Saturday, March 16, 2024

Jury Duty Littered with Sex: My Life This Past Week -- Part 2

PLEASE READ PART 1 FIRST FOR A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF PART 2

The FBI agent the case centered around was interesting. She was obviously trying to look stone faced during the trial, but that resulted in her having an unusual look on her face. She had received special training to work cases like this, and she was unflappable on the stand. The prosecution, of course, lobbed her softballs to lay the foundation for the case. She did a great job in explaining everything in a clear fashion. The jury was, however, bored to death at the overkill the prosecution used to go over the defense exhibits. 

Once the defense got its chance, it was clear that their objective was to make the FBI agent appear not only inaccurate in her work, but also selective in sharing information, implying that she didn't keep records of conversations that would help exonerate the defendant. Additionally, they pointed out some photos of legs of the adult FBI agent that, according to them, could not be mistaken for the legs of a 13-year-old girl. Finally, the defense pointed to conversations at all hours of the days and some other interactions that should have tipped off the defendant that he was not speaking to a young girl. Although he did not speak at the trial, the jurors had the impression that the defendant was not particularly bright.

I believe that everyone in the courtroom had a good idea of how things would end. The defense seemed to have everything stacked against them and appeared to be grasping at straws. Their only defense, aside  from what I mentioned previously, was to question a sex expert whom they imported. The alternate theory was that the defendant and the girl were involved in DDLG (Daddy Dom/Little Girl) role playing and that the defendant was aware the the girl was really a woman. However, DDLG was only mentioned once in 700 pages of chat (unless there was more and the defense missed it, but I doubt that), and several things the defendant had written made it abundantly clear that he really believed that he was talking to a young girl.

It was heart wrenching to see the defendant's parents, and especially his mother, in the back of the courtroom, listening to the sexual chat their son was aiming at an eighth grader and seeing pictures and videos of their son's penis and him masturbating. At one point, the mother could not take it anymore and left the room. I couldn't even imagine my own mother (R.I.P.) having to sit through such a scene, or my wife listening and watching the same scene with our son as the defendant.

We knew virtually nothing about the defendant, and he seemed more of a pathetic person than anything. There is absolutely no excuse for what he attempted to do, but I think that, aside from the elicit sex he was hoping to have, that he actually might have fallen in love with this fake persona. He came from a small town and had never even flown on an airplane before his trip to Phoenix. I didn't see any reason why he couldn't have used common phone apps to find someone closer to his own age.

The court case concluded with instructions from the judge late Thursday afternoon. We were excused a little early and instructed to begin jury deliberations at 9:00 a.m. Friday morning. In my mind there was no doubt that he was guilty as charged of the first two charges, but the third dealt with "obscene" material, and I knew there would be no quick decisions on the third charge.

We began our deliberations on time. I had originally thought that I'd like to be the foreperson, but knowing that we had several people who liked to talk a lot, I decided instead that I would make my role one of trying to bring the group to a final decision if we were stuck.

We decided upon the first two charges rather quickly: guilty on both. The third charge, however, would be difficult. The judge's instructions (including the Miller test) seemed to contradict the basic charge. Everyone had a different idea of what was obscene. We were supposed to leave our own beliefs aside. We finally took a vote on each of the nine items we were to consider as being obscene. A few items had 9-3 votes. Most were closer to 7-5. One was 11-1. We sent a note to the judge asking for a clarification on seemingly conflicting information and took our lunch break. when we returned, we received the response from the judge. It was basically "figure it out yourselves."

We were discussed many things but but were moving very slowly to a conclusion. I threw out two logical ways we could end the stalemate: 1) If the one holdout who said one video was not obscene  would change her answer to yes, we could vote not guilty on the others and guilty on only that one; and 2) The fact that we discussed  the issue for several hours and could not come to a consensus on what materials were obscene (Can anyone really decide what is obscene?), that likely means that the bar for "reasonable doubt" was met. Since the defendant was already going to prison for the first two charges, we decided that our lack of agreement justified a not guilty verdict on the third charge. It was a decision that we all could live with. We took our final break, then informed the court officer that we had reached our verdicts.

The final part of court went very quickly. The court officer read the verdicts and we were excused from the court. The judge asked us to return to the jury room as he wanted to speak to us for a few minutes. We went back to the jury room and the judge came in a few minutes later. He thanked us for our service and attention, especially since we had to deal with an unpleasant topic and pictures and videos that we would rather not have seen. He advised us not to feel guilty for what we had decided as the crimes committed were solely the decision of the defendant. We only did our duty in determining the facts of the case.

I was thinking that some of us might stick around to talk for a bit, but everyone seemed to scurry away and begin their weekend a little early. Maybe they felt as I did -- that it had been a long week and they wanted to rid themselves of the muck we were living in the past several days. I headed home.

It is less than 24 hours after the case ended and I still feel very strange. It's a feeling I can't accurately explain. I detested the boredom of the testimony that laid the foundation of the case. I liked my fellow jurors and appreciated that we all had different opinions. I was happy that the defendant never harmed a real little girl, but I felt some sympathy for his just being a pathetic person and especially for his parents. It was awkward seeing the pictures, videos and sex objects publicly with so many people, but I felt some degree of desensitization with it all.

I get to take the rest of today to physically, mentally and emotionally recover from the trial. Tomorrow (Sunday), I will see the band Toto for the first time, and then Monday morning, I head to Las Vegas for a much needed three night stay. A little time with Las Vegas poker and some of my poker friends will hopefully help me get back to feeling normal again. I look forward to that.

Thanks for reading!

Friday, March 15, 2024

Jury Duty Littered with Sex: My Life This Past Week -- Part 1

This past week, I have had most of my daytime hours wrapped up in jury service. I was originally scheduled to serve in January, but my brother-in-law had already scheduled a week-long visit to Arizona then, so I asked that my service be deferred. Strangely enough, a different brother-in-law (and his wife) scheduled a visit for this week, thinking that I likely wouldn't serve on a jury. Ha!

My jury week started on Tuesday morning at 6:00 a.m. After waking and showering, I git dressed and headed from just outside the north side of Phoenix to downtown. There is nothing like running into that morning commute traffic. I had never been to the district court house and had trouble finding the parking garage jurors were to use. Instead of being at the jury meeting room promptly at 8:00 a.m., I slithered in seven minutes late. Fortunately, several more came in after me, and there some delays and problems with video equipment meant that we sat around for an extended time. When the judge for our case was ready for us, we lined up and headed to a court room. There were 37 of us, from whom a jury pool of 13 (12 plus one alternate) would be chosen. I figured that I would probably be one of those excused.

Once the judge began asking us questions, it was apparent that there were several kooks in the group. One guy talked about what a sacrifice it was for him to be there, how he should be excused, and anything else he could say in a negative fashion to make sure that he was excused. After making a total ass of himself, I guess he figured that he needed a little icing on the cake, and explained that he didn't trust the government. Dork. We were alerted that there was a significant sexual component to the trial, as it dealt with an adult who was attempting to have sex with a young girl. Several of the jury pool claimed to be so triggered that they could not be impartial. Some even related their own brief personal stories of being molested when young. There seemed to be a lot of pain in the group.

I had one thing going for me and one against, depending on whether it was from the perspective of the prosecutors or the defense. I had to divulge that my oldest brother was a sheriff in the state for 17 years. However, a point for the other side was scored when I related that I had served on a previous jury  where the defendant was found not guilty. We broke for lunch at noon and were told to report back at 1:00 p.m. Thirteen would be selected for the jury and the rest would be excused and considered to have fulfilled their obligation. I was thinking that my chances were about 50/50 since some people had already been excused and some others were pretty obviously not going to be selected. From the group of 37, I had been juror #2. Therefore, after lunch, the wait was short when the jurors were announced. "The following jurors will be staying: #2, ..." I was now officially juror #1 for the trial. The selected jurors were all seated and sworn in, and the case began immediately. The judge was a former marine and ran a taut courtroom, which we all appreciated.

The prosecution laid out the basic story: a 48-year-old man connected with a 13-year-old girl on Instagram and traveled to Phoenix from another state to have sex with her. There was a chat log of about 700 pages and several pictures and videos that man had sent to the girl -- pictures/videos of his erect penis, of him masturbating, of women performing oral sex on other women, and of women pleasuring themselves. We would see much more of the defendant that we would ever want to see. However, there was one fatal flaw in the man's plan: the 13-year-old girl was actually an adult female FBI agent who had used an age regression app for her photos so that she looked much younger -- like maybe about 13 years old. The defendant was apprehended after he arrived at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport with condoms, vibrators, and other sex articles. A court order stated the following: 

"Defendant is charged with three counts, each of which relate to his attempt to engage in sexual acts with an individual who he believed was a 13-year-old girl: (i) attempted coercion and enticement of a minor in violation of 18 U.S.C. ยง 2422(b), which carries a minimum sentence of 10 years and a
maximum sentence of life; (ii) travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct in
violation of 18 U.S.C. ยง 2423(b) and (f), which carries a maximum sentence of 30 years;
and (iii) attempted transfer of obscene material to a minor in violation of 18 U.S.C. ยง 1470,
which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years."

The defense said in its opening statement that we should keep in mind the following saying: a picture is worth a thousand words. It was clear that they had a strategy to discredit the work of the undercover FBI agent. The prosecution had a few minor witnesses, like someone employed by Meta (Instagram) and a cell phone data extraction expert. But the whole case revolved around the FBI agent who posed as a 13-year-old girl. She was the one who chatted the defendant up and developed almost the entire case. She was on the stand for more than a day.

To be continued ...

Thanks for reading. Part 2 coming soon.

Friday, March 01, 2024

Yeah - I'm Still Around. Poker Nonsense and Upcoming Las Vegas Trips

POKER

It has been almost two months since my most recent blog post. The results with life, as often with poker, have been mixed. Years ago (almost 18 now!) I started this blog to write about poker, so away we go.

My last Las Vegas trip (January 4-8, 2024) started out great, notwithstanding the travel error I mentioned in my last post. Even though I missed out on several hours I had planned to be in Las Vegas, I decided that I would hit up MGM Grand when I got into town late Friday night. I started my trip with a nice profit, got some sleep, then had two successful sessions the next day at Bellagio. I seem to remember spotting Chris Abramski and Flynn & Ollie in the afternoon session, and after a nice dinner with NormInVegas, having a fun session with Norm. One woman whom I abused time and time again (in a poker way, of course!) told me that she did not like me. My response: "I have this habit of making beautiful women angry with me." I mean, seriously -- how could she respond? I had been on a heater for several weeks and then did the dumbest thing in the world: I tweeted about it. I guess I was just asking to get bitch slapped. I got what I was asking for.

I decided that after finishing at Bellagio, I wasn't quite ready to go to bed. I hit up one of my old favorite spots: Horseshoe. I got into a game with a group that had been playing several hours, so I was the odd man out. I was hanging in with a loss of chips until I  thought that I was way ahead in a hand and attempted to bluff a flopped two pair. Yuck. But wait -- that was only the beginning.

I headed back to my sweet, sweet home (Excalibur), ready to sleep and resume my "success" the next day. I decided to play at Wynn. I built up a nice stack at a table of relatively quiet, sour players. I was ready to lock up my winnings and get dinner when I stoopidly stayed for a few more orbits. I then made a monumental mistake in not properly betting a player off his flush draw. I didn't believe that he had it and payed the ultimate price. I was livid with myself and felt like I had embarrassed myself in front of the table with my play. I decided to leave at that point, but I was pretty sure that Mr Runbad Tilt would be following me. Unfortunately, I was correct. I dusted off a buy-in at Caesars when I jammed my dwindling stack all in with my pair of 7s on a board that was 8 high. A player with A-8 called me. Meh. Time to call it a night.

On Sunday, I played in a poker tournament at The Poker Oasis. I was at a table with Norm (thanks for driving, sir), Luke Johnston and @bigfokkerdog. Flynn was at at other table. The game was likely memorable for others, but not for me. Things just didn't go right and my frustration continued. I was harassing Luke for catching cards and playing well  and blasting music in addition to what was being played, and bigfokkerdog got pissed at me and threatened to throw me in the pool outside. As Harry Caray would say while broadcasting Cubbies games, "You can't beat fun at the ol' ballpark" -- or poker table. Thanks to Joseph and Toni for hosting.

After Norm busted, he drove me back to the Strip. I ended the trip torching off money at MGM. Frankly, I was so numb by that point that I don't even remember how I lost money there. It was time to shut down poker for the trip. 

I look back, and I see that I could have played so much better in the sessions where I lost money. Before I retired, I was known in my professional job as someone who NEVER makes mistakes. Therefore, it is difficult for me to accept that I make mistakes in poker. Frankly, sometimes it is quite maddening. I guess this is one of the reasons why so many of us love the game. It can take you to great heights, then suddenly show you that constant success is an illusion.

Meanwhile, back at home, the carnage continued. After starting out with a win at what used to be my "home poker room," Talking Stick Resort, I played sparingly and lost four sessions in a row. Over the course of four weeks, I took some horrendous river beats when I had gotten it all in while ahead. Additionally, I had a dispute with the Stick floor people over a ruling that I thought was exceeding unfair. I've been whining enough here already, so you'll have to ask me in person in Las Vegas why I got my panties in a bunch. The floor was pretty tolerant of my language since I did not direct my F-bombs toward anyone in particular (including those who made the decision against me). I decided to back away from Talking Stick for a time and play at the local place where I didn't win much in previous years, Desert Diamond. Of course, poker is such a quirky game that one night when I went specifically for  Wednesday night's Rise of the Phoenix promotion, I won two promos in one night: $200 for a straight flush, and $1,200 for quad deuces. In fact, I've played seven sessions at Desert Diamond in 2024 and have won at all of them! Go figure.

VISITORS

My brother-in-law, Philip, came to visit us in Arizona for the first time. He had not taken a vacation in many years, so we served up a great trip for him. He got to do the number one thing he wanted to do while here -- visit Alice Cooper's house. My wife threatened him with his life if he rang the doorbell out at the entrance. I took him to the Barrett-Jackson auction in Scottsdale, and we surprised him by taking him to the Eagles and Steeley Dan concert at the Footprint Center. Yep - it was a great trip!

Three days after he left, our youngest daughter, Erin, came to visit. Plenty of mom's home cooking was consumed, and I took my daughter to a special store with mega Japanese products and out for one of our favorites: Banh Mi sandwiches and bubble tea.

Finally, a former co-worker, Dennis, and his husband, Joel, visited us before February ended. We had a great Mediterranean dinner followed by Italian ice and ice cream. Dennis and Joel have visited us each year we have been out in Arizona. It's great to have friends who don't forget you once you have moved away.

THE CONTINUING STORY OF EVA

Two months after my last blog post and I am still dealing with/helping out Eva. She got on a hospice program, then went off it. She is currently in a local rehabilitation facility, hoping that she can learn to walk again, which would solve many of her problems. I am guessing that her walking days are behind her. She is a stubborn survivor and continues to live despite end stage renal failure and going weeks without dialysis. Who would have ever guessed that my "normal" day would consist of things like talking with the funeral director and visiting a Jewish cemetery?

UPCOMING LAS VEGAS TRIPS

I will be heading back to Las Vegas March 18-21. Former poker blogger AgSweep will be there that week, so we will likely be hitting up a few of the Strip poker rooms.

Former poker blogger and Aussie Koala Pete will be arriving back in Las Vegas on June 4. I will be heading out to Las Vegas June 9-14. Most likely, Pete will ride back to Arizona with me at the end of the week to visit for a few days, as he did his last trip to the US.

Thanks for reading. I am looking forward to soon beginning year 19 of this blog!

Thursday, January 04, 2024

Las Vegas Trip on January 4-8, 2024: A New Year Trip to Clear My Head

After taking a five month break (July to December) in trips to Las Vegas in the second half of 2023, I am now turning around and taking this weekend's trip only three weeks after coming home from my last one. Why? Largely, it is due to something that has, quite frankly, been screwing up my mind for the past few months.

A little bit of an explanation ... Back last July, I started volunteering for a local non-profit organization. Although I have helped with some respite care for caregivers who are taking care of Alzheimer's family, most of my help has been to drive local elderly people to non-emergency medical appointments. One particular rider has gotten to me in a very personal way.

I began driving Eva right from the start. The drive didn't seem too bad -- to a local dialysis center. Eva is at end stage renal failure. I guess I should have known that we'd connect as, on our first trip, she told me that I drive like a lunatic! I started picking her up after her Monday and Friday treatments were completed, and she usually looked terrible. She continually ranted about how dialysis was just a scam because one never really gets better from it (she pretty much rejected my common sense response that at least it keeps her alive), and we sparred back and forth about our choice of candidates in the upcoming Republican presidential primaries. Eva is a huge Trump supporter who could not believe that my main man is Chris Christie. Eva was a successful  businesswoman and is very firm in her beliefs. She can take as well as she gives, so we have had quite a lot of fun jousting together.

A few months ago, she stopped returning my phone calls. I knew that she either had to be in the hospital or was dead in her house. I went over to her house and considered calling the police first, in case somebody might think that I was breaking in. I decided instead to just go inside and search every room, expecting that I might find her lifeless body. The house was empty, except for her frightened dog. Apparently, Eva or a neighbor called 911 and had her transported to a local hospital. After a few days there, she came home. In early December, she was actually booted out of the dialysis center as she was starting to lose it mentally. She decided not to continue dialysis.

I looked up information about her choice and knew that she could go at any time. As I understood, 4-6 weeks was the usual maximum time patients could go without before passing. She had no family and essentially no or few friends, so I invested lots of time, effort and heart in helping her through what I thought were her final days. After her last trip to the hospital, she could no longer walk and was very depressed. One night my wife and I brought her food from her favorite Mexican restaurant and a take away quart of frozen margaritas. Eva drank over half the margaritas and proclaimed "I'm STONED! She despises most of the meals she gets delivered by the non-profit agency, but she has liked some home cooked meals my wife has made.

After almost four weeks without dialysis, Eva decided to go back on it. She had done this same thing once or twice in the past. The conundrum I found myself in was that I had become a very important part of her life -- perhaps being her only real friend. However, her demands/requests for my time greatly increased. There were even a couple of times where I was stripping her bed and washing her sheets while she was receiving dialysis -- and I don't even wash clothes at my own home! She is very strong willed and stubborn. There are other complicating factors which I can not get into here. She desperately needs a caregiver staying with her or visiting frequently, but she is unwilling to do so. In a sense, I and a few other people have been enabling her to avoid getting help she really now needs, but some of us have finally taken a stand not to do this anymore.

Frankly, the whole process has sucked a lot of energy from me. Over the past week, I have screwed up making travel arrangements for this Las Vegas trip, losing half a day of good poker time, misplaced a car fob, misplaced two pairs of reading glasses ... Either my wife is doing an excellent job of gaslighting me or I am very frazzled. I'm taking this Las Vegas trip not so much to obsess with poker as to get away and hopefully clear my mind and recharge my batteries.

I know that some of my poker friends are struggling with family who have Alzheimer's or other health issues, and as Bill Clinton said, I feel their pain. I assisted in dealing with multiple issues my mom had, and I saw first-hand the physical and emotional toll it took on my brother, thundering36, who was caregiver to our mother. Sometimes life is really challenging.

My travel screw up (reserving a seat on an 11pm flight, thinking it was at 11am) has me getting into Las Vegas close to midnight tonight. It still should give me plenty of time to get in some quality poker cash game time over the next three days before heading home Monday afternoon.

As always, hit me up if you want to fling some cards together or grab a meal. I will be playing at the Poker Oasis tournament on Sunday. I'm looking forward to it.

Thanks for reading. ๐Ÿ˜€

Saturday, December 16, 2023

Las Vegas Trip and Meet Up Game Report: December 10-14, 2023

 It was time. I had not been to Las Vegas since July -- an abnormally long time for me since I moved to Phoenix. The trip had tentatively been planned for some different days, but I had told Very Josie that I would sync my days up with hers as she was planning to visit Sin City with her sister, Carmela. Unfortunately, the change of dates meant that I would not be able to cross paths with Iowa poker buddy @JT88Keys, who did not have the same flexibility to change his dates as I did. VJ and I also decided to host a meet up game while in Las Vegas -- always a good time to meet and toss cards with friends.

Sunday, Dec 10

I probably did not make a great decision the night before I left, but I was almost through viewing season two of The Sopranos, and I wanted to see how the season concluded. I stayed up too late, considering I wanted to get on the road as early as I could Sunday morning. However, I woke up early, packed, and was on the road at a decent hour. I would be staying at Excalibur this trip -- my usual place. Despite the place being jokingly called the "dirty castle" by some, it actually cleaned up several years ago. The nasty smoke smell is mostly gone and the rooms have been refurbished - with old Bellagio furniture, I once heard. I always try to stay in the Resort Tower and in a Stay Fresh room. Those rooms have always been great in my experience. I got the MGM credit card so that I could have Pearl status. which means free parking at all MGM properties. MGM has also been pretty good to me in terms of room comps, so it has been my usual Las Vegas home.

I was hoping to make a surprise appearance at The Poker Oasis, but I was fatigued after the more than five-hour drive, so I elected instead to unpack and take a short nap first. Later in the afternoon, I joined an old poker friend, @seemitch, at the Flanker Kitchen + Sports Bar in Mandalay Bay to eat some wings and drink a few beers. At the 2022 WSOP, Mitch placed third in the Seniors Event, and currently he was in very good shape in the WPT Prime Event. He eventually finished 69th out of more than 10,500 entrants!

Afterward, I decided to play poker at MGM Grand. I was seated at a $1/2 table with perhaps some of the worst poker players that I have recently seen! Unfortunately, I was getting no cards at all, and it was killing me. I just couldn't get into any decent pots for at least a couple of hours. However, things finally turned around and I got on a mini-heater. Had I not taken it on the chin in a few hands, I would have had an exceptional session. However, making a nice profit on my first session was a very good start to this Las Vegas trip. I went to bed a happy camper that night.

Mon, Dec 11

I woke up at a decent hour and invited Josie and Carmen out to breakfast. The site: Lou's Diner. I had heard many reports that this old fashioned diner was one of the best Las Vegas breakfast spots. I picked up the Ladies at Resorts World and off we went. We had about a 10 minute wait before we were seated. After eating, the verdict was unanimous: Lou's Diner deserves all the kudos it receives.


Josie and Carmela wanted to go shopping at a clothing store and there was one just a few blocks away. While they were shopping, I headed into Arizona Charlie's Decatur to burn some time. I had been in that casino to play poker once before with Tony Bigcharles many years ago. It was one of the few poker rooms that allowed smoking. Yuck. The poker room has been gone for years.

After driving the ladies back to Resorts, I headed back to Excalibur to relax. Months ago, I had made a dinner reservation for four people at the Top of Binion's Steakhouse for that night at 6:30pm. I had invited fellow poker friend @WASHDUDE to join us, and he accepted. He would join us at 6:30. After relaxing and changing clothes, I picked up the ladies and headed downtown. We arrived about a half hour early so that we could take a quick look at the Fremont Street crowd. It did not disappoint -- especially the guy who looked like Donald Trump who was wearing not much more than a jockstrap type covering. Only in Las Vegas!

The dinner at Binion's: Fantastic! We had an excellent 24th story view of Las Vegas. The service was quick, friendly, and professional. Best of all, the food was outstanding. We started off with a couple different types of bread with Specialty butters and three different gourmet salts alongside to enhance the flavor of the bread. After ordering some starters, it was time to focus on the main entrees. We ordered New York Steaks and Prime Rib. The entrees came with fresh vegetables and a choice of loaded baked potato, risotto, mac 'n' cheese, or garlic mashed potatoes. Everything was great with maybe the exception of Washdude's escargot. One of the many reasons I chose this steakhouse was the ridiculously low (for Las Vegas) prices. For example, my 10 oz New Your Steak dinner cost just $53! Even with several glasses of wine, the starters, and the entrees with accompaniments, the total bill plus tax came to less than $400! I am happy to recommend this steakhouse.

Afterward, Josie and Washdude played some blackjack. We then split up as Washdude was heading to parts unknown, and Josie, Carmela and I headed to Bellagio, where Josie and I would play some $1/3 NL at the same table. Being the card rack that I was for much of this trip, I was showing a profit after the first hand I played. I looked down at K-K and 3-bet to $25. I got one caller. The flow was a beautiful K-8-8! The caller went all in and was felted. Definitely not a bad way to start a session.! We only played for about 1 1/2 hours and didn't like a few of the people at our table, but still I made a nice profit. Sometimes things just work out right. Unfortunately, Josie felt ill at the end of the night, which ended up changing our plans for the next night.


Tues, Dec 12

We were in no hurry to begin the day too early. We had a late morning breakfast at another place that people (me included) rave about: Mr Mamas Breakfast and Lunch. I had been there once before with poker friend Larry. Once again, it did not disappoint. After breakfast, we headed out to Red Rock Canyon to go on the 13-mile scenic drive. Josie and I had been on it 18 months earlier. It is certainly a great way to get away from the casinos and the Las Vegas glitz.

We had planned to go to dinner that night at Roma Restaurant and Deli with Washdude and @Onechiquita, but Josie was still not feeling up to par from the night before. Closer to dinnertime, I was actually fatigued and not hungry, so we ended up not going there. Maybe next trip.

I got into a poker session at MGM that evening. It was mostly like some of the horror show sessions I had earlier in summer and fall. I started out by again flopping a boat on the first hand I played and felting another player. However, I lost a ton of chip when I called a $20 bet with  Ac9c. The flop was A-3-9. The original bettor bet $25 after the flop, and I raised to $75. I was then surprised by his next move: all in. What could he have? I didn't think he would be betting to $20 initially with 3-3. Maybe he had an Ace with a strong kicker? Maybe A-3sooted? An over pair? A-9? I decided to call. He flipped over 9-9! II got called by thr lost all my previous winnings and about half my stack. I then could not catch any cards nor get anything to shove all in. I waited patiently as my stack dwindled. Finally, when I got 10-10, I 3-bet all in. I was called by three other players. There was a King on the flop and one more on the turn. I knew I was done for. The winning hand was K-Qos. I took a break and came back later. This time, I was card dead. I was holding my own, but my $300 buy in had gone down to $200 even though I was playing good poker. A young guy sitting next to me had obviously had too much to drink, but whereas he was irritating others, he was providing me with some escape from the boredom of folding most hands. A young cowboy then sat on my left. He bet virtually every hand. He started amassing a decent stack, which I figured would be the answer to my short stack. Then came the big hand. The cowboy bet. A short stack with around $90 went all in. I looked down to see what we used to call the VeryJosie: J-10sooted. I called the all in. The cowboy then shoved all in. With about $110 left, I called. The flop was a brick. The turn was a brick. But the river ... a 10! The cowboy showed 3-3 and the initial player who went all in mucked. With my $200 stack now up to $500, I decided it was time to cash out and head for bed as the next day would be a biggie for me: the meet up game VJ and I were having.

Wed, Dec 13

Today would be a day to sleep a little later. However, A series of 12 straight Twitter private messages and a 21-minute phone call from TonyBigcharles got my day going. Since I had not communicated with anyone from the Sahara poker room for several days, I decided to go there shorty after it opened to make sure that everything was set for the meet up game at 5pm. I had texted a list of players earlier to Matt, one of the heads to the poker room. When I got there after 12:00 noon, a small tournament was going on. I dealt with another one of the room's bosses, John. He was excellent in working with me to get everything set. I decided to go to Rollin Smoke Barbeque for lunch. My invitation to Josie and Carmela got me one lunchmate: Josie. She thought she was a funny lady by making a joke about me to a worker. Meh. I took her back to Resorts afterward and went shopping at Smith's for some snacks for the meet up game. By the time I was done shopping and with traffic around the Strip pretty heavy due to the soft opening of the Fontainebleau and construction traffic, I decided to just head to Sahara really early. I set up the food and waited for people to arrive. Because of all the heavy traffic, almost everyone was getting there late.

The Meet Up Game

Here is a listing of the people playing and my assessment of their skills

Very Josie: $2/5 and $5/10 cash game crusher. Extremely aggressive. No playing around with her.
Mr Subliminal: Experienced player with Aria pedigree. Be careful with him.
Abramski_C: I've seen him smoke a table before, including me. Take him seriously.
Alysia (Onechiquita): Dangerous mixed game and Omaha player. Very strategic.
Norm (Vegas724): Solid player who has seen me lose and play stoopid. Knows his stuff.
FlynnandO: Experienced player. Lulls you into traps by using humor at the table.
bigfokkerdog: Crushing donkathon tournament this past week. Not afraid to bluff.
Stephen M: Solid player. Cashed WSOP Seniors. I'll watch him carefully.
Angela M: Never seen her play before. Works in the industry, so watch out.
Hockey_Poker: Very much into strategy. Hosts games and plays solid game.
Washdude: Solid tournament skills. Not afraid to get his chips in. Caution.
Carmela: Unknown player and therefore a wild card. Watch carefully.

We started the game with one full table and decided to break up into two once all the players we knew were going to be there actually arrived. Unfortunately, Mr Subliminal was under the weather and could not come. Also unfortunately, Norm had to deal with a family situation and left right when we started. Our plan was to play a rotation of $1/2 NL Hold 'em and then a rotation of $1/2 PLO. 

The first hand I played was a foreshadowing of things to come. I was dealt pocket deuces and bet. Washdude was in the hand with me and there might initially have ben one or two more. The flop provided a beautiful deuce. Bingo! As the hand progressed, I boated up and there was a flush possibility on the board. I guess Washdude didn't believe me as we were both all in. Ta daaa! When we switched to to Omaha, I was in a couple of pots but didn't have much after the flop. Meanwhile, Carmen, who claimed to be unsure of Omaha play, was raising! The play was getting pretty wild for a fun $1/2 meet up game. Josie flopped a straight and kept pushing the action. Others can fill in the details, but she was all in along with two or three others. Her hand held and she quickly had a huge stack of chips.

After one rotation of both games, we broke into two tables and decided to play only $1/2 NL. At my table, from my left to my right were Stephen M, Chris A, Joseph (Hockey Poker), Angela M, and Josie. Later on, FlynnandO would join and also bigfokkerdog. As luck would have it, one player at the table had a HUGE horseshoe stuck up his/her butt and was handed almost perfect cards the entire night. That player ... umm ... would be me! I took a bunch of chips off Chris A. Josie funded my retirement account. I put a very cruel cold deck beat on Flynnand). And so it went. For over three hours! When a new player not with our group came to the table, I felted him within a few hands. It was unreal.

Some of the players began leaving, and we finally called it quits around 8:45pm. I won an obscene amount of chips for a friendly $1/2 game. After all my whining earlier this year about my bad luck, I think I'll keep my trap shut for at least a few weeks. more surprisingly, Carmela, the least experienced of the players, took home a very nice profit. Chris A came out ahead and I believe that Josie did also. I am not sure who else might have.

Afterward, one of the dealers told me how much fun our group was and how it helped the dealers and the room. Apparently, Wednesday is traditionally a slow night for the room. Our game provided tips for the dealers and raised the room's profile when people walking past saw and heard the fun we were having. This is the third meet up game I've hosted at Sahara. The poker room management and dealers have always done their part to make the games successful. As a bonus, I finally got to meet @Criminal_Bizzy, who works at Sahara.

Thanks to:
John from the Sahara poker room. He was great to work with.
Matt from the Sahara poker room, who helped with the initial list and arrangements.
Josie, who paid for half the snacks that were provided.
FlynnandO, who provided counsel on setting up the game.
Alysia, who brought food to the game. She is always very generous.
Joseph, who brought the nice, sweet treats to the game.

After the meet up game, I dropped dropped Carmela off at Resorts while Josie and I went to Bellagio for one last session.

 I was mostly folding until I was in a raised pot with 7-7. The flop:7-5-5! Yes - poker is EZ sometimes, especially when you flop boats. I was heads up with a player who apparently had a good hand but tanked and folded on the river. VJ and I were both tired, so we called it a night. Josie told me that she was dealt Q-Q and hit a set on the flop, eventually doubling up. It looks like the poker gods righted the world. ๐Ÿ˜

Thurs, Dec 14

I checked out of Excalibur and picked up Josie and Carmela, then headed to one of my favorite places - the Black Bear Diner. Once again, the meal did not disappoint. After brunch, I dropped the ladies off at the airport while I began the six-hour trek home.

Although I didn't mention it, I also had a successful trip with the slots. The only negative of the entire trip was the losing poker session at MGM. Other than that, I won at all my other poker sessions and won almost every time I put money in a slot machine. Good gambling, good food and great friends were the hallmark of this trip. If only every Las Vegas trip could be this fun and profitable.

Thanks for reading. Comments are welcomed and encouraged. Please POST THEM ON THE BLOG AREA FOR COMMENTS. Blogging is NOT dead yet!

Thanks for reading. ๐Ÿ˜€

Friday, December 08, 2023

Poker Update Plus Final 2023 Las Vegas Trip Begins on Sunday, December 10

Poker, like life, seems to be one continuous circle. After getting frustrated with some brutal losses in October, I muddles around for a few weeks, playing less and winning a few, losing a few. Fortunately, I finally got on a heater starting on November 14, winning five sessions in a row and  fattening up the ol' sockroll back from its lean weeks. Unfortunately, it finally ended last Tuesday when I was card dead at Desert Diamond, the one local poker room where I seem to have a difficult time posting winning sessions. I continue to do well at my "home" poker room at Talking Stick Resort and finally had a monster session at Lone Butte which moved the room up to my second most profitable over the past two years. In terms of driving time, Talking Stick is 25-30 minutes, Desert Diamond is 35-45, and Lone Butte is 45-55. No complaints here since in my Illinois days, it was 90 minutes to a small riverboat room that no longer offers poker, over a two-hour drive to Harrah's Joliet, which no longer offers poker, and about 2 1/2 hours to the Shoe in Hammond, Indiana. The Shoe does not have a hotel attached and is in a sketchy area outside Chicago, so I usually had that long drive home in the late night/early morning hours. If you ever wondered why I used to treasure my trips to Las Vegas, now you can see why they were welcomed.

This past summer, I think I finally overdosed on Las Vegas and poker since I had been such a frequent visitor after my move to the Phoenix area. That and the traffic and others hassles caused by last month's F1 race caused me to just concentrate on the local rooms. However, when I heard that VeryJosie and her sister were going to Las Vegas in December, I decided to make a final 2023 trip. I will be driving this time and spending four nights -- Dec 10-14. Aside from playing poker and seeing some of my friends who are either Las Vegas locals or frequent visitors, Josie and I will be hosting a meet up game on Wednesday, December 13 at 5:00pm at the Sahara Las Vegas. The game is designed to be friendly and fun, and will be either just $1/2 NL or else a combination of $1/2 NL and $1/2 PLO alternating each rotation around the table. We used this format last time and things seemed to go pretty well. You can get on the sign up list by responding on my tweets on Twitter or just leaving a comment on this post. We already seem to be counting on having two tables going, which hopefully means no waiting to play. Flynn & Ollie might have a few surprises for the game, so who knows.

Since I am driving to Las Vegas this trip, I might bring along my laptop and crank out a blog post or two while there. Of course, u see, when poker and sleep both call, the posting tends to take a back seat on a short trip. We'll see. Cheers!

Thanks for reading. ๐Ÿ˜€  

Monday, October 16, 2023

It Is Official: Poker Sucks Dick

 I can't really pinpoint the first times that I began playing "serious poker" -- not just playing a few games while goofing around with friends. It must have been sometime after Chris Moneymaker won the WSOP Main Event in 2003. I had perhaps watched some of the ESPN WSOP broadcasts before then -- I don't really remember. But it is likely that I stepped my feet gingerly into online poker sites like Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker somewhere just short of 20 years ago. After cutting my teeth on play money games, I finally deposited some money on a few sites and began to play -- mostly tournaments at first. As the years progressed, I lost my desire to play in tournaments, largely when I took some brutal beatings by idiots in tournaments hosted by Illinois Charitable Games in various central Illinois settings. Along with those experiences, I found that I was tired of drowning on the river in some online poker sites, where many people questioned how random the random number generators really were. When it became more difficult to find freezeout tournaments, my decision to concentrate on cash games became more set in stone. I am aware of variance and know that the poker gods can really be fickle. After having a really bad downswing last year, I went on an unreal heater. Well, for the past several months, I have had a bad downswing. It seems like nothing goes right when you hit the skids. It took a long time, but after all these poker years I finally have divined the true nature of the beast: Poker Sucks Dick.

I began frequenting casinos in the 1980s. After having much success with slots, a downswing with them was part of what led me to poker. Poker always seemed to be sort of a strange match with me. In real life, I had this respectable job in higher education, often supervising a number of people and being responsible for some significant aspects of the school. Part of what I did was make sure that my reputation was spotless. I was always a pretty straight arrow with a wholesome image. In contrast, my early days with online poker saw me using any profanity and mind games I could with some of the cretins who were prevalent. And despite meeting so many great people via poker, let's face it: there are some really unseemly people and situations in poker. But what else?

All my life I have lived by certain credos. I was gifted with a good head on my shoulders. I was generally pretty successful with most things things I attempted since I was pretty smart, worked hard, and tried to have the best intentions. I had a long, successful career in my field and now am still trying to find my way around in retirement. The thing that has confounded me most has been poker, especially learning to cope with the ups and downs. Frankly, I have been fortunate to have had many ups in life and struggled with the downs. The downswing I've had in poker just slays me because I can't somehow just fix it, as I have been able to do with most other things on my life  when things went askew.

Earlier this summer, for instance, I had a horror show of a bad five session poker odyssey. In those five sessions, I had these outcomes: Winning sessions: one; Ran pocket Kings into pocket Aces: one; Lost set over set: three. I seriously began to wonder which poker god I offended to award me such outcomes. Many of my other sessions have been filled with other instances of being completely card dead, losing to underdog hands, and generally struggling to go home with even a modest profit. This led to my deceleration of poker sessions and in fact seemed to make my recent volunteer involvement with a local non-profit agency become a refuge where what I did was important and appreciated. And I didn't lose money. And I didn't curse the poker gods for crapping on me. However, this past Saturday, I decided to play a poker session at  Lone Butte, which is about a 45-minute drive from my house. I was hoping to turn things around and maybe even hit a high hand. I wasn't prepared for what would happen there and later on at my usual place, Talking Stick Resort.

Lone Butte

Hand 1: Playing $1/2 NL with a $300 maximum buy in. Most stacks at the table were between $200 and $400. I was dealt pocket Kings in the big blind. A couple of players limped in and I raised to $12 to get some action. I got only one caller. The flop was a beauty: K-4-Q. I raised and my opponent called. Sweet. The turn was another 4, giving me the full house, Kings over 4s. I was hoping that my opponent hit a King or a Queen, so I bet. My opponent put out a big bet that would take about half my chips. It was thespian time as I faked mulling over what to do. When I thought that I had sufficiently acted long enough, I shoved all in. He instacalled. I don't remember what the river was because my opponent turned over pocket 4s, meaning that he had the only hand that could beat be when the true one-outer came on the turn. I was shocked. Not only did he felt me and win a pot of $600+, his quad 4s won the half hour high hand jackpot, meaning that he got an extra $250 that should have been mine, as I saw it. Damn!

Hand 2: I was on the button with Ks3s. There were several limpers, so what the heck -- I also limped. The flop was 3-3-J. I was hoping someone had a Jack. Everyone checked. The turn was a 3, giving me quads and potentially a high hand bonus. Everyone else checked, and I put out a bet to get more money in the pot and, if nobody called, I didn't have to worry about an Ace hitting the river, negating my potential high hand (both hole cards had to be used). One person called. The river was a rag. When I bet, my opponent folded. I turned over my hand and said "High hand." It held for a $250 bonus. Sweet, I thought, the poker gods might be having mercy on me. I began building my stack up and decided to continue playing as the table had some players who appeared to be pretty weak.

Hand 3: By this time, the table had turned over except for a jerk in seat three. We had almost gotten into it earlier. He was the initial raiser and, after the flop, I bet into him. I had apparently done this a time or two more than he would like, and he three bet me a substantial amount. I had a decent hand but not one that I thought good enough to call or four bet. He then snidely made a remark about how he was tired of my betting into him and that I couldn't have it all the time. He was mostly talking shit about me to the guy next to him, who was getting amused as I answered back. The tension level was rising and I was pretty sure the refereeing would not be impartial with a regular vs the interloper (me). Fortunately, that was the last we talked. I'm sure he knew that I was laughing inside when he got felted. Anyway, with the tension pretty close to normal and with my stack being pretty healthy, I looked down to see pocket Queens. I raised and got two callers. The flop was Q-8-3. I decided to put out a small raise. The guy in seat one, who was pretty new to the table and had been losing, jammed all in. The other caller folded and, of course, I called the smaller stack. The turn was a 6 and the river was an 8, giving me the best boat. I flipped over my cards and was shocked to see that my opponent had rivered the case 8! Once again, I was one-outed and lost to quads. I can't even remember the last time I was one outed, much less having it done to me twice in the same session. I was flabbergasted. My stack shrunk some, and after not connecting in a few more hands, I decided to leave and get some dinner. I felt pretty fortunate to be down less than $100 for the session, but really -- one outed twice?

My favorite BBQ place in the area was less than two miles away. I anticipated getting my favorite meal -- a large smoked potato with one or two meats added on top. When I attempted to order, I was told that they had run out of smoked potatoes for the day. Huh? The place still had 1 1/2 hours before it closed. The run bad continues! An interstate closure for construction forced me to drive past my usual poker home, Talking Stick Resort. I thought "What the heck - maybe I can break the curse here tonight. Mwahahaha - what a fool I am. 

Talking Stick

Hand 1: Playing my usual $1/3 NL Hold em. I bought in for $300. After burning about $50 on hands that missed the flop, I was dealt pocket 6s. The young, aggressive Asian guy to my left raised to $12. I called. We were heads up. The flop was 6-6-2. Yowsa! It been some time since I had flopped quads. The guy bet $40. I decided to just call. I don't remember the turn. The guy bet $50 and again I smooth called. I don't remember the river either, but there were now four clubs on the board. The opponent checked. I was hoping that he had a high club. I bet $100, praying for a call. He thought for a few moments and folded. I turned over my cards, announced "high hand" to the dealer, and scooped my pot. Unfortunately, the quads did not hold up and were beaten by quad Kings or Jacks for that half hour's high hand bonus. Can't win 'em all. 

Hand 2: Asian guy raised pre-flop to $15. He had been getting spanked on some hands and appeared to be tilting. I looked down at pocket 4s. I called as well as the big blind. The flop was a juicy Q-4-2! Quite unexpectedly, the Asian guy went all in. The only hand I had to fear was Q-Q. He had been aggressive in his hands, so I didn't put him on a hand that big. I called pretty quickly. The big blind thought, then decided to also call. The both had me covered. Since the big blind had not re-raised pre-flop, I was pretty sure I was way ahead of both. I anticipated tripling up. The turn was a Queen. As it turns out, both players had a one Queen, so that was the case queen. They both had trip Queens while I had my 4s over Queens boat. The river stuck a dagger through my heart. It was a 2 -- one of only three cards in the deck that could lose me the hand. So both players went runner runner (case Queen and three-outer deuce) for full houses, and my full house was second best. Felted and discouraged, I called it a day. Stoopid poker.

How can anyone run so badly? And what a poker day. I got quads twice and was involved in two other hands where my opponent turned or rivered quads. I lost a hand where I flopped a set when the perfect cards came runner runner -- the case Queen and one of three river outs. Really -- how?

As you might guess, I am feeling pretty discouraged. In most things in life, doing the right thing advances you. In poker, luck has a way of disrupting even the best plays. Thus, I came to finally realize what I mentioned in the blog post title and the first paragraph of the post: Poker Sucks Dick.

What does this mean for the future? I'm not quite sure. Although I had been going to Las Vegas every 4-6 weeks earlier this year, the combination of Las Vegas fatigue, getting my ass handed to me in poker, my new volunteer gig, and the Las Vegas 2024 negatives (cyber attack, F1 traffic issues, reinstated parking fees, floods and insect attacks) have kept me away since July. I do plan to go there sometime around the week before Christmas to meet up with Very Josie and meet her sister. Until then -- I just down know. Probably no Las Vegas trips until then, and maybe even little b&m poker. The fun just seems to have been sucked out with my run bad over the past several months. *Sigh*

Thanks for reading! ๐Ÿ˜€