Celeb Reality

What a busy week this has been... you would think being unemployed and single you would have a lot of free time, however somehow I manage to fill every second up. After getting the job on Tuesday I slept in on Wednesday before going out to get my social security card. I know I *HAD* one but I couldn't find it when I needed it. I found out later that "only an hour" wait at the Social Security Office was good, but I thought it was AWFUL! I finally finished that and stopped at the Walmart to finally buy a TV to go with my furniture. It turns out the 24 inch TV boxes are too big to fit into my Camry, so I left the box and just took the TV.. Sorry trash guy.

The casinos in town make it VERY easy to get to places you lose your money at... Lots of signs, directions, easy to follow paths, etc. This is NOT the case when you try to get the Human Resource department. From the Bally's parking garage these were the directions I got to the HR Department and I quote:

"Go down to the main casino level, out to Ballys and past the bar, turn right and go down the escalator, down the shopping hallway to the sportsbook. Turn left at the sportsbook, go outside, down the construction hallway, into the building marked 'Human Resources' turn right and go down the hallway foollowing the signs for 'Processing' and into that room marked 'Processing done here'."

Piece of cake! Only took 15 mins to walk that far, and 20 more mins to get the lady to repeat the instructions 8 times because I was sure she was kidding. I finally get there at 3:40 and they stop processing at 3:30. Well THAT sucks. So I have to come back tomorrow, as long as I am here I might as well play some. I hit up the blackjack tables at Ballys and have a grand old time with some tourists and cash out up 240. I then decide to check out the Ceaser's poker room as I am across the street from it. Over the bridge I go and walk the 10-20 miles throuogh Ceasers to get to the poker room. It turns out they are taping an episode of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy today and I get to watch Penn, George Wallace and some gay guys play poker. The whole time arguing over what the proper arrangement of chips and cards, and colors of chips, etc. It was quite humurous. I waited around long enough to shake hands with Penn and George and tell them I enjoy their shows and then went to play 3/6 with a half kill that we later turned into a full kill.

Now there are times when the world works as it should... this was not to be one of those days. Flopped set loses to runner runner flush (but he had 2 overs was his excuse), flopped straight loses to better straight on the river. It was just plain ugly, but the table was fun and I enjoyed the game and the people... only down 101 so can't complain much.

Now for those of you who say I never lose at Blackjack I won't even get into how much I lost on Wed and Thursday but suffice it to say there are some casinos in Vegas I will ALWAYS be welcome in now. Even me and the South Coast are square now... the pit boss from my +800 day remembered me and took notice of me giving most of that back.

Thursday evening I went to the Las Vegas 51's AAA Baseball team's season opener. It is a nice little stadium that only holds make 3K fans.. and it wasn't even 15% full... I know I can be really smart at times, however when trying to figure out why they were the 51's I was totally blanking. However, when the alien mascot ran on the field I figured it out pretty quick... Area 51 - Las Vegas 51's... yeah yeah I get it now. Ha Ha very funny. We left at 7-2 Vegas in the 7th and I proceeded to give MORE of my blackjack money back to the casinos (they have employees to pay and I felt bad)

Thursday afternoon I had finished my "processing" and was then sent to get my fingerprints done. So Friday morning I went to eat and then to get my fingerprints done. I have never before been told I need to Moisturize! The fingerprint lady seemed highly offended that my fingerprints were so sucky because my hands were so dry. BAH! Girly moisturizing... hmmph. I might do it,but I will NEVER admit to it.

A quick stop back at the HR office (I know where it is now and can park closer :) ) to drop off my fingerprint info and my 75 dollar money order to apply for my Gaming Control Board card so I can legally deal poker in Vegas after I pass the background check. I got off easy though... you should see the hoops the bartenders have to go through, and I didn't even have to pass a drug test since I was only temporary (that scared me a little... knowing the 800 people they are hiring are not drug-free)

I then headed over to the Wynn for some 4/8 action. I love the Rio but they rake a straight 10% to 4 dollars, the Wynn rakes at 10/30/50/80 which adds up after awhile. I try NOT to win pots smaller than 80 dollars, but I do on occasion. I would MUCH rather all my pots be over 80, but I won't turn down any winning pots.

The night started off card dead, and I managed to finagle being up 35 without anything reasonable. I then got dealt KJ of hearts in late position and it was folded to me, so of course I raised. Folded to the big blind who called. Flop is 3 low cards and 2 hearts checked to me, and I bet. He calls. Turn is nothing, he checks, I bet he check/raises. I figure he hit a pair on that board and I am still drawing live, or is just mad at me for raising his blind. So I call drawing to I figure 15 outs (9 hearts, 3 J's, 3 K's). The River is a K and I figure I am good, he bets and I just call. He had freaking pocket K's. Hmmph.

The NEXT hand I get dealt KK myself, so I of course raise get a few callers. Flop is crap and I keep betting, and getting called. 2 Diamonds on the flop and of course I get chased down by A6 of diamonds and the King of diamonds comes in on the river. I check/call the river and cry at the luck on that one. The NEXT hand I get dealt 10/10 and the flop is raggedy enough to keep me around and I end up losing to J/2 who called 2 bets cold from mid-position and hit 2 pair on the river. What else can I do... 2 hands later I get dealt KK AGAIN, and unfortunately being on the button raise and get called by 3 people. Flop is 7/9/x and I get bet into by a straightforward player. I reraise to see if he is kidding and he just calls. I put him on top pair and I keep betting into him and he just calls. Turns out he flopped 2 pair and the board doesn't bring a pair or a K and I am down again. So 4 hands, net loss of about 120 bucks... UGLY

I decide to take a walk, stop at the Wynn blackjack tables and manage to bring 100 back out of the game to make me feel a little better. Head back to the poker room and the whole lineup has changed, so I get my reads down on the new people and manage to get back all 120 and another 150 before I leave after 8 hours. These people were passive, calling stations playing scared. Limping with A's and K's, and getting outdrawn constantly and complaining. One fun hand towards the end...

I get dealt 2/4 of diamonds in the big blind and it is raised with 6 players in to me so I call getting 11 to 1 effectively on low suited 1 gappers. Behind me it is 3 bet and 4 bet by the original bettor so now I am getting 11 to 1 to call 2 more bets and I have to do it. A Cap behind me and I call the final bets 6 ways for a $120 pot pre-flop. Flop is K/x/4 with 1 diamond. Bet into me by the original raiser who is surely on AK or AA at this point, maybe KK, but getting 35 to 1 on the call it is hardly a tough decision drawing to at least 1 out, and probably 6 (3 2's, 2 4's and backdoor diamonds). The turn is another 4... So the original bettor bets into me and I reraise, freezing out the table and isolating against him. I probably should have flat called to encourage calls behind me, but I just didn't feel very strong... a lot of things can go wrong from here and I wanted to know if I was Way ahead or Way behind. (ie did he flop a set of K's). On the river is the 4th 4! So now I KNOW I am winning... Quads don't lose often, and he checked I bet and he called to bring home a MASSIVE pot.

An interesting little side note. The Wynn is just FULL of celebrities this weekend as I saw Meadow from the Sopranos, Cuba Gooding Jr, and heard Paris Hilton was partying like a rockstar at the Maxim party in the Wynn. Meadow was playing the 1/3 NL game at the table next to me at the Wynn... it was really cool.

Saturday morning I decided boxes of furniture was not the best arrangement and put together my desk, chair and TV stand I bought. I even put away my luggage, arranged my closet, and washed all my clothes. I know... SOOO domestic. The room looks MUCH better now, and I can now relax some having it put together properly.

I got a phone call from my friend Tiffany telling me all about the OC and chastising me for not watching it, but it is on at 8 PM on Thursdays which is a prime night for poker! I told her I can't afford a TIVO yet, and I am not going to stay home and watch TV at night... It is always amazing how technology can taint our view of things. We used to watch shows we weren't home for BEFORE TIVO so what did we do? Oh yeah... we used a VCR, and I just bought a Tv with a built-in DVD and VCR... oh what a concept! I could USE THAT! Wow... DUH! Such a dork sometimes.

By the time I finished putting the furniture together, doing 3 loads of laundry, folding it all, going to get something to eat, reading a few chapters in the book, it was already 5 PM! I decided to hit the Rio again and got clocked in around 5:30. I somehow managed to rediscover my patience at the tables and hit a few flops, and really played well finishing up 388 before getting to tired to focus anymore around 11. I wasn't quite ready to go home so I tried the Texas Hold'em table game which promptly sucked 200 bucks out of me... BAH! So I hit the shoe blackjack at the Rio with a $15 min-bet and watched the dealer go the ENTIRE SHOE without busting on a 6 deck shoe. We are talking hard 15 and 16's and drawing to 3's and 4's constantly. It was flat out brutal, cleared the table out and new players came in who had no idea how to play. They just flat out tanked the game and I dropped the entire 200 I bought in with before getting mad and putting 200 cash down to play, dealt 18, dealer draws to 17 and I am back to even at blackjack. I play a little more before moving to the Single deck 6/5 blackjack game (I know horrible game but the Rio spreads a LOT of this and all the shoe games were full). I managed to get some AMAZING counts in a single deck 5 handed game when the first run put 22 cards on the table and only 3 tens and 1 Ace, tripled the bet and hit blackjack twice for nice wins even at 6-5 and cashed out at 530 for a 330 profit to erase my 200 from the other games, and headed home to bed.

Sunday Ken Brune arrives in vegas so I am off to meet him at the Venetian before we go Monday morning to the Paris and Bally's morning poker tournaments.