A little self-promotion … check out the latest issue of Southwest Spirit magazine. The cover story is a feature on cruises. Scroll about 4/5 down the page; yours truly speaks as an expert on all things gambling … and give my tips to cruisers on how to enjoy the most bang for their ocean-gambling buck at not just Texas Hold’em, but also slots, blackjack, and roulette.

LOL, if only they really knew …

Pick up a copy in a Southwest Airlines seat back near you.

UPDATE: Cruisers beware of pirates.

LAS VEGAS–Ask anybody that knows me and they’ll tell you that I march to the beat of a different drum. Sometimes that a nice way of calling somebody retarded, but I’d like to think that it just means that I live life in a way that few can understand. For example, coming to Vegas on a whim during the WSOP with $60 is NOT something that Tom or most of you can understand. To be honest, I’m not really sure why I did it. But it certainly made things interesting.

Because I also came to Vegas with no place to stay, I was happy to know that Tom had a double queen room and that Julie had just left, hooking me up quite nicely. Thanks again, Tom. The next morning after arriving, I showered and snuck out while the Donkey slept. I made my way to the casino, dying to find the cheapest early morning action. $60, remember? Most would search for a low min blackjack table. At the Rio, there were none to be had on this bright Vegas morning.

Roulette is really cool in the sense that when you get $60 in singles, it’s a lot of fun and you can still feel like a high roller as you spread the board. My decision pays off and I am $20 richer. Ok cool. But the guy to my right made only one bet, placing all 20 of his remaining chips on 21. YATZEE! He drags $700! Then he makes a few more smaller bets, leaving his original 20 in its same spot. Deja Vu – $700 again! Now I’m not sure what the chances are, but when he leaves his original 20 there again, I cap it with 5 of my own. Trifecta! Un-fucking-believable! About thirty minutes later me and my new best friend are still cranking away. By this time he has grown his original $20 to over FOUR THOUSAND. I have rode the wave for $850 of my own! My Vegas money probs are gone… For now.

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