Trifecta of Profits

On Saturday morning I drove to Bally's with a plan to log a few hours of poker and make a football bet.

I wanted to get something down on Washington State, whose coach, Mike Leach used to coach Texas Tech when my grandson Stephen went there. Leach uses a wide open, run and gun offense to rack up points. He was the college coach for Michael Crabtree and Danny Amendola, both NFL receivers. He also aggressively goes for fourth downs, more than any other ncaa coach except one. Anyway, they were only -1 vs. University of Miami and its gang of thugs.

Got down to Bally's just before 10 and the game began at 11, so I went right down and got the bet in. Then I made my way to the poker room and got a seat. We started the game with 6 of us, then quickly filled out the table to 9. It was up and down for hours until I got a key hand. I looked down and found J-J in my hand.

I hate playing jacks because inevitably a Q-K or A hits the flop, making your jacks shrink in power. Anyway, this time the flop was J-K-6 of different suits, giving me three of a kind. One guy bet $20 and I was the only caller. The turn was a 3. The guy bet $30 and I just called. The river was a 7 and the guy bet another $30. I raised it to $60 and he hemmed and hawed before calling and showing A-A. I took down that healthy pot with my 3 jacks.

But that was the only big pot I won and went into a long dry spell after that. After about 4.5 hours of poker, I walked with a profit of $30. Meanwhile my football bet won $90 when WSU topped Miami, 20-14. After leaving the poker table, I found a blackjack game and in 30 minutes I won $87.

So I hit the gambling trifecta - sports bet, poker and blackjack - for a profit of $207.

Helen spent the day talking with family and relaxing with some HBO movies. When I got home, I picked up a package at the apartment managers office. Natalie and her family had sent us a Christmas gift of chocolates, pistachios, almonds, coffee, tea and a puzzle book. Very fun! Thanks to all of them.

Today is NFL Sunday and I will send some time at Red Rock watching the games and playing either blackjack or poker, perhaps both. And so our adventure continues...