It Only Takes One

Monday morning began with toast, coffee and the morning TV news.

Then about 9 or so I was over at the Suncoast to cash a ticket on the Packers-49ers over 41. My $25 wager paid $47.70, so that was a nice way to start the gambling day. I hung around the sports book for a while, checking out the day's hoops action, but there was nothing there that caught my eye.

So it was off to Ballys for another day of Poker. I parked at the Ballys-Paris deck and by the time I got to the poker room, it was a little after 10. One game was going and it had one empty seat, so I slid right in.

For the first hour or so I was getting really cold cards, but stayed patient. Then I won a couple of small pots and played even for a while. The table was relatively tight, with little raising and since it was dominated by older players, there was certainly no trash talking.

About 1 p.m. a guy joined the table that I played with on Sunday. He's a Very Aggressive (VA) player who raises almost every time it comes to him. It really gets to be annoying to make a $5 bet and have him raise it to $45 every chance he gets. You know he can't have the best hand every time, but it's frustrating when you don't have a strong enough hand to raise him back.

Anyway, throughout the afternoon I patiently managed to get up about $40 more than my $100 buy-in. I told Helen I'd be home by 5, so about 4 I thought about leaving. Then I looked at my hole cards and found A-A winking back at me. And I was on the button...This might work out really well.

Eight players put in $2 each to see the flop, but when it came to me I raised it to $22. Only three guys called, including VA, an swarthy Italian type who was not only an agressive player, but a mouthy loser too. The flop came 3-8-A of mixed suits, giving me trip Aces.

Both players checked and I bet $30. One guy folded, but our friend VA defiantly shouted "All In" shoving in his stack of about $80. I knew I had the best hand, so I quickly called.

The turn was another 8, giving me a full house. The river was of no importance. He showed his A-K and I flipped over my A-A. He started muttering and reached in his wallet to buy another $300 in chips. I stacked my huge pot and then played a few more hands before heading home with a profit of $160 for the day.

While I was at Ballys, Helen spent the day addressing Christmas cards and talking with her longtime friend Sherry who lives in Arizona. Sherry and her husband Al will be coming to Vegas sometime later this month, so we'll be visiting with them. I was planning to take Helen to the Strip today, but she'd rather relax at the apt. today and do the Strip tomorrow.

I'm trying to get some writing done for The Ticker, but am awaiting call backs from a couple of people I'm trying to interview. Should be easy to write them, once I do the interviews.

Today I'll head back to the Strip. But maybe I'll take a break from Ballys and try another room. I still haven't been to Caesars or Bellagio, so maybe I'll check them out today. Somewhere in my travels I want to get a bet down on the Spartans, who play Syracuse tonight. It will be a tough game for MSU, since The Orange play a tough 2-3 zone defense.

Also the Syracuse front line is HUGE, giving the Spartans a challenge on the boards. So Go Sparty, as our adventure continues...