Thursday, August 27, 2015

Greg's Game

Well, it was quite a day.  Great fun. 
John and his boy Ben showed up for just an hour or so.  There was no large splashing calls in the dark to get chips on the table, nor did the kid take his dad to the cleaners, but I think they both had fun.
I guess I was disappointed that there wasn't that moment where John was all in with Ben looking up and smiling that smile of pity, pushing to call, and the old novelist going down to the ground penniless.
Oh, well, next time Ben.

I had a tough time getting to the game at all, but Gregg took care of me and Peter, driving a good bit to get us to the game on time.  We had a good lunch too in the old Dragon buffet.  Ezzy sure missed another great time there.  We know you want to go, Ezzy, in spite of all those inspections of unrefrigerated meats in Chinese places.

My van is still unfixed waiting for parts although they promised to order them last week.  I hate dealers because they are so dysfunctional.
Elizabeth picked us up just after we played to seven.  It worked out well for her. She ended up in the area, but thanks Gail for the offer of the ride home. 
I felt a bit unsettled without my card protectors or my own trays, all of that in the van.  I brought a watch as card protector but the back kept coming off.  O le[t trying to hold it together with electrical tape.   The watch was a bit like my game.

Peter, after a couple of weeks of small losses, was on his game again, ending up with a profit of about $220 which will be parlayed in Vegas in September into millions.  He just could not be beat.
He destroyed me early in the game by going all-in with pocket kings after the flop when I had the famed 9-6  and it caught two pair.  Runner-runner sevens meant his two pair was higher.  I never got a decent bankroll back and in the end was down $60, forty of it in that one hand.

And Peter won at the Pineapple too.  We played that for a little over an hour.

I think Ed left with some money.  I'm not certain about Ezzy.

Jim got destroyed.  He could not catch any playable cards.  He was the folding king. The only thing he got out of poker this week was a full development of his arm muscle, the one used to toss in the cards.  The one hand I remember Jim winning was on so few chips that his "main pot" was a third the size of the "side" pots after his all-in.

The music was good again.  Plenty of old fifties music that clicks emotional memories of my youth listening to the jutebox across from the cottage at Lime Lake or slow dancing with a girl. Some Louie Prima and finally, finally to Jim's great relief came the ignored kitchen utensils singing.... something...... Jim's commentary was grand as well.  And he was quick on the draw to eliminate the rauchy song before it spoiled the ears of the your Ben.  "Hahahahahahaha.  Like that could happen,"   Ben said.

Gail too got slammed.  I talked her into going over her budget and playing $10 in Pineapple and that was very bad advice.  Added to her losses, she had the job of cleaning up the coffee I spilled on the rug, and she stayed a while to be our official dealer.  Thanks, Gail.  Then to add insult to injury some thoughtless one of us peed with the seat left down and left small droplets for her to clean before she sat.  Some of us know we did not do such a thing because we also sit.  Yes, old men sometimes sit so they don't pee on the seat or really so they don't dribble down the pantleg.  You will all know someday so quit your grinning.
Anyway Gail came back to the table and was Sgt. Gregory, chewing us out and threatening us with the firing squad if it happened again.  Of course, that wouldn't work because Gail would be left to clean up the blood after the shooting.

Jim had his own troubles when in honor of Chuckmonk he knocked over a tray of chips.  It just was not his day.

High hand went to me.  Ezzy tried his best to take it away with Aces full of Kings that showed on the river, but it was a river dealt only as "the rabbit" so that last Ace was not in the live part of the game and did not count. 

No one had cracked Aces but Gregg had winning Aces a few times.  Peter had them.  I never did, but I did pull three Aces once but never saw the fourth.  I saw a full house, however, and won a bit of money on the river.

Ed caught quad jacks, but he had not played the bonus this week.  Thanks Ed for not playing.

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In other Gambling news, the 1-1 game at the Linq might be less a low roller game than I thought because the Max buy-in is $300.  That defeats the purpose of 1-1 in my opinion.  In Ocala the Max is $60 (Min $20)  and at Mohegan the Max is $100 (min$50)  The game might get filled with Min buy-in folks, but if not, I won't play it and go back to limit or 2-6 spread limit. 
This guy was hired to deal, however.  He is a bit of blog celebrity. 
The Tropper
https://www.youtube.com/user/TheTrooper97Vlog

Slots are reported to be reducing payouts across the country.  Here is one article on one area. 
http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bs-bz-slots-payouts-20150826-story.html

It is such a shame that in all this development of gambling the gambler gets no good deals.  If the state had not decided to tax this entertainment to death, thus getting their Tony Soprano "taste" of the action,  natural competition might have offered gamblers a better bang for the buck, but as it is now, we get screwed with bad games and then we have to pay taxes on top of that.  If the IRS has there way, we'll be filling out paperwork on every win of $600 or more.  When it is the governments interest to make the games bad, those of us who like to play lose.

Okay, write back your favorite or least favorite hands. 
See you next week, but after that, you won't have old Dewey to kick around any more until October.  I leave on the 9th for Vegas and the great 40th birthday of my middle boy.  Since I'm just barely over forty, I don't quite understand the math of it, but it should be a grand trip with all five boys in on the celebration. 
Oh, Peter thanks you for his Vegas bankroll and hopes you will all fold and catch lesser hands against him next week as well.



 

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