Recently I was in Long Beach, California sitting in an arena full of 14,000+ women watching Arnold Schwarzenegger and Warren Buffet being interviewed by Chris Matthews of Hardball.
Shocking isn't it? I mean 14,000 women in once place? This annual conference grows larger and more prestigious each year, partly because of the drawing power of California's first lady Maria Shiver and partly because women truly like to congregate and chat. You'd think there would be more lesbians in the world since no one understands women like other women.
I met Dr. Oz, who has a couple of Bacon degrees of separation from mamagrub (her nephew and Dr. Oz are tight). I got a book signed for mamagrub's Xmas gift. The Oz family all gave speeches on health and happiness and 21-year-old daughter Oz is definitely poised for the media spotlight.
A couple days later, I'm on a plane to exciting Vegas, which never loses its luster for me.
Picked up by Sammy, we head off to the Flamingo for a debacle of a check-in (or non check-in). Harrah's finally picked up on registrations using "companions" and no longer honors companion check-ins without the (go figure) companion actually being present. A chat with the manager did nothing to help with the situation, so we ended up checking in Sammy at the Rio and kicking out one of his friends from Bill's Gamblin' Hall, where grubby had an extra room.
Met up with
Toast, a Virginia transplant now living and thriving in Vegas, at the former Tilted Kilt, slammed a few beers and caught up on old times. Somehow Toast ended up in a Dorian Gray novel, having not aged a bit from the Vegas dry air, cigar smoking or heavy Guinness drinking. As proof, Doug produced a decade-old picture of Toast wearing a t-shirt in Dewey Beach, Delaware that said, "Free Pony Rides," with an arrow pointing down.
Oddly, Toast's past five years somewhat mirrored grubby's, including 18 months of a "Summer of George" professional poker career and capping off with "getting a real job."
I bought all these club passes on eBay, including one for a limo ride, free cover and a free drink to Sapphire. I gathered up my boys and called the club, who sent the first-I've-ever-seen woman limo driver, who circled around the Rio searching for five girls, rather than a bunch of guys with one girl. Tipping her $40 to offset the freeness of everything else, we walked into to the warehouse of Sapphire, were VIP seated and immediately approached by super hot women. Oh sure strip clubs are supposed to contain super hot women, but when you have low expectations, it's a pleasant surprise. Also a pleasant surprise, going into the ladies room filled with half-dressed beautiful women.
On the table where we were seated (other than our $12 beers) were several passes that I had just purchased off ebay. Turns out no passes are necessary to secure the VIP treatment we received.
After a couple of lap dances and a single round of drinks, we were off in a free shuttle to Gold Coast, where we met up with grubs and played some craps. 5.30am, but before the sun rose, we made our way back to Bill's Gamblin' Hall, stumbling in Room 101 and happily finding a huge suite! Thanks grubs!
The next night, Doug and I saw the
Red Piano Elton John show which was solidly entertaining and was filled with inflatable props and celebrity-packed mini-movies, like this one of Pamela Anderson.
I normally fall asleep at these sorts of events, including Cirque du Soleil,
Phantom of the Opera, most meetings and seminars, hockey games, and even Rush and Van Halen, but this show absolutely kept my attention. Thanks grubs!
Grubs, Doug and I iced it up at Minus 5, checking out Mandalay's newest ice bar (like they need more than one). The ice bunnies were cute, the drinks were delicious, but the bar itself, eh. We had a longer time getting dressed and instructional videoed than we did in the actual bar.
Somehow I ended up drunk and back at Bill's, where I somehow lost a boatload on Pai Gow, all from drinking beer in a glass.
Because of the Flamingo problem, we had to check out of Bill's and into the Palms, which is nothing to complain about for sure (Aveda products in the bathroom!).
Toast recommended a Caesar's poker tournament, while Doug hung out at the Britney Spears pool. After arriving at Caesar's, not only did I find out the daily tournaments were canceled for the Caesar's Classic, but also no "limit" games were going on either.
I headed to Harrah's, where Toast and grubs met up with me to play the $60, one re-buy tournament. Firstly, I don't play no-limit, secondly, I don't like rebuying, but with a $10 bounty per person and 66 people playing, it was worth at least checking out.
Toast was at my table in seat 9 while I was in seat 3. Early on I got some good hands and faked a few, including one against Toast. At the break, he said the guys at the other end of the table were talking about how aggressive I was playing. As a limit player, action is king and most hands look good. So my style could certainly be mistaken for aggression, but honestly I was getting some great opening cards and lucky flops.
Toast and grubby were out after two or so hours, and I continued on, raking up six bounties (no rebuy) to pay back my buy-in and hoping for 6th place (they paid to 8).
The final table came quickly and so did the fear of bubbling. But with the bounties, it made that possibility easier to take. There were a couple old guys at the end playing super tight, a loudmouth guy who bitched about other players telling a potential caller what a certain place paid, me, and Brenda.
I told our dealer it'd be cool for a girl-girl head's up, but that I was shooting for 6th and that I don't chop.
My feeling of being solid was my J-8s against tight guy's AK, who went all in. I counted my chips before calling, knowing I could cover Brenda, the only other player left. I got a flush and a straight and had a commanding chip stack lead over Brenda.
Girl-girl head's up!
Now I started thinking of my last head's up encounter with a girl, Mrs. Spaceman, who solidly beat my ass while I was holding an ass at the Orleans WPBT one year. I didn't have to think too long, because the first hand, my Q-9 against her Q-6, held up and I was the easy winner after 5 hours.
My first poker tournament win! Toast says you never forget your first one. $1462 to me and the bounties went to the dealer. Toast, grubs and Doug were there to cheer for me but I rushed to the bathroom, where I saw and heard Brenda talking on the phone about my "huge chipstack" and that there was no way she could have won. Head's up though, you never know.
We celebrated first in the room of the Palms, raiding the mini-bar, then at Rojo, a dead bar at Palms Place where we were the only people in it. I've won more at jackpots, but this was a true win because I felt like I put in the time and earned. Of course Toast said any lucky, unskilled player could win a tournament, but I just chalked it up to jealousy.
And for the next and final day, we met up with our stripper-looking realtor and closed on a condo in Vegas. So, if anyone out there is interested in a rental in the Lakes area, let me know!
by grubette
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