Benny and the Steelers

Trip Start Aug 22, 2008

Trip End Ongoing

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Flag of United States Las vegas, Nevada, United States
Monday, November 3, 2008

A good start to the day...I finished up $300 for my 2 hour session of blackjack. I used $70 to enter in a no-limit Hold'em poker tournament at the Caesars. Along the walls of the poker room are portraits of famous poker pros and the lucky amateurs, who have won the last 6 WSOP main events. For some reason most pictures had a name plate mounted underneath them except the pictures of Mike Sexton and Phil Helmuth. I was not getting any good cards in the tournament; in 52 hands I only saw the flop 7 times and really only played 3 hands (other 4 I was allowed to check the big blind). I lost over half my beginning stack of 2500 chips when I was dealt pocket sixes in the small blind (50-100 round). The Button limped in so I raised to 450 which forced the big blind to fold; however I was called by the Button. The flop was a rainbow of Ace, Eight and Four. I bet 1000 chips (pot) and after a lot of thinking, the Button pushed all-in. I folded figuring that he had either an Ace with a weak kicker or he paired the Eight...either way I would be way behind hoping for one of the remaining sixes to appear on the board. I made some of the chips back when I was all-in with cowboys and got two callers. In my knock out hand, I was short-stacked and went all-in on suited Ace-Jack. I was called by someone with Ace-Queen. Oh well! It was a good way to kill 2 hours and I still outlasted half the field.

Afterwards I went back to the Blackjack tables and gave back some of my earlier winnings. This session killed another two hours and at that point my brother and mother were on their way over for the Steeler game and the Elton John show.

They met me in line at the box office where I picked up my free tickets. We watched the Steeler play the Redskins on Monday Night Football. After a rather boring and frustrating first half, my mom and I went to the Colosseum for the Elton John Red Piano show. We left the game with the Steelers ahead 10-6, but Big Ben was taken out of the game due to a shoulder injury. My brother went back to his apartment. Although the tickets specifically stated no cameras, I asked my mom to sneak my camera in her purse. This rouse did not work because they were checking all purses and confiscated the camera, which was returned after the show. There was quite a few cameras collected, so I was expecting to have to stand in another line after the show.

Elton John put on a great show. I wanted to emphasize that the Red Piano was more than a concert of songs; there was a Jumbo-tron size screen where various video's and special effects were projected while Elton John played his songs. One particularly moving video montage by LaChapelle explained the true meaning of the song "Daniel". Daniel was a Viet-Nam vet who returned home, blind and he left the US to live in Spain...I always thought it was about two brothers with the older leaving for a trip to Spain. Elton John explained that he cut the last verse of the song because he thought the song was too long; this verse would have explained the entire song. Elton John was entertaining throughout the show with his dialog about various song origins, the upcoming elections and his fellow entertainers who share the Colosseum for their performances like Cilene Dion, Bette Midler and Cher. Elton John was also fond of inflatable props including flowers, lipstick, breast & legs, dropped ice cream cone and (my favorite) a banana flanked by two cherries. It was entertaining watching the workers all clad in white like the Monty Python Sperms scurry around the stage setting up the various props. Elton John finished with a number where the people sitting in the Orchestra section was allowed to get up on stage and dance around his piano. A throughly enjoyable evening. Once I found out that the Steelers won the game, I was ecstatic.