Wednesday Update

It's been a busy few days for us, so I'll wrap up our Christmas activities in just a few paragraphs.

The holiday was a lot of fun for both of us. Helen and I don't exchange gifts any more, so we spent the morning having coffee and relaxing. We've both wanted to see "The King's Speech" so we headed out early to catch a 10:30 a.m. matinee at a theater about 30 minutes away. Surprisingly, despite great reviews and 7 Golden Globe nominations, the movie is not at many theaters yet. So it was not easy to find here in LV - shown at only two or three theaters.

Anyway, we loved the movie which tells the story of Queen Elizabeth's father, George VI, who led Britain during WWII. The film depicts his struggle to overcome a severe stuttering problem.
After the movie, about 1, we drove down the Strip to the Venetian to have our Christmas Dinner at Grand Lux Cafe, one of our favorite restaurants. Strip traffic was SLOW and it took us about an hour to get to Venetian, park and get to the restaurant. I enjoyed "Sunday Night Pasta" - spaghetti smothered in a marinara sauce with beef tips and mushrooms. Helen was frankly disappointed in her Cobb Salad topped with grisly chicken.

After eating we walked through the casino and into the Palazzo to check out the Christmas decorations. I found a rare $10 blackjack table (most were $15 or $25 minimum) and in about 15 minutes won $50. Since dinner cost us $52, the winnings offset most of that and we had Christmas Dinner for $2!!

Then it was off to the Bellagio to check out the Conservatory and its elaborate decorations. Unfortunately the place was so crowded - literally elbow to elbow - that we had trouble negotiating Helen's wheelchair through the masses. So we left there vowing to return when it was less busy and went next door to check out LV's newest casino - The Cosmopolitan. It's sparkly and glittery with HUGE crystal chandeliers. Very modern look. We didn't play anything there, since table limits were pretty high and we were more interested in just checking out the place.

Then it was home and to bed at the end of a long day for both of us.

On Sunday, I headed over to Suncoast early to get in some football bets. Then it was back home to watch the games and munch on some snacks. My bets worked out just fine - winning both of my straight bets (Pats & Ravens) and one of two parlays. Net profit was $154.

Helen's longtime friend Sherry and her husband Al were in town and we got together with them for dinner. They are staying at Vegas' oldest hotel - The Golden Gate - downtown on Fremont Street, so we met them down there at the Four Queens for dinner at 5 p.m. The Four Queens has a Prime Rib Dinner for $7.95 and we all had that. It was pretty tasty and I had to help Helen finish off her slab of beef. Sherry's Al was quick to pick up the tab for all of us and that was nice.

We hung around Fremont street watching a street sculptor make little facial busts of people, listening to a live Christmas show and watching people ride a 750-foot zip line above the Fremont Street crowds. We stopped in the Golden Nugget to check out the world's largest Gold Nugget (16 pounds). I found Helen's favorite 25-cent slot machine "Haywire" and suggested she play. She didn't feel like it, but urged me to try. I shoved a $10 into it and on the very first spin the machine lined up bar-bar-bar and went HAYWIRE!! When the dust settled, I had won $9.50 on my first spin and hit the cash button. I nearly doubled my money in 20 seconds, so that was good enough for me!!

By 8:30 or so we made the 30-minute drive back to our apartment where we watched a little TV and then to bed.

Monday morning I headed to Planet Hollywood to try the poker action there. I was able to snag the last seat on a new table and played with a number of foreign visitors. There were guys from Mexico, Australia, England and Spain all at my table. After a slow start, I hit a couple of really nice hands, including taking down a $200 pot with a straight that beat a smaller straight. Net profit for the four-hour session was $150.

On the way home I stopped at the Middle Eastern Market and picked up hummus, fresh pita bread, tabouli, lebni and kalamata olives for dinner. It was tasty.

Yesterday I tried to do some writing and left emails and phone messages for some stories I'm trying to get done for The Ticker website. It's at www.theticker.tc. So check it out for interesting Traverse City stories.

Then Helen sent me back to the Strip for more poker and I was glad to oblige. I've been trying to do some walking during these Strip visits, so I parked at Bill's and walked across Flamingo to Ballys. After about a 15-minute wait I got a seat at a game that was just beginning.
I was able to win a few hands early and after only 30 minutes or so I was up about $110. It was a little early to quit though, so I kept playing. Unfortunately, I lost about half of that in the next half hour and began questioning my decision to keep playing.

But the cards came my way and I raked in a few $30-40 pots. Then I had the best hand of the day when I looked down at my cards and found both black Aces winking at me. There was $12 (six players) in the pot when I raised it $10, getting two callers. The flop came A-7-2 with two Diamonds. One of the two remaining players bet $30 and the other called. I thought about calling, but was worried that the two diamonds might give one of these guys a flush draw.
So with the Trip Aces, I raised $60 to $90 total. One guy quickly threw his cards in the muck, disgusted. The other thought about it for about a minute before finally folding.

It was a nice $100 pot and I might have gotten more if I had just called, but I was concerned about the flush. I assume the first bettor had the case Ace, because if either of them had flopped three 7s or three 2s they would have called my raise. I left soon after with a profit of $204.

Last night I was keeping a close eye on the Vikings-Eagles game. I was playing for my Fantasy League Championship and had Adrian Peterson going for me, while my opponent had Michael Vick, Leshon McCoy and David Akers going for him. Peterson scored a TD late in the game and I was lucky to sneak out with a 79-76 win, boosted by a STRONG kicking performance by my Raider star Sebastian Janikowski who booted two field goals over 50 yds (59 and 51) and posted 16 points for me. Those 50-plus kick were worth 4 pts each and were vital to my championship!

Today Helen and I are making a trip to Wal-Mart to pick up a prescription for her and a few other items. Then I may visit Suncoast or Red Rock, our two local casinos. Either way, our LV adventure will continue...

Thursday Update

After three straight days of losing poker sessions, I've taken a break from the gaming tables and concentrated on catching up on some writing projects.

On Tuesday I interviewed Doug Kosch, who owns the Boathouse restaurant on Old Mission. He's getting ready for his 7th annual Wild Game dinner on Feb. 4. Every year he serves exotic foods at these dinners - last year's theme was African Safari and he served Lion sliders and Black Bear BBQ ribs. This is year's theme is Australian Outback and he'll have a whole kangaroo roasting on a spit, plus a 15-foot mako shark that will be carved for shark steaks. I wrote that story yesterday for The Ticker.

Yesterday was also a day to take care of a few household responsibilities - paid bills, went grocery shopping, put some money in the bank. It's been raining like crazy here in LV and flash flood warnings have been in effect for three days now. Today the rain has ended and the sun is shining brightly with temps near 60. What an improvement.

While I was running those errands, Helen spent a couple of hours on the phone with Pastor Carolyn, the former pastor of the Lakes Lutheran Church. She was let go for financial reasons a month or so ago and we miss her. She and Helen had a great conversation. And in the afternoon Helen got a UPS package from her sister Sharon. It contained fudge and xmas cookies. Tasty!!!

Because it was cold and rainy, I whipped up a batch of corn chowder for dinner. It was perfect. Then we watched some TV and called it a night. But today our adventure will continue...

Super Bowl & World Series Odds

I spent Thursday playing Poker at Ballys where - to my disappointment - some guy hit the $10,800 bonus for hitting a Royal Flush in Clubs.

The big winner hit the hand Wednesday night just before 10 p.m. Everyone playing at his table got $599 also. Now the biggest jackpot is a Royal in hearts - about $7,900, so we'll shoot for that.
While playing Thursday, I won $154 - virtually all on one big hand when my Ace-high flush topped two other guys. One had a K-high flush and the other had two big pair.

So Helen and I celebrated with a takeout dinner from Jason's Deli. She had a grilled panini sandwich and I opted for a hefty Reuben sandwich. Neither of us could finish the meals, so we'll be having those for lunch maybe...

For football fans, here are some of the current Suncoast casino odds for the 2011 Super Bowl:
Patriots 3-1
Steelers 4-1
Packers, Falcons 5-1
Eagles, Saints, Chargers 6-1
Jets 7-1
Ravens 8-1
Giants 9-1
Colts 10-1
Chiefs 15-1
Bears 18-1
Bengals, Panthers, Bills and LIONS are off the board...

For the 2011 World Series, here are the favorites...
Phillies 3-1
Yankees 7-2
Red Sox 6-1
Giants 9-1
Rays, Braves 10-1
Rangers, Twins 12-1
Cardinals 15-1
Reds 18-1
TIGERS, Angels, Dodgers, Padres, White Sox 20-1

Today I need to head out to buy a new coffee pot. Came out early this morning, flipped on the switch and got nothing...looks like Mr. Coffee has passed on...So it's pretty obvious that our adventure continues (with or without caffeine)...

Catching Up

It's been a few days since I last posted on the blog, so it's time to catch up on our weekend activities.

Saturday I played a lot of poker at Ballys and it was a losing session. Few good hands and when I did get a good one it was topped. The highlight - or lowlight - was when my three 10s were beaten by a Straight Flush. Not only did the guy take down a $200 pot, but he also got a $650 bonus for hitting the SF. Loss for the day was $65.

Sunday I bought a couple of football teaser tickets and stayed home with Helen to watch the game. Both of my tickets turned into losers when the Packers lost to the Lions. Ouch! About 8 a.m. Sunday morning I went to the grocery store and stocked up on a bunch of munchies for the game. Cheese, crackers, cookies, chocolate candies, ice cream, pretzels and chips & dip. My favorite, though was some Buffalo Wings. The grocery store, Albertsons, has a Wings Bar with 6 different flavors - very Tasty!!

Helen patiently watched some football with me, then in the evening we switched over to her Lifetime movies which she enjoys.

Monday I went back to Ballys. One of the lures of this poker room is the escalating bonuses for big hands - royal flushes, straight flushes and four-of-a-kind. As of yesterday, one of the Royals - Clubs- will pay a bonus of $10,400 while another (Diamonds I think) is at $7,200. Not only does the player with the big hand get paid, but everyone at his table receives cash. If the bonus is more than $5,000 - then every player receives $599 (to avoid taxes at $600). If the bonus is less than $5,000 everyone receives $200.

So it's a nice attraction to play at Ballys even though the room is nothing special - the chairs are crappy and it's a noisy joint. But the players are usually weak and those bonuses are juicy...

Yesterday was frustrating. I won one hand in the first hours and a half. Very cold cards -- 7-Q, 9-4, K-3. Lots of very bad cards and I when I did play something like Q-10, I hit nothing.
I was losing the whole day until shortly before I left when I was dealt 2-2. I limped into the pot for $2 and the flop cam J-2-J -- a full house! I took down a $100 pot against a guy who had a third Jack. That brought me to about $25 up and I melted that down to a $14 profit before I headed home.

A small profit, but it broke my slump. I've had losing sessions in four of the past six days, but I've been able to minimize my losses. Twice I've lost $65, but nothing worse. In the first 13 days I've had seven winning days and six losing days.

While I was at Ballys, Helen was on the phone with Anna. She also spent some time watching TV and doing laundry. For dinner I whipped up a penne pasta with onion marinara sauce, plus a salad of organic greens, tomatoes and feta cheese.

We've been keeping an eye on the Michigan weather and feel sorry for our TC friends. So great to be out of that ice and cold. Today it'll be about 65 and partly sunny, but then it cools off into the 50s and cloudy for the next few days.

Big LV news this morning is an armed robbery at the Bellagio. Seems like a guy wearing a full-face motorcycle helmet walked into the B about 4 a.m. and held up one of the gaming pits - not the cashier. Don't know how much you get from a pit, since I thought all the cash went into those little metal boxes at the tables. A news update just reported that he also got away with a large amount of chips...I imagine more details will come.

Today I'll probably head back to Ballys to take a shot at those Royal Flush bonuses as our adventure continues.

Movie and Buffet as we Cowboy-Up

On Friday we decided to see a movie and get Helen out for some Vegas fun.

Checking the LV movie listings I saw that "Secretariat" was still showing at the South Point casino, some 15 miles or so from our apt. We had both wanted to see this Disney picture, but didn't get the chance when it came to TC back in October. The only showing of the movie was 11:50 a.m., the first matinee of the day.

So we headed out about 1030, took the scenic route down the Strip and arrived at South Point shortly after 11. The casino/hotel is crawling with cowboys here for the Rodeo. It's one of the hotels that really caters to the cowboys, hosting a western gift show, artwork auction and much more.

Helen noticed that inside the elevators you can really smell the horsey aroma that must drift in on all those thousands of cowboy boots that tread the casino floors.

As soon as we got to the SP, we saw some signs offering 50% off food, movies, gifts, if you use your players card, so we both signed up for cards. Turns out the half-off deals are only if you use your players points to buy the items. Since we just signed up, we didn't have any points.

But we were able to take advantage of a senior (62 and over) discount on the movie tickets, so we paid $3 each to see "Secretariat." An interesting twist - while Helen was using the restroom - I threw $5 into a 25-cent video blackjack machine and in the few minutes she was gone I cashed out at $12. That $7 profit covered the cost of the movie, plus $1 - woohoo!!!

"Secretariat" was a great inspirational movie, even though I knew how all the races would turn out. It was really cool to see how they portrayed the story of my favorite Racehorse, "Big Red."

After the movie (about 2 p.m.), we walked through the Cowboy gift show where a silver & turquoise bracelet caught Helen's eye. It was marked $45, but I was able to negotiate a price of $35 for it. Helen really likes it.

We were both starving so we hit the SP Buffet. For $21 we had a huge selection of seafood, Italian, Mexican, American classics, and Chinese cuisines. An impressive salad bar and dessert selection made it a very nice meal.

Helen opted for Mexican, so I piled her plate with rice, beans, cheese quesadilla, steak taco, chips and guacamole. I really over-ate, starting with peel and eat shrimp, green beans, baby red skin potatoes and salmon. Then I stepped it up with a second carb-heavy plate of spaghetti and meatballs, meatloaf and mashed potatoes and gravy.

Dessert for Helen was a chocolate spectacular with three different types of chocolate cake, chocolate cream and chocolate topping. I opted for a chocolate torte and a small cup of chocolate ice cream topped with strawberries and crushed nuts. We were both STUFFED when we left.

On the way home, I took Helen past the hotel that Scott and his family will stay at when they visit in February. We also took a drive past the UNLV campus and the Thomas and Mack Arena where we'll see the Running Rebels play CMU on Dec. 30. Then we headed home about 6 or so to watch some TV before going to bed. It was great to get Helen out and about for some fun and today out LV adventure continues...

Wednesday & Thursday Update

After a good run at the tables, my poker fortunes turned for the worse on Wednesday and Thursday.

Wednesday I played at Harrah's and spent about 5 hours of win-a-few-lose-a-few types of hands. There were no big dramatic pots and the end result was a loss of $46.

So yesterday I returned to my favorite poker room - Ballys - and hoped my poker luck would turn. Unfortunately it did not. But it was a different situation from Wednesday, in that yesterday I was snagging good hands, but they lost to slightly better hands. That gets expensive.

For example, I hit two flushes and lost them both. One a king-high diamond flush lost to an Ace-high diamond flush. Another nice flush lost to a full house. Those were two pots I thought I'd actually won. I did win a couple of nice pots with an A-10 straight and three Kings. But overall it was another losing session. Minus $65. So I've lost 3 of the past 5 days, but have fortunately kept the losses to a minimum. But I'm still ahead for the trip.

One of the most interesting and tense hands took place about an hour before I left Ballys. I wasn't in the hand, but was watching the whole ugly scenario. The two key players in the drama were a Chinese Guy (CG) sitting to my immediate right (I was in the 3 seat) and a Noisy Drunk (ND) in seat 10, to the immediate right of the dealer.

The drunk was pounding down Heinekins at a 5-per-hour rate and it was only 11 a.m.

Before the flop, CG bet $25 and everyone folded except ND who called. The flop came Q-10-4 of mixed suits and CG bet $50. ND raised to $100 and then opened his big mouth. "If you go all-in, I'm calling," he taunted.

CG wasted no time. "All in" he said, shoving huge stacks of red chips ($330) into the pot.

The mouthy ND tried to fold his hand, but the dealer said his boasting was a verbal commitment to call and that he had to match the $330. When the hand was over, CG's K-K won the hand and the nearly $800 pot.

But ND protested, demanding to see the poker room mgr. who backed up the dealer's ruling. That wasn't enough for ND and he made the mgr. call the Casino Gaming Manager, who showed up and again ruled against ND, who eventually left the poker room muttering complaints about Ballys, its management and everyone in the room, it seemed. It was an ugly scene...

I got home about 5 or so and whipped up vegetarian nachos for dinner - refried beans, salsa, cheese and sour cream. It was pretty tasty.

Today Helen and I are planning to hit the Strip together. After two days of losing, I'm taking a break from the poker tables. We'll probably hit the Bellagio conservatory to check out the holiday display and grab dinner somewhere as our LV adventure continues...

Rebels vs Chips - and Poker too!

After coffee and toast, I hit the road to UNLV to buy tickets for the Dec. 30 hoops game between the Runnin' Rebels and CMU. The box office opened at 10 a.m. and I was a few minutes early, so I checked out the handicapped access that Helen and I will need to use to get into the huge arena.

Right now the Thomas and Mack arena is hosting the National Finals Rodeo and the action around there is usually busy, especially at night. But in the morning it was quiet and after a brief wait, I was able to snag a pair of tickets up high at one end of the court. At $13 each, they gotta be one of the best ticket values in town.

Then I drove to Ballys to check out the poker action. One game and a waiting list, so I played video poker (lost $10) for a bit, then headed over to Bellagio to check the line on the MSU-Syracuse game. It was Spartans -3.5 so I decided not to bet on that one. Smart move by me, since MSU looked terrible in losing by 14.

While at the B, I checked out the Conservatory's new Christmas display. It's AMAZING as usual, with penguins, a huge Christmas tree, reindeer, towering nutcrackers and much more.

Then I walked over to Planet Hollywood to check out the poker action and have lunch at the Earl of Sandwich. Grabbed a roast beef and cheese sandwich and took it to the sports book to have lunch and watch ESPN. Really tasty!

Back to Bally's about 12:30 and got a seat in a 1-2 no limit game that was just starting. In fact, I was the first player to get the button and I won the first hand with a full house. It was a sign of things to come.

In the first circuit of the table (10 players so 10 hands) I won three pots - two of them with full houses (one when I held 10-4 suited and the flop came 10-10-4) and I was up $160 in about 15 minutes!!

That set the tone for my whole session. I continued to win pots, no huge ones but several in the $30-40 range. At one point I was up $340 or so and thought about pushing toward $400. But then I lost a couple of hands and found myself up $315. Time to take the money and run...

On the way home I stopped at the middle East market for fresh pita bread and some sandwich rolls. When I got home I whipped up a dinner of cheese-stuffed ravioli with a mushroom and onion sauce, topped with a dusting of grated parmesan.

While I was gone, Helen was on the phone with Anna and Nat. In the mail we received a special gift from Anna and Luis - a 2011 calendar full of family photos. So Helen spent a couple of hours transferring all the important appointments, birthdays, etc. to the new calendar. At night we watched the MSU game and some other TV.

Niece Katie called and it was great to hear from her. She's having some roommate issues and looks like she'll be moving sometime this month. Right now she's finishing up her classes at NMC and studying for finals.

Today I need to do some grocery shopping and we may or may not visit the Strip. Whatever happens, our LV adventure continues...