Foxwoods, gambling, and the clientele

Thursday afternoon I received an email from Joe asking me if I wanted to go down to Foxwoods (the Indian casino in Connecticut) with him. Now, if you know Joe, you would know that gambling is not really his thing. The reason he asked me to go was because his buddy, Timbo (now known strictly as either The Bo or Mr. Bo . . . stupid story, don't ask) , was going down there for a $1500 poker seminar called Poker Boot Camp and wanted some friends to go. So Joe decided that I was the right man for the job in helping him provide moral support to The Bo. To say the least, we weren't particularly great at the whole support role thing.

Anyway, Friday night we got down into the casino at about 11:30pm. Previously, we had ordered a $50 bottle of Seagram's 7 and enjoyed that with Sierra Mist (they didn't have 7-Up) in the hotel room. We were feeling pretty good. Enough booze in the system to calm the nerves. I bought $100 worth of chips at the blackjack table and won $75 in about 10 minutes, so that was good. From there, we proceeded over to the Caribbean Stud Poker tables where Timbo's parents' friends, Ken and JoAnn, were playing. Ken was a friggin' character to put it mildly. He was wasted when we met him and he paused on his girlfriend's name for about 10 seconds when he went to introduce me. Apparently, JoAnn is one of three of this guy's girlfriends so that was interesting. A true player indeed. Anyway, I would go on to get up about $200, and to end the night up $100. Not bad. I was content and was able to sleep well on the floor that night while Kenny Boy cuddled up with JoAnn on one bed and Timbo and Joe in the other. Awesome.

Saturday morning, Timbo, had to get up at 7:30am. We went to bed at 4:30am. Not a good way to start boot camp. Ken and JoAnn got up about an hour later and made more noise than a chimney fire. (Joe, what does a chimney fire sound like?) Joe and I slept in until about 10:30am and went to enjoy a $12 all-you-can-eat brunch. Joe and I only went through once. Probably didn't get our money's worth, but, needless to say, there were people there who did. Oh yes, they were definitely balancing out there losses to the casino from the night before. Which brings me to my final topic.

Now, I try not to pick on people too much . . . bad karma. I had Nick and Justin as roommates, and for any of you who know them, you know that they made you laugh about things that you definitely felt you shouldn't be laughing about. Jake, Bryan, and Trav, you know what I'm talking about. Nick is one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet, but his humor can be a bit distasteful sometimes. That's why I love him. But the people at Foxwood's are quite the crowd. It's hard to not be in awe when observing these creatures in their preferred environment. I would say that 80% of the people are uneducated to an astounding level. Now I could be wrong, but the smoke drenched atmosphere of the world's largest casino seems to make everybody look bad. Most of the people are nice when you get to talking, but they just don't seem to be part of my demographic. They all have the mentality that if they stick to gambling long enough, they'll eventually hit it BIG. As anybody reading this knows, that's a mathematical nightmare. Oh well, to each his own. I just hope their enjoying themselves, but something tells me a lot of them leave Foxwoods pretty miserable.

Although, on the other hand, I have a certain respect for these risk takers. I sometimes wish I could be a little more risky and not so damn conservative with my own life. I mean, look at me. Keri is in Cali and I'm still here in Boston waiting for my company to get the transfer through so I can move out there. Why am I being such a pussy? Pardon my language, but I definitely think I need to "up the ante" a little bit here. Maybe my weekend at Foxwoods will give me a little jumpstart. One can only hope. I digress.

Joe and I, basically, walked around all day Saturday "people watching." I lost $50 really fast early in the day, so I took a break. Timbo met us for dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. That turned out to be a good time. You all know how I like to eat. I'd say 80% of my life is planned around my next meal, but that's another story.

After dinner, Joe and I went back to the room and watched most of Whatever It Takes. We then both fell asleep only to wake up to The Bo calling us telling us he lost in his tournament in about 30 minutes. Bye bye, $1500. Hey, at least he got a complimentary bag and a deck of cards. When he came up we went back down to the casino. I lost another $75 really quickly and decided to give up on gambling. Joe and I watched Timbo do some gambling and waited for the arrival of Timbo's brother, Matty, and Paul Auger. (Joe, did I spell that right?) When they arrived, Joe and I went back up to the room and drank another bottle of 7 and watched Ray. Good movie. I recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it. The movie finished and it turned out to be after midnight. Damn! We went back down to the casino and hung out for a little bit. Didn't bet at all, but Auger taught me how to play craps. Now that's how you win, but damn does it play fast. Maybe I'll try that the next time I go down there, if I ever go again. However, as I stated before, I'm not much of a gambler, so I don't foresee that happening again before I move (which will hopefully be real soon). I'm comin', Ker!!! Jake, hold the comments on that one.

P.S. Sorry the post is so long. It's Sunday night and I'm a bit retarded.