This is lame. Word Press and the new server are messing with my ability to load pictures to Tango. The post is ready, the pictures aren’t. Please check back…hopefully the next 12 hours or so will be all it takes for the Cyber Fairy to iron things out. *UPDATE* Ok…the Cyber Fairy has handled the problem.

I sent out the usual emails to the Pan Game Crew – and a few new people that expressed interest in meeting us. The way the whole evening came down was a little unusual. The norm is that Marie and I will arrive first (and Viv when she’s not caught in a life thread that keeps her away), Greg and Amy are usually an hour or so late (hey, they’re in love), Wayne arrives after his shift at the Palms and after he is surgically removed from the machines, and Mark AKA Kram is close behind Marie and me. The usual arrival time for me is between 6-6:30 PM.

I was almost to the Tuscany when I got a call from Viv, wondering where I was, it was about 6:20. When I arrived a few minutes later, one game was going out of the five tables in the room. It was a NLH game and there were three people waiting for a $3-6H game to start. We were the ‘starting solution’ applied to the atmosphere and the green felt…”Hello Central, we have a poker game in progress!”

Well, it almost went like that. We locked up our seats and headed for the Slot Desk, we wanted a card. We were entitled to draw a card from a drum, that gave us X amount of free play on the slots, and we were also entitled to $10 in free chips when we bought our chips in the Poker Room, plus clocking in during play affords comps and a variety of other free services. Nice! I haven’t played any place – in years – that gave bonus chips when you took a seat in a poker game.

The room is small, cozy, nicely open, and the only complaint I have is what used to be a wet bar is still there in the form of a bar without the wet. Smoking is allowed at the bar. The room is so small, smoking anywhere in it is offensive and people can hang over the rail on one side (from the casino) and smoke. There were several smokers that made a continual pilgrimage to the bar to slowly commit suicide – and exude smoke into the air so the rest of us could die with them. (I suppose those of you that are smokers are now having a little whiney fit that I would put it that way. Bummer in your smoking summer! I don’t care if you smoke – I do care that you force me to smoke with you. And please don’t do the ‘this ain’t a church thing’. Church is wherever one chooses to be, being in a building doesn’t designate church, you are a church – the way you lead your life, the way you deal with yourself, the way you interact with your spirit and those around you is what church is all about). Whew! Now that we got past that!

This shows Wayne sitting at the bar – behind Mark, Heidi, and Andrea:

I would have preferred the end of the table that would allow me to see people coming into the room – but I also preferred to breathe as much fresh air as I could so I chose the end away from the bar, the one that put my back to the entrance. When the game first started, it was five to six players. Mark arrived shortly and took the 2s.

Mark has me right where he wants me when it comes to gamble. Of course lots of times I have him right where I want him…and then he gets away. He’s always fun to play poker with. He’s also a great personality at the table and has a great resiliency when it comes to taking beats and climbing back out. I just hope the Poker Wars never wear him down. He wanted his picture with chips in front of him because of the ‘boys’ back home…they were laughing because he had a bunch of singles in one photo. I told him to tell them to ‘fuck off’ and we should just take a photo of him with three $1 chips left in front of him. N-a-a-h-h-h! He wasn’t going for it. Look at this boy with laughing chips:

The $3-6 game we started filled up. Mark and I decided we needed food. We asked Viv to join us but she elected to play. We headed for the coffee shop. What a mess. We wanted to order to go, we couldn’t get a waiter/waitress – when someone finally brought us water – they were on the defense. It took us over 20 minutes to even place our order and by that time we just decided to eat there as we chatted about the lunacies of people in Vegas and how they end up going broke and running through millions of dollars because they can’t control the GAMBLING HABIT. Marie is usually one of the first ones to arrive or beats me to the meeting place. She had family coming in, grandkids (woohoo) and kids, and she told me ahead of time that they might stop by and have a meal at the Tuscany and if possible, either her or Gary would stay and play for a bit. Marie stopped by and visited for a minute while we waited for food. Her family was over a row from us, ordering food. Then Gary stopped by and said hi. We finally got our food. Ate most of it and put the rest of it in a take out box and headed back to the poker room.

This is what I had to look forward to – I was in the 8s, the gent in the 7s had moved from the 2s earlier as the game started. He was huge. His thighs were as big as my torso and he took up a space and a half. And why do guys always sit with their legs spread apart? WTF? I could barely get into my chair and put my legs under the table with ‘hulk-a-lodius’ sitting next to me. Once when he folded an hour before it was his turn, and the dealer didn’t say a word, I said, “You should fold in turn.”

He did the school girl, mimic, falsetto, “You should fold in turn.”

The rest of the table took care of him. I didn’t have to say another word to him – and I didn’t.

Heidi was seated on Mark’s left, Andrea on Heidi’s left, as evidenced by the picture above of the bar behind the table. Andrea’s beau plays at Bellagio – $30-60 and $80-160 – he had just left. Apparently Viv gave up my identity and they knew I was a dealer at “B”. Andrea was pretty much nonstop chatty Cathy (and hey…that’s ok), and because of that, the ice melted. The 1s had been married for 56 years. Kee-rist! Is that like a whole life time or what? When he was ready to leave the game, he sat down in the chair next to me, stroked my long dark locks across my back and shoulders and spoke to me for a few minutes about his life, his wife, and the years they were together…it took very few words but there was a lot of meaning in it. Ain’t poker wunnerful? I love these people!

Gary stopped by and said we got him. I said great. He then back tracked and said he was going home with the grandkids and dad and Marie would be playing…ok…make up your mind. Just kidding, Gary!

Somewhere right in this time period, Viv was up, cashing out, and ready to head for home. Viv had had a horrible time the last few months, the illness and death of a good friend, another friend’s mother with medical problems, and life catches up. She was tired, had experienced either a touch of the flu or bad food-it-is or everything rolled into one. I swear she was trying to sit on Mark’s lap though…Viv…I’m going to rat you out to Zig!

Also, right in here somewhere, the NLH game broke. Wayne arrived from work (he had to battle his way out of Machine Hell first though because they are his first priority once again – you’re a sick dude – but of course I love you). I managed to get John, one of the poker dealers to take this picture before Viv left for the night:

Wayne left to get another Player’s Card. He has one from every casino in Nevada – and probably all the other casinos in the world too.

During this time, six guys walked in and wanted to start another $3-6H game. The game I was in sucked. Mainly because everyone was check calling or fold, fold, fold, and I’d already told Mark at the beginning that we shouldn’t straddle in this game. (Hell…small games in small rooms oft blow apart because of too much action). I asked the Floor if I could move over to the new game that was starting. “YES!” They even racked my chips up for me. When I got to the table, the boys were stuttering and stammering that they really didn’t want a stranger in their game. They were all friends. I did my best innocent act, “So you don’t want me to play with you?”

One of them finally mustered up the balls to say no and a few others agreed. I was back to my same seat, in the original game, in a heart beat, but not until I informed the floor that private games were not allowed in casino poker rooms. Hey kids, they tried it at Bellagio. It doesn’t fly. But since I was at the Tuscany, a new kid, and they allowed me to take all the pictures I wanted (nobody ran up and did the ‘it’s a gaming thing’ when the flash went off), and I was there to play with my friends…I quietly returned to my seat and enjoyed the game.

Marie and daughter arrived, looking for an open seat, they were both exhausted. Since there were no seats open, they were going home…how strange not to play cards with Marie in one of these outings. They went home for the night.

Several people came in and got on the list, but no one was ushered into the ‘private game’. They were all on the list for our game. We had several seats open up, the 10s was taken by a player named Dave – from Connecticut. He really wanted to play NLH and the game was going earlier when he called down. Ilia, a dealer I work with at Bellagio, came in and played over Andrea while she dined…see we could have brought our food to the poker room.

Then Ilia’s seat opened next to Andrea and a seat opened next to me – ‘hulk-a-lodius’ left – and Wayne took a seat next to me. The player on Wayne’s right – Jerry – was the only player that never said a word during all of our ramble, jamble, and he joined us just before Ilia and Wayne got in the game. The good news is that he didn’t care if I had his picture and he willingly gave me his name…he may have also been the tightest player of the whole group.

All of the Tuscany dealers were very open to customer service and easy to get along with. Now I wish I had taken pictures of the other two but I failed in that respect. This is John:

And this is Selena:

Marty called me – on the phone, goose – they were on their way. When they arrived, Marty snagged the 9s, next to me – another dealer at Bellagio. Yes, we run in packs. Guard your bankroll, and your sanity when we are on the loose:

Anna managed to land the 1s. As required by the Card Fairy, Marty bad beat his lady fair, Anna, and then mouthed off about it…shame on you, Marty. But by now there were five dealers in the game. Sure! Anna deals also at MGM. And we were beginning to straddle and the game was on.

The subject of NLH kept coming up. Mark, Ilia, and Dave – 10s wanted to play. The best news is that the Tuscany has “overs” buttons. If those three have an ‘overs’ button, and they end up in a hand (no one else is in) they can play NLH. They all took a button but they never ended up three-way or two-way to play NL. Another nice point is ‘buying the button’ is allowed at The Tuscany and they have high hand jackpots.

Amazingly, about 1:30-2ish AM, people walked through the door and they started a NLH game. Dave – 10s, left us for that game. The clocks moved forward that night. It was actually much later than I thought. Wayne and I wanted to go hit a machine and find out what my free play was – and just sit away from the game and play machines for a bit. I’d been bashing at the poker table for over seven hours.

We hit the machines – but before I left the room and told everyone goodnight, I got the news from Heidi and Andrea that they both want to join us in our venture of ‘playing Las Vegas Poker Rooms’. And I couldn’t let Jerry, the shift supervisor, escape without a picture with me. I’ve dealt to him at Bellagio.

When we left the room, Marty, Anna, Mark, Heidi, Andrea, Ilia, and Dave were still jamming. The machines were mean to me. Bastards! But they treated Wayne well and he’s out of Vegas for a week – back home with family and friends.

This week…yes…we are playing somewhere on Saturday night. And don’t let the term ‘The Pan Game’ fool you, it’s just a term to designate a group – we play poker. See you There!