Your typical Vegas trip.....

And here we go again....yet another Vegas trip, and yet another Greyhound death ride.....Wed, Brea, 12:30pm....Aneheim...Riverside...Downtown Vegas 8pm..It's summer time, Vegas on a Wed night is packed. Every trashy tourist from Tennessee and Arkansas is in Downtown now. I take the Ace bus that does not require a ticket to enter and is fast, but of course after about 10 minutes, the inspector comes on, I get kicked off. So lucky I was not fined $100. I am so ghetto.
10:30..I finally make it to Aria where Brian and Habib are at the bar reminiscing of old times over single malted scotch and Cigars. Macallans and Arturo Fuente Hemingway Short Story Cigars. I don't remember the last time all three of us were in Vegas together. So then we take to the dice table, $25 min, they get 4 chips. what do you do with 4 chips except win right away? Habib yells, 'I don't know what I am doing!', throws $50 on hard 10 and 8, and immediately hits a hard 10. Brian had about $75 on it too. The night hit a sweet spot, and then we laughed, coughed, and drank into the night....

Thurs. Not know I had a fever, I googled symptoms hot flashes and insomnia, and kept getting the result for menopause. Habib leaves at 8am and sees me on the couch sleeping. Comes back at noon and sees me still sleeping. Finally he comes back at 5pm, and sees me sleeping. He laughs and thinks it's funny I was sleeping all day. Little does he know I ate, and then returned to bed. A couple of Tom Yam Ka Chicken soups, and we are new men. This begun my night of PLO. Pot limit omaha. $1-3, however I kept remember it always be $15 to see a flop. My money seemed to vanish.

Fri - Moses insist on showing what he thinks is the best pizza place at Cosmopolitan. Now the place is a secret. Looks like an entrance to restroom. So I would mention the name of the place, but there is none. It's just on the 3rd floor of the Cosmo. Inside is a small pizza joint like so many others in NY selling by the slice. Not bad, cool idea, but not to die for. Another crazy PLO secession for me. I sit at 2:30 am, by 6am I have recovered all losses and am up $200. I put a $25 chip in my hand and was about to head to sportsbook to bet something and call it a night when I get dealt AA2J double suited. The tightest guy on the table raises, pretty much indicating a similar AA or KK type hand. I decide to keep the pot low and call. 3 players, flop come 5 3 3 diamonds. Tight guy bets out $50. I put him on big pair, thinking he has the best hand with no one behind him having a 3. I got AA, nut flush draw and gutter wheel draws. I call, heads up. Turn come 4 to make me a wheel. Tight dude bet $150. Now at this point I thought he could have a 3, certaintly not 55 which he would not raise on, and his 3 was no good. So I called. River brick and he continues with $100 bet. I have no choice and make a crying call with so much in the pot. Idiot turns over KK 35 for the house. I was right and wrong at the same time. I was already standing to walk away before I was dealt this hand, now I am stuck and sit back down.......3pm, I down a bit and need rest. I will stay away now from PLO.

7pm, yeh, not much sleep, but what can I do. Nothing our whirlpool bathtub could not fix. Back to grind, back to $1-3 Holdem. After about an hour, I flop a set and have 2 guys go all on me. Sucks to be them. Felted! not me of course. 10:30pm Habib grabs me for dinner with his former Swiss model companion Carla. I suggest a quick taco, she suggest not so quick Italian. Upstairs to . After listening to Carla/Anti-american show, we enjoyed a terrific meal. This is one of the types of resturants where only hot women are at. That means the food is good, and this place was no exeption. I had the MAIALINO IN TRE MODI Pork Three Ways: Roasted Tenderloin in Prosciutto, Pig Croquette, Pork-Filled Ravioli.

Sunday. This means Nightswim at XS. XS is toted as being the best club in the world. Every dresses, lines up, and pays through the nose. Not Sunday though. Some people like myself show up wearing shorts, a t-shirt, and a tennis shoes. Admission for locals is free. No line when I get there at 2am but still going off. I put myself in a intertube and float around for an hour surrounded by beauties in the pool and on the dance floor while enjoying the music and perfect summer sky. I just can't help thinking that there is no where else I would rather be. .

5am. I get back to the grind. There are two baller poker players playing $1-3. They are drunk and have been partying and try to make every pre-flop $45. Not the ideal game for novice, but I like it. They had unlimited bills in their pockets. One of the ballers is Mike "umpa21" Ziemba. Only

342 players in the world to have earned PokerStars Supernova Elite status, and he's one of them. Playing that amount of hands is sick. 24 Screens he does. I double up with JJ once with the other guy Jonas and then one hand I flopped a set, played it small, then checked the river which he read for weakness and with $50 in the pot, Jonas bet $180 making it hard for me to call. Of course I called. Once he opened the pot for $450 under the gun with nothing and got called by QQ. Pot of the night, Jonas opened as usual for $45, 3 player behind him called. his Turn bet was $280, and 3 players behind him shoved. Umpa21 makes a straight flush on the river..They leave, the game is no good. 10am...bedtime.

Monday. Not sure I why decided to drink and play, but I did. Maybe cause Lynn Gilmartin was at my table and I asked what was her colorful drink. 'Toasted Almond', she replied in her Aussie voice. (1 1/2 oz amaretto, 1 1/2 oz Kahlua, 1 oz cream) So I tried one. Also I thought we were going dancing and I was killing time. Oddly enough it was working well and I kept stacking people. Once with AA, then other times with Aces up resulting in a double KO. Then I made a a chin rest, but actually with was a drink rest which made for ease of drinking of my double Kettles. Habib found this funny. Other party people flaked so 3am alone I make my way to Marquee next door. No line, no cover and right away I find my way at a craps table. And I do the usual bet on don't come, wait for 10, then lay the farm odds with the hard 10 bet too. 8 mins later, 7 out, and instant coinage. Nobody goes to a club and makes money. Marquee is great and a must do. Terrific rooftop pool, and awsome DJs. Of course back to the secret pizza upstairs.

One more go at cards.....found about 3 people happy to donate to my cause and call it a night at 7am. The alarm is set for 10:30am. .......bus to downtown....bus to LA.

Of course the bus stops running in Barstow. We wait about 4 hours. I decide to walk around the town uphill in 100 degree weather. I can't always be smart.

10pm home....another trip in the books, and blog to complete.......