Another Profitable Strip Trip

Headed down to the Strip this morning, but took care of some errands on the way. Before I left, I wrote an article about northern Michigan fans of MSU and UM and the bowl game buzz. I've done the interviews over the past week and sat down about 6 a.m. this morning to do the actual writing, which took about two hours.

Helen has been busy getting Christmas Cards ready to mail and I took a handful of them to the post office. This particular post office has three drive-in boxes to stash mail in. And when I got there just minutes before 9 a.m., all three were JAMMED full of mail. Must have been a busy weekend for getting cards and bills in the mail. I managed to shove ours in there and as I was pulling away a postal worker was rolling a cart toward the boxes to empty them at 9 a.m.

I made it to Bally's about 9:45 and the poker room was dead so I went play some blackjack. After about 30 minutes, I was up $100 so I walked away to check the poker room. Luckily a game was just starting, so I grabbed a seat along with five other players. We played six-handed for 15 or 20 minutes, then the table filled up with three more players.

Bally's hosts a free-roll tournament every Wednesday night at 6 p.m. Anyone who plays 12 hours from Wednesday at 5p.m. to the following Wednesday at 5 p.m. can play for free in the tournament. I played four times last year and cashed once. They pay $300 to the final 20 players, so all you have to do is outlast the others to snag 300. Usually there are roughly 40-60 players, so if you can finish in the top third, you earn the cash.

So I needed just under 3 hours today to post my 12 hours to qualify. In addition to winning some cash, that was one of my goals today. I sat down just after 10 a.m. and played until after 1 p.m. That gave me enough time to play Wednesday night for free.

I ended up winning $225 during the three hours of poker. Much of it came on one big hand when I held a 9-9 and the flop came A-K-9, giving me three of a kind. One guy bet 20, I called along with one other guy. The turn card was a 7, not much help. Same guy bet $30 I called again and the other guy folded, leaving us heads up. River card was another 7, giving me a full house. Guy checked and I bet $50. He hemmed and hawed, thinking about his hand, then eventually called. I showed the full house and he mucked his cards, saying he had A-K. That was a healthy pot that kept me ahead for much of the session.

I won a few other hands, but mostly with two pair or a big pair. That was the best hand and it paid off the best.  So for the day, it was a profit of $325.

Got home about 4:30 and made us some chili for dinner. Helen spent the day talking with relatives and finishing up the Christmas cards. Tomorrow I think I'll visit Red Rock where I have a ticket to cash from yesterday's football action. Hit a 3-team teaser of Steelers, Chiefs and Jets that'll pay me $64 profit.

And so our adventure continues...