Miscellaneous memories

As other hands come back to me, I will list them here so this entry will update periodically for the next couple days.

Brad (Brandon Ditto clone) confirmed that indeed Shawn Marion was playing at the other table. 1/3 NL table for those curious.

On Monday, a player came back from the table and was telling everyone that he was walking through the sports book and couldn't believe Pete Rose was sitting in there hanging out and signing autographs. I say "Did you just say you were surprised to see Pete Rose in a sports book?" Dealer laughed, everyone else missed it.

Coulda, woulda, shoulda. Sunday night I when I was in donk mode I really wanted top play a nice junk hand, 3s5s. But Mother India makes it 20 to go pre-flop and that was about 1/4 of my stack at the time. I fold, easily, but begrudgingly...just in case. Flop is As4s5d. Turn is a 2 that would have filled my straight. River is the magical 2s that would have won me the hand (duh) and a $250 high hand payout. But the other 99.9% of the time that hand hits the muck as soon as there is a raise to me so the EV on a $20 call to triple up to $240 and win a $250 payout doesn't quite add up to a call. Would have limped with it at that point though. Hee haw.

Sunday Night Poker. Three handed between New York Tony, Brad Stone, and Frankie Avalon. Flop is 6s8s9s. Lot of thinking and betting on the flop. Nothing out of control though. Maybe 15 or 20 from each person, no raises. Turn is the 7s. Interesting. 50 from Tony. 100 from Brad. Frankie calls. Tony moves all in for a shade less than 150. Now Brad asks if that re-opens betting for him to re-raise. Dealer says no. Brad calls. Frankie calls. River is the mother of all blanks. Brad bets something (75?) and Frankie calls. Frankie has 89 for top two pair. Brad show 4s5? for "a straight AND a flush". Tony shows the greatest hand in the world, As5s(!!!) for a flopped nut flush and a turned sucker end of the straight flush. He was worried that Brad had the Ts and or TsJs when he wanted to re-open betting but Brad Stone is just a donk.

Later on in SNP, Brad Stone pushes all in on an Ax3 flop as first to act. Kid to his left insta-calls. Guy really liking his hand makes a crying fold. Brad shows AJos(huh?). Kid has bottom set. Crying guy folded AK. I was talking to cryer and we both agreed that calling Brad was no problem based on previous play but you can't call after a follow up insta-call. Ahhhh...the power of position. Turns out Brad would have rivered a Jack anyway so it ended up saving him money. Brad Stone ends up handing over 5 bills to Kid over top pair third kicker in maybe a $50 pot pre-flop. Yikes.

Check-out at the Flamingo was mercifully quick even around check out time.

I was in a different wing this time and I think it must be newer because the air conditioning was much much better than last time. Getting downright cold in the room despite the temps being probably 20 degrees warmer outside.

The lines for getting into the Pure nightclub were even worse this time I think. I ran into a couple of guys at the airport who were also there for a bachelor party and they sent a couple of their group ahead to wait in line starting at 8pm. They met up with them at 10pm just before they got in the door.

I have been carding in to log hours. Each hour is worth a whole dollar in comps (that's sarcasm by the way). Still, it beats nothing. Guy ahead of me in line at the fried rice place ran his rewards card through the register to redeem a free meal. He bets the horses and churns a lot more money through the casino than I do. Poker rooms are actually one of the worst returns on investment that casinos have but they all have to offer them because the patrons want to play poker and they can't afford to not have one if the casino down the street has one.

For those curious, Brandon Ditto used to work at my old job. He is not a celebrity or anything despite what he may think.

Right after a shuffle machine mishap, there was everyone's stories about how the shuffle machines don't work. One gal said "One time, I had the exact same hand three times in a row!" Some pointed out that that would mean there were two different decks involved. I declined to ask her whether or not she would find it more peculiar if she *never* got two identical hands in a row.

Floor had to be called over one hand when the winning hand was flashed to one end of the table including the other player at showdown but was laid face down on the table. Everyone agreed that the face down flush whose cards had already been put into the muck was the winning hand but the dealer could not award the pot. Flush eventually got his pot since showing the other players constituted tabling his hand. He was warned to make sure the dealer sees the cards too though.