Great Weekend...

Hung out with Cheyenne Friday night, lavishing her with a lot of attention...

...since I was about to put her in the kennel for Saturday and part of Sunday. I use PetSmart PetsHotel, and they're really good there. As she's a regular, they all know and love her (how could anyone not love Cheyenne?), and take extra good care of her. Of course, as I was packing Friday night she knew something was up, so she wouldn't leave my side!

Saturday morning, I took her to her hotel around 9:30, then headed to Buffalo. I drove out to the Seneca Niagara Casino and got there a bit after 11:00. I checked in, but didn't even head to my room, as I wanted to get to UB for the Buffalo meet (Grant LaDue's BACSIM) as soon as I could. I stopped for lunch on the way back, so arrived at BACSIM around 12:15. Grant had dropped off the tables, and a few folks were there. I broke out my copy of Small World, and we began a 5-player game. This is a crazy little fantasy-themed game where there are combinations (random!) of races (such as ghoul, human, dwarf, giant, etc.) and abilities (dragon rider, spirit, berserk, commando, etc.). What this adds is true variation, as each game will be different. So, in one game there could be "Pillaging Sorcerers," while in the next you could get "Mounted Sorcerers." Anyway, players conquer regions (empty, with a "Lost Tribe," or with an opponents piece[s]) and score points for areas, often enhanced by ability and/or race. For example, dwarves get an extra point for each mining area, while a merchant ability gives an extra point for each area you control! So, players need to maximize their own points while clearing areas of opponents' pieces that are collecting big points. Eventually, the race you control will go into "decline" (your choice of when), and you'll start a new race/ability combo next turn. Declining races still score points for where they're at, but they can't conquer new areas (save for the ghouls!) or score ability points. Victory points are kept hidden (in the form of victory point chits), so you're never sure how much each person has. All in all, a very clever game. In this one, I finished 3rd out of 5 and had a lot of fun.

Next up was Le Havre. I have talked about this one before -- it's the game where you're running a "company" working out of the docks. You collect commodities, build buildings and ships, and try to earn money. In the middle of all this is the need to keep your workers fed, so one has to get food goods as well as building materials in his inventory. We played a 3-player game and I won big, as I had as many buildings as the other 2 players combined!

A second game of Small World broke out with the 3 Le Havre players. Another fun time, and I managed 2nd. Finally, we got a 4-player Le Havre game going and I finished 2nd again, as my lack of food began to drag me down as the game progressed. I had to spend too much time divesting of the loans I was saddled with...

It was a fun day, but with 10:00 approaching (actual game playing time was about 6 hours -- bullshitting time was about 3 hours!), I decided to head to the casino...

Once I got there and deposited my stuff in my room (and what a nice room it turned out to be!), I headed down to the casino floor and walked around for a while. I played about $40 worth of slots, and this lasted a while. I never hit the big jackpot, but I tried. I really need to stop playing slots, as it really is a fool's game...

Around midnight, I headed over to the poker room and bought in to a $1/$2 table for $100 in chips. The table stayed pretty full, with 9 or 10 seats for the first couple hours (6 of us there the whole time). It was a good bunch of guys, with most engaged in friendly chat and no trash-talking. One old guy (a regular, based on the dealers' talk!) was in a foul mood as he kept on losing, but this meant he mostly scowled at the dealer... Around 2:00 a.m. I was at ~$110. It was one of those "up and down" nights, mostly down, as my cards had been shit! Finally, though, I look at a hand and I have pocket aces! Yes, I'm thinking, now the trick is to keep people in initially to build up the pot! A guy in front of my raises to $12, and 6 of us follow. The flop is A-10-2. Wow! Trip aces for me, and no good chance for anyone else to draw a flush (3 different suits). I figure my set is good, so I'm thinking about how to string out the pot (which is already about $75). After a couple checks, a guys go all in with ~$125 dollars. 2 folds in front of me, then me. I'm thinking, "WTF?!?!" He could have A/10, A/2, 10/10, or 2/2. Any way, I have him beat, unless another 2 or 10 comes up (and an A doesn't). OK, now's the time to make some $$$! I call, and it takes all my chips. The last 2 guys fold. Now, unlike poker on TV, folks aren't forced to show their cards on all-in calls, but we agreed to. I laid first, he saw I had 3 aces, and he says, "Shit," as he throws down K/Q off-suit. At first, I'm happy, until it strikes me (in about 3 seconds), that he has an out if a J appears. Then one guy at the table says he folded a jack, and another says the same -- so only 2 jacks possible, I'm looking good. The turn is a 7. Drum roll, I'm about to get a pot of almost $300! And the river is...

...a fucking J.

Holy crap, I was shell-shocked. The guy (a 6-Nations Indian from Toronto) apologized to me, LOL! I sat there through the next hand just shaking my head and chip-less. After another hand, the dealer asked me if i intended to buy back in, as there were folks waiting for seats. Shrug, I came here to win, so i threw another $100 on the table and loaded up...

Well, I played until almost 5:00 a.m., and, without boring you with each hand, I played solidly and smartly, making good reads and folding when I should have. I did catch one young guy who had too many beers in him, and won successive pots from him. When it was all said and done, I cashed out with $381 dollars -- a $181 profit above my $200 chip buy ins. If I had won my earlier all-in, I would have been at ~ $600 with a $100 buy in, not bad for 5 hours work. But what the Hell, $181 over 5 hours works out to $36.20 an hour. Not bad, especially doing something I truly enjoy.

My only wish is that I had started playing "competitively" 25 years ago, though there wasn't a casino in Niagara then, nor were the Internet sites running that far back, so I've done what I can... I really do love playing Texas Hold 'Em, and just need to get to the casino more often to do this, as I'm a better player in person than online (though I'm pretty good there, if I do say so myself...).

Anyway, I headed up to bed at 5:00ish, got up at 10:00, showered, checked, out, and grabbed a quick breakfast at the Casino (delicious blueberry pancakes from the Three Sisters Cafe -- for the Iroquois, the "3 sisters" were squash, beans, and corn), then headed back to Rochester. I got Cheyenne at about 1:00, and we headed home and crashed for a while. I also felt good that she had a lot of fun playing with her buddies at the kennel (I put her in day care, as I do during the week). Gaming and my dog, the good things in life.