Waiting for the main

Going into day 2 of the latest 1k event I was 13/638 and optimistic, but in the end it was another day 2 disappointment. I barely won a pot and it was one of those frustrating times that every time I bet, they folded when I had it and called or raised when I hadn't. Once the antes start to bite, you I was at the start of the day, reshipping tens on the button for 25 bigs over a loose late raiser. Unfortunately, he not only had a hand he could call with (AK) but he hit the turn and won the race. So another relatively modest cash: my third of the series in bracelet events.

My last attempt at a side event requires even less description: I just drifted back from starting when with 3k left (30 bigs) I got in with kings against aces. That at least left me free for most of the day which was my son Paddy's first full one in Vegas. A night off and out seemed reasonable since I wasn't playing the next day (today) so we headed out with a few others. We started out in an almost empty gloomy bar in the no man's land between downtown and the Strip because a member of the group who shall remain nameless thought it was a karaoke bar. It kinda or more precisely sometimes is: just not on Tuesdays or any day near it. Paddy was at least enjoying the jukebox (NIN, some classic 80s goth and tons of Bowie) and a couple of games of pool against the old man. We split into teams for the last game and the Doke family team were on the verge when the cab we'd called to get us out of here arrived.

It turned out the cab wasn't big enough to take us all, so Paddy suggested we let the others go and we wait for another cab. He wasn't really that keen on karaoke and suggested we might go somewhere else. The night took another turn when the second cab never showed. The neighborhood didn't look the kind of one where loitering in a suit with five figures in cash on you was a great idea (we played a game of "Count the Bail Bondsmen" on the way in). One of the best things about making your own people (that is, having kids) is there's a middling to decent chance they'll inherit your eccentricities. Thus it was Paddy who actually suggested we walk from here to the top of the Strip and then down it. Normally I'm the one making those kind of suggestions only to get poohed poohed and mad looks from whoever I'm with.

The walk through no man's land was certainly interesting. Paddy is very good at recognising gang tattoo markings so I knew which guys not to shout "You suck" at. When Paddy was a small boy and we went for walks in a new city (we moved around quite a bit: Paddy had lived in 5 different countries by the time he was 5), a source of tension was always that he figured the best way to get a look at a new city when you're 5 and tiny was to walk on the very edge of the pavement (they're called sidewalks here). I've since been told that the optimal responsible parenting line is to tell the kid to walk on the inside, but Paddy was such a happy kid it seemed harsh to lay down these kinds of rules, so I generally just kept an eye on him and was on high alert to yank him out of the way of any threatening bus or whatever. As we walked through a less affluent hood, at one point a guy flailed towards me, his limbs thrashing like a windmill. As I tried to decide how to react to this, Paddy just leaned across and gently but expertly diverted the guy away from me. Paddy's a natural pacifist (at one point, he walked back almost a block to give a homeless guy some change he found in his pocket) so it was particularly touching to see this filial instinct to protect the old man kick in. Another of the best things about making your own people.

We stopped at the Stratosphere to watch a bungee jumper. We also stopped off at Circus Circus, where I stayed the first time I came to Vegas. Paddy is an even bigger Hunter S. Thompson fan than I am and told me tons of interesting Hunter stuff I didn't know. It's a proud moment in any father's life when he realises his son has grown into a man who can teach him stuff. We had a long natter about life in general and both our chosen paths (he's had to watch me change careers several times in my life, and recently set up an urban composting business of his own) as we meandered down the strip stopping to tour a few of the other iconic hotels and resorts.

We did eventually end up rejoining the others in the karaoke place. The musical selection was a lot less to Paddy's liking though so we didn't stay that long, walking back to the Gold Coast for a 4 AM pre-hangover feast in TGI Fridays.

Today is an official rest day for me. We also moved into the Rio this morning as final preparation for my main event. I decided to play tomorrow's Day 1A. Most of the other lads are playing other days for a variety of reasons. With 3 cashes and 4 day twos in side events, I'm going into the main feeling very good about the my chances. I've been accumulating stacks regularly in the side events and with the better Main structure there's more time to do that. So fingers crossed.

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