Roots

I was born in East LA, raised in West LA, then got drafted into the Army, and grew up in the Signal Corps.

So I felt pretty much right at home driving into Los Angeles last May 28, to observe the National Card Throwing Championship Finals, at the LA County Center for the Emotionally Disturbed, aka Commerce Casino. 

We stayed SIX WEEKS at the co-located and formerly very nice Crowne Plaza Hotel.  I say "formerly," because while we were there they were renovating the place, and so along with your $128+tax casino rate hotel room came a free 7 a.m. wakeup service:  The sounds of hammering to break up concrete, the clanking of scaffolding being erected, cutting, drilling, the works.  That part sucked.

Apart from that, the trip was also quite different from any of the 150+ other trips we took to Reno, Vegas, or LA over the last 24 years.  All those other times, I had a J-O-B, and a scheduled return date.  But usually I didn't want to leave, so I often delayed our return, extending a trip a few days, or even a week, or two, or three.  And this sometimes bought me some heat back home, at work.

This trip was different:  I had no such obligation, so we just stayed.  And stayed.  Then stayed some more.  Too damn long.

The 20/40 game at Diamond Lil's has been our poker home for the last 7 years running.  And it's been great, too.  But after a week in LA, Mrs. Rock and I both started thinking we should MOVE back to the city of my birth, and Commerce 40/80 should become our new poker home.  Or at least turn the LA trip into an extra long vacation; rent a place, give it a year, and see what happens. 

So I spent some time on Zillow, then Craigslist, looking at rental listings in West LA.  That's a 20 mile drive to Commerce, but I thought it would be fun to hang out in my old hood.  Then we took a drive out there one day, looked at two depressing and disgusting $1795 rentals, and did a drive-by of a couple places I used to live in.  Turned out those streets, now with iron bars and gates on all the windows, doors, stairwells and parking areas, were depressing too.

Looked at a couple more rentals in that same price range, K-Town and West Anaheim, so got a good idea what $1795 will get you around there.  Bottom line:  No thanks.

Then came the really rude surprise that I guess I knew all along, but just never thought about, until somebody mentioned it one day.  If I moved home to California, then my Army, Boeing, and SSI pensions would all be subject to (please pardon the filthy language) State Income Tax!  

Screw that.  Nice place to visit, maybe get a sublet or something for up to 5.99 months a year, but it turns out we won't want to live there after all.  OK fine.  

Weird Aces

Commerce 40/80, on the last night of the six week stay.  Pocket Aces, the board comes AK4,8,7 rainbow, and a guy with 56 off chases me down to river the nuts.  Nothing remarkable.  Happens all the time.

But this time, well, it was just defied all sense and logic.  This time, the culprit was a pro we'd seen every day, and who seemed solid, until that hand.  And this time, he raised and re-raised like a guy who had slipped in the cooler, and knew what was coming to take me down.  I mean, we got head up on the flop, and went five or six bets on every round.  I left the table shaking my head after that one, wondering what that was all about, and I'm still wondering, months later.

Burnout

We started the stay in Room 520, but after ten days of approaching/increasing construction noises, we moved to Room 301, around back, far end, down low, and quiet.  For a while.

By Friday July 11, they'd worked their way around to us, and at 0900 that morning were erecting scaffolding right outside.  Not too early, except we'd only gone to sleep 3 hours before.

And by then I was so burned out, but no way to sleep now.  I jumped up, said "Can't take this any more!" started packing, and got loaded up, checked-out, and in under an hour we were Northbound on I-5.

But we only went 42 miles.  Burned out is burned out, and I was a hazard to myself, and everyone else on the road.  Have Mrs. Rock drive?  No way.  After 6 weeks of nonstop Commerce, she was just as fried as me.  

Luckily, all the points we'd earned at Crowne Plaza, and on the Hotel Group Visa, were starting to show up, and we had the 30,000 needed for a free room night at the Holiday Inn Express in Santa Clarita.  So yes, we checked out of one hotel, drove an hour, and checked into a different hotel.  And at the time, it made sense.

Next morning we were recharged, at least some, got back on the road, and it turned out to be a really busy Saturday.  By the time we got to Oregon, and started looking for somewhere to stay the night, every hotel was No Vacancy.  

So we just continued North, checking hotels here and there, and, long story short (or is it too late for that?) wound up just driving home to Seattle, finally arriving 21 hours and 1100 miles later, at 0630 Sunday.  It was brutal, and I will never again hit the road without a planned destination, and a room reservation.

Once home we pretty much hibernated for over a week, while also trying to plan a return trip.  When?  Stay where?  Not sure yet.  Just sure we won't want to run up another marathon hotel bill.

Homer Flintstone


Wanted to blog about the Commerce game and players, but I wasted so much time shopping apartments that nothing got written.

So until we get back there, I can only mention this one Neanderthal: he looks like Homer Simpson, and acts like a caveman.  The dealer accidentally sent one of my cards closer to him, then she reached out to correct herself, and sent it to me.  Homer didn't like that at all.  He grabbed both my cards out of my hands, put them with his cards, mucked all 4, and declared a misdeal.  And got away with it, too!

See, Commerce went to considerable effort posting these fancy signs all over the property:

Thing is, they were just kidding about Zero Tolerance; they actually meant Total Tolerance.  Lots of Commerce players do all those things, some again and again, over and over, with never any more penalty than an occasional empty warning.

So what do you call it when they post "Zero Tolerance" and then tolerate everything listed?  Ironic?  Hypocrisy?  Lies?  Maybe some combination of all those, but I just call it pathetic.

Sorry I didn't describe hands, or get more real poker, into this post.  I do have plenty to tell, in final draft, and coming in new posts momentarily.