Watch it Glow-Grow-Grow!

Well, Glenn didn't get picked for the drawing. The whole thing seemed to reek of corruption, as it was. Then again, everything at Riverside has always been that way, since opening, according to the stories I've heard.

It was really odd, most of the names drawn weren't there. They probably drew 150 names. Some of them were drawn multiple times, like more than five! Then other names of people who play every day and had a billion entries were never even picked once. A husband/wife duo also were picked, which seemed odd. Relatives of employees were allowed to be picked in the "employee" drawing as well as the player drawing! The first cousin of Don Laughlin was picked for both! Then he went on to win the player drawing tournament. Then someone said he took the cash, which is just insane, because it is 10k less than the retail price of the car! Plus he has to pay taxes immediately.

Like I said, the whole thing seemed fishy, but that is RS, love it or be "invited" up to Don Laughlin's mansion on the mountain to be "shown" his extensive gun collection and hear the 'silence is golden' speech. Don't heed the speech? Well, there are lots of people who haven't been heard of again who were regulars in Laughlin.

But enough of my conspiracy theories. I am just running so well that it's insane. I did have one bad night, on Sunday at Palms. I couldn't do a thing in the tournament. I had the type of table with a lot of passive, calling stations. Any ace, any suited cards, any pair. Half of the table were raisers and re-raisers, the other half were passive, the whole table was loose. Steal attempts were thwarted at every turn. Every pair I was dealt was outdrawn. No suited cards went anywhere. No connected cards, either. Raising was virtually pointless, although I gave it my best try, due to the calling nature of the table. A couple of times I was able to steal with the raise/CB follow-up, but literally just a couple of times in two hours. It was just one of those nights. Nothing worked.

Glenn didn't make the money that time, either, but we are running so well that we didn't even blink. I am 3:4 in the money, Glenn is 2:4, but his two were wins.

The cash games treated me equally bad on Sunday night at Palms. There was a 4/8 HE, which just sucked. The players were passive, mostly, and simply calling with anything and everything. My first hand there was in the BB with pocket queens. Raiser up, 849 callers. Flop, turn and river were low, I think the highest card out was a ten. Bet the whole way, only to be shown a rivered set by a guy who called 44 all the way.

Just a few hands later I had 77, raiser up. Rivered again by a four. Guy had A3o and called all the way for a runner gutshot ;)

And just like that, I was down $100. I moved to a new $200 max buy-in NLHE game. The players were playing approximately correctly, and I couldn't get anything going on. I made about $20, but then put my name back on the 4/8 list.

Glenn busted out and decided to play 4/8 as well. The game was sometimes more aggressive, but mostly very passive. We both lost a ton of money due to not being dealt many suited connectors, suited cards, connecting cards, etc, and when we did, nothing coming of them. I got kings, raiser up, got called by 99, Q7o and a myriad of other hands. 99 flopped a set and raised me right off. Q7 flopped top pair and stayed in. Q7 went for runner full house to beat 99, although she kept betting it even after it was clear she was beat. I got out.

Basically one of those fubar nights where nothing works and one is left scratching his head. No tilt, just eventually got tired and left.

So that brings us back to Monday night (last night) and the Riverside. The players are usually worse at RS. More aggressive, less predictable, but playing so badly that it's usually easy money.

After the so-called drawing, I briefly sat in the O8 game, lost about $19, then moved to the no-max NLHE game that Glenn said was good. I recognized almost everyone. Overly aggressive, play NLHE like it's limit, deep money players. Trickiness never works in this game. Trapping has a better chance, getting in check-raises is a gimme. Caution is very important.

I opened up a bit, but besides Glenn, I was still probably the tightest person at the table.

One of my first hands I played 87o in LP for no raise, flopped a straight, but there was a flush possible. Bet slightly under the pot, was raised by a guy who doesn't have to have anything, smooth called. Turn was another club and he checked it down with me (???) only to show me the queen of clubs. Odd, but that's Laughlin. He is actually a decent player. I guess he figured that if anyone had the king, she would be me, and he thought I might be scared of the ace.

I don't usually tilt, so instead of sulking, I did the lick-my-chops Johnny Moss routine. I knew the table, knew the players, felt the vibe, and got into the zone.

Chips started flying my way. No problemo letting the LAP's take money off of the more passive, timid players, then taking those chips off of the LAP's.

A few people were there from SoCal. Laughlin is a mix of local and mostly local snowbirds, and tourists from California. The Callies like big pots, bit hands, lots of action. Since I have experience playing at Commerce, and since I am used to their style, I just let them blow off their money. I don't pay much heed to the table talk or trash.

One guy tried to represent being a WCP. I didn't buy it from the first. For one, he made some errors that didn't indicate he knew what he was doing, much less what he was talking about. He goofed at one point and talked about a LIMIT 20/40 game with a 2k min buy-in. Right. He also goofed on TDA rules, after claiming all of these big cashes in TDA rule events. He sweated big hands too much, with nothing in the pot. He acted like he was having an aneurysm facing a huge bet or raise with only five big blinds in the pot, lol ;)

I truly love these people, and mostly he was good natured about it. I stacked him once. I had ducks and he let me see a free flop in one of the blinds. I flopped a deuce and check-called. I check-raised the turn for a 150% pot-sized bet, due to a scary turn card (straight possible, flush draw, ace). He moaned and groaned but still called. The flush got there and he decided to try to bluff me out (I think maybe he had two pair, A7, but why was he calling UTG in the first place with that?). The problem was that he had lost so many pots already that he was shallow (bought in for $800) and only had about $150 left. So naturally I called, and he said "good call" and mucked. Rebuy!

The rest of my chips came from well-timed aggression and/or good steals, good flops, good cards, etc. I was never in any danger of losing my chips, even though I only bought in for $300, lol ;)

I forgot how easy NLHE cash games are. It's like free money. No wonder I got so sick of it. But at least it's always entertaining at Riverside, and the players all had great senses of humor and rolled with my sickness (and yeah, I'm so sick).

There is a condom machine in the women's bathroom at RS. Go figure. No tampons or pads for those unlucky young women who still have that burden, but plenty of condoms.

One is a "glow in the dark" condom. I love the slogan. It says, "Turn out the lights and watch it glow-grow-grow!" That is my new catch-phrase and I have to tell everyone I meet about the condom. I wanted to buy one and give it to Glenn as a card protector, but he is too shy to use it in that way! :)

Wuss.

So if I don't update much in the next couple of days (before heading up to Vegas), have a good hearty laugh at my ridiculousness and don't forget to put it on, turn off the lights and watch it...

GLOW-GROW-GROW!

Felicia :)