"The People's Freeroll" and my 2016 World Series of Poker Staking Packages.
04-03-2016
, 03:21 AM
QX to justify his play. He knows ten high is no good when you call, why show the spew? Kidd puts em on punishment for that.Nice Report. Good Luck. Nice cash freeroll bone. Gonna be a big year for you.
Keep it classy hoss.
04-03-2016
, 06:48 PM
04-03-2016
, 10:41 PM
04-03-2016
, 10:44 PM
04-04-2016
, 02:58 PM
Update #3
March 29th, 2016
Wake up at a Super 8 hotel as I arrived a little too late in Albany, New York to surprise my sister with a visit because she's got the baby on a routine where she's in bed for the night by 9pm and doesn't get up to 6am the following morning. Thankfully, my sister's fiance's work schedule also aligns with this daily regimen and the last thing you want to do to someone with a newborn baby is make them miss out on any precious sleep. So, I decided to grab a cheap place to stay, watch "Better Call Saul", and get in a good night's worth of rest for myself as well.
By the time 7am rolls around, I feel much like a degen who was down to his last $25 at the blackjack table, but was able to run it back up to 53,000 before cashing out. Needless to say I am super excited to see little Giuliana and while I'm making the drive over to my Sister's place her and I are texting back and forth about the days I'll be visiting in May. She has no idea I'll be knocking on her door in just a few minutes. By the time Teresa actually answers the door and is holding baby Giuliana in her hands I am almost to tears.
Until I met her I didn't know if I'd ever be able of loving anyone else unconditionally besides my Sister and Grandmother, but every time I see her I get these emotions that I just can't describe. So, I'll just leave one of my favorite Flaming Lip's songs right here and lets just say every time I see her smile this is the way she makes me feel.
What is the light
that you have
Shining all around you
Is it chemically derived?
Cause if it's natural
Something glowing from inside
Shining all around you
It's potential has arrived.
Looking into space it surrounds you
Love is the place that you're drawn to
Looking into space it surrounds you
Love is the face that you're drawn to
Looking into space it surrounds you
Love is the place that you're drawn to
Looking out to space it surrounds you
Love is the face that you're drawn to
What is the light
that you have
Shining all around you
Is it chemically derived?
And if that's not a good enough description I highly recommend you take someone special to you to the next Flaming Lips concert in your area, drop a hit of LSD or take a does of high quality MDMA, and look closely at the loved one you're sitting next to....
If you can't see the light Wayne Coyne's talking about shining off them then, you surely must have been born without a soul. The picture above was taken from the night I sang that very song to my Grandmother in Detroit when The Flaming Lips played The Filmore in 2014. Here's a copy of the actual email I wrote her with song links to convince her to go. Perhaps I'll get to sing "Do You Realize" to Giuliana someday as well, since I fully intend on being the one that takes her to her first concert.
Do you realize?, that you have the most beautiful face
Do you realize?, we're floating in space
Do you realize?, that happiness makes you cry
Do you realize?, that everyone you know someday will die.
And instead of saying all of your goodbyes, let them know
You realize that life goes fast
It's hard to make the good things last
You realize the sun doesn't go down
It's just an illusion caused by the world spinning round.
Do you realize?, oh, oh, oh
Do you realize?, that everyone you know
Someday will die.
And instead of saying all of your goodbyes, let them know
You realize that life goes fast
It's hard to make the good things last
You realize the sun doesn't go down
It's just an illusion caused by the world spinning round.
It's all so exciting to think about, you know. What's going to be her favorite book? What's going to be her favorite cartoon character? What's going to be the first song she dances to? Is she going to play sports? Is she going to play chess? Is she going to be an overly curious or cautious child? Is she going to excel at standardized tests or is she going to fail at them because she doesn't have a standardized mind? Is she going to believe in organized religion or is she going to reject the idea of God? How can we teach her not to fear, but to respect those that think differently than her, challenge her beliefs, and force her to think? How can we make sure she doesn't end up hating people for the color of their skin or who they want to have sex with? How can we make sure that she doesn't look down on people or blame people who are less fortunate? How can we teach her that she is worth so much more than her looks? How can we show her that the moral fiber of a person is much more important than any amount of money he or she could ever make? How can we make sure that she turns out to be a much better person than all of us raising her?
It's all so beautiful and scary at the same time to ponder when you take a look at the kind of world we're living in today. But, I still have faith in humanity even when I see things like Chicken and Waffle flavored Frito Lays chips or young children dying overseas because some nation state lead by the latest and greatest psychopath wants their oil. And I have faith because no matter how much hatred is welled up inside of us or spread throughout the world, there is always still love, and even if it's just a tiny little bit, love will always win in the end. I firmly believe there will come a day when we learn to love and accept people the way we did as children again, before a sick and demented society had the chance to teach us all the reasons why it was alright to hate and kill them.
Anyway, here's a few pics of me with the most special baby in my life before we get back to talking about poker.
Book Reading Time:
Can You Tell Me How To Get, How To Get To Sesame Street:
A Walk In The Park:
So, by the time Thursday rolls around....
Me, my Sister, and her fiance Michael decide it's time to take Giuliana out for a little night on the town after we grab a bite to eat at Lo Porto Ristorante Cafe in Troy, New York. While we're enjoying our dishes of pasta two gentlemen approach the table and one introduces himself as John and says, "I couldn't help but hear you talking about poker and I also picked up on the fact you're new to this town so I just wanted to introduce myself and the owner." Then after some brief conversation about all the owner's ventures working for Total Rewards/Harrahs properties they get onto talking about getting me into a local underground poker game.
At this point the owner of the place exits the conversation and John asks me to step outside the restaurant with him for a smoke. He says, "Now I can get you in the game tonight. But, I am vouching for you. So, I need to know a little bit more about you. Tell me, how serious of a player are you? Do you know Shaun Deeb?" I go on to tell him that I am not a tournament player, nor a high stakes cash game player, but I do take the game seriously and I play to win. I also go on to assure him that I won't be showing up with any sunglasses, headphones, hoodies, or Ipads. Then he cuts me off and says, "Good. Because we don't want those kinds of people playing in our game."
"That's great," I reply. "Because I just like to have fun, throw some money around, drink beer, talk sports, and perhaps hit on the hot waitress if the place has one. Does the place got one?" I ask. "No. Not this game," he says. But, the next one I get you in might. Tonight it's going to be all good blue collar guys." Then he tells me to give him a call after I finish my dinner and he'll set me up with an address.
So, around a hour after my dinner I give him a call and sure enough he gives me an address. I drive to the area and I see around fifty cars outside of what looks to be an old tow trucking shop or some $hit. I'm thinking, "Ok. This has got to be it." So, I make my way to the door and I only got $300 on me because worst case scenario I get slapped around and ganked for $300 because some security guy doesn't like the way I look or something.
Anyway, as instructed, I press the doorbell, and all of a sudden a buzz goes off and I enter a little corridor with a camera in it. After that a bouncer walks out and starts shaking me down about why I am here and who I know. I drop the name I am supposed to drop, the bouncer makes a cell phone call to confirm a guy named Justin V. is good to go, and then after he gets the ok another door buzzes and I get to walk into the actual poker room. Sadly, there was only five games of $1/$3 going on, but it was a $100-$500 buy in and most players were sitting with $500-$1000. It wasn't a shallow game at all.
So, now I'm in the game and I'm thinking, "$hit. I only brought $300 with me and I don't see an ATM. So if I lose this $300 I am going to have to walk out back to my car and get more and maybe that will offend these guys that I left money in the car." Thankfully, we flop a combo draw early, get it all in on the flop, and double up to $600 rather quickly. After that I decided to have a drink and get onto conversing about who that town roots for, the Giants or Jets, the Mets or Yankees, the Rangers or Islanders, etc, etc.
After making poker friends with a few guys I realize one of them is actually a loan shark. He tells me story after story about people who owe him $100, $200, $300, $400, or $500 and continually pay 5% to 10% juice each week rather than pay the loan back. I'm like, "So you have people who have owed you $300 for six months and they just keep paying you $30 a week?" He's like, "Yeah." I'm like, "Don't you ever feel bad, like after you've made $900 off a $300 loan? Do you ever let up on these guys?" He's like, "Yeah. Sometimes going to collect is a bit of a drive for me. So I'll see a guy, lets say the guy's name is Charlie. I'll see Charlie and say 'Ok, tell you what, give me that last $30 juice and you still owe me $300, but you're gonna work off. I got a Sister just moved to the area, she lives in Watervilet, you're gonna see her every Sunday at 10am for the next twelve weeks and she's going to have the lawnmower, weedwacker, and edger ready for ya. When I drive by to visit on noon her lawn better be looking real nice. You hear me?"
I couldn't stop laughing at all this guys stories, obviously he had a strict policy about not loaning to anyone who gambles because I don't think he'd make fun of his clients right to there faces. Anyway, we go onto win $800 that night and $300 the next night. And fortunately for you all I decided to make every cash game session I played on this first trip a freeroll. So, our cash game bankroll now stands at $2,500.00 USD.
Ship it!!!!
March 29th, 2016
Wake up at a Super 8 hotel as I arrived a little too late in Albany, New York to surprise my sister with a visit because she's got the baby on a routine where she's in bed for the night by 9pm and doesn't get up to 6am the following morning. Thankfully, my sister's fiance's work schedule also aligns with this daily regimen and the last thing you want to do to someone with a newborn baby is make them miss out on any precious sleep. So, I decided to grab a cheap place to stay, watch "Better Call Saul", and get in a good night's worth of rest for myself as well.
By the time 7am rolls around, I feel much like a degen who was down to his last $25 at the blackjack table, but was able to run it back up to 53,000 before cashing out. Needless to say I am super excited to see little Giuliana and while I'm making the drive over to my Sister's place her and I are texting back and forth about the days I'll be visiting in May. She has no idea I'll be knocking on her door in just a few minutes. By the time Teresa actually answers the door and is holding baby Giuliana in her hands I am almost to tears.
Until I met her I didn't know if I'd ever be able of loving anyone else unconditionally besides my Sister and Grandmother, but every time I see her I get these emotions that I just can't describe. So, I'll just leave one of my favorite Flaming Lip's songs right here and lets just say every time I see her smile this is the way she makes me feel.
What is the light
that you have
Shining all around you
Is it chemically derived?
Cause if it's natural
Something glowing from inside
Shining all around you
It's potential has arrived.
Looking into space it surrounds you
Love is the place that you're drawn to
Looking into space it surrounds you
Love is the face that you're drawn to
Looking into space it surrounds you
Love is the place that you're drawn to
Looking out to space it surrounds you
Love is the face that you're drawn to
What is the light
that you have
Shining all around you
Is it chemically derived?
And if that's not a good enough description I highly recommend you take someone special to you to the next Flaming Lips concert in your area, drop a hit of LSD or take a does of high quality MDMA, and look closely at the loved one you're sitting next to....
If you can't see the light Wayne Coyne's talking about shining off them then, you surely must have been born without a soul. The picture above was taken from the night I sang that very song to my Grandmother in Detroit when The Flaming Lips played The Filmore in 2014. Here's a copy of the actual email I wrote her with song links to convince her to go. Perhaps I'll get to sing "Do You Realize" to Giuliana someday as well, since I fully intend on being the one that takes her to her first concert.
Do you realize?, that you have the most beautiful face
Do you realize?, we're floating in space
Do you realize?, that happiness makes you cry
Do you realize?, that everyone you know someday will die.
And instead of saying all of your goodbyes, let them know
You realize that life goes fast
It's hard to make the good things last
You realize the sun doesn't go down
It's just an illusion caused by the world spinning round.
Do you realize?, oh, oh, oh
Do you realize?, that everyone you know
Someday will die.
And instead of saying all of your goodbyes, let them know
You realize that life goes fast
It's hard to make the good things last
You realize the sun doesn't go down
It's just an illusion caused by the world spinning round.
It's all so exciting to think about, you know. What's going to be her favorite book? What's going to be her favorite cartoon character? What's going to be the first song she dances to? Is she going to play sports? Is she going to play chess? Is she going to be an overly curious or cautious child? Is she going to excel at standardized tests or is she going to fail at them because she doesn't have a standardized mind? Is she going to believe in organized religion or is she going to reject the idea of God? How can we teach her not to fear, but to respect those that think differently than her, challenge her beliefs, and force her to think? How can we make sure she doesn't end up hating people for the color of their skin or who they want to have sex with? How can we make sure that she doesn't look down on people or blame people who are less fortunate? How can we teach her that she is worth so much more than her looks? How can we show her that the moral fiber of a person is much more important than any amount of money he or she could ever make? How can we make sure that she turns out to be a much better person than all of us raising her?
It's all so beautiful and scary at the same time to ponder when you take a look at the kind of world we're living in today. But, I still have faith in humanity even when I see things like Chicken and Waffle flavored Frito Lays chips or young children dying overseas because some nation state lead by the latest and greatest psychopath wants their oil. And I have faith because no matter how much hatred is welled up inside of us or spread throughout the world, there is always still love, and even if it's just a tiny little bit, love will always win in the end. I firmly believe there will come a day when we learn to love and accept people the way we did as children again, before a sick and demented society had the chance to teach us all the reasons why it was alright to hate and kill them.
Anyway, here's a few pics of me with the most special baby in my life before we get back to talking about poker.
Book Reading Time:
Can You Tell Me How To Get, How To Get To Sesame Street:
A Walk In The Park:
So, by the time Thursday rolls around....
Me, my Sister, and her fiance Michael decide it's time to take Giuliana out for a little night on the town after we grab a bite to eat at Lo Porto Ristorante Cafe in Troy, New York. While we're enjoying our dishes of pasta two gentlemen approach the table and one introduces himself as John and says, "I couldn't help but hear you talking about poker and I also picked up on the fact you're new to this town so I just wanted to introduce myself and the owner." Then after some brief conversation about all the owner's ventures working for Total Rewards/Harrahs properties they get onto talking about getting me into a local underground poker game.
At this point the owner of the place exits the conversation and John asks me to step outside the restaurant with him for a smoke. He says, "Now I can get you in the game tonight. But, I am vouching for you. So, I need to know a little bit more about you. Tell me, how serious of a player are you? Do you know Shaun Deeb?" I go on to tell him that I am not a tournament player, nor a high stakes cash game player, but I do take the game seriously and I play to win. I also go on to assure him that I won't be showing up with any sunglasses, headphones, hoodies, or Ipads. Then he cuts me off and says, "Good. Because we don't want those kinds of people playing in our game."
"That's great," I reply. "Because I just like to have fun, throw some money around, drink beer, talk sports, and perhaps hit on the hot waitress if the place has one. Does the place got one?" I ask. "No. Not this game," he says. But, the next one I get you in might. Tonight it's going to be all good blue collar guys." Then he tells me to give him a call after I finish my dinner and he'll set me up with an address.
So, around a hour after my dinner I give him a call and sure enough he gives me an address. I drive to the area and I see around fifty cars outside of what looks to be an old tow trucking shop or some $hit. I'm thinking, "Ok. This has got to be it." So, I make my way to the door and I only got $300 on me because worst case scenario I get slapped around and ganked for $300 because some security guy doesn't like the way I look or something.
Anyway, as instructed, I press the doorbell, and all of a sudden a buzz goes off and I enter a little corridor with a camera in it. After that a bouncer walks out and starts shaking me down about why I am here and who I know. I drop the name I am supposed to drop, the bouncer makes a cell phone call to confirm a guy named Justin V. is good to go, and then after he gets the ok another door buzzes and I get to walk into the actual poker room. Sadly, there was only five games of $1/$3 going on, but it was a $100-$500 buy in and most players were sitting with $500-$1000. It wasn't a shallow game at all.
So, now I'm in the game and I'm thinking, "$hit. I only brought $300 with me and I don't see an ATM. So if I lose this $300 I am going to have to walk out back to my car and get more and maybe that will offend these guys that I left money in the car." Thankfully, we flop a combo draw early, get it all in on the flop, and double up to $600 rather quickly. After that I decided to have a drink and get onto conversing about who that town roots for, the Giants or Jets, the Mets or Yankees, the Rangers or Islanders, etc, etc.
After making poker friends with a few guys I realize one of them is actually a loan shark. He tells me story after story about people who owe him $100, $200, $300, $400, or $500 and continually pay 5% to 10% juice each week rather than pay the loan back. I'm like, "So you have people who have owed you $300 for six months and they just keep paying you $30 a week?" He's like, "Yeah." I'm like, "Don't you ever feel bad, like after you've made $900 off a $300 loan? Do you ever let up on these guys?" He's like, "Yeah. Sometimes going to collect is a bit of a drive for me. So I'll see a guy, lets say the guy's name is Charlie. I'll see Charlie and say 'Ok, tell you what, give me that last $30 juice and you still owe me $300, but you're gonna work off. I got a Sister just moved to the area, she lives in Watervilet, you're gonna see her every Sunday at 10am for the next twelve weeks and she's going to have the lawnmower, weedwacker, and edger ready for ya. When I drive by to visit on noon her lawn better be looking real nice. You hear me?"
I couldn't stop laughing at all this guys stories, obviously he had a strict policy about not loaning to anyone who gambles because I don't think he'd make fun of his clients right to there faces. Anyway, we go onto win $800 that night and $300 the next night. And fortunately for you all I decided to make every cash game session I played on this first trip a freeroll. So, our cash game bankroll now stands at $2,500.00 USD.
Ship it!!!!
04-04-2016
, 03:04 PM
04-04-2016
, 10:29 PM
04-08-2016
, 11:14 AM
04-09-2016
, 06:18 PM
Update #4
The year was 1989, the place was a town house located inside the South Glen Apartments complex in the city of Brownstown, Michigan, and the music video that was playing on my Grandmother's big old brown box of a television was none other than Guns N Roses, "Sweet Child o Mine." I was just a little $hit back then, no more than ten years old, and had no real idea what any of the songs lyrics were about. But, I couldn't help but feel such a strong connection to Slash's opening guitar solo and that incredible rasp in Axl's voice. On top of all that, I just thought every single guy in the band looked so god damn cool and I had been begging my Mom for weeks to buy me the "Appetite for Destruction" album.
"No," she'd say. I don't want you listening to bands like that. It has a parental advisory sticker and you're ten years old. That means all the band does is swear."
"So what?" I replied. "You swear at me every day." Then she busted out one of her own patentedted lines and said, "You do not question your mother. You do not challenge your mother. You shut the fukk up and do as I say. Now get out of here and go back to your room." Standard.
Those were the days of pure hell. It is no wonder why you can ask any of my childhood friends, "Who was the first kid to call you or knock on your door looking to play in the morning?" And they'll tell you it was me. When I woke up I couldn't wait to get out of my house. All I had to do was make it until 6pm when my Step Father Marty got home and things would be cool. Then when I made it to the weekend I got to see my Grandmother Marge or my Papa George and my Grandma Eda.
On this particular weekend in 1989 I was at my Grandmother Marges and although she openly admitted, "I don't really like his voice." She still decided to give me a ride up to Slick Disc in Trenton on West Road and buy me the "Appetite for Destruction" cassette as long as I promised I wouldn't tell my mother.
I guess she saw the excitement in my eyes and could see my youthful enthusiasm when I got onto talking about all the other great songs like "Welcome To The Jungle" and "Paradise City" that I loved by the band. And my Grandmother even admitted, "Ain't nothing that band could say that you haven't already heard in your home Jusst, and I'm sorry for that, I know how your Mother is, just keep reading, going outside to play, and listening to your music. Just stay out of her way. You know I am always a phone call away if you ever want me to come get you."
So, I walk into the store Slick Disc and I am greeted by this tall guy named Mark who was in a local rock n roll band himself and I ask him, "Do you have any of the Guns N Roses tapes in stock? My Grandma is gonna buy it for me." Then he looks at this beautiful little old lady that is my Grandmother and says, "Wow. You must have the worlds best grandma." Then my Grandma Marge says, "You're right. He does. But he is even more lucky than you think!!! He has two!!!" Obviously, my Grandma Marge and Eda spoke often. I was quite the little trouble maker. So, they had to figure out if it was the cold weather, summer heat, pouring rain, full moon, or any other random act of nature that it was that caused me to get into a fistfight, it couldn't have possibly been my fault ever, "You know a lot of kids really do start to misbehave when it gets hot and muggy outside Marge. I bet that summer heat just got to him. You know he's an angel."
So, I am leaving the store and I feel like I am holding a piece of solid gold in my hand. I start to rip off the cellophane wrapping and my Grandma is like, "What are you doing Just? I don't have a tape player in here." "I wanna memorize the words Gram," I replied. "I wanna know what he's saying.
Anyway, for months after that I am walking to Anderson elementary school with my walkman and I can not help but feel completely bad fukking ass every time I listen to this tape in it's entirety. All the other kids from around the neighborhood are begging me to find a way tomake them a tape and I ask my Papa and Grandma to buy me a nice cd player with two tape decks in it so I can and they do. I'd go on to use that tape deck for the next ten years and ultimately become one of the mix tape kings of Trenton high school.
One specific GnR memory I have was walking home from elementary school with my walkman and I was wearing a San Jose Sharks hat that was actuallt rhinestoned my Grandma Eda had bought for me. So, I am wearing a hat my Grandma Eda bought me, using a Walkman my Papa Geoge had bought me, and I am listening to the Guns N Roses tape my Grandma Marge just bought me. Minding my own business. Just thinking I am sweet. And this girl who was like two years older than me who was a bully runs up from behind and grabs my walkman+head phones off of me.
She starts running away and my young fat ass is mortified and I'm like, "Hey. Give that back," and I start running after her. I'm wearing black and white checkered Skidz pants and they are so baggy the bottoms are spilling over and collecting dirt as I continue to jog after her. Finally, she stops and starts to walk back with an attitude and says, "What are you going to do anyway fatty."
"Nothing," I reply. "As long as you give it back. My Grandmother and Papa bought that for me." She's like "Ewww, my Grandma and Papa bought it from me." Starts to mock me. Walks up and takes my rhinestoned hat and slams it in a mud puddle. Now, that I am older I can admit my rhinestoned San Jose Sharks hat probably belonged crusted into that mud puddle. But, I will never apologize for what happened after.
I looked her straight in the eye and said, "You don't give me that back. I am going to take it." Then she just kept saying, "Take it fatty. Take it. Common fatty. What are you gonna do? Take it. Take it. Common fatty. What are you gonna do?"
All I remember from that point on is getting all sorts of irate and saying, "I am going to show you what a fatty can do."
Then I remember closing the distance on her, going in for some sort of rock bottom type move, and ultimately just going in for the trip on her. I struggled to get her down (she was older, taller, and bigger than me) without putting all my weight into an extreme hair pull and I won't lie it felt good when I heard her shriek out in pain. Thankfully, those knees buckled shortly after and I kept my grip on her hair dragging her until she let the walkman go. She was screaming, crying in pain, "I'm just a girl. I'm just a girl." I admit I thought about hitting her more. I had read in a book "Enders Game" that when you beat up a bully you have to beat the bully to within an inch of their life so others around watching fear you. She was right. She was a girl. And I started to feel bad. I even cried on my way home when no one could see me. But, I told her the truth when I left her laying there, "If you ever touch anything my Grandparents bought me again I will kill you."
Ultimately, I think I did her a favor. She dropped the tough girl, ghetto girl routine shortly after, and actually turned out to be quite attractive when she decided to dress like an actual girl. Like I said before, still don't feel bad about giving that bitch what she deserved. Don't you ever touch my Guns N ****ing Roses tape!!!
Another memory is a glorious Sega Genesis NHL 94 comeback guarantee against a kid I met playing hockey who thought he was sweet. We had a rule that if you get down by seven goals the game is just over. So, I decided to let him get up by six goals in the first period, put on "November Rain" and guarantee to everyone watching I would be winning the game by the time the nine minute power ballad was over. Well, wouldn't you know* my prediction held true and at the end of the game the scorebored read 11-7. My Jeremy Roenick lead blackhawks beat Dante Damiani and his Pavel Bure lead Vancouver canucks.
I'll admit, from the age of fifteen to nineteen I sort of forgot about Guns N Roses. I found myself really getting into punk rock and industrial music. Probably punk rock because I was really starting to think about the world, politics, social issues, and all that. Then industrial music because I was obviously upset and depressed at some things that had been and were still going on in my life. But, every time I would walk into Slick Disc between the years of 1994-1999 I'd ask, "You ever hear anything about a new Guns N Roses album." He always said, "Yes." But, as you all know being a Guns N Roses fan was a constant let down for a long time.
Then I remember going through a phase where I hated Axl for a while because I blamed him for breaking up the band and who cared about him anyway, right? He was just some washed up woman beating piece of ****. I couldn't have been more petty, hypocritical, and wrong. Its*funny growing up when you find out some things that make you think maybe one of you idols, parents, or other people you know are really a bad person.
Like, I remember when I found out one of my favorite hockey players Bob Probert got busted trying to sneak cocaine over the Canadian border. I was bummed out. I remember the time I found out Axl Rose had a history of domestic violence. I was appalled. I remember when I overheard the phone call and found out my Mother was cheating on my Step Dad Marty with another guy and that'd what called the divorce. I was crushed and full of resentment.
But, then you get older, wiser, go through some mind opening experiences, maybe start making some mistakes yourself, and realize that we're all some sort of **** ups in our own way. After all, we are just human beings. Not gods. Hell, not even anywhere as innocent or good as dogs. Sadly, we are capable of good, evil, right, wrong, truth, lies, love, hate, and everything else in between and we make deporable decisions without having other people's hearts, thoughts, and even lives in mind. So, when I finally started to learn to love myself I also decided to love those like my my mother, father, Axl Rose, Bob Probert, and anyone else I knew or looked up to for all the times they've made right decisiove in their life and do my best to forget about the bad as long as the people were not harming animals, children, or the elderly. None of us are moving backward anyway, we're all moving forward in time. Might as well let by gones be bygones. Even if you know how to use your hate correctly it can only take you so far until you have to let it go.
Eventually, I landed at Central Michigan University and I started to use the internet. One day I was just like, "I wonder what Guns N Roses is up to and I ran a google search on their name. Wouldn't you the "Here Today Gone To Hell" website popped up and I decided to join as "Mr. Intensity." Countless hours of fun, some trolling, and even battles with the all mighty forum god Jarmo ensued. And let me just say right now that despite my disagreements with Jarmo in the past, I do believe he is a kind and kindred spirit and we do all owe him a thank you for putting up with our $hit over the years. Sure, he probably censors negativity towards the band or Axl a little too quick, but when it comes down to it he has ran an incredible website that's kept us informed about the band for the last twenty years. So, I would not only like to take the time to pay homage to Axl, Slash, Duff, Izzy, and Steven in the post. But, also Jarmo as well.
Anyway, years later in 2006 there were rumors of "Chinese Democracy" demos being out there and I was one of the guys on the forums behind the scenes trying to throw money around to anyone who would be willing to leak something. The Guns N Roses community was desperate for proof that there was an actual album that was close to being completed. My AOL handle was SammyStLaurant who was actually an old crusty Detroit Red Wings goaltender that essentially wore a Jason Vorhees type goalie mask with no paint job on it. Pure white. He was also like half blind, wore contacts, and let in a lot of goals from the blue line. A complete jobber of a goalie. Anyway, since I was always trying to get a GNR demo to leak and so were hundreds of others, there was this one guy who was a fan of my writing style and posts who finally reached out to me and said, "Here. This is a Guns N Roses track Brian May from Queen played on called "Catcher In The Rye." But, he only gave me thirty seconds or so of it. Then I shared it with a few people and later that night it leaked. Shortly after the entire track leaked and a number of others like "Better".."IRS"..and "There Was A Time." Somehow, someway, I end up getting an email from Merck Mercuradias who was Gun N Roses manager at the time. He starts asking me if I paid for the track and who I paid for it. I told him the truth that I did not pay for the track and that I obtained it from a Guns N Roses fan for free. He told me that any buying of it, selling of it, or sharing it was higly illegal and that Axl reads the message boards. He also said Axl was not happy people were selling or sharing his hard work before it was done. I argued that the leaks were a good thing and assured Merck that no one on Here Today Gone To Hell fan forum was selling unreleased GnR tracks. I even said, "I should know, I been offering thousands for a demo cd." I also told him I thought the the fans deserved proof that "Chinese Democracy" was actually going to happen.
I even told Merck he should give me another thirty second clip of an unreleased song to go undercover with and try to trade it with other suspected leakers her were on Axl Rose's payroll, then maybe try to work a cash deal and bust the guy who was on the GnR payroll leaking the copyrighted music. Being the degenerate I am, of course I was throwing an angle shoot at Merck trying to hear more of this new great music Axl and the band was making, and I did think if anyone who was on the payroll was leaking music he or she needed to be fired.
Anyway, for a few days we talked back and forth. I kept reiterating that I would be really sad if fans (including me because I admitted I had the music and shared it) would be charged with criminal offenses. He assured me they just wanted to bust the leaker or leakers on the companies payroll and they ultimately did. Now I know a lot of people have bad mouthed Merck, but it was him who got me and six of my friends on the guest list for all four of the 2006 Hammerstein Ball Room shows in New York and to this day those were the best Guns N Roses shows I seen. On two of the days my friends could not go and I found five fans without tickets on the streets to get in for free instead of letting them get fukked by scalpers as well. I am sure some fans here can remember all the work I did helping board members find face value tickets for those shows and I did help put together one of the pre-parties, but I forget* the exact bar in New York. Needless to say, that weekend was definitely my favorite Guns N Roses experience.
Now for the next ten years and the ten years before that I can't count how many times the conversation has came up. You know how it goes. You're sitting at the bar having a drink with an old friend and the topic of Guns N Roses comes up, you're at a party and there's a karaoke machine with some drunk guy doing the best he can belting out the lyrics to "Patience" or you're in Las Vegas at a bachelor party with a rowdy crew of guys in the penthouse suite taking turns snorting below average blow out of some hot nineteen year old strippers a$$hole while "You Could Be Mine" is playing on the stereo then some guy asks, "Do you think Axl and Slash will ever play together again?" And some other fukking know it all sort of laughs and says, "No. Not in this lifetimene," after he takes a drag off his Marlboro Red ciggarette.
Hmm.
Well.......
The year was 1989, the place was a town house located inside the South Glen Apartments complex in the city of Brownstown, Michigan, and the music video that was playing on my Grandmother's big old brown box of a television was none other than Guns N Roses, "Sweet Child o Mine." I was just a little $hit back then, no more than ten years old, and had no real idea what any of the songs lyrics were about. But, I couldn't help but feel such a strong connection to Slash's opening guitar solo and that incredible rasp in Axl's voice. On top of all that, I just thought every single guy in the band looked so god damn cool and I had been begging my Mom for weeks to buy me the "Appetite for Destruction" album.
"No," she'd say. I don't want you listening to bands like that. It has a parental advisory sticker and you're ten years old. That means all the band does is swear."
"So what?" I replied. "You swear at me every day." Then she busted out one of her own patentedted lines and said, "You do not question your mother. You do not challenge your mother. You shut the fukk up and do as I say. Now get out of here and go back to your room." Standard.
Those were the days of pure hell. It is no wonder why you can ask any of my childhood friends, "Who was the first kid to call you or knock on your door looking to play in the morning?" And they'll tell you it was me. When I woke up I couldn't wait to get out of my house. All I had to do was make it until 6pm when my Step Father Marty got home and things would be cool. Then when I made it to the weekend I got to see my Grandmother Marge or my Papa George and my Grandma Eda.
On this particular weekend in 1989 I was at my Grandmother Marges and although she openly admitted, "I don't really like his voice." She still decided to give me a ride up to Slick Disc in Trenton on West Road and buy me the "Appetite for Destruction" cassette as long as I promised I wouldn't tell my mother.
I guess she saw the excitement in my eyes and could see my youthful enthusiasm when I got onto talking about all the other great songs like "Welcome To The Jungle" and "Paradise City" that I loved by the band. And my Grandmother even admitted, "Ain't nothing that band could say that you haven't already heard in your home Jusst, and I'm sorry for that, I know how your Mother is, just keep reading, going outside to play, and listening to your music. Just stay out of her way. You know I am always a phone call away if you ever want me to come get you."
So, I walk into the store Slick Disc and I am greeted by this tall guy named Mark who was in a local rock n roll band himself and I ask him, "Do you have any of the Guns N Roses tapes in stock? My Grandma is gonna buy it for me." Then he looks at this beautiful little old lady that is my Grandmother and says, "Wow. You must have the worlds best grandma." Then my Grandma Marge says, "You're right. He does. But he is even more lucky than you think!!! He has two!!!" Obviously, my Grandma Marge and Eda spoke often. I was quite the little trouble maker. So, they had to figure out if it was the cold weather, summer heat, pouring rain, full moon, or any other random act of nature that it was that caused me to get into a fistfight, it couldn't have possibly been my fault ever, "You know a lot of kids really do start to misbehave when it gets hot and muggy outside Marge. I bet that summer heat just got to him. You know he's an angel."
So, I am leaving the store and I feel like I am holding a piece of solid gold in my hand. I start to rip off the cellophane wrapping and my Grandma is like, "What are you doing Just? I don't have a tape player in here." "I wanna memorize the words Gram," I replied. "I wanna know what he's saying.
Anyway, for months after that I am walking to Anderson elementary school with my walkman and I can not help but feel completely bad fukking ass every time I listen to this tape in it's entirety. All the other kids from around the neighborhood are begging me to find a way tomake them a tape and I ask my Papa and Grandma to buy me a nice cd player with two tape decks in it so I can and they do. I'd go on to use that tape deck for the next ten years and ultimately become one of the mix tape kings of Trenton high school.
One specific GnR memory I have was walking home from elementary school with my walkman and I was wearing a San Jose Sharks hat that was actuallt rhinestoned my Grandma Eda had bought for me. So, I am wearing a hat my Grandma Eda bought me, using a Walkman my Papa Geoge had bought me, and I am listening to the Guns N Roses tape my Grandma Marge just bought me. Minding my own business. Just thinking I am sweet. And this girl who was like two years older than me who was a bully runs up from behind and grabs my walkman+head phones off of me.
She starts running away and my young fat ass is mortified and I'm like, "Hey. Give that back," and I start running after her. I'm wearing black and white checkered Skidz pants and they are so baggy the bottoms are spilling over and collecting dirt as I continue to jog after her. Finally, she stops and starts to walk back with an attitude and says, "What are you going to do anyway fatty."
"Nothing," I reply. "As long as you give it back. My Grandmother and Papa bought that for me." She's like "Ewww, my Grandma and Papa bought it from me." Starts to mock me. Walks up and takes my rhinestoned hat and slams it in a mud puddle. Now, that I am older I can admit my rhinestoned San Jose Sharks hat probably belonged crusted into that mud puddle. But, I will never apologize for what happened after.
I looked her straight in the eye and said, "You don't give me that back. I am going to take it." Then she just kept saying, "Take it fatty. Take it. Common fatty. What are you gonna do? Take it. Take it. Common fatty. What are you gonna do?"
All I remember from that point on is getting all sorts of irate and saying, "I am going to show you what a fatty can do."
Then I remember closing the distance on her, going in for some sort of rock bottom type move, and ultimately just going in for the trip on her. I struggled to get her down (she was older, taller, and bigger than me) without putting all my weight into an extreme hair pull and I won't lie it felt good when I heard her shriek out in pain. Thankfully, those knees buckled shortly after and I kept my grip on her hair dragging her until she let the walkman go. She was screaming, crying in pain, "I'm just a girl. I'm just a girl." I admit I thought about hitting her more. I had read in a book "Enders Game" that when you beat up a bully you have to beat the bully to within an inch of their life so others around watching fear you. She was right. She was a girl. And I started to feel bad. I even cried on my way home when no one could see me. But, I told her the truth when I left her laying there, "If you ever touch anything my Grandparents bought me again I will kill you."
Ultimately, I think I did her a favor. She dropped the tough girl, ghetto girl routine shortly after, and actually turned out to be quite attractive when she decided to dress like an actual girl. Like I said before, still don't feel bad about giving that bitch what she deserved. Don't you ever touch my Guns N ****ing Roses tape!!!
Another memory is a glorious Sega Genesis NHL 94 comeback guarantee against a kid I met playing hockey who thought he was sweet. We had a rule that if you get down by seven goals the game is just over. So, I decided to let him get up by six goals in the first period, put on "November Rain" and guarantee to everyone watching I would be winning the game by the time the nine minute power ballad was over. Well, wouldn't you know* my prediction held true and at the end of the game the scorebored read 11-7. My Jeremy Roenick lead blackhawks beat Dante Damiani and his Pavel Bure lead Vancouver canucks.
I'll admit, from the age of fifteen to nineteen I sort of forgot about Guns N Roses. I found myself really getting into punk rock and industrial music. Probably punk rock because I was really starting to think about the world, politics, social issues, and all that. Then industrial music because I was obviously upset and depressed at some things that had been and were still going on in my life. But, every time I would walk into Slick Disc between the years of 1994-1999 I'd ask, "You ever hear anything about a new Guns N Roses album." He always said, "Yes." But, as you all know being a Guns N Roses fan was a constant let down for a long time.
Then I remember going through a phase where I hated Axl for a while because I blamed him for breaking up the band and who cared about him anyway, right? He was just some washed up woman beating piece of ****. I couldn't have been more petty, hypocritical, and wrong. Its*funny growing up when you find out some things that make you think maybe one of you idols, parents, or other people you know are really a bad person.
Like, I remember when I found out one of my favorite hockey players Bob Probert got busted trying to sneak cocaine over the Canadian border. I was bummed out. I remember the time I found out Axl Rose had a history of domestic violence. I was appalled. I remember when I overheard the phone call and found out my Mother was cheating on my Step Dad Marty with another guy and that'd what called the divorce. I was crushed and full of resentment.
But, then you get older, wiser, go through some mind opening experiences, maybe start making some mistakes yourself, and realize that we're all some sort of **** ups in our own way. After all, we are just human beings. Not gods. Hell, not even anywhere as innocent or good as dogs. Sadly, we are capable of good, evil, right, wrong, truth, lies, love, hate, and everything else in between and we make deporable decisions without having other people's hearts, thoughts, and even lives in mind. So, when I finally started to learn to love myself I also decided to love those like my my mother, father, Axl Rose, Bob Probert, and anyone else I knew or looked up to for all the times they've made right decisiove in their life and do my best to forget about the bad as long as the people were not harming animals, children, or the elderly. None of us are moving backward anyway, we're all moving forward in time. Might as well let by gones be bygones. Even if you know how to use your hate correctly it can only take you so far until you have to let it go.
Eventually, I landed at Central Michigan University and I started to use the internet. One day I was just like, "I wonder what Guns N Roses is up to and I ran a google search on their name. Wouldn't you the "Here Today Gone To Hell" website popped up and I decided to join as "Mr. Intensity." Countless hours of fun, some trolling, and even battles with the all mighty forum god Jarmo ensued. And let me just say right now that despite my disagreements with Jarmo in the past, I do believe he is a kind and kindred spirit and we do all owe him a thank you for putting up with our $hit over the years. Sure, he probably censors negativity towards the band or Axl a little too quick, but when it comes down to it he has ran an incredible website that's kept us informed about the band for the last twenty years. So, I would not only like to take the time to pay homage to Axl, Slash, Duff, Izzy, and Steven in the post. But, also Jarmo as well.
Anyway, years later in 2006 there were rumors of "Chinese Democracy" demos being out there and I was one of the guys on the forums behind the scenes trying to throw money around to anyone who would be willing to leak something. The Guns N Roses community was desperate for proof that there was an actual album that was close to being completed. My AOL handle was SammyStLaurant who was actually an old crusty Detroit Red Wings goaltender that essentially wore a Jason Vorhees type goalie mask with no paint job on it. Pure white. He was also like half blind, wore contacts, and let in a lot of goals from the blue line. A complete jobber of a goalie. Anyway, since I was always trying to get a GNR demo to leak and so were hundreds of others, there was this one guy who was a fan of my writing style and posts who finally reached out to me and said, "Here. This is a Guns N Roses track Brian May from Queen played on called "Catcher In The Rye." But, he only gave me thirty seconds or so of it. Then I shared it with a few people and later that night it leaked. Shortly after the entire track leaked and a number of others like "Better".."IRS"..and "There Was A Time." Somehow, someway, I end up getting an email from Merck Mercuradias who was Gun N Roses manager at the time. He starts asking me if I paid for the track and who I paid for it. I told him the truth that I did not pay for the track and that I obtained it from a Guns N Roses fan for free. He told me that any buying of it, selling of it, or sharing it was higly illegal and that Axl reads the message boards. He also said Axl was not happy people were selling or sharing his hard work before it was done. I argued that the leaks were a good thing and assured Merck that no one on Here Today Gone To Hell fan forum was selling unreleased GnR tracks. I even said, "I should know, I been offering thousands for a demo cd." I also told him I thought the the fans deserved proof that "Chinese Democracy" was actually going to happen.
I even told Merck he should give me another thirty second clip of an unreleased song to go undercover with and try to trade it with other suspected leakers her were on Axl Rose's payroll, then maybe try to work a cash deal and bust the guy who was on the GnR payroll leaking the copyrighted music. Being the degenerate I am, of course I was throwing an angle shoot at Merck trying to hear more of this new great music Axl and the band was making, and I did think if anyone who was on the payroll was leaking music he or she needed to be fired.
Anyway, for a few days we talked back and forth. I kept reiterating that I would be really sad if fans (including me because I admitted I had the music and shared it) would be charged with criminal offenses. He assured me they just wanted to bust the leaker or leakers on the companies payroll and they ultimately did. Now I know a lot of people have bad mouthed Merck, but it was him who got me and six of my friends on the guest list for all four of the 2006 Hammerstein Ball Room shows in New York and to this day those were the best Guns N Roses shows I seen. On two of the days my friends could not go and I found five fans without tickets on the streets to get in for free instead of letting them get fukked by scalpers as well. I am sure some fans here can remember all the work I did helping board members find face value tickets for those shows and I did help put together one of the pre-parties, but I forget* the exact bar in New York. Needless to say, that weekend was definitely my favorite Guns N Roses experience.
Now for the next ten years and the ten years before that I can't count how many times the conversation has came up. You know how it goes. You're sitting at the bar having a drink with an old friend and the topic of Guns N Roses comes up, you're at a party and there's a karaoke machine with some drunk guy doing the best he can belting out the lyrics to "Patience" or you're in Las Vegas at a bachelor party with a rowdy crew of guys in the penthouse suite taking turns snorting below average blow out of some hot nineteen year old strippers a$$hole while "You Could Be Mine" is playing on the stereo then some guy asks, "Do you think Axl and Slash will ever play together again?" And some other fukking know it all sort of laughs and says, "No. Not in this lifetimene," after he takes a drag off his Marlboro Red ciggarette.
Hmm.
Well.......
Last edited by LotGrinder; 04-09-2016 at 06:32 PM.
04-11-2016
, 12:45 AM
04-11-2016
, 05:31 AM
04-14-2016
, 04:07 PM
Update #5
April 9th, 2016.
I was sitting in Phoenix Sky Harbor International airport and had just got done posting update number four in this thread from my Samsung Galaxy Prime cell phone. Yep, that's what I did with my time from 2pm until 6pm when we were supposed to be boarding another plane that would take us to our final destination, Las Vegas. But, wouldn't you know, a voice that sounded more deflated than the footballs you'd find being used in a New England Patriot's football game came over the loudspeaker and said, "I'm sorry to inform all Spirit Airline passengers going to Las Vegas, but your flight has been delayed again until 9:30pm and we'll have you on the ground in Las Vegas by no later than 10:30pm."
"Yeah right," I thought. "This is the third time they lied to me today." And the fact they were telling passengers they could go to the front ticket counter and request a refund really made me believe I could be stuck there all night and miss the Guns N Roses reunion concert. So, I figured there was only one thing I could do. I stood up, climbed on an airport seat and said, "Hey, if any of you are going to the Guns N Roses concert tonight in Las Vegas you're going to miss it. I know a lot of you have checked bags and don't want to leave them. But, I guarantee Spirit airlines is not going to get you there in time for the start of Guns N Roses setlist. So, if you want to see the show I'd advise you to rent a car like I'm about to do. It's 6pm now and Las Vegas is a four and a half hour drive. You'll get there with a little under hour to spare because I heard the band is going on at around 11:30 tonight."
All of a sudden a young guy and a girl ask, "Can we hop in with you?" I say, "Sure. Only if you're going to drink the entire way there with me." The two young bucks kind of drag their feet and look unable to make a decision." Then this older guy in his mid forties and his wife pipe up and say, "We'll go. You sound like a lot of fun. And we'll buy the drinks." If that wasn't already enough to make you believe these two people were awesome, they also decided to leave behind their checked luggage bags. "No fukking way we're missing this concert," they said and off to Budget rent a car we went.
By the time we got to the liquor store I learned these two were from London, Ontario. The guys name was Shane, the girls name was Laura, and they both worked in the real estate industry. Needless to say they were more than impressed when I dumped the clothes out of my carry on luggage bag into the back of my trunk and replaced my clothing with chopped ice, coca cola, and a fifth of Jack Daniels to pay homage to Slash. Thankfully, we stopped at a store that had party cups to go and by the time we reached the brisk pace of ninety miles a hour on I-10 West Shane says, "Alright. My laptop is almost dead, but I've got some Bose Blue tooth speakers, what Guns N Roses song are we going to listen to first?"
"The one with the drinking and driving reference," I said. "What song is that?" He asks. "Aww, common," I said. "The answer to this one is so fukking easy."
"Ohh, of course," he says as he ques up this rock n roll masterpiece.
"I see your sister in her Sunday dress
She's out to please
She pouts her best
She's out to take
No need to try
She's ready to make
It's so easy, easy
When everybody's tryin' to please me baby
It's so easy, easy
When everybody's tryin' to please me
Cars are crashin' every night
I drink n' drive everything's in sight
I make the fire
But I miss the firefight
I hit the bull's eye every night
It's so easy, easy
When everybody's tryin' to please me baby
Yeah it's so easy, easy
When everybody's tryin' to please me
So easy
But nothin' seems to please me
It all fits so right
When I fade into the night
See me hit you
You fall down
I see standin' there
You think you're so cool
Why don't you just
fukk off
Ya get nothin' for nothin'
If that's what ya do
Turn around bitch I got a use for you
Besides you ain't got nothin' better to do
And I'm bored
It's so easy, easy
When everybody's tryin' to please me baby
It's so easy, easy
When everybody's tryin' to please me
So easy
But nothin' seems to please me
It all fits so right
When I fade into the night
So come with me
Don't ask me where 'cause I don't know
I'll try ta please you
I ain't got no money but it goes to show
It's so easy
So ****ing easy
It's so easy
So damn easy
It's so easy
So ****ing easy
It's so easy."
By the time we're midway through our journey cruising up US-60 West we've listened to Appetite for Destruction in it's entirety I start to realize that I rented a Ford Festiva I found on www.kayak.com for $25 when I could have rented a sports car like a Ford Mustang or Chevrolet Camaro for $25-$35 more. "Fukk," I say. "F**k, F**k, Fukk."
"What's a matter?" Asks Shane. I'm like, "Dude. I just realized I was in such a hurry I could have rented a sports car instead." He's like, "Why, do you really think you need to go any faster?" I'm like, "No, but it would add to the overall awesomeness of the story if we were drinking in driving in a Camaro on the way to a Guns N Roses reunion concert than drinking and driving in a Festiva." His wife butts in and says, "Well, Justin. We really can't think you enough. This is awesome with or without the Camaro." I'm like, "Well, at least I've got some cocaine we can do now because I'm getting kind of drunk." Then I start to feel bad because I really don't and those two were all about it. I go on to inform them that the quality of cocaine is going down the tube now days anyway, mainly because the Mexicans are annoyed with Donald Trump and are putting more cut in their number one export product to punish American cocaine users and end up offering them a 30mg adderall to split.
They quickly oblige and were about to split it. However, I told them it would be best to take at 11pm so they'd be at peak energy performance and fully awake and alert for Guns N Roses entire set. Being the ultra intelligent human specimens they were to hop in the car with me, they also took my advice on this matter, and you would have swore I gave them some MDMA if you got to read all the text messages they were sending me during the GnR performance.
And what a performance it was, wouldn't you know the band opened with the same song our road trip opened with, "It's So Easy." From there they went into "Mr.Brownstone." Surprisingly, after that they played "Chinese Democracy" and finally after all these years I got to see Slash strike the opening chords to "Welcome To The Jungle" with Axl Rose sitting right by his side on the throne he borrowed from Dave Grohl. In case some of you didn't know, Axl Rose broke his foot during the surprise Guns N Roses reunion show at the Tribodaur and is confined to a cast for the next four to six weeks.
By the time "Double Talkin Jive" came around in the setlist I couldn't help but notice this young beautiful little bouncing ball of energy with blue hair behind the keyboards hoppin and boppin around to every song like it was the first concert she ever attended. She just looked so god damn happy to be there like the rest of us fans out in the audience. Turns out her name is Melissa Reese and she is very very good friends with Buckethead and Brian "Brain" Mentia.
In case some of you didn't know, after Guns N Roses broke up. Axl Rose became obsessed with putting together an all star line-up of musicians to create the album that was delayed for more than an eternity named "Chinese Democracy." Buckethead and Brain were two musicians that were an important part of that process along with lots of other rock n roll all stars. But, try and try as much as Axl did, he was never going to be able to put together a line up that was greater than the sum of all parts that was the original Guns N Roses. Sadly, the band did not play "Street of Dreams" which is my favorite track from the Chinese Democracy album.
However, surprisingly, they did play my favorite song of all time called "Coma."
I'll leave the song and it's lyrics here for you all to enjoy.
Lets just say throughout my life I've never needed a "Safe Place," all I ever needed to do to was listen to this song over and over when I needed it and it was such a special moment for me when I finally got to see Axl Rose sing it staring right at me. I made sure to push myself all the way up to the front of the stage for this one. I can't count how many times I've fell asleep to it after a long night of partying on MDMA or during the time I've managed to sneak away by myself when exploring my subconscious on some high quality LSD or Mushrooms.
I get lost in it every time.
Truly epic.
Maybe you can find something within in it for yourself.
"Hey, you caught me in a coma
And I don't think I wanna
Ever come back to this world again
Kinda like it in a coma
'Cause no one's ever gonna
Oh, make me come back to this world again
Now I feel as if I'm floating away
I can't feel all the pressure, and I like it this way
But my body's callin', my body's callin'
Won't ya come back to this world again?
Suspended deep in a sea of black
I've got the light at the end
I've got the bones on the mast
Well, I've gone sailin', I've gone sailin'
I could leave so easily
While friends are callin' back to me
I said they're, they're leavin' it all up to me
When all I needed was clarity
And someone to tell me
What the fukk is going on, goddamn it
Slippin' farther an' farther away
It's a miracle, how long we can stay?
In a world our minds created
In a world that's full of $hit
Help me, help me
Help me, help me bastard
Please understand me
I'm climbin' through the wreckage
Of all my twisted dreams
But this cheap investigation
Just can't stifle all my screams
And I'm waitin' at the crossroads, waiting for you
Waiting for you, where are you?
No one's gonna bother me anymore
No one's gonna mess with my head no more
I can't understand what all the fightin's for
But it's so nice here, down off the shore
I wish you could see this,
'Cause there's nothing to see
It's peaceful here, and it's fine with me
Not like the world where I used to live
I never really wanted to live
Zap him again, zap the son of a bitch again
Live your life like it's a coma
Won't you tell me why we'd wanna?
With all the reasons you give it's
It's kinda hard to believe
But who am I to tell you, that I've seen
Any reason why you should stay?
Maybe we'd be better off without you, anyway
You got a one way ticket on your last chance ride
Gotta one way ticket to your suicide
Gotta one way ticket, and there's no way out alive
An all this crass communication
That has left you in the cold
Isn't much for consolation
When you feel so weak and old
But is home is where the heart is
Then there's stories to be told
No, you don't need a doctor
No one else can heal your soul
Got your mind in submission, got your life on the line
But nobody pulled the trigger, they just stepped aside
They be down by the water
While you watch 'em waving goodbye
They be callin' in the morning
They be hangin' on the phone
They be waiting for an answer
When you know nobody's home
When the bell's stopped ringing
It was nobody's fault, but your own
There were always ample warnings
There were always subtle signs
And you would have seen it comin'
But we gave you too much time
When you said that no one's listening
Why'd your best friend drop a dime
Sometimes we get so tired of waiting
For a way to spend our time
And it's so easy to be social
It's so easy to be cool
Yeah, it's easy to be hungry
When you ain't got $hit to lose
And I wish that I could help you
With what you hope to find
But I'm still out here waiting
Watching reruns of my life
When you reach the point of breaking
Know it's gonna take some time
To heal the broken memories
That another man would need just to survive."
And the funny thing is I think Axl Rose added that to the setlist only to prove his naysayers wrong. Like Merck Mercuriadas said, "Axl Rose" reads the Here Today Gone To Hell Message Board," and for years the hardest of the hardcore Guns N Roses fans who waited for fifteen years for Chinese Democracy agreed that "Coma" was Axl Rose and Slash's true masterpiece. But, "Axl was too old and would get too winded if he ever tried to sing that last three minutes and thirty seconds of 'Coma' live again." Well, if proving the doubters who thought Axl and Slash would never take the stage together again wrong wasn't enough. Wouldn't you know, in true, "Fukk you I'm Axl Rose" fashion he had to go and prove all of those wrong who said he'd never play "Coma" live again as well.
So, by the time "Coma" is done it's about a hour into the show and run to get another beer. Shockingly, the T Mobile Center has decided to cut off alcohol sales at fifteen minutes after midnight. At just about every beer stand you could see there's at least twenty to thirty patrons screaming obscenities and it almost sounds like something out of the "South Park" episodes where you here a lot of inaudible yelling and screaming, like you can't tell exactly what the mob of people wants or is saying, but you can tell they're really pissed off. So, maybe kind of like a Donald Trump political rally?
Anyway, after watching about five minutes of chaos and missing a new song called "Better"T Mobile Arena decides to prevent a riot and start up alcohol sales again. I mean, what the fukk? It's 12:15 am at a Guns N Roses reunion show and you're going to cut off liquor and beer sales when you know the show is going until 2:00 am? Thankfully, I make it back to the main floor general admission area I'd been partying in to see the opening solo to "Sweet Child O Mine" and shortly after the band plays an awesome cover of a song called "The Seeker" that was written by The Who. From that point on they made sure to play "November Rain," "Don't Cry," "Nightrain," and closed the set with "Paradise City." In addition to all those tracks, they played all the radio classics like "Live and Let Die," "Knocking On Heaven's Door," "Estranged," "Civil War," and just about every other Guns N Roses song that wasn't obscure that you'd want to hear. Overall, the performance was worth every penny of the $200-$500 it cost to get in the door and if you're a fan of good ole fashioned rock n roll I'd go see them if they're coming to your town on during their upcoming twenty city reunion tour.
After the show, I'm spent. I know it's Saturday night in Las Vegas and I wouldn't mind prowling for some pussy, but I'm really in no shape to go at it alone as a few friends I met from the Guns N Roses message board decided to call it an early night and I don't even have a wing man. So, I decide to go to back to my hotel and get some sleep. Anyway, I wake up at 6:30am and am like, "Fukk. I can't fall back asleep." So, I decide to walk the strip to this Dennys that is open and some hot girl stops me and says, "Would you like some titties for breakfast?"
I'm like, "No thanks. I was thinking Strawberry Waffles instead." She starts laughing and says, "Enjoy." I'm like, "What? No early bird specials for people who make you laugh?" She's like, "How much are we talking?" I'm like, "Well, the strawberry waffles are going to cost me $72.00 anyway in this town? So, like is $100 good." She starts to walk back and says, "Where you staying?" I'm thinking, "Oh $hit. She's really interested in helping me knock one out for a crisp clean hundo, but all I really want is these god damn waffles."
Anyway, she comes over and explains how she was really trying to get me to go to a strip club and to be careful in this town because you can get robbed and all that. Tries to assure me that a titty bar is safer than paying a call girl. And that strippers are somehow better people than escorts. Yada, yada, yada. Reminded me of a time when my Grandfather told me that the best bargains in life when it came to women were strippers or whores. He said, "Girlfriends and wives cost much more money and take up a lot more of your time." Now that I'm older, I can see exactly what he was talking about, and also know that he was right. The trick is finding one that's worth spending all that time and money on. A good woman is getting harder and harder to find each day.
So, I finish my breakfast, and I can already feel a migraine headache coming on. Then I head back to Harrah's hotel and buy myself some Advil PM. I end up taking two of them and somehow sleep into 6pm the next day. When I wake up I shower and head over to "Chada Thai & Wine," a critically acclaimed restaurant by everyone I've talked to in the Las Vegas poker community. I must say, this place definitely did not disappoint and will be a staple in every one of my upcoming Las Vegas trips. After dinner, I texted my friend Carl (Pure_Aggression) and he told me to come on down to The Golden Nugget's uncapped $1/$2 No Limit Hold Em game and I decided to do so in full Lotgrinder uniform.
I also thought it would be fun to act like that night was one of my first nights ever playing poker in a casino. So, when I arrived I made sure to buy $800 worth of green $25 chips and use those to buy into the live $1/$2 No Limit Hold em game. When I was finally sat at the table I unfastened my American flag fanny pack from my waist and asked, "What's the minimum I can buy in for?"
"One hundred dollars," the dealer said. Then I pulled four green chips out of the fanny pack and waited patiently to play my first hand. Shortly after, I got a 10c9c in the cut off and raised two limpers to $12. There was three callers and the flop came Ad 10h 4c and some asian donked out $20 and got called before the action got back to me. "God damn ace magnets" I yelled as I slammed my ten nine suited into the muck. Then I started talking to the guy next to me how I seen this stupid game on television and it looked easy enough. Told him I played in my buddy's basement game a few times and took down some basement tournaments. Said, "These cash games I heard out here were really easy and I heard you could make thousands." All the while I'm sitting with like an $80 stack.
Anyway, for like two or three hours I keep loading my stack to $100, but am just getting nothing. I do keep complaining about an asian raising though and asking, "Is he really allowed to do that every hand?" Finally, after getting stuck like $300 in the game I ask, "What's the maximum I can buy in for?" They tell me it's an unlimited buy in. I take the fanny pack and dump $500 out of it and say, "I'm done fukking around."
Shortly after Asian raises to like $7 which signifies he has a suited connector type hand and there's a few callers by the time it gets to me. "Do you have any of them aces cracked promotions?" I ask. "No" the dealer says, then I ship it and everyone folds. "You all just got bluffed," I say. A few people are laughing. A few are annoyed. I'm drinking and having a good time. Start talking about how I think pros suck and how Phil Hellmuth probably isn't even that much better than me. Obviously, make sure to say I would never be afraid to sit at Phil Ivey's table. I did end up getting stuck around $500 in the game, but clawed my way back to only a $85 loss when I tightened up, waited for a solid run of cards, and value bet the $hit out of people who thought I was a complete drooler.
The next day, Monday, I played at The Venetian and Bellagio. I have to say these weekday Las Vegas $2/$5 NLHE games seem flooded with tourists who have lost thousands lifetime playing poker who are now playing scared and tight because they fear pros and the slightly winning regs out here. Then all the slight winning $hit regs play overly tight because they fear the real professionals. Then the pros raise $20 and every pot is folded around or one tourist or $hit reg decides to set mine, misses, and check/folds.
Worst couple days of $2/$5 NLHE I seen out here. I think rec players are less shy about playing loose and donating in towns outside of Las Vegas now days. I really do. I know, lol@ my sample size, but I got similar reviews from a few of my friends who came out here as well. PLO is where the easy $$$ is at now in my humble opinion. I was hoping for some lol easy $2/$5 NLHE out here. Didn't find it. I imagine it's mainly available on the weekends now days or from 9pm until 4am at night. But, keep in mind there's going to be more pros playing those shifts as well because they know those are the prime time hours.
Anyway, that's my .02 on current weekday $2/$5 NLHE games in Las Vegas and by this time I'm sure you're all wondering, "When is the next tournament series you're going to be playing?"
Well, good news Lotgrinder fans.
We're flying into North Carolina tomorrow for the World Series of Poker circuit event located at Harrah's Cherokee Casino and Resort.
Will post full free-rolling schedule later tonight.
Go us.
April 9th, 2016.
I was sitting in Phoenix Sky Harbor International airport and had just got done posting update number four in this thread from my Samsung Galaxy Prime cell phone. Yep, that's what I did with my time from 2pm until 6pm when we were supposed to be boarding another plane that would take us to our final destination, Las Vegas. But, wouldn't you know, a voice that sounded more deflated than the footballs you'd find being used in a New England Patriot's football game came over the loudspeaker and said, "I'm sorry to inform all Spirit Airline passengers going to Las Vegas, but your flight has been delayed again until 9:30pm and we'll have you on the ground in Las Vegas by no later than 10:30pm."
"Yeah right," I thought. "This is the third time they lied to me today." And the fact they were telling passengers they could go to the front ticket counter and request a refund really made me believe I could be stuck there all night and miss the Guns N Roses reunion concert. So, I figured there was only one thing I could do. I stood up, climbed on an airport seat and said, "Hey, if any of you are going to the Guns N Roses concert tonight in Las Vegas you're going to miss it. I know a lot of you have checked bags and don't want to leave them. But, I guarantee Spirit airlines is not going to get you there in time for the start of Guns N Roses setlist. So, if you want to see the show I'd advise you to rent a car like I'm about to do. It's 6pm now and Las Vegas is a four and a half hour drive. You'll get there with a little under hour to spare because I heard the band is going on at around 11:30 tonight."
All of a sudden a young guy and a girl ask, "Can we hop in with you?" I say, "Sure. Only if you're going to drink the entire way there with me." The two young bucks kind of drag their feet and look unable to make a decision." Then this older guy in his mid forties and his wife pipe up and say, "We'll go. You sound like a lot of fun. And we'll buy the drinks." If that wasn't already enough to make you believe these two people were awesome, they also decided to leave behind their checked luggage bags. "No fukking way we're missing this concert," they said and off to Budget rent a car we went.
By the time we got to the liquor store I learned these two were from London, Ontario. The guys name was Shane, the girls name was Laura, and they both worked in the real estate industry. Needless to say they were more than impressed when I dumped the clothes out of my carry on luggage bag into the back of my trunk and replaced my clothing with chopped ice, coca cola, and a fifth of Jack Daniels to pay homage to Slash. Thankfully, we stopped at a store that had party cups to go and by the time we reached the brisk pace of ninety miles a hour on I-10 West Shane says, "Alright. My laptop is almost dead, but I've got some Bose Blue tooth speakers, what Guns N Roses song are we going to listen to first?"
"The one with the drinking and driving reference," I said. "What song is that?" He asks. "Aww, common," I said. "The answer to this one is so fukking easy."
"Ohh, of course," he says as he ques up this rock n roll masterpiece.
"I see your sister in her Sunday dress
She's out to please
She pouts her best
She's out to take
No need to try
She's ready to make
It's so easy, easy
When everybody's tryin' to please me baby
It's so easy, easy
When everybody's tryin' to please me
Cars are crashin' every night
I drink n' drive everything's in sight
I make the fire
But I miss the firefight
I hit the bull's eye every night
It's so easy, easy
When everybody's tryin' to please me baby
Yeah it's so easy, easy
When everybody's tryin' to please me
So easy
But nothin' seems to please me
It all fits so right
When I fade into the night
See me hit you
You fall down
I see standin' there
You think you're so cool
Why don't you just
fukk off
Ya get nothin' for nothin'
If that's what ya do
Turn around bitch I got a use for you
Besides you ain't got nothin' better to do
And I'm bored
It's so easy, easy
When everybody's tryin' to please me baby
It's so easy, easy
When everybody's tryin' to please me
So easy
But nothin' seems to please me
It all fits so right
When I fade into the night
So come with me
Don't ask me where 'cause I don't know
I'll try ta please you
I ain't got no money but it goes to show
It's so easy
So ****ing easy
It's so easy
So damn easy
It's so easy
So ****ing easy
It's so easy."
By the time we're midway through our journey cruising up US-60 West we've listened to Appetite for Destruction in it's entirety I start to realize that I rented a Ford Festiva I found on www.kayak.com for $25 when I could have rented a sports car like a Ford Mustang or Chevrolet Camaro for $25-$35 more. "Fukk," I say. "F**k, F**k, Fukk."
"What's a matter?" Asks Shane. I'm like, "Dude. I just realized I was in such a hurry I could have rented a sports car instead." He's like, "Why, do you really think you need to go any faster?" I'm like, "No, but it would add to the overall awesomeness of the story if we were drinking in driving in a Camaro on the way to a Guns N Roses reunion concert than drinking and driving in a Festiva." His wife butts in and says, "Well, Justin. We really can't think you enough. This is awesome with or without the Camaro." I'm like, "Well, at least I've got some cocaine we can do now because I'm getting kind of drunk." Then I start to feel bad because I really don't and those two were all about it. I go on to inform them that the quality of cocaine is going down the tube now days anyway, mainly because the Mexicans are annoyed with Donald Trump and are putting more cut in their number one export product to punish American cocaine users and end up offering them a 30mg adderall to split.
They quickly oblige and were about to split it. However, I told them it would be best to take at 11pm so they'd be at peak energy performance and fully awake and alert for Guns N Roses entire set. Being the ultra intelligent human specimens they were to hop in the car with me, they also took my advice on this matter, and you would have swore I gave them some MDMA if you got to read all the text messages they were sending me during the GnR performance.
And what a performance it was, wouldn't you know the band opened with the same song our road trip opened with, "It's So Easy." From there they went into "Mr.Brownstone." Surprisingly, after that they played "Chinese Democracy" and finally after all these years I got to see Slash strike the opening chords to "Welcome To The Jungle" with Axl Rose sitting right by his side on the throne he borrowed from Dave Grohl. In case some of you didn't know, Axl Rose broke his foot during the surprise Guns N Roses reunion show at the Tribodaur and is confined to a cast for the next four to six weeks.
By the time "Double Talkin Jive" came around in the setlist I couldn't help but notice this young beautiful little bouncing ball of energy with blue hair behind the keyboards hoppin and boppin around to every song like it was the first concert she ever attended. She just looked so god damn happy to be there like the rest of us fans out in the audience. Turns out her name is Melissa Reese and she is very very good friends with Buckethead and Brian "Brain" Mentia.
In case some of you didn't know, after Guns N Roses broke up. Axl Rose became obsessed with putting together an all star line-up of musicians to create the album that was delayed for more than an eternity named "Chinese Democracy." Buckethead and Brain were two musicians that were an important part of that process along with lots of other rock n roll all stars. But, try and try as much as Axl did, he was never going to be able to put together a line up that was greater than the sum of all parts that was the original Guns N Roses. Sadly, the band did not play "Street of Dreams" which is my favorite track from the Chinese Democracy album.
However, surprisingly, they did play my favorite song of all time called "Coma."
I'll leave the song and it's lyrics here for you all to enjoy.
Lets just say throughout my life I've never needed a "Safe Place," all I ever needed to do to was listen to this song over and over when I needed it and it was such a special moment for me when I finally got to see Axl Rose sing it staring right at me. I made sure to push myself all the way up to the front of the stage for this one. I can't count how many times I've fell asleep to it after a long night of partying on MDMA or during the time I've managed to sneak away by myself when exploring my subconscious on some high quality LSD or Mushrooms.
I get lost in it every time.
Truly epic.
Maybe you can find something within in it for yourself.
"Hey, you caught me in a coma
And I don't think I wanna
Ever come back to this world again
Kinda like it in a coma
'Cause no one's ever gonna
Oh, make me come back to this world again
Now I feel as if I'm floating away
I can't feel all the pressure, and I like it this way
But my body's callin', my body's callin'
Won't ya come back to this world again?
Suspended deep in a sea of black
I've got the light at the end
I've got the bones on the mast
Well, I've gone sailin', I've gone sailin'
I could leave so easily
While friends are callin' back to me
I said they're, they're leavin' it all up to me
When all I needed was clarity
And someone to tell me
What the fukk is going on, goddamn it
Slippin' farther an' farther away
It's a miracle, how long we can stay?
In a world our minds created
In a world that's full of $hit
Help me, help me
Help me, help me bastard
Please understand me
I'm climbin' through the wreckage
Of all my twisted dreams
But this cheap investigation
Just can't stifle all my screams
And I'm waitin' at the crossroads, waiting for you
Waiting for you, where are you?
No one's gonna bother me anymore
No one's gonna mess with my head no more
I can't understand what all the fightin's for
But it's so nice here, down off the shore
I wish you could see this,
'Cause there's nothing to see
It's peaceful here, and it's fine with me
Not like the world where I used to live
I never really wanted to live
Zap him again, zap the son of a bitch again
Live your life like it's a coma
Won't you tell me why we'd wanna?
With all the reasons you give it's
It's kinda hard to believe
But who am I to tell you, that I've seen
Any reason why you should stay?
Maybe we'd be better off without you, anyway
You got a one way ticket on your last chance ride
Gotta one way ticket to your suicide
Gotta one way ticket, and there's no way out alive
An all this crass communication
That has left you in the cold
Isn't much for consolation
When you feel so weak and old
But is home is where the heart is
Then there's stories to be told
No, you don't need a doctor
No one else can heal your soul
Got your mind in submission, got your life on the line
But nobody pulled the trigger, they just stepped aside
They be down by the water
While you watch 'em waving goodbye
They be callin' in the morning
They be hangin' on the phone
They be waiting for an answer
When you know nobody's home
When the bell's stopped ringing
It was nobody's fault, but your own
There were always ample warnings
There were always subtle signs
And you would have seen it comin'
But we gave you too much time
When you said that no one's listening
Why'd your best friend drop a dime
Sometimes we get so tired of waiting
For a way to spend our time
And it's so easy to be social
It's so easy to be cool
Yeah, it's easy to be hungry
When you ain't got $hit to lose
And I wish that I could help you
With what you hope to find
But I'm still out here waiting
Watching reruns of my life
When you reach the point of breaking
Know it's gonna take some time
To heal the broken memories
That another man would need just to survive."
And the funny thing is I think Axl Rose added that to the setlist only to prove his naysayers wrong. Like Merck Mercuriadas said, "Axl Rose" reads the Here Today Gone To Hell Message Board," and for years the hardest of the hardcore Guns N Roses fans who waited for fifteen years for Chinese Democracy agreed that "Coma" was Axl Rose and Slash's true masterpiece. But, "Axl was too old and would get too winded if he ever tried to sing that last three minutes and thirty seconds of 'Coma' live again." Well, if proving the doubters who thought Axl and Slash would never take the stage together again wrong wasn't enough. Wouldn't you know, in true, "Fukk you I'm Axl Rose" fashion he had to go and prove all of those wrong who said he'd never play "Coma" live again as well.
So, by the time "Coma" is done it's about a hour into the show and run to get another beer. Shockingly, the T Mobile Center has decided to cut off alcohol sales at fifteen minutes after midnight. At just about every beer stand you could see there's at least twenty to thirty patrons screaming obscenities and it almost sounds like something out of the "South Park" episodes where you here a lot of inaudible yelling and screaming, like you can't tell exactly what the mob of people wants or is saying, but you can tell they're really pissed off. So, maybe kind of like a Donald Trump political rally?
Anyway, after watching about five minutes of chaos and missing a new song called "Better"T Mobile Arena decides to prevent a riot and start up alcohol sales again. I mean, what the fukk? It's 12:15 am at a Guns N Roses reunion show and you're going to cut off liquor and beer sales when you know the show is going until 2:00 am? Thankfully, I make it back to the main floor general admission area I'd been partying in to see the opening solo to "Sweet Child O Mine" and shortly after the band plays an awesome cover of a song called "The Seeker" that was written by The Who. From that point on they made sure to play "November Rain," "Don't Cry," "Nightrain," and closed the set with "Paradise City." In addition to all those tracks, they played all the radio classics like "Live and Let Die," "Knocking On Heaven's Door," "Estranged," "Civil War," and just about every other Guns N Roses song that wasn't obscure that you'd want to hear. Overall, the performance was worth every penny of the $200-$500 it cost to get in the door and if you're a fan of good ole fashioned rock n roll I'd go see them if they're coming to your town on during their upcoming twenty city reunion tour.
After the show, I'm spent. I know it's Saturday night in Las Vegas and I wouldn't mind prowling for some pussy, but I'm really in no shape to go at it alone as a few friends I met from the Guns N Roses message board decided to call it an early night and I don't even have a wing man. So, I decide to go to back to my hotel and get some sleep. Anyway, I wake up at 6:30am and am like, "Fukk. I can't fall back asleep." So, I decide to walk the strip to this Dennys that is open and some hot girl stops me and says, "Would you like some titties for breakfast?"
I'm like, "No thanks. I was thinking Strawberry Waffles instead." She starts laughing and says, "Enjoy." I'm like, "What? No early bird specials for people who make you laugh?" She's like, "How much are we talking?" I'm like, "Well, the strawberry waffles are going to cost me $72.00 anyway in this town? So, like is $100 good." She starts to walk back and says, "Where you staying?" I'm thinking, "Oh $hit. She's really interested in helping me knock one out for a crisp clean hundo, but all I really want is these god damn waffles."
Anyway, she comes over and explains how she was really trying to get me to go to a strip club and to be careful in this town because you can get robbed and all that. Tries to assure me that a titty bar is safer than paying a call girl. And that strippers are somehow better people than escorts. Yada, yada, yada. Reminded me of a time when my Grandfather told me that the best bargains in life when it came to women were strippers or whores. He said, "Girlfriends and wives cost much more money and take up a lot more of your time." Now that I'm older, I can see exactly what he was talking about, and also know that he was right. The trick is finding one that's worth spending all that time and money on. A good woman is getting harder and harder to find each day.
So, I finish my breakfast, and I can already feel a migraine headache coming on. Then I head back to Harrah's hotel and buy myself some Advil PM. I end up taking two of them and somehow sleep into 6pm the next day. When I wake up I shower and head over to "Chada Thai & Wine," a critically acclaimed restaurant by everyone I've talked to in the Las Vegas poker community. I must say, this place definitely did not disappoint and will be a staple in every one of my upcoming Las Vegas trips. After dinner, I texted my friend Carl (Pure_Aggression) and he told me to come on down to The Golden Nugget's uncapped $1/$2 No Limit Hold Em game and I decided to do so in full Lotgrinder uniform.
I also thought it would be fun to act like that night was one of my first nights ever playing poker in a casino. So, when I arrived I made sure to buy $800 worth of green $25 chips and use those to buy into the live $1/$2 No Limit Hold em game. When I was finally sat at the table I unfastened my American flag fanny pack from my waist and asked, "What's the minimum I can buy in for?"
"One hundred dollars," the dealer said. Then I pulled four green chips out of the fanny pack and waited patiently to play my first hand. Shortly after, I got a 10c9c in the cut off and raised two limpers to $12. There was three callers and the flop came Ad 10h 4c and some asian donked out $20 and got called before the action got back to me. "God damn ace magnets" I yelled as I slammed my ten nine suited into the muck. Then I started talking to the guy next to me how I seen this stupid game on television and it looked easy enough. Told him I played in my buddy's basement game a few times and took down some basement tournaments. Said, "These cash games I heard out here were really easy and I heard you could make thousands." All the while I'm sitting with like an $80 stack.
Anyway, for like two or three hours I keep loading my stack to $100, but am just getting nothing. I do keep complaining about an asian raising though and asking, "Is he really allowed to do that every hand?" Finally, after getting stuck like $300 in the game I ask, "What's the maximum I can buy in for?" They tell me it's an unlimited buy in. I take the fanny pack and dump $500 out of it and say, "I'm done fukking around."
Shortly after Asian raises to like $7 which signifies he has a suited connector type hand and there's a few callers by the time it gets to me. "Do you have any of them aces cracked promotions?" I ask. "No" the dealer says, then I ship it and everyone folds. "You all just got bluffed," I say. A few people are laughing. A few are annoyed. I'm drinking and having a good time. Start talking about how I think pros suck and how Phil Hellmuth probably isn't even that much better than me. Obviously, make sure to say I would never be afraid to sit at Phil Ivey's table. I did end up getting stuck around $500 in the game, but clawed my way back to only a $85 loss when I tightened up, waited for a solid run of cards, and value bet the $hit out of people who thought I was a complete drooler.
The next day, Monday, I played at The Venetian and Bellagio. I have to say these weekday Las Vegas $2/$5 NLHE games seem flooded with tourists who have lost thousands lifetime playing poker who are now playing scared and tight because they fear pros and the slightly winning regs out here. Then all the slight winning $hit regs play overly tight because they fear the real professionals. Then the pros raise $20 and every pot is folded around or one tourist or $hit reg decides to set mine, misses, and check/folds.
Worst couple days of $2/$5 NLHE I seen out here. I think rec players are less shy about playing loose and donating in towns outside of Las Vegas now days. I really do. I know, lol@ my sample size, but I got similar reviews from a few of my friends who came out here as well. PLO is where the easy $$$ is at now in my humble opinion. I was hoping for some lol easy $2/$5 NLHE out here. Didn't find it. I imagine it's mainly available on the weekends now days or from 9pm until 4am at night. But, keep in mind there's going to be more pros playing those shifts as well because they know those are the prime time hours.
Anyway, that's my .02 on current weekday $2/$5 NLHE games in Las Vegas and by this time I'm sure you're all wondering, "When is the next tournament series you're going to be playing?"
Well, good news Lotgrinder fans.
We're flying into North Carolina tomorrow for the World Series of Poker circuit event located at Harrah's Cherokee Casino and Resort.
Will post full free-rolling schedule later tonight.
Go us.
Last edited by LotGrinder; 04-14-2016 at 04:26 PM.
04-15-2016
, 10:58 PM
04-16-2016
, 10:10 AM
04-16-2016
, 09:14 PM