"Oh Yeah, I Forgot...the Rodeo's in Town" Pt. 2

Saturday

I finally had a chance to sleep, as Darsky was sleeping when Mitch and I got back to the hotel room after our blackjack run. I passed out, while Dar got up and went to go play the $5/10NL at the Bellagio, raking in a pretty good score while I was sleeping. Around 11AM I woke up and took a shower and saw that Dar had awoken.

I called up Uncle Pauly, and then Darsky and I took Mitch's car to go pick him up. When he had told me he was staying at the Circus Circus the week before I thought he was just joking around. But.....nope. If there's ever been a more horrible casino, I'd like someone to point it out to me. As soon as we walked inside it felt like a place of death.

When we found Paul he was in a $40 tournament, being dealt to the world's most crooked rejects by a 80 year old dealer who couldn't quite move the pot around without sweating, and suffering from what appeared to be a series of minor heart attacks. We had to wait around and fear for our personal health until he busted out and we could leave.

"What the hell is wrong with you Paul?"

"The cheapest room I could find for this weekend."

"Oh yeah, I forgot...the rodeo's in town."

"Oh is it? That's why I keep seeing all these cowboys, huh?"

"Let's get out of here before I puke. It smells like feces."

Of course I had to dump $80 bucks at the $5 Let It Ride table before we took off. Come on....how can you pass up a $5 table....

We sprinted back to the car and took off towards the MGM Grand. Don't ask me why, but for some reason I have a rabid affection for the Rainforest Cafe. I had it at the MGM with my dad the first time I ever went to Vegas when I was younger, and that might be why, but for whatever the cause may be I HAVE to go there every time I go to Vegas now. I've been to the one in downtown Disney, but it wasn't the same.

Unfortunately for them, Dar and Pauly don't like the Rainforest Cafe as much as I do. Oh well! It was my birthday.....errr month..... and we were going whether they wanted to or not! I ordered the usual Chicken Fried Chicken and a huge glass of iced tea. Ah god it was so good! If I were Homer Simpson (if only life were that good), the Rainforest Cafe would be my donuts.

After eating we headed across the floor to the poker "room". For anyone who hasn't been to the MGM, the poker room is a sectioned-off area in the middle of the casino floor. It's not in the middle of the slot machines or anything, it's actually conveniently away from the gaming tables and is surrounded by cafes and stores, so it's very secluded from the gaming floor noises that drive some players crazy. It's large enough to hold around 25(?) tables, and has the cage in the middle.

On this day I was really pleased to see the poker tables buzzing with action. Last time I had been there, they had just finished redoing the poker room and there was maybe three tables going total. When we were there after lunch, though, there were only about five tables not running games.

I was the first of the three of us to get in a game, opting to take the $4/8 while waiting on a decent interest list for a $6/12. There were plenty of $1/2NL games going, some $2/5NL, and a $5/10NL going. I wasn't in the mood to play NL, but going to Vegas I really wanted to get into a decent limit game, since the only thing that ever goes at Chumash is a $3/6, with an occasional $4/8. I wasn't too happy with only being able to play $4/8, but a seat was open and it was time to start trying to beat whatever game I was in as I was planning on playing poker for the rest of the trip.

I took the open seat while Dar sat at the $5/10NL and Paul eventually got a seat at the $1/2NL. After a few rounds the $6/12 finally started up and I started taking control of the table. I was talking it up, playing, and raking pots. I got into a verbal squash with a loudmouth, trash-talking kid who apparently lived in Vegas and was too cool for school. The guy was a total ass-clown and I made him feel like a little kid when I backtalked him off of the table within a half an hour of sitting down. The whole table was cracking up cuz for every word he had I had two more to throw back at him. He dropped about $50 and racked up and left, leaving the rest of us on the floor laughing at his rediculousness. The game only lasted for a little bit, but I was able to pick up $300 before the table broke.

We were able to fill the table back up by making it a $4/8, and I sat dead for a while while Dar was raking it up at the $5/10NL. I picked up another $50 and racked up. Dar and I took off, leaving Pauly and one of his buddies who had met him there to fend for themselves. We went back to the hotel room for a sec to see how much Mitch had learned to love the hotel room, and then it was off to see if anything was happening at the Palms. Of course the Palms was filled with tons and tons of hot women, but not even a glimpse of good poker. The Wynn was next on the list.

By this time Dar was starving so we needed to find food, and fast! As soon as we arrived at the Wynn we headed over to the Red8, a chinese food restaurant. It was friggin delicious, and I was starting to see a theme of good food in this wonderful city. I had the chicken chow mein, and I would have it every day for every meal if I could! If there's one thing I love more than poker in this world, it's food. I love eating, and I love enjoying a meal. I'm not a big guy (6'0" 190lbs), but I can sure put away some food, and I could see that the food was quickly becoming one of my favorite things about Vegas.

After the delicious self-gratification experienced at the Red8, we made our way over to the bustling poker room. I gotta say, I love the Wynn's poker room. They play ten-handed, which is normally a cramp. But the Wynn's poker tables are about foot wider than a normal 4.5' table (at least on the bottom level, Dar said the upper level tables were average). If there's one thing I hate when I'm playing cards, it's playing cards when there's no room for my legs to fit under the poker table thanks to the slobs and fat men sitting to either side of me. But thanks to wide tables and supremely comfortable chairs, the Wynn was completely awesome to play at.

I bought in to the $8/16 for $300 in brown chips and took a seat 6-handed. A couple hands after I sat in this Asian guy came into the 7s. Immediately he looked like someone who was gonna piss me off. I love it when I'm right. He bought in for one rack and within the first hour of play had turned it into just over three. He was not folding preflop, and seemed to be catching everything on everyone. I was glad it wasn't just me, but it was still very annoying.

The game finally filled up, and I was sitting on only $100. I rebought another rack to fill me back up, and quickly went on a small rush. I finally started winning pots against the jackass in the 7s, and was able to win a couple pots against the rest of the table as well. Just as I had pushed over the five-ball I was in for, Darsky had come up and said that his game was no good. I didn't wanna leave, as the game had just started to liven up, but I can't leave my best wingman hanging like that. Plus, there was money to be had wherever we went, it was Vegas baby.

Having been in a soft game earlier, Dar suggested we go back to the MGM. We went back but this time the action was less than optimal. So instead of staying to play cards, we decided to do the one thing we were equally good at: drink! We went back to the hotel to rescue Mitch from his hotel room jail cell and the three of us went downstairs to search out comfortable spots at the quarter machines at the bar.

I took an early lead in the drinks, taking on multiple rounds of Jack and Cokes. We were all involved in a heated session of Battle Keno, and Darsky was so involved that he fell to dead last in the drunk race. Being the best alcholer out of the three of us, I had expected him to come out strong. But he neglected his drinks at the beginning, and at the end of the night was the only one with any money left in the machine. He was also the only one getting free drinks after about an hour.

Bastard.

After a few hours of watching Darsky splitting two 10s against a 9 for a quarter at a time playing video blackjack, we retired to the room. When we got there I had this brilliant idea to order ice cream sundaes? It was probably around 1AM, and supposedly ice cream sundaes triple in price at that of the night, cuz it was like $40 for three of them.


That was the end of Saturday. I'm still sick, and I'm pretty tired at this particular morning, so I'm not gonna finish the whole trip right now. I'll write up Sunday and post a Part 3.

Watch Out for the Tissues on the Floor

No no......not those ones.

And don't trip over the empty box on the floor over there. That's my Tylenol Cold with "Instant Cool Burst Sensation". There's nothing instant about this crappy medication. I still feel like hell. And they only put 24 caplets in a package, can you believe that? I guess you're not supposed to eat them like M&Ms, but candy coatings are delicious so whatever.

All day my nose has been messed up. One minute it's blocked beyond all hope, and the next minute it's like a switch is clicked inside my head that opens my nasal passages to let a flood of snot and sickness come flowing out of my head. Back and forth and back and forth. I'm blowing through tissues in phases, and it is supremely annoying. Make up your mind dammit. Either be runny or be stuffy. Stop fuckin around, Nose.


I've half thought of pulling back and giving myself a swift punch to my face, in hopes to break my own nose and stop this apparent decisional dilemma it's encountering. Don't think I won't do it. But then I'd have to weigh the cost of getting my nose fixed to the cost of all these tissues that I'm using. Hmph.

Of course I could just skip the tissues and the broken nose altogether, and use my mitts. I could build up a dry, glistening trail of mucus across the back of my hands. The only problem there being that I'd have to look at it while I'm on the computer all day.

Bring back the tissues.

All day at work my nose has been suffering from this metronomic rythm of snot flow. It's damn annoying and, in my eyes, completely unneccessary. If my pussy immune system would just do its job and keep things like this out of my body then I would be fine. But nooooo. Although I guess all is fair in life. I got blessed with extremely good looks and an insanely awesome personality, yet my body can't defend itself against a cold virus. Sounds like a fair trade if you ask me.

I'm gonna go admire myself in the mirror for a little bit and then lay down and throw on the tube. Hopefully these 24 candy medicines will kick in soon and help me out. I'm taking a bucket and a drill with me to bed anyways, just to be prepared for the back and forth that's gonna occur in my nasal area all night.

And I have just about half of the rest of my Vegas trip already written up, so I should be able to complete it and post it tomorrow night. Have patience folks. Adios.

It's Cold!!

Anyone who's a blogger must already know about the Brandi Hawbaker story over at 2+2. No? Well if you haven't, imagine LonelyGirl15 taken off the webcam and thrown headfirst into the depths of the poker world. This one's got every character you need to make a good, old-fashioned suspense/mystery. A Captain with a pokey penis, a schizophrenic played by Dutch Boyd (what is it about this guy that I think is so badass, maybe it's the bandanna?), and a smokin hot petite brunette with a rack that'll send you to the stars. When I look at and listen to Brandi's story, I can't help but be reminded of Michelle Monaghan in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, only in the fact that she's a troubled, young, superbly hot female. I'm excited to see how this one ends.

And of course all this went down the weekend AFTER I was in Vegas. And unbeknown to me, the Bloggers' Convention was in town that very same weekend. Eh...whatever. But had this whole thing been uncovered two weeks earlier, I would've loved to have seen and heard the commotions and the going ons at the Bellagio when I was down there. Talk about good stuff...and especially if Brandi's gonna keep prancing around with her boobs hanging out. There's a good excuse to bust out my new camera. Bust out.......hmph.

I don't know what's wrong with my brain. I have some incomprehensible fascination with crazy chicks who just happen to be utterly attractive as well. Nobody wants to deal with crazy chicks. They're more trouble than you think they are at first, they'll take the life out of you, and in the end you end up just as crazy as they are for having to put up with their consistent insanity.

But I'll be damned if the craziest ones aren't the hottest. You can't tell me that if Harmony Faith Lane came up to you in person and wanted to take you to a hotel room, that you wouldn't take her hand and follow her to wherever it was that she wanted to go so that she could handle you. Well, you probably wouldn't, but I would. Maybe some people have that self-control, but I sure as shit don't. I would try to resist, I really would. But how could I manage to turn down that crazy broad if Robert Downey Jr. couldn't? EXACTLY, I don't think I could. Perhaps RDJ and I should form a club. But then again I'd have to get hopped up on a bunch of drugs first, or else our club wouldn't be real solidly founded would it?

Ok so scratch that.

I've noticed so far in life that this particular fascination is one that's bound to get me into trouble. It's that exact personality flaw that's gotten me into the situation I'm in now. The hot, petite dirty-blonde who I know is the worst news imaginable. She's the one who will crush my soul, yank my beating heart right out of my chest, and steal the wallet from my lifeless bloody corpse. Those eyes though! How do you not just fall in love with her the second you see her eyes?! She'll feed me lies, she'll feed me lines, and I'll unwillingly listen to every one. Damn me, damn me.......but I'm falling for her. Uh oh, wait a minute. I almost made myself throw up from that last line. I'll knock it off.

Anyways Winter's finally here now. As I'm writing this it's about 20 degrees in the office and I'm pretty sure that my feet are going to have to be amputated. I keep trying to turn on the floor heater that's right under my desk, but every time I hit the On button the power gets knocked out in this icy hell that is 406 Haley St. *Sigh*......fuck it's cold. Haha I don't know why I'm complaining though, I'd rather it be 20 degrees than 90 degrees. Sweaters go a lot further than fans do ya know!

Also, as is usual for this time of year, it's Tuesday and I haven't even started Christmas shopping yet. Worse yet there's no mega-malls in Santa Barbara, which means I gotta go downtown and hit up State St. Honestly, that doesn't sound too appetizing to me. I'll just hit up the mall in the valley when I go back to the family on Sunday night. Stores are open on Christmas Eve, I'll be fine.

If there's one thing I mastered in school, it was how to procrastinate like a champion. Although that was primarily in my English courses, but English...Christmas shopping...practically the same. Plus from what I hear, the longer you sit at work neglecting your job the better ideas you come up with for presents. And at this rate everyone's gonna love me come Christmas day.

Thankfully I'm getting my writing rhythm back. I stopped writing for a little bit of time, but I got some things in my life that inspire and require me to write now, so hopefully I'll be on this writing thing for a while.

Until next time.

PS - Vegas, P2 is coming, be patient with me

New Camera!! Yessss!!

I got my Casio EX-Z850 today in the mail. Thankfully I was able to get it shipped UPS, as I have two other packages waiting to come to me via USPS that will probably never make it here until after February sometime, nevermind the fact that they shipped out weeks ago. Shit I hate Santa Barbara's postal service.......

Oh yeah, and I'll have Pt. 2 of my Vegas trip up tomorrow, probably night time. There's poker in this one, you'll all enjoy it I swear :)

"Oh Yeah, I Forgot...the Rodeo's in Town" Pt. 1

Another gem from the quote machine......

After work on Thursday I packed up my bag and headed out to Ventura to meet up with Mitch, where we'd take off to LA to pick up Darsky on our way out to Vegas. For the past month or so Mitch had been complaining about not having enough money for this Vegas trip, his credit cards are maxed, blah blah blah. I walked into his room on Thursday night, and the first thing I see is a brand new PS3. Good job Mitch. He said he had opened up a Best Buy card the night before and got the PS with a bunch of BluRay DVDs. It's a friggin sweet lookin console....I'll give it to him....but self control man, SELF CONTROL!! My fault for bringing a broke, impulsive-buyer to Vegas?? Perhaps.......

After about half an hour of me playing Resistance: Fall of Man on his Samsung 56" 1080p DLP, I'd had enough and was ready for Sin City. He packed and we left. We stopped in the valley for a little bit first to stop by my dad's and we were at Dar's place at around 10PM. We started the trip with an extended conversation about TVs and resolutions. I like to think that I like electronics and that I know a little bit about the subject, but damn these guys are like tech gurus. I could sure use some advice from these guys along the road of purchasing electronics...

We stopped in FREEZING Baker for gas, and arrived in the city at about 5AM. First order of business: food! We went to a restaurant in the Bellagio for our first meal, which consisted of iced tea and $20 eggs benedict. We stared at the jumping water fountains in the plants for a couple minutes, then we decided to go on a trek to find a $5 blackjack table. We went to the Barbary Coast and found a table with one guy who was playing pretty by-the-book, which is great news cuz around here at Chumash the only people playing blackjack are retards who don't know what a blackjack is.

We all started off decently, but time took its toll on us in different ways. Darsky got reamed pretty hard pretty quickly, while Mitch started slow and was able to make a couple-hundred dollar score. Mitch had a total of $300 dollars for the whole four-day trip, which was hilarious in its own right, but he deserved the win and could have used the money more than Darsky or me. I broke dead even after like 2 hours, so....go me. That's a win in my book when it comes to blackjack.

By the time we were done it was only 9AM, and we didn't have check-in until 11AM. Unfortunately I was ass-tired, as I had to wake up at 7AM Thursday morning, and Mitch was pretty tired, too. Dar was good to go, and I knew I would end up in a card room with him before I even saw a pillow (priorities man!). Mitch was pretty dead so we decided to head to the hotel to get an early check-in. Then, as we stepped out of the door of the Barbary Coast, I noticed an oddity in the streets. Pretty much 80% of the people walking around were wearing flannels, spurred boots, and cowboy hats. Anyone who knows Vegas knows that it was definitely Rodeo time. I had totally forgotten about it since hearing about it weeks ago, but I wouldn't be allowed to forget for the rest of the trip, as I saw more hats and lassos this weekend than I'd ever seen in my life.

We got to the Aladdin to face a long line of check-in...ers? Thankfully the desk staff was competent and I didn't have to wait long. We got the obvious front desk upgrade, which was free when she noticed us getting the employee discount in the first place. Whether or not it would've been free is questionable, but we got for free in any case so that was just fine. It was a quarter to 10AM by this point, and John said that he might have been dealing the 10AM tourney at the Aladdin room, so Mitch went upstairs and Darsky and I headed straight to the poker room.

When we showed up there was only one 1/2NL game going with a noticably loud drunk foreign guy. There was three tables signed up for the tournament. It was a $60 buy-in, started with T1500 at twenty-minute levels. I was pretty dead, played a few small pots, and eventually pushed in with JJ for 1100 at 100-200 and got action from A10. An Ace on the flop and that was that. Nothing disappointing, actually almost expected. I was still feelin pretty tired, but noticed a small 3/6 waiting to get started. I bought a rack and took a seat, and we started playing shorthanded.

John had missed dealing the 10AM, but had come in to help set up for and deal the 1PM. He stopped by my seat and we had a quick chat. He made a few trips over to my table to watch me donk around in the 3/6, and I got a chance to thank him for the room.

After about half an hour I was down about $40 and Dar came over after he busted out. We started with our usual banter with each other when we sit at the same table. We made quick "friends" with Lisa, a middle-aged detective who was a pretty decent player. She maybe thought she was better than she was, either that or she was playing against Darsky and me, who eat 3/6 games for breakfast (it was about 11AM....that's about right).

Then the game died.

So we decided to play double-flop hold'em heads up. Lisa had sat out to wait for the game to fill, but dropped another rack to the two of us when we goaded her back into play. Then she left again, and we continued heads up. A short time later we had interest in starting back up the 3/6 and were glad to have the seats filled. I was still dead tired, but fell into my low limit limit hold'em drone. I started with Coronas and ended up at the end of our 5-hour session with coffee. We eventually had a full game going, with players and chips and everything. It was quite a welcome change to the earlier morning. Lisa was still in it, and still rebuying. I took multiple pots off of her with bluffs, and she ran into my nuts a few times (can I say that??) when she had the guts to call me down. GG Lisa.

Then there was this damn old guy in the 5s who kept pissin me off by catching his mediocre draws and backing into winning hands. It was nothing unusual, but pushing me on a 30-hour no sleep session was putting a frown on my face. At around 3PM we decided to go grab food, since we hadn't eaten since 5AM and I needed energy. As we were racking up, the dealer called over the floor person and had him comp us at the buffet for keeping the game together, and being pretty much the only players talking to and tipping the dealers since we had been there.

Around that time John was getting off his tiny shift, as he had really only come in to deal the 1PM, so he joined us and (obviously) got in on the comp. We headed down to the buffet, which was delicious. I saw seafood and was hesitant, but John insisted that it was good, and indeed it was! I had the seafood, the Italian, and a small bit of Chinese, and it was all very delicious. One thing that has me peeved about Vegas is the rising prices of foods and amneties. In the past, one of the bigger draws for Vegas was the $5.95 buffets, and if you want that now you gotta head to places that people don't wanna necessarily head to. Although the food is quite better in comparison, the prices are catching up with the quality. But we got a $75 trip for free, so I can't really complain.

The food was good, talking with John was better. I hadn't seen him since before he left Ventura for Vegas. He's a great guy and a fun person to hang around. I didn't get to see him after this for the whole trip, which sucked, but next time I go out there it's on the list of important things to do. He didn't even get a chance to meet up with Mitch since he was passed out at this point. Next time, we gotta.

By 4 I had had enough and we took that horrible, bastardly trip back and forth from the casino to the parking garage to grab our bags. I'm telling you right now that the devil was in charge of the layout of the Aladdin/Planet Hollywood - Desert Passage combo. In order to get back and forth from the parking garage and the casino/hotel you need to take a two-day trek through random retail stores and restaurants, cleverly disguised in a pseudo-desert surrounding. I'll give 'em that the Desert Passage mall is a work of art, it's an awesome place and it's a fun outlet. I'll also say that it's completely unneccessary to walk through the whole damn thing to get something out of the car. K we got a good deal on the room so /end rant

We headed up to the room and it was sleep time! I ended up getting three tantalizing hours of close-eye, and by then Mitch was ready for a night of gambling with his newly won "wad". I got up at around 7PM and took a shower. Then we hit the strip. We were gonna walk as we were in great position on the strip, and we decided on the Monte Carlo. We spent a few hours there playing blackjack and drinking Jack N Cokes. We each dropped a few hundred there over a couple hours, with the usual ups and downs of that damn game. I decided to toss a bill at the 3-card poker table for shits and giggles and picked up 2 hands the whole time. That went as planned.

From there we took a walk over to the New York New York cuz I enjoy the scenery. That probably sounds pretty gay, but I WAS an art major and I enjoy art of the physical kind, so I really enjoy themes, props, scenery, etc. Anyways, while playing there I was able to grab the Snag of the Trip for this trip around (I'm also a poker chip fanatic, for those who don't know). The dealer had a whole rack of them, and I was able to grab a pretty much mint snapper from the NY NY. And I know I know, but I have a new Casio EX-Z850 coming on Monday, so take it easy on me.

Anyways the drinks were still flowing as Mitch blew pretty much all of his money. On the first night out, that was expected. Let's just say that for next two days Mitch grew to know the ins and outs of our hotel room. He probably even learned the Bellagio's waterballet schedule thanks to our Bellagio fountain view.

After I lost a little bit there, we headed back to the Aladdin, being that Mitch now had no more money to play. I got crushed to the tune of another $200 on the way up to the hotel room as I saw an open BJ table and thought I could take her. Wrong answer!! Still love that game, though...I knew that since Mitch was done it would be straight poker for the next two days, and damn was I ready.

Next time I'll talk about the Red8, the big names, and the big bluff gone horribly good.

Until next time.

Quotes Are Great

"What will you do if you win the million dollar first prize?"

"Well, I guess I'll probably pay off some bills and some debts."

"So what will you do with the rest?"

"Well, I guess I'll just tell them that they have to wait."

-Interviewer questioning Thor Hansen before a final table

Hahahahaha!


And I'll be updating with my Vegas trip report tonight. Keep cool my babies...

Departure Is Upon Me

I didn't think I was ever gonna get off work today, but damn it feels good to be home! Or should I call it a docking station. Or should I call it a launch pad. Whatever the hell it is....it's gonna be behind me in about two hours. It's Vegas time!

The countdown began at the beginning of the week and it felt like there was no end in sight, but alas it's here! We'll be heading out from Ventura at around 8:30 tonight. We're probably gonna roam around until we can check into our room in the afternoon, and then the fun begins. Five days of pure excitement and non-stop action.

This is what dreams are made of.

Birthday Weekend

If another day had passed by without a game of poker in it, I might not still be here. I might have perished off the side of the Earth. I might have spontaneously combusted and there might have been no noticeable remains of my body left. I might have fallen into a black hole in the ground, only to get eaten by the planet and never be seen again. But thankfully Darsky had a hankerin' for that good ole' Chumash so I'm still alive and breathing.

Suffering through a horribly boring Friday night, I sent an SOS to Dar to come up and play some Chumash poker. He responded with a "tomorrow night" and that was that. He arrived, we ate, we played. We took off to Chumash at about 5PM and showed up to only ONE 2/5NL game. The 1/2NL had four tables going, of course, so we were at the mercy of the poker gods to open up some new 2/5NL games. Fortunately for the both of us two new tables opened up within twenty minutes and we both took seats at different tables.

I felt good going into it (of course, as I wouldn't go if I didn't). I got off to a quick decent start by catching a small straight for a small pot, but after that I just couldn't get off the ground. I was getting outflopped, caught on, and getting unlucky. My first big pair was QQ, which I raised to $20. I got called in two places behind me, one seat being a tight-ish player I'd seen before, and it folded back around. The board came up A-K-x, and I checked to the two callers and a betting war ensued between the both of them, each chopping up with AJ. Two hands later I picked up KK and raised it up to $20 again after one limper. Both blinds called as did the limper, giving me position. The flop came up 7-7-10. The small blind bet $25, the big blind called, and the limper raised it up to $70. I thought for a second before letting it go in light of the action, and there was a chop again with each of them holding A7.

So needless to say there was major action, and I just needed to catch a hand and I would get action on it all the way down. Unfortunately that didn't happen. I ended up widdling down to around $100 when I looked down at AKd on the button. There was a raise to $20, a call from a kid sittin on around $800, and I pushed with my $100 in position. The original raiser folded, and the kid called if off with the 56h. The board came up 4h-6x-7h, making me about a 10-1 dog. I turned the A, but was still facing major outs. Another 6 hit the river and I rebought. Over the next three hours I just couldn't get anything going. I picked up JJ and QQ, but couldn't play after the flop on either of them. Widdling down again I got caught with a bad kicker on my Ace and decided to take a walk.

I hit the casino floor for a couple minutes to take a breather, and headed back to the poker room ready to go one more buy. I waited to get a seat at Darsky's table, since we always have a blast playing the same table and our styles of play allow us to stay out of each other's way. He was up, and we started to have a good time. I was down to about $150 from my $200 buy, and finally caught a hand. I checked off my 99 in the big blind after four limpers, and had a beautiful looking A-9-3 flop. We got three way betting action, and a 3 on the turn filled me up. I ended up doubling and half up on that hand and finally had gained some ground. Unfortunately, the fun wouldn't continue long.

I ended up working my way to around $500 when I picked up AA. I raised it up to $20 and had two callers, one who was sittin on around $120, and the other who was sittin on $200. The board came up 10-high and the 1s pushed in. The middle seat called off, and I reraised to put him all in. He ended up calling with 99. The turn was a 9 and that was another hand lost to bad luck. I ended up getting QQ and KK one more time, letting the Qs go to an Ace-high board facing action, and I won a small pot when I flopped a third King. Darsky had been stale since building his stack to around $900 earlier in the night, and we decided to leave. I was sittin on around $350 by this point, and raised it up to $15 with the 45s and got two callers. The board came up Qs-xs-xs, and I bet out $45. I got called twice. The turn was, of course, the 2s, and the small blind pushed all-in for $1,000. I racked up my remaining $200+ and took off, disappointed in the night's occurances.

My buddy Mitch was up at Chumash as well, and ended up coming back with Darsky and me. We called up Joe on the way back and the four of us went to go grab some food before returning back to my place where we all crashed at about 5AM. Then in the morning, it was my birthday! Darsky took off and Mitch and I went downtown to go to this Mexican place for brunch. We met up with my little lady friend and her friend, and had all-you-can-drink margaritas and mermosas until 2 o'clock.

After that we we to a couple more bars downtown, and drank the day away. We headed down to the Lounge to play some pool, that which I was doing horribly. I'm usually ok, but when I'm drinking I don't think I can make a single shot. Oh well...it was still fun and then we parted and Mitch and I headed to Ventura. I dealt a small $5 tourney at Mitch's house, and then I tagged along with the group as we headed down to the bowling alley. We got a few pitchers of beer and bowled for a few hours. All around it was a good time, and Mitch and I bet on most of our games. We all left the bowling alley at around midnight, and we ordered some pizza before I took off back to Santa Barbara at 2AM.

All around the weekend was great and I had a lot of good company. Next weekend will probably be even better, as Darsky, Mitch, and myself are all headed out to Vegas! We'll be there from the 8th-11th thanks to John, who got us a cheap, cheap room at the Aladdin.

Until next time.