I'd kinda sorta planned on going up to Casino Rama yesterday witha bus trip from the rec centre in my apartment building (coach transportation there and back with the $20 buffet lunch included, for the low, low price of FIVE BUCKS!), but I waited too long and it filled. Argh!

So I decided that I'd go at 8:30 before the bus left and see if thre were any no-shows. However, I neglected to tell Hunny Bunny my plan, and he let me sleep in until 8:24. Ah well.

So we're sitting in bed, looking out the window over the city and the lake, and I mentioned about missing the bus, but it's just as well, as I have a lot of work to do, and with him gigging it's a good time to get caught up sans distractions. His reply? Not the "cathing up on work is a better use of your time" reply I was expecting, but instead I heard " You should catch the other bus and go anyway - you need more live practice before you to go to Vegas" (see Sidenote1).

So I managed to get myself organized in time to catch the subsidized bus across the street (runs 3x daily for the low, low price of FIVE BUCKS, but no free lunch). I spent the 2+ hour ride chillin', listenin' to some poker podcasts and catchin' up on some reading (see Sidenote 2).

I hate getting to Rama after 12 on a Saturday - I miss getting in on the tables they open at noon. So I end up parking myself for a half hour at the poker slots (eeewwww) until they call my name for a 2/4 Limit table (Rama has no NLHE, alas)

My table consists of the usual assortment of retirees supplementing their income, cottagers escaping from the family for a few hours and 20-somethings who are thinkin' they're the next big thing complete wth mirrored shades and baseball hats... one even had the hologram shades (dude, here's a newsflash...there is only one Raymer, and you ain't him). My "hello guys" is completely ignored .... so it's like that then, is it? I make a production out of setting my chips up, splashing them about with trembling hands while thinking about the perils of men ignoring and underestimating women.

My first hand I'm at the BB, catch rags, and let the callmeisters take some chips. Then it's SB and I look down at ducks. Sigh. Everyone at the table calls around, I call, BB checks. Flop is a rainbow of A 5 2. Hmm. One guys bets, another raises, Mr Yappy across from me (who is also chip leader) re-raises, I cap - some call, so there's 5 players left to see the turn. I'm thinking there's straight draws, aces paired and maybe another set out there. Bet, raise, re-raise, I call. Turn comes...a blessed TWO!!!! Dems Quads Beeeetchs!!!

Now I bet, there's a few callers, Mr Yappy raises. As I reach for my chips and say "re-raise", he takes this opportunity to tell me he has a full house and maybe I should fold because a full house outranks a straight a two pair. I give my best dick withering look as I toss my chips in. Yeah, if his hand is great, how come he only calls me instead of raising? Everyone else bails so it's head's up when the river is a 9, no biggie, and we cap the betting this time.

Card flip time and Mr. Yappy gloats as he flips over his pocket 5's - "I told you I had a full house". "That's really great and all" I say as I turn over my duckies, "but last I checked quads beat a boat."

Yippeeee skippeeee! I silenced Mr. Yappy for a few minutes while taking a HUGE pot (well huge for a 2/5 limit table). Holy Blind Special, Batman!

The rest of the day was spent in the usual up-some-down-some way.... won another big pot when I chased a straight and caught the two I needed on the river, busting Seat 4 (a.k.a. Mr. Whiney) and his pocket Kings. (Dude, there's an ACE on the flop, you're CHECKING, I'm BETTING, and you're just CALLING - wtf??)

I ended up better than I have yet at the live limit tables, basically doubling my cash (last time I went I was pretty damn pleased that I was ahead by 16 bucks *grin). God I love poker!
---------------------------

Sidenote 1:
This is a public acknowledgement of how awesome my husband is. There is never any bullshit about me making new friends on the chat; he doesn't make any snide comments about poker or begrudge me the amount of time I spend playing; he listens when I talk about my losses and by asking me a few questions makes me talk through why I lost and how I can learn from it. He asks me about my poker budget, not to complain about how how much I've spent, but to find out if it's actually enough to be able to learn properly (which alas, involves losing) without feeling stressed. And he's been very, very clear about the fact that under no circumstances am I to cash out the poker bankroll until it is healthy, and never, ever use it to pay bills.

Now, he isn't perfect by any means...but to paraphrase Grace Jones, he's not perfect, but he's perfect for me. Keith my love, you are a prince among men.

Sidenote 2:
Why is that Toronto, the BIGGEST city in Canada (3+ million people), in a province that already has casinos in MUCH smaller places (Niagara Falls? Windsor? Brantford? Sioux Ste. Marie, for chrissakes??) has NO casino? Why? Why???

There's a lot of poker players in the T dot. Oh, here's a thought, let's put in a casino in the undeveloped harbour lands and get some more tourism happening???? Sheesh, I can't be only one who thinks this.