This is Now

Thank God, I have my car back. It's nothing special, mind you, but it's mine. I've been without it for several weeks now due to the need for $1200 in repairs. The thing has taken me everywhere since December of '03 including an 18 hour drive through an ice storm from Myrtle Beach to New York to see Maiden, as well as to Vegas and back. I've splept in it, and I've regained my sanity on numerous occasions while just speeding it along America's highways. It's only a base model Chevy Cavalier, but as I said, it's mine.

I picked her up thursday from the garage on Poinsette Highway in G-vegas. I drove it straight home, grabbed an already packed bag with a few day's worth of clothes and my laptop and off I went. Today is saturday and I haven't been home yet. I've slept in two different hotels in two different states and tonight will most likely be no different. And get this. Next week, I may just drive her back to Vegas to pick up the rest of my stuff from storage. If I do decide to make the 6 day trek, BadBlood will be in vegas from wednesday through sunday and we will definately hit a Steel Panther show.

So, where did I end up on thursday after hitting the road in TheTrooperMobile? I'm glad you asked. I decided to drive up the mountain to Cherokee to hit Harrah's electronic poker room. The state won't allow the casino to have cards, but thanks to the good folks at PokerTek Inc., they now have a poker room. I parked the car and walked directly to the room. I deposited $300 onto my players card and then loaded $100 onto a 1-2 NL table. I immediately began working, watching every player and listening to the things they said. As is my standard, I needed to know who knew who, who was a regular, who was a grinder, who was a dumb redneck gambler, who was up, who was down, etc. The buy-in is $100-$300 and there were stacks from $40 all the way up to $600.

I folded the first 5 or 6 hands and then on my first button I was dealt 77. Now, I bought in for only $100 for several reasons. One of those reason is so I could comfortably make this play. After several limpers, I limped from the button, and then the SB made a pure-silly raise to $6. Then the key to the hand took place. As expected, 4 players called before it got back to me. When the action reached me the first time around, the pot held $9, not nearly enough to try and take. But now, the second time around, the pot was up to $32, and my stack was $96. Had I called and saw the flop 6 ways and flopped my 8-1 set, then yes, I could have gotten a bigger pay-off. But I chose to make the obviously +EV shove and took the pot without a flop. I knew that no one would call, and if they did I was probably flipping at worst and with the dead money in the pot, shoving my small stack to increase it by 33% was by far the best play. I make the same play from early position with AK. I would prefer a raise to $12 and 3 calls so I can steal $48. The point is, I shove and give myself two ways to win the pot. If they all fold, I win. If one doesn't give me credit for a hand and calls, then lets flip with dead money in the pot. In the end, I win either way. That play is not so much about poker, but +EV gambling. There are times when I feel strongly that a guy has a monster and I don't make the play, and therin lies a little poker. But really, it's all about reaching out there and grabbing the free money.

A bit later, the button raised to $7 and I had limped early with 10s7s. I called as did several others. The flop dropped 10c9c7c. The board sucked, but I was in the mood to gamble and make my 2 pair be the winner. I checked and seat 9, who had proven himself inept, bet out $20. Seat 1, who had established himself as a grinder, called and told his buddy to his right that he was stuck in this hand and allowed the guy to peek over and see his cards. I watched this very closely and though I didn't know exactly what he had, I knew by his comment that he was none too happy about the fact that he was "stuck in the hand." I knew he liked the absolute strength of his hand, but I also realised he was affraid of the all important relative strength of his hand due to the suited, 6 way flop. So the action came to me and feeling totally unaffraid of seat 9 calling me, I used my image to demostrate a monster to seat 1. I shoved for $120.

Seat 9 took no time to call off his remaining $80 or so. But next came the moment of truth. The action was back to seat 1 and he appeared stricken with grief over the fact that he may have to fold his made hand. He then said aloud that he flopped a straight, but I knew he was gonna dump it. He was fairly solid and I had just check raised my whole stack and another guy snap-called. I knew that he knew that I hadn't played many hands. After about a minute, his hand was flung into the virtual muck.

The tables automatically turn up the cards when players are all-in and seat 9's cards revealed the Ac and a 9 for a pair and the nut flush draw. This gave him 9 clubs, 3 aces and two 9's to beat me. That's 14 outs which made me about 51%-49%. I faded and all the monies appeared directly in front of me.

A few hands later, the button raised to $10. He seemed to do this on his button frequently. I called from the SB with AQ and we saw the flop 5 ways. The pot was $50 when the flop came JT5. The action checked to the button and he made a dreadful mistake. He bet a measly $10. Why he didn't just announce to the world that he'd missed, I'll never know. So now, knowing that he most likely had shit, I still had 3 players behind me. The pot was $60 and it was $10 to me. Getting 6-1, I decide to call and if anyone else stayed, then I'd decide what to do on the next card. If anyone check-raised behind me, I'd fold, but if they all folded, then it'd just be me and the guy with nothing and the pot would be mine. I could also hit a 10-1 shot with a K for the nut straight.

The best case happened when the other 3 players folded. The turn brought another J to the board and I checked. The button then reiterated his declaration of having missed by betting $15 into the $70 pot. I decided to reveal my fake strength and rasied it up to $45. He called quickly and I figured the guy must have AK or something. The river came a 7 and I led out for $60 into the $160 pot and he frustratedly snap-folded. I win. Gimme all the money.

My stack had grown to about $380. Then I drew in a big pot and missed a straight and then I called off way to much money with top pair and found myself right back where I had begun the session at $100. I was pissed, but I wrote it off to having my head out of the game for too long and I grinded back up to $236 before feeling totally spent. I left the casino and slept in a Days Inn somewhere along I-40 in NC.

I haven't been home since I left early thursday afternoon. I did leave the mountain, but as I type this, I'm sitting in a Starbucks in Ashvelle, NC, on my way back up the mountain. The game is easy there. The players I encountered were not very creative and really didn't seem to know where they were. They basically just played cards. I ran quite a few bluffs in small pots and every single one worked making it known to me that my read is strong. My intention tonight is to pull together all the funds I can for my possible trip next week. I'd love to have a little stake to put in a few sessions in Vegas.

Lately, I have become emotionally exhausted. There's a lot going on in my head and in my heart. What tomorrow will bring, I do not know. But right now, I'm going to try to live tonight, and tonight only. I tend to drive myself crazy at times, I just need to clear my head and go into Harrah's and hurt some people's bankrolls. This is now. This is now.

This is now...

You pulled me up from the dream
Let's compare scars you and I
You are always on my mind
I will never leave you behind