Tao of Poker

Vegas Day 1: Karma Tipping

On my flight to Vegas, some guy left his jacket up front and the stewardess got on the intercom and asked who the jacket belonged to. No one answered. She began the bidding at $20. One guy from the back yelled, "I call!" Another dude chimmed in, "I'm all in!"

Yeah, you gotta love flights to Vegas filled with rowdy New Yorkers. The guy across from me was reading Mike Caro's book on poker tells. With Spring Break and March Madness and the poker boom... Vegas was overflowing with dead money and the jubilation spilled over onto my flight.

Senor made the trip after all! Which is awesome. I was perpared to go solo, but it's always great to have a wingman. We're staying at the Excalibur and Grubby met us at Midnight at the Sherwood Forest Bar. Ah, sweet memories of that place tickled me for sure. Grubby was sipping on a Corona and playing video black jack when we found him.There were two young girls sitting next to us at the bar, each double fisting a Pina Coloda and a Cosmopolitan. Grubby thought one looked like Kate Hudson. The actual term he used was "Goldie Hawn's daughter". The other looked like a cleaner version of Lindsay Lohan minus the fake boobs and coke flakes hanging off her right nostril. It was her 21st birthday and they came to Vegas to celebrate. They asked me where they should go to party. With a belly full of Absolut Citron, I answered, "My room."

We headed to the poker room after I unsuccessfully tried to get the two 21 year-old Seattle chicks to take a shower with me. Senor doubled up his buy in playing the best poker he's ever played. Grubby sat at my table and won a hand with AA. I got AA twice in 90 minutes. Both times they held up. I limped then reraised preflop. It was three way and one guy had AK. The flop: AKx. Damn. Too bad it was $2-6 spread! If it were no limit, I'd have the keys to his car by now. Anyway, after a quick hit and run session I ended up $75. Between Senor, Grubby and myself... we took a quick $300+ from the poker room. Yes, I celebrated with a Krispy Kreme donut.

I went 1-3 in the Thursday hoops games. Ouch. I like Duke today. I missed the smell of pure casino oxygen. More to come...