Back in the trenches – two eight-hour shifts, back to back. The world must be coming to an end because I’ve decided to actually go to work and work.

Where to start…I’m in an exceptionally relaxed frame of mind and there are no grouchy spots or people piss offs going on from my side of the green felt but there are still happenings that are noteworthy so let me get started.

$4-8 H, a friendly little game – all male – until the 2s opened. A foxy little chick appeared, with a male sweater in tow. She posted and raised when the action came to her. The Button raised and everyone else jumped right in…big pot. The Flop was all ‘under cards’ one Spade.

The chip runner brought the Foxy Chicks rack of chips and she owed $24 to the pot. She seemed to know what a hand was but seemed out of sorts with what to do and when to do it. She had chips and when it was her turn to act, she said, “I bet $4,” but made no move to put any chips into action. Her Sweater told her to put out $4. Once she leaned back and looked at him, as if looking for advice, I cautioned, he didn’t say anything, and she acted on her hand.

Long and short of it, the Turn and River were Spades. The 2s and the Button got in three bets on the River. He showed Q-Q, she showed A-J S. She pulled in a huge pot. Her Sweater got several empty racks and declared they were going to the Buffet. Hello and goodbye.

The guys were all a little astounded that she won one pot and left. She acted like it was her first time at the table, if it was she just started a long journey with that one hand – I figure she’s hooked.

On to $2-5 NLH – one of those stupid, never should happen things did happen. The Shuffle Masters on a few of the tables are sunken a little too deep – just below the table surface – and it creates an obnoxious lip that’s hard to push chips and cards over. One hand, with three-way action and a raise pre-flop, I hit the lip with the deck in my hand as I was pulling in chips and discards. Of course the top half of the deck popped off of my hand and went into the muck. I honestly couldn’t tell if some of the deck went into/under the mucked cards and/or lit on top. I called for a decision.

Boba came over and after I explained the problem, he said I had plenty of cards intact on the deck so ‘just burn and turn’. He walked away in the middle of some grumbling from the 4s. No one else had a problem with it and the game went on.

$30-60 H and Lance was in the game. He’s like watching perpetual motion. He changed seats once. I kept chuckling over his antics and motions and finally said, “The Rodeo will be in town soon.” Somewhere back in the archives is a post about Lance during NFR.

He threw his hand up over his head and did the bull riding motion from the hand down to hips and said that he’d be bull riding at Mandalay Bay, “I’ll be riding Ol’ Blue out of chute number two.”

Guilty…I cracked up. Then he croaked out, “I’m lying here with Linda on my mind…” and seriously, he was croaking during some of it. Then he asked me if I’d ever heard that song. The 1s said he’d never heard it sang quite like that. *laughing*

Lance said he couldn’t sing it like Conway and then someone said Conway couldn’t sing it anymore because he was dead.

Lance never slowed down, he chatter boxed about how tight everyone was in the game, even the 1s that was a tourist must be the tightest player in his home town, and how did Lance always end up in these kind of games, and then he lost a pot.

Then he added a twist to the song, “Lying here with Linda on my mind…she always fricking kills me…” he croaked it out too.

I was rolling. I can’t help but smile when I see him and I can’t help but laugh when he comes undone. Love ya, Lance.

By now all kinds of camera equipment had rolled into the main entry of the poker room and ropes and security were everywhere. We had to enter and exit through the Sport’s Book entrance and walk around close to the entrance to Light and then cut back across the Casino to go to the Employee area. I inquired. They were shooting an ‘in house video’. The kind you see in your room about things to do while you’re at Bellagio.

I hit another game or two and then I was off to Table 1. All those times I missed it in the last few months…no escape hatch tonight. $2,000-4,000 Mixed. Chau – 1s, Eli E. – 2s, Abe – 3s, Young stranger – 4s, Ted F. – 5s, Todd B. – 6s, David B. – 7s, Ralph P. – 8s.

I announced, “Time Pot,” and dealt Omaha 8.

Todd and David split the pot. I asked them if they wanted to split the Time. I thought Todd said he’d pay it as he threw me a $100 chip. I changed it and took $80 for Time. He corrected me and said he was paying $40. I apologized and explained that I thought he said he’d take care of it. He went with it. I’m not sure what I created or did there but he paid all of it.

David seemed to be oblivious to everything as he and Eli were doing Proposition Bets. Even when the game went to 7 Card Stud, they picked out what the Flop would have been and who would have gotten what and sent big chips flying across the table to each other. Once when David threw a chip to Eli and it came so close to hitting me that I jumped back in my chair, Eli laughed and said to David, “Don’t hit Linda. If you’re going to hit her, hit her with a big chip. Right, Linda?”

I agreed. Of course we all know that is never going to happen.

Chau had Kleenex stuffed in his ears with long pieces of it hanging down by his neck. I asked him if it was because the music was too loud. He said it was because the 7s never shut up. *chuckling*

I tried to misread one hand between Eli and Abe in Omaha 8. They had a split but I thought Abe had a straight. Nope. No straight. Todd sang out, “This isn’t Montana, Linda.”

That was funny too. He played in Lakeside, Montana. Same game, just a much smaller limit.

I headed up to Table 4. $400-800 Mixed. Yen – 1s, Mike W. – 2s, Ali – 4s, Lee – 6s and walking, Eskimo – 8s.

Yen asked me if I was the Linda that helped Michael Craig with the information for his book. I just smiled.

They gamboled. Lots of chips flying…especially in the triple draw games. Once when Eskimo threw out $500 and reached back for $300 more to raise, Yen quietly said, “That’s a string.”

I pushed back the extra $400 to Eskimo and told him he couldn’t raise. He argued. I called the Floor. The decision was that he could not raise as he didn’t state it or put out half or more of the raise.

He called Yen every name in the book. “Little mother fucker. He always pulls that on me. I never say anything to him. Cocksucker…”

And on and on it went. Yen never said a word. He really could care less. Eskimo was slamming chips in the pot now and Yen had the best of it. I got pushed and a few minutes after I hit the next game, that one broke up. Ali and Yen came over to join the game I was dealing now.

Due to the ‘in house video’, they were closing all of the games in the upper section and moving them to another part of the room. When the Floor informed the players they would be moving the game, a player complained, “We’re stuck.”

The Floor, Jimmy, replied, “You can be stuck down there.”

My game broke due to players moving to another section. It was almost 3 a.m. Time for this girl to fly.