The Poker Gods: Friends or Foes? Heck -- I Don't Know

Whereas most people who know anything about poker will tell you that it is a game of skill, the inevitable luck component also remains a factor in varying degrees. Take my 2025 poker results as an example.

I had a horrible losing streak in 2025. Between May 11 and June 28, I lost money in 15 consecutive poker sessions. From what I remember, at the beginning of the streak, I took some unreal losses. I had my money in good before the river, and then ... This scenario happened time and time again. I'm pretty sure that I started stressing, leading to some suboptimal playing. Fortunately, most of the losses were not that great, ranging from $34 to $550. Most losses were between $150 and $300, or about one buy-in at the regular levels I play: $1/2NL and $1/3NL. To lose that many sessions in a row really sucks the fun out of poker. The streak began at Phoenix-area poker rooms, continued in Las Vegas, then finished at the Phoenix-area rooms.

I decided that I needed to invest more time in training, so I watched many videos and decided that I needed to tighten my game up. Soon afterward, I was winning pretty regularly again. However, I had dug myself quite a hole during the bad streak. Afterward, I suddenly was not losing every flip or even hands where before I had lost to three or four outers.

My Las Vegas December trip report posts chronicled some good winning sessions, some solid poker play, and some degree of luck. Had the poker gods decided to give me a break? Would they be back with a vengeance when I returned home? Well ...

The December holidays provided area poker rooms incentives to host some decent promo days. I went to Talking Stick in Scottsdale on Dec 14 to play in a special promo day that included a football match- the-score ticket promo, and $1,000 high hands every 30 minutes. The session started out badly as I had one of those days when I had second best hand several times. I moved to a different table, and the magic began.

I hit on the football promo for a $150 bonus. Shortly afterward, I turned a 9-high straight flush and had to hang on for over 20 minutes. Luckily, nobody else had a higher straight flush during that time (all/most of the 70 or so poker tables were full), giving me an additional $1,000 bonus.

On New Year's Eve, I had hoped to go to Desert Diamond in Glendale for the room's hot seat promo, but the wait list was extremely long. I learned long ago that few players leave when big promos go on there. I decided to instead go to Lone Butte in Chandler. I played three separate sessions there that afternoon and evening from 3:00pm until 1:15am. My first session saw me lose $30. The funny thing is that I remember almost nothing of the session! After taking a break to play some slots, I went back to the poker room for session #2. The $1/2 table was absolutely wild! It was not unusual to see guys shoving with marginal hands. I thought one guy was bluffing me off a hand when an Ace appeared, but he played me well and took half my stack. I called a raise with KsJs and saw my opportunity when the flop had two spades and gave me a gutshot straight draw. I shoved all in after a raise and got one caller -- a guy who flopped two pair. He called. The turn completed my straight, more than doubling me up and putting me with a $142 profit. I cashed out as there was no way to go promo hunting for the $1,000 high hands every half hour without risking my stack virtually every hand.

I took a dinner break and decided to play one more session. There were gift card drawings, hot seats drawings, and splash pots along with the high hand promo, but I never sniffed any of them. For hours, my cards were so bad I couldn't even limp into hands, Then at 11:30pm, some magic happened. I was in a hand with Ac5c. The flop was 2c3c4s. I had flopped a wheel straight and had straight flush and nut flush draws. The turn was the magic card: 4c! Unfortunately for one regular player, he had Qc9c. He bet and I hollywooded about whether or not to call his $100 bet. "Reluctantly," I called. My opponent shoved on the river, and I tabled my straight flush. I had just won a big pot and now had to wait out the final 22 minutes of the high hand period. As the clock ticked down the final seconds to the new year, people were blowing horns and making lots of noise. I was hoping not to hear the dreaded "high hand on table ..." right before the half hour expired. When midnight hit, everyone was celebrating the new year. I was celebrating that the first second of the new year provided me with a $1,000 high hand bonus!

There was a final hot seat giveaway for $2026 at 1:00am. Would my mojo continue? I was at table 31, seat 4. The winner: table 32, seat 4! It was time to head home.

I went to two promo days hoping to hit $1,000 high hand bonuses. I hit one at each day with turned straight flushes, with an extra $150 at the first promo day. Quite different from the luck  -- or lack of it -- that experienced earlier in the year. Were the poker gods asleep in December? Did they feel sorry for me and see a need to even the score for me? I dunno. Promos seem to come and go in streaks. Over the past couple years, I had individual sessions where I won two promos: one with two $500 high hands (Quad Aces twice in one session), and one when I got a straight flush for $200 and flopped quad deuces for $1,200. Poker can sometimes be sweet!

I look forward to another year of low-level NL poker. All my best to my readers for 2026!

Blog comments are welcomed and encouraged. Thanks for reading.

Las Vegas Trip Report: December 8-12, 2025 - Part II

 Wednesday, December 10

I got myself in the shower early (for me - in Las Vegas) and began the familiar trip to Caesars Palace to meet Twitter/X follower @oldmaninvegas. We had messaged each other several times over the past year or so, but never had a chance to meet. Today would be the day.

I gave myself 45 minutes to get to Caesars: Through Excalibur, through NYNY, into Park MGM to catch the tram, exiting the tram at Bellagio, then heading outdoor to enter the main entrance to Caesars Palace and the Cafe Americano. I made it with a few minutes to spare. My new friend was waiting for me.

As I expected, @oldmaninvegas is a great guy. His wife used to work in the poker industry in several capacities, including dealer. Therefore I knew that there would be at least one person that I know that his wife would know. 😁For me, meeting Twitter/X/poker people for the first time is always a thrill. It is amazing how small the poker world really is. Fortunately, the great majority of people I have met have been quality people.

@oldmaninvegas had invited me to breakfast and said that he would treat me using his comps. Sweet, as free food ALWAYS tastes the best! However, at the end of our breakfast, he found out that Cafe Americano would not accept his Caesars Rewards comps. Although I offered to pay for my breakfast (about $31 for an omelet and coffee!), he grabbed the bill. These kind of friends I like! Anyway, we soon parted company, and I was off to play my first session of poker in the reopened Caesars poker room.

The room was just where it had been previously - next to the sportsbook. The one big difference that I noted was that the chairs were new and very  comfortable. I got seated at a new table. After getting involved in some hands and having little success, I was doubled up by an aggro player who raised most hands. I was in the big blind and he was on the button. He raised to $25, and I jammed my remaining $90. I never found out what he had. Later, his girlfriend showed up and he proclaimed that he always does well when she is with him. True to form, he started building  up his stack. I didn't particularly like my table, so I cashed out a bit later with a small profit. Next stop: Venetian.

This afternoon session at Venetian was once again successful. NormInVegas was again able to join me and got seated at my table. I felted one guy when I had J-J. I'm not sure what he had or what he was thinking. He said that he had made a mistake in the hand, which I think my calling my big post-flop bet. I did okay on a few bomb pot hands and overall played solid poker.

I took a break for dinner, and afterward, decided to go back to Venetian since I had been doing well there and having fun. Unfortunately, the magic wasn't there this session. I cashed out after more than two hours, but fortunately, lost less than $100.

I wasn't ready to call it a night, so I headed to Horseshoe, getting there about 11:30pm. I was quickly seated and only stayed for a half hour, erasing the loss I had just had at Venetian. I was getting tired and decided to return to Excalibur, play some slots, and get to bed. Things seemed to be moving in the right direction -- much different than my first day of the trip. I was looking forward to a big day on Thursday.

Thursday, December 11

After a leisurely morning, I headed for my first session at Bellagio. Earlier in the year, I was dominating play almost every session I played there. During my last trip last August, I won a whole $11 in almost three hours of play in the only Bellagio session that trip.

I didn't like my table. I wasn't getting anything in the way of starting hands, so I looked like an OMC at the table. When I did get cards and bet, everyone folded. It was time to take my small loss and head out. Next stop: where else but Venetian!

There were big tournaments going on at Venetian and Wynn, and the wait lists were very long. At Venetian, there were eight tables of $1/3 and 50+ people on the wait list. I got on the list via PokerAtlas and headed north.

My name got on the wait list just after 3:00pm. I was seated and playing less than two hours later, which didn't seem too bad, considering the crowds everywhere. 

The atmosphere in the Venetian poker room was absolutely electric. Tables full of people playing cash games. Tables full of people playing a deep stack event. People standing all around, carefully watching the electronic wait lists, hoping that their name would, at some point, be visible as they came closer to the top of the list. Chris Abramski was at a different table, having been playing since noon. He had a nice stack of chips in front of him. It was time for me to do the same.

I started chipping up, and then got into a hand that solidified the direction I was moving. A guy who claimed to regularly play $5/10 NL had been making regular to high raises all session. In the crucial hand, he only raised to $7. I looked down to see Qs9s. I was in the big blind and already had $3 in the pot. I decided to call. The flop was rag-Q-rag. I checked. He bet. I called. The turn was a rag. I checked. He made a sizable bet. I called. The river was another rag. I checked. He bet $175. I had a feeling the entire time that he had nothing. And since he only raised to $7 initially, I wasn't willing to give him credit for having anything decent. What would he have only bet $7 on initially that would beat top pair, middle kicker? It felt like a bluff to me, so I called. He tabled pocket 4s. Ding!

I stayed at that table for more than five hours. I started to feel my attention slipping and some new players were getting seated, changing the table dynamics. I was getting hungry and decided to book my nice win and give up my seat to one of the many waiting players. Chalk up another good session at Venetian, which, based on many factors, is my favorite Las Vegas poker room.

I got dinner and thought that I might head toward Planet Hollywood to see if the poker vlogger/dealer El Diesel/Rice was there. However, I checked on Bravo to find there was only one table (maybe two) going, so I instead decided to play at Horseshoe. It was almost 10:30pm, and I knew this would likely be my last poker session of the night.

I was seated at a table with unique players. The aggro guy to my immediate right started winning, then spewing. The woman at the table who joined shortly after I did was making big raises with crap hands. After winning and losing some hands, I was feeling the need to make a move. A new player joined the table, and he put a terrible beat on the woman, hitting a four outer. He started making $25 blind raises. I looked down at 10-10. Since I know that the guy wanted to bet $25, I beat him to it. He called. The flop was not coordinated and was 9 high. I decided to jam all in. The opponent called. I thought that I was a goner when two overcards came on the turn and river, but my 10s held. He didn't show his cards.

A bit later, my table broke. My new table had a couple of players with big stacks. I had a streak when I was dealt great hole cards or crushed the flop. I felted two players, then got into a huge hand. I called a small raise in the big blind with Jd9d. The flop had a 9 and two diamonds. I checked. the initial raiser made a pot sized bet. I called. The turn was a beautiful diamond -- as long as he didn't have a bigg flush. I checked. He mad a big bet. I called. The river was a blank. I again checked. My opponent bet all in. I called, hoping that he was trying to get me to fold. He turned his cards over, one on top of the other. The top card was the Ace of diamonds. Underneath? The deuce of hearts! He bluffed off his whole stack!

One guy at the table (a reg, I assumed) was drunk or acted like he was drunk. He appeared sober enough to felt one player when he had the nuts. I took a bunch of money off him, including when he tried a big bluff when I had a good hand. I finally decided to call it quits after 3 1/2hours of play. It was an exceptional cash session.

I cashed out and headed to Planet Hollywood in search of El Diesel/Rice as I had something I wanted to tell him. He was still there and was getting ready to leave. We had a brief discussion, and I caught an Uber/Lyft back to the dirty castle. Time for bed.

Friday, December 12

I had thoughts of sneaking in a final poker session at MGM, but instead I hit the slots. A machine I won at the night before hit again. In fact, after a rough beginning at slots, I was winning on them almost everywhere between poker sessions. I grabbed lunch at Buca di Beppo in Excalibur (picture below), then headed to the airport.

My flight home was unremarkable except that it took off and landed late due to a delay in the plane's previous flight.

How did I do overall? It was the most profitable trip to Las Vegas that I have had in a long time -- maybe the most profitable ever. Most things seemed to go right after a disastrous first day. A Las Vegas trip where I got to play poker with friends, won at slots, and had several excellent poker sessions? Pure gold -- and a welcome distraction from playing the same old poker rooms around Phoenix. The poker gods were actually rooting for me this trip. Imagine that!

Thanks for reading. Comments on the blog are encouraged and welcomed.

Las Vegas Trip Report: December 8-12, 2025 - Part I

The beginning of December had, for many years, been a special time for me. I'm talking about Christmas, right? Ummm ... no. The beginning of December used to be the time when, back in the "good ol' days (I'm slightly past my 36th birthday, so I can say that now), a group of poker bloggers used to meet in Las Vegas for the World Poker Bloggers Tournament (WPBT), mixed games, and general gambling, eating and drinking in Las Vegas degenerate style. It was a great time: playing against, and sometimes meeting in person for the first time, a group of dedicated bloggers who played against each other in regular online poker tournaments. The biggie was The Mookie, which I tried to play every Wednesday night.

Along with the WPBT magic, the beginning of December also meant that Las Vegas would be flooded with cowboys. The cowboys that I played against at the low level No Limit games were usually fun, drank a lot, provided much entertainment, and appeared to be pretty fishy. This was long before the opening of many of the Texas card houses that are now all the rage. Memories.

Monday, December 8

I originally planned to drive to Las Vegas from greater Phoenix, but Frontier Airlines had a Black Friday sale. I was able to get a round trip ticket for the same price I used to pay a few years ago: $38. My poker buddy @ZetusLarry regularly takes Spirit and clued me on on getting the perfect size backpack that will fit as a free personal item. I am able to fit four days worth of clothes in it. So ... with my cheap plane ticket and four nights at the Dirty Castle, I was ready to go.

When I arrived in Las Vegas, the airport was really dead. The ride share area was sparse, allowing me to get an Uber in only a few minutes. The online check in at MGM properties has always been good for me, and I was already checked into my room that morning as my Uber delivered me to Excalibur. I thought that it was pretty exceptional to be in my hotel room (no early check in charge) less than two hours after my flight departed from Phoenix. Was this run good a sample of what was to come?

I considered eating at the Excalibur buffet (MGM buffet, where I sometimes go, was closed for a few days), but when I saw that the price of the buffet had gone up, totaling over $40 with tax and before tip, I decided to save my $50 food comp for another day at the Wicked Spoon. Fortunately, the Excalibur food court has a Jimmy John's, a favorite of mine since the franchise started in central Illinois (I used to live a couple of miles from Jimmy John Liautaud). After a sammich, it was time to head to my traditional first poker session at MGM.

Now, in the past, MGM used to be one of my favorite places to play. I did well, and was a close personal friend of the King of MGM poker, @Robvegaspoker. I still like playing there, but my results there over the past three years have been terrible. In fact, of all the casinos where I've played poker the past three years, MGM Las Vegas is the one at which I've lost the most money. After this trip, it finally surpassed the downtown Golden Nugget, where I just give money away.

MGM stayed true to form. I wasn't getting any cards at all and decided to leave after an 1 1/2 hours. I donked off some money on the MGM Megabucks slots. Yeah - I could use the $10,000,000. Later on, I decided to buy back into the MGM game. I hit the nut flush on a very wet board (board was paired any had straight possibilities), and of course, my turn bet didn't force out my opponent. The river double paired the board, so that ship sank fast. I eventually lost my shortie buy in (MGM is now $1/3 NL with a $1K max buy in), got some dinner, and headed back to Excalibur to degen some slot action and call it a day. The day started out so promising, but I had hopes that things would improve one way or another on Tuesday night since I would be meeting up with some friends to play poker at Venetian.

Tuesday, December 9

As planned from yesterday, I headed to Cosmopolitan in the late morning to have brunch at the Wicked Spoon buffet. Many years ago, I had gone to the Wicked Spoon at least  two times. Years ago, it had a well-deserved great reputation. I had heard that it had gone downhill after COVID-19 and since Cosmopolitan had become part of the MGM empire. I would find out for myself. The $49.99 price seemed a much better deal than the Excalibur buffet.

The buffet was pretty busy, but fortunately, I was seated almost immediately. The picture below was my first plate of food, highlighted by crab legs peach french toast, angry mac 'n' cheese, and my favorite, a bagel with cream cheese, lox, and capers. 

It was a decent start. Later, I had some really good tri-tip. The dessert was really the star, with wonderful gluten free chocolate chip cookies, cheesecakes, gelato, and many other great looking desserts that I did not sample. My verdict: perhaps Wicked Spoon is the best of the lower/middle tier buffets. It is clearly not in the same ball park at Caesars  Bacchanal Buffet or the The Buffet at Wynn Las Vegas. For a buffet with a better price point, I would go to the Garden Buffet at South Point.

After brunch, I decided to resume my poker at the Horseshoe. Years ago, when Horseshoe was Bally's and seemed to have a different location for the poker room every few years, I used to rule there. It was my honey hole where I rarely lost. Over the past several years, I have struggled to win there. Funny how things like that happen in poker. Well, true to form, I did not have a good session there. A doofus called a huge bet with a flush draw and hit it. A few hands later. I lost two pair to a bigger two pair. It was time to say goodbye to Horseshoe.

One thing for sure about Las Vegas: it is always interesting. On my way to Venetian for our meet up game, I saw the following:

Once inside Venetian and about a half hour early for the meet up game, I saw one of the players, Chris Abramski, already seated. At table 36! I checked in from my online sign up, and was able to immediately get seated at table 36. Along the way, the others in the game found their way there: NormInVegas, Flynn & Ollie (Erin), and @Onechiquita (Alysia). Let the games begin!

Norm, me, Alysia, Erin, and Chris

For whatever reason, I tend to run white hot at meet up games that I have arranged. Early on, in, I believe, the first hand Alysia played, she had A-A and I had 8-8. I called Alysia's raise to $21, as did another player. And guess what: the flop had an 8! Major props to Alysia for losing the minimum on the hand (about $100). However, the other player, with A-K, hit top top on the flop and called my all in raise. Ding!

As the session went on, I kept building up my chip stack. It was a combination of good play, luck, and pretty good bluffs. I cashed out a pretty tidy sum once it seemed that my momentum had stopped and some of the other players at the table were replaced by seemingly better players. Shortly thereafter Norm cashed out and drove me back to Excalibur to end the night. The sweet win at Venetian more than covered my previous losses at MGM, Horseshoe, and my degen slot activity, so after a rough start to the trip money-wise, I was feeling pretty good. At Excalibur, I won at slots before heading to bed. Perhaps this trip was going to be pretty good now that I seemed to shift my momentum. Little did I know what the poker gods had in store for me the rest of the trip. But the important point was that I was back ahead, and was looking forward to meeting a Twitter/X friend in person for the first time in the morning for breakfast.

Part II coming soon. 

Thanks for reading. Comments on the blog are encouraged and welcomed.

Cheating and Other Possibilities in Home Poker Games: Highway to the Danger Zone

One thing that always seems to be true about poker is that once a good scandal fades away, another will soon pop up in its place. In the not-too-distant past, we had the alleged cheating situation at Stones Gambling Hall. More recently, we were mesmerized by the "unique" way J-4os was played at Hustler Casino Live. However, the new poker scandal involving Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups and ... shhhhhh ... the Mafia? While the previous incidents I mentioned made headlines in poker and other venues, this new scandal is HUGE! Things will likely get even uglier as this story unfolds.

When I lived in Illinois and worked at a community college, I found out that one of my department's student workers (a woman in her 20's) was a poker player. When she found out that I played poker, she invited me to a private poker game that was in town. Since the nearest legal poker venue was 90 miles away, I jumped at the chance. My wife had made me an excellent poker table that I used for my home games with friends, but this offer exposed me to a whole new group of people. The worker played in what I called my International Poker Game. It consisted of several Iranian students, a few other students from other countries (I had no idea which ones), some regular in-town residents, and the guy who ran things -- a computer educator from India. The majority of the players were college students. We played in a conference room of a nearby public university.

We usually started out with a tournament, then headed into cash games, which were much more popular. Once I had a few sessions under my belt, figuring out the players was pretty easy. There was the tight guy and the engineering PhD student who famously said "All hands have potential." He was terrible at poker, but sometimes got lucky. My student worker was pretty shrewd. There were a few other assorted characters. One Iranian guy, I suspect, was filthy rich and loved to raise, chase, and spew. it was quite a group.

I never had any thoughts that the game was anything but honest. The players were all good people. However, as we played more and more sessions, the amount of money in play started getting bigger. Since we were doing this activity in a conference room at a public university, I had two fears: we might get busted, or we might get robbed. I had already understood that if the game was busted, it was possible that my job would be in peril. I finally decided that the risk was too great and was hesitant to play. Others also faded away, and soon the game was pretty much over. It was fun while it lasted.

An industrious player from the group decided to start his own home game. It was held in the basement of the guy's rented university house. The pot was minimally raked, but pizza, snacks, beer, and soft drinks were provided, so I didn't mind if he made a modest profit on the game. The first potential sign of trouble was that either I miscounted my stack, or someone at the game had pilfered one or two of my green chips. To this day, I don't know if I was ripped off or not. I like to think that I just miscounted.

The guy who ran that game (who I knew was a good guy) stopped at some point, and some other guys who I didn't know very well took over the game. They had names and cell numbers of the players. They called me and I went to a few of their new home games. However, at these games, I was not winning at the same rate as the others. I had not been a total crusher, but I had done okay previously. Things had now shifted, and winning almost any significant hands seemed difficult. Either one of two things happened: I was now the fish at the table, or there was cheating going on. I had a really bad feeling that there was some collusion going on and that I was targeted. I decided that I couldn't trust the game as being on the up and up, and never returned. I was texted several times to recruit me to play, but I held firm. Finally, they stopped texting. Strangely enough, A year or two later, I got a random text, inviting me to a game. I just ignored it.

In looking back now, I think I was pretty foolish to have played in the International Poker Game once the money started getting big. The university police would have had a field day breaking up the game, but I began to worry more that someone would get greedy and conspire to rob the game, or that someone else would catch on to what we were doing and decide to pull off a heist. It was a fun game with great people, but the risk became too big. It certainly wasn't worth the possibility of getting injured or even ... yeah.

Once the game moved and was run by people I didn't really know, the fun stopped. Was I the big fish or was I getting cheated? To this day, I do not know. My gut tells me that I was a mark and was losing to collusion. I guess I'll never know.

When I heard that one of my poker friends got invited to a home game by people he didn't really know, I urged him to say no. There are always straight games at casinos. And outside of some private games with friends, casinos are now the only places that I will play. I am fine with that as I have three good poker rooms that I can drive to in 30-55 minutes. At least if I lose, I know that it is legit.

Comments are welcomed. Thanks for reading!

Dealing with a Bruised Heart

Today is just one of those shitty days you have when you have children. And no -- I'm not complaining about anything terrible that happened. Today is just one of those days where I feel like my heart is bruised. To explain ...

I have three adult children -- two girls and a boy. The middle child is my son, Rick, who recently turned 31. Rick has had many challenges in life. A major one was 15 years ago when we found out that he had a rare form of salivary gland cancer. Thankfully, he was treated by a specialist at the Mayo Clinic. He has been cancer free ever since. After high school graduation, he went to the community college where I worked for his first year in college. He also had some AP credit from high school and had even taken a college course in Russian while in high school. After one year, he transferred to the University of Illinois as a Math & Computer Science major, moving out of our house to live in an apartment near campus. What was never medically diagnosed but was evident to me was that he was dealing with PTSD from his cancer incident. Although he was gifted with a brilliant mind (likely genius or near-genius level), he messed up tremendously at UIUC. To the credit of UIUC decision makers, he was allowed to continue several times. To this day, I do not know how badly and have never seen his Illinois transcript, which I'm sure would horrify me as I graduated summa cum laude and went on to receive a Master's degree before I burned out on school.

When he finished at UIUC, his programming knowledge meant there were no shortage of places interested in him.  He accepted a job at a small company in Seattle and moved there -- a mere 2000+ miles away. He worked for a few different places, then settled in working as a programming engineer for Best Buy. Unfortunately, the company was cutting back and began laying off people. Rick survived to the final cut, but had to leave. At about the same time, he broke up with the woman he had been living with for eight years. He was devastated and started spiraling downward, hiding how bad he was from his parents. When we realized how badly he was hurting, we begged him to move in with us. Last year at the end of November, my wife flew to Seattle and moved him and a van full of possessions to Phoenix. He got a job at a local business to put a few dollars in his pocket. However, the unfortunate part is that he hates Phoenix! He has been trying to get a professional job in Seattle, a task made more difficult while living 1,400 miles away. Despite a ton of support form myself and my wife, he was miserable here. The three of us had a meeting and established a plan to move him back to Seattle. He will live with one friend, and has another friend who owns a business and will hire him part time while he continues to look for a full-time professional job.

This all sounds good, but there is one part that is terribly unsettling: he is again leaving us, living a good distance away. Except for a few random weeks, Rick had not lived with us for over 12 years. We had been empty nesters for four years before he moved to Phoenix. It was truly a blessing to have the past eight months with an adult child living with us. We all actually got along pretty well as my wife and I bent over backwards to help him to heal and feel comfortable. But man, he just hated living in Phoenix. He hated the hot weather, lack of green landscape, lack of an ocean, ...

Well, today is moving day. My wife, our resident moving expert, based on dozens of moves in her lifetime, headed out with Rick this morning to make the long drive to Seattle. And while I am extremely thankful that I got this time to reconnect in a great way, I feel pretty frigging devastated right now. However, I keep in mind that two friends in town have had to deal with much worse things. One had an adult son who passed away earlier this year from cancer, and another whose son took his own life two years ago. I can't even begin to imagine the pain they felt.

One nice thing about the past eight months was that Rick and I were able to do many things together. We went to a cactus league game (Seattle Mariners - his team), a Cubs/Diamondbacks game, and three Phoenix Suns games, along with numerous restaurant trips since he is a foodie. We shot hoops together, kicked around a soccer ball -- lots of things that the retired dad could do vs the guy who worked a lot when Rick last lived with us.

So right now, the house feels very empty and lonely. Thank goodness that we have two dogs and a cat to keep me company this week. I'll busy myself with volunteer work the next few days to pass the time. I imagine that my mistress, poker, will sooth me me a couple of nights until my wife returns at the end of the week. And in ten days, I will be heading to Las Vegas to play some poker with friends, which I am really looking forward to. In the meantime, I'll deal with some hurt, but remember to be thankful for the gift my wife and I were given for the past eight months.

Comments are appreciated. Thanks for reading!

The Ultimate Run Good: How 5-2os Scored in the Talking Stick High Hand Promotion

The year 2025 has not exactly been one of my better years for playing poker. I'm sure some of my friends (and my wife) are tired of hearing me whining about the many bad beats I have taken in the past seven months. Some of them have been really horrible. I shove with a huge lead, then watch my plan work as I get someone with an inferior hand to call. Unfortunately, getting it in good sometimes ins only a moral victory. More times than I can count, I have lost big hands in 2025 when my opponent binked the river, taking a pot of several hundred dollars away from me as I was mentally adding up the profit in my mind. Well, Monday of this week saw me take home a big pot at Desert Diamond in Glendale, AZ with the ol' suck-resuck. What -- I actually caught a break after a player chased and hit a gutshot straight on me? Then on Tuesday, I was playing in a private online O8 tournament ... and won! Hmmm. With this kind of momentum going, I definitely felt the need to chase some promo money at the Arena Poker Room at Talking Stick Resort in Scottsdale, AZ yesterday. $1/2 NL was my game of choice. I was seated immediately.

The table had some decent players and one guy who seemed like he suddenly took a hit of speed, turning uber aggressive. In fact, I relied on him to double me up when he jammed on a board where I had trip Jacks, Ace kicker. His pocket 9s burst into flames. He left, and play returned to normal after he had padded my stacks and those of three other players who seemed to be pretty decent. One was a cute young woman who was sitting next to me. She made a few deceptive plays, and accepted the good-natured kidding we were giving her for looking so innocent, but being a silent killer.

With the spewing player gone, we were focusing on trying to hit the high hand promotion. On this particular day, the high hand every 30 minutes was paid $500. There had to be $30 in the pot (sometimes a bit of trouble if your $1/2 game is nitty) and use both hole cards. A full house was the minimum qualifier. The room was pretty busy, and the high hands ranged from Aces full of 10s to a Royal Flush. It was time for the miracle hand.

I was on the button. Players started limping. Limp ... limp ... limp. It looked like this was going to be a family pot or close to it. The play came around to me as I looked down on 5-2os. This is not normally a hand I would play, but with so many limpers into the pot, I thought it would be worth a $2 investment on the button. I called. However, the player in the small blind raised. What then happened? Call ... call ... call. Everyone was calling and the pot was getting bigger. I was in position, so what the heck: I called. The flop was 222! Since the player on my left raised and had so many callers, we easily met the $30 pot minimum to win the high hand. I knew exactly what to do. Someone raised and even got a caller or two. I looked up at the high hand board and saw that the current high hand was Queens full. There were about 9 minutes left in the 30-minute high hand period. My choices were clear: either try to suck as much money as I could from the players at the table, or instead jam all in and hope there would be no callers. If nobody called, I would have the current high hand with 22225 and would have to sweat out the final 8 minutes and hope that my hand wasn't beaten. There was no way I wanted to see another card since a 6 or above would invalidate my high hand. I jammed all in. Everyone folded quickly except for the cute girl. She tanked for a bit and likely had a decent pocket pair. I'm sure that she was thinking that I was stealing the pot. She wasn't a regular player at the room and might not have really understood how the high hand worked. Otherwise, who would jam all in with quads instead of sucking out every dollar from the other players? Fortunately, she was a sharp player and folded. I immediately turned over my cards and declared "high hand." The dealer, who I'm sure has seen many players screw up high hands one way or another, looked at my cards and said, "That was a great play!" She fist bumped me and wished me luck that my hand would hold. Those eight minutes seemed to drag on as I tried not looking at the clock. However, time expired without hearing the dreaded "High hand!" I was soon handed a rack of redbirds to add to my stack on the most unlikely of high hands.

During the next half hour high hand period, I was dealt KK. I raised and got three callers. The flop was A-2-10. Friggin' ace! With three other players in the hand, I imagined that at least one had an ace. A guy bet and got a caller. I decided to see one more card. One other player folded. The turn was a 2. There was a raise and a call, and it was time to painfully muck my kings. Both of the other players went to the river. One had a straight flush draw that missed, and the other had pocket 2s for a hand of 2222A! However, there was a straight flush on the high hand board, so the guy at my table didn't get a high hand bonus. Such are the fickle poker gods!

I stuck around for another hour or so, losing some chips, then getting them back. My stomach was growling, so I decided to cash out with a sweet profit thanks to the high hand bonus. Feeling lucky, I played some slots and was doing well. I hit a very nice bonus at the end and cashed out a decent profit. To end the night on a great note, I stopped at Portillo's on the way home to get a free cheeseburger that I had been awarded through the app. It was a nice way to end what was really a fun and profitable night. If they could only be more like this most of the time!

Thanks for reading. 

Las Vegas Trip Report June 8-13, 2025: I Get By With a Little Help From My Friends/Poker Sucks

Sunday, June 8, 2025

It was time for another trip to Sin City. I was unsure if I wanted to go just over a week after getting home from my trip to central Europe, but I wanted to play in the Golden Nugget tag team event with my friend NormInVegas. I made last-minute air and hotel reservations, and I was ready for some fun. The fun would have to wait, however, as my 12:47pm Frontier Airlines flight was ready to take off when the pilot announced that a leak was detected in the plane's air conditioning system. The flight was pretty warm as were taxiing for takeoff. Since it was already 104 degrees in Phoenix, we were immediately taken back to our gate and instructed to deplane. The other passengers and I waited ... and waited ... and waited. We finally were able to get back on the plane and take off on the short flight. We originally were supposed to land in Las Vegas at 2:02pm. As it was, my Las Vegas Lyft driver picked me up at 7:24pm. As one person noted, this was the first bad beat of the trip!

I stayed at my usual Las Vegas "home" -- the so-called Dirty Castle: Excalibur. I was quite surprised that my Resort Tower room was as nice as it was. Perhaps the furniture had been replaced by hand-me-downs from Aria or Bellagio?

After catching dinner, I decided to go to an old favorite and a close poker room, MGM. The table I was seated at was okay. The players seemed to be decent -- except for two. One was calling down with obviously inferior hands, and one guy was doing crap like being in a hand with Q-3os and betting big each time on a Queen-high flop. Noted. After winning some pots and building a little stack, I was in the big blind with A-7os. There was a raise to either $7 or $10, and I called to defend my blind. The flop was 7-2-5. I decided to check, then called a small raise. There were just three players in the hand: me, and the two other players I deemed to be bad. The turn was a great card: an Ace. I now bet and was called by the calling station. To my surprise and delight, the Q-3 guy made a big raise -- something I had seen him do before with a relatively light hand. There was little doubt what I was going to do. I jammed all in, thinking he'd fold. The calling station called and, much to my surprise, the Q-3 guy called. I thought that I would be scooping a huge pot ... until he tabled 4-3os! The river didn't deliver one of the four outs I had. I had been felted my first session. This was just the first of several disappointing sessions in the trip. It was time to play a few slots and call it a night.

Monday, June 9, 2025

After breakfast at the MGM buffet (covered under a resort credit I had with my reservation), I headed to try out the new poker room at Planet Hollywood. It is a different kind of room, with small alcove-like areas outside the main room. I counted 23 tables, but my count might be off a tad. I was not impressed by the two brush people, who seemed to be consumed with a small tournament that was going on. I was ignored for several minutes before finally getting on the wait list. Shortly after being seated, I was joined by poker friend Vegas_Degen (Larry), who I had not seen for some time. Larry divides most of his time between Las Vegas and the Philippines. The game was nothing out of the ordinary, but one play was significant in my mind. Larry was seated on my immediate left. In one hand he was on the button and raised. I don't remember my hand (it was good enough for a limp in the cutoff), so I called. The flop was 10-rag-10. I thought that it was a great flop to make a river steal. After a couple rounds of betting, I made a big raise on the river, expecting Larry to fold. Unfortunately, he insta-raised all in. I was forced to fold. He showed 10-10 for flopped quads! Great plan, oh lightning genius! Despite my crappy play, I was impressed by the new PH room and hope that it will stick around awhile. It is easy to find after taking the escalator near Cafe' Hollywood.

Larry, who showed his disloyalty by flopping quads on me!

That evening, Larry and I played at the new room in Caesars Palace. It is very small and difficult to find. Luckily, I was seated at the front of the room, soon to be joined by Larry. There was a lot of walk-by traffic, so the room seemed really loud. I heard that a new room is hoped to be opened by December. That would be nice, as I found the current room very uncomfortable.

Nothing seemed to be breaking right for me, and my stack was dwindling. I finally got a decent hand (A-Kos) and raised. I was called by one player who was relatively new to the table. The flop was Q-rag-rag -- all clubs. I had no clubs. I decided, perhaps recklessly, to jam my remaining stack, hoping to get my opponent to fold. He tanked, then called -- with J-J, one club. There were no clubs on the turn or river, and no Aces or Kings either. Bye bye chippies. This is one play I really thought a lot about afterward. A jam born of frustration? I dunno. All I knew was that I certainly wasn't feeling a great poker vibe this trip ... and I still had three full days to go!

Tuesday, June 10, 2025

I had tried to play at what has become my Las Vegas honey hole -- Bellagio -- the day before, but there were a ton of people playing there, and the desk seemed to be wallowing in confusion. I attempted to get seated and was told to speak to the guy at the podium in the sports book area, which had partially been converted to a poker area. I had played here before. Seating had been a bit tight, but I was involved in some fun games. However, I waited ... and waited for someone to speak with. Finally, a guy came out and told me that that area was full and that I should return to the desk. I was then put on the $1/3 list -- several places down from where I would have been if I had just been placed on the list when I first approached the desk. I waited a bit,  then left very frustrated.

This day proved to again be frustrating. I got on the list and was quickly the second in line. The person above me had been called, and his name was flashing. I was right outside the room, waiting to hear my name. I finally saw my name flashing, and happily went to the desk. The woman there told me that my name had been called three times (huh?). I told her that I was right outside the room and immediately came when my name started flashing. She said the seat had already been filled, but she left me at the top of the list. Very disappointing experiences with a room that I had really been liking. They just seemed to be overwhelmed by the pure numbers of people. However, I was quickly seated and watched the player on my right flop a set ... flop a straight ... flop a set ... while I got nothing. NOTHING! I got frustrated and left.

I played a short session at Horseshoe before being picked up by poker friend NormInVegas. We headed to the Golden Nugget to play in its Grand Series tag team event.

Arizona donk and Norm

This tournament is mainly for fun, as it has a quick, donkathon structure. I played the first level and was dealt A-Jos right away. I raised and got two callers. The flop was J-5-6. The player on my right made a big bet. I contemplated raising, but just called. The third player came along. The turn was a rag, and he bet again. I was putting him on K-J. I called. The other player came along. The river was another rag. He bet, I called, the other player came along. He flipped over Q-J. I felt great until the third player flipped over 6-5os for the flopped two pair. Sheesh! I was actually quite active in the first level, getting hands like A-k, 9-9 and 4-4. I won a pot and chopped another to help get back chips I lost on my first hand. Norm played level two, I played three, and he played four. we were getting short stacked at the end of level  four. I was getting ready to be in shove mode in level five when Norm pushed all in with two pair. Unfortunately, he lost to a straight (that sounded familiar!) and the dream was over.

We then decided to play some $1/2 at the Golden Nugget poker room. We were seated at the same table, which was great. There was some really unusual (fishy) play there. Norm took advantage when he had quads and found that another player just couldn't lay his hand down with three of a kind on the baord and Norm betting big. Nice play! I, unfortunately, was bleeding chips and was waiting for my chance. I got it when I was dealt Q-Q. There was a raise and I reraised. I got two callers. The flop was 1o high. The first player checked, and I shoved all in. The woman sitting across from me called. I felt good. The turn was a blank and the river was ... an Ace. I already felt wheat was coming. She flipped over A-10, and I was done playing poker for the day. I'm sure Norm heard a lot of whining at our dinner shortly thereafter.

Wednesday, June 11, 2025

I decided to play at the Venetian, where I had been having fun and some success on previous trips. I got on the wait list on Poker Atlas, and was surprised when I was listed as POI. I later discovered about the changes made there. I made the long walk down the Strip for exercise. When I got to the poker room, my timing was exquisite, as I had moved to third on the list behind two who had not yet checked in. I was seated immediately. I did not have the success with bomb pots I had on my most recent trip, but I was at least at a relatively fun table. I really had one guy's number, and he kept spewing chips to me and others. He was a decent player, but just ran into some bad luck.

I left to meet my friend Mitch at the Horseshoe bar. He had been playing in the WSOP Seniors $5K entry and had been doing quite well. We decided to eat at Ole Red in front of Horseshoe. On the way there, I discovered that I had left my phone at the bar in Horseshoe. Stoopid! Mitch took this picture of me after we returned to the bar, finding my phone just where I had left it.

We ate at Ole Red's, which was quite an experience. It seemed like the security here was heavier that Donald Trump's! We ate on the second level. It was loud. Really LOUD! The chicken tenders salad I had was really pretty good, but Mitch paid a ridiculous price for beer.

We played some $1/3 cash at Horseshoe, then Mitch, who had had a long day, flying in from southern Florida, then playing in and bagging in his WSOP tournament, needed to finally get some sleep. I was running well and had a small profit when I decided to play one more hand -- which usually meant disaster for me. Someone raised, and I looked down to see K-Qos. I decided to call. The flop was Q-Q-K! The initial raiser was an aggressive local, and he handed over a lot of chips to me. If only he called my river bet ... as luck would have it, the poker gods had not forgotten who I am. I was dealt J-10 and called a raise by a local who was running short. The flop was J-10-A. I raised and he shoved. Of course, I called. And, of course, he had A-J! Easy come, easy go. It was time to go back to Excalibur and call it a night.

CMitch and yours truly

Thursday, June 12, 2025

This was going to be my last day in Las Vegas as I had a morning flight on Friday. There were plans for a possible meet up game with friends that evening, but I was beginning to feel pokered out for the trip since nothing seemed to be going right. I decided to go back to MGM and try my luck there. I was bleeding chips and looking for just that right spot. I found it when a player just rebought and looked to be on tilt. He raised as I looked down at A-Qos. I called. The flop was A-A-4. Bingo! I was hoping to catch the final Ace for the high hand of the half hour bonus as well as the special promo board bonus. Or at least get another Queen for the full house and the  half hour high hand. I got neither, but felt good about my hand. We got it all in by the river, and my opponent looked discouraged, thinking he'd been run down. He turned over friggin A-4 for the flopped boat! That was the final straw for me. I left the table and decided that my poker was done for the trip.

Poker friend WashDude (Darren) was coming into town this day and had invited me to join him and a few friends for dinner at the Roma Deli & Restaurant. He asked me to pass along the invitation to Norm. So, I decided to let some other friends know that my poker was done for the trip. Norm and I and a friend of Darren's met for dinner and had a wonderful time. I have a strong suspicion that several glasses of wine added to the great time. As I posted on X, what could be better than a dinner of pasta, wine, and cannoli with friends?

 

Darren's friend Joe, Darren, Norm & me.

Friday, June 13, 2025

I had a very easy morning. A great Uber driver took me to the airport. My flight left early and got in early. My wife picked me up at the airport. Soon I was home and life would be quickly back to normal.

Epilog

My friend Mitch continues to be a poker monster. This guy placed third in the WSOP Seniors a few years ago for a score of over $300K. This year, he just missed the final table in his $5K event, finishing 11th. He followed it up with a 282/7575 finish in the WSOP $1K Seniors event. If only I had his mad tournament skills.

Darren is heading back to Saskatchewan today after playing some tournaments and also the mixed game festival at Bellagio. I don't know how he survives without having a Roma Deli in Canada.

Norm keeps me updated on the latest happenings in Las Vegas. Our mutual Chicago background plus poker has made us pretty tight friends.

Although I have played a few online poker tournaments in a private home game series, I have yet to step into a casino to play poker since coming home. I am almost at one complete week without it. I kind of miss it, but it's like dealing with a girlfriend who no longer loves you. At least it feels that way to me. Strange, and yet amazing how this game has a hold on us.

In short, poker was a disaster this trip. I don't have to like it, but I accept it as part of the ups and downs of the game. However, the saving grace of this trip was having an excellent time playing poker, socializing, and eating with friends. In that regard, the trip went far beyond expectations.

Thanks for reading!