Kinda funny, ain’t it? I live in the land of live poker, and I title this the ‘trip report‘ like I ventured out to Mars or somewhere and it was a gigantic undertaking. While it simply entails firing up the Silver Steed and driving across town, it seems much more complex and mind boggling than that anymore – simply because the desire is not there.

It turned out to be a great time. I met Carole, Gordon, and Marie for lunch at Macaroni Grill. Marie and I arrived first and had some time to catch up on family and life chat while we waited for Gordon and Carole to arrive. We had a fantastic waiter, Anthony, and he is one of the best I’ve ever had in that place…maybe tops of all the places I’ve been in. He was quiet, fun, light hearted, stayed right on top of coffee refills, water, etc., yet was unobtrusive. That made the lunch even more enjoyable. The music is always too loud there and I asked the manager if they would turn it down – who the hell wants to yell over the top of music while you’re trying to enjoy lunch with your friends? The music was turned down. Nice! If you like tomato bruschetta, amongst other things, you have to hit Macaroni Grill. And maybe I liked Anthony so much because he gave me two hugs. Everyone needs a hug now and then.
Marie and I had planned an outing to the Palms to see Wayne and play a little poker. We talked Gordon and Carole into going with us. The Palms has a new poker room manager and while I will say he appears to be efficient and business like, there is nothing overly friendly about his approach or greeting. But we were seated immediately in a $2-4LH game and when Gordon arrived, he sat in our game also. Carole went out to find a machine that hated her…and it worked according to her report later.

Funny, Gordon and I used to face off against each other on an almost daily basis in MT years ago. Almost one of the first hands he was dealt, he picked up A-Q of hearts and I held J-10 Spades. The flop was 8-9-Q with two hearts. We had a small chip war with a couple of hitchhikers and when a King came on the turn, it ended up being him and me heads-up. The river was an Ace giving him two pair and he bet at me. I raised him. What the hell are friends for if you can’t beat them to death in a friendly game of poker? He paid me off. Ahhhh…old times. I’ve paid him off before too.

Marie and I went to $4-8 and left Gordon behind.

The game was just starting and we had our pick of seats, although it filled up immediately.

In a lot of ways, the texture of this game reminded me of the old day games in MT and the old day games at the Gold Coast. Mostly comprised of older people (include Marie and I in that) and everyone slow played every hand. The $4-8 structure there has changed to the $1-2 blind, first raise goes to $6 and it was a half kill. We played for a very long time and there were only four or five kill pots.

One of the players, Jimmy, used to play regularly at the Mirage the last few years I worked there. Only he played $30-60 and $75-150, mostly 7 card stud. Now he’s a regular at the $4-8 table. And I don’t believe it’s because he likes the format better. You figure it out!

Some of the other players just like to get together to have a brew and gab. That’s what they did best. They were a lot of fun and Brady is a perfect example. There were three gents that took a liking to Marie (and what’s not to like?) as they did a dialogue dance with her while we played. They applauded when she won a pot. It was cute! And they teased each other about their game play and laughed their butts off over their own jokes. This game was a lot of fun. And I met an out-of-towner named Mark that sat on my left, nice guy.
Before I knew it, it was almost 6 p.m. and Marie had to leave. Stick a fork in me too. The wind had been blowing for two days straight – gale force – I may not even stop in Kansas and just keep sailing to parts unknown – and I was ready to head for home. We racked up and left, saying goodbye to Gordon and Carole as we went.

In recap, I made a straight flush with 6-4 off suit, and got paid off in two places, one of them being Marie because she held the Ace of the suit. Hell yes I was in the BB and flopped a pair with straight draw possibilities. And I won almost $100 combined from both games. And I enjoyed the hell out of lunch and my companions. We did get to visit with Wayne but he didn’t deal to us…damn it! And I way over tipped, but that’s what dealers and ex-dealers do.

I may have to do this REAL DEAL jaunt around town again next week. I forgot how much fun it is just to kick back, drop everything, and go hang out with your buds and buddettes, and play poker.