Poker, Poker, Poker

While I haven’t been dealing it, I’ve been playing it, mostly NLH tournaments – close to every other day – for the last few weeks. It’s brutal. I’m so tired when I finish an eight or so hour session that I feel as if my face is going to slide off onto the floor. I haven’t made the money, not even close really, from 80 or so players down the last 23 or 24, and it’s not a heart breaker, it’s just poker. I’ve played Caesar’s Palace, the Venetian, and the Orleans. Every place in town has a tournament now, some are just a little better than others when it comes to the juice and what’s offered. Dan (son) has picked the Venetian for the best tournament deal for us and that’s where we’ll be parked for awhile. Continue reading Poker, Poker, Poker

Dreams

Over 20 some years ago, I smoked around two to three packs of cigarettes a day. I enjoyed it. After breaking into the poker business, I smoked even more when I sat at the table for long periods of time. After a few years of watching some of our over 50 poker players that could barely breathe without gagging when they walked a few steps to get coffee or hit the head, I knew I couldn’t do that to myself. To watch them gag and cough up whatever it was that rumbled around in their chest, and know that if I continued in the same vein, I would be paying monetarily to completely ruin my quality of life as I aged. Thinking ahead to my 50s or 60s, and seeing the shape that they were in (some of them had their voice boxes removed also) and knowing that I had done it myself left me resolute to quit smoking. Continue reading Dreams

It’s a hard world

It seems to be getting harder. Since moving in to the RV park on Boulder Highway, I have stepped into a part of society that is completely different from living up on Hyman place. This is a brutal picture of life. There are Budget Suites, RV parks, dive hotels, a bar that only opens on weekends and runs until 5 a.m., a Super WalMart, fast food slop shops, and a few casinos within walking distance of my place. Boulder Highway is always busy, teeming with life from all sides of the track and a lot of it isn’t very pretty. Continue reading It’s a hard world

Playing the Orleans Open

Dan and I hit the Orleans on Saturday for their first NLH event. I made it about 3 1/2 hours before trying to run over Q-Q with 9-9 and I was out. Dan made it about 7 hours. Tomorrow we are going back to give the LH event a whirl. For the first time in a long, long time, I’ve actually settled down and decided that I would devote a day to playing poker. It was very enjoyable. I have a lot to learn in the NLH tournament arena but really didn’t feel badly about any hand I played and the way I played it.

Continue reading Playing the Orleans Open