Thanksgiving in LV

Helen and I marked Thanksgiving in Vegas with a trip to the Red Rock Casino's impressive buffet.

Our plan was to eat relatively early since I was to play in Bally's Free Roll Poker Tourney at 6 p.m. More on that later.

We arrived at the buffet about 11:30 a.m. and had about a 20-minute wait to get seated. The meal was $19.95 per person, but because I am at the President Level as a player, we got 50% off. And I was able to use comp points to cover the cost, so basically it was a FREE Thanksgiving Day dinner. I filled both of our plates with turkey, mashed potatoes, ham, cranberry sauce, broccoli and more. Then for dessert I had a slice of Boston cream pie and a piece of carrot cake. Helen had a chocolate brownie type pastry and a slice of cheesecake. It was a really nice way to mark the day. No muss, no fuss - eat and waddle away.

At the sports book we checked some football scores, then headed home. I had bought a 3-team money line teaser ticket of EMU, Detroit and Dallas and that was a winner for $114.

Helen was on the phone with Anna about 4 p.m. when I left for the poker tourney. It's a weekly event that is free for anyone who logs 12 hours of play during the week. I had posted 13 hours, so was looking forward to playing, since they pay the last 20 players $300 each. Last night there were 48 players who started.

Each player starts with 5,000 in play chips. I got off to a slow start, losing a couple of hands and was quickly down to 3,500 when I got dealt A-5, both diamonds. There was 600 in the pot when I decided to try to take it down with a big bet and went all in, expecting everyone to fold. But I got called by one guy who shoved his3,500 into the pot and flipped over Q-Q. I needed some help and got it on the flop when an ACE hit the board. My aces held up and left the guy with only 300 in chips and he was knocked out a few hands later.

My stack was now just over 7,000, the highest on the table and I just sort of coasted through at that point as the number of players dwindled to 38, 32 and 23 when we took a 10-minute break. I won a couple of small pots with Q-Q when a Q hit the flop and another little pot when my 5-5 were joined by a third 5 on the flop. After the break it only took another 15 minutes for the final 3 players to get knocked out and we lined up to collect our $300.

It wasn't all profit however...I dropped 50 in blackjack while waiting for the poker tourney to begin.
Drove home and watched a little TV with Helen who spent her afternoon relaxing and talking with his sister Nat and a couple of friends. It was a fun day for us and now our adventure continues...