living out of a suitcase and the trunk of my car is not what might be called the lap of luxury. but what the hey.....
i have a late breakfast at "jerry's j-boy" 24-hour diner, just off interstate 64 in clarksville, indiana. the theme of this place is "oldies", and right there....staring me in the face, are life-sized statues of jake and elwood blues! (trivia note: dan ackroyd *never* takes off his shades during the entire movie). as i walk in, the radio is blaring, o/` like a rubber ball, i'll come bouncing back to you... the walls of the place are festooned with advertisements for '55 chevys, nascar heroes, and posters of marilyn, james dean, and, of course, elvis. my breakfast arrives to the twanging guitar of duane eddy's "rebel rouser" (more trivia: did you know that duane eddy is from new york state??). and i pay my bill as john fred and the playboy band break into "judy in disguise"!
ok! today will be caesar's indiana "glory of rome" riverboat, located in new albany, indiana. well, it's about ten miles south of town, on state route 111. soon after i leave downtown new albany, i pass "two mile lane." ok. this lane is two miles long, right? couple miles later i pass "five mile lane." and when i get to "seven mile lane" i've finally figured out what's going on here.
the dock is across the river from some kind of power plant, which is belching dirty gray smoke. ugh. i park the car, and take a shuttle bus to the main building. once again, there's a $5 admission fee. this time, the clerk thinks that my zip code (10014) is in philadelphia..... ::::sigh::::
the poker room on this boat is located on the second floor (you board on the fourth floor). it's adjacent to a number of pit games and a bank of slot machines. yup. the noise is enough to drive you nuts! but i'm advised that they plan to build (at least) a partial wall in the near future to limit the sound. the room has nine tables, most of which are for stud. when i arrive, they've got one 5/10 stud game in progress, and they soon crank up a 5/10 hold 'em game. structures are standard. once again, here (like at the victoria grand) the rake is 10% to a maximum of $5. damn! that's tough to beat! cash doesn't play. seats next to the dealers are *not* no-smoking. unlike the victoria grand, dealers here do call possible straights and flushes on 6th street.
the poker room does not have a rulebook available for players. :(
the floorpeople and supervisors all see me taking notes. they all want to know if i am going to open my own cardroom. lol! i'm seated at the 5/10 stud game. one of the supervisors keeps looking at me. after about an hour, she taps me on the shoulder. we step away from the table for a few minutes, and it turns out that holly, a delightful blonde, used to work in las vegas. yeah....she must have recognized my mustache! and it turns out that she's mostly a lurker here at rgp, and has pulled some stuff off the newsgroup to use in improving the poker room! and when i mention barge, holly blows me away by recalling that funny game with the three flops! yup! she was talking about good, old fashioned, major league, thermonuclear chowaha!!! all right, holly!
after a few hours of play, i take a late lunch break. i see caesar and calpurnia strolling through the casino, proceeded by a vigilant centurion. there's a no-smoking casino on the third floor. this riverboat really does cruise for about an hour during each two-hour session.
last night, i got e-mail from "jimmy" - he's a dealer at caesar's, and brand new to rgp. he said in his mail that he's the best dealer in the room (yeahrightsure). i wrote back and told him that i would look for him. some time after 7 o'clock, a new dealer sits down in the box. jeez....he's fast. jeez....he's good. yup. it's jimmy. yup. he is, by a lot, the best dealer i saw in the room. and he's a good guy, too! :) welcome to rgp, jimmy!!
the dealers in the room pool their tips. at the max, there were two 5/10 stud games, one 10/20 stud, one 5/10 hold 'em and one 10/20 hold 'em. jeez, that 10% $5 rake is tough to beat. although my table fan was in constant use at the 5/10 stud game, when i moved to the 10/20 stud game, i never turned on the fan at all!
here are some highlights of the 10/20 game: (1) there are several maniacs at the table. huge pots are won by very small hands. i get stuck a couple stacks and things cool off very quickly. :( (2) i haven't been rolled up for 35 hours. i'm rolled up three times in 45 minutes at this game. (3) i bring it in with a deuce. i've got an ace and a three in the hole. there are five limpers. i make an ace on fourth street and bet out. there are three callers and a raiser. i re-raise. one of the callers and the raiser stay. i make a three on fifth street, and bet the hand all the way. they both call. on the river, i peek at the seventh card - don't help - and bet. they both call. i turn over hand and announce, "aces up!" ...... except that trey in the hole wasn't a trey, after all. it was a five. queens up wins the pot. ack!!! i haven't done that in **years**!!
i had a good time today!! i'm going back to caesar's for more tomorrow!!
stay tuned!
tiger