Caesar Puh Lah Chay

Good afternoon everyone.  I just feel like I've been running very well lately (this is obviously not a reference to my micro-baseball betting, which we'll save for Friday).  However, on ramble day, I MUST insert one little betting line here.  While visiting with some excellent company from San Marcos, America today (this seems to be a theme lately, doesn't it?), I found myself in the sportsbook (shocker) at the Rio, and saw college football betting lines for the first time since I returned to the valley.  Here you go:  September 1st - Texas State (+37) @ Houston.  :)  The bookmakers evidently think that the Bobcats will lose to the Cougars in a barnburner...  ;)  Back to where this ramble was originally headed, I had so many belongings (so much crap) packed into my vehicle when I headed west from San Marcos, America two weeks ago today that I thought my axles would break, or that my tires would just POP from trying to handle the payload...  I also wasn't crazy about navigating Arizona and Nevada during daylight at the end of July.  As fate had it, my vehicle was a TROOPER, it was OVERCAST and RAINING in the mountains out of Phoenix and into Nevada, up til about five minutes short of the dam, and people have been so nice to me over these last few weeks.  Really quick, one little tidbit that I believe I have omitted to this point.  While driving, you pass many rock formations in New Mexico and Arizona.  While cruising on I-10 in one of these 2 states, off to my right, I noticed that someone had somehow made their way onto one of the not so monstrous of these formations and had tagged it "Fraggle Rock" with white paint (it was amusing after more than a dozen hours of driving)...  :)   Once again let me give a sincere shoutout to Carmel Josephine - her and the 'guard dogs' were very gracious in opening their home to me, and she has some serious good karma deposited for the time this puppy lands on his feet (moreso than the grape juice and the cheetos that I left behind)...  ;)  For those who might be questioning me, the Minute Maid grape juice is very tasty, and the dogs like the cheetos, so...  :P  Sincerely, thank you Carmel.  For the never-ending scores of people who keep treating me to meals, I might be able to start a seperate blog day devoted to 'Meals That My Friends Treated Me To' while doing reviews on the different dining options in the desert.  Today I was lucky enough to hang out with one of my favorite people from my coaching past - she was in town with her boyfriend for the Star Trek Convention (although they're not 'Trekkies' - they just happen to know Rod Roddenbery - go figure)...  Anyway, we strolled from the Rio to the Gold Coast lunch buffet, where yours truly started with a PLATE FULL of Italian food, had a second plate of trout and tilapia, and ended with a little piece of cake accompanied with blueberries...  #content  At lunch she asked me, "what's up with the bikini thing I keep seeing?" (I put entry notifications on my facebook page), and I let her know that it's basically a diary of what I have been up to, and how my little blog got its name.  The Gold Coast lunch buffet good and affordable if you find yourself on that side of town.  I honestly have never spent that much time in that area west of the Strip other than working the WSOP when I first arrived in town, so I didn't have any idea...  My friends are about "Rio'd out" after a long weekend stay there.  I have found a place to live - how permanent it is remains to be seen, but it does come with a t.v., with other 100 channels of cable, with utilities paid, and most importantly, with high-speed internet that I can plug my desktop into...  Let the job search proceed in earnest...  Just one job, that's all it will take...  ;)  I don't remember if I mentioned here before that I really had no chance at loving the movie 'The Hangover' because it was SO OVERHYPED to me before I saw it, but I realized today that it has probably scarred me for life...  While driving by Caesar's Palace on my way to the Rio earlier, all that I could think was...  "Caesar...  Puh.. Lah.. Chay..."  Horrible, I know...  I hope that all of you have a great day and I'll see you again on Wednesday with a little poker tale or two...
            

We Want Touchdowns

Good morning everyone.  Well here I am, back on good ole computer #8 (if you're in the library, please feel free to stop by for an autograph)...  I'm feeling a little less bitter right now than I did last night.  In my previous 2 days of betting parlays preceding yesterday, I had lost $5.00 and .15, respectively.  Yesterday I managed to lose $19.00.  Not every game that I bet, but at least one loser on every ticket.  The title of today's blog entry was almost, 'NEVER Bet On The Chicago White Sox' (hey lightning).  The pale hose really killed me the last few days (stupid Royals).

Anyway, this brings us to today, which I 99% guarantee you will end at Aliante Station Casino at about 8:00 today because I went down to the strip to meet a couple of friends last night after my brilliant day of sport prognosticating...  Upon leaving the library today, I will be treated to the Olympics Women's Soccer Final, featuring team Stars & Stripes vs. Japan (the same Japan who defeated us in the World Cup if I'm not mistaken).  During that game, I will be figuring out my parlays for the day, but I have already figured out one of them, so that you can follow along at home.  Oh, did I mention that the NFL is rolling out six preseason games today?  :)  Every over/under number is in the 35ish range for these 6 games, so I am going to dedicate a 2-dollar parlay ticket to the 6 overs in this set (it would pay in the neighborhood of 90 bucks if it hits).  I have already decided that ten bucks will be my limit for today.  I was really ticked off yesterday that I lost the 19 bucks on the 4 baseball parlays, and at the moment I'm really happy that I was so upset yesterday.  I did not move all the way back to the desert to lose...  So anyway, root for a lot of scoring in today's football games.  They all kickoff in the same half-hour time frame, which ought to make things very interesting when added to the slate of baseball games. 

I have given up on my fantasy baseball team since arriving in the desert.  Even though I couldn't win a ton even if I did come back to cash, it's more on principle that I'm not giving it another look.  When I live in a place where I can bet games on tap, I find no reason to participate in that silly stuff.  Injuries can kill you in fantasy sports, and true to the form of my recent football teams, this baseball squad was just DECIMATED by injuries.  R.I.P. Bikini Hill Giants...  :(

I've also decided to make it a point to visit a sportsbook everyday.  I am still patiently chomping at the bit to get a jot and find a permanent place to live in the near future so that I can figure out my finances and what my 'official' betting and poker bankrolls will be.  I have found numerous temporary extended-stay places online (and I hear that this town has 1 or 2 hotels if you are in a pinch), so my immediate future has me going into overdrive searching for a job.  I think that I've stated this before, but just ONE JOB, ANYTHING, will be sufficient to pay the currently low rental rates in Las Vegas, America.

I also wanted to give a shoutout to my fellow bloggers, and let you know that I haven't forgotten about you if you've missed me in the comments sections, but reading blogs over my phone is about as easy as making blog entries.  GRRRRRRR...  As I've said during this week, this is my Friday post since the library is closed on actual Fridays, but I will see you again Monday with my ramble.  Have a great weekend everyone!
 

Poker, Poker, Poker...

Good morning everyone.  God bless the intruder who wants to break into this library during closing and try to use these computers.  They unlocked the doors just a few ticks early this morning, and when I tried to log in to this computer, I got a message that read, "computer unavailable until 10:30 a.m...."  :)  Love it!!!  For those of you who like this little piece of cyberworld for the sports, I bet $23.00 combined on 3 baseball tickets yesterday and lost 0.15 for the day (yes, 15 cents) - you can't make this stuff up...  If the Rangers and Red Sox score one more run, I get an extra 20 bucks for the day.  However, if Washington doesn't manage to finally beat Houston in 11 innings, I lose an extra $22.85 for the day.  Oh, but we were here to talk about poker, right?

So it's one week ago today when I innocently take a seat in the 2-4 limit game at Aliante Station, not knowing that I was going to get stuck for about 60 bucks early after being rundown in tragic fashion 3 times (the worst of which was flopping a set of 10's on a 10 8 2 rainbow flop, only to lose to runner-runner straight against the opponent who held 8 7)...  Anyway, that 10-hour session was just the start of a poker-filled week which had me sitting down approximately 120 dollars after 21 hours of limit session all over town.  Enter Saturday...  Despite having visited my former place of employment, the Riviera, on both Thursday and Friday, I had not yet touched base with my favorite cocktail waitress (of 'I'll Just Take The Money' fame), and I had it on good authority that she was working on Saturday.  Being the sweetheart that I am, I decided to make ANOTHER trip back down to the Strip and I enjoyed sharing the nachos lunch (and coke that she bought me) during her full hour break.  Now what to do???  I was not about to drive all the way home since I was already on the Strip, so I make my way to Bally's, where friends of the family are staying in town (the Circus Circus Steakhouse group), hoping to run into Steve, the poker player of the bunch.  I end up watching the end of the Bally's 4:00 Tourney.  Twelve players had signed up, there were 4 left when I arrived, and when they got down to 3 players, the 3 somehow managed to play through more than 2 full 20-minute round without anyone busting out - pretty amazing...  Anyway, after watching this no-limit tourney action, I decide to buy into a 1/2 no-limit game, with just 100 bucks, just to see what happens...

I sit down at 6:00, get no hands to speak of, and then at 6:50, it happens.  In the big blind, I am dealt the 5 3 offsuit, and I am not raised.  The flop comes...  6  2  4 rainbow...  With the very real tired expression that I am carrying operating on four hours of sleep for the second straight day, I check the flop with no interest.  The guy to my left bets out 15, and the guy at the far end of the table raises to 30.  I'm literally thinking, "Hmmmm?" as I bring my whopping stack of 84 across the betting line.  This is where the guy to my left SHOVES for over 300..., and then the guy at the far end of the table goes into the tank.  Talking to himself, he says, "I can't lay down trips..." (he meant a set, but we'll have that conversation some other time).  Of course it's not me he's worried about, because he can lose to me but still win over 200 from the guy to my left.  After a minute, he proceeds to call the all-in.  The guy to my left flips over J J (okay...).  The guy at the far end of the table shows 4 4.  The turn is a beautiful queen, and the river is a more beautiful king...  Our hero triples up because the board DID NOT PAIR - WOO HOO!!!  :)  The guy to my left busted with his jacks, and 2 of the players at the far end of the table got up a minute later, so I played one more hand, and then got up myself, with a profit of 154 bucks, winning more in one no-limit hand than I had lost for the week in 21 hours of various limit sessions...  :)

The consensus around town seems to be that everyone is a little slower since the World Series ended just a few weeks ago, which doesn't surprise me.  There are several new rooms around town since I left, and considering the number of people that left town when the economy went south, there seem to be a number or rooms that seem to be barely hanging on right now.  It currently appears that many poker rooms struggle to get more than four games going in a day.  I would guess that the cooler weather that comes with the fall and football season will bring some more business back to the local poker scene.  This is definitely a different town than the one that I left in 2007, with the foot traffic in many of the casinos (not just poker rooms) being noticeably light.  There are many more poker rooms that are now offering high hand and bad beat jackpots in an attempt to bring business to their corners of the world however. 

Okay, that seems like plenty for today.  I'll be back tomorrow with a sports-related blog.  In the meantime, have a great day! 
   

A Whole Hour, WOO HOO!!!

Good morning everyone.  I've got a bonus post for you today because I've figured out how the library works and I am coming at you with a full 60 minutes in my arsenal.  Just shove aside an elderly lady, a few small children, and a puppy dog...  (just kidding - I would never be mean to a puppy dog)...  ;)  I thought that since I've been running errands all morning and that I've got so much to say, I would stop by and visit my readers before I got into the apartment and job search.  This library actually will allow me to use the computer for an hour each day, and they are open five days a week, AND you are allowed extra time if you notify the reference desk that you are filling out an application, so you're stuck with me.  By the way, this session is also cool like yesterday's in that there is a clock at the top of the monitor counting down my minutes.  I know FOR A FACT that if I had a countdown clock at the top of my desktop on a full-time basis and stuck to an hour each day, I would have a much more productive life...  :P 

Let's make poker our first topic, since that will be my topic of choice tomorrow (I HAVE to get my teaser in here again).  Tomorrow will be the entry where I talk about the ONE no-limit hand that got me even (actually ahead) in poker since my arrival back in the desert after more than 20 hours of limit sessions, but I will give you a few poker tidbits since you were kind enough to stop by today.  First, the M Resort & Casino has some GREAT promotions running this month (they actually run good poker room promotions every month, but I returned just in time for August)...  :)  I would love to work there if the opportunity presents itself in the future, but short of that, it will definitely be a room that I frequent often, especially if I can find a place to live in Henderson or Green Valley.  For those of you who don't have a map of the valley handy, Henderson and GV are both just to the south of Las Vegas.  Henderson was actually the first place that I lived that last time that I was here, before moving just east of the Strip to be closer to my job.  One promotion that I cashed in on already was receiving a bottle of wine for playing two hours on Sunday morning.  That session came at the end of an interesting Saturday, which followed an interesting Friday.  For some reason Coach operated on four hours of sleep for a few days in a row during the past week.  The reason was actually very good, in that I coincidentally had two different groups of friends visiting town the EXACT SAME WEEK that I moved back.  Anyway, my no-limit hand occurred early Saturday evening, before I met friends to play at Excalibur, before I went to their room at the MGM Signature Towers and dined and took a five-hour nap, BEFORE I went to the M to pick up my wine.  The floor person was nice enough to sit in the game with myself and a couple so that we could start accumulating our two hours at 7:30 on Sunday morning - like I said, very nice room...  Okay, more of that poker stuff tomorrow.

At this point I am realizing that I will most likely post both tomorrow and Thursday since this library is closed on Friday.  It seems that budget cuts are responsible for the library's odd hours (opening at 10:30 Monday-Thursday).  Okay, so for the time being, that will mean rambles on Mondays, poker/Las Vegas on Wednesdays, and sports on Thursdays.  I will also give you a little sports teaser right now since I have just tons to write about.  SOMEBODY found the baseball parlay cards at Aliante Station last night.  Minimum bet of 2 dollars, and minimum of 3 bets in your parlay.  I filled out a 5 dollar parlay card with 4 bets.  Tigers, White Sox, and Dodgers (all had to win by at least 2 runs), and over 10 runs total in the Rangers/Red Sox game.  So it goes Tigers 7-2, Boston 9-2, and Chicago 4-2.  So now I am at the point that if the Dodgers beat the Rockies by at least 2 in Los Angeles, I get back 55 dollars for my five bucks.  I did not hedge this (bet the Rockies to win for 10, 15, etc... dollars) because I had returned home to eat and take a nap an hour before the Rockies and Dodgers started (also in my defense, the White Sox scored 2 runs in the bottom of the 8th to break a 2-2 tie, at which time the Rockies and Dodgers had already started)...  ANYWAY, after the Dodgers left TEN men on base and got jobbed by the umpires a few times, they ended up losing the game 2-0, and I have my first losing parlay ticket of 2012.  On the topic of parlay tickets, let me say here that the funniest thing about catching up with my sports betting cocktail waitress buddy on Saturday was that once we got on the topic of football parlay tickets, she just LIT UP and wanted to talk about those, and Peyton Manning, and Tebow, and the Cowboys (her team), etc, etc, etc...  This is while I was honestly there just to see how SHE was doing and catch up...  :)  This is the same cocktail waitress from the "I'll Just Take The Money" post that I wrote a little while back - always makes me smile...

While I'm at Aliante Station with a big bank of t.v.'s in front of me, I am able to use my phone to get locations of apartments and rooms for rent, which I am still sifting through (no need to rush into a bad choice thanks to Miss Carmel), so don't worry that my timer is now on 22 minutes...  :)  Actually, re-charging my phone was another reason that I returned home yesterday, because I had been intermittently using my phone to hunt for a home from 2:00-6:00 at Aliante while watching the Olympics and figuring out my 75% of a great parlay yesterday...

I think that is enough for you to digest for today, so I will be back tomorrow with poker, Thursday with sports, and then on Monday with my ramble (the new posting schedule, until further notice).  Thank you for all of the well wishes upon my return to the desert - I will see you again tomorrow!  ;)
  

Racing Against Time

Good afternoon everyone.  I am literally in a race against time as I type this blog entry for you from a very nice library in North Las Vegas.  I am not yet eligible for a library card, so I am using a computer for 15 minutes (it actually gave me 20, but shhhhh...).  ;)  I have many things that I can write about, including a ton of poker, but I am going to save the poker until Wednesday, with the exception of this little tease:  In a 50-minute no-limit session at Bally's on Saturday, I managed to make more money in one hand than I had managed to lose over the total of 21 hours of limit sessions up to that point...  :)  There are still some incredibly weak 1/2 no-limit players in the desert, much to my surprise.  All of the fish have not yet been caught...  :)  I need to give a shoutout to my beautiful host Carmel Josephine (beautiful, not hot, as there is evidently a difference, although I am unsure as to whether or not we have an official ruling on the word 'caliente' yet...).  One thing that Miss Carmel has in her arsenal is a fantastic smile (she broke it out at the Thai restaurant that she treated me to when she was greeting the staff that she knew) - the smile just evokes the best in everyone else that is around.  The Thai beef salad, spicy chili mint fried rice with seafood, and Thai milk tea that Carmel treated me to as I innocently thought I was riding along with her on a trip to Blockbuster was part of a luckily recurring theme for me during the past week and a half as generous people have been treating me to meals left and right.  It is really nice to have good friends.  A group of people composed of Carmel, my dad, Scott, Malay, Steve and his friends, Ryan and his friends, and the Aliante and M Resort Casinos have treated me to the meal mentioned above, chicken, steak, fish tacos, nachos, and pizza (among other things) during the past week and a half.  I will RUN if I see a scale.  The dreaded five-minute warning is now at the top of the monitor...  The blogger app and trying to type entries from my phone sincerely sucks, but TRUST ME when I say that the quality of my blogs will VASTLY IMPROVE once I have full-time access to a computer due to the fact that I will have SO MUCH material living in the desert.  Entering Bally's, one girl in a group of seven tourists stopped upon exiting the elevator to snap of photo of the SIGN advertising the buffet...  :)  Okay, I wish I could go on, but I need to enter this before time runs out.  Have a great day and I'll see you again on Wednesday!

Brutal/Typical 2/4 Grinding From Aliante Station

this post will be my wednesday/friday post, and then i'll come back with a ramble on monday.  for the friday part first, i passed on betting 2 overs yesterday, (which both won of course).  i am strongly leaning towards heading back to aliante today to bet on some sports and study some sports (i.e., what i should have done yesterday)...  i sit at the 2/4 table at 1:30 p.m.  i had no intention on being there for 10 hours, but i was on the wrong end of some early bad beats (in 2/4??? you say).  the worst of these came on a 10 8 2 flop, where i flopped a set of 10s, a rainbow flop - yes, this gets horrible...  lady with 8 7 check calls me t the river to go runner-runner straight.  when she suddenly bets the river, i table my 10's faceup (remember my pocket 10's post???)  grrrrrr (all caps).  i knew she had it..  this was the 3rd of 3 bad beats which had me down almost 100 early on...  i stayed and suffered and suffered and got half of that back - i seem to recall being down at least 108 later.  ten hours, never a pair higher than jacks (which i had once).  lost with that set of 10's, lost with a set of 4's, bet out my paired aces on a flop of 2 x ace to a guy who calls to the river with 2 3, going runner runner for the 4-card straight on the board.  i forgot to mention this, but i wasn't sad when 8 7 lady went broke later...  anyway, 2 3 guy later has kings, bets whole way, but then check-folds river when an ace shows up and is bet...  funny thing, his neighbor bluffed and couldn't beat the kings...  as frustrated guy racks up and leaves, he explains to a curious neighbor on his left that he folded 'because he plays right, even though it's 2/4'...  yes, mr. 2 3 guy also played 9 3 suited under the gun earlier to chase down a flush, and was the one who rivered the 4-card flush on the board to beat my set of 4's...  ba ha ha ha cowboys...  :)  i also got to witness the case card in the deck hit the river to win hands twice yesterday...  4 flopped trips, guy turned 6 for 6's full, lady rivers last 4. guy flops trips with k q, river k gives other guy with k k the one-outer...  i will monitor the blog for comments, but otherwise i will see you again on monday with my ramble...  have a great weekend!

Just A Statistic

good morning everyone.  i have tried to post twice from my phone, and am now attempting to do so within the blogger phone app.  i still cannot figure out how to capitalize letters,  but read on if that doesn't bother you..  i made the trip from san marcos, america to the desert in 21 hours and 12 minutes.  i visited my friend who writes 'life as a las vegas poker dealer' early tuesday morning (the friend who is the only reason that i ever started to blog, since i didn't know what a blog was until i read his)...  he said that he recently read that many people who move away from vegas return within 3 years, so i guess i'm just a statistic...  :)  on a positive note, one of my blog readers is playing the role of superhero and has provided me with a temporary place to stay, which has been a huge, huge help (i need my all caps), and will not be forgotten...  other than getting to know more of phoenix than i ever intended, the trip went pretty smoothly, and actual rain in the arizona mountains was a blessing...  i'm going to hit enter and see what happens.  i'll have a poker post for you soon if this doesn't look too ridiculous...