Good 'Ol Harrah's Strikes Again....did you expect anything less?

I have this problem. I tend to bitch and whine and complain about shit too much. Don't get me wrong. I don't wake up LOOKING for things to bitch and complain about. I promise. But it just seems like this world we all live in (or try to) just has a funny way of presenting opportunities everyday that just beg to be bitched about.

And of course...today would bring another. Oh, issue number one of course came when I attempted to whack the FINAL thing from my to-do list before heading for New Orleans. Managed to get all the others done, which included a lot of yard work, painting my 4-Runners' rusting brush guard (can't be pulling into VIP Valets in N.O. and L.V. looking like a freaking red neck!) and mailing out various things of importance (Mom's Mother's Day card, Biloxi Speeding Ticket, Homeowners Insurance). So the final thing? Well, Several of you have been chirping for more members of Monkey's Barn...and I am pretttttty sure there will be 'suspects' lurking all around in N'Awlins! So...with that in mind; it became very clear to me that the digital camera was simply NO GOOD for taking sneaky pictures of potential farm animals. The camera phone is simply the only good option.

Well, sometime before the Beau Rivage event, my camera on my Blackberry started giving a message of "Could not start the camera. Close other applications and try opening the camera again." *!@@(*&@#!(* Called Blackberry support, went through every kind of troubleshooting. Nothing worked. Was told the only sure way to fix the problem was to completely wipe the phones memory and restore it from scratch. SHIT! Did not really want to go there, its a total pain in the ass to rebuild it. But finally, on the eve of N'awlins...I decided to go ahead and go through the nightmare of doing this. So I get it all wiped and restored...and...PRESTO...the fucker is still giving me the SAME DAMN MESSAGE! Son of a .......mother (*!@#&(*!@#. What now???? The way I see it, at $415, these people need to replace this bitch!

So...I don't know what to do. So I took a 3 hour siesta in the backyard in my birthday suit with my latest book, "Shall We Tell The President" an assassination conspiracy novel from Jeffrey Archer, the first book I've ever read from him. So far, pretty interesting. The President who is scheduled to be rubbed out is a chick. Hmmm. A while ago I ordered all 6 of the Vince Flynn novels that I haven't read yet. Added to the 5 Coonts books and the 3 Richard A. Clarke books I got off of Amazon the other day, I have what amounts to a library now to work on till probably next summer!

I turn my attention to getting my accomodations over in New Orleans all worked out. Yesterday I emailed Steve Frezer asking about rooms and what not. He told me they were $69 a night, to call him today and he would get me all set up. So I call him, get his voice mail, leave him my credit card info. Plan to head over tonight, get all situated, get a good night of sleep. Maybe play online a little bit. Had a decent day on Stars yesterday, and in the Steps for the WSOP am now sitting on a ticket into Step 4 and Step 3. Thinking I am going to wait till Saturday or Sunday, play that Step 4, maybe two of them...and if you win, you can enter straight into the $650 WSOP satellite from there, instead of playing Step 6, where you have to WIN...1st, or you are DONE. Would rather take a shot with 700 players where 1 out of every 18 win a package, I think.

Anyway....later in the day, Steve texts me a message. "You have to call the Hilton yourself, sorry. You have to give them the discount code WSP, and the rate is $85." Say what? I text him back, "I thought it was $69?" He replies, "so did I, I guess they lied to me."

Let's clear this up. They did NOT LIE. Well, sort of. We will call it the 'ol Bait and Switch. And this is NOT the first time these assholes have pulled this stunt. In fact, it's about the FOURTH time they have pulled this crap! What they do, and its very slimy...is they advertise the event, promote it as having a 'special poker rate of $69' which gives everyone a basic idea of what their costs are going to be, right? And let's be honest, who do you know who books their hotel more than 1 week in advance? Seriously? Like maybe 5 to 10% of the players? Maximum!

So I call the hotel. First question. Do you have refrigerators in your rooms? Why do I ask? Well because I like to have lots of stuff to drink when I am in my room...like juice, Gatorade, some soda...and pudding, lots of pudding. And fruit cups! So they respond with...."mmmmm, well some of them do and some of them don't." Perfect answer. So I get there and either I get one or I don't. And if there isn't one, and I call for one, I am probably going to get some attitudinal front desk person who blows me off. So now I have a cooler full of stuff that I keep having to fill up with ice every 10 hours. Grrrrrrr.

Next I ask about the $69 poker rate we were quoted, and why now I am being quoted $85, which after taxes and other various forms of extortion come out to $101 a day. A HUNDRED A DAY...for a poker player to crash for 3 or 4 hours a night, and maybe shower! So, why were we quoted $69 for the last two months? Here it comes....see if you can smell the bullshit.....

"Well, sir, we reserved a 'block' of rooms for the poker tournament, and they all sold out (uh huh...yeah, sure they did!) early, so we reserved another block of rooms, and those are going for $85."

Rigggggggghhthhhhhtttttt! This is the same little scam they have pulling on us poker players at the Hilton now for the last 4 years. EVERY SINGLE time they have an event at the Harrahs over there, this is what happens. Granted, okay...I am bitching about another $20 a day (after taxes, etc)..which sounds chippy...but over the course of 12 days, folks...hey! Thats $240! With all the variance in this game as it is, I and several like me, try to cut corners wherever possible and the hotel costs are one that we really focus on. Okay, yeah yeah...I know...I will go and play (and maybe lose) 4 SNG's for $120 each...and yeah that would cover 5 days of hotels, but that ISNT THE POINT!

I was also kind of annoyed to find out that they aren't running any SNG's the day before the tourney. I think that is ridiculous. Especially if they are expecting to get a big field for the first tourney, a $340 on Friday. Oh well, so all of this crap with the room has killed my plans to go over there early as I had planned. Instead I am staying home, taking Squirrel out to Sushi, and to see Wolverine, then get up at like 8am and get on the road in time to get there, buy in for full price, and hopefully kick some ass tomorrow! Armed with my digital camera, which is ANYTHING but stealthy! Stupid Blackberry.

Look forward to seeing all of you over there, well...all the GOOD players anyway. The crappy ones are welcome to stay home and play lawn darts with their blind relatives.

MONKEY