Good Morning, Albuquerque!

I'm sitting at a Starbucks at the foot of the Sandia mountain range, thinking about how beautiful it is here. Albuquerque is a wonderful city. How did I get here? Read on.

Last night I decided to make one more trip to the Riverwind poker room in Norman, Oklahoma. My goal was to either make a profit, or lose $50. Whatever the outcome, I was headed for Albuquerque the next morning.

Before going to the poker room I sat at the food court at the Riverwind and did a Sudoku puzzle. It was a little early; I didn’t want to hit the baize until at least 7 p.m. A good Sudoku puzzle takes me an hour or more. I drank some coffee and just waited until it felt time to go to work.

I waited only a few minutes for a seat once I registered for a $3/$6 limit game sometime after 7 p.m. I took the 4-seat. The table was full, a good sign, and I could tell the players were not overly aggressive or maniacal. So I was ready to play well.

For the first 30 minutes I played 5 hands and actually won a nice pot with two pair after the turn card hit my Jack. I was ahead by about $10 rather early. But then things turned sour. Nothing drastic, just sour. Things often turn sour at a poker table and you have to just hang on until sweetness and joy return.

By the time I was through, I had lost $54. The hand that tilted me was pocket Aces. I was the one with the Aces! When I turned them up in the hole, I said to myself, “Okay. I’m going to bet these suckers as hard as I can. If they hold up, I’ll leave with a nice profit tonight. If not, no big deal. I’ll just leave.”

And since the poker gods have a sense of humor, they thought it would be a nice joke to send me on my way via cracked Aces.

A donkeyfishhole called my preflop raise with 4-5 offsuit (what an idiot). He then called my bet with a flop of 6-4-blank, obviously liking his small pair and a long shot for a runner-runner straight. The turn was a 3, naturally. I knew immediately he was on a draw. Dang it! He called my bet on the turn. No 7, no 2, dealer…no 7, no 2. Come on, help me out here. The river was a 7 giving the donkeyfishhole a straight. My Aces were worthless. I stood up, racked my remaining chips and headed for the cashier.

Once I returned to my car I had a decision to make. Do I stay here for the night? Do I go back and play a round of Ultimate Texas Hold’em to see if I can recoup some of the money I had just lost? Or, strange as it may have been to consider it, do I want to drive on to Albuquerque tonight?

Albuquerque won.

I’m thanking God this morning for those cracked Aces. That bad beat resulted in my decision to leave Norman immediately. (I admit I was a little on tilt and just wanted some distance between me and that donkeyfishhole at the Riverwind.) I made the right decision.

I left at 8 p.m., driving north to Oklahoma City to pick up Interstate 40 to all points west. I was feeling upbeat, not sleepy at all. My goal was to drive as far as possible throughout the night.

Along the way I passed billboards promoting the Lucky Star Casino. There are actually two Lucky Stars, one in Clinton to the northwest, and another won much larger closer to Oklahoma City off Interstate 45 just west of town. I discovered that both locations were too far from the highway to drive to , so I passed them by without stopping.

I paid for gas once, hoping to get to Amarillo by midnight. I hit the Texas border at 11 p.m., but didn’t make it to Amarillo until after one o’clock in the morning. I was still feeling okay, so I kept driving west toward the New Mexican border and Tucumcari, the “gateway to New Mexico.” Just outside of Tucumcari I was too sleepy to continue, so I stopped at a truck stop and quickly went to sleep in my car just after 3 a.m.

I woke at 7 a.m. after about four good hours of needed sleep. I cleaned up at the truck stop and then continued west. Along the way I stopped at Clinton Corners, a cheesy trinket factory, restaurant, and gas station. That place is like a Stuckey’s on steroids. I especially liked the “boob ball”, a rubber ball shaped like a woman’s breast, complete with teat. The label on the ball said, “It’s Squeezable!” Only in America.

I bought a cup of coffee and an Albuquerque newspaper. Once back on the road, a sign told me Albuquerque was 57 miles away. No problem. I can handle that! Where’s my boob ball?

I hit downtown Albuquerque at just after 1 p.m. Texas time. I knew that the Sandia Casino and Resort were located on Interstate 25 north, so I took that exit. Within minutes I was in the immaculate lobby of the Sandia Resort located just north of downtown at the foot of the Sandia mountain range.

I'll be here for a day or two, at least. I may just settle here! It's a beautiful city. Since the high temperature in the Las Vegas area is forcasted to be 107 today, I'm in no hurry to get there.