"Victory Casino"

It has been awhile since I posted. We have been traveling across the US. Our first stop was Memphis. There was a poker room across the street from our hotel and Binion's was just 14 miles away. I resisted and did not play. Next stop was St. Louis. I had played at the Ameristar in the past. Once again I resisted the urge to play. Next stop Chicago. No casinos in Chicago area that I was aware if, but did manage to catch a Cubs game. Note I did have wireless access and played on-line at every Hampton Inn. Final destination was Boyne Falls Michigan. There was a casino 12 miles from the resort. I set out Tuesday night to play poker. I arrived and put my name on the $1-2 NL Holdem table. I only had the minimum bankroll. As I was waiting to be seated I saw the dealer take chips from every player and make an announcement. I asked someone what was going on. It turned out that they were taking their rake. I immediately thought $5 every thirty minutes was steep, especially for a conservative player with a tiny bankroll. I opted to take my name of the list. I went to the sports bar and watched the Yankee -vs red Sox game with a couple of cold beers. I thought the rake was unreasonable, but it could have just been the way it was done. Any thoughts from my two readers would be appreciated.

I still wanted to play poker and the next casino was an hour away. I had enough driving to do so I opted against the adventure. The next best thing was a freeroll at a bar in Petosky Michigan. I arrived and downed a Guinness as I got the scoop. The game was upstairs and the players were fighting for a chance to play in the Michigan regional tournament. Win the regional and you get a trip to the WSOP 2007. Since I was not there for the points I basically was playing for fun. They were a nice group. Toby greated me and made me feel comfortable. He bought me a Pabst Blue Ribbon. I had not had a Pabst in 20+ years. The part I liked most is Pabst bottles have a poker card under the cap. If you guess the card correctly you get a free beer.

I got seated at a table with Toby who had already secured his spot in the regional. I was not getting very good cards. One hand I had KQo. The flop came AQ7 rainbow. I made a modest bet. Toby raised. I called. The turn was uneventful but I just checked. Toby made it $150. I did not put him on an ace so I called. I do not recall the river but Toby bet out again. I still did not feel he had the ace. I thought about it for quite awhile which is unusual for me. Usually I am quick to react. I decided I had the best hand, but I did not raise. I was not ready to go home. Turned out I had a great read on him and significantly increase me stack. I made it to the final table, but I was getting short stacked. I decided to go all-in with AJs. I got two callers, AQo and K8s. Of course the K8 caught the flush and I was eliminated 7th. I need to look up the name of the bar, but I must say they were very hospitable and I had a great time. Cheers to the Petosky poker players and best of luck at the regional.

One side note I did not play this but they did have a cool bar poker game where players had remotes and played on the TVs located in the bar. We need that in Austin. Also Cheers to Toby for making me feel part of the group and buying me a tequila shot. The shot seemed watered down, but hey who can knock the generosity.

I just doinked my entire bankroll on Pitbull poker going all-in with pocket jacks. I was up against pocket queens. I still have my Pokerstars bankroll and hope to get back into some freerolls.

Before I conclude I must share a funny story. My boss went to pick up some lunch today. he game back to the office with his adrenaline pumping. "You will not believe what I just found." When he got into his truck he saw a tuft of hair stuck to his front bumper. I popped open the hood to see a hariy thing caught in the fender well. He pounded on the hood and saw two beady eyes. It was a racoon. i suggested we take a stick and go try to prod him out of the engine. My boss was still astonished that this creature survived the 90 mph trip into the office. As we poked with a yard stick we realized there were two racoons. We decided to leave the hood up and perhaps they would work their way out and escape. After about an hour I saw one of the racoons on the engine. My boss started sounding the car alarm to scare it away. All he managed to do was scare it back into the engine and get others interested. After another inspection there were not two racoons, but three. Around 3:00 PM today all three managed to venture out and make it to the ground. My boss ran down the stairs and moved his truck. The mystery question is what vehicle did they choose next. I thought it was hilarious. They were so cute! :o)

Anyway we had a great time in Michigan. I definitely plan to go back to Memphis and play poker at Binions.

Play on!