Christmas Eve at the casino

My family celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve this year, as my parents left that night to head down to Texas to visit my brother and his wife.  Once we were done with dinner, and exchanging gifts, there was little else to do.  The original plan was for my wife and I to go to the local casino, which meant little poker if any, as she could be ready to leave at any time.  However, she had been up since 3:30am for work, and decided she wasn't up for the casino, and went to bed early.  First she told me to go ahead and go on my own.  Spending Christmas Eve at the casino??  OK by me!!  lol

So I headed up there around 8:30.  I wasn't sure there would be a poker game going, and opted not to call ahead to put my name on the list.  Bad decision.  There was a game going, only 1, and 3 names on the list ahead of me.  The table of players were not looking to be finished any time soon.  Nothing else to do but sit back and wait, and that's exactly what I did.  After about an hour and a half wait, 1 player had gotten in.  Another player had left the waiting area, seemingly no longer interested, but still on the list.  Suddenly, there was a 3-way all-in.  The player with the most chips busted the other 2 players, and a third player (not involved in the hand) decided it was time for him to go.  As I was third on the list, I was able to be seated.  I bought in for $200 as usual, and started my night.  Alas, there were very few good hands to play, nothing much hit, and I was down a buy-in after about 2 and a half hours.  The only hand of note: First orbit, still with $200 behind: I am in the big blind with A-9 of diamonds. It limps around to me and I check, and 5 players see a flop of 7-8-10, rainbow.  Not a terrible flop for me.   Small blind checks to me and I bet $10.  3 players call.  The turn is another 7, completing the rainbow.  I bet $25.  One player calls.  The river is an Ace.  I check, figuring the only hands that call a bet have me beat, and I have showdown value.  The other player in the hand bets $37, which is essentially all of her $1 and $5 chips.  She has $100 behind in $25 chips.  I think for a few moments, and call.  She shows J-6!  My A-9 is good and I take the pot.

A hand I wasn't involved in early in my session set the tone for a few of the players.  In a limped pot, 7 players in, the flop is 8c-9h-Jc.  There is a bet of $10, a raise to $30, and a re-raise all-in, for a little over $200.  The next player to act (sitting to my left and hand't acted yet) flashes me 7-10 and folds, fearing he's up against the nut straight.  the initial bettor deliberates and calls, the other player folds.  Heads up now, and all in, the player who shoved shows Q-10 for the flopped nut straight.  After a club on the turn, the caller turns over 3c-5c!  He called off his stack with just a 5-high flush draw, and got there.  The player who had called the $30 and then folded claimed to have had 2c-4c, and I had no reason to doubt that.  There's just something about the players at my local casino....lol  Unfortunately, I was unable to get a hand to play against the maniac.  He lost a big pot later when he went all-in out of turn, someone went all-in ahead of him, but he was still shoving his chips into the middle of the table before realizing what happened, and held to a call.  Sometime after that, he shoved $200 into a pot of $60 on the turn when the board showed a thrid club.  When no one called, he showed 7-2 off, no pair and no draw.

I headed down to the main deck (the local casino is a riverboat with 4 decks), trying to decide what to do.  I decided to sit down at a $10 Blackjack table that seemed to be having fun.  One of the guys was betting stacks of green on the hand as well as on the bonus spot.  The bonus spot was called blackjack +3. The rules are that if your 2 cards plus the dealer's upcard equal a straight, flush, 3 of a kind, or straight flush, it pays 9-1 on your bet.  The bonus was a $5 minimum, and he was betting green on that also.  After his last hand, which saw him lose the bonus and the hand, I sat down.  I started with $130 in chips.  I started out winning some hands, hit a few bonuses, and started varying my bets.  I hit a $40 bet on a hand, a $30 bet on a hand where I doubled against a 6 and the dealer busted, and then hit more bonuses and hands.  At one point I won 6 hands in a row, and hit the bonus on 4 of them also!  I was keeping track, and after 40 minutes was up $355, enough to cover my poker loss and give me a profit of $155 for the night.  I decided to cash out and head home.  Ah well, I can't always end the night ahead at poker, but it's nice to get lucky in the pit games on occasion!!