It was a results-oriented tilt, which makes even less sense. I never said I was good at this.

Ironically, during one tournament I played that week, I did shove with TT, got called by AA, and still hit quads. So it was vindication of a sort.

I don't know why I assumed there was an apostrophe in "head's up". Not sure if I'd seen it written that way before, or just dreamed it, or what. But I think I've been writing it that way for a while now. I finally looked it up and can't get someone to give an example using poker, but did find this on Grammarist:

In other words, I was wrong.

Thanks! Let's see if you enjoy this one of (what you would consider) enemy territory. The pictures are a little lacking, I admit, but it's not a Vegas trip anyway.

So, in case you hadn't heard, there was an election on Tuesday, November 8. In the lead-up to the election, the wife and I had a houseguest. I'd give her a fake name, but she shares a first name with my wife so I know I won't be able to keep the fake/real name separate there'll be some transference. So I'll just call her Freeloader.

Freeloader and my wife met in New Hampshire in 2004 when they both worked on the John Edwards for President campaign (before people realized what a scumbag he was). They became fast friends and always kept in touch, even when working on campaigns out of state. Both my wife and Freeloader went to law school (my wife at UNLV, Freeloader at Boston University) so they had a cross-country resource whenever needed. My wife has been less active with campaigns, but Freeloader quit her job as a family attorney to stay active this election cycle. Her company shipped her to Vegas, since Nevada had a lot of very tight races (President, Senate, three House seats in southern NV, some issues). I only mention all this because I wanted to give you guys an idea as to what the mood of the house was as they were reading off state after state going for Trump.

No, I won't tell you for whom I voted or how I voted on the ballot initiatives. I am going to put a spoiler at the bottom with one final thought from the election, plus a prediction I haven't made anywhere else as of yet. I am, however, going to post one joke that I made the night after the election:

Me: I can't believe people are on the streets protesting Obama.
Wife: Wait, are they really protesting Obama?
Me: Well they keep chanting "Not my President". If they were protesting Trump it should really be "Not my President-Elect".
Wife: Are you pushing up your glasses and adjusting your pocket protector right now?
Me: I just want people to be...

... Politically Correct

Thursday, November 10 -

The wife and I board a red-eye back to Boston. A friend of mine is getting married on Saturday the 12th, so we wanted to make a weekend of it. When we fly back home, we typically take the Thursday night red eye, then come back that following Sunday. And we usually just stay with family since it's easier and cheaper than a hotel (though I'm starting to think hotels are worth the expense). This time, we're spending each night in a different place.

I slept the entire flight. My wife did not. Somehow, this because my "fault" and she is not happy with me. We land, get the rental car (which had NY plates - are you trying to get me killed, Hertz?!?!), and head to our first resting place - her sister's place in Jamaica Plain. Ironically, my sister-in-law lives about two blocks from where my dad and his entire family grew up. We drop off the bags, settle in, then drive to pick up my mother-in-law so we can spend a day driving up the beaches in Maine. It's actually quite a nice drive, and if you haven't been to the New England seacost, I highly recommend it. It's a much different vibe and feeling than beaches elsewhere in the country.




Specifically, we went to Maine for Flo's Hot Dogs: http://www.floshotdogs.com. I don't like mayo. I don't like relish. I got one of their dogs with their mayo and relish, and it's easily one of my top five favorite things of all time. Holy ****, I love it. Now I can see why the wife and her family talk about these things all the time. Also, I got yelled at for ordering a dog with ketchup. Sassy broads, I tell ya...

Saturday, November 12 -

Next stop, Peabody, MA. A friend of mine is getting married in Salem, MA (home of the witch trials and one damn fun place to be on Halloween). Normally, my wife and I would fly home on Sunday, land at 11pm and go right to sleep for work the next morning. This time, however, there's a catch - Sunday is our one-year anniversary. Spending 6+ hours on a plane doesn't sound all that fun. So we decide to stick around one extra day and enjoy our anniversary together. The hotel here is nothing special. The wedding had a couple of those really surreal moments.

Reno and Sabrina were finally get married. They started dating before I moved to Vegas (which was September, 2006). Reno makes really good money as the manager of a customer service area for some software company. Sabrina doesn't make a ton and scrapes together bits from an Etsy store and being a nanny. When Sabrina needed a car, Reno sold her his old one... for about 20% above market value. When they finally got engaged, most comments were either "It's about time" or "Wait, you guys haven't been married for like six years already?" They're so frugal, the DJ at the wedding reception was Reno's iPod. And Reno just strikes me as... maybe not cold. I don't think he's uncaring. But I'll guarantee he's never told his parents he loves them. This wasn't some super special, magical moment for him. It was just the next, pragmatic step in being an adult.

So when the Justice of the Peace read the vows and added "... and do you do this of your own free will?", the entire ****ing place started howling with laughter. This is why I love my friends. We're all on the same page.

The entire ceremony lasted six and a half minutes. It was so quick, my buddy JC actually missed the entire thing. He was walking in to the room as the bride and groom were walking out. But he was there for food, to the surprise of no one. But JC did have a surprise - his long-term girlfriend is pregnant! He's the last of my crew from back home to actually tie the knot, but he's beating Reno on building a family. My wife and I got asked if we were trying to have a kid, and I looked at that person like they were a monster. "You think I'd pass THESE GENES on to another generation? Do you think that little of me?!?"

My other friend B drove up from Jersey. B is actually at the center of my worst bet ever. B hates flying. Well, as he says "I have no problem with flying. I have a problem with being 35,000 feet in the air and suddenly NOT flying". Good point. So I made him a bet - if he flies to Vegas, I'll go out with him and get hammered. I'm 37 years old and I've never had a drop of booze. So why not get wrecked at a casino and drop all of my money in the pit? What a wonderful idea. Also, I'm an idiot. Fortunately, B is broke after buying a fixer-upper and having a kid. So I'm not overly worried about it.

After the wedding, I realized we were only two blocks away from a place that was a scene for many fond memories:



When I was in high school and college, I played in a few kinda generic pop-punk bands. This was the site of my first ever show with any of them. We ended up here probably a dozen times over our "career", packed the place every time, and had an absolute blast. It was unfortunately closed by the time we got there, but the fact that it's still in business is such good news.

My wife and I go back to the generic, branded hotel off 128 in Peabody and start to plan out our Sunday. We're moving to yet another hotel so we're thinking about dinner reservations and such. We figure out when we can go see my dad. We then try to figure out if the restaurant at the hotel has a TV so we can eat and watch the Patriots game that night.

Her: "What time is the game?"
Me: "We're east coast, so 8pm"
Her: "And they're in Seattle?"
Me: "They're playing Seattle, but it's at Foxboro."
Her: (Eyes go wide open) "WE SHOULD TOTALLY GO TO THE GAME!!"

Well, this just became the best anniversary ever. Thank you, StubHub.

So we re-arrange all of our plans. My time with my dad just got cut way down, but he doesn't care. Plus, we're going home for about ten days around Christmas so I'll see him then. Actually we might go to the Pats/Jets game on Christmas Eve.

Sunday, November 13

Neither my wife nor I had ever been to Hull, MA before. I found a nice little hotel, right on the water, for a really good price (like $130 for the night). So we were super excited when we got there and saw our view:






We left for the game around 5. It was supposed to be an hour from Hull to Foxboro without traffic, so we wanted to get a head start. It didn't take much longer than an hour and we were at one of the Foxboro Stadium-owned parking lots. I figure for $40, it was worth being that much closer.

When we finally got inside, it's a long-ass walk to the nosebleeds. We were one row away from being in the very last row of the upper deck. Really couldn't have gotten any higher than that:



These guys were in front of me:


The game... could have been better. Obviously a Pats loss was disappointing, but they played well despite an atrocious job by the officials (on both sides - believe me the Seachickens got ****ed as often as the Pats). When the Pats were behind, some guy behind me kept heckling Seattle fans with "Hey Seaaaaaaaaaaaattle, how about them SuperSonics!"

It took about 2 hours and 45 minutes to get back to Hull. For anyone that has to work the next day, that's gotta be brutal. But we were fine. And if I go to the Christmas Eve game with my dad, that's a 1pm start. So if we get home at 7pm, who cares?

Monday, November 14 -

Did a little driving around Hull before heading out:



The flight home was uneventful, but took a different flight home and landed in Vegas around 7:30pm. Then I realized - I actually have class tonight. We get to the baggage claim and wait. And wait. And wait. And wait. The bags are taking forever and I'm started to get anxious. My wife tells me to go get a cab and hop over to UNLV. She'll get the bags, go grocery shopping, and pick me up after class. Perfect. Cab ride cost me about $13, which isn't terrible, and I went racing into class... only to find out the professor wanted an extra few minutes to finish her dinner. I wasn't even the last person to arrive.

Grabbed one last pic on my way back to the car:



So what was the quick trip back home.

My final election thoughts:

I hardly follow politics and avoid all political discussion at all times, but I really enjoyed your political joke!

Still going through awesome update three points right now.

I'm actually a big fan of Boston and New England area, would love to live there. Only part of New England considered enemy territory is Gillette.

I do think Buffalo does hot dogs better, almost exact opposite of what you showed. Can't expect much on hot dog front as New England is full folks of Irish/Portuguese descent vs Buffalo mostly German/Polish. Buffalo has Ted's = charcoal grilled foot longs, bacon, hot sauce(hot relish).



Last point what kind of savage puts ketchup on a hot dog.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I have a Ted's hot dogs like 1/4 mile from my house. Only one outside of Buffalo iirc.

hey spike i dont get to this thread often but am on an enjoyable little binge read at the moment. thx for the updates+pics

Tempe, Az?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I was so goddamn proud of that one, I literally laughed alone in my house for like an hour. My wife was afraid to come home from work because of how giddy I was.

In general, you're probably correct about Buffalo doing hot dogs better. But this place in particular does just such an amazing job, it's hard to not fall in love with what they do. The dogs, bread, and toppings are all made locally, including their homemade relish. It's just what they do.

And yes, I'm a savage for putting ketchup on a hot dog. I would have preferred BBQ sauce and nacho cheese, but what can ya do? I'm not a big condiment fan, so I'm not the type to get all sorts of crazy **** on hot dogs.

Speaking of hot dogs, Vegas just got a couple of new hot dog places: Papaya King and Dog Haus. I went to Papaya King after bubbling the TI 10pm on Friday night (though fortunately for me, the bubble save actually got me a $25 profit... still not sure how that worked). Papaya King was... fine. Nothing special or anything, but they're decent hot dogs and open until 3am. Chili cheese tots were probably the best part of the meal.

I have not yet had Dog Haus, but I just went to the website and saw that they're doing Turducken (for those who are unaware - turkey, stuffed with duck, stuffed with chicken) dogs for a limited time. I may actually go out at 1am on a work night to get one of these things.

My wife actually made me a turducken once. When we first started dating, I think she really wanted to impress me. I had mentioned that turducken was something I've always wanted to try, so she went all Julia Child on me and made a ****ing turducken. It was everything I'd ever imagined, and more. Plus, we had leftovers for about a week. There's no downside here.

Related - I've been watching your videos all night. I dig what you're doing, even if they're a tad long for my usual taste. I'm on my way over to your thread to throw out three questions for your Q&A. Totally just busting your chops. Really. I mean nothing personal.

Two poker hands of note from this weekend. After all, this is a poker forum and I should do some poker content every so often:

TI 10pm. Situation: Final four remaining, ITM (bubble save is $100, which is the buy-in +25; third is $260; second is $450ish; first is in the high $600's). Blinds 3000/6000 no antes.

UTG (100k) folds
BTN (villain, 72k) all-in
SB (120k) folds
BB (hero, 68k) calls all-in

BTN shows Ac9s
BB shows 7h7d

Flop T84
Turn 6
River 7
Gotta love hitting that set at the end to bust out. Yuck.

Mirage 2pm. Situation: Second level. 33 players have entered the tournament, three have busted so we're on 3 full tables. Not sure if there are alternates yet. Blinds are 100/200 no antes. I'll only do the chip stacks for the hands that matter.

UTG calls 200
UTG+1 calls 200
MP1 calls 200
HJ (8800) calls 200
BTN (hero, 10.2k) calls 200
SB (9000) calls 200
BB checks

I had Q3ss on the BTN. For some reason, with all the dead money in the pot, I decided to limp and try to outplay people on the flop to steal the pot. Probably bad logic, but I had been playing aggressive and won a couple of smaller pots already, and always had the goods at showdown. I think my image is on the tighter side, so betting the flop should represent strength.

Flop comes T74 all spades. I feel like I've hit the jackpot and can win a fairly decent pot, but I don't want to get too aggressive and scare off bluffers. It checks to the HJ who bets 1600. I pretty quickly call. The SB then announces raise and throws in 3000. Dealer informs him it has to be 3200. It folds to the HJ who calls.

****.

I feel like I'm beat here. I know, it's a $65 donkament and people are playing ANY flopped flush this way, possibly flopped sets, MAYBE two pair, or something like TPTK with the As for the NFD. But that ****ing check-min raise thing always just screams "I HAVE IT I HAVE IT I HAVE IT PLEASE PLEASE CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALL!". The fact that a second player is also in the hand and I have the third nuts isn't helping my mental state at all. I strongly consider folding, but I finally decide to flat call.

Turn is a brick. 3h maybe? SB moves all in. HJ folds. Every fiber of my being is screaming that I'm beat, but I eventually talk myself into a call. SB rolls over the AJss for the flopped kick in the nuts.

I'm super short stacked and ready to bust. I move my last 1200 all in with black 44 against A7hh. A on the flop, but I go runner-runner to the flush. Phew. Super drunk guy at my table busts and his replaced by his drunker, looser friend. He makes a min raise pre-flop and I see AKdd. I jam for my last 3500. He calls and shows KJo. J on the flop because why the **** not and I'm gone early.

Martha McSally.

I just had an image of chopping up heads...

How about an update.

Sunday, November 20th -

I saw this as I was walking to my Patriots bar:



Joboo is a massive Redskins* fan. He called me during the Pats game and said he was planning on going somewhere to watch the Skins game and wanted to know if I would be interested in tagging along. I'm always up for something like that. My wife, however, was not, and instead suggested he just come to the house and watch it there. Sold. During the game, I found out that the Lucky Dragon is having a soft opening. For the unaware, the Lucky Dragon is the first new hotel/casino built on the Strip since 2010, and is the first to cater specifically to Asian players. The official grand opening will coincide with the first non-stop flights to Las Vegas from Beijing. So I made a plan to check this place out after the Packers decided to **** the bed yet again.



It's so new, they still have the plastic film on the elevator lights:



The number 4 is unlucky to Asians, so no 4th floor:



BitCoin ATM:





I like this place quite a bit, but it's really small with no sports book, no craps and no poker. I did play some pai gow poker and broke even. For anyone who bets the bonus, this is the only place in town (that I know of) that will push the bonus on three pair. I've been begging for that since I moved to Vegas, so I'm very happy to see it implemented.

*Note about the Redskins - my wife and I have only had like 2-3 major fights in our entire relationship, and they always seem to be about things neither of us can control. One of those fights was about whether or not the name "Redskins" is offensive, and if the owners should be forced to change it. This fight coincided with Anthony Cumia getting fired from satellite radio, so it was all compounded into one big argument. There's no point to this aside, it's just interesting to me.

Monday, November 21 -

I'm at work, and start shivering uncontrollably. I ask my boss if his office is cold, and he said no. Uh oh. About an hour later and, yep. I'm punting into a work toilet. I absolutely hate doing that, but I'm hopeful that this will be a quick 12-24 hour thing and I don't have to use sick days before the Thanksgiving holiday. It's not that I'm some superstar employee and would care about missing work. I have 100 sick days saved up. I just don't like the perception of calling in sick directly before a long break like that.

I came home to a fever of 101.6, but after some rest, fluids, and a lot of taking it easy, I was good to go by morning. This illness was a blessing in disguise, however. I decided to hop on America's Card Room for the first time in a few months, and that was when I noticed they had $2 spin-n-go's (Jackpots). Ship it! I sat on a $2.20 tournament and kept grinding those jackpots all night, eventually finishing the night +$100.

Tuesday, November 22 -

Today's the day. Today we can finally stop calling it the "Las Vegas hockey team that doesn't have a name but will be something Knights". The owner decided he wanted to do some big party out in front of the arena and do a massive unveiling, and then they'd open the arena. I was excited for the name, but more excited to see where our seats would be.







First, there wasn't nearly enough space in the designated area, so people were all over the Toshiba Plaza, and watching from the decks of the NYNY parking garage. Cirque du Soleil performed... I think. At least, that was the rumor, but since they weren't on stage, no one on the ground could actually see it. The audio was terrible, too. We couldn't hear any of the speakers on stage. And then the video failed twice, so they went instead with a countdown to the actual name:





The Vegas Golden Knights. My money was on Silver Knights. My wife and her co-worker both said Desert Knights. I didn't hear a single person online or in the crowd say Golden Knights. I was disappointed at first. It kind of rubbed me the wrong way, especially since the "Golden Showers" joke has been used so much, it's already cliche... and this team is 11 months from even taking the ****ing ice. But now that I've looked into it, it makes more sense. The Kings are using a black and silver color scheme, so that was out. Nevada produces 75% of the gold in the US and 4% of the world's total. It probably makes more sense to take a color that symbolizes first place rather than second. Okay... I'm on board. But **** what anyone else thinks. The logo ****ing rules.

The other debate is the dropping of "Las" from Las Vegas. I found out that, aside from not being able to use any gambling-related names, the league also put a strict limit of three words on the entirety of the team name. Since "(non-adjective) Knights" was off the table, it was really no surprise that "Las" was dropped. Someone on Reddit said he'd never support "the first team in professional sports" to use a nickname of their location, rather than the full name. He then went on to say how much he loves the "Angeles Lakers" and the "York Giants". Putting aside the fact that nearly every local says "Vegas" instead of "Las Vegas", I wonder if this guy is going to be disappointed to learn that we are currently in a league with the Carolina Hurricanes. Or that the Giants have the entirety of their offices, practice facilities, and arena in New Jersey. Yes, I know that teams are allowed to name themselves after the nearest metro area. I don't care. They're wrong.

As for the seats, these are mine. Vegas shoots at the left-hand goal twice per game:



My wife's company bought four seats down front:



Wow.

I wanted to buy merch there, but each line was over an hour long. So I bought a ton online and I'll probably head to the pro shop this week:



Thanksgiving -

The wife and I were invited to her friend's place for a traditional southern Thanksgiving. It didn't occur to me until the night before that we would be the only white people in attendance. Serendipitously, a friend liked an article on Facebook that came in very handy - https://afroculinaria.com/2015/11/22...n-black-guest/

Dinner was unbelievable. Smoked turkey, smoked brisket, some kind of ham, home made rolls, mashed potatoes, greens, mac and cheese, and on and on. It was an endless supply of food. Everyone grabbed leftovers. We got leftovers for ourselves and for Joboo + Brad. Just unreal. But for ****'s sake. It's called "stuffing", not "dressing". I don't even have time to describe just how wrong all of that is.

Friday, November 25 -

Does anyone actually enjoy Black Friday? I got roped into once, by accident.

Jamie and I drove up to Boise to visit her mom and step-dad for Thanksgiving. On the way there, I was driving, but it was her turn to pay for gas. I grabbed her debit card, filled up, but forgot to give her the card back. The morning of Black Friday, she went to Wal-Mart at 5am because they were having some crazy deal on a Kitchen Aid standing mixer. She gets there, gets in line... and she doesn't have her card. So I get the panicked phone call, plus I had to wake up her mom to drive me there since Jamie took our car. It was kind of a mess. Closest I've ever been to shopping on Black Friday, though.

Instead, the wife and I stayed home and binge-watched Westworld. No spoilers here, but I'm definitely hooked. I really enjoy the show and the visuals, and I'm dying to see how the season ends.

Friday night, Joboo and I venture out to play a 10pm tournament. I decide I want to mix it up from the TI. It's really 80% regs at this point, and Fridays are typically slow there (even on holiday weekends). The Mirage 10pm used to be a 10-minute level super turbo, but it was recently changed to match the structure of their other dailies. I suggest we go check that out.

This marked the third time I've had an issue with parking at an MGM property since they instituted this stupid pay to park thing. I'll scan my ID, I'll get an exclamation point/error but no actual message, and the gate opens. It's not a problem getting in. It's getting out where I have trouble. The system can't find my ID, so the gate attendants have to call someone to authorize letting me out. It's super annoying, kind of embarrassing, and it may be enough to keep me out of their properties altogether once I use the rest of my comps.

We register for the tournament and it looks like it should get about 30+ runners. Fine. Joboo is on my right, which is great since I know his style well enough that I can either tighten up or exploit him when need be. First level is 50/100, then this **** happens:

Hero: MP1 (10,000 chips)
Villain 1: CO (7500 chips)
Villain 2: BTN (9200 chips)

I look down at 99 and open to 250. Villain 1 min raises. Villain 2 flat calls. I debate raising here, but figure I can flat and set mine.

Flop: KJ9ddx

Good flop, but draw-heavy. I lead out for 1100. Villain 1 calls. Villain 2 min-raises. So I've now been min-raised twice, and you know how I feel about that. Yuck. But I figure I can flat since this is either a flush draw, top two, pair + draw, etc quite a lot. But then Villain 1 shoves all in. Villain 2 calls, but I thought he said all in as well. So I tank and start muttering "One has the straight for sure, but am I drawing to a boat or to quads?" I finally call and flip my hand over. Both other players show their hands, and the dealer has to call the floor since there's technically still a side pot between me and Villain 2. Ooops. The floor rules that we should all turn our hands back over, and the rest of the hand will play out normally. The turn is a blank. I check. Villain 2 shoves. And I fold.

... because Villain 1 had JJ and Villain 2 had KK. Set over set over set, and I was at the bottom end. The sick thing is, this isn't the first time I've been on the wrong end of set over set over set. I think I've talked about this hand before (either here or in another thread), but a very quick recap: It was a 2-4 limit game at South Point. You can always tell when someone has AA in a 2-4 game, which made my KK pretty hard to fold. We cap it four ways pre-flop. Flop is AKQ. Capped four ways on the flop. Turn is a blank. It's capped on the turn, but I folded. River is another blank. It gets capped again. It's AA v (what would have been my KK) v QQ v JT who takes the whole thing with the flopped Broadway.

I'm short stacked, shove 33 into a guy who woke up with JJ and I'm busted. I rebuy because why not. I lose 80% of my stack with AK v QQ on an AQx flop with a K on the turn. Just gross.

Saturday, November 26 -

The wife and I decide to start decorating for Christmas. Some of our stuff is old, some needs to be replaced. My wife decides we should get garland at Home Depot, and then hit KMart for some new ornaments and a tree topper. Fair enough.

I don't know if you've been in a KMart recently, but they actually do it up right for Christmas. Their seasonal section is HUGE. But they had one thing that really cracked me up.

You know those Norma Rockwell-esque winter scenes? The ones where you can buy the softly-painted buildings, children ice skating, street lights, etc? And you can arrange everything to make it like a picturesque town? Well... here's Vegas' version:



A ****ing pawn shop.

At least we got the tree set up:



That night, I decided again to play a 10pm. This time I figured I could try Planet Hollywood. The structure is garbage, but I was hoping for enough drunk tourists that it may not matter. First, I want to apologize on behalf of Las Vegans everywhere for anyone who has attempted to park at Planet Hollywood on a weekend. I honestly hope whoever designed their gate/cone nonsense goes home and hangs themselves. It was an utter mess. It took me nearly 20 minutes to get off of the street before getting to the roof. I passed some spots on the way, but I had to go to one floor which was blocked off from every other floor, and that was full, then circle back down, make an illegal U-turn, then go back up to a higher floor, then dodge the tourists who couldn't figure this **** out (and who can blame them?), before finally getting up top.

Then, the elevator was busted so only one was working. Taking eight flights of stairs down to the mall isn't my idea of fun, so I waited it out. And waited and waited and waited. The elevator finally arrives and it's already 90% full from people who hit both the up and down arrows waiting to get on.

I finally make it through the maze of people, into the poker room... only to find out the tournament is canceled because they have so many cash games going. Sigh. I figure I can just play 1-2 for a little while and see how it goes. And it actually went pretty well. I had a couple of bluffs get through. I got paid off with a set. I stacked two shorties with AA after they both shoved a really dry flop. I had a couple of weird spots though.

First, I'm on the BB. There are six (!) limpers to me, and I see 54o. I just check, because why not. Flop is TT7. Okay, I can check/fold this easily. But then, it checks around. That's interesting. Either someone is slow-playing trips or everyone is playing AJ++ or small pairs. The turn is a 4 bringing a flush draw. I figure I can take a stab at this to see where I'm at, but I don't want to do a lot of damage. So I bet the minimum. A whopping $2. AND ONLY GOT ONE CALLER ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!? The turn is another blank. I check, he checks back and shows deuces. My 4 is good and I take a small pot.

A young kid from China was at our table and played SUPER tight but loved big pots when he had something. Shortly after I stacked the two shorties, we're playing five-handed. It folds to me on the BTN and I make it $9 to go without looking. I figure more often than not, I'm just buying the blinds. SB folds. Chinese kid on the BB makes it $25. Hm. Okay, that sucks. I tell him I haven't looked yet and that his bet was probably unnecessary. So I check it out, and I've got 99. So now I'm in a spot. Did he realize I didn't look? Does he have a hand? This is basically JJ+ or AQ suited+, almost always. I think about folding, but I'm just too stubborn for that. I call. Flop comes Ablahblah. He leads for $40 and I open-fold my 99. He nods and taps the table, so I think I was waaaaaaaaaaaaay behind.

I think about racking up, but then we get two new players. One young woman has clearly never played live before, and a guy who has a vodka tonic in his hand and his girlfriend on his lap. Okay, I'll stick around if you insist.

But then... the first timer just couldn't lose a hand. She was flopping trips. She called me on a bluff with second pair (board was AT7A4, I had Q-rag and fired at the river, she called with JT). She flopped a straight and check-called three streets when the aggro Mexican to my right couldn't stop firing. It was absurd. I finally decided that it was time to call it a night once I got right back to exactly double my buy-in.

It's about midnight and I walk all the way back to the parking garage, only to see that the line for the elevator is only rivaled by the line of cars waiting to get out of the garage. I don't have the patience for this, so I decide to take a walk and see if I can get a slice of pizza. There's the place in the Paris, across from the buffet that does brick oven pizza, and I know they're open late. They always have a line but since I have time to kill, I'm sure it won't be a problem. But tonight, no line! I get two slices and a soda for $10.80. And it just sucks. The pizza's not very good at all. The pepperoni slice feels like it's been sitting under a warming lamp for the last six hours. The margherita is better, but still not great. I'm thoroughly disappointed. But, by the time I get back to PH and the garage, there's no line to get out.

All in all, not a bad couple of weeks. The tournament at Mirage obviously could have gone better, but the cash game at PH was great.

Lol small world dude. I know the people whose wedding you went to. Actually I was almost there.

do you ever use the valet? I've found that much easier than negotiating the parking garages.

Nice update. Was there potato salad at Thanksgiving dinner?

Haha no way. How do you know them? You can PM me if you don't want to start talking about personal connections in public.

I have in the past but it's not my favorite thing. There's something that weirds me out about having someone in my car. Although there's something hilarious about my dinged to hell Scion being parked next to the Bentleys, Maseratis, and Land Rovers.

YES HOW DID I FORGET THE POTATO SALAD?! Oh my god was it good. I don't even like potato salad and I had two helpings of that stuff.

Carpetbagger

Best thing about PHo valet is the drop off is right next to the casino, not at the ass-end of Miracle Mile.

And the name Golden Knights sucks. It sounds like a made-up name for a sports team in a bad made-for-tv movie.

Great thread Spike. I hope you don't end it as you have threatened. Maybe update less frequently when you're busy with life/school/work or whatever.

I figure Golden Knights will grow on you (as team names go). I can remember everyone in Columbus thinking WTF?!? back when our team was named the Blue Jackets but we love our lovable losers in spite of them being named the BJ's. It was appropriate since they never have stopped sucking. The mental image for Vegas fits. Gold. Nights. I just hope you guys don't win the Stanley Cup before us but it all depends on how serious the ownership takes winning.

Yeah, don't count on a Stanley Cup anytime soon. Took the Kings near 50 years.

Confirmed small world.

I've been here a decade. Hardly feels like I'm carpetbagging anymore. But I used to play in a band called the Carpet Patrol. So that's close, I guess? Looks like some German DJ pilfered the name from us now.

And just when I was about to consider using the valet more, Caesars announced today that they're going to start charging for it. **** that noise.

The name is growing on me but I'm still not crazy about it. I went by the pro shop attached to the arena last night, and it's about 10% as big as it needs to be to handle all the merch of a full NHL team. I'm curious to see how and when they expand it.

I did threaten to shut this down a couple of times, didn't I? I've only been updating when I have something interesting to post, or after a couple weeks worth of poker to complain about. The next couple of weeks will be pretty threadbare. Finals are upon us and I haven't even thought of a topic for either one.

The owner says he wants a Stanley Cup within seven to ten years. A nice thought but almost certainly unrealistic. The good news is the expansion draft and salary cap rules will require them to spend a lot of money right away, and teams won't be able to protect all of their high-priced talent. There's a chance this team could be decent right from the get-go, but it takes the right chemistry to win the whole goddamn thing.

As long as we win one before Montreal, I'll be happy.

One hand to talk about. After seeing the too-small and cleaned-out pro shop last night, I popped in for a quick 1-2 game at Monte Carlo. I wasn't expecting much and really was just killing time while waiting for my wife to get off work. The Monte Carlo room still feels old and beat-up, but the game was super friendly. Everyone was chatty and having a grand old time. People were acting like old friends and it was just a matter of time before I could bust out a "Got 'im!"

This is about two orbits into the session. I've limped a couple of pots but really haven't done much else.

For this hand -

UTG limps
MP (OMC, $200 stack, fresh off a reload) limps
CO limps
BTN (hero, $190 stack) limps with 44.
SB completes
BB checks.

Six players to the flop.

Flop comes 543ddh

UTG checks
MP/OMC bets $11
CO calls $11
Hero calls $11 (I think about a raise here but either I'm drawing to a boat or I don't want to take away his bluff)
SB calls $11
BB folds

Four players to the turn. 8h

Not the worst card for me since it doesn't complete any other straights or flushes. OMC bets $40. CO folds. Hero calls $40. SB folds.

River is either the best card or the worst card for me: 3d Board is now paired and the flush draw came in. If he was chasing a flush or has something like 53, 43, A3, I'm good. If he has a straight or something like A5, A8, or an over pair he might get scared off.

OMC checks
Hero bets $70
OMC calls. I show my hand, and OMC taps the table, and shows 85o. Really not sure how he made that call, but I'll take a nice pot.

I lost a bit when my AJ lost to T8 on a board that ran out 762A9 when I fired all three streets and OMC called me all the way with a gut shot. Fortunately I wasn't betting much so my losses were minimized. Cashed out +$100.

Gonna read all this when I get home its too dam small on my phone screen

NFR is in town. Instead of playing all day and night, I'm at home watching a handful of these lectures:

https://www.unlv.edu/videos/playlist...7E8C303D70D32B

I'm starting with "The Partisan Politics of the Congressional Budget Process". With any luck, I'll get done with these early enough to still get in a lot of hours tonight.

PS - Kill me

Thank you for reminding me that NFR is in town.

Looks like I need to find a way to work some overtime and get myself two nights this coming week to print money off the Cowboys (rodeo loving Cowboys, although a few bets on Dallas probably aren't a bad idea)

I'll have a fuller/better update in a few days, but I wanted to give a quick little recap of one hand I played this weekend.

I was at the MGM hoping to pick off some cowboys here for NFR. Unfortunately, all the cowboys were asleep and I was playing against a table of regs and possible pros. One younger woman (maybe 25 at the oldest) was folding folding folding. After an hour of seeing her do nothing but fold, a European who moved to Vegas to play poker raised to $12. This younger woman 3-bets to $35. It folds back to the European, and he open-folded so fast, you'd have thought his cards were on fire.

KK

Sure enough, the woman rolls over AA and acts surprised like "How did you know?!?"

About an hour later, I'm in MP with KJdd and open raise to $9. Guy on my left calls, and that younger woman calls. Flop comes AA3dd. Woman checks to me, I bet $15, guy on my left calls, woman calls. At this point, I know she has at least one A in her hand, possibly flopped quads. Turn is another A. It checks around. River is another 3, putting a full house on the river. The woman opens for $20 and I fold. This old man at the table starts losing his mind. "What the ****?! Why are you folding when there's a full house on the table!? Why would you give away money like that?" The guy on my left makes the call, and I say "She's only been playing pairs and any Ace. I'm beat here 100% of the time." As the old guy was telling me I was crazy and probably about to start berating my play, she rolls over AJ for the turned quads.

I've just never seen anyone get that upset about folding on a board where the best I could possibly do is chop.

Don't tap the glass.

Wow am I overdue for an update. Things kinda got away from me, with finals and flying back to Boston for Christmas. Plus I was trying to cram in as much poker as I could during my off-time, which meant very little time for checking threads and being my charming, trolling self. This post will be slightly disjointed as I have about a month's worth of content to jam in at once, so I'm only taking the best pictures and highlights, rather than get too bogged down in the details. Onward!

During NFR, I managed to squeeze in a session at South Point. There were a ****ton of cowboys and cowgirls walking around, and most of the laaaaaaaadies were walking around in either tight jeans or tight jean shorts. At a 1-2 game, some guy kept getting distracted by the moving scenery. Whenever he apologized for screwing up the action, he kept saying "Thank god for Wrangler ass".

Played tournaments at Mirage, TI, Red Rock, and Flamingo.
- At the Mirage tournament, I was the best player there by a ****ing mile. And that's not even bragging or bravado. I mean it was so absurdly obvious these guys had no clue what they were doing. Unfortunately, I lost 90% of my stack when someone with A5 decided to open-shove for about 20bb, I called with AA, and lost when the flop came 55x. That pretty much always spells disaster in a turbo tournament like that.

- TI was the TI. I was up a lot, down a lot, up a lot, down a lot, and finally busted on a coinflip.

- Red Rock I was just card dead all day and night. It was a miracle I was still afloat by level 5, when a super short stack on the btn shoved for about 6bb, I re-shoved with 8bb with AQ, and got everyone else to fold. My hand held against T9o, so I nabbed a bounty from that. The rest of the night was cold. Got to play alongside Orel Hershiser's wife for a bit. They're both super nice.

- I actually chopped the Flamingo midnight tournament head's up. I got there early and decided to play some Pai Gow poker to kill time. I ended up ahead $80 so I was freerolling at least one bullet in the tournament (foreshadowing like Stephen ****ing King over here). This other guy at the table was talking about how much he loves Pai Gow but whatever small casino he works at in California doesn't offer it. Weird.

Joboo and his dad were running the midnight tournament with me, so once they got there we took our seats. Tournament started on a single table with one alternate. With the alternate and a couple of re-buys, we ended up with maybe 15 total runners. It's a **** structure with nothing but "**** you, get back to the cash games" in mind, which is to be expected for a $60 midnight tourney.

Around level 3, I'm in MP. Blinds are (I think) 4-800. I raise to 1800 with QQ. BTN flat calls the 1800. Joboo on the SB kinda scratches his head and says "I'm all... in?" for about 17.5k total. This puts me in a spot. I know Joboo's playing style well enough to know he's got SOMETHING here. And this could very easily be AA or KK since he believes I won't fold to a 3-bet anyway. But I also know he's capable of doing this with JJ and AK/AQ to try and get smaller pairs to fold. So now I'm in a pinch, especially with the caller behind. I tank for a minute but finally call. BTN open-folds 88, Joboo shows AK. Flop comes 55T. Awesome. Turn 5. Okay but hang on... River 5. ****er hit quads on the board and his ace kicker won. I threw away my last 1400 with 62 from the BB because I already had like half my stack in there, and made the walk of shame back to the counter for the re-buy. Fortunately, I took my Pai Gow winnings and that helped soften the blow.

Top two got paid. The final three were me, Joboo, and a strong player with about half the chips in play. We agree to pay a bubble. After a bunch of hands that were raised pre and folded around, I finally got a double through the big stack with T9 v AK on a 9-high flop. Joboo busts on the bubble. Solid player and I decided we're about even in chips and it's time to choppy choppy for $290 a piece.

After leaving the Flamingo, I decided to walk around for a bit and walk down the strip. On my way out, I ran into the guy I had been playing Pai Gow with. I asked how he did, and he said he was up $2000, then lost it all +$1000 of his own money, but then went on a run and left $4000 richer. And he wasn't playing the bonus. Just went on an absurd run. He tried to talk me into going to O'Shea's for some beerpong, but that's not exactly my strongest game.

I left and started walking down the strip. I was wearing an Edmonton Oilers jersey, so I was slightly surprised when it was a) mistaken for a Houston Oilers jersey, and b) pointed out to me as "TENNESSEE!" I know the Houston Oilers became the Tennessee Titans, but it still seemed like a weird cross-over. Or so I thought. Turns it out it was just the dude getting his foot in the door to say "Hey man, you need anything like go-fast, I got you hooked up." Ah, the entrepreneurial spirit lives on.

I walked over to the Linq, and saw that their old poker room is now some kind of VR play space:



They had four of these things, back-to-back, and presumably you can play with friends in like a first-person shooter type game. At least, that's what the TV ads around the sides made it out to be. Whatever it is, I'm sure it'll be more profitable than poker. I decide that was enough, so I walked back to the Flamingo to my car, and headed home.

Speaking of the Flamingo, I played a cash session there during this time too. I think I mis-played this hand but I'm not entirely sure:

Villain 1: BB, just bought in. Diamond card. $300 stack
Villain 2: MP, been there for hours, from Quebec, $800 stack
Hero: BTN, been at the table for half an hour or so, $220 stack.

It folds to Villain 2 who limps. I look down at KK and raise to $15 while carrying on my conversation with a Swedish player who now lives in Boston. Villains 1 and 2 both call. Fine. Flop is K72ssc. It checks to me. Lately, I've been betting at all flopped sets, regardless of board texture, but this time I decide to check. Turn is the Tc, which now has straight and two flush draws out there. Okay, I can live with this. Villain 1 fires out $30. Villain 2 calls. I consider flatting here and seeing a river, but I decide instead to raise to $90. I think this was mistake #1, raising too much. I think $60-75 is probably more likely to keep both players in. With $90, only Villain 1 from the BB called. River is a red 2, pairing the board but missing both flush draws. Villain 1 checks, I decide to shove, which I think is mistake #2. This just looks too strong. I think I can lead for $40 here for value and make my hand look more like an A-high missed flush. Unfortunately the villain folds, then immediately changes tables.

The garbage disposal at the house stopped working for a while. Turns out, we somehow managed to get a coin stuck in there. This is the aftermath:



I am going to try and read more, especially over breaks. Here's my ambitious winter break reading pile:



I finally got through the marijuana book (highly recommended if you're ever curious about pot as public policy). Rights of Man is next.

I took the wife to see her favorite holiday movie - It's a Wonderful Life - on the big screen. The Galaxy theaters are pretty spectacular. Aside from the reclining seats and bigger menu, they have a hardcore zero tolerance policy for cell phone use during films. They'll boot your sweet ass out without hesitating if you look at a phone during a movie. I'm pretty happy with this.



I'm also pretty happy that this is next door:



I thought it was a swimming school. Turns out it's sensory deprivation tanks. Creepy.

I've been on a big sushi burrito kick. This is the best I've found so far, but I doubt I've hit 10% of the places that have popped up recently:



How about a couple of sky pictures:




A rainbow on Rainbow:



My wife's company's holiday party was at Lakeside at the Wynn. They really go all-out with the food and drinks they serve, and this year was no different. We had a blast as always, then got to gamble with the bosses. One them sits at a $25/hand blackjack table and calls me over "Spike! Take this last seat." I said "That's funny, I don't remember you making my wife a named partner in the firm." That got a big laugh (thankfully... if that had bombed I'm sure I'd still be getting screamed at). We moved from blackjack to Pai Gow. Everyone was winning, but one of the partners couldn't figure out the game so he was getting angrier and angrier. The wife and I finished +$90 for a modest win, but the bosses ended up +$1000 between them. Must be nice. I only took a couple of pics at the Wynn for their Christmas set up:





Got a nice new addition to the car:



I got the wife something she refers to as the "Murder Ring" for Christmas:



This is from a company called GoGuarded.com. They're marketing this to women who go out walking/running late at night and want a way to defend themselves. The ring is plastic. The piece up top is a loose rubber. The serrated part at the bottom is super sharp, strong plastic, designed to be buried into the neck of an attacker. It makes me feel better that she has it while doing her running at night.

I'm off this week between Christmas and New Year's. Hopefully I'll get in a lot of poker. We'll see what the schedule actually looks like when it's all said and done, but I should have more pics and more stories to come.

Speaking of... there used to be a local (Boston) music message board back in like 1995 through 2004. I had so many posts on that thing, it's almost embarrassing. Someone resurrected it the other day and I was thinking back. And then it hit me - the time I got someone placed on two-years house arrest. It's not a Vegas story, but it's coming up next...