Memorial Day Golf

On Monday Fernando, Alan, Steve, and myself decided to go golfing. I haven't been golfing for well over a year so I was a little bit hesitant. I didn't want to be "that guy" that holds up the group because he lost another ball. I historically shoot better on the back nine so since we were only playing nine holes I had to pick it up. To my surprise I didn't do that bad. I actually shot for par on the third hole. I started to tank halfway through but then came through in the clutch and won the last two holes. In the end I shockingly had the best score. Even more shockingly was the fact that not one bet was made the whole time we were out.

Jeff's Birthday

Saturday we played some cards in honor of Jeff's birthday. I bought in for twenty and it lasted me quite a while. Unfortunately for us lady luck sat on Jeff's lap all night. And I do mean luck. He played a lot of the hands blind and won. When he looked at the cards he would lose. If it wasn't for me being on the losing end I would have found it amazing. I eventually busted out and had to rebuy which officially gave Jeff custody of The Nuts. I hate to lose them that way but I know that I will get them back soon.

Not a very good picture but who cares he got the nuts

Birthday Tourney

I went to my brother's house last weekend for his birthday and as usual the evening ended in a small poker tournament. We didn't want it to run long so we played with the blinds going up every ten minutes. I must say I was pretty happy with my play. I made some pretty good reads which lead to some excellent calls and laydowns. Unfortunately due to a bad beat I was the first one out. When I went all in I had the best of it and had Rod drawing dead to a king to make his straight. So guess what came on the river. Yup the king. Once again the river gives and the river taketh away. Rod went on to win the tourney but not with out Selena putting up a fight until the end.

Testing a Theory

On Monday Selena emails me and says I should go to the casino after work (yes she is that cool of a wife). She has this theory that I do better when I go by myself and wanted to see if it was true. I was happy to accommodate. For this experiment since the minimum buy-in on the $1-$3 table is $40 I decided to go with just enough money to buy in twice. The first $40 lasted me about 45 minutes. My cards were running extremely cold. I finally caught a hand when my pocket 9's turned into trips on the flop. I didn't like the possible flush on the table so I moved all in to protect my hand. The other guy called and caught a small flush on the river. Interesting call. My second $40 turned out to be a little more profitable. I actually started getting some playable hands and began to rebuild my stack. My biggest pot came on a hand when I was dealt KJ. The guy in front of me raised before the flop and everyone called. The flop came K-J-6 to give me top two pair. When the bet was checked to me I bet $20 and everyone called. The turn brought another King giving me the nuts and also put a possible flush on the board. Hoping that someone caught their flush or was chasing a straight I bet out $40. Only one person called all in and sure enough he had caught his flush and I won the pot. I played a few more hands but they weren't too eventful. By the time I cashed out I had turned my $80 into $301 for a profit of $221. I think Selena might be on to something.

Late Night Poker

Last Friday I managed to get some of the guys together to play some cards. The plan was to play a tourney but since there were only five of us we decided to just play a cash game. I played pretty solid most of the night and I never had to re-buy. Jeff brought the nuts but didn't leave with them. He has had them for a long time so I am happy to have them back. I'm surprised I ended up with them because he was up big for a while. I guess you can always count on the Russell meltdown. Jeff and Alan decided to play some hands blind and I believe that is what started the downward spiral. Alan and I ended up playing until 4 am. By that time we were playing hands that were ranging anywhere from $40 to $100 a pop. I didn't mind those stakes because his luck was running real bad and besides I was playing with his money. By the time we finished he was in debt to me for an addition $240. It easily could have been a lot worse though. My dad and I were the only ones to walk away ahead so it turned out to be a good night. Oh yeah and did I mention I have custody of the nuts now? Just making sure.

The Nuts

During our last trip to Las Vegas my dad, Jeff, and I found ourselves gambling at the Frontier. I heard they had a mechanical bull and I wanted to ride it. As usual, when we got there I headed over to get my players card. While I was filling out my form I noticed that if you earned enough points you got to spin a big wheel and win a prize. I was expecting the prizes to be your usual boring prizes: glassware, t-shirts, hats, etc...and for the most part I was right. There was one prize that caught mine and Jeff's eye though. It was a ceramic salt and pepper shaker set in the shape of two acorns sitting on a leaf. In other words it was a set of nuts! I knew that by the end of this trip we would own them. The three of us immediately went to work on building points. A couple of hundred dollars later we had accumulated the points needed. The only problem now was in order to win the nuts we had to spin the wheel and have it stop on a particular spot. I guess now is a good time to mention that somehow during this whole process the people working behind the players club counter got wind of what we were doing and they were getting a kick out of it. Now the moment of truth. I went up and gave the wheel a spin and it seemed like it was never going to stop. You could actually feel the excitement in the air. When it finally slowed down I began to realize that it was not going to make it to the spot we needed and all of our hopes and dreams were going to come crashing down. It finally stopped and my prediction was right it was a couple of spots away from the one we needed. Everyone (including the employees) let out a moan of disappointment. Then it occured to me how much blood, sweat and money (mostly money) we had given to win the nuts and I knew right then and there that I would not be denied. So I ever so casually reached out and gave the wheel a little nudge and stopped it on the space we needed. Remember when I said the employees knew of our plight? Well this is where it comes in handy. After I gave the wheel the nudge and we started cheering they laughed and went along with it. Today those very nuts can be seen proudly displayed in mine or Jeff's house depending on who has custody at the time. Every time we play we are required to bring them and the winner gets to take them home.