The Bat Cave

Even though I’m pretty tired after driving a solid 5 hours or so from Houston to Waco to Dallas, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to a) drive one more hour and cross another new state off my “places I’ve been to” list and b) play some more poker!

I got immediate seating in a 1/3 no limit game and since it has a $300 maximum buy in, I sat with $300 on the table and an extra $500 in my pocket. I’m on the list for a 1/2/5 PLO mix (high/hi-lo split) game but there are ten names (three as call ins) and it hasn’t started yet, so…

Pretty cool start!

I raise one limper to $12 with AJ and the big blind and limper call.

Flop is T93 with two diamonds and I check behind.

Turn is the jack of diamonds and the big leads for $22. I call.

River is another diamond. It’s probably worth pointing out that I do not have a diamond. So when he checks to me, I’m firing this $50 bullet as a pure bluff. I put up with the tank stare down for about a minute before going to my phone to type and as soon as I do that, he folds. Interesting.

Next notable pot: someone opens to $15, very green (“what do I need to put in?”) dude calls, and I make it $61 from the small blind with AKo. The opener folds but the noob is trying to figure out what he needs to do to call and eventually just gives up and says, “let’s just put it all in there.” The dealer objects, a player starts talking and I say, “let’s do it.”

Unfortunately, the dealer allows us to do this and my AK loses to his TT and I owe this man $207.

10:02 PM: There’s a limper or two, I make it $15 with QQ just after I’ve been called for the PLO game, one player calls in position, and the noob from the previous hand reraises me to $30 from a blind and a limper calls. I make it $115 of a stack of $373 and only the noob calls.

The flop is 752 with two spades and he immediately leads out for $40. I don’t waste much time before jamming the rest of my $258. He starts tanking and eventually says, “you have no idea, man” and I respond, “you’re right, I have no clue.”

He eventually decides to call it off and tables the 43hh and the 6 on the turn leaves me drawing dead.

Solid -$475 in minutes! All to the same guy… how could I leave that game?

Then I walk over to the PLO table and there are two people sitting there with chips in front of them.

I bit the bullet and sat down. I bought another $700 in chips and put $500 on the table (max) and $525 in my pocket.

Monday: We said goodbye to New Orleans and the Mississippi River and made the 5+ hour trek to Houston.

And arrived at the tiny house we booked for our Houston stay:

I thought it was a novel idea and that it might be fun to try out, but yeah, I’ll never be doing that again. I like my space. How many times did I hit my head on the ceiling? Too many.

Tuesday: We started off our day by having our best meal of the trip at LA Crawfish. The Leak had some very good crawfish and I had some excellent chicken pho.

And then we headed downtown to get our first glimpse of Minute Maid Park, home of the World Champion Houston Astros.

My first glimpse:

Craig Biggio statue throwing to Jeff Bagwell statue:

This is what banners look like:

Home plate entrance:

The Leak sizing up with Carlos Correa:

First glimpse of the field:

And one of our coolest moments as Seattle fans – getting the autograph of a Mariners legend and future Hall of Famer:

And this is what a World Series ring looks like:

This dude was giving a girl in Mariners gear hell as they were airing it on the Jumbotron. I was like two spots down in all M’s gear and did not think I would escape unscathed, but he showed me mercy:

Fresh after getting Dee Gordon’s autograph:

Our actual seats:

A video my mom shot of Root Sports in Seattle airing some loyal Mariner fans in Houston:

Unfortunate timing to be looking at my phone the whole time, but it was between innings!

Sick poster:

Future MVP:

Some cool street art inside the stadium:

And my last looks at a very cool ballpark!

10:49 PM: Well, I’d much rather play PLO mix than no limit, but… the action is forcing me back. This game is kind of lame and, uh, that last table was amazing.

10:58 PM: Back in 1/3 but not the table I’m aiming for. I’m keeping a hawk eye on that table to make sure they don’t give the next open seat to anyone but me.

I lost $131 in my brief time in the PLO game. I made it $20 with JT98 and c-bet $35 on KJ7 and another $65 when the king paired on the turn. After he called that bet, I was done with it unimproved and I let him show down a naked AA hand. Uh, okay.

11:41 PM: Finally! A hand I can talk about.

Middle position opens to $15, button calls, I call QJhh from the small, and the big also calls.

Flop is Q63 with two hearts. I has monster. I’m looking to check-raise here a lot, but the PFR checks along. Fortunately, the button bets $30. He’s been pretty aggro so this bet doesn’t surprise me at all and I certainly don’t give him credit for much. I’m torn between calling and raising here so I actually go for a limit hold’em almost min-raise to $70. That will likely get me heads up and keep a LAG’s range wide.

Bingo. They fold and he calls.

Turn brings my flush in and I bet $100 with another $164 behind. Seems okay. He tanks forever and finally jams for like $160ish total. I call and my flush ends up being good.

Someone makes it $6 and there’s a call. I make it $25, button calls, and an older white lady in her 60s or early 70s repops me to $95 and she only has like $100 behind that. Folds back to me. I’m annoyed that this is happening because I really like my hand, but I’m looking at her and her stack size and my hand just shrivels up. She has me crushed. She just has to. I fold.

Surprisingly, the button calls. That’s surprising because the button has like $75 behind.

They see a flop of 532, all clubs. Sigh. And then they get it in.

Her AA holds up.

Another $6 raise and a call and I make it $25 again with TT. Only the original raiser calls.

Flop is 975 with two clubs and he check-calls $35.

Turn is an ace and we both check.

River is a 6 and he takes forever to figure out what size to bet and settles on $50. Now it’s my turn to tank. I’m not great at ranging hands, so as I’m sitting there thinking about how likely it is that he has an 8, I’m also taking note of his body language and dude is just staring daggers at me. I stop thinking about it and put the call out.

He taps the table and I win the pot.

12:17 AM: Back at my original NL table and I’m limping along on the button with the T9o and the big blind makes it $25 to go. Only the psycho from the earlier hands calls and I look at the big blind and say, “nope” and put $25 out there.

Flop is 872 with two spades and he leads out for $55. He only has like $200 total and I think he’s capable of trying to steal in this spot preflop – even though it’s a terrible spot because the psycho has position and he’s always calling – so I put him all in. He eventually calls.

Turn is ace of spades and river is jack of clubs so it seems pretty good until he turns over the 53 of spades.

12:27 AM: Flop a set. Lose to a flush. Almost felted again.

Raise button with KJ. Check back flop. Turn top pair against two pair and almost felt again.

This is BRUTAL.

12:28 AM: And now I’m sitting here with $35 and I’m all in with JJ preflop like an idiot. Psycho and dude that had the flush against my set both call…

K43 with two diamonds… I have Jd… psycho leads $71… other dude calls… this is probably not good.

9 of clubs… psycho $30… call again…

10 of spades… $40 and a call… and….

A9…

vs…

JJ.

Fuck.

12:39 AM: Topped off to $300 again. I bought $1500 in chips tonight. I have less than $600 left.

12:45 AM: I have trips. Someone makes a flush. There goes another $150.

How is this real? Every hand they get there?

12:48 AM: Psycho opens $25, there’s a caller and I’m all in for $140 with KT of spades. He’s already called with A8 of hearts and turned his hand face up. Other dude is in the tank. And calls. Sigh.

He shows JJ. Super tank. Against psycho loose cannon and dude that has felted four times in the last half hour.

Woah. Flopped a king for the triple!

Punt fail. I was just trying to flip with the idiot but that was the nut result.

I want to update my Wednesday and Thursday activities but the hands have been fast and furious.

My boy is about to felt though. He had like $1500 at one point. Hopefully he has some deep pockets, otherwise my interest level is going to decrease dramatically.

He doubles with Q5!

1:07 AM: With blinds of 1/3, I open to $25 with AKo because I think it is probably advisable with this goof at the table. Let’s try to get as much money in pre as possible.

They all fold.

Wednesday: Still in Houston, we start off with breakfast at a place called The Breakfast Klub, the highest rated breakfast place in Houston according to TripAdvisor. It was great! The Leak got catfish and grits and I had a Belgium Waffle.

After breakfast, we headed to Nassau Bay to check out the Houston Space Center and the Johnson Space Center at NASA.

We got there about 2:30 and trams stop running at 3 so that was our top priority.

Here’s Historic Mission Control, the actual room where they monitored most (maybe the said all) of the Apollo missions:

They are remodeling it and sending the consoles out to be worked on so they start functioning again and NASA can include an operational version in their future tours:

The VIP viewing room:

Astronaut training center:

Rover they plan to use on Mars:

Pictures can’t do this rocket justice:

Dried ready-to-eat… ice cream sandwich? Wait, how did I not buy one of these?

This is a space toilet:

After NASA, we headed to Kemah Boardwalk and it was a bit disappointing. It felt more like an abandoned amusement park than lively social spot. They couldn’t even justify paying an employee to man every ride and basically all the snack stands were shut down.

But we did ride the Boardwalk Bullet, a wooden rollercoaster:

The Leak’s review: “that was the worst rollercoaster I’ve ever ridden.”

That was the only ride we did, but we did search for a good seafood place and GPS basically told us to walk two feet because we were sitting right in front of the restaurant we decided on without realizing how close we were.

Dinner at Landry’s:

This next picture is notable because…

…as we were eating, a dude and his lady were standing here and dude had a drone that he started flying and it hit the rail…

…and just fell right into the water.

The Leak audibly gasped when she saw it happen. I couldn’t stop laughing. What a bad beat.

The guy was on his phone while we ate and I wondered what his game plan was. Is he contacting the Coast Guard? Trying to get a warranty replacement?

The current was not soft so I’m guessing they never saw that thing again. I resisted the urge to conduct an interview after dinner.

1:39 AM: Open to $20 under the gun with TT and get two calls.

Flop is T64 rainbow. I bet $15 and a self-proclaimed nit (same guy that deep tank-called with JJ) makes it $55. Other dude folds. I’m going over all the possibilities in my head. I think it’s pretty standard to call here, but if he’s not real strong, how often does he check behind on the turn? Like with his Tx hands or JJ even? Not sure. It seems like he should be weighted to strong hands so I end up making it $125 and… he folds. Sigh.

I suck. Just like the Seahawks.

1:43 PM: Oh my. Psycho felted and just pulled out a huge wad of $100 bills and reloads another $300.

Uhm, go get a coffee, honey.

2:04 AM: Sigh. This night has been more vulgar than a viewing of Pulp Fiction with no consequences for anyone, but my dude just called the waitress that cut him off a “B-word” and now he is getting kicked out.

That probably spells the end of my night here.

2:37 AM: Cashing out now but I’ll report on one more hand:

Button open-limps, I make it $15 with KQo and he calls.

Flop is QQ5 rainbow. I lead $10 and he grabs a handful of chips and puts them in the pot. It ends up being $85 total. This is a bit different than the set of tens spot because this guy has way more garbage in his range and this board is absurdly dry. Calling is the only option.

Unfortunately he checks back the turn.

I try to induce on the river by sizing super small at $30 and he does not oblige.

Final Score: -$617 all sessions

I just asked a guy in all Texas Rangers gear how likely the game is to be rained out tomorrow and he said “100 percent.”

Ugh. Mariners vs Rangers at Globe Life Park in Arlington tomorrow is the only reason we are in Dallas right now.

I’ve never had tickets to a baseball game that got rained out. No clue how that works. I suppose if tomorrow got rained out they could schedule a doubleheader for Saturday and we could go watch the first game, or at least part of it, before flying back to Seattle later that night.