July 6, 2004 Archives

I played in a limit Hold 'Em tournament at Mirage. $100 + $30 + $100 add-on. Awful cards - not much I could do. $230 down the drain.

However, I did play with John Coleman, former Good Morning America weatherman and founder of The Weather Channel! Wow.

I got a photo with him so the evening comes out on a positive note.

Later, I sat down at a 'live' poker table and won $80 back. Not so terrible.

Helaine had trouble sleeping and was up (relatively) early. I caught a little bit more, but that was basically 'it' for me. Even if I would have found deep sleep Cousin Michael called, causing the cell phone to buzz across the nightstand.

The five of us met for breakfast, with my folks, at the Caribe Café here at Mirage. Actually, that still leaves 6 from our group that weren't there.

The Caribe Café is a classic Vegas coffee shop. The menu covers everything from breakfast-to-dinner and in between. I decided to have a ham and cheese omelet. True to Las Vegas rules, it looked like a 6 egg omelet. I couldn't finish it.

We traded stories from last night. My folks had gone to Mandalay Bay to see Mama Mia. They loved it - raved about it. Even better, when it was over, Cousin Michael and family were waiting with Michael holding a sign, like a Vegas chauffeur, which said, "FOX." They all cabbed home together.

After breakfast we met up with Steffie and Ali and they headed out to the Fashion Show Mall with my parents in tow. Michael, Melissa and Max split for parts unknown. Meanwhile, Helaine and I headed to the casino. I had last night's loss to avenge.

I sat, first at $3-$6, then at $6-$12 Hold 'Em and proceeded to erase $87 more in losses. It was about this time that a $35 satellite for a bigger tournament was announced. I headed for that table.

Unlike pokerstars online, where you start with $1,500, this tournament started you with $300. That tends to magnify the action and remove some skill, or at least make errors more difficult to overcome.

I say that because I foolishly played a low pair too long, leaving me 'short stacked.' I was never able to recover and had lost my $35 in 32:16 (I timed it). For the day, I'm up $52.

With our big balloon trip scheduled for tomorrow at sunrise, I called to confirm the date. The weather, they say, is iffy. The forecast calls for winds over 10 knots. They'll call at 4:00 AM if it's a go!

Meanwhile, later tonight, David Brenner - now the headliner at a second rate hotel a block or two off the strip.