Sounds slightly promiscuous, doesn’t it? That would be playing poker around town type of playing around. Since I’m the resident slacker of Bellagio’s poker dealing staff, I’ve managed to spend more and more time on the playing side of the green felt. Marie manages to spend quite a bit of that time with me. Gary and Marie play poker pretty much on a daily basis. Gary likes the $20-40 H games at The Mirage and plays $30-60 H at Bellagio on occasion. Marie plays the smaller limits, like me, and we manage to meet up at the tables, usually two to three times a week. We try to play in different rooms, check out the crowds, watch the action, win a few $$, and just enjoy the fine game of poker.

And I always try to carry the handy-dandy Sony with me. So a little bounce back in time. This is my last stack of chips at the Stardust those are Marie’s pinkies on the right)- the five day auction is going on right now, selling off every dusty scrap of memorabilia:

This is a picture (from the same night of my last play) of a locked up Stardust Rocket. Will it fly? Who the hell knows!

The sign on the ice cream shop wall…wonder where these people are working now. And all thecasino chips were shredded – or so I heard – were the waffle cones and everything else shredded too? Or did someone get to take all of that home with them to give to their friends or someone that might really enjoy it? Or was the surplus just all thrown away, from all of the shops?

And where, oh where, oh where will Merlin end up? He’s probably listed somewhere in the auction but who knows where? And truthfully, who would want him? But he should be in a museum with ‘Happy Clown Face’ of the Boardwalk instead of just being shipped off to never land. There is a ‘neon graveyard’ in Vegas, that’s where Happy Clown Face should have gone. Some day a post on the Neon Graveyard. But now Merlin, looking regal and all knowing, in his glass case at the Stardust:

Good bye Stardust! May all of the people that graced your doors be blessed with eternal good luck! *glasses clink*

*****

One Friday night we played at Caesar’s Palace just because we’d had lunch with our non-blogging buddy, Greg Patterson :-), and he was going to be dealing that night and we decided to give him some action. We got in to a $3-6H game with a half kill and incredibly, I took the BB, had 4-4 and flopped bottom set and won a monster pot, with five way action and one player finally going all-in on the river. Whoopee! Then I went on a little siz and won some more pots. Nice! But the game we were in was breaking down; I had a nice win and told Marie I would sit behind her while she played. She hadn’t fared as well as I did in this game. She gotthe 3sseat at a table in the back of the room and I pulled up a chair behind her. The first five players never seemed to win a hand, the last five players had all of the chips, and the 8 and 9s were boyfriend/girlfriend. Several dealers came and went. I ordered my favorite table side food from the server, and we proceeded to snack it up on Spinach and Artichoke dip, and drink more wine.

The 8s was Asian, male, the 9s, blonde…umnhhh, she was definitely too-o-o-o sexy for her shirt! I’d better leave it at that. Chris came in to deal. He looked very familiar but who would know from where? Too many faces over too many years. The 8s took off on a conversation that criticized all the floor people at Bellagio. The dealer joined the tune and jumped on the band wagon. The 7s, a woman got involved. They were all making remarks and finally, being the little snit bitch that I am, I exclaimed loudly, “NOT ALL THE FLOOR PEOPLE AT BELLAGIO!”

The 8s specifically named Nate and I went on, defending my working mates. The 8s informed me that no locals played at Bellagio anymore because of the floor people. I laughed and replied that it just wasn’t true. He argued that none of the locals he knew played there anymore. I jumped on it, “Maybe in the limits you play in…”

He continued, “I play $10-20 NLH and $200-400 H and I don’t play there anymore.” No shit man. You’re in a $3-6 game. What does that tell me? Go figure!

I started to ask him how many places he’d played in that everything was perfect and ran the way it should be. I got this far, “How many places have you played in…”

He barked at me, “Lots of them. I’ve played in lots of places.”

I replied, “You didn’t let me finish but that’s about what I expected.”

He stopped. I finished, “How many places have you played in that everything was in perfect order and everything went as it should.”

Now he backed down a little bit, but went on to argue that customer service was not at Bellagio and that’s why none of the locals played there.

Too Sexy For My Shirt jumped in, “If you think Bellagio is the only place to play, you’ve never been anywhere!”

I sarcastically threw out, “I’ve played in more than one poker room in my life and I’ve been to more than one county goat roping fair. *after thought* And I always know when it’s my blind.”

This woman never knew when it was up to her, or when it was her blind, even after the dealer told her 400 hundred times, and most of the time she threw her hand away when she was in the blind. Sometimes the 8s prompted her before she looked at her cards, “Just throw your hand away.” So now she’s telling me that she’s savvy to how poker room management should be and that I’m a stump in the Kain-tuck-ee forest…ah-ha. You betcha baby!

Then…incredibly…and without provocation, the dealer jumped right into the middle of it. “I worked at Bellagio for 10 years. I QUIT!”

I know I started belly laughing. “Ten years? You really are an amazing individual, considering it’s only been open for eight.”

He never even slowed down. “I worked there for ten years. I hated it. I quit!”

Even the 6s looked at me, “The Mirage opened in ’89. Bellagio opened in ’98.”

I replied, “You are so right. I don’t know where he worked for 10 years but it wasn’t at Bellagio.”

He was getting pushed. Everyone on my end of the table was laughing. The dealer that worked at Bellagio for 10 years left us. A new game was being called and ex Bellagio high limit player and his Sexy Shirt chick were being called for another game. I believe it was $2-5 NLH but hell if I know. The players on my end were still laughing. Marie had already set a stop watch on herself and we were going to go. We did get a chance to visit with Greg when he was finishing his shift for the night but he never did deal to us. There’s always another night.

Soon up will be a post about Tito and playing at the Palms.