Another year has drifted off into the time trail. That vast expanse of memories and dreams that float in and out of our conscious, everyday lives, just chalked up another year that we can never relive or claim again. It’s the past. Time to move to the future. But before I go, a few things I wanted to write about yesterday but couldn’t shift my tired, little brain into gear long enough to make it happen.

I hit Table 1 early in my shift, the night of the 30th. Renee, Celine’s hubby, was in the 1s. Phil I. in the 2s. Mike W. in the 3s. Mo in the 4s. Gus H. in the 5s. Chau in the 6s. Eli E. in the 7s. Shaun S. in the 8s. They were playing Mixed games, $1,000-$2,000 limit on some of the games and $1,500-$3,000 limit on others.

This table has the automatic shuffle machine on it and more than once, when I put in the used deck and took out the shuffled deck, the door would stay open and I had to close it manually.

More exasperation than anything else, I exclaimed, “What is going on with this machine? The door won’t close!”

Renee replied, “It’s the holidays. It’s always open for the holidays.”

I had a belly laugh over that one.

Gus had two “No Player” buttons. I asked him to turn them in to me. With a cocky little smile, he asked, “Will you just deal?”

I did. He turned them in to me with a $5 chip in the center, like a Red Bird Oreo Cookie. I thanked him and Shaun, one of my favorites – for a lot of reasons, asked, “Is that all you’re giving her for New Years?”

Gus gave him a little jab with, “I never see you tip anyone.”

Shaun pushed on, “Will you match what I give her?”

Gus persisted, “You never tip anyone.”

I thought about jumping in here and defending Shaun because he’s one of the best…for me anyway…in the high limit, but I decided silence would bode the best result.

Shaun never gave an inch. “Will you match what I give her?”

Gus gave a nonchalant shrug and replied, “Do whatever you want.”

At the end of my down, with the new dealer standing behind me, Shaun said to Gus, “Give me $100.”

Gus asked, “What for?”

For Linda. For New Years.”

Shaun threw out a black chip and so did Gus. I did the open mouthed, thank you, do you need your windows washed type of thing. That was $200 big ones for me.
Gus was so funny. He said, “I want you to tell me if he asks you for it back later, because I’m going to punch him in the mouth if he does.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. But seriously, Shaun is very good to me and he is the most generous of all the high limit players. Most of them behave as if they’re giving you a kidney when they throw you $2 or $3 as you leave the box or if you pushed them quadrillion dollars during the down. No, I don’t believe a player has to tip for any reason. But at times it seems ridiculous that I can deal the game, to the same players, day after day, without a mistake, giving them quality service and they never even think of throwing me $5 when they win a pot upwards of $20,000 or even higher.

*****

Silent Bob. That should say it all but there’s a lot more. He normally plays $30-$60 Holdem but upon rare occasion ventures into another game and limit. His name is Jim. He rarely closes his mouth when he plays…that would be as in being quiet and in stopping the flow of alcohol and cigarettes into his body. Personally, I find him to be quite entertaining and funny but I’m not in a game with him and I don’t take him with me when I leave the casino. Enough said from my point of view. He’s won several major tournaments and is generally known around the poker circuit.

When I hit Table 8, he was in the 9s. It was $80-$160 Holdem and he was jabbering up a storm. The first thing he did was state that he’d killed his wife. The conversation was directed at me and I retorted something like, “Really?”

He went on to explain that she was ok but he couldn’t stand her any more so he just killed her. Maybe you have to be a little twisted here to get into the humor of the situation and I am…so I listened while he rattled. I dealt the first hand and he stopped the whole game as he kept rambling; everyone was waiting for him to act on his hand.

After the first few hands, several players complained the he was talking too much. At this point I said, “I see you’ve met Silent Bob.”

A few minutes later, with complaints ringing in his ears, Silent Bob took a small piece of paper and wrote ’12:05 – 1 hour’ on it. He was going to be silent for one hour.

One player left and seat changes took place. Bob moved to the 3s. He took a missed blind button and left the table. When he returned, Doodle – in the 4s – asked what Silent’s name really was. The 1s replied that it was John.

Doodle asked me and I mouthed, “Jim!”

Doodle said he’d bet a stack that it was Jim, the 1s argued that it was John. It went on and on. Silent Bob wrote on the bottom of his small piece of paper, “You’re fucking idiots!”

Hysterical. The paper got passed around the table. When anyone asked him a question in the game, he would do charades but never said a word.

Silent Bob handed me a message written on a keno ticket. It read:
“NO KENO 🙂 *I* am the answer to a trivia question: Who is the only person in the history of the world to win WSOP and WCOOP same year (2003) ?????”

An hour later, while I was dealing a friendly little $4-$8 Holdem game, he leaned over the 6s, which was empty, stared at me and asked, “Is there anyone you’d like me to hit in the face right now? I’m really in the mood.”

I laughed and said, “No. Not right now. Maybe later.”

What the hell is going on? Nothing. He’s just like that!