Well that didn't last long. 4th hand, on my bb find QQ. Lady next to me raises, one call, I shove my tiny stack, she moves in AA of course.

BG me, GL to all left.

Out ~1796/5916

Yeah but you are 1/5916 in card protectors and that's what really matters

Bummer. I got a Yukon friend still in it, 20 from the money now.

Got to meet with Donk Dunc and guitarist68 last night. Played an hour or two of 1/3:together.

Good guys, had a lot of fun getting to know them a little.

Managed to walk that minefield for a net loss of $10, only butchering one hand completely.

Just kind of hanging out today, Absinthe @ 8, then probably beers / people watching.

Oh yeah, Dunc asked about the rooms @Paris, so here's a couple pics. Please excuse the mess.

Serviceable, clean. Mattress pretty firm.

I am also not someone who needs anything beyond that, so YMMV.

Seems nice enough. Was able to hear the couple next door the other day through the wall when she was raising her voice.

I guess what you expect from a mid-level Strip place.

Seems like others are doing it, so I am too. Trip wrapup, ahving had a week to think about it.

The game has passed me by. I used to be ok, back in the good days. I just don't have the passion any more to study, etc. I still enjoy playing, but don't play very often. Thus, I make more than my share of bad plays.

I'm the guy you want at your table. While not an OMC (but yes to OM). Just make it entertaining, I'm happy to lose some $.

The Seniors event has huge value. Even given my lack of recent experience, it was a good tournament for recfish such as myself. Mostly just a bunch of old people having a good time, enjoying competing against each other.

My second table was pretty quiet, but even then only ran into one kind-of dick. MAWG, sunglasses, ball cap, barely talked. Every time he's on the BB, he'd tell the dealer to go ahead and deal (in a scornful tone), even though he hadn't posted the BB ante.

I'm thinking, "Yes, they should make their procedure different for you. Or, you could get your **** together like everyone else at the table."

I need to slow down. A lot of the mistakes I made were due to being on autopilot; looking back at hands later, it occurred to me that I'd not been considering the other player's possible holdings well enough. Had a few big draws which I got bet off of due to being out of practice and a nit in general.

Maybe I need to learn to gamble. I really only like poker, but a 10-hour day on day 1 (Thurs) + a few hands on day 2 was enough. Just played a couple hours with Donk Dunc and guitarist68 late one evening, but other than that, just kind of kicked around.

Maybe I should try some dice or pai gow or some of the other things mentioned by 2p2 degens. Absinthe, while being wrong in every conceivable way, was a ton of fun.

2p2 is a great community. Related to above, everyone I've met via 2p2 has been nice people. (yeah, yeah, sample size). As has been mentioned in the RIP thread for YTF, take a chance to meet up. I'm sure there are some *******s on here, but there's some great folks too.

Paris is an OK place. A grain of salt here, as I'm perfectly ok with staying in Super 8 type places when traveling, as long as they are clean. Great location, can walk a lot (of which I'm a fan), grab a beer from CVS and people-watch. Room was nice, not spectacular. Good mid-range property.

Spice Market Buffet sucks. I inepxlicably wandered next door to PH to get a buffet before leaving, as I knew I likely wouldn't eat until the next morning. To be fair, I got there about 1:30 PM, so maybe they were running down the lunch menu. Nothing was bad, just not flavorful and exetremely non-special.

I feel like I need to retire and go traveling. Not germane to this Vegas trip, just a general observation. Worried about the cost of health care in lolUSA#1, need to work on figuring that out better.

I made the unfortunate decision some years ago to use photobucket as my repository. They suck, for a number of reasons.

Moved my pictures to google photos, but (of course), the posts in this thread still pointed at photobucket.

Bluegrassplayer has been very kind and put in a lot of work to edit the URLs associated with the pictures to get them to google's domain.

I just wanted to publicly thank him for how much effort he put into this. Very much appareciated.

Survey: should I tell photobucket to **** off because their prices are outrageous, or should I leave my account open but unused, burning up some small portion of their disk?

Now you're talking. Look into health care options outside of USA#1 if it's for a specific thing that you need addressed. If it's just for general long term health care, still look outside anyway.

Just a couple travel-related updates, not actual travel.

Inexplicably, the US State Department once again renewed my passport. Came in the mail today.

I guess I'm not a flight risk from...Oh, Saul says that I may have said too much already.

It seemed like a good idea to be in Dublin for St. Patrick's Day next year. Booked tickets, I arrive Shannon 12th, drive around a few days, Dublin 16, 17, 18, back 19th.

If anyone has any must-sees (or must-misses) for Ireland, please let me know. The only things for sure on my list is Dingle peninsula, and finding the Guinness brewery for a tour.

And trying not to pull into traffic in the right lane.

Another update. Booked a trip to Miami 12/24-12/31.

At this point, I've only booked the flight, rental car, and first night's hotel. Going to stay down in Florida City.

Probably go over to Kings Court card room to see if there's degen action on Christmas Eve. May wander down to Sam's Hideaway, I love the dive bar scene.

Up for meeting any SFla 2P2ers if they like.

Probably hang out in the keys for the week, but you never know.

At least I'm going the right direction this year, no more wintertime in the frozen north.

I guess a mini travel. Friends from my life in the midwest rented a place in Steamboat, invited me up for the weekend.

Steamboat is out there. A nice drive, the weather is nice & sunny.

Pretty nice sunrise.

Check-in complete. In ~ 30 hours should be in Miami.

With apologies to Jimmy Buffett

Just sitting in the United Club at DIA waiting for the flight to Miami. Tonight in Florida City, then a few days in Marathon.

Not permanently leaving CO, but I am going to check out the keys as a possible winter home/retirement destination.

I have this fantasy of having a place somewhere warm and going there during the cold weather. Then, as I get older and less tolerant of cold, that becoming my main place, and Colorado being the summer home.

Probably won't ever work out, but it's a nice dream.

Or maybe I'll buy a small RV sorta thing, and just follow the sun.

RV/driving down to Latin America >>> settling down in Florida ; my 2 cents

Duly noted; hope you're not offended by the plagiarism of your style above.

So, got in, rental car acquisition smooth. Drove down to Florida City, kind of a hassle to get to the hotel due to road construction, but made it.

Walked down US 1, thinking I'd get some Pollo Tropical (a local Caribbean chicken fast-food place) which I'd enjoyed in the past. 7:30 and they're all locked up. Well, it is Christmas Eve.

Eventually found something to eat, just needed a snack really. Walked down to the Last Chance Saloon, pretty much the last thing on the mainland, for a beer. A bit more country/redneck than suits me, but the people were friendly, a good dive bar.

Walked back, got some beers for the room, then wandered into Kings Court Key poker room. Made an improbable full house early to finish +$52.

Back to the room, called a family friend up north to say Merry Christmas and have a couple beers. Still on MST, so up kind of late for here, but not to me.

Tomorrow down to the keys for a few days. Or maybe the rest of forever, who knows.

Started out gray and overcast. Wandered down to the keys.

Stopped at Islamorada Beer Company for one. Went out back and met a nice couple and their friendly dogs, had a very nice conversation.

Got down to Marathon where I'm staying, met the motel owner and got the key.

Wandered down further. Saw some key deer.



They're kind of interesting, they've developed to be smaller to live among the tangle of mangrove roots as so on.

Anyway, from there wandered down to Key West. Went to a place where I'd seen a college acquaintance as the chef on Food Network . The waitress didn't know Jim, I assume he's moved on.

Then over to Mallory Square for the sunset. Pleasant. They had these floating tiki bars that seemed ike they'd be fun.




A couple of nice sunset shots





Once again, denied the green flash.

Back up to Marathon, now just relaxing.

Not much today, just kind of relaxed.

Went down to Sombrero Beach in the morning. In the afternoon, went back to No Name Key to try out the No Name Pub that the couple from Islamorada told me about.

Generally my kind of dive, locals bar, but had a slight headache and just wasn't in the mood. Stopped for one, then headed back.

On the way, stopped at the foot of one of the bridges. For reasons that aren't clear to me, they keep the old highway up in places, even though it doesn't seem as if it can be safe.



Saw these guys



Tried to silhouette the palm and fisher with the setting sun. Meh.



Then went back to Sunset Grille on the east footing of the Seven Mile Bridge for (what else) sunset, but the clouds didn't play along.



Thought the illumination of the bridge might be interesting, but also meh.

Went back down to Key West today. Unfortunately, the google photos URL converter tool isn't working, so I can't add pictures.

For reasons that I can't get an explanation which I understand, they've left up the original Overseas Highway in places. Looks like it's about ready to fall down to me.

A few places in these stretches that are up, trees have taken root. It's a holiday tradition that someone climbs up there and decorates them for Christmas.

Poked along down US 1. Actually stopped in and talked with a real estate agent about the logistics of buying a winter place down here.

Basically wandered around Key West for the afternoon, Mallory Square for sunset, then back to Marathon. No great pictures, but at least the sun did make an appearance below some clouds before setting, so it was nice.

Yesterday, went up to Islamorada for the day. Just kind of wandered around.

Upon returning to Marathon, went down to the Sunset Grille for the sunset again. Back at the hotel, walked down the road to the Atlantic and noticed a great scene of the moon and Venus (I think) just above the silhouette of some palm trees.

Unfortunately, didn't bring a tripod, and couldn't hand-hold the camera steady enough to expose the shot.

Today, left the keys. Just poked along. Saw the Caribbean Club, where Key Largo was filmed.

Went over to where the African Queen is docked, but it wasn't around. Supposedly the actual ship, restored. They give cruises around. The ticket booth sorta thing was empty and tarp-covered, so not sure if I just missed them, or they weren't going today.

Card Sound Road back for the obligatory stop at Alabama Jack's, then up US 1 to North Miami Beach. Staying a couple blocks off the beach. Wandered over this afternoon, but it's cloudy and pretty breezy. Maybe see about catching the sunrise tomorrow.

Not much today. Took a drive up US 1 just to do so, then back down I 95. People down here don't get the concept of slower traffic staying right.

Kind of cloudly, off-and-on rain, so I wouldn't have been to the beach anyway.

On the way up, happened across the Gulfstream track & casino. Hey! I've heard that name before!

Stopped in a little after 9, I think. It was important that the game started at 10 (not sure if that was by law, by rule, by convention, or what and didn't ask).

Played a couple orbits of OMC poker, +$22. Pretty much what you'd expect, everyone chasing jackpots, so a bunch of callers, fit-or-fold. Pretty nice guys to spend a little time with though.

Came over to tonight's hotel nearer the airport, just south of Hiahleah. Get here, and the lady speaks very little English, my Spanish isn't great. She had a guy there who could help, and between us we got it figured out that I'd reserved and paid via Orbitz. She only knew Expedia, but I showed her the app and tried to explain that they're really the same company.

The hotel's in a lower-to-middle class neighborhood. When I checked in, there were two towels, two full bars of soap, and two rolls of toilet paper on the bed. A small fridge and microwave with some empty shelves, the door opens right onto the bed.

I get the feeling it's usually a long-term stay for people that need a simple place which will take occasional overnight visitors like me, not a hotel in the usual sense.

Anyway, tomorrow's flight back is afternoon, so no hurry. I found out while in the keys that the Orange Bowl is tonight, so airport might be busy. Though I guess Florida is one of the teams, so maybe a lot of their fans drove.

Anyway, figure I'll wander around a little tomorrow after getting up, then fly on home.

Took a few days, but down in the keys time just disappeared. I actually had to ask someone what day it was when some schedule came up. I've learned that's a sign of a good vacation.

Work Thursday and Friday, then we'll have to see about things. It was pretty nice to just relax and beat around this week.

But go back I will tomorrow. My understanding is Denver has cooled quite a lot since I left, and had a little snow, but nothing major.

Went over to Hiahleah tonight. Played in a pretty aggressive 1/2 game and got an almost immediate double-up (I think it was the first hand I played) with AK suited (see, it does win sometimes!)

Since that wasn't my goal for the night, I moved over to the 2/4 limit game.

Flopped a full house to make even more beer money, and put that to use.

So had a few beers, +129.

Were this OOT, I'd now be making a thread about how my "hourly in South Florida is about $40" and "I should turn pro and move down here".

While the very last part of that may be true, I understand sample size. I will say, however, there seem to be a number of quite bad players around here.

Hope everyone has a good New Year's.

Random thoughts from the most recent adventure:

Poker in South Florida is pretty bad. I was never a great player, and now am just recreational. Obvious errors everywhere, even to my untrained eye. In the $2/$4 limit game I played, couldn't believe the number of times I saw people bust, buy in for $20 or $40, bust that, rinse and repeat. OMC grinders chasing jackpots checking down obvious winners instead of going for value. People paying off with something like third pair on a connected board. etc, etc.

Spanish a huge help in Miami. Even touristy Spanish like mine helps you get by.

Key West is ok to visit, but wouldn't want to live there.

MIA is a pretty crappy airport. Maybe it was due to flying United instead of Delta, so I was on a minor concourse.

Didn't love the keys like last time. Not sure why. Still intrigued by the possibility of having a winter place down there, but not ready to go like I was in 2016. Might be nicer for an occasional visit than a place to live.

I do like the vibe of the keys, kind of "do your own thing". Marathon probably fits me best as a combination of convenience (big enough to have groceries, Home Depot, restaurants and bars) and exclusivity (really lack thereof; more blue-collar, regular people than Islamorada or Key West, but you can get to those things pretty easily).

Still,

So maybe if I get tired of working, I'll figure it out someday.

Ah, my image URL app is back to life, so here's some pictures.

As mentioned, there are some trees growing out of the old bits of the overseas highway which get decorated at Christmas. Here's what I got driving by at 55 MPH.



Here's a picture of the old highway. Seems like it's ready to fall down. I don't know why they don't take it down safely rather than let it collapse, but they have engineers and I don't.



A nice palm tree picture



Sunset at Mallory Square, Key West



and sunset at Sunset Grille, Marathon



After taking this, I went back to my hotel, then walked down to the Atlantic side. There's a house at the end of the street which is undergoing renovation, I assume from the hurricane.

Anyway, in the front yard is a palm tree, over which was a crescent moon and Venus close together, with just enough sky partially illuminated by the now-set sun near the horizon in back of it all.

Would've been a great picture, but it was too dark for my camera to expose in a hand-held length of time, and I didn't bring a tripod.

Of course, didn't even occur to me to take a go with my phone's camera, which probably has better low-light exposure technology than my old SLR. Still pissed about that, had I managed to pull it off, would've been really nice to get framed up.

Ah well, we all have our disappointments. Pretty minor, as life goes.

Here I am at DIA, waiting time to go to Ireland.

Seems kinda dead here, but I don't usually show up on a Wednesday afternoon, either.

One of my friends sent me a text that I "better watch the news tonight, Trump may impose EU travel restrictions."

So I suppose it's possible they'll turn around part of the way there, or won't let me in once I get there. But, short of something like that, I should wake up near Heathrow in a while.

It seems as the UK-USA flights have yet to be cancelled... You might have to make it down to the UK or have to wait it out longer then expected in Ireland... Either way, GL, I hope you will enjoy/do not have obligations back home friend