Guess the casino, #435

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Answer: Stratosphere

Sandia Peak (no poker content)

I took a ton of pictures on my recent trip to New Mexico, and spent some time last night and today starting to go through them.

On our first full day there, Cardgrrl and I went to Sandia Peak. Apparently you can get there via automobile, but for heaven's sake, that's not what you should do. Take the tram. It's claimed to be the world's longest, and I have no reason to dispute that: 2.7 miles, rising more than 5000 feet to a final height of 10,378 feet. It takes you through and over gorgeous foothills and valleys. Most people seem to go up there for skiing, but we were just sightseeing--and it has plenty of beautiful views to be enjoyed. The fact sheet says that 11,000 square miles of terrain are visible from the top, and that seems about right. After coming back down to the tram station at the base, we wandered around the park area for a while, finding interesting things to photograph. I admit that I was nearly as captivated by the enormous--and, to me, quite beautiful--mechanics of the tram as by the vistas.

The photo album is here. If I had higher standards and/or more time and patience, I would sift through them and show you only the best 10% or so, instead of boring you with shot after shot of mountains and snow. But if I had to choose my favorite images from this batch, I'd pick these. (I'm trying image embedding from Picasa for the first time here. Click for full-size version.)

From Sandia peak

From Sandia peak

From Sandia peak

From Sandia peak

From Sandia peak

From Sandia peak

From Sandia peak

From Sandia peak

From Sandia peak

From Sandia peak

But for my money, the loveliest images I managed to make (leaving aside those of Cardgrrl, which aren't included here) are these two:

From Sandia peak

From Sandia peak

More on the trip to come over the next few days.

Guess the casino, #434

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Answer: Orleans

That Dwan kid needs a lesson from the Grump

On last night's "High Stakes Poker," Tom Dwan showed us how to misplay the Deuce-Four. He flopped two pair. Nobody bet. He added a flush draw on the turn. Nobody bet. Antonio Esfandiari bluffed the river, Eli Elizra called. The little flip of the wrist you see going on in the screen shot above is Dwan throwing away the best hand. After he saw the winner, he said, "I play so bad."

Well, at least that time you did, Tom. But do not worry. I can coach you on how to play 2-4 for fun and profit.


While I'm on the subject, I did a little 2-4 evangelizing at Sandia casino in Albuquerque yesterday. A four on the turn gave me bottom pair, so I check-raised the original raiser when he bet (as I thought he would). He folded and I showed. Just a couple of hands later, he flopped two pair with his own 2-4 and won a nice pot. The gospel continues to spread everywhere I go.

Safe at home

I'm back at home after four days in Albuquerque with the lovely Cardgrrl. I did not avail myself of the computers of our hosts (Cardgrrl's sister and brother-in-law), which makes for what I think is the longest stretch I've gone without checking in on email, RSS feeds, or the web generally in the last several years. I used my phone to check Twitter a bit, but probably only about 10% of the posts from the last few days.

There is much catching up to do, many photos to look through, etc.

Guess the casino, #433

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Answer: Excalibur

Guess the casino, #432

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Answer: Treasure Island

Guess the casino, #431

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Answer: Venetian

Guess the casino, #430

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Answer: Treasure Island

Point me in the direction of Albuquerque

I admit it: when I was a kid, I loved "The Partridge Family." I wanted to be as smart-alecky as Danny Bonaduce (though I grew up a tad more sane than he did), had a crush on Susan Dey, and wished I had a mom as cool as Shirley Jones. So it is perhaps not surprising that my first real awareness of one of the most strangely named (and hard to spell) cities in this country came from a 1974 Partridge Family hit and the accompanying episode of the television show.

Today for the first time ever, I'm heading there. My BFF Cardgrrl is visiting her sister for a few days, and I'm joining them. I am not planning on taking my computer, so probably won't be posting anything until after I get back to Vegas. But I do expect to spend some pokering time in the Sandia casino. Look for me there if you live in the area.

In the meantime, for those of you who may have missed the musical gem referred to in the first paragraph above, enjoy this sampling from the relevant episode:





And for those of you who have difficulty playing Flash videos, you can listen to the song on Lala.com with no video here.

Guess the casino, #429

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Answer: Santa Fe Station

Guess the casino, #428

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Answer: Planet Hollywood

Guess the casino, #427

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Answer: Golden Nugget

Thanks but no thanks

I got an email today from PokerStars that was so weird that at first I thought it was a prank or fishing expedition of some sort. But after a while I realized that it was legit.

Here's the offer: I write a series of five blog posts, and they'll give me a $22 entry into one of the upcoming SCOOP tournaments. Each blog post has to contain a specific sentence, embedded in which will be a link to--guess where?--PokerStars. The first required sentence was included in this email, and then four subsequent emails will say what sentence and link must be included in the subsequent blog posts. There are some additional prizes (more tournament entries, of course) for being especially clever about incorporating the requisite words.

I won't be doing that. At first I thought about writing a mud-slinging post about how sleazy the whole thing is and how I'm repulsed that Stars would sink so low. But on reflection I thought better of it. I like PokerStars. I genuinely do, and they don't have to pay me to say so. Furthermore, they have been very generous with freerolls for us lowly bloggers for only the minimal shilling work of putting up their logo in one post.

There's an old joke about a man and woman at a dinner party, and they get to discussing whether she would have sex with a stranger for a million dollars. She allows as how she might. He then asks if she would do it for $10. She gets all huffy and says, "What kind of woman do you think I am?" He replies, "We've already established that. Now we're just dickering over the price."

Well, it's kind of like that. I'm willing to do one post with the logo as the price of my admission ticket, but even though it's only a difference in degree rather than kind, I'm not willing to do five posts with specified sentences and embedded links. That's probably logically inconsistent, but it's how I feel about it. I have been offered a lot more money than the Stars offer represents to write posts on particular subjects with embedded links to the sponsor's site. Some places will even offer to write the whole post. I just have to put it up, pretend that I wrote it, and collect the money. I have always turned down such things. I want this blog to be my voice, and I'm uncomfortable with mixing the content and the sponsorship. The ads are the ads, the copy is the copy, and unless I clearly tell you otherwise, there is neither spillover of content nor influence on what I have to say.

(To their credit, nothing in the email from Stars says that I couldn't be entirely open about the fact that the post is to gain a tourney entry, etc. The other offers I mentioned all come with the caveat that I can't tell readers it's a paid thing. That's what makes me feel that I'd be sullied by accepting them.)

So, PokerStars, I am sincerely grateful for how you've dealt with poker bloggers in the past, and I hope such generosity will be repeated in the future. I don't think the current offer is as ethically problematic as those advertisers that want to, in effect, silently buy a post. But it's still just a little much for my taste.


Addendum

I now see that Bastin received the same offer and already beat me to posting about it--see here. I'm sure if you follow many poker blogs you'll be hearing about it. And if you see the same sentences suddenly showing up in several places, now you'll know why.

Poker faces

From the new episode of "High Stakes Poker," this week's contestants for best poker face are Gun Hansen (doing his Viffer impersonation) and Tom Dwan (who always seems to make an appearance in these posts).

Guess the casino, #426

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Answer: Riviera

Guess the casino, #425

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Answer: Rio

He said/she said

Interesting discussion about the special challenges women face in getting professional sponsorship from poker sites as the first of what I understand will be an occasional ongoing "he said/she said" series at http://www.womanpokerplayer.com/. See here and here.

One of the points made by both discussants was emphasized--in what I must assume was an unintended manner--by one of the ads that popped up for me next to the "his" essay (they probably rotate so you may not see the same one):




All else being equal, which version of this woman (assuming it's actually the same person, which I kind of doubt) is more likely to land a sponsorship deal?

By the way, to the writers of the series (both of whom I am pleased to call friends), I just have to say: The whole idea would be pepped up if you were to sling a little mud at each other--you know, like the "Jane, you ignorant slut" remarks in the old Saturday Night Live parodies of "60 Minutes" debates. (Yes, I'm just kidding.)

Poker gems, #345

Jennifer Tilly, in Bluff magazine, February, 2010, p. 49.


Neither of us cash in the Five Diamond. Trying to get my 15K back I play a game that is too big for me, and lose my whole stack to Viffer. He has this uncanny ability to only have a hand when you finally decide to shove on him. I feel a little sad looking at the empty spot in front of me where my chips used to be. Slowly I get up. The key to cash games apparently, is knowing when to quit. Lately, it seems, I only leave the table after someone has made me their bitch.

Not much poker in February

More obstacles to poker ahead.

Something I haven't mentioned here before is that I occasionally do some consulting work related to my previous life. There's not a lot of such jobs, nor do I really want there to be--one or two a month, typically, usually taking no more than a day or two each. It makes for a nice infusion of cash and a break from my usual routine. But I had a big, several-day one sent to me just before I left for Utah, and must now get it done this weekend, which might mean no poker. Plus I just learned yesterday that another equally big one will be arriving within the next few days.

On top of that, I am going on a quick trip to see the delightful Cardgrrl next week. She will be visiting family in Albuquerque from Thursday to Monday, and I have been invited to meet her there and tag along. I can't pass up that opportunity, so I'll be flying off to New Mexico, a state I haven't visited since I was a little kid and ran around the Four Corners monument during a family road trip. There should be some poker involved; I'm hoping to spend a good chunk of time in the Sandia Casino poker room while in the neighborhood.

These big projects, the vacation to Albuquerque, and the emergency trip to Utah make for a highly unusual confluence of distractions from the tables and the blog. (Of course, Sandia is likely to generate some tales, but the telling will probably have to wait until Big Project #2 gets done after my return.) Bear with me. All will return to normal before you know it.