Monday Update

I've been battling a winter cold for the past five days, so the Vegas activity has been slower than usual recently.

It was Wednesday night when I started feeling feverish and chilled. Then Thursday I launched into full-blown coughing, sneezing nastiness with a fever of 101.5 (sounds like an fm-rock station). Anyway, Helen had me take some meds and by Friday, I was feeling good enough to visit MGM Grand for some poker. My throat was scratchy and I sipped coffee and water during the day, but was able to play.

Key hand came after about an hour of playing. I had won a couple of small pots and was up maybe $25-30 after buying in for $100. Looking down I found a 6-7 of Hearts and decided to call the $2 blind bet. Flop comes 5-8-9 - I flopped a well-disguised straight!!

After three guys checked, I bet $15, hoping that someone might have some over pair like J-J or Q-Q and would raise me. The guy to my immediate left called the $15, but the guy to his left shoved his whole stack of $150 or so into the pot. I WAS THRILLED and knew I had the highest possible hand... I CALLED and pushed in all my chips. The other guy who originally just called, folded.

Since there was no other action, we showed our cards. The guy showed a 5-8 offsuit - he had flopped two pair. I showed my straight and looked forward to taking down this $300 or so pot.
BUUUUUUT, the turn was another 5 - giving the guy an unbeatable FULL HOUSE... The guy had three outs (two fives and 1 eight) and he hit it. Turns out the guy who folded also had flopped two pair 8s and 9s.

I didn't rebuy and left to watch some basketball, feeling sicker than before and it wasnt because of my cold. AAAARGH. But those things happen in poker. The guy had about an 8 percent chance of winning and he did.

Saturday and Sunday were both stay-at-home days, trying to fight off this cold and feel better. The fever is gone, but now I'm just coughing and sneezing. Yesterday Helen spent some time talking with her sister Sharon who is planning to come to LV in a couple of weeks. Sharon and Larry have never been here before and are looking at coming March 22-29 and staying at the Luxor. It'll be fun to have them here and I'm sure I'll be over this cold by then.

We also watched lots of TV, including several episodes of some auction show. That was kind of interesting to see the eclectic mix of auction items. Sort of like Pickers and Pawn Stars combined...

Today I need to do an interview for an article I'm writing about Michigan's prison system. I'll be talking to the head of a consulting firm that specializes in helping prison's and jails solve problems. The firm is based in TC.

Also, today we plan to visit the local Target so Helen can pick up a few things. Not sure if I'll visit any poker rooms or not, but the adventure continues...