You Got to Know When to Hold 'em...

So, yesterday was a gambling day. It sounds odd, but there are days when we just need to gamble (these are much rarer than you think). Jeff has a little money set aside for just these days. His "roll" he calls it. heheh...roll.

So, he worked way early in the morning, bringing him home at 11 am-ish. I was puttering around, knitting, getting ready to head to the pool when he arrives like a whirlwind to see if I want to head to Indiana to hit the poker room. I agree, as long as he stakes me from his...roll. He agrees on 100 bucks, anything else I have to come up with myself. (As I am trying not to spend a lot these days (home sweet home before I'm 40 hopefully))

We head to the Trump Poker Room, stopping at the Oasis for lunch (mmm..Panda Express) and get there around 12:30. He goes to the $200 No Limit Max Buy-in table. I go play 3/6 Limit Hold 'em. This is going to sound like I'm a complete throwback, when, really, I'm nothing of the sort. It's good to be a girl in a roomful of old poker players. You don't want to be obvious or giggly or try to attract too much attention or be unfriendly, but...if you keep your mouth shut, listen, be friendly in conversation, be humble when you win and a good sport when you lose...things will go well. The guys all cheer you on, help if you make a mistake, give you pointers on different styles of play and players at the table, and generally treat you very well. I even had a guy challenge the dealer for me when he made a mistake. I wouldn't have known to do it (now I do), but the guy was not going to let it pass and let me take the hit. Now, I'm no Lolita, nor am I a shrinking violet, but if you play your cards right (learn, play tight and aggressively, be nice) they will respect you and treat you like a little sister.

On my left, I had a Lithuanian construction worker who was very cute but such a heavy smoker that he couldn't sit for more than 40 minutes without getting up to smoke. On my right, I had a series of older guys who looked like this was their regular Monday afternoon get out of the house jaunt, and a young guy from Belaruse who looked like this was his second job. The Lithuanian and the kid from Belaruse would occasionally speak Russian to each other and then the Lithuanian would tell me what they said.

Anyway, I had a better day than Jeff. He ended up down, and I ended up "up" when we turned in our chips. We spent twenty bucks at the nickel slots and headed home. On the way home, we spent a few bucks on Mega Millions Lottery tix (145 mil).

So it was a gambling day yesterday (and today, I bought some scratch tix) Oh, it is an addiction, but a fun one!