A Noob's First Blogger Gathering: Getting Closer to the End

I'm sitting here tonight, watching Iron Man, my bags are packed. Friday, I leave for Eh Vegas.

It's also mid March and I haven't finished my Winter Gathering recap. Way to procrastinate, don't you think?

So when we last left off, I tried to describe for you the sights and sounds of the Pinball Hall of Fame. By the responses I received from it, I'm guessing we'd better plan on going again. There are several of you that need to join us. PirateLawyer, we on? I'm in.

When we got back to the IP, I was pretty wiped. I was still feeling the effects of the large quantity of Bud Light I consumed the night before. A brief nap was in order.

After a brief siesta, OhCountess and I decided to head over to the MGM. We were told that traditionally, the blogger mixed game was there. I had also been told by numerous people that the softest cash games in town were at the MGM. Lot's of tourist who've seen the WPT and WSOP on TV there.

The blogger mixed cash game was indeed gonna start there, but I just wasn't feeling like losing money. You see, I suck at mixed games. Sure, I love razz and I did win my seat to the WBCOOP by playing O8, but this was badugi and other games I've just never heard of. I like money and have thus far have been unable to dump it freely.

Instead of joining the mixed game, I opted for a $2/$4 LHE game. I was really in the mood to try to make a few dollars. I might enjoy grinding out here for a while. Besides, I was still feeling pretty messed up from the night before.

There really wasn't much skill at this table. Several of the people were from the Midwest, not too far from where I live. One of the guys even gambled at Diamond Joes occasionally. But, for the most part, everyone just called anything just to see the flop. A few of them even went broke, just calling. I remember thinking it seemed to be like a blackjack game. Everyone would see cards.

I just wasn't feeling it though. I ground my stack into a litte pile, but just kept making rookie mistakes. The Wife was over at one of the other $2/$4 tables, she was stopping by but it didn't help. The final straw was me dropping about $40 on one hand. I had this sucker. He flopped the straight and I turned the nuts, the king high flush. When we got to the river and it was time to turn our cards over, he did indeed have the straight and I was indeed king high. Only the 2nd diamond was really a heart. I was making too many mistakes.

For my efforts and 4 hours of play, I was only down $20. Pretty amazing if you ask me. My brain just wasn't into it.

I could see the blogger mixed game from my table. It was quite the raucous event...and it looked like fun. Our dealers had even been talking about the mixed game. Seems they couldn't figure out why A) they had two tables of it and B) why they were both full of drunkard. Good times. I gotta join this game, it looked like way more fun the my table of tourists.

It wasn't nearly as late as Thursday night, which was good. I think I could have fallen asleep on the monorail on the ride home if I didn't value my wife and my life. Muhctim was with us. A pleasant conversation made sure I didn't fall asleep. Good thing too, OhCountess was zonked in my arms.

The next day we had plans. In the morning, Gracie and Sweet Sweet Pablo were getting married. For my wife and I, this was gonna be our first Las Vegas wedding. I was looking forward to seeing this group of bloggers in action. I've always been amazed at how these seemingly random people get together as what only can be described as a family. Dysfunctional at times, but when there is something big, the family pulls together.

This wedding was pulling this family together for something beautiful and of course then we were going to the big, private blogger tournament at the Venetian. Should be yet another full day.

But I guess, more on that later. It's getting late, the Riverchasers is only half done, but I'm exhausted. You parents out there will recognize that this is bedtime transition time. Never good. I'm also trying to store up some sleep since I'm pretty sure that's not gonna be a big priority this weekend. That's why we fly right?

By the way, Iron Man? That was a great movie! I can't wait for the sequel. Thank you Netflix! It won't be long and I might just feel sort of caught up.