Vegas

Random observations:

So here's the odd thing about Las Vegas. (Yes, the only odd thing.) It doesn't feel like a city. It just...doesn't. And after wandering around the Strip, wondering why there weren't "You Are Here" signs all over the damn place, I realized what it does feel like: a giant amusement park for adults. Everyone you see is there to entertain or be entertained. Like nobody comes here to live; just to consume. That's not necessarily bad; but it is, certainly, weird.

It also occurred to me that the ostentation and variety and spectacle of the big casinos: The Bellagio, Caesar's Palace, The Paris, etc., etc., is there to disguise their essential sameness. And once you get off Las Vegas Boulevard, this town is ugly: nothing but strip malls, cheap apartments, and Levittowns.

105+ degrees Fahrenheit is so hot that your skin hurts.

At some gas stations, as you fill up, you can pass the time by ducking inside for a round or two of video poker.

Speaking of which, I noted a sign that offered 100.8% VIDEO POKER! Huh?

Also, a sign exhorting us to remember 9/11...sponsored by local morticians. My brother's response: "Yeah, that's totally tasteless. It should have been sponsored by crematoriums."

I played in my first live tournament today, a $40 buy-in with about 40 players, but crapped out early when my queens were outdrawn by sixes. Gnurgh. I'll play in another couple of similar events tomorrow morning. The Paris has small no-limit tournaments every two hours. Word.."

There is a large Filipino population in Vegas, such that there are storefronts that don't bother translating the Tagalog they display into English. After tooling around in a Filipino grocery, I decided to bring home a particularly choice snack to brandish at Boston folks...but I decided to stick with something vaguely edible, and not pick up the "Headless Ching-Chang Anchovies with Sesame" -- imagine honey sticks coated with sesame, only with, well, headless anchovies instead of honey.

Fall from Grace

One of the chapters in Barbara Tuchman’s The Proud Tower: A Portrait of the World Before the War, focuses on the political and social turmoil surrounding the United States’ first foray into Imperialism: the Spanish-American War and the resultant annexation of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines.

Many, both home and abroad, were distraught by America’s eagerness to throw away the principles on which it was founded and happily join the game of exploitation played by the decadent, reactionary, damned powers of Europe. People all over the world lamented the loss of their beacon of hope, its transformation from a new kind of nation into just another power-hungry state for whom liberty and sovereignty for others were annoyances to be discarded when inconvenient.

But the real tragedy escaped me until I was eating breakfast in a café[FN 1] in which one wall displays a small shrine to John Wayne, while on the opposite hang homages to the Native American.

No, the real tragedy was that America had already fallen from grace decades before; and nobody noticed. America represented the (Western) world's dream of a new kind of state uncorrupted by imperialism, whose aim was peace and justice for all; but the focus of their optimism had long ago announced that power corrupts even those with the noblest of beginnings, the highest of intentions.

Anyhow, just wanted to post this while I 1) was thinking about it and 2) had wireless access. (Our hotel has WiFi; back in Utah my brother's computer can piggyback on a local network but mine can't find the signal.)
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(1)The Bear Claw in St. George, Utah, which serves perhaps the best breakfast I have had. Ever.

Tournament #2

$60 buy-in tournament, about 30 players, starting with 2000 in chips. Long story short, with five players left and four paying places, we decided to chop the pot. As chip leader, I walked away with the most money...and an IRS form. Ah, well.

I only had to lay down one horrendous beat, when my TT drew out against JJ. Other than that, I felt I played very well. Some notable hands:

Blinds: 25/50. QQ in middle position, all the players on my right fold to me. I raise to 200. 1 caller to my left, another out of the blinds. Flop: J98, rainbow. I bet 600, the player to my left calls, the blind folds. I put him on a straight draw. Fourth street: 5. I check. He checks. River: 7. Any ten can beat me. But the pot is big enough that my only options are to check and fold or go all-in, and about 1/3 of my chips already in the pot. I go all-in. He folds. Whew.

Blinds: 100/200. Fold to me with KQ in middle position. I try to raise, but do it improperly -- the new dealer is strict about the rules where the previous one was not. So I end up having to call. The SB and BB call/check. Flop: AT8, all hearts, of which I have none. SB and BB check to me. After my aborted attempt to raise before the flop, I figure I still have respect, and make a continuation bet the size of the pot. SB and BB fold. Yay.

Blinds: 200/400. In the BB with J4 and two callers. Flop: JJJ. Holy crap. SB checks, I check, 1st checks. Turn: 5. SB bets 1000. I'm doing cartwheels inside as I try to call in such a way that indicates I don't believe him, or maybe I have an Ax. I'm hoping he has a 5. The other player folds. Turn: K. Now I'm hoping he's holding a King, but instead he checks. I bet 1000, he calls, and life is good.

Blinds: 1000/2000, 6 players left. I'm in the BB with J9s. Fold to the SB, who goes all-in with his last 5500, and it's 3500 for me to call. As long as he has a pair under TT, and I'm not dominated (which is less likely the worse cards you hold) I'm getting the right pot odds to play, and I have him covered. I call, and he turns over 66, and I'm getting even better odds that I hoped for. I draw out on him, making two pair, and am happy indeed.

As soon as we were one place away from the money, I got more aggressive, figuring the other players would just try to stick around. Stealing blinds with crap like, J8, 86, T8s is very satisfying. One guy kept calling for us to chop the pot; as my chips grew, and no-limit Hold 'Em being what it is, I was happy to walk away with a good profit and the most money.

Some poor schmoe who was probably chip leader busted out with two consecutive horrendous beats; he's the guy who I drew out against with TT vs. JJ, and on the very next hand, he was in the lead KJ vs. QJ, and the flop comes out T98. Ouch.

Final tidbits regarding Vegas

Inside a casino, there's nowhere to sit that isn't in front of a slot machine, table game, or bar.

Oddly enough, The Bellagio featured an Ansel Adams Exhibition. However, admission was about $20 for a look at maybe 15 photographs. Ah.

At lunch at Noodles in The Bellagio, John Juanda was sitting a couple of tables over. That was kinda cool.