Bras, Burgers, Poker....And a Flash of Lightning!

Yesterday was a lot of fun.  I finally got to meet my fellow blogger Lightning (or as he should be known on this blog, Thunder).  Lightning and I have been ribbing each other on our blogs for some time now, and it was great to put a real person behind all the joking.  He is actually a really a great guy and we had a great time together.  His totally fictitious version of the events can be found here.  Now for the truth, or a brief version of it (brief by my standards) as I am limited in time.


After noticing his tweet, I headed over to Bally's where he was crushing the 1/2 game.  I almost missed him because I was looking for some creepy looking guy in a backwards baseball cap.  But just before I recognized him from his blog photos, he noticed me and waived.  He was capless, by the way...not expecting me to arrive so soon, I guess.  Now how did he recognize me since I have never posted a photo of myself on my blog?  Well, it seems that the devilish Josie had forwarded to him a picture of me, without my permission.  That would be the picture that Poker Grump took of me on the night this post took place. I was happy to see that he was sitting right next to a fellow blogger buddy, Ron, who blogs here and who happens to deal at Bally's.  Ron and I met at a tournament a few weeks (months?) back and last time I went to Bally's we had a nice chat and he dealt to me nothing but absolute crap but I don't hold that against him.

So this was clearly the blogger's table but it was full and I had to go to another table.  I asked for a table change and after a few hands was told I could move to where Ron was dealing and Lightning was playing.  Ron soon dealt me a winning hand (very small pot tho) and all was well.

It was very noisy in there and I was sitting quite a distance from Lightning so it was virtually impossible to chat with Lightning.  I did get a seat change eventually and was able to talk a bit with him.  Meanwhile, the cards were treating me as they always do at Bally's--like a baby treats a diaper.  I never have any success over there.  It's funny because people like Lightning and grrouchie love this room because they think it has the most fish and is the easiest room to win big bucks in.  But that is not experience; I don't recall that I've ever walked away from there a winner.  I lost more than half my stack when some guy hit a set against my top pair.

Since Lightning was on Central Time and hadn't eaten since he left Chicago, he was in desperate need for food.  We decided to eat at Le Burger Brasserie right there at Bally's/Paris.  This is the place I also ate at with grrouchie the first time we broke bread together, as described here. Recall that this a place where hot girls in their underwear serve you hamburgers (and alcohol, if you are so inclined).  So it is clear, based on my experience, this place is clearly the restaurant of choice for the poker blogosphere.  And why not?  If there are two things you can be sure a poker player will like, it's burgers and really hot, scantitly clad girls serving burgers.

During dinner, there was only one topic of conversation, which was Josie's cleavage.  How could we not talk about Josie's cleavage?  It's such a big, juicy topic.

But I kid.  We did not discuss her cleavage. But there was plenty to say about Josie.  Lightning reports that she is really a warm, wonderful person, very funny, who is an absolute terror at the poker table.  Seriously, he said she is an excellent tournament poker player and one should take her on at their own peril.  He couldn't say much about her cash play, only because he hasn't seen her play much cash, but said she is a force to be reckoned with at the tournament table.

We also discussed the upcoming TBC tournament, that Tony is now expected to attend. Originally I was being secretive about this event, because I thought that's what Tony wanted, but I see that yesterday he tweeted about it so I guess the cat is out of the bag.  So that event is where I'll be on Sunday night.

Another blogger whose name was mentioned, with a lot of obscenities attached, was Waffles. Lightning told me why Waffles carries a grudge against him that dates back to the days of the Roman Empire. Speaking of Waffles, if you haven't already seen it, he has an absolutely hysterical post here about the possibilites for Josie's upcoming Vegas trip. You should definitely read it, and not just because of all the times I'm insulted there.  Go check it out.

After dinner, which Lightning generously used his Total Rewards comps to pay for (thanks again, man, and I will return the favor soon), we headed back for some more poker at Bally's.  This session went a bit better for me, but I still lost a couple of bucks.  We had decided that after a bit I would drive Lightning to BSC for some serious poker.  I was glad when Lightning was ready to head down there.  Not only was the room noisy but I swear it has the worst cocktail service of any room in Vegas.  Surprising because it is two feet from the bar.  Also, the cocktail waitresses are not exactly young or attractive.  Most of them looked like they were hired during the Carter Administration, except for the occasional holdover from the Eisenhower Administration.

Lightning went up to his room for a few minutes and when he came back he was with baseball cap, and of course wearing it backwards.  If you don't understand the reference, it is explained in this post here.  But he soon reversed and wore his cap correctly, as befitting a man of his class and stature.

So we headed over to BSC and I did well there.  Caught a couple of straights.  Got lucky when my top pair/rag kicker beat 2 pair when the rag hit the river.  So I more than doubled up in less than 2 hours.  Lightning took off after just a short time, the time change, travel and everything else catching up with him.  But I'l bet the biggest reason he didn't play long was when, very early in the session, some guy folded his Ace to a board with 2 Aces when Lightning bet out.  How do you fold an Ace on a Aces paired board?  Of course Lightning had a pocket pair for a full house, so he was expecting to be paid off for it.  He'll be thinking about that one for a long time, perhaps he will even blog about it.

Anyway, since my day started very early since I made it over to Caesars for their Noon deep stack event--a story to be told another time--I was tired too and made it a short session as well.

But it was great to finally meant Lightbulb and I am looking forward to meeting more bloggers and readers as the week progresses.

Current plan for today is to head over to the Rio and play in the 2PM deep stack with Prudence and try to not to freeze to death while crushing everyone in my path.