Decisively Indecisive

I am usually a believer in a sort of Karma that if things are meant to happen, everything just seems to fall into place. With that in mind, I got a wild hair to go back to Las Vegas after seeing all the excitement with the WSOP's first event. Flight reservations were made, a hotel room was booked, and I even decided to extend the stay an extra night. Everything seemed to be going well, but then ...

Boom -- everything seems to be falling apart. Even between the beginning of this post late at night and the continuation the following afternoon, it just looks like the Karma is just not right. So today I am fighting an internal battle with myself. I will probably make a decision by the end of the work day.

In general poker news, I played at Par-A-Dice Casino in East Peoria, IL last weekend. I was doing well until the big hand. I was UTG and looked down to see AA. I raised to $12. Unfortunately, there were several callers. However, Dan, an extremely tight player, was the last to act. He went all in. Yowsa! I had somewhere in the area of $450 behind and Dan had maybe $300. I went all in. Everyone except for one shortie immediately folded. He thought about it and also folded. Either Dan or his wife, Sheri, who was also sitting at the table, asked "Do you have Aces?" I replied yes, and Dan muttered that he had Kings (as opposed to the dreaded pocket kings). As expected, the flop brought a King, leaving me only two outs. They didn't come, so instead of having a stack of around $700-800, I had a single stack of redbirds. Thank you, poker gods. About a half hour later, they finished me off when I flopped trip Jacks with a 10 kicker. The table lucksack stayed in the hand with me after my flop bet, so I pushed all in after the turn, a 6c. He said "You're not gonna like this" and tabled his hand -- J-6! That was it for me. I headed out to the parking lot to drive home.

Earlier this week, I had to drop my youngest daughter off on the east side of Chicago. With Harrah's Horseshoe Hammond only a 15-20 drive away, there was an easy decision to make. Of course I went to Indiana! Unfortunately, my drive on the Chicago Skyway (toll road that goes around Lake Michigan and into Indiana) was nasty as rain came down like you wouldn't believe. I got into The Shoe and headed to the men's room. The floor in there was wet, and immediately I was on my back. What a start!

After about a half hour wait, a new table opened and I was seated. The most memorable hand was when I flopped top two with Q-J. The turn was a Qc, which, unfortunately, completed the club nut flush draw for another player. Can you say stacked? I had a nice session at The Shoe, which took some of the sting out of the nasty session at Par-A-Dice a few days earlier.

So ... we shall see what my next move is. For my friends who are playing in any WSOP events -- best o' luck!