Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Presidents and small winnings

When I went south to go to the casino as mentioned in the last post, I thought "what the heck" and passed through a currency exchange and got US$1000 in cash. Way ahead of time but I want to get my travel kit in order. Already I have a bag where I gather all things needed for my trip to the WSOP Main Event. Passport, papers (reservations, contracts, info, numbers, plans), power adapter, diverse security/safety items, and now a wad of pieces of paper with dead presidents on them. I particularly like the Franklins. It's all about the Benjamins, baby.

So now I have $1001.26 at home. The bills plus two halfdollars, a quarter and a penny from a coin collection. The halfdollars are one JFK and one Liberty Bell, the JFK one is my lucky coin for use in poker games as a token in my pocket or as card protector.

I had hit a downward slump at Partypoker, never making it big and seeing my bankroll slowly dwindle. Finally won (1st place) a SnG the day before yesterday and hope to turn upwards now.

Got a bit stressful yesterday. It seemed like our regular biweekly homegame wouldn't happen since people were busy and we would be only three then, so I got in a cheap SnG at Partypoker. When we were four left J called and said the homegame was on, so I got super aggressive in the SnG (but didn't want to pish it away either) and whaddya know, I knock one player out, so I won't leave empty handed at least. All in with any hit and actually win some but out at third place.

The homegame: Four players, four rebuys (one each). We're getting really evenly matched now. Second place, almost gave it away because we had been grinding heads up for nearly half an hour, it was nearing midnight (started late) and those of us who weren't at home already wanted to go home.

I've got such a yearning to go to Las Vegas! And I will, it's all been arranged now, but it's three point nine months left. Whoa, it is getting close. Almost within my reach. But I'm getting paranoid; I keep imagining situations where I walk up to the airline counter and get "Oh, that flight has been postponed two days." or "Certainly sir, one return trip to Kuala Lumpur coming rrright up!". Or at the hotel desk "There is no reservation under the name Huykenschmitt.". Or at the WSOP registration at the Rio "As per regulation C, paragraph 15, since you entered the country less than 72 hours ago and are a pre-registered European player in casual clothes, you are not eligible for play.".

Almost daily I browse the web, reading travelogues, reviews, tips. Look at Vegas in Google Earth. I even look at traffic cams! What's with all the (white) Ford F150s? And it warms my heart to see all the lights on and limos passing by. At 5-6AM Vegas Time on a weekday.

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