More Platin'

Time for another edition of "What's That on Your Plate?"

Brassy is out and about!

Not a morning person, but apparently a Royal in the afternoon & evening?

Neurologist from Nebraska? 

One year in Peru?

                                                                   Karen's a UNLV grad. 

                                                        Someday my Prins will come.

Nothin;. Nada. Zip. Zero is here.

                                                                                NENI is a Yankees fan.

                                                                EMMY winner #2.

                                  A puzzler...something about a Bowel Movement? Nah, probably not.

REAL ESTATE GUY! I know this one cuz I saw him drive into a real estate office parking lot.

One of the 16 zillion ambulance chasers who stalk the streets and airwaves of Las Vegas?

Darnell out driving.

Born to Win! Gotta like the optimism of this Red Rock casino visitor.

                                                    We saw the Queen earlier, here's the King!

Whaaaat? Another Birthday?

 Yesterday was just another routine day, except for the fact that I got another year older.

Got dozens of congrats from my FaceBook friends and enjoyed every one of them. Sometimes you forget how many people are involved in your life until they pop up on your special day. Thanks again for all your support and love. 

Anyway, I spent a quiet morning sipping coffee and watching TV with Helen before heading over to Red Rock casino for some afternoon poker. It was a frustrating session, as I dropped about half of my $100 buy-in in the first 3 hands.  

Then I went card dead for about half an hour. Real bad starting hands 9-3, K-6, 3-5, 4-8, etc. One time I got dealt 3-6, tossed them aside and watched the flop come 6-6-3. Would have been a winning full house, but just can't play 3-6 off suit when I'm the short stack at the table. 

Almost 2 hours into the session, I had rebuilt my stack a bit and had almost 100 in chips when I got dealt A-A, both red. Here was my chance to finally get ahead, I figured. I bet $10 and everyone folded except a guy at the other end of the table. He raised it to $26 and I hemmed and hawed before shoving the rest of my stack in. He thought about it, then called, showing Q-Q. I revealed my A-A and felt pretty good. 

Then the flop came K-8-Q, giving him trips. 

Aaaaargh. He had only 2 outs to beat me and he hit one of the two remaining queens. The run and river didn't help and I walked away from the table. 

Before leaving Red Rock, I ordered our Birthday Dinner, a Deep Dish Chicago Classic pizza and a Caesar Salad from Giordano's. By the time I drove from the casino to the eatery, it was almost ready. 

Drove home with the pie and salad and found that Anna had sent me a gift basket full of crackers and snacky stuff, great for munching during basketball games! That's our plan for today as Michigan plays Indiana. 

After dinner we relaxed and watched some TV, another LV adventure wrapped up... 

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Red Rock Poker With a "Sopranos" Type

 Haven't played any poker for almost a month, so after lunch I ventured over to Red Rock to get into a game.

Luck was with me and there was a new game starting as I checked in. I was the fifth guy to sit at the table, sat in the third seat from the dealer's left and bought in for $200. Dealer shoved me $180 in red $5 chips and 20 gray $1 chips. The other 4 guys had already bought their chips. 

In a few minutes the table filled up and we were ready to play...sorta.

Before the first hand, the floor manager came over and said the "bank" was $80 short. The bank is the amount of chips that the dealer sells to the players before the game begins. For example, if the table is full with 8 players and each player bought $200, the bank would total $1600. For some reason, the bank was $80 short and we all were puzzled how it could happen. 

After about 15 minutes of sitting there, the floor said to go ahead and start the game while they checked the video tapes. 

We finally got started and I won about $20 on the first hand when my pair of queens took the pot. It would be my only win for about 30 minutes. It was about that long before the floor came back and walked over to the player in the #1 seat, next to the dealer. 

"Sir, you have the missing $80," she said in a calm, but firm voice. "We've run the tapes and you gave the dealer $120, but she mistakenly gave you $200."

The 50-ish guy looked like something out of the Sopranos cast, big and burly with an open collar showing off his chest hair and gold chains, plus a big fat golden pinkie ring. He exploded. 

"No Way! I gave her two bills, two $100 bills."

"No sir, the tape clearly shows you gave her two bills, a $100 and a $20."

"Lemme see that godamn tape,"

"No sir, guests are not allowed to view the tapes."

The guy was really steaming. his face growing redder and his arms flailing around.  The tension was thick around the poker table and it had nothing to do with cards. It was sort of amusing seeing this guy trying to prove the security tapes were wrong. Finally after a nervy showdown, he counted out $80 in chips and gave them to the floor manager who took them back to the front counter.

The game resumed while "Sopranos" guy was still steaming and obviously on a big-time tilt. I was hoping to get into a hand against him while he was still so upset, but it didn't happen.

Meanwhile I went into a real drought getting bad cards. Starting hands like 9-2, J-4, 7-2. My pile was melting down when I was finally dealt 5-5.

I bet $10 and got called by two other players. The flop came 4-5-6,giving me three 5s. I checked my set and one guy bet $20. The other guy immediately folded and I called the $20. The turn card was a 4, giving me a full house. Again I checked and the guy shoved his last $40 into the pot. I called.

He showed a 7-8, he had flopped a straight, but my full house took down the nice pot. Soon after, I left with a meager profit of $25 but had fun. It was nice to be back at the poker table and I need to keep playing as often as possible. 

Earlier in the day I did some grocery shopping, paid some bills and made Helen and me turkey sandwiches for lunch. While I was at Red Rock, she was on the phone with friends and family. After poker, I made us dinner, burgers and potato salad, sort of an indoor picnic. 

And so our adventure continues...

Interesting Matt Stafford Prop Bet

 Red Rock Casino is offering an interesting Matt Stafford prop bet for the upcoming 2021-22 NFL Season. 

They've set an over/under bet of 28.5 Passing Touchdowns for the former Lion who will be calling signals for the LA Rams. 

If you like over the total, you pay -125. Action on the under is +105. Stafford must start week 1 to begin the bet and the Rams must play 16 regular season games for the action to count. Betting limit is $5,000.

                                                                      ---

Baseball Win Totals and More Future Bets

Stopped by Red Rock Casino this morning to pick up some baseball futures sheets, especially the annual win totals. 

Each year some friends and I bet either over or under the Win Total of the Detroit Tigers. This year the magic number is 68.5 at -115. That means to win $100 you have to wager $115. 

Here are some of the highest and lowest totals, all at -115.

Dodgers 103.5

Yankees 96.5

Padres 94.5

Braves 91.5

Mets & White Sox 90.5

Twins 88.5

A's, 

Rays & Astros 87.5

Bottom dwellers include:

Pirates 58.5

Rockies 63.5

Orioles 65.5

Rangers 67.5

TIGERS 68.5

MOST HOME RUNS in 2021

Trout, Alonso, Acuna & Soto 12-1

Gallo 15-1

Bellinger & Jimenez 16-1

Stanton & Judge 20-1

Some interesting long shots include:

Voit, Soler, Cruz & Sano 40-1

Arenado 50-1

Freeman & Betts 75-1

Castellanos, Rizzo & Goldschmidt 100-1

No Tigers are included in the list.

MOST WINS BY A PITCHER

Cole & DeGrom 12-1

Bauer 13-1

Bieber 14-1

Buehler 15-1

Giolito & Darvish 16-1

Tigers Casey Mize is 70-1

MOST BASE HITS 

Trea Turner & Betts 12-1

LeMahieu 14-1

Merrifield 15-1

Freeman 18-1

Lindor & Tim Anderson 20-1

No Tigers are listed.

MOST STRIKEOUTS 

Cole 4-1

DeGrom 9-2

Bieber 6-1

Bauer 7-1

Giolito 8-1

Scherzer 10-1

No Tigers are listed.

MOST SAVES

Chapman 13-2

Hendricks 7-1

Hader 8-1

Diaz, Karinchak, Iglesias & Jansen 10-1

No Tigers are listed.

MOST RBI

Soto 9-1

Bellinger 11-1

Trout & Ozuna 12-1

Abreu, Harper, Jimenez & Machado 15-1 

Freeman 18-1

No Tigers are listed.

Plate This!

Another chapter of Vanity Plate Spottin' in the Vegas Valley. 

                                            Horizon guy was in the drive-thru at the new Chik-Fil-A. 

Another Chik-Fil-A fan, Mariah.

A Knights fan!

                                            Mechy was ahead of me at a red light. 

This one's for somebody's Grandma.

Lil's Mom is out and about!

                                            California Katie is here in our apartment complex with her Maserati.
 

Play Ball!!!!!

 With pitchers and catchers reporting this week, I thought it was time to update the odds for the World Series and Pennant races. These are of Feb. 9. 

World Series 

Dodgers 2-1

Padres 5-1

Yankees 6-1

Mets 7-1

White Sox 8-1

Braves 10-1

Rays & A's 15-1

Twins 20-1

Cardinals & Blue Jays 25-1

Angels, Astros & Nationals 30-1

Reds & Phillies 40-1

Red Sox 50-1

Brewers 60-1

TIGERS, Indians, Royals, Marlins, Rangers & Orioles 80-1

Diamondbacks & Mariners 100-1

Cubs 150-1

Rockies & Giants 200-1

Pirates 400-1

-----------------------------

AL Pennant

Yankees +225

White Sox 5-2

Rays & A's 8-1

Twins & Blue Jays 10-1

Astros & Angels 15-1

Red Sox 25-1

TIGERS, Indians, Orioles & Royals 40-1

Mariners & Rangers 50-1

NL Pennant

Dodgers +120

Mets 3-1

Padres 7-2

Braves 5-1

Cardinals 12-1

Reds, Phillies & Nationals 20-1

Brewers 30-1

Marlins 40-1

Diamondbacks 50-1

Cubs 75-1

Giants & Rockies 100-1

Pirates 200-1

Looking forward to Opening Day!!

Valentine's Day and Visitors From Canada

Helen and I have developed a Valentine's  Day tradition over our 4 decades together. It involves making each other hand made cards and enjoying a box of chocolates together. She's never been much for flowers, but candy is something she's always enjoyed. 

So this morning I was up about 4:30, sipping coffee and making her a V-Day card. I'm an early riser and there's no logical reason for it. When I got her up at 7:30, we exchanged cards and opened the heart-shaped box of assorted chocolates. It's kind of corny, but we both enjoy the annual tradition of love and sharing. 

At 10 a,m. we watched Michigan and Wisconsin battle it out in hoops. A close game all the way and, to my surprise, the Wolverines prevailed. Then it was time for lunch and I made us both soup - Vegetable for her and Chicken & Rice for me. 

We've haven't been doing any gambling lately and my visit to the casinos have been limited to picking up some complimentary meals, cashing in on all the points I've racked up during our first 3 months here. So Helen decided we should cash in $50 in Rampart Casino comps for steak dinner to celebrate V-Day. 

I drove over to the casino and flagged down a pit boss to write out the comp for the Earl Grey Cafe. Two New York Strip Steaks, mashed potatoes with gravy, steamed veggies, rolls, salads and two slabs of chocolate & raspberry cake came to $48, 

Some 20 minutes after ordering, I got the bag full of food, and rolled back home where we enjoyed it immensely!  

After dinner, Helen got a call from Scott and spent an hour or so catching up with him. Yesterday we talked with Anna who wanted some advice about a financial issue. 

On the way out of the casino, I ran into a couple of visitors who had just flow in from Canada I believe.

And so our LV adventure continues...

Looking Ahead to March Madness

 As soon as the Gatorade dries over the shoulders of the winning coach in today's Super Bowl, some here in Las Vegas will turn their focus to next month's major sporting event, the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship.  

Here are odds on some of the big-name colleges:

Gonzaga 2/1

Baylor 5/2

Michigan & Iowa 8/1

Villanova, Illinois & Texas 10/1

Houston & Alabama 15/1

Wisconsin 20/1

Tennessee 25/1

Virginia, Florida State  & Texas Tech 30/1

Several historically powerful teams are now getting big odds to win The Dance, including:

MICHIGAN STATE, LSU, Purdue, Indiana, UConn & Minnesota 100/1

Marquette, BYU & Syracuse 200/1

Kentucky, Maryland, Penn State & Pitt 300/1

Georgetown, UNLV, Arizona State & St. John's 500/1

Hopefully COVID won't tangle this event as our LV adventure continues!

More Platin'

ns LV seems to have more personalized license plates than any town I've ever seen. Here are a few I spotted while being out and about.

                                            Also Known As Pooh?

Are Tens It? Or Tens Info Technology?

Pulled up behind Bad Company at a red light.

No One here. 

    

                                            Getting It Done!

Here comes The Sun.

                                            

                                            AlimonyN?                                            

A water lover.

                                            Raja At? With a little snow to show it's winter.

Super Bowl Investments!

 Super Bowl Sunday in Las Vegas has always been one of the highlights of our winter. 

Typically, I would get down to the Strip, find a hopping sports book and enjoy the first half of the game. When halftime shenanigans began, I would slip away and make the 30 minute drive to our apartment, usually arriving just in time for the 2nd half kickoff. 

It's a matter of pride that I've missed every halftime show since way before that legendary costume malfunction by Janet Jackson. I think the last time I saw a halftime show, Anita Bryant was belting out God Bless America.

Meanwhile, back at our apartment, I would share the second half with Helen and we'd cheer for our teams. Wings, Pizza, Nachos or Middle Eastern treats like hummus, tabouli, lebne and fresh pita bread were our standard fare. 

But this year we'll be watching the whole game here in our apartment. Today I went shopping for the grub. Helen suggested nachos, so I got all the fixings. I also snagged a dozen chicken wings and blue cheese dressing for dipping. We're good to go, foodwise.

I also made my prop wagers this morning. At the Red Rock Casino , the sports book issued a thick (22 page) packet of possible prop bets. I grabbed one a couple of days ago and poured over it looking for good bets. Quickly I find 13 possible investments, narrowed that down to eight, then 5, and finally just 3. Here they are:

1, Neither team puts up 3 unanswered scores, not including extra points. I think the scoring will go back and forth with none of them scoring 3 straight times. My $10 wager will return $26 when it hits.

2. KC QB Patrick Mahomes total passing yards more than 327.5. If he gets 85 a quarter, my $25 ticket will pay $45.

3. 6-point teaser of Buccs +9.5 and the game over 50 total points. I see a close game and getting all those points with Tom Brady was just too good to pass up. 30-24 would not surprise me. My $25 investment will pay $45 when it hits. 

Some of the others I considered included:

 Shortest TD by either team. Over/Under 1.5 yards. Tempted to take the over since a $10 bet returned a juicy $14, but decided that a pass interference penalty in the end zone puts the ball at the 1-yard line and there goes my bet. May regret not taking this one though. 

TB receiver Scotty Miller over/under 1.5 receptions. All he needs is two catches? And it pays $11.50 for every $10 wagered. 

Total Chiefs penalty yards over/under 49.5 or total Bucs penalty yards over/under 43.5. Seems like a couple of pass interference or personal fouls could get you close to winning these bets, not to mention a holding call or offsides. Another one I may regret not making. 

And Finally....the Super Bowl Odds for next year's game on Feb. 6, 2022 in Inglewood, Cal. 

Chiefs 5/1

Packers 8/1

Buccaneers 9/1

Bills 10/1

Ravens 10/1

At the other end of the odds are the Bengals 80/1, Texans 80/1, LIONS 100/1 and Jaguars 125/1.

If you're a football fan, enjoy the game and here in LV our adventure continues...

Finally Back to Semi-Normal

After two weeks without my laptop, I'm finally getting back to updating the blog. 

Sorry to have been away, but I'll try to explain how we got lost in cyberspace. Two weeks ago my trusty Asis laptop refused to power up. Dead. Black screen. Nada, zip zilch. So I toted it over to Best Buy to visit the Geek Squad where one of the consummate Geeks looked at me condescendingly and said "well it's probably the battery or the motherboard." 

He wanted $100 to just open it up and another $100 for a new battery. I politely declined and tried a local computer joint, "U Breakit, I fix it." 

I didn't really break it, but I hoped they could fix it. After having it for 5 days, I called and they admitted it needed some soldering inside and, of course, they don't do soldering. But they tipped me to another local shop who did. So I went there and, in about a week, they got it working. Seems the socket where the power cord attaches went bad and had to be replaced. $135 later it's working. 

So getting back online is pretty nice. Didn't realize how reliant I was on my laptop until it was gone. During this whole cyber ordeal, I was a regular at the LV Library where I could log on to one of their 8 computers. The only drawback was they put a one hour limit on computer use and I used most of it checking emails, paying bills, updating ebay, reading the Freep, News and Review-Journal.  

Haven't been to casinos very much lately. I had been on a nasty losing streak, so just taking a break from blackjack and poker. I'll play a couple of SuperBowl props, but nothing too crazy. Looking forward to the game on Sunday. But instead of watching it in the excitement of a sports book, I'll share the fun at home with Helen.

Highlight of the week happened on Wednesday. For a couple of weeks, Helen has been trying to make us reservations to get our Covid vaccines. Vegas has about 6 different locations and they are so busy and so confusing that it's almost impossible to get a reservation. There is no central website that schedules the shots, so you have to check out each location individually and the availability changes by the hour. So you have to be persistent and, typical Vegas, lucky too. 

But she learned that Laughlin had much easier availability and she was able to get us a 3:30 appointment there. Only drawback is its a 90-mile road trip each way. So we took off about 1 for the drive. Using google directions we promptly got lost about 30 miles into the trip. I finally stopped in Boulder City at the police station where we got directions and hit the road again. Rolled into Laughlin at 3 p.m. and by 3:20 we were in the ballroom at the Aquarius hotel and casino. Got our vaccines and we were heading home by 4 p.m. We go back there on March 3 for the second arm poke. 

We stay pretty close to the apartment on most days. I go shopping and run a few errands. Helen hardly leaves except for a medical appointment. We have one today. She has a routine check up scheduled with the urology clinic here. She keeps busy during the day, talking with Anna and Norm's wife Lorraine, who checks in with us almost daily during her dog walking time. She always enjoys hearing from family and friends.

We're more than halfway through our winter here, about 2 months before we'll pack up and return to TC. Have to admit it's been one of the least fun times here in LV with no shows, no in-restaurant dining and very little interaction with locals. But the weather has been beautiful, 65and sunny for most of this week, shorts and t-shirt weather for me. 

I'll get back into the blog habit and I hope you all enjoy our updates. 

So our LV adventure continues...