Having a Car in Nevada

Ok, so now that I bought my Vegas house, it's pretty much clear that I'm going to need a car out there. The house is about 11 miles from the strip, so taking cabs is pretty much out of the question, and renting cars will really add up coming out to Vegas more. Just renting for 6 weeks for the wsop will run me $1200 or so, and tag on another $300 or so every time I come out for a week. Plus having to ride the shuttle from the airport, and then standing in line at the rental car hub isn't a pleasant experience. Afterall, the reason I bought a house in Vegas is to make it feel like a 2nd home. If I have to figure out transportation every time, it just won't feel that way.

So in PA I have two cars for myself and my wife has one. I have a 2004 Audi A4 which I picked up on eBay last summer, but haven't driven it much since. I'm thinking of a few options here...

1. I could ship the car to Vegas, which would cost me about $700 or so and leave it there so I have a car.
2. I could drive the car out, which would be cheaper, but what is that like 3-4 days of driving? Not sure I wanna do a big drive a few days before 25 wsop events.
3. I wonder if I could trade in the car locally, say for a new BMW or something... and have them arrange for me to accept delivery in Vegas. This would be a sweet way to justify a new car... even though I'd have a brand new car sitting in a garage in Vegas 9 months out of the year idle.

Also, I'm unsure how I should be registering/plating/insuring a car. I called my insurance agent here, and he told me I can keep PA plates on the car forever as long as my primary residence and DL stays in PA. Only one problem, PA requires inspection and emmissions... so I would have to bring the car back every year to keep it legal. That really isn't an option. It might be easier to plate it in Nevada, but can I do that with a PA drivers license even though I own a 2nd home in Nevada?

The Search for a Vegas House

Ok so I've been super jealous of the baller house that X bought early last year, which is a sweet 6,000sq mansion formerly owned by Randall Cunningham. I've been tossing the idea of buying a 2nd home around off and on in Vegas ever since 2004 when I started coming out regularly to play poker/bet sports. I have to admit though, it was little more than a pipedream until I saw X's house. Sure the first time I saw it there was no running water, it was 100 degrees inside, and there were dragonflies in the pool... but hey, it's super baller now.

My needs aren't quite as elaborate as his, as he plans on using his place for corporate rentals. He filled the house with 100k in leather sofas, plasmas in every room, a fitness center, and a home theatre. For me though the main goals of having a place in Vegas are a little different...

1. House to stay in when I come out 2-3 months a year. Up until this point it's been usually less than 2 months, but my wife after 5 years of asking her finally quit her job. Now I can travel more because of it, sweet.

2. Buy and Hold for a long term flip. Home prices in Vegas have plummeted in the last year. Sure, right now Vegas is a huge disaster, but give it time and I believe it will improve. I don't see how in 20 years I'll be selling it for anything less than 2x the purchase price this year.

3. Not this year, but hopefully as early as next year I'm hoping to bring out my wife and 3 kids out for the summer. My kids are small (4, 2, and 3mo), so I really want them to be in a nice house as far away from scumbags as possible. I don't want to have to worry about their safety playing in the back yard while I'm playing wsop events.

I also have a friend lined up to rent this house pretty much from day one. He would get to live in a fairly large house for the price of a one bedroom apt, and in return he'll help me out by doing things like making sure the pool guy/landscapers show up and stuff like that. Nothing that involves a ton of work, but stuff that needs to be kept up on if I'm back in PA for 4-5 months in between visits.

Ok, so in comes the tilt section. Holy shit, I've been pouring over hundreds of listings for days, and I just can't seem to find the perfect house. I've seen a few nice houses, but those turn out to be short sales and will no doubt be a nightmare and with the advice of my realtor I'm probably going to stay clear of them. At this point a lot of the houses are starting to all look the same, and I'm just going to have to come out and spend a few days looking at dozens of properties.

Questions. I've pretty much narrowed it down to West LV and Henderson. Henderson seems like a great place to be, except I'm just not seeing the kind of house I'm looking for, which is...

250-300k
0-10 years old
2000-3500sq
4+ Bedrooms
Good Condition
Gated Community preferred
Pool Preferred, but not necessary

Everything I look at either has a desert landscaped horrible looking backyard, or has a great view of a desert mountain past the fence. I would love to host some pool party/cookouts from this pad, and that isn't the scenery I'm looking for. I'm not saying I need the Vegas Strip in the background, just not a view of coyotes pissing.

I've found a few nice properties in the NW, where a few good friends live off I-95, but those are way the fuck out there and easily 30mins from the strip if not more with traffic, which there's a lot of on 95/Summerlin Pkwy. That leaves me only due West and SW, which I think is probably going to be my best bet, but I have heard there are sketchy neighborhoods in this area. I really don't want my kids anywhere near any of that. So I'm open to opinions here.

Here are a few props I've singled out so far. A few need some paint, but for the most part are fairly nice and I'll definitely be looking at them.

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-...9129_1108064239
http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-...9144_1107747313
http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-...9134_1105128749
http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-...9148_1104311700

Official NCAA Championship Game Thread

Discuss, I'm still doing some line shopping....

You Make the Call - 500/1k LHE Edition

Sort of a squirrely hand vs a megatard..

Full Tilt Poker Game #1122371xxx: Table Norway (heads up) - $500/$1000 - Limit Hold'em - 15:29:45 ET - 2009/03/19
Seat 1: cfc10xx ($3,491.50)
Seat 2: Hero ($49,273.50)
cfc10xx posts the small blind of $250
Hero posts the big blind of $500
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero [3c As]
cfc10xx raises to $1,000
Hero calls $500
*** FLOP *** [Kc Kh Jc]
Hero checks
cfc10xx bets $500
Hero calls $500
*** TURN *** [Kc Kh Jc] [Ad]
Hero checks
cfc10xx checks
*** RIVER *** [Kc Kh Jc Ad] [Qs]
Hero has 15 seconds left to act

Options are check or bet (obv). Villian has 1993 left. He most likely has air here, and only a 10 beats us since a K is very unlikely. If he has and Ace we obv chop. If we bet he will def call a Q or a J, and by history most likely will call playing the board. If we check we can induce a bluff, but he will also definitely check behind a Q or J, as he is def not the type to thin bet us. He is much more likely to bluff than thin bet us.

But wait, he has 1991 left... don't rule out the "fuck it I don't have enough to play another hand" raise bluff. This person almost never raises without a big hand, but all in may be different this one time. We'd only be getting 7-1 on a call to a raise, which in this spot might not be good enough, since like I said he never bluff raises.


You make the call.

Set up iTunes Media Server

I had an extra Mac Mini laying around my office, so I thought I'd install Leopard on it (was running Ubuntu for the last project) and create a home network media server. Using the magic of xtorrent I've started downloading some of my favorite music, mostly consisting of 90's-Current Alternative/Modern Rock and some 90s hiphop that is still good to listen to on occassion.

I need some reminders on who some of the better bands are/were in the 90s until now. I confess I don't listen to much radio or watch MTV anymore, so there's probably a ton of good shit that I would listen to out there that I don't know about. I've already locked up the Pearl Jam discography as well as some classic Snoop/Warren G. Still have 800gb free, gimme some ideas.