*post continued* Perhaps I’ve not mentioned lately how much I enjoy playing poker when I have no stress to do anything, like a clock in my face, or some other issue that needs tending NOW! Back to the game that had me in stitches. I found out that the 9s’s name is Ryan. Stephanie pulled out her handy dandy instaconnect to the internet phone and looked it up on Google (or The Google as President Bush referred to it). Ryan translates to king. They had more than a few words on that subject.

They asked Ryan what he was going to do for his birthday. He said he was going to go to The Spearmint Rhino. Monique instantly popped out with, “Ask for Sincere.” In the middle of gales of laughter between Stephanie and Monique, Monique put her hand out to an invisible person, with a straight face, introduced herself, “Hi! I’m Sincere.”

Ok…obviously these girls have been to The Spearmint Rhino. I can’t imagine them not going anywhere and everywhere, their lives are filled with exploration and no inhibitions, so why not? Ryan couldn’t even figure out that that was the perfect lead in for him. He could have asked them to go with him. DOH!!!

The player on my immediate left, the 2s, was Marty Nelson. Marty had a wonderful smile and sense of humor and he and I shared more than one look that turned into laughter as wesat dumb founded through watchingMonique and Stephanie play the game. Marty is the poker manager at Saloon No. 10. He started out by asking me if I knew Lynne Loomis. HELLO! I replied, “If you walk around that room (pointing to Bobby’s Room) andtake an immediate left, you will walk right in to her. She’s the tournament director tonight.”

He gave me a bit of background on himself and Lynne, and how he’d met her. Hell…that’s how I found out about Saloon No. 10. This is our friend Marty.

Here’s a picture of the girls with Monique pulling her hair back, looking sleek and sophisticated. But then I told them I had to have a shot of the crazy hair too. Which they obliged but that will come later.

Don’t they just look like they could wrap you up, twist you like you’ve never been twisted, and leave you behind like a bad date? They were so funny. Stephanie did the hair flipping thing continuously at one point. See, when I first joined the table, they were drinking regular sized drinks, inhaling them would be more like it, then they went to water glass size drinks with doubles. They managed to put down a few before I left the game. They were also doing the ‘high five’ and all kinds of enthusiastic applause between themselves when one of them won a pot. The next pot I won, they included me in that. Soon I was applauding, cheering, and high fiving them across the table. We had a great gig going.

The 6s, Steven, was in town for a convention. He’s an ophthalmologist. Without missing a beat, Stephanie told him that she really was near sighted (I think) and that she needed glasses when she drove but since he wasn’t a policeman, she could tell him. Kee-rist! *gales of laughter* Steven couldn’t seem to win a hand, but neither could the 7s. But back to Steven, I asked him if he wanted to be in the blog and he said, “Well…ok!”

Stephanie tried to quiz Steven several times on whether she should play a hand or not. Steven was pretty funny. He just got a quizzical look on his face, and looked at me several times like what do I do here?

Ryan started to question why we three were high fiving and cheering each other on when it was ‘his birthday’.Monique told him it was my birthday and they were going to cheer for me. Cute! In several different hands, Ryan flopped a flush or turned a straight (never the nuts) and poor Stephanie got caught because she flopped two big pair. Even with other players in the hand, Ryan looked at her and exclaimed, “Get out! Save your money! I’ve got the nuts.” and blah, blah, blah. Unfortunately he had the best hand over her but he didn’t have the nuts. Once when he went through the whole spiel, acting like he was doing her a favor, and beat her in the hand, he exclaimed, “I told you I had the nuts.”

She was so damn cute. “What does that mean?”

Another time when she was in the BB, with five or six callers, Ryan demanded, “Raise it!” She did. She put out $1. Damn it! I love this type of poker. It reminds me of the old Montana days.

Once when she won a big pot, she gave Ted a Red Bird ($5 chip), Ted did a, “Thank you! I love you!”

Completely candid and without any kind of ego, she replied, “I get that a lot.”

I bet she does. She won a pot with A-A, and she didn’t punish bright boy Ryan nearly enough with the hand, mainly because she didn’t know how, I teased the girls and said, “You’re really pros aren’t you? You play with Daniel Negreanu, Sammy Farha, and Jennifer Harman all the time.”

The both took off, explaining that Monique wore a tank top at the WSOP that read PartyPoker.Net, and that Stephanie had gone there to have a meal with her. Stephanie jumped in to tell me that Monique was a great model and that she shouldn’t be undermining her own talent. From the way those two could shine on the ‘auto pilot’ look for a picture, I bet they are both great models. Here’s the one with the crazy hair shot.

Somewhere in here, Marty left us. An hour or so later Steven’s wife came to collect him and he racked up and left. An old timer at Bellagio’s table, Harry, had taken the 10s and when Steven left, Harry moved over. The 3s opened. We got two new players in the 2 and 3s, and Harry took the 6s. Stephanie and Monique both gave them all a giant sized, “HI!”like they were auditioning to be airline stewardesses. Stephanie settled into a conversation with Harry, after she chastised Ryan about his telling her to throw her hand away in another pot.

Monique gave Ryan a countdown, looking at her watch, telling him that the birthday crap was over. We’d all listened to it long enough. At one point Stephanie’s phone rang and she explained to the caller that Monique was wearing all pink and that she was wearing mixed colors…they were going to a Mardi Gras party in LA.

Stephanie had just taken an exam that day and felt she did really well on it, they came out to celebrate. It turns out that they normally test on Tuesdays. Monique said we should meet every Tuesday and play poker. Great idea. It was time for me to go. “Hi! I’m Sincere!” totally made my night.