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#21
07-24-2007, 09:55 AM
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Re: LLNL in Los Angeles
I'll do a little TR about my first foray into LA poker.
A good friend of mine wanted to get out of town for a while, so I took a couple days off work and took a 4-day weekend for a jaunt down to LA. We really didn't have a plan, but I intended to hit a poker room while down there. We decided to take the Pacific Caost Highway, aka Highway 1, all the way down. We got a beautiful day and the trip down was simply gorgeous. California is a beautiful state. My friend actually helped me get into poker by letting me play on the Texas Holdem simulator he had, and by inviting me to his Silicon Valley homegame (that I never made it to), but that was years ago and I had no idea of his interest now. I felt him out on the way down, and he politely declined the invitation to join, and even when I mentioned they had games as low as $40, he said he'd just lose it. I figured my response would be the same if he was trying to get me to play a -EV game, so I let it go. After dinner in Santa Barbara we finally landed in Anaheim, found a hotel within walking distance of Disneyland, and crashed out. We were up early Friday morning, and the plan was empty stomach drinking - to be drunk before we eat. All was not to go according to plan however. We rode Space Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, all the while scoping every stand and restaurant for booze, but we couldn't find any! Our stomachs won out and got fed first, but we wised up and realized there was no alcohol at Disneyland, so we headed over to California Adventure next door where they told us there was alcohol. Better yet, we stop at a mexican restaurant on the way, and 2 pitchers of margaritas, 4 beers, and 1 gin and tonic later we're stumbling into California Adventure. We find, much to our surprise the best roller-coaster at Disney there, and promptly ride it 3 times back to back. More margaritas, more beer, and to be honest the rest is a blur, but I'm quite sure we rode every roller-coaster at the 2 parks and never yacked. We catch some fancy multi-media light show, and the fireworks, and stumble back to the hotel for some much needed rest. We sleep in a little bit and head up north on the 5 to get out of the OC and into LA proper. I have my friend drop me off at Commerce on the way, and he heads off to "explore the neighborhood". Meh, he's an enterprising sort, he'll figure it out. Commerce is a great place to play cards. The room is huge and spacious, with high ceilings and excellent lighting. There's multiple brushes, and it takes me a few tries to find the one handling the $100 NL game, but once I do there's open seating and I plop down in seat 4 at table 25. The chip runners are kinda inefficient and slow, but the dealers seemed competent enough. Chips on table 25! And I'm in the game. So, my second hand at the table I'm UTG+1 and I look down at AJs and raise to $10. Old guy in MP calls and young asian in the blinds re-raises to $35. I'm thinking about it, decide I have at least 1 overcard, and decide to gambool. Feeling good I push my stack into the middle and say "all in." MP insta-calls, followed just as quickly by the BB, and I don't feel so good any more. MP flips QQ and BB flips AK and I'm basically drawing dead. Chips on table 25! On the next orbit I find KK in MP, and raise 3 limpers to $20, and we see the flop 5 ways. K[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]8[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]5[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] and EP player shoves, and his flushdraw hits. Chips on table 25! The BB comes around to me and I find AKo, I raise it up and see the flop against 2 other players. Flop comes AKQ and EP player has JTo. Chips on table 25! I've been sitting at the table 20 minutes and have already dropped 3 buyins. WTG me. Somewhere in here my friend texts me saying he's in Long Beach and to give him 40 minutes lead time when I want to go. I fold for a while, decide today isn't my day, and step outside to have a cigarette and ring my friend. "Yeah, you can get me anytime." I'm up and down for the next hour and leave down $365 in two hours. I tell my friend that I broke even. We check out the LA Museum of Contemporary Art, the Santa Monica Pier, hit a couple spots in Hollywood, swing through the Beverly Center, catch a movie at The Grove, and hit the road. We crash out at a Ramada on the Grape Vine, sleep in 'til noon, and bomb up I5 Sunday afternoon. Despite the sheer natural beauty of the PCH coming down, I gotta say I5 going home was the most fun part of the trip. My friend is an amateur race driver and has a 300hp sports car, and, not getting into specifics, we averaged about 95mph on the trip home. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] Romantic dinner with the wife that night, and its back to the grind Monday morning. For the record, I've never had a winning session my first time in any room, and my streak remains intact. I'll be back in December to dump chips at the Hustler. 
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