Live Poker, Sacramento Visitors and WoW with Waffles

After busting out of Kat's Donkament on Friday night, I decided to spend the rest of the night down at Harvey's playing poker. I'm a bit hazy on the details, but I was jonesing to play some O/8 again. I put my name on both the 3/6 and O/8 lists, and got called to O/8 first. I played in the same game last week, and went on a nice little run. The game is 4/8 limit with a half-kill for any pot where $60 gets pushed to at a person (one scoop over $60, or a split pot of $120 or more).

There are a bunch of older players who like O/8 because you can make money by just nut-peddling--and because there are usually two nut hands, there is more action than a 3/6 holdem game. Add in the fact that tourists who have no idea what they are doing steadily flow in throughout the night, and you've got yourself a pretty good chance at making money.

I don't remember (notice a trend?) any huge hands, but I finished the night up $75, 3 margaritas and 2 sierra nevadas. I am very far from a good player, and I kicked myself for two terribly played hands--where I won both, but didn't bet the river--which would have won me probably another $30 on the night. After my missed check-raises on the river, which all the rocks at the table took notice of, instead of kicking myself, I tried to use my dastardly check-raising image to my advantage. I thought by failing a few check-raises, I might be able to get a few free cards, because they'd be worried about me check-raising... but for the most part they just bet their hands when they had the low or high covered. I would have fared better just betting my hands as well.

I woke up Saturday with an unexpected hangover. I drank three bottles of water at the casino after playing poker. I watched a craps shooter throw dice the entire time I was drinking water, and I would have made a pretty penny if I entered the game--but I was happy and content with my $75 gain on the night--and didn't want to blow it on table games.

Barb, Roxie, Kristen and Conor eventually arrived at around 4pm. They were supposed to leave at 11am, but took their time, and ate in Placerville on the way up. We walked down to the beach and had a good time in the relatively chilly weather. We all hopped in the lake and tossed the disc for a bit before heading back up to the house. Conor and I played a 3-hole round of disc-golf on the way back to the house. We tied the first two holes, then on the last hole--hitting the stove on the porch, I sailed my drive way past where I wanted to go, and ended up going all the way around the house. Conor went the smart way, but I got lucky and hit the stove in 3, and on his 3rd shot he clanked the disc off the porch fence for the loss. He tried again and hit the stove, but no mulligans in folf! By losing, he had to buy my drink at dinner.

The five of us headed to Sam's Place for dinner, and they enjoyed it as much as everyone else I've taken there. Conor and I played two games of pool, and he won both. I sunk the 8 ball in the first game, and he won legitimately in the second game. He ended up paying for pool instead of my drink, because we got two pitchers of beer. I had been craving a french dip for weeks, and finally satisfied that thirst for bloody meat.

We headed to Harvey's after dinner, and Kristen, Conor and I played poker for a few hours while Barb and Roxie checked out the men in the casino. This weekend, both Friday and Saturday, Rascal Flats held a concert in the Harvey's parking lot, so there were a lot of cowboys and cowgirls in attendance. The ladies didn't mind the cowboys, and I sure as hell didn't mind the cowgirls! Cowboys aren't very good at poker.

Kristen isn't the best poker player in the world, but she had some shit luck on Saturday night. She'd flop the Q-hi flush and lose to a rivered Ace-high check-raised flush. She'd flop trips and lose to a turned straight, lost with pocket kings and queens--it was just a rough night for her. And it was also tough to watch, because with a few years of poker under my belt it was pretty easy to tell what hand Kristen had, and that her hand wasn't going to be good--but a fold wouldn't be easy.

I had a pretty rough night at the tables too, and although I didn't play perfectly, I played pretty well and lost $25. Even if I had played perfectly, I don't think I would have made more than $20 dollars on the night. Bad cards, and lots of situations where folding was pretty much my only option.

The bad cards didn't stop me from having fun! There was an elderly lady directly to my left with a pretty large stack of chips. Either she was on a rush, or she hit a jackpot hand. My hunch was right, and she eventually disclosed that she had hit quad Jacks earlier in the evening. The first five hands I was at the table, we both insta-folded our hands. After the fifth fold in a row, I said, "Ah, I see we play a very similar style!"

She chuckled, then I proposed a little side-bet with the 75-year old maiden. "Since we fold so much, why don't we make a game out of it? If you fold your and your two cards land and stay on the star above the 'Harrah's' logo, the other person gives the thrower a dollar." Surprisingly, she agreed, and we spend most of the night trying to line up our folds. We both got real close, but neither of us could land both cards on the star. Sometimes we'd land one, then the other would slide off, and sometimes we just missed completely. She got the closest, when both of her cards stuck to the felt on a lofty throw, but she was an inch away from the star.

The hand I was most proud of on Saturday night was a hand against the quad-jack lady on my left. She limped UTG, which brought many other limpers into the pot on my BB. I looked down to Qs8s and checked my option.

Flop came down Q,T,8, and I bet my two-pair. I got a few callers, and the turn was a brick. I bet again and the lady called as well as the SB. The river paired the ten, counterfeiting my two pair. The SB checked, I checked, and the lady bet out. She was a typical elderly lady, and bet her strong hands. I put her on A-Q, and after the SB folded, a lot of people would make a crying call, just to see her hand--but I was able to fold my top two pair with a crappy kicker. She flashed K-Q and I smiled. In a low-limit 3/6 game, those aren't the folds you usually want to make, but I was happy to save six dollars. Those were the type of hands I found myself in all night, and I was very happy to only leave down $25.

Conor was the big winner on the night, that lucky bastard. After poker, we found Roxie in the Keno lounge, just filling out cards but not betting--while getting free drinks. Nice. You go, Roxie! We joined her for free drinks, and Conor and I made a side-bet on a game of Keno. I felt so good about my picks, that I decided to go place a bet. Conor would not be one-upped, and joined in the fun. We had no idea what we were doing, and both lost $5. I got 3 of my 20 picks correct, and if I had only gotten 2, I would have won $10. Balls!

The five of us headed back to the house, and the party-poopers went to sleep early. We had a thirty-pack of Tecate, but only managed to drink 3 of them. For losing the keno bet, I had to chug a beer then do 25 situps, but somehow that bet changed to me chugging a beer while Conor did 25 situps--and we raced and made another bet, lol! I beat him handly, although I really suck at chugging beer. I forget what we bet, and I don't even think I made Conor pay up--weak! Barb and I played some Indian Poker, 3 card poker, and 5-card draw for drinks--and each of us basically chugged another beer. Then everyone zonked.

Sunday, we all woke up in the late morning and headed down to Zephyr Cove restaurant. The service is terrible, but the food is great. Service anywhere on a Sunday morning in Tahoe is pretty crappy, and I had good company, so I wasn't too miffed. I added a chocolate shake to my 'High Sierra' breakfast that included biscuits and gravy, two scrambled eggs, two pieces of bacon, two sausages, and hashbrowns. The chocolate shake was a perfect compliment at 11am, lol. I usually don't go that big for breakfast, but Kristen was paying, because I loaned her some money the night before at the casino. In hindsight, I should have just gotten the money back instead of having her pay for my breakfast, because I felt like I was on a freeroll and went nuts on breakfast.

After breakfast, we walked back to my house, chilled out on the porch for a bit, then decided to head over to Emerald Bay for some sight-seeing. Emerald Bay was packed, but we got a few pictures--it is the most gorgeous place on the lake.

We also stopped by the Angora Fire, which I haven't been to since racing out of there the day of. We drove up the road to Angora Lake, and once we got to the ridge, the site was pretty amazing. One side of the road was charred, the other side was lush, green forest. We got some photos, then headed down to Camp Richardson for a snack before they headed back to Sacramento.

I got home and fired up some WoW. Tyler and I had talked about what class would suit me best for a pve server--playing with Tyler, Mike and Guang if I actually intended to level up to 70. We sort of settled on a Druid, because of its versatility. I went to fire up a new character on their server, but found that the only alliance class to be a druid are night elfs, and I ain't playing no damn night elf! Taurens are the only horde class that can be a druid, and Taurens are much cooler, so I decided to remake my character on Waffle's server, and made a druid.

I played until about 10pm and was chatting it up with Waffles the whole time. That guy rocks the house, and if you even have an inkling of wanting to play WoW, or want to hang out with Waffles more... now is your chance! For the Horde!