March News & Notes

- Having a "Real Job" is putting a big downer on my Poker game. On Wednesday, I was at the Grand Sierra for a little $1/$2 action. I discovered they had added an extra tournament for 8pm that night. It was a $220 7-Game Tournament, which included HORSE, 2-7 Triple Draw, and PLO (why not NLHE, I don't know). I really wanted to play in this, since I haven't played Triple Draw since the last time I played 8-Game in our Saturday night home game about nine months ago. But even if they ended up with 20 players, it would talk at least six hours due to it being a Limit tournament. I have to work at 7:30am, and I don't want to be playing until 1am.

- Another problem with my job is I have to work every Saturday. All of the Tournament Series in town this month means there are various Main Events which happen to fall on Saturdays. Since I'm new to the Reno Post Office, I have no seniority at my office and it's almost impossible to get a Saturday off. I said 'almost' because I was able to get March 26 off. That's when the Main Event for the Atlantis All-In Tournament Series will happen. It's a $1060 buy-in, which is a little large for me. I am gonna try to win a satellite for it, but I will buy-in directly if I have to.

- I've started playing more at Harrah's to earn points for my Las Vegas trip in June (12-19). I'm planning on booking my room later this month. I haven't decided if I will stay at the Rio for the whole week, or if I will bounce around between two or three different hotels. It will depend on what "fabulous" deals that Harrah's Caesars is willing to give out.

Also, I've been able to get Monday, June 20, and Tuesday, June 21 off from work. So now I'm able to stay in Las Vegas for 10 days if things are going well. (Or come home early, and go back to work if the trip doesn't go as planned).

- On Friday night at the Grand Sierra, I hit a K-high Straight Flush at a $1/$2 table for a $378 bonus and the pot. On Wednesday night, I would have had a 9-high Straight Flush for a $599 bonus, but I folded preflop. I had 87c UTG, so I folded because I didn't want to call a preflop raise. The Flop was 9c 6c 3h, and the Turn was the beautiful 5c. But there was only three players in the pot, and it was checked down. Even if I had played, the pot might not have gotten up to the $20 required to win the High Hand Bonus.

In the five months I've been in Reno, I have had Quads seven times, a Straight Flush, and a Royal Flush. All of these have received High Hand Bonus money. It certainly has made up for the numerous $1 Drops in Detroit and at Mountaineer that I never saw a penny of in return.