So, without any more real exciting/entertaining incidents like the one I talked about in my previous blog post, I arrived in Las Vegas a week ago from this past Sunday. I got myself a little apartment, got settled in, and got my laundry done. This was the first time I've done laundry in at least 10 years and I was able to get it completed without wrecking anything. (with the help of a phone call to Christine)
I figured I'd hit the Bellagio card room on Monday, play some hold-em, and find out where the best games and all the action has been in town.
I found out that the Rio is crazy busy because of the World Series of Poker tournament being held there and the waiting list to get in a game I'd be looking to play in could be (& usually would be) extremely long.
So, I've found myself playing at the Bellagio every session to this point. They also have a nice wide range of games, varying from $1 & $2 No limit games to $4000/8000 limit games. Millions of dollars are changing hands on a daily basis!
I can sum up my first week pretty quickly and easily. I find myself playing extremely good poker, but not running very good for the most part. I have been able to win every single day, with the exception of one, but up until today couldn't really break through with any real decent wins.
I'm exceptionally happy with the discipline I've showed, after time and time again, getting my big pairs and other big hands drawn out on. I just keep trying to play the best that I can and hoping the cards will eventually break my way. I consider myself very fortunate to only have the one loss and to be money ahead for the trip.
Today ended up hopefully being that breakthrough day. I finally chalked up a nice win that was a little over $2000.00
Anytime I win over $1000 in a day, I consider it a pretty darn good day. I just slowly built up my winnings to around $1000 and then got on a nice little rush. I won another $1250 or so in about 10 minutes.... I then got drawn out on in a couple of hands and went back down to about a $2000 winner for the day. About that time Christine called to get some information she needed from me to ship a few packages, so I told her I'd play one more round, and if I didn't win any pots, I'd head to my apartment and call her back with that info. (and that's pretty much what happened)
I've thoroughly been enjoying myself, meeting people that I haven't seen in years. Some of these people didn't even recognize me, until I called them by name. (I do find that I am unbelievably good at remembering the names of people I haven't seen in over 10 years) Some of these people are also amazed that I can call them by name. They kind of remember playing with & seeing me....but don't remember me by name. My looks have changed a bit, as my hair is much, much, shorter than it used to be & my beard/whiskers have turned from black to gray/white.
I have been asked at by at least 4 people if I was going to.... or if I had played the Senior Tournament at the WSOP. I guess it's time for me to shave again, because I won't be eligible to play in that for another 5 years!
I attended Grace Valley Church here in Vegas on Sunday and seen more people that I hadn't seen in awhile & that was very enjoyable. This is a small church that our family was a big part of when we lived here. I played guiter there on a regular basis and Christine & I also helped out with the youth group.
Since arriving in town, I have experienced several pretty bad headaches, which isn't a good sign for things to come this summer. I suffer from something that is called "cluster headaches" and they are very sporadic, but when they come, it virtually changes my life completely for the period of time that they last. I've been very fortunate to not suffer from these headaches for the last 3 years which is the longest I've ever gone. They keep me from attending family functions & other events, because I simply don't want to get caught in a bad place (where I can't find refuge) with a bad headache. On one or two occasions, when I have had bad one where I can't find any good place to curl up, I've actually had to go lay down underneath a parked pickup truck, and try to survive until the headache goes away.
The headaches always start behind my left eye and as time passes, they get increasingly painful and longer in duration. At best, I go 2-3 days without one, and at worst I get 2 or more of them every day/night. They completely wipe me out. I can do virtually nothing, but try to find the darkest room, with absolutely no noise, (including background noise from another room) and just suffer through them. The room cannot be to warm....or to cool....
Any of those things (light, sound, temperature) seem to intensify the headache.
Right now, the headaches seem to be lasting about an hour or two. In the past, as they intensify, they can last up to 3 or 4 hours....and then when I'm finally able to move, I am so tired from fighting it, that I still can get very little if anything done.
The best way for me to describe the headaches, is that it feels like someone sticks their finger in my left eye & rips the eyeball right out my head. My eye gets all bloodshot and waters to beat heck. The main thing I can do is to cover my eye to let absolutely no light in, and to try and gently massage the left temple area.
These headaches invariably go away about the time late fall or winter comes. This leads me to believe it may have something to do with the air I'm breathing....(some type of allergy or something)
I'm thinking that they quit, as soon as we have a good hard freeze. So, if my headaches persist, I will anxiously be awaiting fall/winter this year.
Back to poker.... I honestly do believe that I'm playing close to the very best poker that I ever have...and I'm looking forward to continuing to do some traveling (hopefully with my wife) and playing more as time passes. My 2 biggest decisions over the next year or two will be:
(1) Decide if I really want to pursue and concentrate on playing no limit hold-em. (which is really a completely different game that limit poker which I've been playing up to this point) and
(2) Decide if I want to concentrate more on tournaments, and put in the time to figure out how to play them the way you need to play them to win big
I will probably be forced to concentrate and play somewhat on no limit games, because that's what they're offering at the new casino in NW Iowa, that was built close to where I live.
The tournament thing is something completely different & at this point, I really don't know if it's something I'll actively pursue or not. I have done fairly well in the past in the few tournaments I've played in, but they can also be very frustrating. The only way you're truly pleased after playing one, is if you win the whole thing.... (That's the way I am anyway) and that doesn't happen very often.
It's so frustrating (and final) to get knocked out of a tournament. You can't buy back in.... You can't go after someone who put that super bad beat on you.... It just can be frustrating....
It looks like I'll probably leave here this coming Sunday at the earliest....or the Thursday after that, at the latest....and in the meantime, I'm going to be trying to play the very best poker that I can, and to keep building that poker bankroll. On this trip, I've decided just to concentrate on the live games and maybe next year I'll commit to playing a few WSOP events. If I decide to do that, I'll be brushing up on my tournament play between now & then.... :)
I figured I'd hit the Bellagio card room on Monday, play some hold-em, and find out where the best games and all the action has been in town.
I found out that the Rio is crazy busy because of the World Series of Poker tournament being held there and the waiting list to get in a game I'd be looking to play in could be (& usually would be) extremely long.
So, I've found myself playing at the Bellagio every session to this point. They also have a nice wide range of games, varying from $1 & $2 No limit games to $4000/8000 limit games. Millions of dollars are changing hands on a daily basis!
I can sum up my first week pretty quickly and easily. I find myself playing extremely good poker, but not running very good for the most part. I have been able to win every single day, with the exception of one, but up until today couldn't really break through with any real decent wins.
I'm exceptionally happy with the discipline I've showed, after time and time again, getting my big pairs and other big hands drawn out on. I just keep trying to play the best that I can and hoping the cards will eventually break my way. I consider myself very fortunate to only have the one loss and to be money ahead for the trip.
Today ended up hopefully being that breakthrough day. I finally chalked up a nice win that was a little over $2000.00
Anytime I win over $1000 in a day, I consider it a pretty darn good day. I just slowly built up my winnings to around $1000 and then got on a nice little rush. I won another $1250 or so in about 10 minutes.... I then got drawn out on in a couple of hands and went back down to about a $2000 winner for the day. About that time Christine called to get some information she needed from me to ship a few packages, so I told her I'd play one more round, and if I didn't win any pots, I'd head to my apartment and call her back with that info. (and that's pretty much what happened)
I've thoroughly been enjoying myself, meeting people that I haven't seen in years. Some of these people didn't even recognize me, until I called them by name. (I do find that I am unbelievably good at remembering the names of people I haven't seen in over 10 years) Some of these people are also amazed that I can call them by name. They kind of remember playing with & seeing me....but don't remember me by name. My looks have changed a bit, as my hair is much, much, shorter than it used to be & my beard/whiskers have turned from black to gray/white.
I have been asked at by at least 4 people if I was going to.... or if I had played the Senior Tournament at the WSOP. I guess it's time for me to shave again, because I won't be eligible to play in that for another 5 years!
I attended Grace Valley Church here in Vegas on Sunday and seen more people that I hadn't seen in awhile & that was very enjoyable. This is a small church that our family was a big part of when we lived here. I played guiter there on a regular basis and Christine & I also helped out with the youth group.
Since arriving in town, I have experienced several pretty bad headaches, which isn't a good sign for things to come this summer. I suffer from something that is called "cluster headaches" and they are very sporadic, but when they come, it virtually changes my life completely for the period of time that they last. I've been very fortunate to not suffer from these headaches for the last 3 years which is the longest I've ever gone. They keep me from attending family functions & other events, because I simply don't want to get caught in a bad place (where I can't find refuge) with a bad headache. On one or two occasions, when I have had bad one where I can't find any good place to curl up, I've actually had to go lay down underneath a parked pickup truck, and try to survive until the headache goes away.
The headaches always start behind my left eye and as time passes, they get increasingly painful and longer in duration. At best, I go 2-3 days without one, and at worst I get 2 or more of them every day/night. They completely wipe me out. I can do virtually nothing, but try to find the darkest room, with absolutely no noise, (including background noise from another room) and just suffer through them. The room cannot be to warm....or to cool....
Any of those things (light, sound, temperature) seem to intensify the headache.
Right now, the headaches seem to be lasting about an hour or two. In the past, as they intensify, they can last up to 3 or 4 hours....and then when I'm finally able to move, I am so tired from fighting it, that I still can get very little if anything done.
The best way for me to describe the headaches, is that it feels like someone sticks their finger in my left eye & rips the eyeball right out my head. My eye gets all bloodshot and waters to beat heck. The main thing I can do is to cover my eye to let absolutely no light in, and to try and gently massage the left temple area.
These headaches invariably go away about the time late fall or winter comes. This leads me to believe it may have something to do with the air I'm breathing....(some type of allergy or something)
I'm thinking that they quit, as soon as we have a good hard freeze. So, if my headaches persist, I will anxiously be awaiting fall/winter this year.
Back to poker.... I honestly do believe that I'm playing close to the very best poker that I ever have...and I'm looking forward to continuing to do some traveling (hopefully with my wife) and playing more as time passes. My 2 biggest decisions over the next year or two will be:
(1) Decide if I really want to pursue and concentrate on playing no limit hold-em. (which is really a completely different game that limit poker which I've been playing up to this point) and
(2) Decide if I want to concentrate more on tournaments, and put in the time to figure out how to play them the way you need to play them to win big
I will probably be forced to concentrate and play somewhat on no limit games, because that's what they're offering at the new casino in NW Iowa, that was built close to where I live.
The tournament thing is something completely different & at this point, I really don't know if it's something I'll actively pursue or not. I have done fairly well in the past in the few tournaments I've played in, but they can also be very frustrating. The only way you're truly pleased after playing one, is if you win the whole thing.... (That's the way I am anyway) and that doesn't happen very often.
It's so frustrating (and final) to get knocked out of a tournament. You can't buy back in.... You can't go after someone who put that super bad beat on you.... It just can be frustrating....
It looks like I'll probably leave here this coming Sunday at the earliest....or the Thursday after that, at the latest....and in the meantime, I'm going to be trying to play the very best poker that I can, and to keep building that poker bankroll. On this trip, I've decided just to concentrate on the live games and maybe next year I'll commit to playing a few WSOP events. If I decide to do that, I'll be brushing up on my tournament play between now & then.... :)
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