Hold-Em Hold It

DATELINE: WEST MEMPHIS, AR, 11:30 a.m. CDT

Miles Yesterday: 300 (plus another 130-ish after midnight before I stopped for the night)

I had a lot of free time yesterday since my pickup time was 8:00 p.m. and I had completed my delivery the day before at 7:15 p.m. I woke up yesterday before 6:00 a.m. after having gone to bed fairly early. My pickup in the evening was about 2-1/2 hours away, so I was planning to get underway at 5:00 p.m., perhaps 4:00 to include a stop at a Flying J en route for fuel and a shower (I'd have to buy at least 50 gallons of fuel to earn a free shower there). But that plan changed just a bit.

Because of my scads of free time, I hit the online poker tables. No-Limit Texas Hold 'Em is my game. I played some (VERY low stakes) cash games and a couple of freeroll (no entry fee) tournaments, with varying results. But all-in-all I came out a bit ahead. My biggest disappointment was my last freeroll tourney. It started at 12:35 and had 3300+ entrants. I knew if I had a good run it would take me close to the time I'd have to start my workday, but it's always good practice. So I entered anyway.

I can't say I was eating the competition alive, but I was hanging on, increasing my chip stack now and then with good hands. I always had less than the average chip stack, but I was playing to survive into the payouts (top 18 places) rather than to score big early. 4:00--my departure time if I wanted to stop for a shower--came and went, and I was still alive, into the top 100. I had 1 hour to complete the tournament one way or another. Naturally, the pace of players getting busted out slowed way down. As 5:00--my departure time--approached, I made it into the top 30. I started preparing to hit the road--getting into my driving clothes (jeans instead of the shorts I'd been wearing all day) and securing my loose gear--while trying to complete the tourney. But the dropout rate was too slow, and I had to give up my quest for the cash (a whole $1 if I made it into 10th through 18th place, up to $10 for 1st place). I had to start going all-in with every hand in an effort to bust out so I could hit the road. It took 2 hands to lose all my chips, and I finished in 24th place. Naturally, my best run in one of these tournaments and I can't finish because of time constraints. :-( I'm sure I would have cashed if I could have stayed in.

So that's my sob story. After that the day was pretty anti-climactic. I made the drive to the pickup, arriving 20 minutes early. The load took about an hour, and I was headed south (I-55 the whole way) at 9:15. My goal for the night was to reach our West Memphis terminal, which was nigh on 300 miles, or 5 hours of steady driving, away. Mission accomplished, though at midnight I had attempted to find a spot in a couple of truck stops, even though I wasn't too terribly tired yet. No luck there, so I pressed on and reached West Mem at 2:15 a.m. By then I was quite tired, so I was soon to bed.

I've had my shower this morning, so I'll be ready to go when my 10-hour break concludes in another half hour. Today I'm headed for Robert, LA, which is just north of Lake Pontchartrain along I-18. I'll probably stop for the night in Hammond, just west of Robert, because there's a truck stop there. My delivery is at 7:15 tomorrow morning, so today's a transition from overnight to daytime driving.

Now it's time for me to get ready to hit the road once more. Thanks for your loyal readership, and keep on truckin'.