Archive for "Poker"
Will Deal Cards for Food
Posted on December 15, 2008 by Ching under Food and Drink, Life, Poker.
On Friday night at Highlands Jen was like, “So did you have to go to school to deal cards?” I explained to her that Brian and I just got to tag along on the cruise because they had two dealer spots open. We didn’t really have any formal training.
“I’m sure that the real casino dealers like the ones in Vegas receive special training, but Brian and I just dealt for that trip.” I mean, I doubt we would be able to do anything like that ever again. That’s really what I was thinking. I guess I spoke too soon.
Sunday morning (well, it was like noonish but Brian and I were still laying in bed) I received a call from Shane. He said he needed two dealers for a private holiday party at Highlands. We would get compensated for two hours of work from 7 pm to 9 pm. I woke Brian up for a quick deliberation. We figured we would be done with our movie, The Day the Earth Stood Still, by 6 pm so we would have plenty of time. Called Shane back to tell him that yes, we would do it and we would even come early.
Dealing cards for a group of inebriated people is a lot less stressful than dealing for a bunch of APL players who watch your every move. You don’t have to worry about being perfect or being fast. However, it’s not without challenges. I was lucky that I had a couple of people at my table who knew how to play Texas hold’em pretty well. I only had to focus on the other five, making sure they knew the rules of the game and the hand rankings and all that jazz. Although, I still had to make sure that people knew when it was their turn to act because after a few drinks (some people had a lot) no one knew what was what.
We played a couple of 30-minute rounds and then at the end of each round, the player with the most chips won a prize. The prize for the first round was a $15 gift certificate to Highlands and then we gave away four Thunder hockey tickets in the second round. I totally spaced out and let the same guy win both though, and we weren’t supposed to do that. I didn’t realize it until after we were done and Brian told me that one of the guys at his table wasn’t happy about that rule because he really wanted the hockey tickets.
Anyway, at my table the guy in second place came pretty close in the second round. He technically should have won the hockey tickets because the other guy won the gift certificate already. I was a dum-dum, though, and I let the other guy win again. I didn’t realize it until after we were done and Brian and I huddled to tell each other what happened at our tables. That really bothered me, but I couldn’t do anything about it because Kurt was busy wrapping things up. I felt really bad. I hoped that Kurt would have a second before the guy left for the evening so that I could talk him into giving me four Thunder hockey tickets in exchange for getting paid so that I could rectify my mistake. Kurt was really cool about it, though. He gave me four tickets to fix my boo boo and I still got paid.
Kurt gave Brian and I the option of getting paid in cash or getting paid in the form of gift certificates. We opted for gift certificates because we are at Highlands at least once a week and we would definitely put it to good use. Althought, I wish I would’ve known about this opportunity before I bought a bunch of Highland gift certificates from Entercom. They’ve got a 50% off deal going on right now where you get $50 in gift certificates for $25. I couldn’t pass it up so I bought some. I guess they’ll be seeing a lot of us until all these gift certificates are used up. Even then, we’ll still keep coming back. LOL.
BTW, Brian was telling me about this overly flirtatious woman at his table. He was like, “If I weren’t married I probably could have gotten laid tonight.” Har har. Very funny. Not to burst Brian’s bubble, but I’m pretty sure the woman in question was flirting with everyone.
I told one of my coworkers about it this morning. I wasn’t upset or anything, I was simply sharing the story because I thought it was funny. She was like, “Doesn’t Brian wear a wedding ring?”
“Sure he does,” I told her. “Apparently she was too drunk to notice.”
Anyway, I was pretty impressed with how the whole holiday party went. Sure the card games portion of the evening started a little late and ran a little over, but everything (at least that I could see) seemed to flow pretty smoothly. I think the guests really enjoyed themselves. Then again, I’m looking at it from the other side so I could be a little biased.
Our own holiday party at Margarita’s the previous day seemed like mayhem in comparison, specially with the whole double booking situation and not getting our food until several people were done eating and had to go boxes already. Carly said the people there were really unfriendly.
I told her about the holiday party at Highlands yesterday and how nice it was and even suggested that maybe we could go with Highlands next year. She said some people wanted to do the casino thing again like we did in 2002 when we had a nice formal dinner at the Broadview. People could stay afterward and play casino games. The organizers had hired the folks at Celebrations to do that part of the event. Some people wanted to do the Warren thing again, where we rented an entire auditorium and had our dinner buffet served in the theater. Anyway, there were several ideas thrown out. I told her if they wanted to do the casino thing, Highlands would be a good option — except I didn’t think that Highlands could do craps and roulette and all that. I gave her their web site so she could check it out.
“Yes but are they still going to be open in six months?” she joked. It’s true that the location has been unlucky for its previous tenants. Then again, the other restaurants didn’t have JD Harvey and Kandu. Highlands seems to be doing quite well for themselves so I have no doubt they’ll be around for a good long time. I really hope we get to have our work holiday party there next year.
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Invite Tournament
Posted on December 13, 2008 by Ching under Poker.
Well, we were initially worried about participating in the $1000 invite tournament this afternoon. We were thinking that we might have to just go straight from Highlands to Margarita’s (where my work holiday party is tonight). Of course, that was wishful thinking on our part. We were assuming that we would both be there until the very end. Obviously, I’m blogging right now so I didn’t win. =P
I have two tickets to the holiday party, but the tickets don’t take care of the cover or admission fee that Margarita’s charges after 7 pm. The party starts around 6-ish so we would have gotten there before they start charging cover, anyway. Except the tournament kind of threw a kink in our plans. Not so much of a kink, though, because we figured two likely outcomes: (a) we both get knocked out early and are able to make it to the holiday party in plenty of time, or (b) we are late, which means that one or both of us cashed, so who cares about the cover? LOL.
Anyway, I made it to the final table but got knocked out in ninth place. No money for me, sadly. This tournament only paid out the top five places ($500 to first place; that would have been soo nice). I don’t mind not cashing in the tourney, though. Kurt splashed the pot at my table a couple of times and I won both splashed pots, so I didn’t go home completely empty handed.
The first time he splashed the pot with a $15 gift certificate to Highlands. I kept that because Brian and I eat there at least once a week (sometimes twice) so we will put that to good use. The second time he splashed the pot with two Thunder hockey tickets. I won those too, but the poker player next to me had his little son with him and he really wanted the hockey tickets so I just gave those to them. Brian and I are so busy, I don’t anticipate that we will be able to go to any hockey games any time soon. Plus, I think the little boy will have way more fun at the game than we would.
It would have been nice to have cashed in the tournament, but I had lots of fun anyway. And, we still have plenty of time to make the holiday party. I even have enough time to post this quickie blog entry! 🙂
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Crazy Night at Highlands
Posted on December 13, 2008 by Ching under Food and Drink, Poker.
Take that title however you want. Suffice it to say we had a “Wylde” and fabulous time, pun intended. Poker couples Vic and Jen and Scott and Sunny were there last night (again). I guess I should be getting used to this by now. They are “Eastsiders” after all and, like us, find the Highlands location extremely convenient. I’m not sure if that is such a good or bad thing. I guess good in a way that we are always guaranteed great company on Friday nights when we are there, but then bad in that now we’ll never be able to stop going because our poker buddies offer an additional draw besides just our regular poker addiction.
Jen was extremely quotable last night. I’m not a good storyteller so it’s probably not going to be as funny on the blog. It was definitely one of those “you should have been there” nights. Perhaps I should start from the beginning?
Got there a little after 7 pm — early by poker standards because the tournament doesn’t start until 9 pm, but too late to catch Kurt. We were hoping to chat with him this week about stuff. What stuff? I’m not quite sure. He just told us last week to track him down. We’ll just have to catch him today at the invite.
Yup, didn’t know there was an invite today. Just found out about that last night. Today is going to be a really long day: step class, brunch, invite, work holiday party, tweetup. I think I’m sleeping in tomorrow. =P I’m debating on whether I should skip step class. I guess it all depends on if I finish this blog entry in time.
Dinner last night was fantastic, by the way. Brian had the scotch chicken with regular fries and I had the brazed pork ribs with yam fries. Sooo good! Surprisingly our bill this time was cheaper than last time, but we realized that I skipped the alcoholic beverages this time. I think the cocktails are what drives up people’s dinner tabs in general. At least such is the case for us.
[ BTW, I think the food was fab last night because JD was there. ]
I had a crappy poker night, which is kind of a self fulfilling prophecy of sorts. Last week I was drinking and did well (made it to the final table). I had concluded that it was the inebriation, rather than my poker skills, that got me there. I decided that I would forgo drinking tonight to test this hypothesis. I did not make it to break. Therefore, I am not skilled enough at poker and must henceforth rely on heavy drinking to get me through the night (I apologize in advance, baby — but, considering that I just proved my theory, there is no other way).
Brian was doing well at break. I don’t know if my threat (I told him that he better make it to the final table, otherwise, he is dancing with me) helped any or not. He did make it to the final table, though. Actually, he finished fourth and in the money. He always tries to outdo me. I finished seventh last week and shy of the money. This week, he does better.
[ Grrr! Now I have try and outdo him. Maybe today will be my day. ]
Oh, and I ran into mom’s realtor pal Leon at poker last night. We actually started at the same table. He made the final table last night also. He made the big money. They did a three-way chop after Brian got knocked out.
His girlfriend, who introduced herself as “his lover” to everyone, was a little frisky last night. She totally molested Shane, who she insisted on referring to as Fabio. I don’t know if Shane should take that as an insult. He is far better looking than the “I can’t believe it’s not butter” mascot.
She grabbed Shane’s valuable ass-ets several times last night and, on one occasion, while Shane was standing there talking to Jen and Sunny and me. Jen was like, “Wow! I don’t even have the balls to do that.”
The woman was so drunk, I’m pretty sure everyone got molested at some point. Well, except for Brian and Vic (and me, I guess; I didn’t get molested either, thank the Lord). She wasn’t selective at all, molesting males and females alike.
Kristy said that she tried to sit on her while she was minding her own business watching Doug and cheering him on as he played. Kristy was like, “Noo! Get off me.”
Anyway, I think Shane got the brunt of it. “I wonder if we should tell his wife,” I joked to Sunny. I decided that I wouldn’t do that. I would just tell the world instead.
“Can I blog this?” I asked. Shane thought I said “Can I block this?” I was thinking to myself (but didn’t have the nerve to say out loud), “Hell no! I would not stand in the way of that woman and her desire to molest you. I don’t think anyone can.”
After I restated my comment, Shane looked at me incredulously. He said, “You’re asking for my permission? I didn’t realize I had an option.”
You all know how I feel about Shane. He is somewhat intimidating (specially when he is angry) so I try not to get on his bad side. Anyway, he was really cool about it, so I feel pretty safe blogging this. I’m still getting used to the nice Shane.
[ Mrs. Shane — if you are reading this — sorry, girl. There was nothing that any of us could do to protect him. ]
Jen later said, “Please don’t ever let me get like that.” LOL. Okay, so Jen and Sunny weren’t completely spotless last night in the molestation area. They were more selective (tasteful?) about it, though. They exercised discretion and mainly just focused on Yanis and his amazing physique, particularly his :very: muscular biceps.
We were assigned to different tables last night so Sunny had to tell me about a conversation that went on at their table. She told me how Jen asked with a straight face, “Have you got your tickets yet?” “To what?” “To the gun show!” Their table busted up laughing. Even the men could not keep a straight face. Definitely a “you should have been there” moment. You guys have to come to Friday night poker one night just to experience the hilarity first hand.
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Quasi Cruise Reunion at Highlands
Posted on December 6, 2008 by Ching under Poker.
Been in a bit of a poker rut the last couple of months… Just not doing well at all. I don’t know if it was Blue Collar’s move to Highlands that was throwing off my poker equilibrium or what. It seemed to coincide with it, though. Now that they finally have a place that offers good food (something that was extremely lacking at the old place; they didn’t have any food period) my poker mojo defected. Ugh.
I was beginning to think it was time to move on and find another pastime. It was difficult for me to make this decision, what with how much I enjoy playing poker (and Blue Collar offered just the right cheap thrill to suit my “not quite gambling” appetite) and all, but I told myself surely I can find another hobby that will be just as satisfying. Brian and I decided to go last night, kind of as a farewell to Blue Collar thing. You know what I’m saying?
I’ll be darned if it wasn’t like cruise reunion time. First, Shane (well, he’s always there so I guess that doesn’t count) stopped by to chat with us. Then Brent showed up. He’s always there, too. He’s been there all the times that we’ve been, I think. I guess those two don’t really count.
We ran into Vic and Jen, and Shane’s wife Jen, Kurt and Kathy, and Sunny and Scott, and of course, you know most of the poker players from Wichita (Pat and Brad and others) who went on the cruise were all poker regulars so they were all there, too. It was wonderful seeing everyone. Specially, Sunny because she has such a sunny disposition. I actually wonder if she had her name changed later in life. Her name fits her personality so perfectly that it is uncanny. And Jen is always so outgoing and social. It’s difficult not to like her.
Anyway, Jen and Sunny and I ended up at the same table. Brian and Vic were at table 2, with Scott at 4. Those were the original table assignments anyway. I had so much fun last night. I actually made it to the final table, for the first time since the move to Highlands. I wanted to jump up and down for joy, but I had to stay cool on the outside so as not to draw attention to myself. Gotta look like a pro, you know, not some dumb wannabe. He he. I got knocked out 7th so I didn’t make the money, but I had a lot of fun just the same. It kind of rekindled my love affair with poker. Maybe my mojo hadn’t completely abandoned me after all?
Initially, we were thinking last night would be our very last time playing Blue Collar.. By the time the evening was over, I’m thinking maybe just the last time THIS year. We can start again next year. LOL. Human beings can be so fickle. 😉
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The Sail and Sign Shuffle, Blue Towel Fiasco, and Excess Baggage
Posted on November 2, 2008 by Ching under Life, Poker, Travel.
The week flew by and it was time to pack before we knew it. On Saturday night, the cruise director announced that our luggage needed to be tagged and placed outside our stateroom between 10 pm and midnight. Brian and I were lucky that we got assigned to zone 7 so we would be one of the first zones called to disembark, after the self-assisted luggage passengers.
Honestly, I think we could have done the self-assist thing because we only had one suitcase (we’ve perfected the art of packing light)… But then, there was no point getting out before everyone else because we would have to wait for them anyway (since we all rode together). Everyone else ended up with zone 20 or higher.
After the main event tournament and the SNGs were over, we pretty much only had one cash table left. Dan was their dealer so the rest of us were free to pack and do whatever we needed. Of course, we took a few minutes to do what we needed to, but then returned to the poker room just in case.
Brian and I packed our suitcase and left room in my duffel bag for the clothes we were wearing. We joked about reporting back to the poker room in our robes so that we could pack our present clothes also. I bet some of the poker players would take offense to that, though.
We didn’t really have to work much that evening because the table toppers were packed before long. We took the opportunity to put all of the pictures that were shot throughout the week into Kurt’s 4GB flash drive. Kylie and I tried to put the pictures in each other’s flash drives, but ours were much smaller and kept getting full before all the photos were transferred. Good thing Kurt had a one with a much larger capacity.
We didn’t really have multiple cash tables going at one time. We usually only had one, so Brian went through the entire week without having to deal the cash game and worry about raking. =P I did get to deal the cash game for a few minutes on Saturday night while Dan took a break and grabbed a bite. It wasn’t too bad. I don’t know why I was so intimidated at first.
After Dan came back and took over, I was thinking that I wish that I would have dealt the cash games from the get go. I was told that’s where you got good tips. I think Shawn got $50 dealing for a couple of hours one night. We hardly got tipped dealing the tournaments and satellites because the only time you get tipped is when the players win some money.
The nice thing about the tournaments is that all the dealers who work the tournament get to split the tips. I didn’t really get to deal the final table for any of the multi-table tournaments, but Jane gave me $20 because she started at my table in one of these tournaments. Our table was broken at the first consolidation so she ended up getting moved to another table. When she gave me the tip she told me it was for me and another dealer. I thanked her and explained that all the dealers who dealt in the tournament would have to share it (not just the two of us). There were four dealers in that tournament so we each got $5 from Jane’s gratuity. The other tips were given to the dealer of the final table and the sum of the tips were split evenly four ways also. I think we each got $12 from that, so $17 altogether from that tourney.
Generally speaking, the bigger the prize pool the greater the tips. However, it doesn’t always work that way. There are no set rules for tipping and it is completely at the discretion of each player. Some winners tip very little, if at all.
In the single-table SNGs, a single dealer deals the SNG from start to finish so that dealer got to keep their own tips. The first three days of single-table SNGs were mostly main event satellites. I dealt a few of these and didn’t get any tips. The downside about the main event satellites it that there is no cash if the winner chooses to take the main event seat. They just get a yellow receipt, which is their ticket to the main event. No cash usually means no tip. I was one of the casualties of this unfortunate arrangement.
Brian, however, was fortunate enough to get tipped in his single-table SNGs. I have no idea how he did it. He told me that they took the main event entries, but tipped him anyway. I think he got $20s on a couple occassions. He said it’s simply his charming personality. I think they just felt sorry for him. =P
The best tip that I received came from Nubia. I had dealt the single-table SNG that she won with pocket 10s. That one was a special SNG that we set up by request. We hadn’t really planned on it but there were several players, who didn’t play in the main event, wanted to play poker. So we set up some SNGs on the side with smaller buy ins. This particular SNG paid three places. Nubia gave me a $20 and I also got $15 from the second place finisher. Nubia is so nice. I didn’t get any tips until the very end I think.
Her husband James tipped really well too whenever he won. Except every time I was the dealer at James’ table, he would get knocked out in third place. He didn’t start winning until he got other dealers. LOL. I was an equally horrible dealer to Ken. He knew that he wouldn’t win if I was the dealer. It got to the point that he would request a different table or a different dealer.
During the multi-table tournaments, we would draw cards to see who would get to deal which table. Whatever table Ken is assigned to, I’d draw that table. It was very bad. There was one tournament that Brent and I switched because I would have had to deal to Ken for the fifth or sixth time. I bet he was screaming conspiracy after about the third time. It was all luck of the draw, though, or lack of luck on his part. =P
It got to the point that I would tell everyone how awful a dealer I am. Well, I was good to some who kept catching cards, but bad to everyone else. There’s a winner every hand, they say. No matter how awful I was at dealing cards, I wasn’t the worst dealer. That title belonged to Brian, unfortunately. I quickly learned, however, that you don’t have to be good to get tips. You just have to be charming. =P Who knew Brian was so charismatic?
Brian really enjoyed dealing. He never smiles at all. He has this perma-constipated look about him… But he smiled a lot while he was dealing so you could tell that he was enjoying himself. I think about the only time he smiled was when he was dealing cards.
Anyway, our cash games didn’t do so as well as we had hoped because of the Poker Pro machine at the casino. It was too easy and the poker players could play more hands. In a way, I wished that it hadn’t been there so we could have had more cash games and more opportunity for tips… But part of me was glad that we weren’t too busy because we would have ended up working ourselves to the bone.
Between the two of us, we probably only made a little over $100 in tips altogether. Brian made more than I did for sure. Although, I did make $50 playing “let it ride” on the last night. I sat down with $60 and cashed out $110.
Our sail and sign bill…
We didn’t really spend very much cash during the trip. Almost all of our expenditures were on our sail and sign account. We came with $300 in cash, but our biggest cash expense was the $120 we lost playing black jack. Brian hid half of that in his murse and we forgot all about until that Saturday night when we were packing to leave. With the money in the murse, my “let it ride” winnings, and the tips we received, we ended back up to almost $300. You could say we broke even if not for the $1300 sail and sign bill that we charged to our BOA credit card. =P
The funny thing about the sail and sign bill is that I actually stood in line at the purser’s desk to get a correction on what I thought was $10 in erroneous charges. LOL. Brian said he couldn’t believe that I would stand in line for something so trivial. I just didn’t want to pay for something that I didn’t do/spend. I’m a nutcase, I know.
Anyway, the line was considerably long so we went through all of our receipts while we waited and figured out that all of the charges were accurate. We didn’t end up needing to speak to the purser after all. =P
Brian’s reaction to our sail and sign bill…
I’m kidding! That’s the way he looks all the time. =P
Speaking of my wackiness, I asked the room steward for two extra beach towels because they took our wet beach towels from our room and didn’t replace them. Well, I thought they didn’t replace them.
Frank told us this story about how he got charged $50 for the beach towels in a past cruise. I figured that I didn’t want to be charged for beach towels so I wanted to make sure that I had the beach towels back in the stateroom upon our departure.
When we were packing, we found the beach towels that they replaced ours with in our stack of dirty clothes. So we ended up with four beach towels in our room. The room attendant picked up the extra towels on Saturday night, though, so we ended up with just two beach towels in the end. I can’t believe I fussed about the towels when they were in our room the whole time! =P I’m a goober, I know.
Tagging my excess baggage…
Kidding again!
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