California Trip – Part Six

When I woke up at 10:30 on Wed. morning, my itinerary had been done. All the poker rooms had been visited. I’d eaten lunch on the Santa Monica Pier, been out to the desert, seen windmills and poker stars and generally been around.

But I still had a full day ahead of me.

I found the strength inside of me to play yet more poker and made it over to the Hollywood Park race track, which was the closest one to the airport. I sat at a $200 max buyin table for four hours and ran good, profiting over 300 before I left. I can’t tell you any specific hands, because I don’t really remember, except that I was making good reads and betting well. I wanted to play longer, but the horses were racing at the park that day and I wanted to see at least one race. I did manage to bet on the last race of the day, 5:00PM post time.

As I scanned the odds lines, I decided to put $6 on horse 6, paying 5 to 1, to Show (meaning he’d pay out if he finished 1st, 2nd or 3rd). I put another $4 on a Trifecta of 10,6 and 16. 10 was paying 5 to 1 as well and 16 was the favorite at 9/2. Unlike other race tracks I’ve been to where you have to watch from a grandstand far away, Hollywood Park lets you get right next to the track and the horses aren’t more than 30 feet away when they gallop past the finish line. Because of my line of sight, I couldn’t see the start of the race but I got a great view of the finish. My boys were in great position to pay me off all through the race but my main nag, 6, slipped out of the top two at the last second and finished in 4th by a nose. The top four finishers, in order, were 16, 10, 12 and 6! SOOOO close. The Trifecta would have paid me almost $2500!! Instead, I lost on both bets and I was out $10. It was a fun 30 minutes though and seeing the jockeys parading around on their steeds was a wonderful sight. The animals are incredible and the whole thing is filled with a great mystery and romance. That is, until you see the patrons. Guys who bet on the ponies, by and large, are the absolute dregs of humanity. Just saying.

My flight didn’t take off until 9:30p, so I had a few hours to kill but I didn’t know what to do. By the time I drove anywhere, I’d have to turn around anyway. I spent an hour trying to find a Best Buy to get a wireless mouse for my laptop and scored one about 10 minutes away. Then I just went to the airport. I was two hours early, but I bought a one day pass for $45 at the executive lounge (worth it for the free beers and nice lounge) and got on my flight. It was a quick 4.5 hours home and we landed early by about an hour. A cab ride home and my trip was at an end. Oh lord, was it fun.

There are so many more rooms to see in Southern Cali. I’m looking forward to doing San Diego and then San Francisco too, but who know when I’ll get the opportunity. I think my next big trip will be to either Tunica or Indiana for the riverboat rooms.