Tao of Poker

Yesterday Was Jerry Day

This is a quick post. I have to move out of the Redneck Riviera in a few hours. In a strange way, I'm very sad. I'm gonna miss all the freaks, pimps, drug dealers, hookers, degenerate gamblers, taxi drivers, wife beaters, recently released felons, strippers, poker dealers, and those inbred pot-bellied mullet-clad redneck kids who run amuck outside my window. Those are really my kinds of people. Over last year or so of my life has taken a weird twist and at one point I found myself in the company of the uber-rich, some of which I call my close friends... a malcontent NYC socialite, a bookish former Senator's grand-daughter, a Valium popping actress/bartender, an alcoholic dotcom millionaire, and a former criminal attorney who watches too much MTV. Hanging out at the bottom rung of society over the past ten weeks has humbled me deeply. Hearing cop sirens at odd hours or listening to two strippers argue in the hallway is something that I will always remember about Las Vegas.

One last quick Redneck Riviera story. The other day two kids knocked on my door. One kid with a half-mullet said, "I'll take out your trash for a buck."

I pointed at his friend and said, "My man over here will do it for seventy-five cents, right?"

He nodded and stuck out his hand. The first kid with the half-mullet lowballed him.

"I'll do it for fifty cents."

"Deal," I shouted as I handed him a small bag of trash. I love haggling. I felt bad that I was humiliating he kid, so I gave them both fifty cents for being a good sport about it.

On a good note, I won back all the money I lost last week when I hit a jackpot at Mandalay Bay. I had pocket Jacks, flopped a set, and turned quads... in a kill pot too. The jackpot was $190 and the post was a lot more. Nothing could have been cooler than betting out with quads on the turn and getting raised while seeing another player in front of me smooth call. I tipped the dealer $50 too. In the last 8 days, I've collected over $300 in jackpots for hitting quads. That barely puts a dent into my lap dance tab at Crazy Horse Too.

After I won another big pot when I flopped a set with pocket sixes, I hopped in a cab and headed straight for the Mirage. I was technically free rolling in the $10/20 game, and man 1/3 of those players are really bad. After ninety minutes, I managed to lose just one big bet before a smelly guy sat down next to me. I took it as a sign to leave.

The last two nights before I went home, I stopped by Excalibur. I've noticed my favorite chip runner was working both nights. Very nice. I guess it's pretty obvious that I'm not really going to Excalibur for their "double wheel spins" when in fact I'm only going to catch a brief glimpse of the only non-naked woman I've exchanged money with in Las Vegas who I've had erotic day dreams about on multiple instances. Man, what are the chances she reads my poker blog? I wonder how many drunk degenerates hit on her every night?

After a week without pocket aces, I found them on Tuesday night and they held up! The last three times I got aces they all held up, including hit quads at Palms for a jackpot last week. I wish I could say the same thing about pocket Kings and the damn Hilton Sisters. I ran into KK with QQ today and that cost me dearly.

I spent most of the afternoon listening to Jerry Garcia Band and Grateful Dead bootlegs. I wrote this bit called Jerry Day three years ago. Wow! It's been that long? If you are a Deadhead, it's a must read.

Daddy called me in the afternoon and was in shock that it's been 10 years since Jerry Garcia died. Man. 10. Fuckin'. Years. That day seems like yesterday. G-Money, one of Iggy's buddies from Cincy, also called. He's a serious Deadhead as well. I've been to 46 Dead shows, but G-Money has seen over 200 I think, probably more.

I also wrote a few freelance articles. I hope to make an interesting announcement in a few days regarding some freelance work that Lou Krieger found for me. Thanks again Lou for the hook up, and special thanks to Amy for introducing me to Lou! Unfortunately, I could write fifteen freelance articles this week and that still wouldn't cover my lap dance tab for the previous month.

Stay tuned. I'll have some stories about being Grubby's roommate in the next day or so.

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You should be reading... Beer City Poker and Donkey Puncher.