You also earn credits you can use in the casino’s restaurants and gift shop. It had been that you receive $25 dollars in credits just for coming in during your birthday month. How can one go wrong? Coupons for their restaurants are also mailed out every month if you are a regular patron.
The birthday bonus has gone through some changes I have not looked into yet. Still, low cost quality dining is a plus the casino offers for those who are willing to set a wager now and then. They pay you a dollar an hour to play poker.
I was happy to tell my wife the other day that the Casino has opened a Sushi Bar. She is Japanese.
The Sushi bar is in the RuYi Restaurant; a fine restaurant itself, though I considered the noises from the casino slot machines too loud and distracting. It is right off the game floor with a wide open entrance.
The Sushi Bar addition is set back. The noises are far more subdued. The music is loud enough to enjoy yet soft enough (combined with the floor noises) to slip into a background of white noise if it is not to your liking. Quiet conversation is not a problem.
The food? It is very good, very fresh.
The prices? They are reasonable considering the quality RuYi provides. You can find similar sushi rolls, for example, 30% cheaper at various establishments about town, but the quality of ingredients, presentation and small touches just wont be there. My wife ordered a sashimi bowl. “Look” she said, raising up an impressively large scallop that looked like it was just plucked from the ocean, “It is sprinkled with caviar.” She was impressed with the quality and freshness and she should know fresh sea food.
We sat at a table; there are a handful. There were a few people at the sushi bar when we arrived and one other couple came in after us. The sushi bar/room is integral with RuYi, but has its’ own menu.
My poker? I am giving up on next months Mid States Poker Tour Tournament. Yes a sudden windfall could strike but I am setting my eyes on the next one some three months distant. I have had so many distractions I didn’t get to the satellites early enough in my attempts to win entry.
Therefore, time running out, feeling that I had to play, that I must try to get in, that I couldn’t let the opportunity pass, I hit the poker room not only to enter the remaining satellites, but believing I could win more at the tables to pay for those satellite entries. I already had enough money to enter several satellites if I chose to. I was also hoping for a good run, as reaching 60 hours of Hold’em cash game play before April 10th would qualify me for a $10,000 free roll tournament the casino is offering.
Feeling that you have to do something is the wrong motivation. On a weekend not to far gone I played some of the worst poker I had played in a long time. True, I wasn’t getting good cards and I didn’t go on tilt, but a few opportunities presented and I failed to capitalize. I have also come to realize I need to go into no limit games with the maximum buy-in and have several more buy-ins in my pocket to truly work a no limit table. Meaning, at a $300 max buy-in table I should walk in with at least $900 I could afford to lose. Otherwise luck becomes more prevalent than skill. I am far from being in a position to risk that much.
So I lost a chunk on the weekend.
Then on a Tuesday, under the same premise to win the cash for entry into the satellites, I tried again. I started with the Big-O table, a limit game, and then went to a limit hold’em table when a seat opened. I grew my stack a bit at the Big-O table. The limit hold’em game was not as accommodating. I played about three hours and ended just before the satellite tournament started. I finished only $16 ahead.
I went to the hold’em table for good reason, though I may have been doing a bit better at the Big-O. There are bad beat jackpots that when hit benefit everyone in the poker room if you are playing in a hold’em game. This was another prompter for me to attempt hitting a long run (60 hours, winning my entry fees and qualifying for the free roll) at the tables over a span of two weeks.
I was out of the satellite tournament fairly quick. The gentleman to my right beat my high pair and two pair four times with straights. It has been forever since I’ve hit a straight. Though I hit a steel wheel at the Big-O table, and folded a potential steel wheel on that weekend after the flop. Runner runner and I would have hit. A steel wheel is a straight flush Ace to 5. Both were in hearts.
I rebought into the satellite but my luck was just as bad. My Ace-King fell to an Ace-Jack all-in. Then my Ace-Jack all-in ran into an Ace-King and I found no similar favor.
I wanted to go to another limit cash game but the waiting list was extremely long. I went to a no-limit table and received some bad beats.
Is it any surprise I am giving up on this coming Mid States Poker Tour Tournament? I most likely wont play again for awhile and when I do it will be limit games. But who knows, I may be moved by the spirit. I may play again today! But certainly it will be a while before I go no limit again.
I did’t like limit games. I find too many people in every hand and it is hard to throw someone off a draw, but I am learning and doing better; much better. The potential for loss is smaller. I have some books on poker to read, possibly before I get out again, and my mind to prep.
I play poker because I am in the black playing poker. Overall I am sitting well. For 2016 I am barely in the black. That is why I am slowing down, stepping back, and certainly I am not going to play poker because I think I have to. Things can go golden on a dime but I am not going to play expecting it will.
I have too many things on my mind, too many things on my “to do right now” list, to allow myself to believe I could possibly focus on my game right now. Particularly to make a concentrated effort for the next two weeks.
I have kombucha I put out on a regular basis and share with friends and family. I make a couple batches every week or so. Fermented foods are great for your health. Kombucha is fermented sweet tea. My wife calls the fermenting jars little Arabs. We also make our own kim-chi.
To top all that, I have my books to write. Yes, I write fiction. I learned to write sometime when I was a child, if I remember correctly. You can buy my books right here if you have an e-reader. I have a pile of stories to get transcribed onto the computer and then edited. I had hoped my poker profits could pay for some decent editing, an expense we cannot cover right now, and further to finish off our mortgage by the end of the year, but even that will have to wait.
I hope you enjoy my books. Reviews of any kind are appreciated.
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