Poker at the Suncoast

Today I felt like playing some poker, so I rolled over to the Suncoast casino around 9:30 a.m.

The Suncoast hosts a daily No-Limit tournament at 10 a.m. and many of the players hanging around the poker room were there for that action. I wasn't interested in the tourney and asked about a $1-2 No Limit cash game and was told they wouldn't have one til the evening.

Instead they offered a $4-8 Limit game, so I took a seat there. Luckily I found a seat in one of my favorite spots - the 6 seat - right across from the dealer. It's easy to see the flop from the 4-7 seats and I always feel comfortable in one of them.

I bought in for $100 and in my first hand I looked down to find A-A. SWEET! But I ended up losing half of my stack when some old guy (older than me, even) made two pair on the river...AAARGH. That's how it went for a while. I'd win a few pots and lose a few. At least with Limit poker, there's no danger of losing your whole stack in a single bad bet. The wagering is done in increments of $4 (on the opening round and flop) and $8 on the turn and river.

The table was full of SENIOR citizens. I was one of the four youngest guys there. There was one guy in his 20s, two in the 40-50 range and the rest were, I swear, at least 70. But they could play some poker! Two of them were older women, very lucky too. One of the women hit 4 10s, not once, but twice. In addition to winning both hands, she won a $50 bonus for each quads...

Anyway, I played all day, right through lunch. About 4:45 p.m. I was ready to leave and decided to play one more trip around the table. I was down around $50 and ready to leave a loser when with two hands to go, I was dealt A-K of clubs. I raised from $4 to $8 and all dropped out except a guy sitting to my right. The flop came 4-K-J. I bet, he raised, I called. The turn was an A. We both bet and raised. The river was a 7. I bet my two pair, he called, then showed an A-J and grumbled when I turned my A-K...SWEET POT!

That hand turned me from a $50 loser to a $26 winner. I looked at one more hand that I folded and cashed in my chips. It was really a fun day.

While I was grinding out a poker profit, Helen was wrapping up several Valentine's gifts for the grandkids. I'll be taking them to the post office next week. It'll be mid-February before ya know it. She did a little reading and watched a little TV, too.

Dinner was a tasty portion of leftover italian sausage and rice.

Helen is already anticipating the arrival of her friend Gail on Feb. 16. They'll be doing some shopping, lunching and who knows what else. It's Gail's first trip to Las Vegas, so we'll show her the sites, LOL!

Tomorrow the adventure continues...