Early in visit to Vegas last month, I found myself playing at BSC and I was wearing this bracelet:
The bracelet was a gift from "-S", the author of the popular blog, Life as a Las Vegas Poker Dealer. He had given me the bracelet earlier that day when I visited him for work. He wanted to give me the new, upcoming promotions for the poker room he works for (The M Resort). As explained my post here, I had just missed playing in a charity tournament at the M for breast cancer awareness. Obviously all the tournament entrants were given this bracelet for entering, and -S scored one for me. He must have somehow thought that such an item would be appropriate for me. How he got that idea, I have absolutely no idea.
I decided to wear the bracelet while playing poker. I was hoping no one would be offended by it, but I knew I had a good answer if someone thought it was too risque. On the other side of the bracelet, it says "Hope 4 Lives" which is the organization that sponsored the event. So I could easily explain it. After all, I wouldn't want anyone to think I was just some sleazy guy who brags about loving boobs.
It didn't take long to get a reaction. I was sitting at a new table when, in rapid succession, two female players joined the game. I knew them both. One is a fixture at BSC, let's call her Judy. The other woman was my pal Heather, aka the Devil Woman of this post here. Heather was supposed to deal that night, but since it was a slow evening, she opted to play instead.
She sat next to me (on purpose, I believe) and we chatted as the dealer was getting ready to deal the first hand. Later, she would tell me of a tournament she won first prize in recently. It is a tournament in one of the several rooms she works at. She actually dealt the first down before deciding to play in the tournament. Thus, she was in the unusual position of tipping herself (partially), when she tipped the dealers out of her prize money.
Many of the players in the tournament recognized her as a dealer there, so they were giving her a hard time while playing against her. "You know my game, you see me play all the time--it's not fair, you know what I have." She found this amusing as she admitted to me that she doesn't pay that kind of attention to the individual players when she deals. It's not like she goes home after dealing and updates her log on all the players' tenancies.
Anyway, just as we started chatting, Judy took notice of my bracelet. "I heart boobs, huh?"
Oops, that didn't take long. I immediately got defensive, thinking she might be offended. "Oh, it's for breast cancer awareness, there was a charity poker tournament....."
She interrupted me. "Oh, I know what it's for," and started chuckling. She was just teasing me. Then she mentioned another, upcoming charity poker tournament she knew about that I might want to play in.
Heather was listening to this and then said, after hearing my explanation of the bracelet, "Of course, you could still like boobs."
Before I had a chance to respond (other than to giggle), Judy responded, "Yeah, I'm sure you do like boobs."
Again, I just laughed in response.
I can assure you I had never previously discussed boobs with either of these two ladies. Furthermore, I am pretty sure neither one of them has seen this blog.
So, I have no idea how Judy jumped to such an unwarranted conclusion. But I was too much of a gentleman to argue with a woman.
I was at a casino yesterday and picked up the latest Ante Up magazine and read your column. Nice job.
ReplyDeleteThanks very much, MOJO.
DeleteThat was an opportunity to use either of the two answers you have heard from me:
ReplyDelete"You bet! I'm a sucker for a nice se or "You could say I'm easily titillated; I see tits I'm elated!"
Well, two things.
ReplyDelete1. Neither of those comments came to mind at the time.
2. If they had, I probably would have thought them a bit too risque (or risky) to say in front of mixed company that I am not 100% completely at ease with.
Remember, I was afraid the bracelet itself might be offensive to some women.
I know, you were always too polite to say such things,even before you became a minor celebrity in a PR-based environment. I just wanted to get those jokes out.
DeleteI figured....
DeleteSo BSC is the Mirage, eh' ? Obv not a cool move by alaskagal to play that tourney. Alot of dealers there do that and I find it incredibly disrespectful, especially when they jump into cash games between downs/on break
ReplyDeleteWell, Anony, I can neither confirm or deny that BSC is The Mirage, for obvious reasons.
DeleteBut I can assure you that Heather, aka "Devil Woman" is definitely NOT Alaskagal! No way, no how.
But thanks for the comment!