you-want-fries-with-that? and offered me a double for just $2 more. Ok, whatever...
$14 plus tip later, I was enjoying an eight-ounce glass of mostly ice and some very valuable booze, simultaneously watching the eye candy and trying to text Eric, telling him that I was there. He showed up about 30 seconds later with four chicks, the introductions were made, and we shuffled over to the elevators.
Of course, we had to pound our drinks before they'd let us on the private elevator that led to the club--no outside booze allowed up inside the Holiest of Holies. No problem there--we all had drinks in our hands at the time, but less than a minute later the table next to the host stand was full of empty glasses.
When we got up to the club, it was only about half-full. And the Foundation Room is a whole helluva lot bigger than I imagined it was, having never been there before. But the first thing we did was make our way out to the balcony and deflower all of the Vegas virgins with the view. Simply awesome!
The waitress came by, drinks all around, and the conversation flowed. The gals were all very nice, and lots of fun to talk to. I really enjoyed myself. As we got to know each other a bit better, it was picture time. Everyone had cameras, so I'll share what made it onto mine:
Eric and the ladies.
Behold, the power of rum!
What's better than hanging out with four attractive gals in little black dresses and the Strip in the background? Nothing comes to mind right away. Vegas, baby. Vegas!
After a few Long Island iced teas, I was told that I should rest my head. Who am I to argue?
You know what's better than $20 lappies down at the Rhino? FREE ones on the balcony at the Foundation Room! 
I don't remember exactly what was going on right here--just one of those special moments captured on film. 
Vegas Virgins no longer! I'm glad that I was there to see it.Of course, as the evening went on, the conversation flowed, as did the cocktails. And I have to admit, I was quite surprised with the 'reasonableness' of the prices at the bar. It wasn't nearly as painful as I thought it would be to purchase a round of drinks. The Foundation Room might be a little exclusive, but they certainly don't gouge you at the bar.
We did a little drinking, a lot of socializing, and a bit of dancing, too. Oh, and being in a hip and happenin' place, we ran into a minor celebrity or two, also:
I've been thinking about it, Mikey--I want my suit back!Yep, we ran into 'Kenny Bania' while we were up there. He was a pretty nice guy, probably had something to do with the fact that we were the only people that recognized him. I kept cracking up when, after a few minutes of conversation, he finally said "You can just call me Steve" and without missing a beat, Kristen said "Ok, Bania". He was trying pretty hard to get with one of the girls, but when he realized that wasn't gonna happen, he moved on...
We had a great time up there for several hours, and I really enjoyed spending time with Eric and the gals. Eventually, the booze caught up to one of the members of our entourage, so we called it a night before any derailment was caught on film. I said my goodbyes to all the ladies and made my way back downstairs to the poker room.
I put my name on the list for the 3-6 and 4-8 games, grabbed a bottle of water, and sat down to wait for a seat to open up. It never did, and eventually I gave up, fetched the truck, and came home, collapsing in the bed with a grin on my face. It was a great night!
The next morning, Saturday, I awoke much too early. But I had stuff to do. I puttered around the house, keeping one eye on College GameDay, but doing things like cleaning the kitchen and doing laundry. Around noon I packed a bag, showered, shaved, and put on some decent clothes, and headed down to the Hilton.
My day was to be spent at Lee's Wine Experience, an adventure so fun the previous year that I decided that there was no way I would ever miss it for the rest of my days in Vegas. Basically, it's billed as an upscale wine tasting event, but it's pretty much The World's Largest Cocktail Party, at least on this side of Jacksonville. For $40, it's a full day of free booze and wine, hors d'oeurves, and eye candy.
I got down to the Hilton about twenty minutes later, and was able to check in right away. I'd booked a room online earlier in the week for $119, a little more than I wanted to pay, but it sure beat the alternative of trying to find a ride home after debauching myself, or even worse, risking a DUI. But the room was pretty nice--right off the elevator on the 27th floor of the north tower, overlooking the Strip.
We had a great time up there for several hours, and I really enjoyed spending time with Eric and the gals. Eventually, the booze caught up to one of the members of our entourage, so we called it a night before any derailment was caught on film. I said my goodbyes to all the ladies and made my way back downstairs to the poker room.
I put my name on the list for the 3-6 and 4-8 games, grabbed a bottle of water, and sat down to wait for a seat to open up. It never did, and eventually I gave up, fetched the truck, and came home, collapsing in the bed with a grin on my face. It was a great night!
The next morning, Saturday, I awoke much too early. But I had stuff to do. I puttered around the house, keeping one eye on College GameDay, but doing things like cleaning the kitchen and doing laundry. Around noon I packed a bag, showered, shaved, and put on some decent clothes, and headed down to the Hilton.
My day was to be spent at Lee's Wine Experience, an adventure so fun the previous year that I decided that there was no way I would ever miss it for the rest of my days in Vegas. Basically, it's billed as an upscale wine tasting event, but it's pretty much The World's Largest Cocktail Party, at least on this side of Jacksonville. For $40, it's a full day of free booze and wine, hors d'oeurves, and eye candy.
I got down to the Hilton about twenty minutes later, and was able to check in right away. I'd booked a room online earlier in the week for $119, a little more than I wanted to pay, but it sure beat the alternative of trying to find a ride home after debauching myself, or even worse, risking a DUI. But the room was pretty nice--right off the elevator on the 27th floor of the north tower, overlooking the Strip.
I dropped by bag in the corner, turned on the TV to watch some football, kicked off my shoes, emptied my pockets, and crawled up on the comfy bed and dozed for an hour and a half. Of course, I totally spaced going down to the sportsbook and getting a bet in on Zenyatta to win the Breeder's Cup, and even though she was a favorite, I feel like I missed an opportunity.
Around 2:15 or so, I got up out of bed, put myself back together, and made dinner reservations at Benihana for after the wine tasting. No longer a rookie, I was gonna do it right this time.
As I made my way through the casino and over towards the convention center, I noticed big red signs everywhere offering a room rate of only $59 that night for patrons of the Lee's Wine Experience. Hey, that's a much better deal than I was getting, so I stopped at a house phone and called the front desk. They kind of gave me the runaround, and I ended up talking to reservations, but it seemed that nobody could help me out--all I wanted was to be credited the difference--but it seemed to take an act of God to do it. I booked in advance for $119, but if I would've just showed up at the last minute, I could've had the room for sixty bucks less. Anyhow, it didn't seem like it was happening for me, and after about ten minutes of getting shuffled back and forth between people who couldn't, or wouldn't, help, I gave up and headed for the ballroom, telling myself that I'd take care of it at the front desk the next morning when I checked out.
I got there about 15 minutes before they opened the door, and there was already a line forming. They checked everyone's IDs, even those of us old enough to be 21 twice already. But after that, I didn't have to wait long--I was one of the first 30 or 40 people through the door.
Now, last year, Lars and I made the mistake of hitting all the hard stuff right away, and then a couple of hours later when we needed it, there was no food left to be had. So the first thing I did was hit one of the small buffet stations and grab a plate with some finger foods--mini quiches, stuffed pastry, cheese, crackers, etc. I was able to lay down a good base while I went over the tasting book, mapping out my strategy for the evening.
The first thing I did, of course, was go to the back of the ballroom and see what they had as far as cordials, liqueurs, and other goodies. I was sorely disappointed as I discovered that the 'booze' part of the event was only about half as big as it was the previous year. I don't know if it was the bad economy or what, but the selection was pretty lame. Nevertheless, I had a few sips of premium bourbon while I flirted with the cute redhead at the margarita mix booth.
I wandered back and forth for a bit, sampling this and that, but nothing really jumped out and screamed BUY ME! like last year with the Castries and the coffee flavored tequila. So instead of getting stupid right out of the gate on hard liquor, I decided to be a little more genteel and I grabbed my wine glass, heading back into the main part of the show.
I decided to expand my red wine horizons, so I tasted several varieties of Malbec--all good, I found, and lots and lots of my favorite red, Pinot Noir. As you may have guessed, in the course of my travels, I met a few gals here and there who wanted me to try other odd things--I ended up drinking a few sparkling whites that were pretty good, along with some of the worst Sangria I've ever had (it went straight into the rinse bucket after one sip).
I also had some sort of Argentinian shiat that was so tannic that it tasted like fermented bandaids. It also went directly into the discard bucket and I immediately ran over to get a cracker to get the taste out of my mouth.
But there were a few surprise finds. I really really liked the Sebastiani Russian River Unoaked Chardonnay. It was more sweet than dry, and seemed like the perfect fruit-and-cheese wine. And the Robert Mondavi Private Selection Pinot was also excellent. I also tried something called O'Brien Seduction, which was a blend of Cabernet and something else (maybe Zinfandel?--not sure, and my notes are incomplete). Anyhow, it got circled and I gave it a few stars in my tasting book, so I'll be on the lookout for that the next time I hit the liquor store.
There was one more standout wine, as far as I can remember, it was MacMurray Ranch Central Coast Pinot Noir--surprisingly good and it didn't have the 'burn' that Pinot can sometimes have. I really liked it a lot, and remember thinking that it could also be had at a surprisingly reasonable price point.
Those were the wines that really stood out for me, although I tried lots and lots of different ones. After awhile, all that red wine started to taste the same, so I grabbed a sample can of citrus-flavored Pellegrino, found a table, and sat down to go over my notes and enjoy my wine buzz. I'd only been there about two hours at that point--I still had three more to go, so I had to pace myself.
Other people had the same idea, so it was nice to sit and chat with strangers and go over our finds and hear about some of the things that they liked. After about an hour or so, I felt like I was ready for round two, so I got back in the game.
I went back to the booze section again, just because, and tried some Jeremiah Wood Country Peach Sweet Tea. It was damn good. Vodka-based, with a nice hint of iced tea and peaches. Reminded me of a summer day in Georgia, minus the humidity and the gnats. I tried a few different varieties that they had on hand, and I think my favorite came from making an impromptu Arnold Palmer, mixing the peach iced tea and the lemonade flavors.
The also had some of that Crystal Head vodka on hand, which I've never heard of before I moved to Vegas, and Dan Akroyd does local commercials for it. Somehow, the only picture I took during the whole event was of one of their hotties pouring fruit juice though the ice-skull:
It's good, but nothing I'm gonna run out and make a point of buying. I also tried some god-awful tequilas that I'd never heard of, but one thing that was a big hit was called a 'Merry Feckin Christmas'. There was a booth offering up that spiced 'Feckin' whiskey, and they mixed it with white chocolate liqueur. That was pretty damn good, on the rocks. I met a pack of gals about that time, and we spent a good twenty minutes or more at that booth enjoying the samples. Of course, I was all about the hot redhead named Lisa who was handing out the samples, and somehow I neglected to get a picture of her. That kinda sucks, because she was quite the hottie.After that, I spent the balance of the evening revisiting my favorites in the wine section and getting seconds and thirds of the ones I liked. And I made my way over to the J. Lohr table and had a glass or two of their Merlot, one of my favorites (having bought a bottle of it last week).
It was pretty mellow this year--I tasted a whole lot more wine and a whole lot less booze, and even though my wingman Lars wasn't with me to provide comedic relief, I still had a great time. Around 7:15 or so, I was done. I grabbed a bottle of water and sat at a table up near the front of the ballroom, content to enjoy my mellow buzz and do some people-watching for the last 45 minutes before they pulled the plug.
Once it ended, I joined the herd heading back to the casino. But I had dinner reservations, so I stopped at the Benihana village, told the hostess I was there, and sat in the lounge watching the tail end of the USC/ASU game until I got paged.
I didn't have to wait long, unlike everyone else who didn't have reservations (two hours for a table, they were telling them). I went to the table with six strangers, and as much as I wanted some sake, I decided that ice water would be best.
I had some really good sushi for an appetizer, and enjoyed the conversation with my table mates. The gal next to me had that same Rita Wilson/Marcie-the-psycho look that I find so damn attractive, so it kinda put me off my game. Being pretty well hammered, I didn't want to say anything inappropriate, so I was pretty quiet and mellow during dinner.
The shrimp and soup was good, and for dinner I ordered the Land & Sea combination--filet mignon and sea scallops. Oh hell yeah! And while we were watching the chef put on his show, I was reminded of the last time I was there--over ten years earlier when Eddie B, my old roommate Tammie, and I took our first trip to Vegas together. Man, what a great time that was, and it was hard to believe it'd been so long since I'd been there. I remembered an inside joke Eddie tossed out at dinner that night-- Looks like Ma Brooker is feelin' horny tonight, Mikey! --which damn near made me shoot saki out of my nose at the time.
But I enjoyed my meal, realizing afterwards that it was about as Japanese as Pizza Hut, and probably not worth the $75 tab. Still, a good way to end my evening.
After I paid my tab, I shuffled off to my room, kicked off the shoes and crawled back into that comfy king size bed, the lights of the Strip just outside my window. I turned on SportsCenter, but ended up passing out pretty much as soon as my head hit the pillow. I was out cold, but at 4:00 am, I was more than willing to pay the $16-per-gallon for the bottled water on the nightstand. Good racket they've got going on there...
I finally woke up for real around nine o'clock or so, took a shower, got dressed, packed my bag, and headed out. My stop at the front desk proved to be a fruitless endeavor, as both the clerk and the manager refused to even consider discounting my room, no matter what amount of logic I tossed in their direction. It was a complete stonewall, and all I got was "Sorry, we can't help you, you booked a non-refundable rate". I was pretty pissed, but after ten minutes of going around in circles I just gave up, vowing that next year when (if) I stay there, I'm taking all of the towels with me when I leave. Sorry Hilton, but I really feel like you dicked me for sixty bucks, and I'm pretty sure you lost me as a customer, permanently.
Once the valet brought my truck back, I briefly considered going over to the Peppermill for breakfast, but I decided that I'd rather just get back to the Batch Pad and call it a weekend.
And it was a pretty good one, now that I think about it.
Mikey
Monday, November 09, 2009
I Suppose I Should Post Something
Happy Monday, everyone. I don't know why I'm so apathetic about my blog lately, but I just am. I know that everyone checks in first thing Monday morning, and I should have something up, but y'all know I'm naturally lazy, and just didn't feel it, so there.
Oh, I've got stuff from the weekend to share, but I'm just not up to the task today. Maybe tomorrow. Besides, I'm feeling kinda groggy right now, and I'm still working on my first cup of coffee. After a long weekend of living like a tourist again, I had to work last night. That was no fun. And when I got home, the big electrical junction box on the wall outside my window was buzzing so damn loud that I had to turn on some music just to drown out the sound so I could get to sleep. I set my iPod on my 'Martini Time' playlist, which is about 90% mellow tunes. But there are a few WTF IS THAT? songs that snuck through, and I woke up to one such piece of musical crap with lots of annoying horns, a horrible singer, and the upright bassist playing like he had to pee really bad. Not the best way to wake up and face the week.
So yeah, it sounds like somebody's got a case of the Mondays...
What else is going on? Let's see here. Well, somebody pointed out to me this weekend that I never mentioned buying any toys on Amazon after I won my pile of hundies last weekend. Honestly--I'd completely forgotten about that kinda stuff. When I came home that night, honestly, my first thought was getting a picture with a handful of Benjamins and sharing it here--which I did. Then I had all day Sunday to think about what to do with the rest of the money. Actually--it was a no-brainer. I paid off every bill I had, plus pre-paid my next two truck payments. I then sent a chunk to the cruise line and to my E*trade account, and that took up the majority of it.
Oh, I spent about $400 on new clothes, and another couple hundie at WalMart and Costco, stocking up on essentials, plus household staples and canned goods for when the inevitable lean times make their return. I also paid for a hotel room in Florida next year--when I go on my cruise, I'm gonna fly out a day early and spend the night. Leaving the same day from the other side of the country cuts it a little too close, not giving me any time to spare in case of bad weather or mechanical delay, and I certainly don't want to miss the boat, as they say.
I'd thought about coughing up about $600+ and picking up a new Canon DSLR, but I decided to wait on that purchase. It'll happen, but not until after the cruise is completely paid for, I decided.
Besides that, I spent another couple hundred this weekend living like an out-of-towner. I spent a few bucks at the Foundation Room on Friday night, then checked into the Hilton on Saturday afternoon, went to the all-day wine tasting, treated myself to an overpriced dinner at a nice restaurant, and then crashed in a comfy king-sized bed in an overpriced room that overlooked the Strip. But more about all that later.
You'll be surprised to know that I didn't make a single bet in the sports book these past two weeks. Yep, none of my new-found fortune got recycled back into the casino by way of the football sucker bets (although I really really wanted to put a bet in on Zenyatta on Saturday, but I completely spaced it once I got to the Hilton, so that was a missed opportunity). On the other hand, I purposely gambled away a couple hundred bucks in the poker room last week--every time I set foot in there, everyone wanted me to "bring your four grand to this table, Mikey!", so I played like a donkey a couple of times, (calling some of my favorite players when I shouldn't have, raising and folding, etc.), if only for the sake of goodwill towards the people who keep me in the lifestyle to which I've become accustomed (you know, living indoors).
So that pretty much took care of my little windfall, but when I was talking to Mamasan yesterday, she asked me if I'd stopped reading, because I never mention any books anymore. Well, the truth is, I'm down to book 20 of the Patrick O'Brian novels, and I'm a little pissed that it's ending. I know the author passed away in the middle of writing the 21st installment, so I know that it's coming to an end, and not in a way that ties up all the loose ends and leaves me with a feeling of closure. So I've been dragging my way through the last one.
Also, I'm up to volume 8 in the 'Prelude to Glory' series, and I'm extremely irritated with it. It's a decent series, but it's not that great. I'm enjoying the story, but I have issues with it. The problem is, most of the fans of the series are truly fanatic, and volume 8 is impossible to find. Even the used copies are selling for upwards of $120 on the internet, and all the reviews I've found tell me that it's the worst, most tedious, of the entire set. There ain't NO WAY on Flying Spaghetti Monster's green earth that I'd ever pay that kind of money for any book, much less one filled with so much Mormon dogma. Seriously people, $120? You've got to be kidding me. Now, it's available at the Henderson library, but for whatever reason, the online system won't let me reserve it, so I have to drive my ass down there and reserve it in person.
So my book reading has slowed down quite a bit. Besides, I'm still on a huge heater at the poker tables--forget about the loose play in my own room, where I've given a little back this week. Every time I walk into the M Resort, it's like collecting a paycheck. I haven't lost in that place in over a month, so I just keep going back there every chance I get. Between that part-time 'job' and my real job, I haven't had much time to indulge in feeding the reading monster.
However, I got to thinking about it, and this weekend I broke down and finally spent a few bucks at Amazon. I had to buy some replacement Sennheiser earbuds that I use with my iPod, and well, I got a little carried away on my wishlist. I think I ended up spending another couple hundred bucks there, too. I got a few non-fiction books, a couple of DVDs, and something I've had on my list forever--Mike Caro's Book of Poker Tells.
I've gotten pretty good at reading people, especially since I get lots of free practice while I'm dealing, but I'm no pro, that's for sure. I think this book might help my no-limit game a bit, and maybe even give me some insight on what to do when it gets down to heads-up on the river in a limit game. We'll see.
With that, my spending is done. Well, except for maybe later this week when I go down to the Verizon store, pick up a new Droid, and tell AT&T "It's not you, it's me".
Anyhow, that's the news from here. Once I get properly caffeinated and motivated, I'll toss up a couple of pictures and a few paragraphs about my weekend's activities. Until then, enjoy your Monday, everybody...
Mikey
Oh, I've got stuff from the weekend to share, but I'm just not up to the task today. Maybe tomorrow. Besides, I'm feeling kinda groggy right now, and I'm still working on my first cup of coffee. After a long weekend of living like a tourist again, I had to work last night. That was no fun. And when I got home, the big electrical junction box on the wall outside my window was buzzing so damn loud that I had to turn on some music just to drown out the sound so I could get to sleep. I set my iPod on my 'Martini Time' playlist, which is about 90% mellow tunes. But there are a few WTF IS THAT? songs that snuck through, and I woke up to one such piece of musical crap with lots of annoying horns, a horrible singer, and the upright bassist playing like he had to pee really bad. Not the best way to wake up and face the week.
So yeah, it sounds like somebody's got a case of the Mondays...
What else is going on? Let's see here. Well, somebody pointed out to me this weekend that I never mentioned buying any toys on Amazon after I won my pile of hundies last weekend. Honestly--I'd completely forgotten about that kinda stuff. When I came home that night, honestly, my first thought was getting a picture with a handful of Benjamins and sharing it here--which I did. Then I had all day Sunday to think about what to do with the rest of the money. Actually--it was a no-brainer. I paid off every bill I had, plus pre-paid my next two truck payments. I then sent a chunk to the cruise line and to my E*trade account, and that took up the majority of it.
Oh, I spent about $400 on new clothes, and another couple hundie at WalMart and Costco, stocking up on essentials, plus household staples and canned goods for when the inevitable lean times make their return. I also paid for a hotel room in Florida next year--when I go on my cruise, I'm gonna fly out a day early and spend the night. Leaving the same day from the other side of the country cuts it a little too close, not giving me any time to spare in case of bad weather or mechanical delay, and I certainly don't want to miss the boat, as they say.
I'd thought about coughing up about $600+ and picking up a new Canon DSLR, but I decided to wait on that purchase. It'll happen, but not until after the cruise is completely paid for, I decided.
Besides that, I spent another couple hundred this weekend living like an out-of-towner. I spent a few bucks at the Foundation Room on Friday night, then checked into the Hilton on Saturday afternoon, went to the all-day wine tasting, treated myself to an overpriced dinner at a nice restaurant, and then crashed in a comfy king-sized bed in an overpriced room that overlooked the Strip. But more about all that later.
You'll be surprised to know that I didn't make a single bet in the sports book these past two weeks. Yep, none of my new-found fortune got recycled back into the casino by way of the football sucker bets (although I really really wanted to put a bet in on Zenyatta on Saturday, but I completely spaced it once I got to the Hilton, so that was a missed opportunity). On the other hand, I purposely gambled away a couple hundred bucks in the poker room last week--every time I set foot in there, everyone wanted me to "bring your four grand to this table, Mikey!", so I played like a donkey a couple of times, (calling some of my favorite players when I shouldn't have, raising and folding, etc.), if only for the sake of goodwill towards the people who keep me in the lifestyle to which I've become accustomed (you know, living indoors).
So that pretty much took care of my little windfall, but when I was talking to Mamasan yesterday, she asked me if I'd stopped reading, because I never mention any books anymore. Well, the truth is, I'm down to book 20 of the Patrick O'Brian novels, and I'm a little pissed that it's ending. I know the author passed away in the middle of writing the 21st installment, so I know that it's coming to an end, and not in a way that ties up all the loose ends and leaves me with a feeling of closure. So I've been dragging my way through the last one.
Also, I'm up to volume 8 in the 'Prelude to Glory' series, and I'm extremely irritated with it. It's a decent series, but it's not that great. I'm enjoying the story, but I have issues with it. The problem is, most of the fans of the series are truly fanatic, and volume 8 is impossible to find. Even the used copies are selling for upwards of $120 on the internet, and all the reviews I've found tell me that it's the worst, most tedious, of the entire set. There ain't NO WAY on Flying Spaghetti Monster's green earth that I'd ever pay that kind of money for any book, much less one filled with so much Mormon dogma. Seriously people, $120? You've got to be kidding me. Now, it's available at the Henderson library, but for whatever reason, the online system won't let me reserve it, so I have to drive my ass down there and reserve it in person.
So my book reading has slowed down quite a bit. Besides, I'm still on a huge heater at the poker tables--forget about the loose play in my own room, where I've given a little back this week. Every time I walk into the M Resort, it's like collecting a paycheck. I haven't lost in that place in over a month, so I just keep going back there every chance I get. Between that part-time 'job' and my real job, I haven't had much time to indulge in feeding the reading monster.
However, I got to thinking about it, and this weekend I broke down and finally spent a few bucks at Amazon. I had to buy some replacement Sennheiser earbuds that I use with my iPod, and well, I got a little carried away on my wishlist. I think I ended up spending another couple hundred bucks there, too. I got a few non-fiction books, a couple of DVDs, and something I've had on my list forever--Mike Caro's Book of Poker Tells.
I've gotten pretty good at reading people, especially since I get lots of free practice while I'm dealing, but I'm no pro, that's for sure. I think this book might help my no-limit game a bit, and maybe even give me some insight on what to do when it gets down to heads-up on the river in a limit game. We'll see.
With that, my spending is done. Well, except for maybe later this week when I go down to the Verizon store, pick up a new Droid, and tell AT&T "It's not you, it's me".
Anyhow, that's the news from here. Once I get properly caffeinated and motivated, I'll toss up a couple of pictures and a few paragraphs about my weekend's activities. Until then, enjoy your Monday, everybody...
Mikey
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Where the Wild Things Are
I had an amazing encounter last night after work. Actually, I had two amazing encounters that were really kinda cool.
First of all, after I watched the latest two hours of the WSOP coverage on Tuesday night (featuring one of the craziest knockouts I've ever seen), and the pilot episode of 'V', I headed off to bed, trying to get a catnap in before going into work at 1:00 am. But my phone rang at 10:30--the poker room was busier than usual, and they wanted me to come in early at 11:30, instead. I'm all for being busy at work, so I agreed to give up my sleep.
I was glad to see that the room was still hopping when I got there (weeknights can be especially tricky--it's sometimes like a domino effect, once a couple of people up from the table, sometimes all the other players follow and suddenly the game is broken). Of course, as soon as I sat down, all the table talk was about my big Quads jackpot over the weekend.
I didn't want to bring it up--I still have to make a living, and honestly, I can't blame a guy who's stuck a hundred bucks if he doesn't want to toss a buck out of a small pot to somebody who just hit a jackpot for over four grand. It was my first night back at work since my big score, and I was a little worried about how it would go. Would I make any tips at all?
Actually, it turns out that I had nothing to worry about. I've got a lot of friends who work in rooms down on the Strip, and they're struggling mightily right now. So I feel pretty lucky that in our room, even though it's not one of the bigger or more celebrated poker rooms in town, and I don't get as many hours as I'd like, it's still a very good place to work--our players generally take very good care of us. And I still had a decent night. Well, I was on pace for a very good night, but then it turned into one of those domino-theory nights, and I got out a little earlier than usual.
I didn't mind so much--I was still pretty tired, having been up all day and missing out on my evening pre-shift nap. And I was hungry too. After I punched out of the casino, I headed over to the grocery store to get something quick and easy to eat, and to grab a few essentials that I was running low on, also.
On the way home, I took the back way into my neighborhood, just because of the fewer stoplights to deal with. It's kind of like a service road that runs parallel to the freeway, and it cuts behind a couple of shopping centers and there's a big open chunk of undeveloped land on one side, too.
Anyhow, as I was getting near my turnoff, I saw what looked like a good-sized dog crossing the road a few dozen yards in front of me. As I got closer, I could see that it was a fairly large coyote. I've never seen that before--right here in the middle of Henderson, not a quarter mile from the freeway! I slowed down to get a better look, and the coyote stopped to size me up, also. I stopped in the middle of the road to watch him (there was no traffic--it was like 3:00 o'clock in the morning), and once he got off the road, he just kinda made his way over into some bushes on the side of the road. There was no place for him to go, since there was a huge 7-foot high noise barrier wall there, and on the other side was a subdivision full of tract homes. I was right there at the corner where I would normally turn left and go a couple of blocks to my apartment complex, but instead, I wanted to watch this coyote for a bit to see what he was gonna do.
So I just flipped a u-turn and pulled over a little closer to him, watching him walk along the base of the stucco wall. I just sat there for a few minutes, and he kept watching me, too. I found myself wishing I had a camera, because not only was it the first coyote I've seen out here, but it was a huge one--bigger than any I'd ever seen in Arizona. And it was in the middle of all this civilization, too!
Then the amazing thing happened. He stopped pacing along the wall, looked over his shoulder at me, and then suddenly he leaped up and landed on top of the wall--seven feet up, just like a cat! Then he stood there staring at me for a split second like Yeah, I'm a badass--Did you see that move? and then started strolling along the wall for about twenty or thirty feet before disappearing over the other side.
Wow. That was pretty cool. A normal domestic dog would've never been able to make that jump and then stick the landing like that. Satisfied that I'd seen all of the show, I put the truck back in gear and pulled away. Since I'd flipped a u-turn, I was heading the wrong direction, and the service road I was on was a divided four-lane road. So I had to go down about a quarter-mile or so to the next cut-out and make another u-turn to come back.
And just after I did, I saw another coyote crossing the road in the same place as the first one.
The second one was a bit smaller than the first one, and obviously the female. I pulled over to watch her, but there was no way she was gonna be able to make the same leap as her mate. I rolled down my window to listen if maybe the two of them were communicating, and yep, they were--a very low bark came from the other side of the wall.
The smaller female just took off and started trotting along the wall and turned left, going down the same street as I was heading. I didn't have my camera, but I grabbed my phone and tried to snap a picture of her with it--she was only about 10 feet away from the door of my truck and trotting down the sidewalk. It didn't turn out at all--no flash on that camera, and it was the middle of the night, so the picture was just pitch dark. But as soon as the wall ended at the entrance to the subdivision, she sprinted off into the darkness, reuniting with her companion. I could hear them 'talking' for just a second or two, but couldn't see them, so I rolled up my window and drove the last couple of blocks to my apartment.
It was a neat thing to see, and I wish I would've had my camera with me and gotten a picture of that big coyote walking along the top of the wall--that's something that doesn't happen every day.
Well, at least as far as I know.
Mikey
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
That's Not a Pendulum--It's a Wrecking Ball!
All good things must come to an end, and it appears that karma be damned, my hot streak is over. Well, I hope it's not over, but damn, I sure hit a big ol' speed bump last night.
Still basking in the afterglow of my huge win this past weekend, plus being on the Mother Of All Heaters anyways (not counting the jackpot money, I was still up almost a thousand bucks in the past ten days, just from playing 4/8), I decided to take the night off. I called the poker room yesterday and asked them if any of the other Extra Board dealers might want my Monday night shift--I'd be willing to give it up and let somebody else pick up an extra one. It took them all of about two minutes to find somebody who wanted it, so just that quickly, I didn't have to work last night.
I hung around the house, with the Monday Night Football game on the big TV and the World Series on the old one, thinking about ordering a pizza. That never happened--the grilled cheese and chicken soup pretty much held me over. But around halftime of the football game, I was getting a bit antsy.
Of course I headed back down to the poker room. On one hand, I wanted to let all the other players see that I'm willing to put some of my winnings back in the game, and secondly, I was still running white-hot, feeling ten feet tall and bulletproof.
I should've known on the first hand that my luck had changed for the worse. I was under the gun and got pocket Kings.
Woot--off to the races!
I raised, and got three callers. Of course an Ace came out on the flop. Being in early position, I checked, certain that at least one person had stayed in with Ace-rag. The player immediately after me fired out, and the other two players called. I folded my worthless cowboys, and watched in disbelief as on the showdown, all three players had Ace-rag and all three had caught their initial one-outer on the flop.
Wow. It was all downhill from there...
Nothing held up all night. I got rivered on two quick pots, and before I knew it, I was down fifty bucks. I never made it back above par for the rest of the night, either. I had ELEVEN pocket pairs that were tens or higher, and they got cracked all eleven times!
My favorite dealer, the one who gave me the quad fours on Saturday, hit me with pocket Queens on her first hand in the box. I raised and pushed the action all the way to the river on a raggedy board with no face cards, and the genius in the small blind who called a $5 raise cold with 7-4 offsuit went runner-runner for two pair. Ugly.
But that wasn't the worst of it. I got up to take a break for a few minutes after losing $150, and one of my buddies, who deals over at the MGM, slid over into my seat. I came back to the table about ten minutes later with another $60 buy-in and took the seat he vacated. I lost a few hands, again, and was down to about $28 left when I got pocket tens. I raised, my buddy in my old seat re-raised me, and everyone else dropped out. He said he had suited cards and was gonna offer me some protection. I re-raised, and we capped it at $14. I got trips on the flop, and was pretty confident about doubling up.
I ended up getting all my money in the pot before the turn, and felt confident because I was only up against a straight draw (we both turned our cards up, tournament style). Of course, my opponent was cool with it--he knew he'd need a miracle to win. The whole table was shocked that he went runner-runner and made a ROYAL FLUSH! Yep, not only did I get my entire stack into the pot when my opponent made a royal flush, but that was my seat a few minutes before, and we still had the same number of players in the game! So not only did he crush me, he got a $250 bonus, too. And everyone at the table took the opportunity to remind us of our seat swap.
All I could do was laugh. That was one of the worst beats I've ever taken, but it was so typical of the night I was having.
I bought in for another forty bucks, stubbornly, and the same thing happened again. I got all my money in the pot when I turned a flush, but the board paired on the river, giving my opponent a four of a kind!
I think my reaction was something along the lines of, Come on, man, at least leave me a few bucks so I can get me some Taco Bell fourth meal on the way home!, which made everyone laugh.
It was amazing. Yep, got all my chips in twice, once against a Royal Flush, another time against Quads. And both hands happened within about a half hour of each other. $250 was my loss limit for the night, so after that hand I called it quits, finally realizing that the poker gods were beating me over the head all night, telling me to leave.
Normally, I would've been pissed off to no end, but I can't really complain. I've had a great run, regardless of jackpot winnings. And taking a good-natured beating probably did a lot more good for me in the long run. A lot of folks witnessed it, and I'm sure it'll pay dividends down the road.
Usually, after a beating like that at the poker tables, I find it hard to sleep. My brain is firing, I'm ticked off, I keep thinking 'what if..', and it just keeps me up all night. Not this time. I was laughing it up like I truly didn't care. And once I got home, I slept like a rock until almost 10:30 this morning.
When I crawled out of bed, I called my boss to make sure I had Saturday night off (no problem at all), and then I hit the kitchen with a vengeance. Having not eaten anything since lunch yesterday, I was good and hungry, so I made my home-made chicken fried steak, some hash browns, and eggs. And the pan gravy was damn good, too. I was quite proud of myself, because it turned out much better than I expected (still not quite Peppermill good, but it'll do in a pinch).
I'm not gonna do too much today, just the usual housework and whatnot. And after last night's beatdown, there's no way I'm giving up tonight's shift. Life is back to normal now, and before long I'm sure I'll be clamoring for more hours and scrounging for extra shifts.
Still, it's been a good week.
Mikey
Monday, November 02, 2009
Sometimes High, Sometimes Low...
Seriously Mikey, Winger?
Sorry about that, folks. It's the best I could come up with on short notice. Maybe I'm just not feeling especially creative today. After those last two epic posts, my brain is worn out.
So let's see here... After I finished up this morning's work, I skipped out on the whole chicken-fried-steak thing. All that coffee kills the appetite, so I wasn't hungry enough to do the kitchen dance. Instead, I just got dressed and headed out to run my errands. First stop was at the bank, and it seems that I've landed on the same teller three times this week when making my deposit. The first thing she said to me was So how was your weekend, Mikey?
Damn good, as you can see from this $3000 deposit!
--You win all that at the casino?
I won it all playing poker...
I spared the details and just let her think I'm a tanned version of Greg Raymer...
After that, I made my way over to a local garage to get the truck fixed. I blew out my left brake light and rear blinker a few weeks ago and hadn't gotten around to doing the repair yet. I was fully prepared to pay about $200 to get it fixed, because the same thing happened with my Nissan truck about ten years ago and I had to replace a harness, a relay switch, and all the bulbs. It was not just a simple bulb-change back then, so I brought a book and my Mastercard, fully believing that I'd be there for several hours.
But I've got to give a shout out to the dudes at Gil's Automotive on W. Sunset. They are awesome, customer-service wise. Not only did they look at my truck immediately, but they pulled the taillight, tested the bulbs and connections, and replaced the bulb all less than five minutes. Done! And when I went to pay, the manager said Don't worry about it, it's on us!
Seriously, he wouldn't even let me pay for the bulb. Unbelievable. So I took his card and told him that I'd most definitely be coming back next time I needed any repair. I couldn't believe it--that whole encounter completely made my day. Hell, tomorrow I may go down there first thing in the morning and bring coffee and donuts for his whole crew. So if any of you local readers need your car worked on, now you know where to go.
After that, I headed over to one of my favorite stores, Lee's Discount Liquors. Initially, my purpose was to get my ticket for the Lee's Wine Experience this weekend, as last year was such an epic adventure, there was no way I was missing it ever again. Lars, on the other hand, won't be joining me this time around. I think he's still paying for the sins of last November. But instead of just buying a ticket, I decided to pick up a few bottles of the good stuff. First of all, I got three bottles of my favorite wines--a Landskroon chiraz from South Africa (makes that Yellowtail shiat taste like paint thinner and red dye #5), a bottle of Louis Jadot Pouilly-Fuisse, and a J Lohr Merlot. I also picked up a good bottle of Willamette Valley Pinot Noir, as I love the stuff from Oregon. Additionally, I got a bottle of Grand Marnier and a couple of brandy snifters, so I can smoke cigars like a gentleman. Plus I had to get a bottle of rum, and this time it was some Grande Reserve Plantation Rum, from Barbados.
That was enough, and with the ticket to the wine fest, I spent almost two hundred bucks. I could've easily gone crazy in there, but as you all know, I'm all about moderation...
Still not done with my shopping, I bought some new clothes, too. Four hundred bucks worth. And believe it or not, I didn't buy a single Hawaiian shirt. After all that, I stopped at Costco and filled up my tank. No, I didn't go inside.
Once all that damage was done, I came back home and did some more. I paid a couple of months worth of truck payments in advance, so I don't have to hear from the jackals at my finance company again until 2010. I also logged on to the cruise line website and sent them a few hundred more towards next year's vacation. Then I booked a room at the Hilton for this Saturday night, as I know that I'll be in absolutely no shape to drive anywhere after the Wine Experience, and I don't want to depend on the kindness of strangers, like last year.
I'm keeping about a thousand in the coffee can, just because, and I'm also thinking of playing in one of the Venetian Deep Stack tournaments next week (that's like $350, and it offers me the best shot of parlaying my recent good fortune). The rest of the money is on its way to E*Trade, and now I'm back to square one, hoping that the next three days of work are busy and lucrative. I might hit up Walmart for a truckload of household supplies, but then that's it--my stimulating the economy is over for awhile.
For now, I'm gonna enjoy my grilled cheese sandie and a bowl of chicken noodle soup, followed by a relaxing afternoon of ESPN.
Ciao for now...
Mikey
Table 7, Seat 3 and the Monday Morning Poker Recap
Well, I returned to the scene of the crime last night, and it went pretty well. Not four grand well, but still, worth my while to get outta the house. But for the first couple of hours I was there, I was thinking, Man, I should've just stayed home and gone to bed.After I'd hit the big jackpot on Saturday night, I sent out a text message to about forty or fifty friends, sharing the good news. Well, the problem with that is that a majority of those folks live in other time zones, so it was the middle of the night when they got it. I got home around 2:00 am my time, too hyped up to sleep, but finally dozed off around 7:00 am or so. But that's about the time other folks were getting up and starting to stir, checking their cell phones and such. So starting then, and going all day, my phone was chirping at me, letting me know that messages where coming in.
I tried to answer a few of them, but eventually I just gave up. And I didn't get much sleep either. I was trying to stay up and watch the football games and the Nascar race, but between the phone going off and the volume jump on the commercials, all I got was a few minutes of cat-napping here and there.
Eventually, as tired as I was, I gave up on trying to sleep, too. I zombied around the apartment all afternoon, wishing I could sleep, but knowing that I couldn't. I figured a hot shower would do me some good, so I did that and got dressed, figuring that maybe my luck was still good. Aside from the river-suckouts and being 'stuck' for most of the night on Saturday, I've been running *really* hot at the poker tables lately. I don't think I've had a losing session in the past three weeks (maybe once, but I don't track 'em on paper anymore), so I thought I'd go out and heed the timeless advice of Crash Davis and do what I could to respect the streak.
Those of you who know me best know that I tend to play in the same places--I spend a majority of my time in the poker rooms at Sunset Station, Joker's Wild, and the M Resort, while hitting places like Green Valley Ranch, Silverton, and South Point occasionally to change up the mojo. It seems that everyone who lives within spitting distance of the south spur of the 215 plays the same 'circuit', so I see a lot of the same faces every time I'm out and about. And now that I live less than a good solid 7-iron away from the freeway, I find myself down at Binion's and the Nugget more and more, too. (Hell, even though the M is technically in Henderson, I'm actually closer to the downtown casinos, if you can believe that).
Anyhow, last evening I decided to go back over to one of my favorite rooms and play for a couple of hours. It's actually one of the hardest rooms to play in, but it's great practice. Everyone always complains about 'donkeys' at limit games, but I'll be the first to admit that the locals in the big Stations rooms are tricky, and better players than most people think--Boulder, Sunset, Red Rock, and GVR are tough places to win, but after a few sessions there, going down to the Mirage or MGM and playing with the tourists is like taking leftover Halloween candy from a baby. The off-strip local joints are some great rooms to pay your dues in, if only because the players there have a thousand times more experience than the typical tourist down on the Strip, so it's like Hold 'Em boot camp. If you can beat those games, you can absolutely mow down the tourist rooms.
So I returned to the scene of the crime, as it were, and bought in for a hundred bucks. And what did I see as soon as I got there? Why, an open seat at table number seven--and it was seat three, the exact lucky spot I had the night before. Of course I grabbed it when given the choice of tables to go to.
By then, eighteen hours after the fact, word of my big win had spread like wildfire, and everyone who wasn't there the night before came over to pat me on the back and offer up some congratulations. And all of my new tablemates wanted to hear the details of the hit, so I happily retold the story of exactly how things went down. Everybody hates bad beat stories, but man, do they ever love to hear about the big wins!
On the other hand, I was getting nothing but 'trouble cards' with the first couple of dealers--you know, stuff like suited connectors, suited Kings, Aces with six-through-nines, smaller pocket pairs, and 10-Jack--hands you always want to play, but no good if you miss the flop. And I kept missing the flop completely--I'd limp in or raise pre-flop, then the board would run out blanks for me, and somebody else would come out firing. My cards would then immediately go in the muck. This pattern kept up for far too long, and after the first hour or so, I was down almost fifty bucks, having never seen the turn.
But I was still having fun, basking in the aftermath of my big hit the night before. New players would shuffle in and out, and people kept talking about it. So even though I wasn't earning at my usual rate, and even had to re-buy for another forty bucks, I was still having a good time.
Eventually I found myself at the inevitable crossroads of Mad Skillz and Good Cards, and started making my way back. I treaded water at even par for about an hour, but then I started my run. I ran a sick sick sick bluff on a guy who I'd beaten like a drum at the M earlier in the week--he was telling everyone how I 'sucked out' to beat him (a few nights before, I flopped trips, turned a full house that gave him the, ahem, 'nut' flush, and he kept betting into me and went broke), so I knew that he was on a vendetta. I'd forgotten about it completely, but he just kept talking about it and wouldn't let it go.
On one hand awhile later, I just knew he had pocket Jacks in early position. It couldn't have been more obvious to me even if he was playing them face-up. He raised, knocking out everyone else, but I was on the button with King-Ten offsuit, so I called. The heads-up flop was all low cards, but two of them were spades. He bet out, and I did the Hollywood hesitation for a second, made a show of looking at my hole-cards again, and then gave a 'reluctant' call. Absolutely certain that he had pocket Jacks, and guessing that they were probably red, I was hoping for the ultimate scare card on the turn--the Ace or King of spades.
Luck was with me, as the prettiest card in the deck--the Ace of spades--hit the board on the turn. Now the key to being a good bluffer is not to watch the cards as they come out, but instead you should watch your opponent watch the cards as they come out. I could tell he hated that Ace, but he had to represent strength and so he bet out.
Textbook.
I gave him a thoughtful look, pausing for a moment like I was thinking "Hmm... Should I just call here and go for the raise on the river, or should I just raise now?". I gave an Academy-award performance of making the Aw, screw it, let's just win this pot right now face, and he fell for it hook, line, and sinker.
He gave me a dirty look and said You're the luckiest son-of-a-bitch I've ever seen!, and mucked his two red Jacks face up. Just as the dealer started to push the pot to me, I showed my non-spaded King-Ten bluff. I had no pair and no draw, and the look on his face right then was even more satisfying than the few bucks that came from winning the pot. I normally wouldn't have shown it, but he'd been talking shiat about me ever since he sat down, and when he called me an SOB, I figured he needed a little Life Lesson. I didn't want to say anything to antagonize the guy, but he got the message. He looked like he was ready to come unglued, and a few other players at the table chuckled. I winked at the dealer and tipped him half of my profit from the pot.
Besides that guy, who really had it in for me, it was a fun, enjoyable table with nice people and a good vibe, so I figured I'd eventually do well.
I still had my A-game, and raked a really nice pot when I raised from early position with Ace-Jack of diamonds, got seven callers, and the flop came out Jack-Jack-Three. I gave an exasperated check, and everyone else did, also. A Queen came on the turn, so I bet out, hoping everyone would put me on a steal, like I was over-playing an Ace-King or something. I got one caller.
The river was a harmless four, so I bet out again. This time, my opponent raised. Hmmm... I couldn't really put him on a Jack-Four, maybe Queen-Jack, but he didn't play like he had it on the turn, and pocket Queens would've re-raised pre-flop. Maybe pocket fours? I doubt he would've stayed that long. So I took a shot and re-raised, and he just called. I knew I was good then. I showed Jack-Ace, and for whatever reason, he showed Queen-Four. First of all, I don't know why he called a pre-flop raise with that junk, and the three pair on the river did him absolutely no good. Unless he had me something like pocket tens or worse, he should've known his hand was burnt toast. But I guess he really *did* think I was gambling with Ace-King.
But the hand of the night came a few minutes later. It was a kill pot, again, so the limits were raised. I was on the button with Eight-Ten of clubs. I decided to gamble on the off chance I might hit a flop with a hand nobody could put me on. Besides, there were like six callers in front of me, so I was definitely getting the right price to play.
The flop hit me directly between the eyes--Seven of Clubs, Nine of Clubs, red King. The small blind, directly on my left, was first to act. She bet out, got one caller, and everyone folded to me. I was definitely in, and had position plus the stone-cold nuts draw, so I raised it to $12. The small blind just called, but the other player folded, so we were heads-up on the turn.
Bingo on the turn card--Jack of Clubs. I had a monster of an unbeatable hand--a straight flush that couldn't be beat, no matter what card came on the river. My opponent was first to act, so she bet out twelve bucks. Obviously she had a big flush, and since she'd bet out on the flop, I figured she had Ace-King of clubs. If my read was right, there was no need to raise just then. We could go to war on the river with uncapped betting, and if I was wrong and she had three of a kind, a paired board would only make it better for me, as most players would gladly die under the flag of a full house.
The river was the Deuce of clubs, kind of crappy for me, I thought. Four clubs on the board--if she had trips, I'd get no action. She bet out, so I then knew for certain she had the Ace-high flush. Immediately I was hoping that instead of Ace-King of clubs, she had Ace-Queen and that she was putting me on the King-high flush instead.
Turns out, that's exactly what happened. I raised it to $24, and she immediately re-raised me back. I did the Hollywood hesitation move once again, and from across the table, the guy I'd bluffed earlier smirked and said Ha! That idiot thinks his King-high flush is good! I gave him a piercing look and said Dude, come on, you're not even in the hand, you shouldn't be calling my cards...
The dealer looked his way and shushed him, and again, my opponent re-raised me. I played the clueless act to the hilt and said out loud, Maybe she's the one with the King-high flush, as I re-raised. She popped me again and immediately I said Then again, maybe not, which gave the whole table a chuckle.
I re-raised her again, and she turned her head towards me and gave a look that said Really, are you that dense???
She then just called and said I don't know why you're being so stubborn Mikey, I've got the nuts! and turned over the Ace-Queen of Clubs. Mr. Vendetta across the table started laughing like it was the greatest thing he'd ever seen, certain that I'd just donked off almost my entire stack. My opponent missed her royal flush draw, but still had what she thought was the biggest hand.
I just shrugged and said, Sorry, but I actually have a straight flush, as I turned over my cards.
Amazingly, nobody at the table saw it coming--there was nothing but disbelief all around. Dead silence. Hell, it seemed like nobody even saw that it was possible. It was like everyone was locked onto the King-high versus Ace-high flush and completely missed seeing the straight flush. My opponent took it well, just saying Wow, you got me on that one... She sat there staring at the table in stunned silence after that, obviously disappointed, probably mad at herself for missing the monster hand lurking in the weeds. Mr. Vendetta, on the other hand, looked like he was about to have a stroke. For whatever reason, he was carrying a grudge from earlier in the week at the M, and his fondest wish was to see me go broke. He sat there muttering for a good twenty minutes after that.
The dealer said something like Dang Mikey, that really is your lucky seat! Not only did I hit the big jackpot sitting in that exact same seat the night before, but I'd just picked up a straight flush and won a monster pot with it. And then the dealer reminded me that I was sitting in that same seat back in April when he dealt me a high-hand jackpot for like $400 with a different straight flush. I'd forgotten about that one. Maybe I should talk to the people in charge at the casino and see if I can't buy that spot and have a plaque attached there that says 'Reserved For Mikey B', like they do in the sportsbook. I'm sure that'd go over well. Heh.
The game didn't last too much longer after that. I went card dead and folded everything for the next half hour or so. And once we got shorthanded, the players started looking to see how many seats were open at other tables. I had a couple of racks of profit stacked in front of me, so I decided to call it a night. I was yawning every couple of minutes anyways, and was still pretty tired. So I cashed out and headed for home, glad that Bull Durham was such a major influence on my poker philosophy.
I was dead on my feet when I got back here to the Batch Pad (there's the name I was looking for!), so I went straight to bed. I think it was around 10:30 at that point, and I slept like a rock for eight hours straight.
It was nice to get that much sleep, and I woke up this morning feeling like a million bucks! I've gone through an entire pot of coffee as I wrote this recap, but once I hit the 'submit' button, I'm gonna motivate myself back into the kitchen and cook up some scratch-made chicken fried steak and then head down to the bank. I've got a big ol' stack of hundies to deposit.
Mikey
Sunday, November 01, 2009
Take Me Down to the Jackpot City...
Where the money's green and the cards are pretty!
Hey, y'all wanna see what $4,444 looks like, in Benjis and twenties? Well here ya go!
Actually, that's only about $3600 and change--there were a few expenses before I got home...
So I guess I've got to put this Halloween in the books as the best one ever! Lemme offer up the details...
Like I mentioned before, I had no plans for Halloween this year. I wasn't gonna dress up, I had no party to go to, and pretty much all my friends were working. When you work in the casino biz, all the weekends and holidays belong to The Man. This was the first Halloween I've had off since I got here almost five years ago, so I was kind of at a loss for something to do. I had a last-minute invite to go down to the Palms with a couple of my gals, but since I had no costume planned, I begged off. That, and I didn't want to pay $14 a pop for drinks all night, either.
Anyhow, so instead of prowling the Strip, or even going to Carnaval Court, I fell back on old reliable and just wandered on down to one of the local poker rooms. Since it was the last day of the month, all of the rooms that I frequent were winding down their good October promotions--flopped four-of-a-kinds and made straight flushes were paying off all month, but I never caught a single 'high hand' in all the hours I've put in at the tables over the past several weeks. But I wanted to give it one more try.
The M Resort was giving away a thousand dollars for any flopped four-of-a-kind, and Green Valley Ranch and Sunset Station had a Card of the Day promotion that if you flopped four-of-a-kind of that number, you won that money in thousands. Four nines got you $9,999, four sevens would get you $7,777, etc. The card of the day at Sunset was pocket fours, and it was my understanding that nobody had flopped the quads of the day for the entire month--it happened a few times at GVR, but never at Sunset.
My buddy AC went to GVR for the night to take his shot, but I ended up at Sunset Station. My plan was to play a few hours there, and if I broke even or was up a few bucks, I'd cash out and head over to the M. I have been damn near unbeatable there this month, and besides that, my gal Sammi works over there, and everyone knows I'm hot for her stuff.
There was a pretty good waiting list going when I got to the casino around seven o'clock, so they opened up a new game almost immediately after I got there. I thought it was great table--after a couple orbits, I could see that there were a couple of calling stations who would play any two cards almost every hand. My Pavlovian mouth-watering kicked in and I told myself that I was about to get paid!
Of course, that was the plan. But sometimes, the Poker Gods laugh at my plans, and strike me down with a seemingly never-ending series of bad beats and impossible draws. I think I was stuck about fifty bucks within the first half hour. There was one guy at the table I just couldn't beat. He didn't seem to be a very good player; he kept turning over junk cards, but man, he was just getting run over by the deck--he hit everything! And several times it happened at my expense. It got to be a frustrating night, and I found it damn near impossible to duplicate my success of the previous night. Card of the day be damned, I just couldn't make any hand hold up, and every pocket pair seemed to get cracked.
After a couple of hours, I was actually stuck $160 and fading fast. Going over to the M was out of the question, as I was so frustrated that I was bound and determined to make my money back at that same table, no matter how long it took. I know, bad move, but I probably wasn't thinking rationally at the time.
At ten o'clock, one of my favorite dealers in all of Las Vegas came to my table, and I told her that I was counting on her to get me unstuck (I'd made a furious comeback by then, but was still down about sixty bucks). She laughed and said she'd try.
About fifteen minutes into her 'down', it was a kill pot, meaning that somebody had won two hands in a row, and instead of playing 4/8, we were now playing 6/12 until that particular player lost a pot. I was on the button, and looked down to see two black fours staring back up at me.
Woot! I had a chance to win a monster jackpot. Fours were the card of the day, and if I flopped quads with 'em, I'd win $4,444.00. Oh hell yeah! Of course, I didn't really count on it, because I've been playing poker pretty regularly for almost ten years now, and I think I've flopped quads maybe three times in the last decade. Besides, I heard somewhere that flopping quads is like a 93,000-to-one longshot.
Three players in front of me called to see a flop, so I limped in for $3, fully aware that the minimum $10 was in the pot (most houses have a rule that there has to be ten bucks worth of called bets in any pot to win a high-hand jackpot). While the dealer gathered up all the bets into the middle of the table, I turned my head away and looked down at the floor, telling myself Just once--it's now or never.
I didn't see the flop get spread, but I heard the dealer say Well, I hope somebody's got it!
I looked up and I about satcheled my wares when I saw the most beautiful flop ever: a six with two red fours on either side of it--I just flopped four fours!!!
Holy shiat! It took me a second to let the realization set in that I'd just won over four grand...
Besides, there was still a hand to be played out. My three opponents all checked to me, and of course I checked it. Hell, I wanted somebody to make a hand. The competitive poker player in me wanted to get paid off! And if I were fortunate enough to actually get beaten by a bigger four of a kind or a straight flush, then I'd get another four grand or so as a share of the in-house bad beat jackpot, too! That was too much to hope for, so I really didn't give it a second thought.
I consciously made an effort to keep my hands from shaking and to keep my voice from cracking as a blank hit the turn and all three of my opponents checked to me. I checked again--free card for everyone!
The jack of diamonds came on the river, and again, all three of my opponents checked. I grabbed a stack of twelve chips and slowly made a bet, saying to the dealer, I really like that river card, so I'm gonna go ahead and bet twelve. (pause) And oh by the way, you should probably call the floorman over here and tell him to bring his clipboard!
The look on her face was priceless, as she realized what I was telling her. Immediately, everyone else at the table stood up and I flipped over my cards, revealing the four of a kind.
Instantly, it was absolute pandemonium at my table. Everyone in our game jumped up and cheered and I let out a nice loud OH HELL YEAH!!!
Of course, all action at the other five tables stopped and everyone stood up to see if we'd hit a bad beat or something, and then the high fives started coming. All of my table mates were excited for me, and of course the dealer had a huge ol' grin on her face! Immediately, my phone started going off as people at other tables were texting me with congratulations. I was shaking like a leaf at that point. I just couldn't believe I won such a monster jackpot! Talk about lucky--the whole promotion was ending at midnight, less than two hours later, and I squeezed out a winner just under the wire!
Over the course of the next several minutes, almost half the people in the room came over and offered me congrats and told me they were happy for me. It felt awesome. I was still pretty shaky, and it took me several tries to get my fingers to work well enough to send out a global text message with the news to all of my friends.
The floorman came over with the paperwork for me to fill out, and again, I could hardly write down my information because my hands were still shaking. Eventually I calmed down, but the excitement didn't leave the room for some time. A few minutes later, the floorman came over with a whole bunch of chips for me--One rack of green ($2500), three racks of red ($1500), and then the last $444 was in black, green, red, and white. The dealer counted it all down in the middle of the table, and before she pushed it over to me, I told her to keep the $444 for herself. I think that made her day.
I then gave the floorman a few hundred bucks and told him to split it up between himself and the rest of the dealers who were on the clock at the time. Hey, when I win, everybody wins! Good karma and all that! That put everyone in a good mood, and it was nice to be able to share my good fortune. I swear, for a few minutes there I felt like Andy Dufresne the day they got the beer up on the roof of the old license plate factory.
I thought about cashing out and going home, but damn, it was barely 11:00 o'clock by that time. Besides, I'd had a few drinks, and I didn't want to drive anyways. It wouldn't be responsible, and there were about a hundred cops out on all the roads within five miles of the casino. I did, however, cash out my jackpot winnings and put all the hundies in my wallet. I think I tipped the waitress $25 for a bottle of water a few minutes later, and then I just kinda half-assed my way through the game for about an hour with the $150 or so in white chips I still had in front of me. It was tough to play, as my phone kept going off and everyone kept coming over to talk to me. Besides, I wanted to donk off a few chips to my tablemates, just for the sake of goodwill. I built a few pots, raising with nothing, and then folding, letting other folks take down a nice pot or two.
I ended up just sitting around for a couple of hours, and then decided to call it a night. I said goodnight to everyone, dropped all my extra chips into the graveyard floorman's bucket (he wasn't there when I hit my quads), and headed back here to the batch-pad. As tired as I am, and as much yawning as I've done, I just can't get to sleep--I'm too keyed up!
I'm sure I'll eventually collapse, with a satisfied smile on my face, but not just yet. As far as the money is concerned, what am I gonna do with it? Well, I still have that cruise to pay for, and next month's bills are gonna be here before I know it, so that'll take a big chunk of it. I'm gonna send a few hundies into my E*Trade account, and maybe buy some new clothes and a bunch of household supplies that I normally hate spending money on. But I'm probably just gonna save the rest. It's always feast or famine in my world, and I certainly remember the lean months, so I shouldn't do anything too frivolous. However, I've been thinking about a new Canon DSLR, so I might end up getting myself an early Christmas present.
Anyhow, that's how my Halloween went. Not too bad for a guy with no costume and no plans. But I guess you don't need any when you've got pocket fours!
Mikey
Hey, y'all wanna see what $4,444 looks like, in Benjis and twenties? Well here ya go!
Actually, that's only about $3600 and change--there were a few expenses before I got home...
So I guess I've got to put this Halloween in the books as the best one ever! Lemme offer up the details...
Like I mentioned before, I had no plans for Halloween this year. I wasn't gonna dress up, I had no party to go to, and pretty much all my friends were working. When you work in the casino biz, all the weekends and holidays belong to The Man. This was the first Halloween I've had off since I got here almost five years ago, so I was kind of at a loss for something to do. I had a last-minute invite to go down to the Palms with a couple of my gals, but since I had no costume planned, I begged off. That, and I didn't want to pay $14 a pop for drinks all night, either.
Anyhow, so instead of prowling the Strip, or even going to Carnaval Court, I fell back on old reliable and just wandered on down to one of the local poker rooms. Since it was the last day of the month, all of the rooms that I frequent were winding down their good October promotions--flopped four-of-a-kinds and made straight flushes were paying off all month, but I never caught a single 'high hand' in all the hours I've put in at the tables over the past several weeks. But I wanted to give it one more try.
The M Resort was giving away a thousand dollars for any flopped four-of-a-kind, and Green Valley Ranch and Sunset Station had a Card of the Day promotion that if you flopped four-of-a-kind of that number, you won that money in thousands. Four nines got you $9,999, four sevens would get you $7,777, etc. The card of the day at Sunset was pocket fours, and it was my understanding that nobody had flopped the quads of the day for the entire month--it happened a few times at GVR, but never at Sunset.
My buddy AC went to GVR for the night to take his shot, but I ended up at Sunset Station. My plan was to play a few hours there, and if I broke even or was up a few bucks, I'd cash out and head over to the M. I have been damn near unbeatable there this month, and besides that, my gal Sammi works over there, and everyone knows I'm hot for her stuff.
There was a pretty good waiting list going when I got to the casino around seven o'clock, so they opened up a new game almost immediately after I got there. I thought it was great table--after a couple orbits, I could see that there were a couple of calling stations who would play any two cards almost every hand. My Pavlovian mouth-watering kicked in and I told myself that I was about to get paid!
Of course, that was the plan. But sometimes, the Poker Gods laugh at my plans, and strike me down with a seemingly never-ending series of bad beats and impossible draws. I think I was stuck about fifty bucks within the first half hour. There was one guy at the table I just couldn't beat. He didn't seem to be a very good player; he kept turning over junk cards, but man, he was just getting run over by the deck--he hit everything! And several times it happened at my expense. It got to be a frustrating night, and I found it damn near impossible to duplicate my success of the previous night. Card of the day be damned, I just couldn't make any hand hold up, and every pocket pair seemed to get cracked.
After a couple of hours, I was actually stuck $160 and fading fast. Going over to the M was out of the question, as I was so frustrated that I was bound and determined to make my money back at that same table, no matter how long it took. I know, bad move, but I probably wasn't thinking rationally at the time.
At ten o'clock, one of my favorite dealers in all of Las Vegas came to my table, and I told her that I was counting on her to get me unstuck (I'd made a furious comeback by then, but was still down about sixty bucks). She laughed and said she'd try.
About fifteen minutes into her 'down', it was a kill pot, meaning that somebody had won two hands in a row, and instead of playing 4/8, we were now playing 6/12 until that particular player lost a pot. I was on the button, and looked down to see two black fours staring back up at me.
Woot! I had a chance to win a monster jackpot. Fours were the card of the day, and if I flopped quads with 'em, I'd win $4,444.00. Oh hell yeah! Of course, I didn't really count on it, because I've been playing poker pretty regularly for almost ten years now, and I think I've flopped quads maybe three times in the last decade. Besides, I heard somewhere that flopping quads is like a 93,000-to-one longshot.
Three players in front of me called to see a flop, so I limped in for $3, fully aware that the minimum $10 was in the pot (most houses have a rule that there has to be ten bucks worth of called bets in any pot to win a high-hand jackpot). While the dealer gathered up all the bets into the middle of the table, I turned my head away and looked down at the floor, telling myself Just once--it's now or never.
I didn't see the flop get spread, but I heard the dealer say Well, I hope somebody's got it!
I looked up and I about satcheled my wares when I saw the most beautiful flop ever: a six with two red fours on either side of it--I just flopped four fours!!!
Holy shiat! It took me a second to let the realization set in that I'd just won over four grand...
Besides, there was still a hand to be played out. My three opponents all checked to me, and of course I checked it. Hell, I wanted somebody to make a hand. The competitive poker player in me wanted to get paid off! And if I were fortunate enough to actually get beaten by a bigger four of a kind or a straight flush, then I'd get another four grand or so as a share of the in-house bad beat jackpot, too! That was too much to hope for, so I really didn't give it a second thought.
I consciously made an effort to keep my hands from shaking and to keep my voice from cracking as a blank hit the turn and all three of my opponents checked to me. I checked again--free card for everyone!
The jack of diamonds came on the river, and again, all three of my opponents checked. I grabbed a stack of twelve chips and slowly made a bet, saying to the dealer, I really like that river card, so I'm gonna go ahead and bet twelve. (pause) And oh by the way, you should probably call the floorman over here and tell him to bring his clipboard!
The look on her face was priceless, as she realized what I was telling her. Immediately, everyone else at the table stood up and I flipped over my cards, revealing the four of a kind.
Instantly, it was absolute pandemonium at my table. Everyone in our game jumped up and cheered and I let out a nice loud OH HELL YEAH!!!
Of course, all action at the other five tables stopped and everyone stood up to see if we'd hit a bad beat or something, and then the high fives started coming. All of my table mates were excited for me, and of course the dealer had a huge ol' grin on her face! Immediately, my phone started going off as people at other tables were texting me with congratulations. I was shaking like a leaf at that point. I just couldn't believe I won such a monster jackpot! Talk about lucky--the whole promotion was ending at midnight, less than two hours later, and I squeezed out a winner just under the wire!
Over the course of the next several minutes, almost half the people in the room came over and offered me congrats and told me they were happy for me. It felt awesome. I was still pretty shaky, and it took me several tries to get my fingers to work well enough to send out a global text message with the news to all of my friends.
The floorman came over with the paperwork for me to fill out, and again, I could hardly write down my information because my hands were still shaking. Eventually I calmed down, but the excitement didn't leave the room for some time. A few minutes later, the floorman came over with a whole bunch of chips for me--One rack of green ($2500), three racks of red ($1500), and then the last $444 was in black, green, red, and white. The dealer counted it all down in the middle of the table, and before she pushed it over to me, I told her to keep the $444 for herself. I think that made her day.
I then gave the floorman a few hundred bucks and told him to split it up between himself and the rest of the dealers who were on the clock at the time. Hey, when I win, everybody wins! Good karma and all that! That put everyone in a good mood, and it was nice to be able to share my good fortune. I swear, for a few minutes there I felt like Andy Dufresne the day they got the beer up on the roof of the old license plate factory.
I thought about cashing out and going home, but damn, it was barely 11:00 o'clock by that time. Besides, I'd had a few drinks, and I didn't want to drive anyways. It wouldn't be responsible, and there were about a hundred cops out on all the roads within five miles of the casino. I did, however, cash out my jackpot winnings and put all the hundies in my wallet. I think I tipped the waitress $25 for a bottle of water a few minutes later, and then I just kinda half-assed my way through the game for about an hour with the $150 or so in white chips I still had in front of me. It was tough to play, as my phone kept going off and everyone kept coming over to talk to me. Besides, I wanted to donk off a few chips to my tablemates, just for the sake of goodwill. I built a few pots, raising with nothing, and then folding, letting other folks take down a nice pot or two.
I ended up just sitting around for a couple of hours, and then decided to call it a night. I said goodnight to everyone, dropped all my extra chips into the graveyard floorman's bucket (he wasn't there when I hit my quads), and headed back here to the batch-pad. As tired as I am, and as much yawning as I've done, I just can't get to sleep--I'm too keyed up!
I'm sure I'll eventually collapse, with a satisfied smile on my face, but not just yet. As far as the money is concerned, what am I gonna do with it? Well, I still have that cruise to pay for, and next month's bills are gonna be here before I know it, so that'll take a big chunk of it. I'm gonna send a few hundies into my E*Trade account, and maybe buy some new clothes and a bunch of household supplies that I normally hate spending money on. But I'm probably just gonna save the rest. It's always feast or famine in my world, and I certainly remember the lean months, so I shouldn't do anything too frivolous. However, I've been thinking about a new Canon DSLR, so I might end up getting myself an early Christmas present.
Anyhow, that's how my Halloween went. Not too bad for a guy with no costume and no plans. But I guess you don't need any when you've got pocket fours!
Mikey
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