Fear and Loathing

Back Home.

2005-07-19T19:36:00.000-07:00

Finally, with some luck we have made it back to Kansas City. The trip through the San Rafael desert was eventful with my bike threatening to crap out most of the way and a thunderstorm (in the freaking desert) holding us up in Green River. After the drive to Grand Junction the next day we were forced to do a little tinkering on my bike. We found that the lead on the spark plug wire where it plugs into the module was very corroded. After a good cleaning the bike ran strong through the rest of the trip.

So now I'm back home with Sprint telling me they need me to come in soon. It sounds like IBM is finally close to screwing the pooch so there will be a lot of work to do there. That doesn't sound fun at all. Time to search for a new job I guess.

On the way home

2005-07-16T14:56:00.000-07:00

Currently in Richfield, Utah as we wait for the sun to fall so we can make a run across the San Rafael desert. We left Vegas at 3:30 this morning so we could beat the heat out of the desert there. A quick run through Zion national park and here we are. The hope is to get to Grand Junction, CO tonight. That should be an easy ride except that my bike is acting up. Seems like a bit of an electrical problem but its intermittent so I am going to try to push through. Not like I have a choice, there is no Harley dealership in Richfield the one in Grand Junction and Pueblo are closed the next two days. If you don't here from me again I'm probably in the middle of the desert.

Main Event

2005-07-10T16:33:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from the Main Event Pavillion on day one.

Johnny Chan makes his pick for the 2006 Main Event
Chicks dig a guy with a Harley
Sin a Little
Nice assets
AllInPoker
Why is Phils hand on my ass
Can you guess whats blue in this picture
BOMBSHELL
My glasses seem to have gotten nudged out of place
April 2002, Playmate
More girls interested in accounting
She's not wearing heels
I wish I was a microphone
"The price of poker just went up Vince"
Maybe we could go back to Doyles room
I think the poster in my bag says it all
I'm getting eye strain trying to look forward

And done.

2005-06-25T12:14:00.000-07:00

With a field of a little over 2000 runners in wednesdays event I finished right around the midpoint. My inability to win races continued to haunt me in the tournament. I won 2 of the 7 all in situations that I was in even though I was at least a 2-1 favorite in most of them.

Some highlights of the event. Before the event Brad Garret came walking through talking to a friend saying 'Do you feel it baby, do you feel it, are you money'. On the tables around me were seated John Juanda, Jennifer Harmon, Huck Seed and Toby Maguire.

The player sitting to the right of me was an older gentlemen who I recognized as a pro but still have not been able to place his name. We started with two open seats on our table and were off and running. In the first 40 minutes of the tourney I was dealt pocket aces, pocket kings (twice), pocket queens, pocket jacks, and pocket tens. Unfortunately in the first hour of a tournament you get no action so while I won almost all these hands it was for very little money.

After about 30 minutes of play the two missing players sat down at our table. One was Jason Lester and the other was Ben Grundy. Great, a table with 3 pro's that I recognize. Jason Lester busted out an hour later with what I though was a very suspect call with AT against pocket kings. Grundy spewed his chips with some rash aggressive play and the gentleman sitting next to me got screwed when his top pair all-in got called by a gutshot straight draw that came on the turn. Yea, I outlasted all the pro's on my table.

Finally, I took out the small stack at our table with pocket 10's versus his KQs. And made a suspect push against the big stack at the table with pocket 9's when the board came KQ3. He thought a little and decided he had to call me with his J9 of diamonds (flush and gutshot straight draw) and I doubled up to about 4500 in chips. Unfortunately this would be the last bit of luck I had. About 5 hands later I was dealt AQ diamonds under the gun and made a raise to about 3 times the BB (about 300 at that time). I got called in one spot and the flop came Qh 7h 3s. About as good a flop as I could want. I bet out at it for about 500 and the other player moved all in for about 2500. There was a small chance he had flopped a set of sevens or threes here but I figured it was more likely he was making a move with a heart draw so I called him figuring I was a 2-1 favorite. I was right but unfortunately the 5 of hearts fell on the river and I got knocked back down to about 1800 in chips.

I stole some blinds after this but remained pretty much card dead for the 3rd hour. Finally with the blinds at 100-200 and me down to 1100 in chips I was dealt 99 in the small blind. The table maniac made a raise from the cutoff to 600 and I raised to all-in knowing I would be called no matter what his two cards were ( he would be getting over 3-1 on his money to call so he would call here even if he was bluffing with 72o) but I needed to gamble to get back into the tournament. He turned over KQo and the flop came down AJ3. Still alive with a turn card of 5. Then the ten of spades came on the river completing his straight and my tournament life was over a little more than 4 hours after it begin.

All in all, I think I played pretty well. No real bad decisions (that I didn't get away with) and I was always ahead in the all in situations.

Well, I got to get back to the tables to try to earn an entry back into another event. This isn't just all fun and games you know.

First WSOP trip

2005-06-21T21:40:00.000-07:00

Made a trip to the Rio yesterday to take a look around, pay my entry fee, and play a couple of satellites. I didn't even get close in the satellites. Had AKs beat by QJs followed by 99 getting beat by J7o on a board of QTQT5 (counterfeiting my nines). If I remember right I didn't win a race or even a hand in any of the three satellites. I went and played a little 4-8 limit and made back the money for the satellites but the satellites were sure no confidence builder. Hopefully I am saving all my race wins for wednesday.

The one thing I learned yesterday. Clonie Gowen is the HOTTEST woman in poker. EEEEyow. We got about 50 pictures of her playing the pot limit holdem event. I think she was about ready to call security. I also got a picture of Doug playing a satellite against Gary Bush. Doug also has some pictures from the palms where trashywomen.com was doing a promotion. Lots of hot girls in catholic school girl uniforms. We will post these when Doug can pull himself away from the poker table.

Got to see all the big names yesterday. Hellmuth, Lederer, and Seidel look like they would make good power forwards at about 6'5" apiece. The rest of em max out at about 5'5". Greenstein won a bracelet on the final table that was being covered yesterday while he was slowly getting blinded off in the pot limit event.

We start tomorrow at 12:00. I have drawn table 134 seat 10. Right next to the dealer so I can hide my many tells behind him if I have to. Sounds like they are going to have 2000 entrants and pay down to 200. I would guess that makes a prize pool of about 3,000,000 and about 650,000 to first place. I don't know how I'm going to spend that but I will come up with something.

I'm feeling a little cash poor after dropping $1500 on that entry. I figure up until that I was about $1000 ahead for the trip so suddenly I am $500 behind.

Jesus H Christ, We must be a mile from the sun

2005-06-16T13:26:00.000-07:00

The Vegas weather has finally changed into Vegas weather and we are rolling through the 100 degree days. Chrome on your motorcycle handgrips seems like a cool idea until the bike has been sitting out in the sun for about an hour.

It seems the only workout equipment the Gardens has is some sort of pole apparatus and they were all in use, but suprisingly my forearm strength has gotten much better.

I'm still making money and staying slightly ahead of my entertainment costs each day. I seem to start every poker session by losing $100 and then having to spend the rest of the day getting back ahead. Also, my daily bet on the Royals has been money so far, who would'a thunk that.

The gambling has now begun in earnest. I was spending about 3 or 4 hours a day in the poker room and making between $50 and $100 the first week but now I have bumped up to about 8-10 hours a day and I'm making between $20-$50. By the end of this trip I should be there all day and breaking even.

I am registered for WSOP event 22, $1500 No-Limit Hold'em. You should be able to see if I have done anything in the even out on the WSOP web site during play on Wednesday and Thursday.

Wiggy Wiggums in Vegas????

2005-06-10T11:21:00.000-07:00

If it wasn't for the fact that these guys had musical talent I would have though Dinks had made a party run to Vegas. They are a band named 'Wonder Boogie' performing last night after 100 suckers got married in a filmed scene for the movie 'Wedding Crashers'.

Amazingly I'm still about $150 ahead for this trip. Especially amazing since I spent last night sitting next to a cute little asian girl with the tiniest little thong exposed. I think the dealer was getting tired of saying 'Sir, actions to you'.

I'm looking to lose some money this weekend. Apparently the MGM Grand spreads a 3-6 HORSE game. This is a mixed game consisting of Hold'em, Omaha Eight, Razz, Seven Stud, and Seven Stud Eight. I'm good at about 2 of those games so I would expect to be a contributor most of the night but it sounds like a fun time and a good way to gamble off any profits I have up to this point.

With a diet consisting of the occasional midnight 'fried twinkie' or 'fried oreos' I think I may have to make working out a more consistent part of my day. I saw Olympic Gardens down the street. That sounds like a gym. Maybe I'll go there this weekend to pump myself up and get my heart rate going.

Scenes from the road

2005-06-07T09:45:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from the road. Tell me if these links are working, I've had some problems getting them to show properly.

Busy New Mexico Road
Valley on the way to Taos
Road To Taos

Eagles Nest, NM
Eagles Nest, NM 2

Grand Canyon 1
Grand Canyon 2
Grand Canyon 3
Grand Canyon 4
Grand Canyon 5

Vegas

2005-06-04T11:27:00.000-07:00

After 1 day of gambling Doug is up over $200 and I am up about $20. Doug is trying to perfect the art of waking up early and playing all of the people that have been staying up all night. So far that is working pretty well.

We visited the Wynn casino last night and had drinks at one of their outside bars which was being waitressed by (imagine this) two HOT asian girls. We were afraid our waitress was going to pull something with all the motion she had going on when she walked. Here is an avi of her sashaying across the room. Her name was Preska which she said was biblical. After re-reading the bible in the room I realized that Preska was the patron saint of shakin' it. Here is the waterfall_show at the Wynn.

At the Wynn we watched Daniel Negranue and Barry Greenstein playing heads up $4000-$8000 7 card stud with what looked to be $1,000,000 on the table. We then headed over to the Bellagio and watched David Sklansky, David Grey, David Phan, and a couple of others I didn't recognize play 400-800 deuce to seven lowball. I also saw Mimi Tran running around in the poker room. No Evelyn Ng sighting yet.

Finally, Internet Access

2005-06-03T11:19:00.000-07:00

Internet access in the southwest is about as spotty as
Dinks underwear after a trip to Amigos. Here is the day
to day update.

Day 2: Clayton, NM

After a 6 hour rain delay we were back on the road. Our
original goal was to get to Taos but we fell short due
to the delay. Here are some things I learned on this leg
of the trip:

The state troopers who dont work on memorial day are all
assigned to highway 56 the day after. We met 5 on the way
 to the Kansas border. Two signaled us to slow down and
one gave us the message in writing.

Chili rellenos. New favorite mexican food. Chili pepper
stuffed with meat and cheese and then flash fried.

All southwestern Kansas towns look exactly the same.

Day 3: Kayente, AZ - Back on schedule

This was easily the most scenic part of the drive so far.
Winding roads into the mountains and into Taos.

Day 4: Vegas baby, Vegas

A sidetrip through the Grand Canyon then onto Kingman over
the Hoover dam and into Vegas. This was the most nerve
wracking part of this trip. I almost got blown off the road
3 times.

Let the games begin. I believe today will involve a lot of
sitting by the rooftop pool and recuperating. I will start
 donating my money to the locals tomorrow.

Day 2, maybe Great Bend again

2005-05-31T09:32:00.000-07:00

The rain has hit Great Bend and covered the road from here to Dodge City almost exactly. This may set the trip back one day. Damn, I will never have time to lose all my money if I lose a whole day off my Vegas time.

Long ago I learned the value of wearing ear plugs while on a trip on my motorcycle. Not only does it lower the sound of the bike down to about 10db but if you leave them in all night they lower the sound of Doug's snoring to about 15db.

Day 1 - Great Bend, KS

2005-05-30T21:55:00.000-07:00

The original plan was to get to Dodge City today but after a late start we came up about 80 miles short in Great Bend. It was a good day for a ride but occasionally the sun would sneak behind the clouds and the turkeys would be done.

Check out the new link 'Dougs Trip Pictures' for a link to some pictures already up for the trip.

About to begin...

2005-05-29T11:14:00.000-07:00

The trip begins monday afternoon as we start heading out across Kansas. The blogging may be spotty during the trip as I will be doing it from my phone but I will try to get something up everyday.

My attempts to get WSOP Main Event entries out on PokerStars has been consistently foiled by my pocket kings getting busted by whatever hand my opponents holding. I will probably give up on that until we get to Vegas and try to win some satellites there. Also, I have heard the palms runs $100 Single Table tournaments and may try to play some of those.

The current plan is to be in Vegas by thursday or friday and probably collapse by the pool that first day.

I have also located a 24hour fitness close to the hotel so I can try to break even with the buffet tables. If you want to start a pool on my final weight, I weigh 185 now. I would guess 195 or so.

The original lines...

2005-05-26T11:45:00.000-07:00

Here are the original lines from the e-mail. Feel free to add any that I missed.

Odds that:

I make it to Vegas and Back alive 1:1
I get robbed by some biker dudes along the way 3:1
I get robbed by some biker chicks along the way 2:1

I lose all my money and ride my bike back early 1:1
I lose all my money, sell my bike, lose all that
and have to buy a bus ticket 3:1

I End up making money over the 6 week period 2:1
I End up making money but spend it all on
women of questionable virtue 1:1

I make on national tv playing poker 4000:1
I make it on national tv and get caught picking my nose 1:1
I make it on local tv for trying to hire a prostitute 10:1

I win an entry to the Main Event 1000:1
I win an entry and go on to win the main event 66000:1
I talk to any of you losers after that 1000000:1

I get married 20:1
...then divorced 1:1

Using less drugs...

2005-05-23T11:42:00.000-07:00

...then Hunter S. Thompson I will hit vegas after a 3-4 day motorcycle trip starting May 31st. I hope to find an internet connection there so I can keep the blog updated with the day to day of what is going on.