Three Days of Poker and Concert Tickets

Saturday, Sunday andtoday I played poker at Ballys, winning each day.

On Saturday I had a great day, posting a win of $410. No huge pots, but winning steadily with great cards. I left the poker table to watch the Raiders playoff game at Planet Hollywood. After the first half, I left and drove home.

On Sunday I was back at Ballys playing poker. The most interesting hand took place when I was dealt 2-2 and called a $10 bet see the flop, which came Q-J-5. The original bettor again bet $10 and I was wondering whether to call or not when all of a sudden the next bettor raised it to $75. That made it an easy decision to fold my deuces. So the turn card comes and, yep, it's a 2.

Darn, that would have given me trips and a pretty decent hand against this board. The betting really took off and three guys ended up going All in - swelling the pot to $800. Then the river card comes - it's ANOTHER TWO!

My quad twos would have taken down this HUGE pot, plus earned a Hourly High Hand bonus of $100 and another $85 for hitting quads! Of course, I was out of the hand and the eventual winner, sitting to my immediate right, had a full house, Three 5s and 2 deuces. When he finished stacking all the chips he had $800.

I ended up winning $150 and logging about four hours of play while watching football.

This morning I left the apartment early and stopped at Rampart to cash a $40 basketball ticket. I played some blackjack and won $200 in about 20 minutes before heading out to the Strip. One of my errands today was to buy tickets to see John Fogerty in March at The Wynn Resort. I arrived at Wynn about 9:30, but the ticket office didn't open til 10, so I found a blackjack table and settled in. I won the first hand, then the second, then the third. In less that 30 minutes I won $185 and walked over to get the tickets.

Then I drove to Ballys to log some more poker time. Highlight of this morning session was when I was dealt 7-7 and hit a third seven on the flop, along with a K-9 of mixed suits. I bet $10 and a guy at the end of the table raised it to $30. I just called, not wanting to scare him away with a raise. The turn card was an Ace and I checked, hoping the other guy would bet. He bet $40 and I just called again. The river card was THE FOURTH SEVEN. And I again checked. My foe bet $50 and I raised it to $100. He thought and thought and finally folded.

I showed the quad sevens, taking down a big pot and winning a $50 bonus for the quads. I ended the session up $135, then drove over to The Orleans to snag concert tickets for Kenny Wayne Shepherd, a blues guitarist that Helen and I really like. We've seen him 3-4 times before and it's always a great show. The front row tickets were only $55 each, so I was determined to see if I could win enough at blackjack to cover the cost. The plan worked perfectly. In about 30 minutes I won $140 and walked away a winner!

And so our adventure continues...