Table 16: A view from the 9 seat Part II

The action at Table 16 was getting to be beyond silly. Watching the chips get tossed around like they were pennies was mind boggling at times. I had to keep telling myself to not do anything stupid. I knew I was in over my head but I calmly sat by and waited for my spots. I would ask GRob about everyone and I heeded his advice. Be ready to put it all in and take your shot. I took my first shot against the Mark. He was basically running the table. Calling bluffs and sucking out. It was like there was a hydraulic lift on our end of the table raising up to slide all the chips down to him. Like everyone else, I wanted those chips. So when he raised in EP and I looked down to see pocket 10s, I figured it was time to go for it. I slid my stack in the middle. The Mark went into the tank. I don't know if someone called the clock on him at this point. It is hard to remember because it seemed like the clock was called on the Mark every time he played a hand. He would fold and I would get a modest pot.

Rebuys were not only common but expected. "There is no shame in rebuying" became a mantra. At one point they figured there was over $5000 on the table. Over 5k on a 1/2 table. The MGM must have thought we were stupid. The dealers were happy because they were making money. Sure people were in for some serious coin but they were still having fun. Tip, the dealer's name, sits down and Otis would shout "Hey, let's tip Tip!" Then a bunch of blue chips would be flung into the middle of the table for the dealer to collect. New dealer, new cry to tip them.

I kept to myself as the action would rise and calm back down. I think I won a couple small pots but nothing too memorable. That is until I looked down to see pocket deuces. I called a preflop raise hoping to get lucky. I did. A nice 2 hits the board. The Mark comes out firing. I just called. The turn is the beautiful case 2. My heart jumps a bit. The Mark grabs some chips and make his bet. $2 he announces. I laugh a bit and try to give a look back. I am trying to act annoyed that he would bet like that. I am hoping to toss the bait in and get him to bite. I make a comment about it being an insulting bet and announce I am all in. The goes back into the tank. Someone calls the clock. I lift my cards and give Iggy a peak. The Mark says he calls. Seconds later Iggy is whispering to me "Slow roll him". Normally I wouldn't do that. I hate to be slow rolled and think it is bad etiquette. But then again, this is not a normal game. It is playing like a home game so I think it may be pretty funny. The dealer plants the meaningless river card down. I don't know what the Mark had. I turned over one deuce asking if that was good. I then comment that the second 2 should be. At this point Otis and BadBlood erupt at seeing quads. The table blows up with others peering in. I was shocked and happy that I got paid on my quads. Now I have a bit of breathing room and can play a bit more aggressively.

Things calmed down for me from there. I continued to play somewhat conservatively. The table didn't change. The action kept going and the fun kept flowing. At one lull in the action, it seemed a new rodeo event was beginning on TV. They were playing the National Anthem. Not sure whose idea it was but before you knew it 10 men were on their feet at Table 16, hand over heart, showing respect for their country. Other tables looked on wondering what the hell those goofballs were up to. I kept trying to get people to remove their hat during the anthem but did not succeed.

The shenanigans at Table 16 kept going and it seemed like the staff didn't care. That is until they had their shift change and a new manager came in. I don't know if Marjo

rie always has a bug up her ass or if she was having a bad day. The first thing she does is demand to know who is sitting in the 3 seat and orders us to tell him to stack his chips. The Mark comes back and is updated on the request. I think he scoffed until Marjorie came to him and told him he would have to stack his chips. He tried to use his charm on her but it wasn't working. So he complied. He proceeded to make stacks of 3. He had stacks of 3 chips surrounding the space in front of him. Just as he was about finished Marjorie came back and told him that wasn't good enough and started stacking his chips for him. She was trying to be a buzzkill but we wouldn't have it.

Action would continue. Big pots forming and more calls for the clock. I stayed away from the action and worked hard not to spew my chips back. Tried is the key because I came very close to doing just that. In one hand I called a raise with A 9 suited. I was in the small blind and checked the flop of A 5 x. Iggy checked as well allowing BadBlood to bet. I looked at Blood and sense weakness. I was feeling he didn't have an ace. Problem was I wasn't thinking too much about Iggy. I decided to raise and take the pot down right there. Had I realized Iggy was still in, I might have just called. Iggy mucked his cards leaving it to Blood. He looked at me and stated that he was making a very loose call. He said that he didn't want my money and would push if he got lucky. The turn was a 3 of spades. That gave me a flush draw along with top pair. I looked at Blood and checked. He immediately went all in.

My first reaction was "Aww fuck! I should have pushed". I kept looking at the board and at Blood. I have top pair with a flush draw. I can't fold this can I? There are all small cards on the board. He has an ace with a better kicker? Very possible. Blood could have a variety of hands. This blows. Can I fold this? I had amassed a sizable stack. If I call I am right back to where I started. Is it worth it on a marginal hand? I didn't think so.

I then began to figure out if I was ahead or not. My gut told me I wasn't. I realized I was behind but could hit the flush and it wouldn't matter if he had hit a small set. I kept going back and forth in my head, contemplating the call. I settled on the fact that I was behind. I tossed my cards into the muck, unhappy with my decision check raise.

BadBlood proceeds to turn over 2 4. He hit the wheel on the turn. Wow! I had no idea I was that far behind. I thank Blood for not trying to goad me into the pot. I really dodged a bullet on that hand.

Right about this time the table begins to get quite thirsty. We realized we hadn't seen a waitress in some time. We began to wonder if we had been cut off. It was until we saw Marjorie speaking with our waitress. She was pointing in our table direction and made a slash across the throat gesture. I wasn't the only one to see that. Did she really cut off Table 16 from cocktail service? I was both shocked and mortified. We waited patiently for our waitress to get back within earshot and got her attention. Turns out only the Mark was cut off, not the table. That was a huge relief and she was welcomed with a round of orders.

As with all good things, time was not on the side of Table 16. There was a Steel Panther show to attend and it was time to wind it down. Someone decided to make the last hand interesting. Whoever wanted to play could put $100 in and they would deal the hand out. No betting, just best hand wins it all. I declined as I was happy with booking a nice win but 6 others jumped at the opportunity.

It seemed fitting that Table 16 would end this way. It was the perfect storm of people playing a card game, having some fun with their friends. It was one helluva experience. To me, it was the best part of the trip. Thanks guys for giving me a taste of the G-Vegas games. I loved every second of it.