October 24, 2005 Archives

Years ago, on a trip to Vegas, you might claim to have seen Sammy, Frank or Dean. Or, maybe you stumbled across Elvis while getting middle of the night sandwiches.

Not me.

Tonight we went to have the buffet at Belagio. While the gang waited in line, I snuck over to the poker room (much, much, larger than when I was last here) and spied Jennifer Harmon in one of the two 'private' rooms, playing Hold 'Em.

If you don't know who Jennifer is, don't worry. If you do, you'll be glad to know she looked her normal harried, worried self. I was unable to see the size of the stack in front of her.

Helaine and I were asleep when the phone rang at 6:30 AM PDT. It was my friend Wendie, who lives and works in the Miami area.

Wendie left her house early Sunday evening and headed to a hotel. She expected her family would join her, though they never did. Everyone has checked in and is OK.

As someone who's been through her share of hurricanes, Wendie has the proper perspective to make a qualitative comparative judgment. Wilma was the worst.

Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. Certainly, after years of being battered, each succeeding storm leaves you somewhat worse for wear. There's no doubt Wendie was terrorized by Hurricane Wilma.

Reports from her neighbors tell her she has lost her porch. There might be more structural damage, but there's no way to know right now.

Ask me how glad I am we made sure my parents got out early? Ask me how happy my parents are?

They've already been on the phone with neighbors who tell them there's no power (same with Wendie) and many trees are down. One neighbor had a tree hit her window.

We had a family breakfast this morning. Then, while my parents and cousins went to look at the animals in the Secret Garden behind the Mirage, I went to play poker.

All that was open was $3-$6. That's what I used to play, so I sat down. I was in for a rude awakening.

I should have known early on when I caught a good card on the flop. I bet and EVERYONE called - everyone! C'mon, they couldn't all have good cards.

I lost one big pot when another player caught a flush on his J-4 clubs. Nothing wrong with that, except he went in to see the flop with those two miserable cards even after there had been a bet!

It's tough to think of worse cards, but he was here to play, not sit.

Bottom line, I gave back $120 and it was painful doing that.

We're going to drop off Cousin Max (flying home to Orange County) and pick up the rental car in a little while. I'll write later.