Las Vegas 2010

Overall not a bad week at the Encore in Vegas. I went for $125.00 in the Calcutta, courtesy of my father David B. McMahan, with the total pot totaling over $8k. If you have never made it to the Encore, it opened its doors 18 months ago, a sister to the Wynn. Large rooms, not over the top in decor, more refined and elegant than the Bellaggio or Venetian.

I placed 21st in the poker tournament, top 15% from the field, but not enough to warrant a cash spot. Being short stack on the table I went all in with an A5 but had the unfortunate luck of being called by an AA. This happened to be the third pair of Aces this gentleman was dealt in the span of two hours, not a pretty picture when your tournament like depends on it. Flop came out 10/7/3. The turn exposed a 2. My only hope was a 4 to pull a straight on the river and continue on, but a Queen came out and I was bounced. Still, a great time. Later in the evening we had a private engagement from the comedian Pablo Francisco. While he was hit and miss with some of the 100 in attendance, I was rolling in tears! I think he might be certifiable...

Garth Brooks solo show was the highlight Friday. He does a one man acoustical show at the Wynn Theater which holds approximately 1500. He called it "Garth 101". For 2.5 hours he performed covers of the music that inspired his life and taste from 1962 straight through to his breakout in the 90s. His wife Trisha Yearwood came out and sang two duets plus one of her own during the show, an unexpected surprise. Even if you are not a fan of country music, this show should entertain almost everyone. Garth was funny, his music was spot on, and he worked the crowd like a true professional.

My wife, daughter, and father-in-law drove up from San Diego for the weekend, we all drove back on Monday. Lamest encounter of the weekend, when my wife and I, holding our 11 month old, tried to stop by the 21 and older "European Pool" to say hi to our friends as we were heading back to the room. The Encore Pool employee stopped us and said we could not come in with the baby. When I asked why she said "Because there are topless women in the pool area". Both my wife and I laughed in her face with disbelief and explained that our baby is breast feeding, she sees them all the time. Oh, and she's ELEVEN MONTHS OLD! We proceeded to walk over and say hi to our friends, then turned around to find the manager, twenty something kid, telling me to heed the hotel's warning's from its employees. I laughed at him too. When he said the gaming and liquor license were at risk I told him that he should have told his employees to use that line, not that there are topless women lying around. While he was nice enough, it is a joke. The gaming tables are under separate cover in a different area, and he could not give me a good explanation why it is 21 and older but the sign by the jacuzzi says "Children under 12 need to be accompanied by an adult". Sign should read "No one under 21 admitted in jacuzzi". Anyway, that was my only complaint about the Encore and Wynn, great place to go and the pool area is nice with or without babies, hah!

So now I am back in San Diego, and am already hitting the healthy lifestyle hard. I have lost all the weight I gained in Vegas and am looking to break into the 240s next week on my way to 199, a number I will hit by my 38th birthday which also will coincide with my 20th high school reunion.

Well, there is no joy in Mudville this evening. No hole in one, though I can take solace in the fact that I am one of the select few who actually hit the green from the tee. Putting was awful until the 15th when I sank a 20 footer. Not much in the highlight reels other than spending 4 hours on a first class course with some great people. The Calcutta happens tonight at Blush. If you don't know what a Calcutta is, it is a bidding war on players in the Poker Tournament tomorrow. Every player's name will be called and the field will then bid on that person if they think he/she will take first. Highest bid gets the player. If your player wins you take the whole pot, which can reach several thousand dollars. The player who won last year was had for $50 bucks, and the return was 50 times that, not bad, not bad at all. I wonder what I will fetch? $5? $50? A quarter? Looking forward to finding out who the smart person is...