Marie’s pick was Treasure Island for our weekly ‘meet and try to beat each other’s brains out’ as we visit and enjoy each other’s company. It was also her pick for Sunday night instead of Saturday due to some football game here in Vegas that she HAD to go see. Fine! No one objected, as a matter of fact a few people thought we should do it on Sunday every week instead of Saturday. That’s pretty much fine with me too.

One of the main reasons Marie picked TI is because they feature the ‘Tangerine Mixer’ – holdem, omaha high, and crazy pineapple. Marie arrived before 6 p.m. and was in a $3-6 H game when I got there. A table was set up – with a dealer – ready to play the ‘mixer’. We actually started with me, Marty, and Anna as Marie wanted to play her free hands at the other table before moving over. We added badugi and deuce to 7 triple draw. Teach her to show up late…she complained over and over about the draw games and how she couldn’t play a hand in them. I laughed my butt off and told her she hated them because she couldn’t play every hand like she did in holdem. No problem from her side – she agreed.

Jed was playing at another game and I talked him into joining us. He’d never played mixed games before but he’s played a lot of NLH, won some of Bellagio’s tournaments and been a regular in the room – when he’s in town. He also hiked Mt. Charleston with me, Wayne, Dan, and Chad. Mark is showing his cards to Jed during a hand. And I could swear the read on Jed’s face is “fish”, as he looks at Mark’s hand.

Shortly after Jed joined us, Mark arrived. We were now six handed. Jason appeared. I work with Jason at Bellagio. He’s often my supervisor and occasionally spends a shift as a dealer. He’s great at both jobs.

Viv arrived. And shortly after that Wayne appeared. They were in the 9 and 10s.

And check out that cleavage! *wolf whistle* What’s up with that, Viv?

Marie – 1s, Me – 2s, Marty – 3s, Anna – 4s, Jason – 5s, Mark – 6s, Jed – 7s, 8s open…but not for long.

Amazingly, the Shift Supervisor was a woman I worked with at The Mirage some years ago. Danette Morway and I used to deal together and I hadn’t seen her in quite some time – except on one occasion at Bellagio. She did such a great job of accommodating us and our crazy games and we played 10 hands of each game instead of the customary one round of the table that the dealers were used to. Danette came to check on us many times and brought us all T-Shirts that are really neat. (Yes…now that I weigh more than I ever have in my life, I REALLY like big T-Shirts). While all of the dealers were exceptionally friendly and accepted any help we could give them, none of them really ever moved the ‘hand count’ button in the rack. We tried to alert them to the fact that each time they cut the deck, they needed to move a button (this told us how many hands were left of each game). It never seemed to register with most of them. Other than that, they were friendly, most of them were just out of school but they did a great job and had superior attitudes to a lot of dealers I know and work with now.

Danette and Me:

There are two different ‘felt’ table tops in the room – I believe there are eight tables – so every other one has one of the themes (below) gracing its top. This one is the Sirens of TI:

And this one boasts the Tangerine Nightclub – and this is only one half of the table:

The Hammer (7-2) was shown down twice to win good sized pots. I can’t even remember who won the first pot and the cards were slightly jumbled together and I missed a good shot of it. Wayne won the second ‘Hammer crushing event’ and I had the camera out in time to take the shot and he held on to his cards…for effect I believe.

We had one seat open and Craig joined us. I’ve dealt to him at Bellagio from time to time but haven’t seen him in quite some time. He’s always so upbeat and easy going but this game was really the test on how well he could take a beat. He was getting trounced and still managed to maintain the upbeat attitude.

We gave up Deuce to 7 after playing it the final time with nine players. Three players had sit out buttons every round and we paid ‘time’ on Deuce and Badugi instead of rake – much cheaper for us in the long run – but paying time and then sitting out for three hands was a drag. We did play Badugi another round and finally gave it up also. We were playing Holdem, Omaha, Omaha 8 or Better, and Crazy Pineapple.

Jed left us and we got Justin. Justin’s scenario with me is about the same as Craig’s. I have dealt to him many times at Bellagio but haven’t seen him in quite some time. Of course he’s sitting behind Mark in this picture.

Marty and Anna traded seats, putting Marty by Jason and Anna by me. For some reason, every time I thought I was getting a decent picture of Marty, I wasn’t. Perhaps it’s because he’s perpetual motion and never holds still. But this is one of the beautiful Anna.

Marie’s Gary called and was on his way, leaving the $20-40 H game at The Mirage. When he arrived, we had one seat open but a name on the list. The guy that took the seat deals at Caesars (so sayeth Mark) but I didn’t know him. So we conveniently made it 11 handed for Gary.

I managed to get STUCK in the early part of the game playing Badugi and Deuce – more so on Badugi. The number of times I made a three card hand because I paired suits was almost unbelievable. Thanks a lot, Card Fairy! And during one hand of Deuce, I started with 2-3-6-2-face, drew another deuce and a six, then drew the last two remaining sixes in the deck, and finally ended up with an Ace and a Face on the final draw. Whew! I’m not a huge fan of the game and it’s so treacherous but it’s fun to play in small stakes.

We slammed and jammed for quite some time. Amy and Greg didn’t show and Suzanne was involved in the Women’s Event at Caesar’s Palace so she missed us also. Perhaps next week.

Finally, the group started to break apart. Jason, Marty, and Anna left us first. Then Viv and Wayne hit the road. I was starving and made arrangements to go eat with Mark but we played close to another half hour or so first. I asked Gary and Marie to join us but they declined, it was their bedtime and eating before sleep doesn’t set well with lots of people. Me? I wasn’t going to sleep for another five to six hours. Mark and I hit the coffee shop and had a great visit and good food to send us out the door about an hour and a half later. Nice!

I have only good things to say about the TI Poker room. Check in there for daily tournaments. They are about three weeks new and I like their slogan “A new room for Strip Poker”. For those of you that aren’t familiar with Vegas, the TI is right on ‘the strip’.

Gary and Marie will be leaving town soon. They always go back to somewhere in the summer time. Damn it! It just won’t seem the same without them. And she’s already threatened me…if I move the Coach for any kind of trip…and I don’t come to see them… OMG! I can’t even think about it. I have to put ‘somewhere’ in my travel plans.

I’m thinking we should do The Mirage on this coming Sunday night. Since Sundays will make it much easier for all of us to crank up a game and – ‘meet and try to beat each other’s brains out’ as we visit and enjoy each other’s company. And no ‘funny’ games…our group is getting too big for mixed games. Unless, of course, we are playing at someone’s house.