The calm after the storm

With the disaster that was Monday as the backdrop I went to work Tuesday determined, as always, to TRY to be transparent. By that I mean that I wanted to just deal without calling any attention to myself. Voila! A flawless performance on my part. Sometimes it all just falls into place and all is well with the world. Wednesday night was similar with only one, well maybe two, minor blunders. While dealing a $2-4 limit HE game the 1 seat was all in on the flop. When I burned and turned the the turn, two cards came off. I placed the proper card on the board and announced that the second card, a 4, would be the next burn. A 4 happened to be the only out for the 1s, so he knew that he was drawing to the case 4. It didn't come and he was done for the night.
Later while dealing a $2-5 blind NL HE game it became heads up between the unknown (to me) 4s and Dean in the 6s. Dean is great to deal to. He is funny, hysterical at times, and comes to play. He is NOT afraid to get his chips in with the worst of it. I think he does some sort of publicity for superstars of the sports and entertainment fields. Rarely is he dressed in anything less than a shirt and tie. He flops the tie back over his shoulder when he plays. Anywhoo, the 4s goes all in on the flop and Dean calls. I burn and turn the turn, burn and go to turn the river. The river card, a Jack, POPs off of the deck, flies through the air and lands right in front on Dean. Don't ask me how it happens as I couldn't purposely duplicate it if I tried. Like iron shavings being drawn to a magnet the Jack was Dean's only out. He had been trailing the whole way. Can you say *snap*? Of course Dean took care of me........he always does.
On the next NL table I had a situation where two new faces ended up heads up. A man in the 3s and a woman in the 7s. The man was betting the whole way and the woman called him down. The 3s showed his hand and the lady mucked. I slid her cards into the muck, but did NOT bury them. I usually try to bury them so that they are NOT retrievable with any certainty. The corners of her cards were in the muck but 90% of the cards were sticking out. The 3s asked to see her hand. I stated that as far as I was concerned, her hand was "in the muck" and he could not see them, BUT I immediately called for a decision. The floorman said that if he could, without a doubt, retrieve the cards, which he could, the hand could be viewed. The cards came out of the muck and were shown--after I explained to the 3s that if she had misread her hand and it was really a winner, she would receive the pot. The lady stated that she had NEVER been asked to show her hand and that she didn't believe that it was allowed. I explained to her that it was a rule. all over town, that any called hand could be viewed by any player who was dealt into the hand. She was not happy, but..... I later asked the other floorman for his opinion. I don't try to play the floormen against each other, I just like to hear different takes on situation. The second floorman stated that he thought the first floorman's decision was correct. In his words, "The muck is not the holy grail". I like to think that my muck is sacred, but I guess it isn't.

After work I headed to Bellagio to see their new room and to try to visit with Linda for a bit. When I got there she was on 33 and it was only 10 minutes before the push. I decided to kill a few minutes by feeding a nickel machine. From that seat I could watch the poker room. She got pushed, but I still had credits, so I did nothing but play. (Yes, I am back on the machines this month....another post, another time) Since Linda was in the box again and I had squandered $40 to the 5cent machine, I wandered over to a 2 cent machine (cash inferno), watched a $100 bill slide effortlessly into the gaping maw of the beast and began playing. Bingo, within 10 minutes I had it up to $500. I printed a ticket and placed the ticket into another 2 cent machine (this time Sea Monkeys) Almost immediately I went into bonus mode and when the bonus round was over the readout said $1001 and some change. PRINT On a 2cent machine this was no small feat. What can I say, I haven't had a loosing slot session so far this month.
I placed the ticket in my pocket and went to spend 25 minutes with Linda. After she scolded me for being "on the machines" again, we visited, talked poker, toured the new digs, gossiped about mutual players, etc. Linda suggested that I donate my slot winning to a needy family and again climb aboard the Wagon. I chuckled that I myself WAS a needy family.
I left the poker room and went to find a change booth so that I could cash my ticket. Done. I headed to the men's room. When I exited the men's room, an older gentleman asked me if I had just been to the change booth to cash out. I stated that I had, while dreading what he would say next. I fully expected him to ask for money. What he said shocked me. He asked me if I had left any money at the booth. I said that, yes, I had left a small amount as a toke. He asked if I had left a $100 bill? I pulled the money out of my pocket and sure enough, I only had 9 100s instead of 10. WOW how did THAT happen? He handed me a $100 bill. I was still in shock and I dug in my pocket for a $20 to give him for his honesty. He gladly took it as I shook his hand and thanked him again.
Don't worry, I didn't make it to the parking garage with my roll intact. Like the sirens of TI, the machines called to me. In the end, I did donate a sizable portion of my winnings to some needy families after all. Those needy families just happen to own stock in MGM/Mirage.
And so it goes, and so it goes.............