Haven't played any poker for almost a month, so after lunch I ventured over to Red Rock to get into a game.
Luck was with me and there was a new game starting as I checked in. I was the fifth guy to sit at the table, sat in the third seat from the dealer's left and bought in for $200. Dealer shoved me $180 in red $5 chips and 20 gray $1 chips. The other 4 guys had already bought their chips.
In a few minutes the table filled up and we were ready to play...sorta.
Before the first hand, the floor manager came over and said the "bank" was $80 short. The bank is the amount of chips that the dealer sells to the players before the game begins. For example, if the table is full with 8 players and each player bought $200, the bank would total $1600. For some reason, the bank was $80 short and we all were puzzled how it could happen.
After about 15 minutes of sitting there, the floor said to go ahead and start the game while they checked the video tapes.
We finally got started and I won about $20 on the first hand when my pair of queens took the pot. It would be my only win for about 30 minutes. It was about that long before the floor came back and walked over to the player in the #1 seat, next to the dealer.
"Sir, you have the missing $80," she said in a calm, but firm voice. "We've run the tapes and you gave the dealer $120, but she mistakenly gave you $200."
The 50-ish guy looked like something out of the Sopranos cast, big and burly with an open collar showing off his chest hair and gold chains, plus a big fat golden pinkie ring. He exploded.
"No Way! I gave her two bills, two $100 bills."
"No sir, the tape clearly shows you gave her two bills, a $100 and a $20."
"Lemme see that godamn tape,"
"No sir, guests are not allowed to view the tapes."
The guy was really steaming. his face growing redder and his arms flailing around. The tension was thick around the poker table and it had nothing to do with cards. It was sort of amusing seeing this guy trying to prove the security tapes were wrong. Finally after a nervy showdown, he counted out $80 in chips and gave them to the floor manager who took them back to the front counter.
The game resumed while "Sopranos" guy was still steaming and obviously on a big-time tilt. I was hoping to get into a hand against him while he was still so upset, but it didn't happen.
Meanwhile I went into a real drought getting bad cards. Starting hands like 9-2, J-4, 7-2. My pile was melting down when I was finally dealt 5-5.
I bet $10 and got called by two other players. The flop came 4-5-6,giving me three 5s. I checked my set and one guy bet $20. The other guy immediately folded and I called the $20. The turn card was a 4, giving me a full house. Again I checked and the guy shoved his last $40 into the pot. I called.
He showed a 7-8, he had flopped a straight, but my full house took down the nice pot. Soon after, I left with a meager profit of $25 but had fun. It was nice to be back at the poker table and I need to keep playing as often as possible.
Earlier in the day I did some grocery shopping, paid some bills and made Helen and me turkey sandwiches for lunch. While I was at Red Rock, she was on the phone with friends and family. After poker, I made us dinner, burgers and potato salad, sort of an indoor picnic.
And so our adventure continues...
