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!