Hit the Bike first off. Before I launch into my tirade, the above sign outside the doors should have served as a warning for the crap I was to encounter inside. Got there early afternoon, started off in a $40 10-player SNG. Busted 9th when I made an ill-timed move.
Played a bunch of $1/2 NL and ended up down after more of the same. One more SNG before the $230 I came to play @ 7PM. Down to 5 and I am the chip leader by a wide margin. I fold, flicking my cards toward the dealer and one card falls to the floor. Joanna, my dealer, tells me to pick up the card. I am sitting directly across from her and the card is by her feet so I assume she is joking. Even though she has had no humor in her demeanor since minute one.
Then she says I get a 20 minute penalty away from the table. I am in disbelief, as I have never heard of that before, and a floorman comes over. Prior to both of my SNGs I was told about some rules by another floorman but definitely not that one. This floorman then proceeds to essentially tell me I am a liar, because my dealer and this other idiot at my table say we were told. 20 minute penalty, we are down to 5, we only started with 500 apiece and blinds are 100-200. Not to mention levels are only 15 minutes. This is the most absurd bunch of bullshit I have ever seen, are these people fucking serious?
Blinds are now 200-400 and we are down to 3. OK, I made the money. But I'm still not happy because this match should be mine and now I'm the shorty. I now have one single 50 chip and the lady goes all-in and the kid calls her. She's out, what a stupid idiot. If she had waited one more hand, she would have been guaranteed 2nd. Dumbass.
I collect my winnings and tell Joanna that I hope she is involved in a horrific auto accident this evening, being the dumb Thai hooker that she is, on my way to the cashier. The floorman standing nearby says, "What did you say?" as I am walking away and I might have given him the bird, I was so enraged by this garbage. If I had been informed of the rule beforehand, I would have been OK, despite the fact that it was an accident as well. And this was right before the tourney that I had originally came to play was going to start. Needless to say, I will never go back to the Bike again. The Bike and their 20% rake on tournaments can eat a fat dick.
Called Scott, my old H/U teammate from FCP who was going to meet me there, and said I was heading to the Commerce. We met up over there, had a brew, and he showed me around, since it's his home hunting ground. The place is ginormous, two huge rooms for poker downstairs with another big one for table games, then another biggie upstairs as well for tournaments.
We hopped on a $3/5 NL table (he plays mainly $20/40 limit but said he was down for some NL, which is my pref). Had a bunch of fun, even came up over $300 for just a few hours. He also helped me get a discounted poker room rate on my stay since he is a regular.
There was some serious fire damage around Castaic and Pyramid Lake visible from the freeway going through the Grapevine. The smoke rising into the air reminded me of the first time I ever came to California and we were coming over the pass on the 80 and there apparently was a huge forest fire and the sun was setting and all the resulting smoke was obscuring the sun and if I just had had a camera, maybe I could have gotten a National Geographic cover-winning photo.
