Has it really been a couple of days? More like four, I believe but I can’t remember. My whole sleep schedule has turned around and I’ve got to be gearing up for going back to work soon…painful. Changing my sleep schedule around is painful. It’s 11:30 PM and I’m dead tired…oh drear…this will never do. How can I convince my brain to stay up until 4 or 5 AM? *Slap, smack – no whining*

But I have a lot of catching up to do. Monday night, the 9th, was a full shift. The room was pretty quiet. We had games but just none of the hustle bustle going on until around 10ish and then it started to quiet down again around 1:30 AM. I ended up in Bobby’s Room. Chau -1s, Chip – 2s, Johnny – 3s, Barry – 4s, Doyle – 5s, David B. – 7s, Minh – 8s, $4,000-8,000 Mixed. Of course I had to make a mistake.

The game is just a bitch to deal with all the prop bets flying around. One player will state, “I’m out,” but keep their cards for the prop bets. It just makes it much more difficult to keep track of how many players are in the hand and not miss someone in the action…or better yet, wait for them to call when they’ve already stated they were out.

Early in my down, in 7 Card Stud, the action was three-way, Chau, Barry, and David. It went to three bets on the opening round. For some reason, no clue why, I didn’t think everyone was in, so I waited. Johnny barked at me, “They’re waiting for you!”

Yikes! Burn and turn stupid dealer. Ok, I did. A few hands later we went to 7 Stud 8 or Better. Every time David was in the hand, he requested that I leave the bets in front of them, even if it was three-way action. It’s standard in an 8 or better game when the action goes to heads-up but not with three or more players. Here’s the part where I get to make the mistake. David had just asked me to leave the bets in front of them. The prop bets were flying. One of them was holding his hand but out of the action. Barry and David ended up heads-up with bet, raise, raise – more prop bets flying through the air – and I missed the fact that David had raised one more time and Barry hadn’t called. Kee-rist! Too late, I had already burned and turned.

Johnny jumped up with, “Jesus Christ!” and walked. I sat there. Waiting for them to tell me what to do…hell yes I apologized. Barry was busy collecting prop bets and looked at his hand and David’s hand, back to his hand, and folded. It saved me from screaming for a decision. I’m not happy that I made the mistake…even if the game is confusing to deal at times; it’s still my job to be aware.

*****

Tuesday, the 10th, I played on the clock until 12:00 AM. The game was lots of fun. Most of the players were new and it rocked. I did win – that made it even more fun. Marie (long time friend from the early Mirage days) was in the game and when I sat down, she moved into a seat by me so we could visit. First hand I looked at? Ace-Ace! I raised and Marie and I ended up heads-up. We play our hands so there was no checking down. She gave up on the Turn – a King hit the Flop. She showed me Q-Q. We had the chance to visit for about an hour while we played. The game became extremely short and we ended up with four women and one man at one point. It eventually filled up, Marie had to leave, I played until Kamell told me the escape hatch was open and raced for home to try and sleep so I could get up fairly early and get ready for the move into the ‘coach’. Sleep was long in coming and quick to leave even though I was dog tired and close to brain dead.

Everything that happened over the 11th through the 14th is coming up on the next post.

Just before I go try to sleep and try to return to my Dracula-ette life style – a picture of me being cutely patriotic in the hat my sis, Vickie, snagged for me when she went to the Olympics:

And what’s left of the Castaways: