Foxwoods With Friends

Gary, Josie and me

Yesterday, I had a great day. Met in real life some friends I'd made through blogging. And, I liked them even more in person than online (or at least as much). Won money. Got a break from caregiving and was comfortable knowing that Skip was in the capable hands of the intrepid MW. And, I got to test my new glasses while driving at night.

Josie and Gary - It was only the second time I've ever met anyone in person who'd become a friend through blogging. As I drove down to Foxwoods to meet Very Josie and the Crafty Southpaw (Gary) for some poker, I found myself wondering if we'd like each other in person as much as online. I hoped I wouldn't suck too much at poker, since I have rarely played over the last few years and wasn't the greatest even when playing regularly. And, overall, I found myself being excited at the prospect of meeting new people.

Josie is smart, funny and has a great table persona. Gary is smart, too, and had me laughing all afternoon. I guess Josie liked me because she called me a biatch and, at various times while playing poker, said we were fighting. Gary was very intent when playing a hand and I finally figured out I should stop jabbering when he was doing battle.

Let me just say right here that Josie and Gary are much better players than me. (I'm sure they already know this but were too polite to say it to my face.) I've read a jillion books (okay 15-20) about holdem and Omaha and played tens of thousands of hands online, but truth be told, I just never really had the feel for the game that folks like Josie and Gary do.

Poker - Unlike my last visit to Foxwoods, I had almost no quality starting hands yesterday. A few hours into the day, I had KK but completely misplayed it preflop (as in, I didn't raise out of the big blind and so 5 of us saw the flop) and ended up folding on the turn when the board just got too scary and I knew KK unimproved was no good. My last hand of the day was 99. I had a few suited Aces with crappy kickers. But I managed to make do with hands like 79s, K8c and the like. After starting out losing, I finished up winning a bit over $400 at poker.

Craps - After some dinner together, Josie and Gary headed out. I went into the land of the smoky casino to find an open craps table. If you've never played craps, suffice it to say it's a good way to win or lose money quickly. At a hot table, you can rack up the dough with lightning speed. A couple of cold rolls, and it all slides back to the house. The first table I tried was choppy. Some up, some down rolls. I had the worst roll of the night -- crapping out instantly after setting the point. I stuck with the table for a bit, but each short roll was slowly but surely cutting into the day's winnings.

I picked up my remaining chips with the thought of cashing out and heading home. But, decided I'd try one more table. Went past a few that were too full to get a spot at; the third I came to had some room in the corner nearest one of the dealers. The dice were with a shooter on the other side of the table and he was doing fairly well -- he won us all some dough. After he sevened out, the next shooter did okay, and the trend continued for half a dozen shooters. No great rolls, but all solid, money-making ones. Suddenly, my down $200 at craps was up over $500 and, when the dice came around to me, I passed the option, picked up my chips and happily made my way to the cashier. Time to head home.

I've been wearing my new glasses for about a week. After 10 years wearing only reading glasses, I wasn't happy to find that I needed them full-time. I've had a lot of problems with the middle and reading portions of the progressive lenses. Driving last night, their real value was "driven" home to me -- I saw better at night than I had in years!

Getting home at 11:30, the dogs came out from the bedroom to greet me. Heading into the bedroom, a drowsy Skip greeted me warmly, happy to have me home. I set the clocks ahead and went to bed.

So, Gary and Josie - I'm open every weekend in April (how sad is that!). Just say the word and I'll see you there!