Casino Arizona err Talking Stick Casino

Cross off another one.  I made it to Talking Stick resort for some poker.  Oddly enough, however, their poker chips say Casino Arizona.  Casino Arizona is a little over 7 miles south of Talking Stick, though.  Apparently only the Talking Stick has poker.  I'm assuming that the two casinos are owned and/or operated by the same entity.



The poker room at Talking Stick is adequate.  Large for a poker room affiliated with a casino that has table games and slots.  47 tables, and a wide variety of games were going while I was there.

I was in Phoenix on business and managed to get an afternoon of poker in before my return flight home and I managed to pick up a dime, after getting stuck a rack.  So that was nice.

Hawaiian Gardens err The Gardens Casino

I finally made it to the newly remodeled Hawaiian Gardens Casino, err, um, The Gardens Casino in um, well, Hawaiian Gardens California.

I have no idea why they changed the name.  I guess so the mailing address didn't look so damn confusing?!?

Nice room, I really liked.  Very large and spacious.  They have a very nice VIP room where the higher limit poker games are spread.  And while I was there they were serving complimentary wine and had a complimentary cheese and charcuterie spread set out for the players along with self-serve bottled water.  Lots of little amenities that were nice.

Plus the floor and dealers were all good for the most part.  Most of the players were reasonably behaved as well, with the exception of a couple of minor outbursts at dealers who made mistakes.

I played the 20/40 and the 12/24 OE 1/2 kill and had a great time.  I'll definitely be back again, next time I am in the Los Angeles area.

Esquire!

I did it!  I passed the California Bar Examination on the first try.  I will very soon be an officially licensed attorney in the great state of California.  I am currently working as a patent litigator at a major law firm in Southern California.

As expected, now that I am back to work full-time, my poker hours will be going down.  But I expect that in between stints of working like a dog, I'll still find some time to sling chips across the felt.

Greatest Mix Lineup Ever!

Labor Day.  A day of rest for some.  For others, not so much, especially those playing in the 20/40 mix game at Oceans-11.

On Sunday evening after the neighborhood block party, I moseyed my way up to the casino.   Visiting San Diego and the casino was on old friend of mine from Las Vegas.  I got into the game around 9:30pm.  The mix game usually starts around 6pm every Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.

I had a great time chatting with my friend and booked a small loss and went home a little after 2am.  I wake up on Monday at a reasonable time, nicely rested.  Since it was a holiday my kids had the day off from school, and I reflexively checked out Oceans-11 on PokerAtlas.  I see that there is a 20/40 mix game going.  I just assumed with the Labor Day crowd they happened to get a game going spontaneously.  I couldn't have been more wrong.

I showed up around 3 pm after having lunch with the family to discover that the game has gone overnight and 3/8 of the game is made up of over-nighters.  These poor souls put in a marathon session, with each being in the game for over 24 hours before they finally quit.  These were the same people I left on Monday morning at 2am remember.  13 hours later, they were still there.  On a holiday.

And then cabbie Dave made an appearance, along with Mac.  For a while, it was the most glorious lineup ever.  I may never get to play in a mix game that good ever again. 

And I actually got to book a reasonable win to top it off!

Potpourri

Added a couple more casinos to my list.  Spent last week in Los Angeles with the family doing various things including Universal Studios.  I managed to sneak out to Hustler and the newly remodeled Bicycle Casino.

 

The newly remodeled Bicycle is very nice.  I remember the first time I was there.  I think it was season 2 of the WPT and I went up to play a satellite tournament.  That was back in 2003, so it's been a while.

While at the Bike I had an opportunity to catch-up with a friend.  He's sort of internet-famous.  He does commentary for live at the Bike sometimes.  He's also a comedian, at least he likes to think he is.  Here's a sampling of his material.  Comment if you'd like.  It would be interesting to see what others think.

In other news, Cabbie Dave made a late appearance last night in the Oceans mix game.  He ran hotter than the sun and cleaned out 3 players.  I made it out unscathed luckily, and won a little.  He's caught on to the games quick, although he still plays too loose and goes too far with his hands.   But on those nights when he's running hotter than the sun, watch out— he always seems to catch exactly what he needs.

We've added pineapple razzdugi into the mix.  This game is great.  Awesome action.  And I got to make #1, #1 against Dave last night.  I had A34569, all suits covered except hearts heading into 7th street.  I bet blind against Dave's board, which if I recall, I had him board locked as the best low he could have was like a 7.

He called and I showed my 6 cards and he asked if I had a badugi.  I answered it depended on my last card.  I sweated it in and revealed the deuce of hearts for the double pee pee scooper.

Fun game.

A new member of the Club!

Welcoming our newest member to the club.  The newest member had a great night at Oceans playing 8/16 and running over everyone at the table.  Wining 100 big bets at a limit game is a great feeling.  At a 9 nine handed table, winning 100 big bets at a 4/8 chip structured game is the equivalent of winning one rack from each player.  It's awesome.  Without further adieu, here's the documentary evidence as required.

 

Peace, Out!

I did it.  I finished law school!  It's been a very long and a very short 994 days.  Graduation Ceremonies aren't until Saturday, but I took my last final this morning.  It's a surreal feeling and I am having trouble expressing exactly how I feel.  I feel happy and emotionally drained for some reason.

Finishing law school is rather anti-climactic anyways.  While I have some down time, I still have this thing called the bar exam to worry about, and that's really the only exam that counts.  Preparation and studying for that exam will begin in earnest in a couple of weeks, but in the mean time, I will try and find something to do to keep myself busy!