Hmmm. There was no real discussion of the newest rule consideration.
Well, the game today was well attended: Dewey, Peter, Ezzy, Gregg, Jim, Charlie.
Gregg and Charlie split the high hand with Aces full of Jacks. it was an early catch and it held up.
Both Ezzy and Dewey had pocket Aces, but both won the hands, so the Cracked Aces Bonus money went back to each player.
Gregg brought some fine cookies, including those almond windmill cookies of our youth.
I can't eat cookies. All I can do is drool.
Ezzy left with over double his buy-in, so he had a good day.
Charlie had the best day with a win of over $50.
Peter won $4.
I lost $52, a pretty steep hit for this game.
I think Jim made some money.
Gregg lost again. He has had tough luck this spring, but he is a good sport about it.
I can't remember too many dramatic hands, but that may be because I was never in many.
I did win a good pot from Gregg when my Club flush draw caught on the river.
I also remember losing three hands with trips to straights.
And I split about a half dozen pots.
no quads, no straight flushes.
Charlie made one good call against Peter's 40 chip river bluff. Nice, Charlie.
It was a fine, long afternoon of play, ending at 6 PM. Nice.
We had a good bit of trouble with cards. So many are marked with black, even some that we took right out of the box, brand new. Disappointing.
The music was just great. Peter was singing along to Blues Traveler. Plenty of conversation around music history with Jim filling in the details. Ezzy wants to play "Name that Tune" and he was pretty accurate on just a few notes. Plenty Johnny Cash, Erik Clapton, and some songs with lyrics that will go unrecorded here. Jim is can be quite unique and unconventional.
This was the last day of the Chinese museum. The walls will be newly decorated next time.
Well, I wish my memory was better.
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OTHER CASINO NEWS
Turning Stone poker room apparently is under new management. One change may be the opening of a 1-1 game. Another will be the games being followed by Bravopoker, an app for your phone that will let you know what they are playing and where there are seats before you go to the casino. Currently, the app will show that information for Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun and really all the casinos within 1000 miles. It is a very amazing tool. I'll be trying mine out in Vegas this fall. The poker room told me Turning Stone would connect to Bravopoker sometime in June.
If you have the Turning Stone poker room mailing, you may have $20 for June that is good to offset the $85 poker rate for a nice room. $65 is not too bad for Saturdays. That is what it is all this month. No longer can you get a better deal at the Inn. That used to be about $35 with the coupon. Perhaps weekdays that would be possible. The difference in price was just about $6 on Saturdays in June.
Then for the very adventurous there is The Landing
I've gone up there and slept in the van. For $25 I got a site with electricity just steps from the hot showers. In the morning I would have a bit of breakfast at the picnic table and use the wifi. They did not mind me coming in at 1 AM, but I did try to be quiet.
Of course, if you are really frugal, you can sleep in your car at Foxwoods in the parking lot. I tried it, but I can't use my apnea machine, the lights were on all night, and then workmen came to clean up in the very early morning. For me, although it was free, it was not my favorite camping adventure.
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When heading to Foxwoods and Mohegan, if you don't get a comped room, it is pretty expensive. Foxwoods is pretty lose with weekday comped rooms and there is a pool that opens at 7AM. However, I have not been playing there because I like Mohegan Sun and their 1-1 game better.
So, I've stayed a few places in Groton. That seems to be where the cheaper rooms are. If you can get the Groton Inn at a cheap price, the free breakfast is a sit down and order from the menu breakfast. That is a good breakfast. Most of the others I can't eat with my diabetes.
Scott and I once got a good deal on the Microhotel near Mohegan Sun (with shuttle) but I don't see those deals showing up so much. Anyway, I like the weekend nights for the poker games. More tourist-like players. Better shows and music.
At both Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun I have gone and looked for ticket scalpers and gotten seats for less than half the price. Generally, these are the good seats, comped for some of the higher rollers. It is worth a try if you are not dedicated to going to a show, but would when the price is right.
My last visit to Turning Stone, last Fall, I just lucked into the Steven Wright comedy show, so it is worth looking to see what is offered. There I did not find scalpers but paid the low entry rate, but I have seen some around the box office on other trips.
I got a two free night offers in the mail from Resorts in Atlantic City today. Tempting. I love riding my bike on the boardwalk.
I have not gone anywhere recently. My bankroll is low, and I'm saving for two month long trips to Vegas.
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Speaking of Vegas, I had a huge hit on the MyVegas free slot game. I hit for 6 million chips. I ran them hard and actually finished the last challenge with only 80,000 chips left. That gives me 2 million back to play with. In the course of the play, I pushed my LP's from below 100,000 to above 170,000. That is enough for quite a few free buffets, especially at the Red Rock and Palace Station casinos where I have 5 free MyVegas nights coming this fall. I don't even have to pay resort fees at the Station Buffets, but their LP price is high.
If you decide you'd like to play, let me know and "friend" me on Facebook because there is a way to add chips to each other's bankroll. Also, I have a few sites with free chips that are available.
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I got hired to write the Resorts Fee article again for the 2016 American Casino Guide.
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Here is an interesting note from John Grochowski, a professional gambling writer, on taxes:
Provided you keep adequate records, the IRS does allow you to deduct gambling losses up to the amount of your winnings if you itemize deductions on your return. If you plan to itemize, you should keep a gambler's log, noting casino name and location, date, time, game played, amount of buy-ins, amount of cash-outs, and net win or loss on each game you play. Some casinos will provide you a record of your wins and losses for the year through their player rewards systems, but it's best if you have your own detailed records.
This is becoming more of an issue, since the IRS wants now to make casinos issue paperwork for every win over $600. There is quite a bit of anger in the gambling community. The paperwork expense alone would be a head ache for the casinos, and the projection of loss of income because of wasted time is huge.
It would change quarter VP games so that any royal and many 4 Aces payouts would require filling out a tax form and often having part of the winnings withheld. http://www.accountingtoday.
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