Selling the game

It was a slow afternoon.

We only had one no limit game running and I had two empty seats. The game was populated with 8 locals. The game was laid back. Everyone knew everyone. There's chit chat about the state of affairs/game conditions in other rooms. Who just bought a house? Oh, where?
Sometimes it seems like we are in a private home playing the weekly game.

A 20-something stranger wanders up and starts watching the game. I look up at him and tell him that I have a seat reserved just for him. As I'm dealing the next hand I inform stranger that it only takes $200 to get into the game. As the action progressed around the table I look up at him again and state "You KNOW you want to play...why don't you join us?"

As he starts to get his wallet out and move toward the podium to buy chips I tell the table "Don't be mad at me when he busts you all." Mike in the 2s tells me that it will be hard NOT to be mad at me since I practically begged the kid to sit down.

I dealt two more hands before being pushed. The kid was down to just $100 in chips.
I went to wash my hands and when I came out of the bathroom the kid was gone.
I asked Mike who got his chips. Mike said that he got them all.

Honestly, I felt slightly guilty. Was I wrong to encourage him to sit down?

On my way home for the night I saw the kid at the roulette table betting stacks of red (value) chips so I know it wasn't his case $200 that he lost at the poker table.

I don't think he would have played poker had I not engaged him.

He'll have a story to tell when he gets back home. I played no limit...just like on TV.

My job here is done. I did a good thing....right?

******

There's still no official word on the Super-Duper-Mondo-Freeroll. Word is starting to spread as we have been getting phone and walk-up questions about it. My only hope is that we advertise it heavily before we roll it out. People will be pissed if they find out about after it's half over.

It would also be nice if the rules and regulations are well thought out and presented very clearly.

Lately we've had a tendency to introduce promotions and then change the rules.

It happened with the Aces Cracked promotion. First it was any aces cracked. Then it was two red or two black aces. Then it disappeared as quickly as it appeared.

The Bad Beat Jackpot was introduced about a month ago. It's been hit four times already and the rules are about to change. In a few days it will require that aces full of tens be beaten by quads or better. A pocket pair will be required for the full houses and quads. Both hole cards will have to play for straight flushes.

It shouldn't have been a surprise that the Bad Beat would hit so often. Math isn't my strong suit but before introducing promotion one has to do the math. Changing the rules mid stream doesn't do much to instill confidence. All it does is keep the players and dealers in a constant state of confusion.

***

On the home front..........

Two projects have been completed.

The first involved running coax through a crawl space above the ceiling. There's not much space up there and I'm not a small person. I'm glad it's done and hope that I'm not required to revisit that space any time soon. If I ever develop claustrophobia I'm sure that it could be traced back to those uncomfortable minutes spent crawling my way along rafters with just inches of clearance.

The second project involved putting up a border in one of the bathrooms. Originally I intended to put the border about halfway between the floor and ceiling. I bought plenty of border for that scenario, but when I started the project I decided that it would look much better at ceiling level. I ran out of border. Several days passed before I made it back to Lowe's. Luckily I was able to find the same lot number. BUT when I tried to finish the job there was a slight difference in the border size. I'll not repeat it here but the neighbors may have heard a few words that begin with M and F.

All's well that ends well and the project is now complete.

This Bob Villa stuff is fun.

It's starting to feel like home.