I made a trip into Wynn on Friday. It was my second visit to the place, I cruised in on Wednesday night, after work with Wayne, hoping to find Andy Beal and Craig Singer for a hello hug. They were nowhere on Wednesday. Thursday found me being too tired to fade the traffic and life to get there before work so I made it a point to visit again on Friday as I had the day off. The game was on. I got to say hello and get a hug from Andy and Craig. Other ‘hellos’ included Ted Forrest, David Oppenheimer, Michael Craig, Amy Calistri, and a few words with Marco Traniello.
The game is being live blogged from a player in the Wynn Poker Room for Bluff Magazine. Cardplayer.com has an article that appears to give day-by-day coverage. Daniel Negreanu has written about it in his blog. PokerNews.com has an article about the game. Recpoker.com and Twoplustwo.com have threads discussing the game, the players, and other things that have nothing to do with the game. And the word out everywhere is that Andy will play Howard today…you can check it out anywhere on the net. Everyone on the Internet has something to say about the game…except me. Umnhhh!
One of the truly high spots of my visit to Wynn was touching bases with Deborah Giardina. I knew she was going to manage the room, long before it opened, and I knew I would go in one day and make sure to say ‘hi’. We opened The Gulfport Grand Casino, in Gulfport, Mississippi in April of ’93. I left a year later, not sure when she left but I’d heard small noises now and then from people that visited Vegas about where she was and what she was doing. She always remembered me as “Spike”. That was on my name tag and that’s what people called me in those days…spiked up ‘do’ with two different colors of hair and a braided tail down the back of my neck. She said she’d asked everyone and their dog about me when she came to Vegas but no one here seemed to know ‘Spike’. It was a warm, fun reunion. We’ve exchanged #’s and plan on staying in touch. SWEET!
On Wynn, the room was hopping. It is moving right up on Super Bowl and the Big Game was running so that might account for part of the people mass, chip confusion, and games but I will go back soon to play. When I visited Wynn on Wednesday night, this shot was pointed out to me by Wayne…I took it.
On playing on shift. I had two crazy hands that made me a pretty decent win for the session. The game was a little loose and fun because of the 2s, Tom, from New York (I believe). He talked pretty much non-stop but he was having a great time and adding a little breeze to the fire now and then. The first hand I played, I posted out of position, looking down to 8-5 off. The bet was raised, I called, and flopped bottom pair. With the number of players and the way the action came down, I was having a hard time putting the raiser on anything other than possibly A-K or A-face off. None of that would beat me. I caught a 5 on the River and blasted in a raise, winning a nice pot. On the following round, I looked down to 8-5 off in the BB. The Flop was 5-6-7 of Clubs. I had the 8C. I checked and called a bet – four-way action. The Turn brought an 8. I now had two pair with an open-ended straight flush draw. I checked and called again – four-way action. The River brought a 4C giving me the straight flush. I fired at the pot. The player right behind me thought, and thought, and thought, and thought finally calling, the Button called. Another nice pot with a crappy hand. Woo hoo!!! That’s when you know you’re running good, baby!
Back to Friday. I had to make the trip out to Wheeler RV – about 25 miles from everywhere I have lived – the traffic sucked and I made the journey after stopping at Wynn. I had to find the Service Manager as the guy that fixed the motor on the front jacks on the ‘coach’ had apparently left town. Hey…I’m not making it up. Long story – short ending. I wanted a refund on the money I paid him and he didn’t leave a work order or invoice with me. It would take a week to explain it and I’m not in the mood. I documented all of my phone calls with him, his time at my place, the money I paid him, more phone calls, another time he was at my place, more money I paid him, and I had a small handwritten receipt on the cash I gave him. He’d been in business here in town for quite a few years and Wheeler recommended him to me. Now his phone is ‘no longer in service’ and when I got a real live person at the fax # I had for him, he apparently moved out of state two weeks ago. The Service Manager, at Wheeler, promised to follow up with Newmar on Monday and get back to me. Kee-rist! Just one more wrinkle in the time slot of life when all the slots are full.
Back on the highways and by-ways of life, trying to get across town to home on Super Bowl weekend with the whole world coming to Vegas. Turn on the tunes, scream for cocktails, and get ready to sit forever in traffic without moving a 100 yards in 20 minutes. OMG! This stuff makes me crazy. Maybe that’s why I work at night. On one of my detours off the freeway to a side street, I found this sign. That says it all for me. In MT, Warm Springs is the name of the looney farm, sitting isolated out of Deer Lodge, which is the location of the State Penitentiary. But then add ‘Bonk BLVD’. Bonk is one of my favorite words for life when everything is fucked up and you know you’re going to get head butted with it.
I finally made it home. A few hours of sleep, and soon I’ll be back to sleep. I’ll be dreaming of all of the things I’m going to write about when I’m no longer employed by a casino. 🙂