Tuesday, December 23, 2008
22 days in Vegas
by grubette
Seeing grubby's post I counted how many days I'd been Vegas over the year. Twenty-two, not counting the seven upcoming days to round out the year. It seems like an enormous amount of time to spend someplace, but then again, I live less than an hour's plane flight away.
I'm somewhat as comp-happy as grubs is, mostly staying in free hotel rooms but not getting much else. I love Vegas because it presents opportunities - not just to make money but also to do whatever you want to do and not be judged for it. Drinks at 10am? Smoking in the bathroom? $100 bills in Devil Poker? All-in on draws? No snickers or glares here.
At an end of the year happy hour last week, a co-worker of mine showed me a picture of his wife and new baby on his phone. It was right after the baby was born, mom and baby were both naked, and they were both in a tub full of brown goo and blood from the natural home delivery. Not something you should do at a bar, no. Vegas yes, but a bar, no. I don't particularly enjoy seeing regular baby pictures let alone ones that include afterbirth.
So Vegas beckons again in a few days. I had so much fun at the blogger winter tourney last week, this time it will be more sedate of a time. I crashed out early of the tourney when my pocket Aces met up with Iggy's AQ. Two Q's on the board and it was over. I did return to watch the final table and see Heather and Obie battle it out - congrats Heather!
I did not win much of anything that weekend, especially my generally stable Pai Gow. I probably would not have been on as much of an all-things-gambling-tilt had I not pushed twice into two different pots with grubby and lost both times. I also lost the last longer bet with grubs.
The only thing I won was at the airport before actually stepping into a casino. My dentist called me to tell me I won Zoom! teeth whitening, a thrice a year contest I've been entering for 11 years. Add that to my cat's neutering I won on a radio contest and a wine tasting party for 25 as some of the odder things I've won. One year my new year's "resolution" was to enter as many sweepstakes and contests as I could. A la Real Genius, you should win a certain percentage of your entries. I ended up with a crapload of junk mail.
Staying away from HI-G since the blogger tourney, I played two qualifiers on Pokerstars' WBCOOP (Omaha and No Limit). Got about halfway with Omaha and made 132nd in No Limit out of 500+ players. At one point, I had so many chips I could've sat out and been blinded until I came in 72nd. I think I even got as far as I did because I took a 20 minute break to walk my dog. Online poker is so awkward. Quick calls or slow plays, how can you tell if it's a connection thing or bluff or what?
A memorable part of the blogger tourney trip was Doug meandering over to the IP poker room while grubby and I played at the same table along with Rooster and donkeypuncher. He brought along an obvious hooker that he introduced around and offered to stake $100 to play. She declined and then left, but Doug didn't believe she was a working girl. At the next morning, he recalled she wanted him to buy her a water at the gift store, to which he obliged At the cashier, she threw in some condoms, saying, "We're going to need these." Who cares? It's Vegas!
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