Golf Trip report (Long)

The trip started out with business in Monterey, CA. Quite a beautiful area to live I would imagine. Moderate weather...rarely getting into the 80's, and never really getting very cold either. Great views all around, with green mountains and nice valleys. They are right in the middle of wine country too, so there are plenty of nice options to drink. It's also a great place to eat seafood. It's not my cup of tea, but I tried calimari as an appetizer, and had some crab ravioli at dinner. Now on to the good stuff...

Wednesday:

I arrived in Vegas via Phoenix at about 11:00am. After getting my bags, Sonny picked me up and dropped me off at my hotel. After a shower and a few minutes of relaxation, I was ready to fire it up. I had about 10 hours to kill before my other buddies (Greg and Jim) were to make it in. Since I was on a full comp from the Rio I tried to give them a little bit of play. First I sat down at Pai Gow, and played for a little over an hour, making about $200. Since I didn't bring a very big bankroll with me this was a nice start. Then I headed off to the poker room to play some 2/5 NL, as I heard their room had some very poor players (I fit right in since my NL cash game is pretty average). After about 3 hours of play, I had pissed away about $250. Sonny and his friend Joe showed up, so we decided to grab some dinner before we played the $230 Mirage tourney at 7pm.

Dinner that night was at the All American Grill, I got a nice New York Strip and a baked potato. As usual, the meal was excellent there. Following dinner we headed to the Mirage. Sonny and Joe were both out in the first 30 minutes or so, and I soon followed. On a flop of KJ7 with 2 diamonds, I check-raised all-in from the SB with K7 for bottom two pair. The button was priced in and looked me up with Ad4d for the nut flush draw. The 9d on the turn gave him the flush and the river missed me so I was out as well. Since it was only 7:45, we had the whole night ahead of us, so we went to Bellagio to play a little bit more poker. Sonny stepped into the big no-limit game there (5/10 NL) and I went over to the 15/30 limit game (again, bankroll considerations). The play was terrible, but I could never get it going, and ended up down about 180 in the game.

By that point, Jim and Greg had landed and were at the Rio, on the way out Sonny and I shared some hands of Pai Gow. I was a 20% partner in this venture as he bought in for 2500. After a nice start, we lost 4 straight hands to bust us and suddenly I was down a good chunk of my bankroll.

Tally's for Wednesday:
Money: -$960ish
Drinks: 20+ beers

Thursday:

Despite a long night and little sleep, we were ready to start golfing and got to the course (Legacy Golf Club) over an hour early. The weather was great, it was in the low 60's with very little wind. Judging from the forecasts, this was going to be our best day to play.

On the putting green, I thought I found a correction for my poor putting from the last year. I felt as if I was pulling quite a few putts. I tried an exxagerated closed stance, and suddenly the ball was finding the cup. This excited me to get on the course and try it out. I wasn't disappointed with the results. I shot an 81, which was ballooned by 2 big scores I had. My putter was dead on, and I had 2 birdies on the round. We also played teams. Day 1 had me and Jim (Cobra Kai, we both have Cobra drivers) against Greg and Sonny (team Polo, both wearing the same polo shirt). In a spirited battle, we came out ahead. Sonny shot pretty well on Day 1, carding an 82, with a big score on 17. Greg and Jim struggled pretty evenly for the most part.

The course was nice, but the greens were unbelieveably slow, I hardly got a putt to the hole all round. The layout was nice however, and for the first round it was a good course selection, as the fairways were generous.

After the round, we had Jack in the Box, as usual it was stellar, and was the last food I had all night (it was only 4:30 or so). After watching our bets in the Sportsbook, we showered and got ready for the night. I took an awful loss on a sports bet at this point. I had Washington -5 over Sacramento, and had a 17 point lead with about 6 minutes left. They proceeded to blow it, and were up by 3 with 0.7 seconds left. After a full court inbound pass by Sacramento, John Salmon's caught it, stepped back and nailed a triple as time expired. This gave me a chance to win the game in OT, but upon instant replay, the shot was hit just a tic after the clock reached 0:00.0. -550 right there!!! I'm sure there was something we did in the early/late evening, but at this point it escapes me.

We ended up going to "Crazy Horse Too", which many will recognize as a popular adult establashment. We had a good time firing up the beer pretty hard, as well as making fun of some of the annoying bitches that were bothering us. Overall it was a very good time.

On the way home we tried to convince Sonny to take us to In-n-Out burger, but he declined.

Tally's for Thursday:
Money: -$600ish (sports bets)
Drinks: 20+ beers

Friday: The carnage the night before definitely took it's toll. I felt horrible, and it didn't help that our tee time at the Badlands was 9am, as when I booked it I planned on getting 27 holes in. The weather wasn't going to co-operate today, as the temperature was very low 50's, with winds gusting to near 40 mph's. The course is also very penal, if you miss the fairways, you are in desert waste area that is pure rock. You can hit out of it (and I did) but you will likely gouge the hell out of your clubs). The greens were extremely fast, especially if you were above the hole. This required a big adjustment from the day before's slow greens. Fortunately I never adjusted very well and was able to handle them. I ended up shooting an 84, which killed everyone in our group (there may have been a 99, and two scores over 110 in the rest of the group). Me and Greg (team name I don't recall) also pummelled Jim and Sonny in team play. Greg had an excuse for his round though, as he had to shit and nearly didn't make it to a bathroom, as the first one was on the 7th or 8th hole. The round was difficult to take, as the cold and wind made it pretty miserable.

We were in no condition to play 27, so after the round we packed up and headed over to Red Rock Station. Red Rock is an absolutely beatiful casino, with an awesome sports and racebook. We ate dinner at the the Salt River bbq, where we had all you can eat ribs, brisket and sausage. Food was very good, and after stuffing ourselves we headed to the sportsbook to unwind. I had the Knicks -3 against Milwaukee, and after trailing for most of the game, the Knicks grabbed a 3 pt lead with 35 seconds left. That was tied on a 3 ptr with 24 seconds left. The Knicks held for the last shot and Marbury missed at the buzzer, sending the game to OT and giving me a chance at a win in OT....but I looked back at the screen 2 minutes later and Channing Frye was at the free throw line. Apparently they called a late loose ball foul on the play (looked like good D to me) and I was screwed out of a chance at the win. A loose ball foul called on a last shot at or near the buzzer???? That never never never happens!!! I had a small bet on the Pistons that day that won, but again another loser.

Following that, Sonny and I headed over to the Orleans to play in their 60+40 rebuy tourney. I played like a total donk, and was out after 45 minutes or so. After that it was on to the 2/5 NL game. I bought in for 300 as it was a new table and that's what everyone else had. I had lost a bit from that and then had 250 left when this hand occurred. This hand was one of the turning points of my trip. An early position player raised to 15, I called from MP with 99, and one of the blinds also called. The flop came a beautiful A95, and both players checked to me, I led out for 30, and both the SB and EP called. The turn was another A, making the board AA95. Checked to me and I led out for 75. The SB called and then EP moved all-in for about 100 more. I then moved in for the rest of my stack and got a call from the SB. The SB had AJ, and EP had KK (?????). I had to dodge an A, K, J or 5 (9 outs) to win the pot, and I did. That tripled me up and put me up about 500 at the table. After Sonny busted out we headed over to the Rio to play some more 2/5 NL (Sonny refused to play at the Orleans).

At the Rio both Sonny and I bought in for 500. Since he generally plays higher, he played like a complete maniac. Basically 75% of the hands were raised PF to $25, and he managed to make all of the other players play far worse. I was able to capitalize on this and finished the night about a $500 winner (was up $800 or so until I caught a few cooler hands).

Tally for the night:

Money: +300 or so
Drinks: 20+ beers

Saturday:

If Friday was the turning point of the trip, Saturday morning confirmed it. Prior to leaving for golf, I placed 3 basketball bets, winning 2 of them in close fashion (I lost the third bet barely, but it was a smaller bet). Our tee time was for 11am at Aliante. I forgot there would be little traffic, and got us there at about 9:50am. Since we had time to kill and were hungry, we went to the clubhouse for some breakfest. Greg got there first and after inquiring about breakfest, was told they didn't have anything, so he ended up with a turkey sandwich. I then went in and asked a middle aged woman behind the counter, and she said no, I then said "Nothing like waffles." She replied, "Well if you have time, I can make some pancakes or waffles." As she said this, the look on Greg's face was priceless, as he was taking his second bite of his sandwich. The french toast I got was 4 of the best pieces I've ever had in my life, and coupled with bacon and OJ made for the best breakfest of the trip. Bad beat for Greg.

The course was beaufiful. It was in a remote area I had never been before, and there were snow capped mountains in the distance. The winds were relatively calm. The only downside is that the greens were unbelievably fast, and if above the hole damn near impossible to putt. They also had their pins tucked in some absurd "Sunday" pin locations. I shot 40 on the front, and was fairly convinced I would break 80 on the round. I caught the waste area on a few holes and eventually the wheels came off for an 86. Teams were me and Sonny against Greg and Jim, with me and Sonny giving them 16 strokes in best ball. I knew this would be an impossible spot, and Greg played fairly decent, while Sonny didn't, so they ended up winning fairly handily with the spot.

After golf, Jim and Greg wanted to see downtown. We saw signs for a Lobster/Steak special and went into Tony Roma's for dinner. Dinner was good...not great, and then we headed over to Binions to roll some craps. Nobody could quite get it going, and I dropped about 300 there. We decided to head back to the Rio and determine what we were going to do. After changing clothes, I went back downstairs to meet with Sonny. He was getting his ass kicked at blackjack, and all of this reminded me why I hate that game now.

Then we proceeded over to Pai Gow. It was there that fateful decision was made. Sonny wanted the anchor/corner seat, but I told him that I wanted it. I bought in for 1K, and started playing 100 per hand. The dealer made a full house on the first 3, and I was down a quick 300. Sonny was down a quick 2K probably at this point. Finally things started turning around. I went with a slow progression in bet size as I was on a winning streak, and went on about an hour long tear. My bet size went 100-200-300-500-600-800-1K-1200-1500-2K-2500-3K. I won all of the hands until the 3K, and was suddenly up a nice 7K or so. I sent Jim to cash out 5K and decided to start over, with my base bet at 200. Then my progression was something like 200-400-600-800-1K-1300-1600-2K-2500-3K. Again I won everything until the 3K hand. After that run I raised my bet size higher. I started at 500, then basically added 500 every hand that I won. That progression made it up to 4K (easily my biggest bet ever) before finally losing. When it was all said and done I won 23K or so at the table, dwarfing my biggest casino win.

In all of my life playing that game, I have never seen a run like that. My cards were for the most part great, while the house was pulling the biggest garbage hands I have EVER seen. The amazing thing is that I never could win when I had an awesome hand, like 3 pair. I had 3 pair in back to back hands for 2K, and pushed them both. Then I won the next hand with a pair of 5's.

After the run ended, it was 3:30am, and after cashing out and taking most of the $$$ back to the room, we grabbed a taxi to find an In-N-Out burger. They were closed, so we had to make due with Carl's Jr. After buying the cab driver a burger (she was really cool) and Jim and my food, and paying the fare, I spent $41 on that late night meal. Small price to pay for that kind of chow.

Tally for the night:

Money: +23000
Drinks: 15+

Sunday:

After the night of destruction at the Pai Gow table, it was very difficult to focus on golf. Part of the problem was that I had 22K in cash in my golf bag, so I never wanted to let it too far out of my sight. If for some reason the zipper slipped open, $100 bills would have been flying everywhere due to the extreme wind conditions present. Plus, the golf got a little tedious. Having the course as windy as it was makes the round very taxing. We also were watching Jim struggle with his game so much that he said he was quitting (it's not the first time I've heard this, but it was pretty convincing). So basically everyone was disinterested in the round, aside from Greg, who played his best of the trip. We were close to quitting at the turn to fire it up one more time, but Greg wanted to keep playing, so we obliged him. Jim did not play on the back 9, as he was a beaten man.

Following golf, we headed out for one last meal, as my flight wasn't until 10:55pm. We went to Pampas at the Aladdin, which is a Brazilian grill, all you can eat, in which they bring you several different types of meat on skewers throughout the course of your meal. The selections included spicy chicken, filet mignon, flank steak, turkey with bacon wrapped around it, sausage, ham and pineapple, lamb, and I'm sure there was a fish though it never made it to us. If you have ever eaten at the Samba Grill in the Mirage it's very similar. Meal was good and made sure to eat my $35 worth of it.

Given my big win, I sprang for all of us (Sonny brought his kind of girlfriend as well). Following dinner Greg and Jim left for the car, with a 5 hour drive to San Diego ahead of them. I hung out at the Aladdin, killing time before my flight, which was uneventful except for a 1 hour delay, though I only arrived 30 minutes late.

Those redeye flights are killers though, as after the flight I slept until 2pm. I'm still not back on a regular sleeping schedule, most likely due to me hardly sleeping at all in Vegas.

Summary:

All in all my most successful trip to Vegas (all due to a few short hours). This win cures a lot of ills, and pays some nice bills off. It also lets me add a nice chunk to Abby's college fund.

As far as golf, it's a great destination. I think I would rather do it in March next year though, as the February weather is a little dicey. I also don't know if I'd select the Badlands again, unless I had a group of golfers with handicaps below 10, as it can be downright frustrating for the common golfer.

Overall though, a great success!

An (un)Civil War

Yahoo article today

So the US government is finally admitting that there may be a civil war in Iraq. Interestingly, I figured this out over 11 months ago.

My blog March 1st 2006