Poker Bad Beats & LV Birthday

At Helen's encouragement, I began my birthday yesterday with a daylong poker session at Bally's on the Strip.

When I opened the door to leave the apt. tied to the outside doorknob were 3 "Happy Birthday" balloons weighted down with a small package of candies and a card. A nice touch from the apt. managers, Kimberly and her staff. They really go out of their way to make us feel appreciated.

It was one of the most frustrating poker sessions of the trip. I started out winning a couple of pots early and was up $60-70 after 5-6 hands. But I lost one big hand when I looked down at 2-2 and called a guy's $10 bet. The flop came 2-10-10 - giving me a FULL HOUSE on the Flop! Eventually it came down to me and one other guy, who shoved all his chips in and I called. He showed 10-10 for trips and I was in good shape. On the turn came a K. Then the river - ANOTHER KING! Giving the guy a bigger full house....arrgh. that left me with only $40 left, which I built up to about $150 over the next 2 hours or so.

Then came my second big loss. I had $150 in front of me when I was dealt 8-8. This is one of my easiest hands to play...if I hit trips on the flop, I play aggressively. If there are over cards on the flop and someone bets, I fold. Anyway, three of us saw the flop which came A-10-8. One guy bet $30, another called and I said "All In" shoving my chips into the pot. Both of them called, making the pot more than $500. My thinking was that hopefully each of them had an Ace and I was well ahead. Well, we all turned our cards and I was right about one guy A-K, but the other guy had 10-10. I was way behind and the only way to win was hit the fourth 8...that didnt happen and I was cleaned out.

For the day, I only lost my $100 buy-in, but it was really annoying to lose that way. I was ahead and gave back all the profit, plus my buy-in. Very frustrating, but that's poker. I'll try again soon.

To celebrate my birthday, Helen and I went to Hash House A Go Go, a popular LV restaurant only a short drive from our apt. on Sahara. It's a favorite of celebrities and the lobby has pics of famous customers - Martha Stewart, Dr. Phil and others.

It's a great place. Helen and I arrived about 5:45, just before the dinner rush, and got a great table. The place is similar to Blue Tractor, with an industrial/farm feel to it. Lots of metal, including gleaming aluminum table tops, and wooden chairs. We started our meal with a tasty Riesling, recommended by our waiter Alex, who also brought some delicious honey-buttered biscuits that were the size of hockey pucks.

For our entrees, Helen chose a daily special of beef medallions over mashed potatoes with slightly crisp green beans and carrots. I went with a grilled pork tenderloin drizzled with carmelized pecans and hot honey mustard, blue cheese mashed potatoes, green beans and carrots. Both were HUGE - delivered on 20-inch platters that weigh, according to Alex, 21 pounds each!! HHAGG is one of those places that provides Mega-portions. And the food is spectacularly plated. A delight for the eyes and the palate.

Since it WAS my birthday, we shared a dessert - a devilishly delicious 8-inch square chocolate bread pudding topped with a Snickers layer and adorned with a hefty scoop of vanilla ice cream. For the record, we didn't finish the whole thing!

We'll definitely be returning, since we have a $25 off coupon. In fact, for you bargain hunters, we used a $25 off coupon and our dinner (before tip) came to only $54 - that's with two glasses of wine ($20) and dessert!

We were both groaning from eating so much, but it was SOOOO good. It was about 8 when we got home and settled in to watch the NBC comedies, Kath & Kim, The Office and 30 Rock. But today our adventure continues...