I Played Poker!
October 3, 2007
I actually played poker this weekend. Saturday night John and I took a trip over to Bay 101, which is about 20 minutes away from the house here in Campbell. I can’t even remember the last time I’d played prior to that. Maybe March.
It was pretty fun. Unfortunately I forgot to take my headphones with me, so I got a headache very quickly and only ended up playing for a few hours. Live poker is always annoying, and that room was louder than most, so I made it a short day.
For the most part people were friendly, so it was a much different clamor than you’ll find in Atlantic City. I did have one guy get very angry at me because I don’t chop blinds. He then proceeded to put in his whole 20 big blind stack (at a limit game) with no pair and no draw, lose it, buy back in, and call me an idiot every five minutes for the rest of the night. I was in a good mood though, so all I did was laugh and thank him for the chips.
While playing I discovered that Bay 101, unbeknownst to most people, employs trained ninjas on their cleaning staff. They have little rolling trays that you can pull over beside your chair to put drinks in, which I did as soon as I sat down. I put my full cup of water in the tray, and two minutes later turned back only to find it gone.
So I went and got another cup of water, and when I got back my little tray was gone too. I looked around to see if a player had taken it, but there wasn’t one in sight. I went and got another, brought it over to my seat, took one sip of water, and placed the cup in it. I wheeled it right beside me just to be sure that I wouldn’t get my beverage pilfered again, then went back to the game. Two hands later I reached for another sip and the cup was gone.
A couple hands after that I got up to get a replacement and lo and behold, when I returned my tray was missing too. So I went and got another cup and another tray, brought them over, and resumed playing, all the while keeping a mindful eye on my drink. Nature started calling, but I figured I could at least wait until I finished the whole glass of water, since going to the bathroom would surely mean having to get yet another tray and another drink.
For maybe a half hour I played, making sure the table remained in my peripheral vision. I didn’t even drink the water because I didn’t want to ruin the bait. I just kept it on the edge of sight, watching from the corner of my eye. Nothing happened. Then I got involved in a big pot where I flopped a straight and got to put in lots of bets. My Broadway held up and I won a monster pot. I stacked my chips as usual and when I was done found myself suddenly thirsty. I reached to get a sip of water. Gone. The cup and the tray. After that I realized that the janitor-ninjas were just too stealthy for a white guy like me and gave up.
In addition to a Shaolin Monk cleaning staff they also have some very odd food. There was a guy at my table with a heavy Asian accent who used a jade frog to protect his cards. (The way he played, he could have used a few more for his chips.) A few times the action stalled on him because he wasn’t paying attention, (he was probably trying to make sure his cup of water wasn’t stolen) and the dealer wasn’t very alert so both times I tried to keep the game moving by saying “it’s your turn Frog Man”. Soon the entire table was calling him that, and he seemed to enjoy it.
So after my water got stolen for the last time I saw Frog Man holding something strange. He had a cup full of something that looked almost like coleslaw, but he was sucking it through a very wide straw, much like you’d get with bubble tea, and holding a spoon. I asked him what it was and he said what sounded like “Jah Foo Shay”. I asked him to repeat, and he said “Jah Foo Shay.” The guy next to me translated it into “jackfruit shake”.
I went to order one from a cocktail waitress who also had a thick Asian accent. I asked her for a jackfruit shake, still not sure I’d heard the translator correctly and without the benefit of Google to confirm the existence of the mysterious berry. She asked “”Jah Foo Shay?” and I said “yes, jackfruit shake please.” She said “no Jah Foo Shay”.
“You don’t have a jackfruit shake?”
“No. No Jah Foo Shay”
I debated trying to describe the coleslaw looking beverage with the extra wide straw, but decided there must be an easier way. I turned to find Frog Man, figuring I’d point at his drink and ask for whatever he was having, and then the waitress said to me.
“Way minute. We have Jah Foo Shay. You mean Jah Foo Shay?”
So I did manage to finally get my jackfruit shake, which I clutched onto as if it were a million dollars, knowing that if I didn’t the cleaning ninja would take it and I’d probably be unable to order another without a professional translator. The shake was pretty tasty, and was made with what I later found out is a berry from Southeast Asia mixed with coconut milk. Since all of the dealers and half of the customers appear to be from that region (and recently too) I guess it’s no surprise they ended up at Bay 101.
I ended up having a pretty solid winning session for my few hours of a crummy $8/$16 game. I hadn’t wanted to play too big since I’m so rusty, but given the competition at those tables (which was akin to a $3/$6 game at the Vegas Nights back home) I’ll probably just go ahead and try the $20/$40 game next time. I’m out of practice, but not that out of practice.
I doubt I’ll play much, but maybe a few nights a month. We’re forcing ourselves to take one day a week totally off (typically Saturdays) for mental health reasons, so I might head over to the cardroom then. But Napa is only 1.5 hours away, so no promises.
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