Come On September

Good morning everyone.  Sunday/Monday become my blog-writing day this week, without any real plan being in place beforehand.  For some mysterious reason, after I change my sleep schedule to play poker all night on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, I end up being tired on Sunday.  Go figure...  I woke up at about noon yesterday after sleeping for five hours.  I almost talked myself into going to the Flamingo for some Sunday afternoon poker, but instead, I started writing an entry for my poker blog.  It's a good thing too, because at about 4:00 I hit the wall, and proceeded to take a 4-hour nap.  If you click on that link, you will find a very detailed post that summarizes my last week of playing poker.  I appeciate all of you who have found my new poker blog via this one.  For a blog that's in its infancy, it has received substantial traffic.  I also appreciate all of your support and positive comments.  As you can read in my poker blog ('Three Chips Poker'), July has been a successful month for me, despite some very bad beats.

July has also been very, very, very, very, VERY HOT!!!  Our average temperatures now in Las Vegas are highs of 110 with "lows" in the mid-80's.  It's looks like we're going to have another week of this before the mercury begins to drop just a little bit the following week.  With the combination of lower temperatures and the onset of the football season, I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of fall.  I still have to figure out how I'm going to play poker and watch football on the weekend during football season.  As I've told several people, my poker is the primary focus this time around, and my football betting will be secondary unless I begin finding some success there.  The best poker games can be found on the weekends when the tourists are in town, and that's when the majority of football games are played.  However, I can't stay up all night playing poker on Friday night, watching college football all day on Saturday, playing poker all night Saturday, and then watching football all day Sunday.  I have to sleep somewhere in there, despite my talent for staying awake for extended periods of time...  :)

As for my move, I still have two big duffle bags of stuff to sift through, but I've been wading through my things pretty tediously, and have thrown out several unnecessary items up to this point.  I'm also anticipating having a little more energy to do tasks in general once the stifling heat of the summer passes us by.  Come on September...  My new place has been fine, and I really don't like spending more time than necessary here anyway.  I didn't move to Las Vegas to be in my apartment.  I've never lived anywhere just to be in my apartment...  ;)  Even when I find some time to catch up on my poker studying, or to simply catch up with my out-of-state friends (via social networks), I'll likely do that from the Strip.  Yeah, probably from a sportsbook...  :)  To my credit, I've been so focused on my poker that I've hardly cracked open my football magazines yet.  So much studying to do...

As for the Strip, people still don't know how to look where they're going while walking.  They also love to congregate in their big tourist groups by huddling right smack in the middle of major walkways/pathways through the casinos and outdoors.  The abundance of baby strollers that can be found after dark on the Las Vegas Strip is not only frightening, but it also does a lot to expedite the flow of traffic.  Ugghhh...  I love people-watching. but it's much better when you're sitting back enjoying a cool beverage, and not when you're in a hurry to get somewhere...  ;)  Hopefully I can succeed enough with the poker that I can build some cushion into my bankroll, and then I'll take the time to do some detailed investigating into good Vegas stories for you.  Again, with my friends that I tag on Facebook to these blog entries, I can only notify twenty at once, so that's why I rotate through the different people who have supported my writing and my adventures.  Hopefully with my more steady writing schedule now (at the start of each week), everyone will know when to come here for new posts.

That's all I've got for you right now, but have a great week and I'll see you soon!  

  

I Cross Finish Lines

"I'm not the best.  I work hard.  I do not give up.  I keep going.  I cross start lines.  I cross finish lines..." -via Whitney Watson-

Good evening everyone.  Before I forget, if you want to keep up with my poker adventures, you can click this link here.  I actually need to start linking my poker blog back to this one...  :)  Anyway, I posted another poker entry there last night, and that blog has been well-received so far.  Like I was telling my friend Rob last night, having a "network" in place already (my friends' blogs on the right that are linked back to mine like I am to theirs, my Twitter followers, my friends that get here from Facebook) has helped my poker blog tremendously.  When I began writing this blog going on five years ago, it took some time to build up a following, and as always, I appreciate you taking the time to stop by and read about my life adventures.

That quote up there comes to you via my sister Whitney.  I'm using it here because it fits me PERFECTLY.  I actually removed the first line of the original quote because it said, "I'm not talented."  I feel that I possess a little talent...  :)  Anyway, Whit shared the meme on Facebook, and that meme pertains to running, which Miss Whitney has worked very hard at, and you can see how the words relate (crossing start and finish lines, etc...).  My edited version up there can almost be used as a personal motto for myself.  (NOTE:  Everytime I hear the word "motto" now, it still reminds me of my friend Drea, and when she delivered the line, "My motto is, my motto changes...").  :)  There's a blog post by that title back in these archives somewhere...  Anyway, a while back, I was very surprised when someone questioned my work ethic and my heart (among other things), because if you know me at all, I'm kind of a pretty hard-working, dedicated, diligent person...  Please weigh-in if you disagree.  :)  Anyway, when Whitney shared that meme, I was like, 'YES!," and I snagged it.  I do cross finish lines (and that other stuff)...  ;)

Since we're speaking of Whitney, let's talk for a moment about Whitney's mom and Tim Duncan...

Back in my younger days. when Brenda and myself were encouraging the Spurs to start winning championships (yes, we've been Spurs fans that long - I'm just realizing that for some people out there, the Spurs have been good during the course of their whole lives...).  Anyway, your friend 'Coach' received several Spurs jerseys (along with Red Sox and Steelers gear) over the course of many Christmases from Miss Brenda.  Thank you...  :)  You'd be shocked to learn that these jerseys are part of my poker wardrobe, and I specifically broke out the Silver and Black last week in honor of Tim Duncan's retirement.  I was actually cashing out my winnings at MGM a few nights back (like, LITERALLY at the counter, in a transaction) when a stranger comes up to me and brings up Duncan's retirement, in a very remorseful tone.  I was like, "well, Timmy has played for NINETEEN years..."  Am I really that old?  Anyway, I needed to give Timmy a shout out here.  It's been one hell of a ride during the 'Duncan Era.'  Five titles in six trips to the Finals over nineteen seasons.  Pretty special.  Thank you Timmy...

'Jaws.'  Okay, 'Jaws' and 'Jaws 2.'  Since returning to Las Vegas, and, more specifically, since I moved from my brother's house into my own place (and it's been almost a whole month now), I've stayed at home more than planned, sorting through and unpacking (and throwing away) my stuff that I've now dragged all over the country.  Well, the 'Jaws' movies have been shown on t.v. a lot (A LOT) this summer, and there have been so many times that they have been the best thing on t.v., so I've simply tuned-in while unpacking.  Rewind back to this past weekend, and the night that I played poker at MGM and Excalibur until the sun came up.  I was walking down the Strip in the early morning hours when I reached the Bellagio.  The Bellagio looks something like this...

So it's early in the morning, and the Strip is quiet, and I'm walking along, and I'm looking at all that water, when I CATCH MYSELF, as I realize that I've been scanning the top of the water, looking for damn fins...  :)  MAYBE I've seen the 'Jaws' movies once too often this summer...

Okay, I just wanted to touch base with you crazy kids, but if you click on that link above, I wrote a pretty detailed poker post last night if you haven't read it already.  Have a great week and I'll see you soon!

    

Home Run Derby

Good evening everyone.  I'm being lazy with the title tonight.  The MLB Home Run Derby is on right now, so there you go.  I'm coming off of a great Friday watching poker, and more specifically, the WSOP Ladies' Event at the Rio.  I just wrote a detailed entry about that experience at my other blog, Three Chips Poker, if you want to check it out.  My friend Joey also took a pretty good poker picture of me, so let me share that right now...

Upon seeing it, my brother Pete instantly cracked on the shirt, and commented on Facebook that it's an intimidating shirt for the players at the 2-4 limit tables.  Punk...  I told Joey that I'm using this photo all season long when we pick football games, just to bother Pete.  :)  My friend Nick told me that he wanted to be mentioned in a blog post, so let me just say that he's messaging me NONSTOP about his upcoming trip to Las Vegas, which is preventing me from writing right now (speaking of punks)...  :)

So I played poker at Bally's Saturday night, and pulled out a profit after being $70.00 down.  Yesterday I was resting (I have made my recent poker sessions go from 8:00 p.m. til 5:00 a.m., in the hopes of finding better games), and my friend Joey said that he could indeed take me shopping one more time before he leaves the country tomorrow on vacation.  I was about to ask my brother Pete, but he's still on his crazy summer work schedule between the Strip and the World Series of Poker.  Anyway, at that point, Joey had given me an excuse to stay in last night, so I did.  I actually crashed pretty early, as Joey picked me up at 7:00 this morning.  I'm trying to eat more healthy, and lots of veggies were on the agenda.  Tonight I'm doing blog posts, and may just stay in afterwards.  I still have three complete duffle bags of stuff to sort through, so I could justify staying in.  I haven't lost in a poker session so far this month, and if that continues, I can keep playing without doing more job hunting.  I still have some wash to do, but prefer doing that when the laundry room opens at 8:00 a.m., before it's 400 degrees outside.  This mid-July garbage can go.  110 degrees - pfffttt...  I definitely plan on playing poker the rest of the week starting tomorrow night, regardless.  If you hadn't noticed already, Monday/Tuesday look to be the days that I'll be blog-writing, except for the football predictions that will be coming to you on Fridays in a few short months at Coach's Parlay Card.  I think that's about it for now.  Check out the Three Chips poker post - Friday was enjoyable.  Otherwise, have a great week and I'll see you soon!

My 4th Of July

Hello everyone.  Well, so much for the best laid plans...  After being surprisingly disciplined over the past few weeks, refraining from poker for 14 days so that I could move, unpack, etc.., I had decided to play three sessions over the holiday weekend.  If you'll recall, the Flamingo Tournament two weeks ago was the last time I had played.  I was in a 4-way chop for first, getting back $680.00 for my $60.00 buy-in.  With my new resolve to play tournaments, I naturally found myself in cash games Saturday at the Flamingo.  It seems that I'm following in the footsteps of several of my poker-blogging friends, planning to do one thing, and then doing another...  ;)  Speaking of poker blogs, I'm going to get my blog that's dedicated to poker rolling now, so I'll be writing a more detailed summary of this weekend's play at Three Chips Poker.  Any of you who have spent time around me in the last ten years should get the 'three chips' moniker.  :)  Anyway, I made $100.00 on Saturday.  I made $34.00 in no-limit, then $5.00 in limit, followed by another $61.00 in no-limit.  I'm FINALLY starting to use game selection as more of a factor in my play.  If you'll notice, I also don't mind jumping between limit and no-limit games.  

Now let's talk about "Sunday..."  I stayed home longer than I had planned during the day, and didn't begin playing poker until almost 9:00 p.m. Sunday night.  Again, details on this session will be available at that link above in the near future.  I'll be writing that post right after I publish this one.  However, a few highlights for you now...  The 2-4 limit looked promising, so I sat as a new game was seated.  I was up $35.00 in less than two hours, and concluded that playing poker was just like printing money...  The highlight of this session was looking over the the 2-4 table closest to the Strip shortly after darkness fell.  I saw a dealer and ten chip stacks.  It seems that the WHOLE TABLE went outside to watch the fireworks.  I'm not joking...  :)  And yes, the Strip had fireworks on the 3rd, my days are right...  Anyway, maybe an hour later, and I'm now DOWN $23.00 for my 2-4 session, and I decide that limit sucks.  That's when I switched to a no-lmit game (around midnight), and after playing a short while, I got up and went home at 6:00 p.m., EIGHTEEN HOURS LATER...  I finished up $78.00 for that session, a net of +55 for the "day."  As I said, click on the link above, and you'll find the poker details there, including how a guy rivered a one-out straight flush to win a pot, and how I played a flopped royal-flush draw.  I have never had a royal flush in live play...

Now let's cover some general Vegas things...  While playing poker this weekend, a guy sitting by me bought a pack of cigarettes from the casino girl who walks around selling them and other assorted items (gum, candy, flowers, etc...).  The box of Marlboro Reds cost him FOURTEEN dollars...  I was at the bank today when a guy from out of town comes up to the teller right next to my line, and he makes a request to withdraw $6,000.00 in cash.  That's when you know you're in Las Vegas...  So, today was a stay at home day for me.  After that 21-hour session, I went to sleep at about 9:00 p.m. last night, woke up a few times, paid my rent today, and then slept for about another six hours this afternoon.  I see some more poker in my future this week and coming weekend...  :)  Anyway, this is blog day, and I have another one to write, so I'll touch base again with you soon.  Hope that you had fun on the 4th, and that you have a great weekend...

Poker & Fireworks

Good morning everyone, and welcome to July...  I'd hate to sit here and brag about my self-discipline, but it's been two weeks since I've played poker.  HOWEVER, that's going to change today.  :)  I actually anticipated playing yesterday, but my week-plus of staying home and unpackng into my new apartment saw me staying awake into the wee hours of the morning several nights straight.  This became problematic when I attempted to readjust my sleep schedule so that I could hang out with my friend Joey yesterday.  Joey, who I dealt poker with at the Riviera, and who will be teaming up with my brother Pete and myself once again to bring you football predictions at Coach's Parlay Card (another of my blogs) picked me up in the early afternoon so that we could hit Walmart and the World Series of Poker.  Joey and Pete have yet to meet, and that idea was thwarted yesterday due to Joey's busy schedule.  Mr. Joey is about to take four weeks of vacation (two separate trips) in the next couple of months, so he had some errands to attend to yesterday.  However, those errands didn't prevent us from scoring these gems at Walmart...

While ESPN continues to ENDLESSLY cover Kevin durant's free agency, football season is actually sneaking up on us and will arrive just a bit before basketball begins.  Anyway, after Joey and I ensured that I won't starve for a while, we headed over to the Rio to check out some poker.  The $888.00 tourney taking place had tables going in all of the huge poker rooms, due to the numerous flights that were underway.  The $235.00 daily deepstack tourney had fewer than 700 entries yesterday, a very low turnout for this summer, especially on a Friday, and I attribute some of that to the $888.00 tournament.  It's always cool hanging out with Joey because we can talk seemingly nonstop about sports, poker, etc..., and the timing was good since he'll be out of town more days than not until football is upon us.  I'm sure that the highlight of Joey's day was seeing my innovative video setup for himself...

This is for the days that I can't get to the sportbooks after football begins.  Okay, who am I kidding?  I already have both t.v.'s on all the time...  :)

So on the homestead, I only have about three more bags (pretty sizable) to go through and unpack.  Other than that, it's job applications and poker and football that are on my horizon.  Oh, and meeting up with friends who either reside in town, or those who will be visiting.  Again, a great thing about living here, everyone will come to see you...  Oh, and as I sign off to begin my three days of poker, let me say for the record that this tablet (like $80.00) is one of the better Christmas presents that I've ever given myself.  :D  Have a safe and outstanding 4th of July Weekend, and I'll see you sometime next week!

A Complete Mess

Good morning everyone.  Well, all of my things are completely moved into my new place, and let me tell you, it's a complete mess.  After I went to the Rio last night for my brother's shift at the World Series of Poker, we ventured back to the outskirts of the city, and I got a good night's sleep (like 7:00 a.m. til 4:00 p.m.).  Hey, I had to detox from the Red Bulls, so sue me...  Then I began transferring many of my belongings from three big plastic totes into more transportation-friendly duffle bags and the like.  I was surprised to discover that I was able to fit the rest of my things into his car, and after enjoying one last home-cooked meal (London Broil, mashed potatoes, and corn), Pete and myself made our way across the desert to my new place.  My thanks again go out to Pete and Carmen for putting me up at their house, for cooking for me (I'll seriously have to use poker comps for any meal that involves ANY LEVEL of preparation or effort)  :) , and for shuttling me to and from the Strip.  I'm hopeful that I got enough rest at their place to be able to conquer the desert.

So, back to my complete mess.  My place, a small one-bedroom, has stuff scattered EVERYWHERE.  Since I plan on unpacking and job hunting over the next few days, I thought that I'd check in with y'all again now.  It's now been nine days since I've played poker, but it's not all bad living with the memory a nice win for more than a week.  At the same time, it's hard not playing with all of the action that's in town now, but getting settled and finding a job has to happen sometime.  Practicality...  I've discovered that writing at this time of night is beneficial due to the wi-fi here.  In the wee hours of the morning, more people are sleeping, so the wireless works better.  Something that I'm fighting endlessly with my new place is the AC unit.  I have wall-mounted air-conditioning as opposed to central air here, and the unit works, but I constantly go from being cold to hot, so I'm adjusting the controls seemingly nonstop.  First world problems, eh?

I don't have a specific game-plan laid out yet, but I anticipate visiting the Strip at least once this week, and then spending the weekend playing poker.  If I get this place straightened-out (semi sort-of) and fill out a bunch of online job apps, I believe I'll feel more at peace playing cards.  HR offices tend to be closed during the weekend, so that's my plan for the moment.  Speaking of the moment, the time change from the east coast is often prevalent in my thoughts.  The Walmart in my hometown closes at 10:00 p.m., and working a closing shift meant that I'd be at the store until 10:30 p.m.  Due to the three-hour difference, it's 7:30 p.m. here at that time, and the sun is still shining.  Ironically, that 5:30 a.m. opening shift that I struggled waking up for, well, it's 2:30 a.m. here at that time, and I'm OFTEN still awake here in Las Vegas.  My habit of being a night owl works out very well here in the desert, but it conflicts with watching football games (the sport I like to wager on).  The early round of Sunday NFL games begins at 10:00 a.m., and NCAA action on Saturdays kicks off even earlier.  As I've mentioned in another of my blogs (and maybe even here), I plan on wagering less on football this time around, and focusing more on poker.  I'll still study and enjoy the game, but as far as the poker goes, and that "just like riding a bicycle" idiom...  I feel very confident in my poker right now, and I've probably railed more hands at the World Series this summer than any other human...  :)  I'm extremely hopeful that this trip to the desert will be the one that sees me making my living (or a substantial amount of secondary income) as a poker player.  For those of you who have never been to the World Series, it looks something like this...

As for the blog, I don't anticipate writing until early next week, unless something newsworthy happens.  However, I thought that I'd leave you with a few photos of some of the most notable bodybuilders in the Austin/San Marcos area.  It's been so long since I've consistently stolen from the lives of my friends, hasn't it?  :)

The top two photos feature my friend and former softball player Leanne.  If you've followed my blog for any length of time, you've seen Leanne featured countless times, so often in fact that I probably owe her a cheeseburger (or something that healthy people actually eat)...  ;)  Leanne is posing with her mom Lupe in the top shot, and with her boyfriend Cody in the second photo (I couldn't choose Leanne)...  :)  Along with my friend Molly, who is showcased in the bottom picture, Leanne and Cody apparently did very well at a competition in Austin this weekend.  Congratulations everyone!!

And that's a wrap for now.  Have a great week and I'll see y'all next time!

A Poker Chop & Much More Vegas...

Good morning everyone.  It's been a pretty busy week for me out here in the desert.  I imagine that I'll be able to say that to you pretty much every week, but the past few days included finding a place to live, so this is still a little unique.  Let's rewind back to Tuesday morning...  I've been staying with my brother's family since I arrived in town about a month ago, and I've often traveled to the Strip and/or the Rio when my brother has commuted to work.  Pete has been working six days a week (with three of those days including double shifts) with the World Series of Poker going on.  Naturally, Tuesday was Pete's lone day off when I received a morning call from the place that I stayed at for 2 1/2 months when I was last in Vegas two years ago.  I came by here last Friday, and of course they had no units available, but they took my phone number, in case something should open up.  Wonderful...  But alas, they did call, and Pete agreed to run me over here so that I could snag the lone available unit.  It's obviously been great being able to stay with my brother's family after my whirlwind return to Las Vegas (which I touched on a few posts back, but still haven't spelled out in complete detail), and I'm very appreciative.  My best guess is that it will take two more trips at most to move the rest of my stuff here from their place, and then I'll have a complete mess (I'll be completely moved in)...  :)  Of course I'll miss Carmen's cooking, and the things that kids say.  My nephew, who is going out for the freshman football team, recently quipped that he wants to switch high schools because the school that he currently attends doesn't utilize wide receivers in their offense, the position that he'd like to play...  :)

So back to Tuesday...  My brother and niece had dropped me off here, and I got my key and "moved in," with what I hastily threw together on short notice.  Since I had virtually none of my stuff, OF COURSE I got a phone call later that day for a Wednesday job interview.  I messaged Pete and let him know what I'd need for the job interview the next day, and then made plans with my friend Emmy for later on Wednesday.  NOTE:  If you live in Las Vegas, your friends WILL COME TO VISIT...  :)  So now it's Wednesday morning, and low and behold, I get ANOTHER phone call, this one informing me that my interview has to be moved...  So my meeting with Emmy and her "best friend" (this is an "inside credit card joke" - brand new category) gets moved to a lunch date.  NOTE:  If you live in Las Vegas, your friends will often BUY YOU LUNCH...  Thanks Emmy, thanks again Kyleigh...  :D  After lunch, I then go to my job interview, and then return to the middle of the Strip to watch my friends play craps.  Vegas life is non-stop, in case you haven't heard...  ;)

So back to today, when my brother and I brought a substantial load of my stuff to my new place before he headed off to work, and then my friend Joey took me to Walmart.  NOTE:  Joey, Pete, and myself will once again be giving you our favorite weekly football bets again this season.  Football season is sneaking up on me, as busy as I've been...  Joey, who I dealt poker with at the Riviera,  has once again said "anytime" to shuttling me to Walmart for groceries when I need them.  Joey was very helpful to me in this regard two years ago, and of course I try to purchase them a month at a time, because who wants to shop every ten seconds anyway???  This was something that amazed me working at my hometown Walmart, the customers that I'd seemingly see on a daily basis.  Of course it wasn't many, but I couldn't do it...  Walmart would be an obvious employment choice for me if there was a store located closer to the Strip (and maybe it will still happen in the future).  I bring that up because when Joey and I rolled my full cart up to the register, I noticed the cashier responding to a message in her earpiece.  My eyes immediately shot to her name badge, at which point I stated, "I KNEW you were a CSM..."  I knew this because she had a radio, and trust me, cashiers don't want a radio...  :)  That story is for my friends back at the Littleton store...  ;)  And I can't tag all of you on Facebook, because I have a poker story too, with poker people to tag...  :P  So Joey and I have tentative plans to make an appearance at the World Series of Poker next Friday (and maybe a quick shopping trip first Joey, for those football magazines and some cold food, since the fridge seems to be working...  LOL).  And before you judge me people, Joey is skipping town for most of July...  :P

And now we go back in time to last Saturday, which seems like ages ago due to my busy week...

I had a week-long run or so of bad luck in the cash games (pocket kings getting rundown by a pair with a backdoor flush draw after I shoved post flop, pocket aces getting called and beat by 5-7 suited after I shoved preflop, things like that for you poker people).  So I decided to play in the Flamingo's $60.00 buy-in NL poker tournament after taking a few days off, and low and behold, we had 71 total entrants, with only 6 getting paid.  Can you say SHOVEFEST?  Well, karma tilted back in my favor (most notably when my ace-jack cracked ace-queen), and I won some races (ace-king vs. pocket jacks, nines vs. king-ten suited), and I zigged and zagged, and ended up in a 4-way chop for first place, and the $680.00 that you see above.  A "chop" occurs when the remaining players agree to split the remaining prize pool in a tournament in some fashion.  In this case, the 4 of us split the last $2,720.00 evenly.  This tournament cash allowed me to recoup all of the money that I had lost in the cash games since returning to town.  It also convinced me that I need to make tournaments my focus, as opposed to live cash games.  Going as far back as Joey and I working at the Riviera, our friend Rick has told me forever that I should play more tournments, since I seem to do so well in them.  I love playing them, but I hate the juice (the percentage) that the casino takes to run the tournies.  However, the house gets money from cash games also, and I have historically fared better in tournies.  Two $1,000.00, three $500.00, and a $100.00-plus cash in freeroll tournaments immediately come to mind.  SOOOO, when my life slows down a bit, I will be trying my hand (pun intended) in some more poker tournaments.  Also, when life slows down a little, I will start writing about poker in my poker blog again.  It just makes more sense when I'm actually living in Vegas...  ;)

Okay, all of that should take you a second to digest.  Have a great weekend and I'll see you soon!