So many people think the whole city of Las Vegas is filled with batshit gambling lunatics and ifthey moved here, theywould fall right into that category and would bust themselves and ruin their lives. For some, the answer is “YES” you would have a problem, for most of the rest of the population of the world, once the initial glitz wore off, you’d settle in and find yourself doing what the rest of the world does when they don’t have the 24/7 availability ofGAMBLINGIN YOUR FACE and RIGHT OUT YOUR BACK DOOR. You’d settle down, go to work, if you were employed, clean your house, pay your bills, and go about the business of life. You’d soon cultivate a group of good friends and spend quality time with them and appreciate having the best of all worlds right in your city. That is what I’ve managed to do. Most of my really true, life long friends that are dear to my heart, I found either at the poker table or they found me through reading here.

The group that I refer to as ‘the pan game’iswhat the real world and life in Las Vegas is all about. We get together, graze, try to beat each other up in card games, visit and share our lives for a few brief moments, and then we drift apart to do our own thing…until the next time when we repeat the cycle. This week we made it to Greg and Amy’s place instead of playing in a casino poker room. We had a couple of new people coming that were interested in dealing to us and that’s also how we find more converts for our group…some stick with us, others drift off to other places and things.

Ryan is a blogger and has dealt, but now works ata casinobut not as a dealer. He wants to move into dealing full time and we were just the group for him to deal to. Ryan brought his wife Tami, she played while he dealt, and they both fit right in with our crowd.

And they brought me a bottle of wine. WOO HOO! I ended up leaving it at Amy’s because I’m back on the temporary ‘no blush’ run. If Marie had made the gathering, she would have managed some of that bottle for me. Next time.

We started with Badugi, not one of my favorite games but then I often wonder if I even have a favorite game anymore. Viv, Mark, Amy, Tami, and I played while Ryan dealt. Mark was his usual laughing self -propositioning me during the course of our play.

Wayne and Greg both were at work, Wayne at the Palms and Greg at Caesars. Greg was really late, he’d signed the E/O and thought he’d be home early…NOT! We obviously didn’t wait for Greg to partake of all of the food. Wayne prepared to serve – what was Amy doing?

Lucy stood diligently at my feet each time I went to the kitchen, staring at me with the ‘why aren’t you feeding me you, bitch?’ look. The last time Amy and Greg hosted I fed Lucy so much fruit I’m surprised she didn’t just turn into a compost pile. She’s a little pig, but such a cute little pig. She’s showing her affection for Amy.

We met another new face, Vladimir. He works at New York New York and is considering dealing poker. We pushed him right into the task. Ryan’s shoulder was giving out anyway…we use them and discard them for the next person in line.

Greg finally escaped the leg irons at Caesar’s Palace and made it home. We told ‘dealer’ stories, lots of them, and they weren’t good stories. They were stories of people that don’t do their jobs and don’t give a damn about customer service or the fine art of poker or their ownpride in a job well done.

Ryan and Vladimir both could handle the deck and the game better than a lot of the dealers I’ve seen in the last six months that have a full time job.

Mark threatened – in an IM before we left for the card party -to take my money . I don’t think he got any of it. Nah-nah-nah! I lost $4 big bucks. We played a variety of games, spent somewhere around five to six hours hanging out away from the city, and I had one great time.