Let it Ride till I Die!

With a free Monday, I decided to take off on my motorcycle and soak up some summer. I ventured north to Anacortes and Mount Erie. I took the ferry to Whidbey Island from Mukilteo, which was a quick 20-minute ride, without having to wait in line thanks to my two wheels. Fifty miles of island motorcycling later (the best kind of motorcycling?), I reached Anacortes. I wasn't supposed to reach Anacortes, I was supposed to stay on Rosario Rd., but I took a wrong turn and wound up in Anacortes.

Anacortes smells so good. It smells like fish, which makes me want clam chowder, but I didn't eat clam chowder because I had half of a day-old Subway sandwich in my backpack that I had forgotten about until midnight last night, then put it in the freezer after being in my backpack in the 90 degree heat for six hours... but that's another story. The sandwich was freaking good. Maybe it was just me being happy at finally finding the route to Mount Erie, and eating the sandwich with company of ants and these minuscule critters that kept biting me and dying by my finger tip.

The view at Mount Erie is ridiculous.



An old guy up there with his woman said he made the trek in February and they could see Mount Rainier from the view point. Mount Rainier is 100 miles away.



Add to the view, the too-many-to-count rock climbing routes, you've got one kick-ass location. I ate lunch on the summit, in the shade of some friendly trees. I read some from my library book that is due back next Tuesday, then I got out my climbing shoes and decided to test my might at a few of the little bouldering problems around, and one of the easier longer climbs, which had two of the little rope prongs at the top, which I ignored. The climbs were pretty easy, but with no rope and nobody to hear you scream, the adrenaline still flows.

After climbing, I tried half-assedly to take a dip in either Lake Campbell or Lake Erie (of WA), but I was running late, for a very important date! A date with lady luck, at Tulalip Casino. I road the back roads to the casino, at least until I hit I-5 at exit 218 and had to freeway the rest of the way. I road on Reservation Road, which intersected with Indian Road, and I could picture a Native American crying. I did my best to stop the tears by paying the ridiculous rake and bad beat jackpot at Tulalip.



Warning, poker content!

I had the shittiest stretch of cards for my first hour of play the the 4/8 limit game. The table was full of limpers, and I couldn't even limp with my 63o and Q2o. I almost played Q3 suited UTG because it was suited, but refrained. I was down about $45 from folding, folding, and more folding for an hour, until I finally won a pot as the big blind and checking down the flop, turn and river to win with 4th pair. I tipped the dealer.

During my stretch of shitty cards, there was this guy in his fifties who was drunk at the table and in a trucker's hat. All the staff knew him, and his name, Doug, was on his striped trucker/bowling shirt. He was a pretty funny guy, and said Mondays were his lucky day. When I first sat down, he had just won the high hand jackpot from the previous hour with AAAAT for $300. He was jubilant. He also brought up an interesting idea of letting the high hand jackpot ride, and having a shot at $600 the next hour. Him and the dealer discussed this at length, and they agreed that there needed to be some maximum hand, say quad 3's (why they didn't pick quad 2's, I'll never know). So if you hit quad 3's or higher, you can't let your high hand jackpot ride--and if you get beat in the second hour and let it ride, you forfeit your original $300. Also. ALSO! According to Doug, there needs to be a low hand jackpot, where the person who won a hand with the crappiest hand each hour needed to win $10 or something. This Doug is on to something! If casinos had low hand jackpots, people would play crap cards and call down with crap cards, trying to hit the jackpot. The only problem I see is having too much rake/jackpot money taken out of the normal pots. For every $10 in the pot, $2 is taken out right now, one to the jack pot and one rake dollar for the casino. But back to me winning money.

I won another pot with AQ on an Ace-high board, and the villain missed his 8 kicker, but called me down the whole way after a re-raise on the flop.

I won a pot with Q8 from my BB after limped to me and catching top pair with my 8. Same villain called me down and mucked.

I won my fourth and last hand of the day with AT under the gun. I limped (as was accustomed at the table) and got re-raised by an older gentleman in his 80s, to my immediate left. The guy to his immediate left called two bets cold, and I called from UTG.

Flop brought an Ace and I checked. The older gentleman bet, and the dude to his left called. I hesitated, and could not really figure out what I could beat, but called anyways. We checked it down the rest of the way, which made me feel a lot better about my AT, and it held, making me wonder how much value I lost not betting it, but on the flop I wasn't sure why I was calling, and my chips were all racked up and ready to go. If either of them fires the turn I probably fold.

I was card dead for an hour, lost almost $50, then won almost $100 back, showing down each of the four hands and never having a hand as good as TPTK. It was a weird session.

After 90 minutes at Tulalip, I moto down to Kamiak for a pickup soccer game, and the traffic is non-existant. Completely opposite of last week, trying to get out of Seattle and up to Kamiak at rush hour. There is something to be said about going for a moto ride and coming in from out of town during rush hour, as opposed to leaving town at rush hour in the afternoon. The soccer game was fun, I scored a goal! It was hot, 90 degrees is no degrees to be playing soccer in.

Now I am home, in the basement, drank my GnT and ate my Dove Bar. Sleep soon.