On December 12, was Richie’s birthday. We celebrated by taking him out to King’s Fish House in Long Beach. Had a very nice lobster dinner and awesome cheesecake with chocolate dipped strawberries. The meal was delicious and the company was good. I’m sure he had a great time. He couldn’t stop raving about the cake.
On Saturday, we went over to Sun City for our 5th Annual Holiday Party. We had a huge selection of food! We were entertained by a very thorough and fun trivia game that Sophorn came up with. We also had a couple of intense games of Jenga and our world famous White Elephant gift exchange. This year was probably one of the most funniest exchange. Good times good times.
We have a local celebrity in my circle of friends.
Guess who made it front page on the Pasadena Star News’ Prep Sports section? None other than Blair High School’s Volleyball Coach, Richard Huynh. Congrats man. It’s good to see someone get props for doing what they love.
Here’s the full story.
The Memorial Day holiday brought a great opportunity to pay another visit to Las Vegas for the 3 days off. It was also a birthday celebration for Chanthou as well as a celebration for me being debt free. We left for Vegas Saturday morning and did not arrive until 5pm. The traffic wasn’t too bad. There was some delay’s on the way to Hesperia, but it was negligible considering we did not experience major traffic from that point on.
I played some craps and a $50 1-2 NL game when we got there. Unfortunately lost about $150 before we even went to eat dinner. We enjoyed a nice dinner at an Asian noodle place in the Hilton (our hotel). Did some saki bombs and saki shots for Chanthou’s birthday. After dinner I went back to the 1-2 NL game and bought in for another $50. At the end of the night I walked away with $377. So I was up $177. We spent the next morning eating dim-sum in Chinatown Las Vegas. Because I had won the night before, I decided to give everyone a treat and paid for the bill. We then went to see a magic show at the Tropicana hotel. This was my first Las Vegas show I’ve ever experienced. The show was okay and I’ve always enjoyed watching magic so it was a good experience.
After we finished the show, we went back to the hotel. Rich and I decided to lay-out at the pool. It was nice. The pool was cold and the weather carried a breeze towards the end of our 2 hours out in the sun. I did get a bit of color, but nothing to really brag about.
We get back up to the hotel room and discovered that the girls had received comp dinner at our hotel for signing up with a player’s club card. Sweet! We stuffed ourselves with all sorts of buffet food. There was even free alcohol at the buffet.
After dinner, we went to see Fremont Street, the original “Las Vegas Strip” in Downtown Las Vegas. I really liked it there. It was also a first time for me being there. We settled down at the Binions Hotel and played some craps. Lost another $140 there. We left Fremont at 11pm and went back to our hotel. Obviously I had to visit the card room once again after the successful night I had before. With the initial $50 buy-in, I had slowly accumulated about $650 and became big stack in a matter of 5-6 hours. Unfortunately, I had lost $400 in a matter of 2 hands afterwards. The second place chip-leader had busted me with a set of Q’s. We actually both had Q’s and I thought I was good since my cards were Q-10. Unfortunately, he had Q-A. That hurt. I grinded out my last $200 for another 3 hours until I lost it all. I rebought w/another $100 and played all the way till 5am this morning. I lost it on busted up flush draw against another Q top pair. The cool part about both poker nights, I came across a couple of regulars who were very receptive of me. The first night I had an older gentleman who joked around with me and told me all the regulars that played with us that night along with their style of play. This morning, the guy who beat me w/top pair Qs shook my hand and said, “I’ll see you in the circuit.” He thinks that I play professionally! A great confidence booster to a down weekend. At the end of the trip, I had only spent $300 of the $600 I brought. Not bad considering I had treated for dim-sum and paid for other expenses besides gambling.
Poker, Special Event, Travelling
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Binions, Chanthou, Chinatown, craps, Fremont Street, Hilton, Las Vegas, Memorial Day, Poker, Richard, Tropicana
Yes ladies and gentlemen, one of my friends finally turned the big 3-0. Richy, a long time friend of mine since high school has finally entered his thirties. The celebration was very low-key. Lots of food, lots of company, and then there was poker. I hope he enjoyed the sweater we gave him. We had a blast and his family was very welcoming and accomodating. Thanks man! Hope you had a good one! Its just the beginning of the rest of our lives.
On a side note, I lost $40 there. Was playing completely off my game only because I didn’t really have the “eye of the tiger” and treat it like it was a worthy poker game. I actually felt bad winning but I guess I should really think, they know the risk and so I should play with the want to win. Damn that guilty conscious! I just need another chance to put on a better game. Live and learn.
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