Mum's the word. Do you see the purple mums in the background? I planted them last year. There were six originally, and five of them came back this year.
Even though it's the middle of October, my rose bushes are still producing!
After working so hard, I was ready for some poker. There is a tournament going on at the Goldstrike, and I was afraid it would be a madhouse, so I decided to play some live $1/3 NL hold 'em at Harrah's. When I got there, I was disappointed. They only had six or seven tables in play. It was Saturday night DEAD.
Harrah's Casino has fountains in front. Can you see the sign that says "Honk if you love jackpots"?
I had called ahead to get on the list, so I wouldn't have to wait very long. After about five minutes, they sent me to a table that had an open seat. The game was fairly tame, but occasionally they had a juicy pot. We were nine-handed with seven guys and two ladies. All seven males had on ball caps and so did one of the women. I think we've all been watching too much poker on TV.
I played for about two and one-half hours. The biggest pot I won was when I looked at my hole cards to see: ♥A ♦A. I raised to $15 and the button and the small blind called. The flop was three low cards. I bet $30 into a $48 pot and only the button called. The turn was another low one. This time I bet $70 into a $108 pot.
As the lady was deciding whether to call or not, a guy to my right says, "I folded a pretty good hand. This guy (meaning me) hasn't raised a pot since last Christmas and I was giving him respect."
Now that's just wrong. No one is supposed to be discussing anything while action is going on. Unfortunately, I couldn't really say anything because it would give away my hand (that I wanted her to call). The dealer is supposed to say something, but he didn't. Finally, the lady folded after saying that she had a big pocket pair, but was afraid I had a bigger one. I did, of course, but if Mr. Bigmouth had kept his trap shut, she might have called.
About 10:30, I lost interest in the game, so I decided to cruise over to the Goldstrike to see how the tournament was going. You can read more about it by clicking here or here.
As I left Harrah's, I saw this limo. It's a Hummer! Hummer's aren't supposed to be limos. I'm just sayin'.
Over at the Goldstrike, things were hopping. It was Saturday night LIVE. In the regular poker room, all 16 tables were packed and there was a waiting list. Not too far from the poker room, there is a large ballroom and that was where the tournaments were being held. It was packed, too.
There was a regular tournament today. They had 283 entrants who paid $550 to play. When I got there, they had 28 left (at least two of them are locals that I regularly play against). I noticed that first place paid $36,400 -- not too shabby. There was also a women's event that had a buyin of $345. They were down to four players, so I watched it for a while. One cute hand, this lady went all-in, was called, and showed pocket deuces. The other lady had a bigger pair (I couldn't see what), and busted her. The deuces lady had plenty of chips, so we were all shaking our heads wondering why she moved in.
There were also satellites. Some were one-table affairs in which the entry fee was $60 and the winner got an entry chip woth $500 and $50 in cash (although sometimes deals are made when they get down to two players). There were also mega-satellites which are multi-table affairs. The winners (depending on how many players sign up) get seats into the $5,000 buy-in main event beginning Sunday, October 26.
They had official photographers there who had *very* fancy Nikon cameras, perhaps D300s. I took this shot of a young lady who was photographing one of the players. I was standing there, so she could had shot me instead. Honestly, what are these supposed "professionals" thinking?
MOJO shoots the shooter. The light was bad, so this isn't material that will win me any journalistic awards. I'm having lots of fun with my camera, but I need to get a better one.
EDIT: Here's a link to see tournament results at (online) Card Player Magazine.
Doncha just hate that table talk sometimes. Last time I played in Vegas there was a hand where I had made a position bet on the river and it folded all the way around and as the last guy was hesitating two other guys at the table, both who had been in the hand but folded to the bet, started yammering about keeping me honest and guy finally called with a madium pp, with 4 overcards and straight possibilities on the board. i was steamed.
ReplyDeleteThx for the comment, wolfshead. I blame the guy who was talking, but the dealer should have put a stop to it. Most of them are pretty good, but this dealer dropped the ball.
ReplyDeleteYou're a better man than me!
ReplyDeleteI'da gotten' real close to cracking Mr.Analyst's squash open.