This was the day! Flynn awoke excited, as this very evening Ollie was arriving in town. While Flynn is an independent avian, it is much better to have his best-friend with him to share in their adventures.
Full of hope and a positive outlook, Flynn hit the Bellagio. The conservatory is under re-do, and the process is extensive. Apparently the crew started this on a Sunday night, and it will not be complete until Friday afternoon. There are many staff, a crane, various other equipment, security to keep people out, portable lockers for the staff on the project, and decorative pieces spread out everywhere. It seems like it would be chaos, but it is really very organized and tidy. During a short chat with one of the construction guys, who didn’t seem to mind talking one bit, we learned that this project is small compared to the one coming up. Here is the hot scoop, you heard it here first, news: The landscaping for the NFL draft will take THREE WEEKS to construct. Flynn is gonna watch it on the tube, just to admire it. We hope Bellagio gets lots of props for this, as it seems casinos are going further and further away from doing new – free – things for tourists.
On to the poker room, name on 2/5 list and 1/3 list to bide time if that came opend first. 1/3 did come open first, a new game, and were were off and running. Running bad, that is. Within the first 30 minutes, Flynn lost the buy-in to a suck-out, and re-bought. On his left was one of two guys he had played with at Aria yesterday, who could not lose, and it seems as if his luck had not changed. It left a bad tasted in Flynn’s mouth. Flynn played conservatively and remained mostly status quo until he was called to 2/5. Again, not much happening there, Flynn took some small pots, then lost some medium pots, couldn’t get anything going. He finally shoved when he flopped a set of 7’s, turned the full-house, and lost to quads. Flynn rebought once again, and then changed seats. After at least one dealer’s down being card dead and position dead, Flynn picked up JJ on the button. He raised the standard for the table and got two callers. The flop came J 9 9. In shock, since Flynn hadn’t actually smashed the flop the entire week, he called the bettor ahead of him (the other folded). Turn card was.?.possibly a K, and Flynn was really fearful that the villian would check, but he did not. V’s bet was a relatively small one compared to the pot. Considering that Flynn had not engaged in any hands for many, many moons, V was likely worried that Flynn hit some of it. Flynn smooth called. River a nothing card. Villian checks. Flynn tries to reverse hollywood, which is pretty impossible against an experienced player. Ergo, his ploy was to sit quietly for 30 seconds before putting out a 1/3 pot bet and praying for a call. V goes into a shallow tank. It is obvious he does not like the bet, does not want to call, but – Flynn can’t win a hand – so – okay – he reluctantly tosses his calling chips in. Woot woot! Flynn just made back one of his buy-ins!!!!
Two players of note that Flynn had convos with:
A commercial airline pilot, who had mountains in front of him and then very slowly lost 50% of it before going to his hotel to take a nap before flying the red-eye somewhere back east. He was friendly, answered everyone’s questions, and we learned that there is no reason whatsoever that a pilot needs to actually land planes manually, but they do it 95% of the time anyway because they are so bored. The only time they do it by auto-pilot-landing is when they are ordered to do so for an equipment check. Or fog. Huh.
Lorelyn E, who is a professional poker player, travelling around the country playing predominately cash games. Her stakes are just slightly above Flynn’s comfort level, but not by a lot. It was excellent having a real dialog with another female (Flynn’s handler is female, Flynn is male) who is making a go of it. She has played in the crazy Texas games, did a live stream with Doug Polk, and bounces stakes from 2/5 to 5/10. Simply talking with her, getting advice, relaying experience, and bonding over opponents’ playing styles was so refreshing. We really hope we run into her again this trip.
In the next hour, Flynn was able to get back most of his investment by winning a whopping two more hands. He departed the table down a measley amount, and headed to the airport-we-can’t-remember-the-new-name-of-that-was-dumb-to-rename-it to pick up Ollie.
Tomorrow: Flynn and Ollie visit Pahrump. Oh goody.
Fin
Flynn
Good to see that some luck other than bad returned. I hope to cya in a few days.