Suitedjustice's Ongoing Mid-life Crisis
I woke up in the middle of choking to death again; though to be accurate, it was towards the end of the process--woke up
I booked a small loss today at poker: -$25 over 4 hours.
On the slots, when I arrived in the morning, I soon realized that I'd been scooped by an earlier player, and I found very few plays, yet I still managed to lose $41 in 4 hours, which was a neat trick.
$16.00 of that loss was on a machine that was new to me, but probably not new to the other local slot grinders. I ran a $16.00 spin on what looked like a favorable bonus spot which the machine had labelled "Last Spin".
Silly me, I assumed that last spin meant that I had one more spin in the bonus condition, when it actaully meant that the last spin had already occurred, and there would be no bonus on this spin. So I paid a $16.00 n00b tax that probably had the game developers chortling Mountain Dew through their noses when they thought of it.
GGWP.
It could have been worse. There were $80.00 spins with the same label, so it was fortunate that I'd checked the smaller denominations first.
Today I have to renew my driver's license and convert it to a Real ID, so I'm going to need mucho paperwork, and my old license is very close to expiring, so if I mess anything up, I won't be able to make another appointment before my license runs out.
It's my fault for making the appointment so late, but it's been 10 years since I've had to renew my license in person, and they took walk-ins back then. The pandemic changed all that.
The Registry of Motor Vehicles is in Springfield, so I was going to head to the casino afterwards, but I've since thought better of that, as I'd have to leave my original birth certificate and social security card and other proofs of residence in my car at the casino. They're in pretty pristine shape for being so old, so I don't want to fold them up and put them in my pocket.
The Registry of Motor Vehicles is in Springfield, so I was going to head to the casino afterwards, but I've since thought better of that, as I'd have to leave my original birth certificate and social security card and other proofs of residence in my car at the casino. They're in pretty pristine shape for being so old, so I don't want to fold them up and put them in my pocket.
despite being someone who comes up with elaborate excuses to avoid going to the casino, I can't compete with this. GG and wp sir!
despite being someone who comes up with elaborate excuses to avoid going to the casino, I can't compete with this. GG and wp sir!
If I can nap this afternoon, I'll go back for the night shift.
I'm back home, with my Real ID (temporary paper version) in my wallet. It's a big relief. This being the last day I could renew; I was worried about many, many things, as I often am.
I was even worried that, since my driver's license expires today, it would no longer be valid today—see the concept of 'last spin' upthread a bit. Turns out that that bit of humorous synchronicity did not come into play.
Also, my vision is pretty poor, even with glasses. I'd had trouble with the eye test 10 years ago, and tbh; after an initial stumble, I'd just guessed the letters and read them out confidently, and that had worked back then.
How worse could it be now, 10 years later? It turned out to be fine. I had no trouble. My latest prescription is from a small town optometrist who's been around for 30 years, instead of a surly resident from a dying mall Lenscrafters, as it had been a decade ago.
Watching the first episode of Russian Doll. Natasha Lyonne is a national treasure. I'm adding Poker Face to the bucket list, no questions asked.
Doesn't one of Marge's sisters work there?
Yes, Selma. Didn't see her there. The first guy I got was mean and sent me back into the line pool to do additional paperwork; after that I got a nice lady who let me take a second try at my picture due to me having resting poker/angry kitty face and looking miserable in the first attempt.
When I finished the process and had my new license I told her "now here's a genuine smile," and gave her one, and she liked that.
Yes, Selma. Didn't see her there. The first guy I got was mean and sent me back into the line pool to do additional paperwork; after that I got a nice lady who let me take a second try at my picture due to me having resting poker/angry kitty face and looking miserable in the first attempt.When I finished the process and had my new license I told her "now here's a genuine smile,
Not sure why I went with the Simplified English in that post. I sound like a bright 6 year old telling you about his day. At least the prose is clear.
40 minutes of poker left, then some slots, then home before dawn breaks.
Home, and still a bit before the rosy-fingered dawn, as per Homer (not Simpson).
I booked a slight win on the night shift: +$60 from poker over 4 hours and +$16 on slots over the same timeframe.
The MGM player's club machine wouldn't swipe my card since the ID attached to it has expired. The cage wouldn't take my temporary paper license to renew the player's card because the temp license has "Not a valid form of ID" printed on it.
I'll receive my real license in the mail in 1-2 weeks, and I'd better not hit a handpay on the slots during that interval, because they won't pay it and they may trespass me for not having a valid ID. I might be able to get past the poker room floor staff if I hit a high hand, as they all know me and barely glance at my ID when I do show it, so I'll flash them the expired license if it comes down to it.
I guess the lesson is: if you want to gamble, don't procrastinate when renewing your driver's license, or carry a passport or other valid picture ID. I let my passport expire, to my detriment.
I lost at poker last night. At one point I had J♣T♣ on a Q♣A♠9♣4♣ board, in position as the preflop opener with a $600 hourly high hand payout for a straight flush on the line.
When checked to, I bet $50 into a $90 pot and got a fold. Most promo nits would check that back, or bet tiny, with 2 outs to a likely $600 win. Instead, I bet it, and not because I was scared that my temporary license/invalid ID issue would blow up, though I was concerned about that. The math just favored a chunky bet there, and a big-ass bet on a non-club, or very specific club river if called.
On my last hand of the night, I was down close to $300, but I managed to cooler a player two pair over two pair and cut the loss almost in half. Villain was a "fun" player, so I apologized for the appearance that I was hitting and running, showing him the chip rack I'd stowed on my seat behind my back for the final orbit. Poker: -$154 over 4 hours.
I had better luck at the slots before I sat down at the poker table, though I cut the after-poker slot session short because the floor was crawling with slot and video poker APs, and there were no plays to be found, making me glad that I have poker to fall back on, assuming that my results improve at some point. They've been a lot better in the past, and I feel like I'm playing better, so...Slots: +$348 over 2.5 hours.
Short day yesterday due to having to wake up at an ungodly hour this morning to do a Mother's Day get together on the other side of the state.
In a word: I lost. All of my value hands lately have gone bet, bet, get wrecked on the river, and my numbers have been suffering greatly for it.
-$215 in 2 hours of poker
-$41 in 2.5 hours of slots
Spoiler
I need a signature win day, but not such a signature as requires a valid ID.
Another losing day at poker with -$90 over 3 hours, and another great day at the slots with +$449 over 6 hours. I had the slot floor to myself for a little while for the first time in many months, and I took full advantage of it, staying late and cleaning up.
This long breakeven session at poker is getting me down, but I'm not about to give up on it. Poker is always available when the slot floor is heavy with advantage players, which happens more and more often these days. It also comprises a good 3-4 hour block of time to allow normal folks to replenish the slots after my initial check, when I would otherwise be waiting around, bored out of my mind. I'll keep studying poker and trying to improve my game, though I'm not ready just yet to start paying for coaching.
Week 7
MGM Springfield $1/$2 poker: 17 hours
(-$424.00)
MGM Springfield Slots: 19 hours
+$733.00
Running Poker Total: 118.5 hours, +$132.00
Running Slot Total: 130.5 hours, +$4840.00
Total All Weeks: 249 hours, +$4972.00
Nice slots run. On poker it looks like you are roughly down the rake for 17 hours of 1/2nl jackpot drop poker, so that’s not too bad.
Nice slots run. On poker it looks like you are roughly down the rake for 17 hours of 1/2nl jackpot drop poker, so that’s not too bad.
Yes, I've only hit one poker promo ($300) this year, so they still have a lot of my rake chips. That should improve now that I'm actually grinding
The old days: when you could smoke anywhere. At my convenience store gig I had one cigarette after another burning next to the cash register for most of my shift, in spite of the large NO SMOKING sign behind me.
Early yesterday I arrived to find that I'd been scooped again on the machines. I took a little time to check into how thoroughly I'd been scooped—sometimes they give up and don't check all the machines—and the answer was very thoroughly. So I drove back home, took a nap in the afternoon, and returned for the evening shift.
3:00 AM: I am checking the bartop video poker row. A few feet to my right and behind me is an Asian woman who is absolutely whaling on a Quick Hit slot machine—WHOP WHOP WHOP WHOP WHOP—as if the harder she hits it, the more and better Quick Hits she'll receive in kind. WHOP WHOP WHOP WHOP WHOP: she has to be hurting her hand; there is no way she's not hurting her hand.
A few feet to my left and behind me sits a behemoth of a gaming device: two giant screens displaying electronic blackjack and craps, overseeing around 30 stations where people can sit and bet on the games onscreen.
The craps game has a physical element to it. A pair of 6" (15 cm) dice sit underneath a clear plastic dome. Once per minute, the surface underneath the dice hisses, rumbles, and jumps up and down, shaking the dice for another roll. The noise, coming from behind me, disturbs me on a visceral level. It sounds like a giant excavator is rolling up behind me, about to run me over. It sounds that way every 60 seconds.
WHOP WHOP WHOP WHOP WHOP
WHOP WHOP WHOP WHOP WHOP
Husssssss RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE.
Directly behind me sits Bill (not his real name; I change everyone's names or use screen names). Bill is a regular wee hour denizen of the casino. He stays up all night, watches the bar tvs, and chats with whoever comes to visit with him. All the late-night regs and employees know him, and he knows them by name. Bill has an impressive memory for names. He knows mine as well. He called me Sir until I told him my name.
And Bill's a really nice guy. He knows that I check all the bartops, so when he sees me show up, he will move from his seat at the bar and sit a few feet back at a slot machine. I've told him several times that I don't want him to go through that trouble; I'll just work around him, but he insists.
Bill also has Tourette Syndrome. His outbursts, fortunately, are free of profanity and racial slurs. There are some noises, like WHEEEEEYAHHH! and AUUCCCK! and HEPP!, and some occasional phrases like LET ME TELL YOU, SIR!, which was one of the reasons why I told him my name, having been anxious that I might have been the Sir who was to be told.
WHOP WHOP WHOP WHOP WHOP
Husssssss RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE
WHEEEEEYAHHH!
WHOP WHOP WHOP WHOP WHOP
AUUCCCK!
WHOP WHOP WHOP WHOP WHOP
Husssssss RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE
WHOP WHOP WHOP WHOP WHOP
HEPP!
WHOP WHOP WHOP WHOP WHOP
LET ME TELL YOU, SIR!
Husssssss RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE
3:15 AM: I'm rapidly scrolling through over a thousand video poker screens through this cacophony. This is my job. I'm at work.
Poker: 3 hours, +$212
Slots: 6 hours, +$29
Yes, I've only hit one poker promo ($300) this year, so they still have a lot of my rake chips. That should improve now that I'm actually grinding
The old days: when you could smoke anywhere. At my convenience store gig I had one cigarette after another burning next to the cash register for most of my shift, in spite of the large NO SMOKING sign behind me.
Yeah, God I remember smoking in the back area of a (still visible by the clients) open kitchen as a cook in the late 90s and once being asked by a client to go wash my hands 😃🙄 It was pretty nasty, come to think of it, and our generation didn't even experience the airplane smoking!!!
Early yesterday I arrived to find that I'd been scooped again on the machines. I took a little time to check into how thoroughly I'd been scooped—sometimes they give up and don't check all the machines—and the answer was very thoroughly. So I drove back home, took a nap in the afternoon, and returned for the evening shift.3:00 AM: I am checking the bartop video poker row. A few
Great post! 😆
Shut up, LanguageTool.
Yeah, God I remember smoking in the back area of a (still visible by the clients) open kitchen as a cook in the late 90s and once being asked by a client to go wash my hands 😃🙄 It was pretty nasty, come to think of it, and our generation didn't even experience the airplane smoking!!!
I was able to smoke one time on a plane. My mom and aunt took two of my younger cousins and I to Disney World. I was 14 and looked it (my attempt to talk my way into a showing of Prince's R-rated Purple Rain movie the previous summer had gone nowhere.) I snuck back to the smoking section—where there were empty seats available—and lit up, and nobody batted an eye.
Thanks, Sheep!
We learn the rules well so that we know when and why and how to break them.
A good night at the wagering emporium: +$194 at poker over 4 hours and +$353 at the slots over 4.5 hours.
The capo of the local Asian slot syndicate, when he catches me watching him, has taken to turning to the first machine near him and pretending to check it, as if it were an AP machine, which it never is.
He thinks he's being clever; I think he's merely being petty. In any case, I don't want to disappoint him, so I'll pull out my phone and pretend to write down the name of the machine that he's pretending to check.
I stayed a few minutes too late last night and ran into the guy who had formerly been scooping me on the slots during the wee hours. He's a reg, so he'll likely now adjust his arrival time, which means that I'll have to do the same again in response.
On the poker front, I ran a nice three street bluff last night heads up as the EP opener with a tight image holding 66 on an AK7Q7ss board. When Villain didn't raise my small flop bet, or on any street for that matter, I took it as a green light. Unfortunately, V was playing AK super passively.
However, I showed and made a deal of it ("I was trying to rep your hand, haha",) and a few hands later I was called down—over two streets by one player, and over all three streets by a second player—holding AQ on an A2427r board, with the main Villain holding AJ and flipping it over confidently at showdown.
A good night at the wagering emporium: +$194 at poker over 4 hours and +$353 at the slots over 4.5 hours. The capo of the local Asian slot syndicate, when he catches me watching him, has taken to turning to the first machine near him and pretending to check it, as if it were an AP machine, which it never is. He thinks he's being clever; I think he's merely being petty. In any c
Well done not letting a well-bluffed spot that nonetheless gets called go to waste! Way to get the advertising value out of the hand, even though you didn't win the pot. It obviously reaped near-term rewards, and may reap future rewards when playing against the same Vs in the future. Well done, SJ!
