As most of our readers know, Flynn and Ollie have departed Sin City for northern parts of the USA. They spent some time in one of their other ‘homes’ near Yosemite, and then travelled NE to the SW of SD. Basically, they covered all the directional letters, hitting poker rooms in Reno and Elko on our way to bison country.
Since departing NV, the critters have been without any real poker for over a month. They are 1.5 hours from Deadwood, where they could play if they really, really wanted to. You bet they have already stuck their heads in the rooms there to see what the scoop is. Result: weak sauce, but it might happen if nothing better comes along to entertain them.
Random: tried to purchase 1-$1 chip from one of the rooms in Deadwood for the collection. They wouldn’t sell it. Their policy is a $5 minimum. Thought about doing the whole buy 5, take 1, then cash out 4, but…. Nah. The guy at the cage said it cost them more than a buck to make the chip, which of course does not add up no matter how you slice it. Flynn held his tongue about the whole cashing out $4 because he didn’t want to stir the pot.
Speaking of nonsense policies, if you have not checked out Nadya Magnus’s (@NadyaKGB) experience at the Palm Beach Kennel Club poker room, was messed up, with a capital F. The editor thinks something shady going on there for sure.
At any rate, Flynn and Ollie have been busy working (gasp) and sightseeing as much as possible. They have been to Wind Cave NP, Jewel Cave NM, Hot Springs (a city), Mt Rushmore NM, Deadwood, Sturgis and have driven past the Crazy Horse Monument. They have purchased a lot of postcards and stickers. They battle bison (all named Bob) on a daily basis, as well as Sheila (a cranky loner sheep who won’t get off the road).
While on our travels, F&O met Ted (actually, a lot of the Teds). Teds are NOT Bobs. Bob lives in the state park, Ted lives in the national parks. This is a very important distinction to Flynn and Ollie.
Poker for the bird and otter consists of play-money on PokerStars, reading poker drama on Twitter, and watching YouTube and the occasional PokerGo show <- pretty much limited to High Stakes Poker. The poker drama has been less than titillating. Online, play-money or not, is clearly rigged and boring. The vloggers are still pumping out the YT vids, but in all seriousness, it is nearly impossible to make original content. -> shout out to Slow Poker, MarlzTV and Drawing Dead of course.
That brings us to “The Big Game”. You bet half your stack F&O will watch that on YT when the episodes come out, for no other reason than to see Jen Tilly act, Phil H fold, and all the unrealistic scripting (forced) on the part of the producers attempting to make the game network worthy (FS1). Flynn is one hundred percent behind the concept and effort. Let’s do anything to get poker into the masses as Flynn needs some fish when he gets back to Las Vegas. While we are at it, let’s shout out Resorts World and the NAPT for their parts in this endeavor.
The last thing about poker that F&O are prepared to comment on is WSOP 2024. They find it amazing that it is already upon us. The year flew by at warp speed, and while they have not been there for two years consecutively now, the knowledge that the event is going strong and long is reassuring. Flynn still does not play tournaments, but he desperately misses the cash games around town. Such a dilemma: spend time travelling and chasing 70 degrees, seeing the county and being productive or spend 10 hours a day in a poker room where it is 100 degrees outside, trying to gut the tournament crowd? F&O would love to get a little piece of DNeg,s action, but it sells out in micro-seconds and the internet here in the boonies sucks.
Anyway, Flynn and Ollie are going to take a hike. They won’t think about poker again until dinnertime when they get their free chips on-line….
Fin
Flynn