The Plan

Well now that I am unemployed and homeless, I might as well come up with a plan. I have to get to Las Vegas, I will need a car and money when I get there, I will need a job and a place to live eventually....

So the first part of the plan is to get to Las Vegas. Now driving coast to coast as fast as humanly possible is one option, but why do that? I can take the scenic tour of the country and enjoy the trip a whole lot more. Not to mention this would be one boring blog if all it said was "And then we were in Las Vegas".

I love meeting new people, playing poker, and visiting historic/interesting places. So to combine those and to make some money doing it I decided to travel coast to coast via Poker Rooms and take 2 weeks to get there. This works very well as my best friend Trevor will be in Las Vegas March 12th and I can have at least one friendly face when I get there. So I timed this trip to take 2 weeks and get me there in time to pick him up from the airport.

Stop 1: Tunica, MS - There is no better place for poker in the SouthEast. The dealers are friendly, there are 5 rooms in close proximity to each other. For 10 hours a day of play you get 3 square meals, a room in a nice hotel for between 20 and 35 a night and some of the easiest competition I have ever seen. The perfect mix of loose passives, retired people with money to lose, and college kids who think they know more than they do.

Stop 2: New Orleans, LA - Mardi Gras ends with Fat Tuesday on February 28th and my Cousin's Nikki and Amanda live outside of New Orleans. Family, home cooked dinner, Mardi Gras beads, and now Harrah's has reopened. Perfect distraction

Stop 3: Tulsa, OK - Back to Tunica for a few days then off to Tulsa. Cherokee Tulsa has 36 tables and spreads a variety of games. A weekend in Tulsa should be able to cover my rent for another month.

Stop 4: Alburquerque, NM - Sandia resort in New Mexico seemed like a good stop for a few days. Nice room, 35 tables, and in the heart of the southwest for some awesome views and picture taking options.

Stop 5: Phoenix, AZ - There are 3 resorts in Phoneix, Casino Arizona being the best of the group. 40+ tables, tons of action, lots of low-buyin tourneys for a ton of profit options. I also have friends all over Phoneix so I scheduled 4 days here

Stop 6: Las Vegas, NV - Welcome home biatch!

I will sight see during the day, sleep until noon, play until dawn....

The major places of interest so far are Carlsbed Caverns, Grand Canyon, Route 66, and Mardi Gras. I am sure I will find more as I go through.....

2 weeks to get there, and a ton of things to do before then!

The Beginning

It all started about around the beginning of 2005. I had been hosting my home game and playing poker online and got a gig dealing for some charity poker tournaments around town. My first one was a bit scary as I had to try out in front of the tournament director and deal to several other dealers. He critiqued my dealing but overall gave me a passing grade and some very positive comments. My first tournament was 20 tables and I dealt until there were 4 tables left, and I got a nice check for my troubles, and I was hooked. I loved the feel of the cards, the control of the table, the game, the people. everything... I would have done it for free and they were PAYING me.

I got a few more gigs after that, one a month at least... money was ok, and I loved the work. So I started researching dealing in Las Vegas. I took 4 trips to Vegas in 2005 and spent some time each trip talking to the room managers, dealers, floor, etc and finding out what I needed to know how I needed to do it, etc. Around July I decided I was going to do it very soon. I was burning out on IT, burning out on Atlanta, and burning my social life up by being an online computer junkie (Poker, World ofWarcraft, Civ IV, etc). So I made the decision that at the start of 2006 I was off to Vegas. I told my boss, gave my 3 months notice, helped hire a replacement, train the replacement, and on February 24th, 2006 at 2:32 PM the odyssey began!