Jon Eaton and I left Las Vegas at about 3pm yesterday bound for Crystal Bay, NV on the North Shore of Lake Tahoe. The point of the trip is to see Keller Williams at the Crystal Bay Casino, play the Sundays at some sweet location with a view of the lake, maybe play Monday, see Galactic that night at the same place, and then make it home by Saturday so I can fly to Vancouver for the BCPC.

We made it less than two hours out of town before we hit our first detour, and this road trip immediately started taking on the feel of the last great road trip I had been on (The Incredible Journey).

Our detour took us into the ghost town of Rhyolite. This place is about 10 minutes West of Beatty, NV, near the California border, northwest of Death Valley. There was some mine that was booming and then died, and with the dying mine died the town.









So after checking out this place for a while, we drove back to the 95 and stopped at the Stagecoach Casino in Beatty. I played at this Casino in December 2002 when a bunch of us seniors at USC took a Vegas trip that ended up two hours away at my college roomie's hometown. Tiny, tiny, tiny middle of nowhere town. We hope they have a poker game going, they don't, we eat, and when we're done they do. There's two locals and one prop waiting on the table, and as soon as Jon and I sit the game's on. Here's the betting structure: A single $1 blind, 1-2 spread limit pre-flop, 1-5 spread on the flop, 1-6 on the turn, and 1-7 on the river. In other words, every hand that I played was a minimum of $3-$5-$6-$7 :). We had fun, losing a combined $13 I think. That includes tips.



We hopped back on the road and drove north to the town of Tonopah, planning on staying there and goofing off for the rest of the evening. We walked into every place (2) that looked like it was serving booze and neither was somewhere that we wanted to goof off at. We continued north until eventually reaching Hawthrone, NV, and made our residence at the El Capitan "Resort & Casino". We grabbed a beer, played a lil video online poker, and then I decided I wanted to play trainwreck, er, Blackjack. It's a $5-100 table, I buy in for $300, two deck shoe. I cut the shuffle and we start fresh. I bet $15, make a 20, dealer makes blackjack. 2nd hand I bet $10, lose. 3rd I bet $25, lose, 4th I bet $50, double, lose. Aya. Jon walks up, I say, "Well, it's taken me five hands to get up to the table max." I bet $100 and lose. Good shoe. 4 players at the table, 5 hands each, not one player won a hand. Nice cut Devo.

Next shoe, I rebuy for $200, start with a $10 bet, lose. $25, lose and take $10 worth of my neighbor's double down, lose, bet $100 with $205 total, get 44 vs. a 6, split cause I gotta get even, make a 14 and a 13, dealer goes 6J, A.

Stupid game.

So, since we're in the suburbs of Timbuktu, I figure I'm at least getting a room, ask for one, she says no, I say, "Seriously? I just incinerated $500 in 8 hands." They don't do comps. Now, I know that this is BS to a certain extent because if i had earned 30,000 points on my players card (LOL) I coulda gotten a free room, but, whatever. I just won't gamble there anymore. Poker Videos

I lost another $200 in the machines on the way out, and we eventually made it across the street to the saloon, got drunk next to the sheriff on duty, and made it back to the room at about 2:30. I decide this is a great time to play cash games online, and in like my third hand of 10-20 PLO, $2k deep, I get AxAd7x3d and pot to $70, somebody with $600 re-pots to $240 or whatever, the SB who covers me flats, I re-pot to like $960, other guy goes arr-in, SB calls. Flop Jd8x5d. SB ships, I snap obv. Turn Qx, river Kx. We haven't seen cards yet since it's a cash game. I'm pissed cause there is no way I'm winning the pot, but then I get shipped the $2600 side pot and the $1800 main pot goes to the short stack. The hands:

Short stack, JJxx. One suit. Like, rag rag. JJ73 i think.

Big stack, 3456, 2 or 3 to a suit. LOL. LOOOOOOOOOL.

Ended up making a dime in about 45 minutes, and we went to sleep, eager to be waken up in the morning by the front desk wondering when we were leaving.

They did at 11:06, check out at 11, and there was like two cars in the parking lot. I say we're leaving now. Nine minutes later there's a knock on the door saying gtfo, we say we are, and I'm never coming back :).

Drive up was nice, played some gin, had lunch in Carson City, and got up the hill by 2:30. I love Tahoe.



First stop, the club to get tickets for the show. They're sold out. WTF?!?!? We try everything we possibly know of to do, talk to the sound guy, he says I'll see what I can do, and we need to head over there soon to check. We're getting in somehow or another, I mean seriously somebody will sell us their tickets for $100 I'm sure. But still... I was shocked. I didn't even think it was a point to buy tickets this week when I decided I was coming up.

Next on the agenda, find a room. We go to the Biltmore, they have nothing with a balcony, they call the Cal-Neva, and we end up in the sickest Suite on the top floor of the place, with wi-fi and a balcony, and this is going to be my view tomorrow while winning the Sunday Mirrion.





Off to adventure... talk at ya soon.

Peace and good luck,

Devo

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