As you probably guessed, 100% of the time was spent on UTH.
And not just normal UTH - this was Progressive! For an extra $1 (or more, I guess) on top of the trips, you have a side bet on the hand you form with your two hole cards and the three flop cards. A royal wins $75,000!
(Of course, no one came close).
Anyway, Layup and I settled in nicely - to his left, Layup made friends with a 60 year old Asian woman who knew no English but would engage Layup in a high-ten (two hands) when they both hit a winning hand. Stevie Williams and Tiger had better coordination.
Next to me was a 50-something woman who seemed to be Mexican by birth but was Americanized. Her and I would chat a bit about the hands - very friendly. Every once in a while, this strange male, about 25-30, who had some sort of mental defect would come over and hover; the lady would quickly scold him in Spanish, telling him to sit down over there and shut up. (Sientese alli! See, I still know some spanish.
After the third visit by this man, I gave my neighbor a quizzical look.
"That's my son. He fell into a pool when he was young, drowned and had some brain damage because of it."
Oh - sorry to hear that.
"Yes, he likes to come with me and hang out while I play. He's going in for surgery tomorrow - he's getting a skin graft - and he can't have anything to eat after midnight. So I have to keep an eye on him."
Um - ok. I will file that away in my brain - if any of you think I have a gambling problem (you know, taking my 7 month pregnant wife to play craps in a smoky Argosy casino, betting halftime lines for WNBA, driving 10 hours in one day to gamble)- I'll just throw this lady out as the counter example. I'm not as bad as her!
Anyway, about 2 hours in, I was winning some and Layup was up some too. Two ladies came over and occupied the seats at the far end of the table. One was a 60-year old country girl, dressed in a cowboy shirt that was adorned with rhinestones. I immediately thought "Ann Richards", but Layup beat me to it and whispered "Rhinestone Cowboy is here".
Two hands in - two hands! - she noticed that Layup and I were not playing the trips. Here we go again.
"You're not playing the trips? That's stupid. That's how you make money in this game! You have to play the trips!"
Before I could say anything, Layup pulls the "Shufflemaster" card out and says he works for Shufflemaster and said the Trips bet "is for suckers only". That shut everyone up for a while.
The mood of the table turned icy - but a strange thing happened. I started winning. And - oddly - I was the only one winning. Layup went on a losing streak; our friends started losing, and Rhinestone kept losing too. But I kept winning. I would guess that 40-50% of my hands were A-x, K-6 or higher or Q-J - --- all hands to go in 4x before the flop. I didn't win all of them, but I did win about 75% of them - that helps the bankroll.
Rhinestone started paying attention, and then was interested in our methods.
"You go 4x on any ace?"
Oh dear, I can see this coming a mile away. Yes, I replied.
"Hmmmmph...."
The next hand - the next one, I swear! - she got dealt an ace. She went 4x. She lost.
Three hands later, she got A-x again. She did not go 4x, she waited until the last round, went 1x - and won.
By then, the mood of the table was in the pits. No one was winning. Layup, who was up a few hundred, was now down to his last few bets. Our friends left.
But I kept on winning.
I felt sympathtic to the table - and even toward Rhinestone. Five years ago - one year ago? - I would have muttered "f*** her" to Layup. But no - she's just a mistaken woman who can't be bothered to understand the odds. I felt some pity for her.
And it depressed me that no one else was winning. The best times at a casino are when everyone wins. This was an odd feeling - I'm winning but no one else can buy a hand.
We played another hour - the mood did not improve, and Layup fought back to even - but I never felt vengeful, or overjoyed at the table. I won 4 digits of profit - and yet I just wish Rhinestone would have shut her mouth and hept her head down when she sat at the table.
What's wrong with me? I am getting soft and emotional as I get older, aren't I?
2 comments:
Hold the phone sir. I didn't quickly pull out the sufflemaster card. She said many things including "what a waste", " why are they even playing the game", and "look, they did it again, what are they doing."
And a side note on the progressive. The dealer said only 14 cents per dollar goes to the progressive. Wow!!!! That's horrific.
Sir, you are getting soft. If she doesn't understand the game, then Layup and You should have unloaded on her.
One of the reasons I love this game is that so few people understand how to play it.
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