the setting: MGM

as i was driving home this morning i noticed how beautiful the mountains are here.
today was the first day i really saw them in all their glory.

the wind has been really intense for the the last couple of days, so it blew all the dust and smog out of the sky, leaving the vibrant colors of the mountains to glare through a clear sky.

i went to play last night after trying to go to bed at like 9pm. just as i was beginning to fall asleep, katy called and i woke up.
after that i couldn't go back to sleep, so i cleaned up and went to mgm. i was tired and i could now feel the effects of the migraine hangover when i coughed or moved sharply. nothing too bad, about a .2 on the migraine hangover scale. really not even noticeable unless i coughed.

so i'm playing 1-2 and this local punk keeps asking me, you gonna call, you gonna call, you gonna call. (trying to get info on whether or not he would have pot odds to call.) i look at him after the third time and ask, "what did you say?". he mucked and i called the all-in bet with my aq off on the button and the blind all-in raiser had k8s and flopped 2 pair. to top it off, he slow rolled me. what a dick.

so i'm like, here we go again. and the hits just keep on rolling. i get jj in middle position and raise to 16. 4 callers. punk calls. flop comes Ad 8c Jd. i bet 25 and punk calls. turn comes 10h and he bets 40 into me. i go all-in for like 105 more. he calls. river comes 9d. i'm like f. i knew he had a straight minimum. he had just snapped off a couple of people with crap like that. he turns over pocket eights. and i am happy to set over set him.

i play for a while, get up a couple hundred +, then get snapped off a few times until i'm back to 200.
at this table the first of 3 weird things happens this evening. the 2nd and 3rd were the same thing, but still something i had never seen before. all the power went out in the casino except for the poker room. all the slots and lights went off for a second then quickly came back on. this as i said before happened twice but much later in the evening.
so back to the first weird thing that happened. this real conservative guy comes back from the bathroom and starts to tell us about the goings on in the mens room. as he described it, this dude and this chick were totally going at it in the stall. as he said, there was no doubt they were having sex. he said the guy was smacking her ass and she was high 5ing other dudes with her hand under the stall. after a while, with 20 people cheering them on, security came and made them leave.

so back to poker. i get moved to 3 different tables before i could even play a hand. the first 2 tables broke before i could even get in. so i now have the option of 2 tables and i ask the floor woman which she recommends. i take her suggestion and go sit down at this crazy action table.

people were betting the shit out of the pot when they had nothing and not betting when they had the nuts.

this dude was wearing a wpt hat and was calling every hand with crap. so he bets 30 on the flop, and i go all-in for 200 and he finally had a hand. flopped 2 pair. i just had middle pair. i had only brought 200, so i had to go to the atm. 5 bucks to get out 200. ALWAYS BRING THE CASH YOU WANT TO PLAY WITH YOU.

i get smacked around for a while then get a good hand and get a hundred back, then i get hit by the case 9 and lose 200 to this bluffer. ouch. so i'm down to my last 100. i win a few small pots and get close to 200. i get aa in the small blind. pot is raised by solid player to 17 and called my another solid player. i raise 35 and they both call. flop comes q 4 7. i bet 60 and dude goes all in. other dude calls all in for like 60 and i, knowing i'm beat, call my last hundred something. he shows his set of sevens, the turn comes 10, i call for an ace as the river card comes and then boom! the ace of clubs never looked so pretty.
the other guy flashed me his pocket queens and i raked a nice pot. set over set over set.

next hand i'm on the button with 35off and the pot is raised with 5 callers to 12, so i call. flop comes q 3 5. i raise the 20 bet to 60, raiser calls and then goes all in on the turn. the turn was a 3, so i easily called. fearing pocket queens, he didn't show though. i win a few more pots and cash out for 1100.

a real nice turn around i'll have to say.

it got down to the real nitty gritty there.

we'll see how things unfold now. hope there is a lucky swing in the cards.

i can't wait for the gambling decathlon. eric is gonna go down. he can't possibly match my gambling stamina.

isn't that what decathlons are all about?

we'll soon see, as the hoards of blog-onlookers anxiously await the outcome.

MN