T Minus 20 and counting

Those of you who grew up in the 60s like I did (or gasp, those of you who were already grown then) probably remember the countdowns for the Apollo rocket launches.  As it went along they would announce "T minus 20 minutes and counting" all the way down to T minus 10 seconds then they would count it down from there.  Of course those rocket launches were a big thing back in then and all 3 networks carried the launches live.  Of course there were often delays and I remember whenever there was a delay and they would break to the newsroom and Walter Cronkite would come on with that deep voice and say  "Well the launch has been held at T minus 22 minutes and 20 seconds and we're waiting for word from NASA on when the countdown will continue or if it will be scrubbed".

Here in the Neophyte household the launch is at T minus 20 days, 3 hours etc.  It's getting closer and closer and I find it harder and harder to contain my excitement.  Unlike some people who can pick up and go to Vegas for the weekend on a whim or have a job that actually involves going to Vegas and telling stories about all the boobs he sees, Vegas to me and the PQ still holds mystery and excitement and the closer our trip gets, the more excited we are.  We have plans to see and do a lot outside of Vegas as well this time.  Though I'm not sure how much we will do when daytime temps average 110.  Still it's a dry heat I hear.

Friday night the PQ had determined we were going to take on the Hard Rock again so that she could beat down play some Video Poker.  I went along to but my budget precluded playing a lot of VP.  So I figured I would lose a few bucks on the machines then make my way to the poker room.  But instead I managed to hit quad kings early on and broke even on the VP before walking down the long hallway to the new poker room they put in.  Was second on the list for the 3-6 limit Omaha 8 and got seated in about 5 minutes.  Kind of a strange table.  One new guy was really a wild card.  He seemed to have never played the game live before and was also raising a lot of hands.  A couple of times he didn't understand about having to play 2 cards from his hand and 3 on the board and how he needed 3 unpaired cards under 8 on the board to make a low.  Still he hit some big pots too.  I'd made a few dollars on a couple of hands but nothing much, maybe 20 bucks then tangled with him in a big pot.  Cost me a chunk of my buyin when he raised preflop (with A368) and then pushed the pot all the way to the river.  Flop was 689 with 2 spades.   I'm on AJ102 with the AJ of spades.  Flush draw, open ended straight draw,  and nut low draw.  Turn is a red king, river another 6 and he scoops it.  I knew if I hung around he'd give it back and hopefully I could score some hands so he gives it back to me.  I was right in both respects though I didn't get as much as I had hoped from him. 

A little while later I was down about half my buyin when I picked up AKQ6 with AK of hearts in the big blind.  Not a great hand but I'm already in the hand.  Of course my buddy across the table throws in a raise so now its another bet to stay in but I call as about 4 others are in the hand.  Flop is 6-6-3.  Not bad now that I'm sitting on trip 6s.  I check and guy on my left bets out.  I immediately figured him for 6-3 or 3-3.  My nemesis raises.  I'm not sure what he has as he has shown all kinds of hands but I don't put him on 6-3 or 3-3.   Guy to my right calls as do I but the guy on my left raises again and my nemesis caps it.  Now I'm getting a little concerned.  But I feel much better when the turn is a queen.  Now my only concern is if someone had QQ in his hand and I didn't think that was the case.  I checked, the guy to my left bet out for 6,  my nemesis raised to 12, and guy to my right called while I bounced it up to 18.  Guy to my left was unhappy when I did that but he called.  My nemesis caps it again and we all call.  River is an 8 which puts a low on the board.  I would have preferred another queen and a scoop of the whole thing but it still wasn't bad.  I bet for 6, call, then my nemesis raises to 12.  Guy to my right calls, I put in my last 3 dollars to call hoping the guy didn't play something with 88 which I'm half expecting now.  Guy to my left calls and shows 6-3 as I expected.  My nemesis and the guy on my right both show A2 for the nut low and I take down the high side of the pot with my 6s full of queens.  Even though it was only half the pot I got over $150 pushed to me which took me from 50 down to 50 up in one hand. 

Wasn't too much memorable after that.  I had one weird hand, I was in the small blind and it was unraised to me.  I was gonna chuck the hand as I had a garbage 5-7-9-10 hand but 5 people had already called so for 2 bucks I figured why not.  Flop is 5-6-8.   Can you say bingo.  There is betting going on all over and I'm raising every level.  Kid sitting just on my right keeps betting and I keep raising him up.  Turn is a 3 and river is a king.  The way the betting is going I'm thinking I might have the high hand and 3 people are splitting the low hand but it turns out another guy played 7-9 (what a donk) and 2 of us got the high while the other 2 got the low.  Made about 4 bucks on the hand.  I took down a few smallish pots and by the time I left I was up 80 over my 100 buyin.  So it was a good night all in all.  The PQ did not do so well as she was not able to hit anything big on the video poker.   We played a little more after I finished but neither of us hit much.  Did catch a nice late meal at IHOP on the way home at least.  The PQ was quite disappointed in her results but even she can't win every time.  Besides she needs to save some luck for Vegas

Outside of the poker I did have a very nice massage on Saturday.  Did a little shopping as I needed some new tennis shoes.  And I refuse to spend 55-60 bucks for them.  Then I found a nice pair of Avia's on sale for 35 and jumped on those.  So it was a win win weekend all in all.  Didn't do much else this weekend but did do some searching for poker tourneys in Vegas and also planned out a little more what we would do.  It looks like we're gonna hit Zion and maybe go to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.  Anyone been over there or are you all too busy playing poker? By the way it's now T minus 18 days and 22 hours.  But whose counting?