High On Poker

When I woke up on Saturday morning, the clock read 8:55. It was 5 minutes before my alarm would sound, and since wifey Kim planned on sleeping until the late hour of 10am, I decided to get up a tad early and get my day started.

The first thing I did was head over to the pile of clothing I set up the night before. I then grabbed my already-packed backpack and headed into the hallway, where I turn on the lights. My bag had everything I could possibly need: my poker wallet with ample cash and players’ club cards, two Buddha-statue card caps (red and gold and all gold), two books, EntertainmentWeekly magazine, two bandannas, two baseball caps (ironic hunter’s camo trucker cap and brown Adidas hat), a change of clothes just in case, my iPod charger, a mini deodorant and a mini Gold Bonds. The bag was prepared the night before as part of my plan to sleep as late as possible. My outfit was also laid out, and included my usual staples: Superman t-shirt, hooded sweatshirt, cargo pants with ample zippable pockets, and my peacoat.

I left the apartment fairly quickly, but was stopped by a couple of French tourists in the subway station. I gave them directions as best I could, only to be stopped by another woman who also needed directions. I helped her out too. After all, I didn’t need to start this trip with a kharma deficit.

Once free of my tour guide duties, I got the next uptown A train to the Port Authority Bus Terminal. For those who don’t know, the PABT is like a time machine back to NYC circa 1982. The place needs a major decorative overhaul and the characters milling about are a sorry lot. I made my way to the gate to pick up a roundtrip ticket (cost, $33), and got to the bus, ticket in hand, with about 8 minutes to spare. With no time, I hit up the nearby newspaper stand for some much needed sustenance, a Twix bar and a bottle of water.

I entered the bus and found an empty two-seater about midway in the bus. I put down my bag, made sure that it was secure from thievery from below, and slowly unrobed from my 8 layers. Down to my t-shirt, I settled into my seat and pulled out my iPod.

The ride to AC was uneventful. Fortunately, the bus was about half full and I had ample room in my two seats. Ron & Fez kept me company on my iPod while I played some Backgammon on the iPod’s game menu. I took a break about halfway through the ride to watch an episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, also on my iPod.

At 12:20 we arrived in AC. I was amazed at the speed of the trip, 2 hours and 2o minutes. If I were to drive from NYC, I would budget 3 hours just to be safe, and expect 2 hours and 30 minutes, but the bus got us there faster and it briefly stopped to pick up more passengers in Cheesequake, NJ (real name, people, I shit you not).

Nearing AC, I texted LJ and Wendy. Neither got back to me right away, so I decided to follow my loose plan. The Showboat had a 2pm $85+15 tournament with a fairly good structure. I had time to walk over there, but first I had to pick up my free $20 from Claridge/Bally’s where the bus dropped us off. Do the math and that’s $13 for a roundtrip bus ride to/from AC ($33-$20 cash back at the casino). I took the cash and made my way over to Showboat, the official AC Casino of High On Poker.

I got to the Showboat at about 1pm after taking a leisurely stroll on the Boardwalk. Once inside, I made a b-line for the poker room, moving at my usual casino speed, which is basically as fast as you can walk without officially running. I purchased my buy-in and decided to grab some grub in the 50 minutes I had left.

If the Showboat has one major shortcoming, its the lack of grab-and-go eateries. Aside from the buffet (overpriced) and the sit-down restaurants, the only place to grab a hot meal is at a place called Chelsea Market. Sadly, Chelsea Market sucks. The egg sandwiches in the morning are passable, but barely passable. The other sandwiches have been called ‘soggy’ by more than one person. The pizzas just seem unauthentic.

I weighed my options and opted to go to the Mansion Cafe, the Showboat’s diner-like establishment. I don’t often frequent restaurants alone, but I had no problem doing so. Once I got seated, I ordered, whipped out my book, and awaited my iced tea and grilled cheese, the official casino meal of High On Poker. My waiter was quick and the food was great. It was the only real meal I had all day.

I left the restaurant with time to spare and eventually made my way to the poker room with 10 minutes to go.

But before I start the tournament recap, let’s cut this a bit short. Next time, I’ll go over some tournament hands and maybe even cover the post-tourney cash games.

Until next time, make mine poker!