Nate and I went up to Tulalip last night for my first outing at a casino card room. It took me about 3.5 hours to lose $100 (Nate came out $250 ahead). I was fairly disciplined at the beginning, mucking hand after hand of unrelenting crap. When I finally got dealt pocket aces, I got absolutely no action-- and I didn't even raise! I hovered around $60-70 for much of the night, before fatigue and frustration over lousy cards got the better of me and I started playing hands I shouldn't have.
Initially I was a bit intimidated by being at a poker room, and consequently played far more timidly than I usually do. I checked too often, engraving an invitation for someone else to bet and scoop the pot. It wasn't until late in the night that I finally wised up, but by then the writing was on the wall for the evening. I got a few good hands and made a couple of successful bluffs before finally going all in with pocket queens and getting taken out by an A-2 who flopped a deuce, turned an Ace, and got another deuce on the river. Sigh...
It was a great learning experience and I had a good time. I'm definitely interested in going again, but the smoke... State senate, get on the stick and pass a version of California's anti-smoking laws! How do non-smoking barflies put up with the stench on their clothes and in their hair? It's disgusting. I will never understand how anyone can look at a cigarette and think that sucking stygian carcinogens into their lungs is a good idea.
Posted by Peter at September 28, 2003 10:56 PMmy one and only trip to tulalip lasted only 10 minutes due to the smoke. i just couldn't stay in the room.
btw, thanks for using 'stygian'. it's one of my favorite words. :D
Posted by: dana on September 29, 2003 8:59 AMThat Casino that is just past Bainbridge Island, (Clearwater?), at least has a non-smoking area, both for slots and a poker area. Plus, even in the smoking area, it didn't seem as bad as the Tulalip one. It's not as fancy on the outside, and you have to pay for a ferry ride to get there, but overall a much better experience when we went.
Posted by: Greg on September 29, 2003 10:05 AMTo answer your question about how non-smoking barflies put up with the smoke, they don't. At least I don't. I lived in California fairly recently. When I was there, I enjoyed going out to bars and pool halls quite a lot. Here in Washington I almost never do. I probably wouldn't contribute as much to the bar economy as the heavy smokers do, so I can kind of understand why most places don't ban smoking. But it was nice to not have to worry about it. And it was really nice to be able to buy hard alcohol in the grocery stores.
Posted by: Nate Beeler on September 29, 2003 3:22 PMNote: Indian Gambling casinos in California are exept from California state law currently and allow smoking.
The Indian Casinos have become the largest campaign fund source in the Recall election with an outrageously obvious buy-off of Cruz Bustamonte for California Govenor. If they backed the wrong horse in this race, expect a backlash, including taxes and legislation from the state overseeing them. A lot of complaints about the smoking exception are hitting the internet from casino employees.
Posted by: George on September 30, 2003 6:33 AM