Catching Up

At the request of some of our avid blog readers (YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE) I'll get back on the blog bus and give an update of happenings over the past few days.

After a series of losing casino visits ( 3 losses in 5 days) I took a couple of days off from wagering and Helen and I spent time around the apt. One of the highlight hands of those losing sessions took place at Bally's where I spent a lot of time playing poker.

I had bought in for $100 and had about $85 of it in front of me when I was dealt A-8 of Clubs. Normally A-8 is not that great of a starting hand, but I was able to see a flop for only $2 and the flop hit me nicely - A-8-4 with no more clubs. I bet $12 and got only one caller, a guy with a huge stack of chips at the other end of the table. I saw this as a chance to double up my stack, especially when the turn card was another A, giving me a full house. I bet $25 and the guy at the other end stared at me, then announced "ALL IN."

I quickly called and he flopped over A-K, giving him three Aces against my full house. Then the river card came - A KING....his full house was bigger than mine and I was digging in my money clip for another buy-in.

Anyway, that was the most memorable, and costly, hand of the past few losing sessions. And I include it for the blog readers who crave the details of my pasteboard misery. Not all sessions are winners.

Helen and I did go see "Sherlock Holmes" and liked it well enough, even though it veers wildly from the traditional Holmesian tales.

Yesterday I made my first trip to the Strip in a few days. I parked at Ballys and sauntered down to the poker room, where some of the staff are starting to recognize me on sight. I was placed on a waiting list and had some time to kill, so I sat at a blackjack table and racked up $45 in profits in 20 minutes before I got called for a seat at the $1-2 game underway.

I played for about 3 hours, grinding out a profit of $82. No HUGE hands, but a couple of $30-40 pots taken down with two pair. Nothing better than a straight all day, but played really well. I stayed out of big "all in" showdowns and didn't chase inside straights or flushes.

Between the blackjack and the poker, my profit for the day was $127 - $2 better than the $125 loss I suffered on Jan. 9.

While I was playing poker, Helen spent some time talking with Anna and her friend Gail. Last night we talked with Katie, who began taking classes at NMC yesterday. She'll be going Monday through Thursday evenings. It's only 36 days before she comes to visit us in LV. We're all looking forward to that.

This morning Helen will be going to her Bible Study class at Lakes Lutheran Church and I'll run over to the Suncoast for an hour or so. I think I'll put $20 on MSU's basketball team vs. Minnesota. The Spartans are home and they rarely lose in the Breslin Center.

So, as you can see, our LV adventure continues...