I got delayed at the TSA because I was stuck behind a genius who tried to bring a railroad spike onto the plane. “I’m just really into trains and wanted a souvenir!” … fucking brilliant. She got to keep it in her checked bag…. But I had to throw away my non travel sized shave gel. I’m thinking they’re not our best and brightest citizens in the TSA.
Now I’m waiting in the concourse with a super considerate Karen FaceTiming on speaker phone around 30 people
Everglades Club golf course is probably up there on the list:
https://golfweek.usatoday.com/2021/09/11/private-florida-island-everglades-golf-club-for-sale-for-200-million/
I got stopped trying to bring a menorah onto a plane. I had to go box it up and check it. They were very apologetic, though, and the gate agents were quick to help because security radioed down to tell them to expect me in a few minutes.
That’s what I was thinking. I can’t imagine playing there or in AZ in the summer anyway. I have a few friends with parents that have houses in AZ and golf all winter but they are out as soon as it’s at all hot.
I hate the heat but I acclimated to Vegas heat when I lived there and played golf all summer.
The nice thing about working 12’s is that you can pick your 3 days a week, and get 4 days off. We make our schedule 2+ months out, and on a lark I frontloaded one week and backloaded the next, so I gave myself 6 straight days off around a weekend.
The schedule got published right when I got back from my 2 weeks in Vegas. It got me thinking… hmmmm… I wonder what events in the WSOP are that weekend?
I wonder what flights look like right now?
I wonder what AirBnB’s I could find?
…And just like that, I’m making another Vegas trip THIS weekend to play the $1500 Closer event at WSOP!
My flight leaves tonight. Plan is to play cash at my favorite rooms (Wynn and Venetian for sure, maybe Resorts World), play The Closer this weekend, and fly back Monday night/Tuesday morning!
No grand plans for food this trip, so sorry to let y’all down… but I will be documenting anyway. I feel like I owe @Fatboy8 a trip to Shang to get some hand motherfucking pulled noodles. So that’s on the agenda once I make the dinner break for Day 1 (and Day 2 obv) for my event!
Time for bed so I can pull my usual all nighter upon arrival!
Shoes and roll pic to follow.
Damn, I thought you were about to reveal you were George Holmes or something.
…I wish
Hopefully I’ll make my OWN final table on Sunday!
It makes me wonder if I’ve ever played with him around Atlanta. The Atlanta underground card scene is a pretty small world… but I don’t think I recognize him.
FInally! Thanks for thinking of me.
Also, hand shaven noodles in the shang beef noodle soup is the play. Hand pulled noodles if you get something else.
“Those whom the gods would destroy, they first make proud.”
I was pretty proud of myself, after winning at a good clip after two weeks in Vegas. I thought I’d just catch a flight, breeze out of town, and pick up some cash for the holidays, maybe with a nice tournament score to headline it.
I even took a picture of my roll before I came.
Look at all that money. Remember when I had all that money?
First brag of the trip: I got a direct flight out of Raleigh! Looks like things are going my way. I’d much rather take one loooong flight that sucks instead of two medium flights, but with 8 hours travel time.
So I land Thursday night around 11:30 pm Vegas time, ready to hit the Wynn and spin it up!
Wait, there are people who would prefer the opposite?
…And it goes HORRIBLY. Buy in for 1k at 2/5, lose some. Add on for 500 more, lose some more. Table breaks and we draw for seats, and I move to a new table and add on 500 more.
My 2nd hand in, I raise with 33, three callers. Flop Ad Qs 3d. Bet $55, the cutoff raises to $165. Okey dokey, if I double up here, I get unstuck! I 3bet to $485, he calls fairly quick. “Notadiamond, notadiamond, anything but a diamond!” Turn: 9d, my action. Well, wtf am I supposed to do with 500ish left in a pot of 950 out of position with a set? I send it in, he snap calls with Qd Jd, and the river bricks.
-2k.
At 6 am and I can’t check in til 3 pm.
Time for a walk.
So what’s open at 6 am at the Wynn? A cafe with overpriced baked things and coffee.
In a daze I get the breakfast burrito…. Which, best I can tell, is egg and not much else, no cheese or protein. And a $5 coffee.
Now it’s like 6:30 Vegas time, 9:30 eastern. So I call my mom, because she’ll be up, and why not. Without giving a number, I tell her it’s off to a rough start, and I’m 8+ hours from a bed, and not sure what I should do til then.
We talk a bit about coordinating Thanksgiving plans, and other stuff. I say I’m gonna hit the Wells Fargo when it opens to pick up some dry powder so I could still play The Closer on Saturday.
I end the call feeling better about things.
Now it’s 7:30. What to do? Let’s give blackjack a try…
The Wynn has “free bet blackjack,” which I’d never seen before. You can choose to get a FREE double down on any hard 9, 10, or 11, and a free split on any pair. The catch is it’s a push if the dealer makes 22. I have no idea how that affects the math for basic strategy, but I’m sure it’s not better, if they’re offering it. 6:5 on BJ, obv.
So I buy in for 500, playing quarter minimum. I’m too out of practice to keep count, so I just up my next bet to 50 or 75 if I see a bunch of low cards come out.
Goes pretty well at first, swinging between basically even to up a couple hundred. Then I hit a rough patch, so I start increasing my bet. At first I increase my bets because the count should be getting better, but it becomes just tilt. Go “all in” with my last 150, lose.
So I’m a little steamed. “They won’t get the best of me!” So I reload 500 more. New shoe, so I’m gonna try to keep better count.
2nd hand, new player joins and colors down 2k, betting 100 a hand, and 25 on the Push 22 side bet. I hit twice to make 19 against the dealer king of spades. Dealer turns up the 6 of clubs, and hits the 6 of spades. Bust, I win! No, wait, that’s 22, I push…. Phooey.
“All black!” The other guy says. Look at the display: 22:1 on a same-color dealer 22. So he pushes the hand, and gets a cool $550 for the all black 22.
Two hands later, he gets ANOTHER dealer 22, which pays “just” 7:1 on a regular dealer 22. All while I’m losing or pushing. Just sick.
As you might expect, this does not put me in a positive mindset, and I bust soon after.
-3k, and it’s only 8 am.
The bank doesn’t even open til 9, and I might not make it, at this rate.
The house edge in free bet blackjack is about twice regular blackjack.
Surprisingly, losing at blackjack gives me a sense of clarity, and purpose. I didn’t come here to degen off money I worked for in the pits, I came to play POKER. Might win, might lose, and it’s probably gonna be a long flight home anyway…. But if it is, I’d rather be playing poker than blasting off in the pit.
So I go back to the poker room, to play 1/3. And play tight, with reads. Starts out pretty well, stack a guy with QQ bet/bet/shoving on a 4-4-3-3-4 runout. Then I call a raise out of the big blind with Qh 8h in a 5 way pot, and stack T9 on a J-T-9 flop.
I think to myself I should have just done this. The opponents are way more passive, with more hopelessly terrible players. Now I’m peacefully grinding.
…And it starts to turn against me. Raise Ad Td, flop 8d 6s 3c, checks around. Turn 2d, I bet $35, button bumps it to $120. I think my ace or my ten might be good, as well as all the diamonds obviously, so I call. River Qc, I check, he ships $260…. I muck, he proudly turns up 9s 5s. Nice hand SIR.
Next orbit, I open with just aces, same player checkraises me on a J-4-2 rainbow flop. I call, turn is a 5, he checks again. Well I like my hand, so I bet, and he shoves for the rest of it as I call. He’s of course way ahead with the 4-2 sooooooted, and of course I miss the 12-outer.
Then I proceed to grind, and slowly bleed down with runbad. AK < KQ all in preflop, and AK < JTo all in preflop, and naturally he rat-holes me.
Now I’m tired, playing tight, unfocused, and not really paying attention. It’s finally almost 3 o’clock, so by the time I hit the bank (ugh), I can check in.
My last hand, I flop top pair and bet, one caller behind me. I check/call the turn, check the river, and he bets large. No flush on the runout, and my hand is underrepped, so I should be good, right? I played it this way to get to showdown, so let’s show down. …Flopped set.
With that I pick up the rest of it, down almost another grand.
Down not quite an even -4k, less than 24 hours in town. Wooooooow.
I feel like I have one foot in the tunnels.
