Seattle Cosmic Game Night, Saturday, 26 February 2005

The Quest for the Hold'em Grail

Seattle Cosmic met again at the house of David_Adams? and Kathy_Kizer? in Tukwila, Washington. It was a LongGameDay, which means that game "night" started around 10 or 11 AM with several people playing Age_of_Renaissance?, and kicked into full metal gear around 5pm when everyone else arrived. Present were Dave and Kathy; also Marty_Hale-Evans?, Timothy_Higgins?, Greg_Stripes?, Steve_Dupree?, Nat_Dupree?, Ben_Sklar?, Dave_Howell?, ChadUrsoMcDaniel, Kisa_Griffin?, Jim_Campbell?, Mark_Purtill?, Alex_Swavely?, and possibly some other people.

I was not there, which is funny, as I am ostensibly writing this newsletter.

I say "ostensibly"... Check it out.

--Ron_Hale-Evans?

Age of Renaissance, Deadwood, Munchkin Bites

David_Adams? writes:

Hey all! Just wanted to say we had a lot of fun Saturday and Saturday night.

The Age_of_Renaissance? game was great - I came in fourth but only 100 points off number 1, guess I was too big a target. I bet if I had kept track of what commodity was available at the end, I might have been able to get closer or gasp even win! Ok, let me dream.

Dave taught me Deadwood - I'm sure my kids are going to enjoy it, I look forward to playing it again, maybe next Saturday at J & M's.

Kisa - tell us what you thought of your Teu...(something-er-other) game!

Dave (honey)

Marty_Hale-Evans?:

BTW, the au courant way to differentiate Daves is to just call Dave A "Honey", as Kathy took the lead in doing while we were playing at the table with both of them Saturday night, and we were left with no alternative but to follow her lead or keep explaining which Dave we meant. Just so you know. It does save time....

Steve_Dupree?:

I would gladly follow that convention, were it not that Steve_Vallee?, Natalie, and I had come up with the same convention for us Steve's. So I wouldn't know if I were talking about Dave or myself. That could be confusing!

Steve (aka The Other Honey)

Marty_Hale-Evans?:

Well, one of you could just be Sweetiedrawers instead! I'll let you flip for it.

(just trying to help, is all....)

Timothy_Higgins?:

Age_of_Renaissance? was fun. Towards the end I was getting a little muzzy, and unfortunately, by the time I got home, I had 102 temperature and all around yucks. Hope I didn't manage to get anyone sick :(

Marty_Hale-Evans?:

He was aw-fully quiet. :-( I was pretty sure all was not well in Timtown. Hope you're feeling better, or will feel better soon!

I had a good time on Saturday too. Perhaps the less said about Age_of_Renaissance? the better, since I was pretty much knocked out of the game on the second turn by an unbelievably bad dice throw, but it was still fun enough. I had forgotten how fun Deadwood is, although I still think there's something not quite right about the mechanics. Munchkin_Bites? was a good chance to be very silly. And I have to ask - how did the mass casino exodus turn out???

Filthy Rich, or "Who Did That Fly-by With The Heart Of Gold?"

Dave_Howell?:

For the answer to Marty's question, see below. But first . . . before Deadwood, before Munchin Bites, there was Filthy_Rich?. And some of the craziest results I've ever seen. "Honey," Marty, Alex, and Dave H. were playing.

Game One: Marty had never played before. There was a brief discussion with some glaring between the Daves about whether or not a "Paying Taxes" event not triggered by rolling a 10/0 allowed players to sell businesses to pay off debts, but in the end, it turned out not to matter, since Marty won the game with three luxuries while the other three players were not only entirely bereft of luxuries, but also collectively owners of zero businesses. A massacre the likes of which I'd never seen before, and didn't expect to see again. Ha ha, foolish me.

Game Two: Only a few rounds in, it was announced that "Alex is the new Marty," sweeping up three luxuries for the win before any of the rest of us secured a single one. At least there were a couple of businesses in other players' hands this time.

Game Three: "Heck, since the first two games went so fast, let's play again. This time it ought to go a bit more normally." It seemed to do so at first, with luxury buying accomplished by more than one player. However, Marty quickly established that while Alex might be the New Marty, Marty was the Real Marty, not only pulling into the lead, but standing gleefully by while both Dave H and Alex were driven into bankrupcy and out of the game. A lot like Game One, only with corpses.

We moved to Deadwood after this to try to play a game with less dice.

Tahuantinsuyu (Inca for "Land of the Four Regions")

ChadUrsoMcDaniel:

Kisa_Griffin?, ChadUrsoMcDaniel, Mark_Purtill? and SorryForgotYourName? played Tahuantinsuyu.

1. Early in the game. Each player's roads branch out from the capital.
2. End of the game. Cities, Temples and Garrisons are built to score points.

Texas Hold'Em

Steve_Dupree?:

Five people poured into four cars at 1:30 AM for the long trip to the bottom of Dave's hill. Our first stop was The Great American Casino. They can't be that great, because they didn't serve America's Great Gambling Fad. No, not Faro, but poker. A perhaps helpful and perhaps lonely Spanish 21 dealer told us to try "Poker Sue's across the street." (or something to that effect).

Four people on foot and one jeep containing the person with the longest legs in the group crossed four helpfully deserted lanes in our quest. There was no place resembling "Sue," so our second stop was at the Silver Dollar casino. Our group piled in there, to be faced with yet another array of table games (YAATG). But this, too, was poker-free. A clearly- and audibly-speaking floorman was able to direct us next door with authority.

So, next door it was. There was discussion about driving over in Dave's jeep, but by the time we finished discussing we had already reached The Golden Nugget Casino & Restaurant. We were greeted by the spread of poker tables taking up half the floor space. The only game running was a $3/$6 Hold'em game, perfect for Steve, 50% higher limits than Ben would have liked. There was a seat for Dave (distinguished as "Dave and Kathy Dave" in our house), but he declined to waste his money, content to be a spectator. Ben and I got seats next to each other and settled in for a long night of gamblin'.

Our first departure of the group was Nat, who got bored after 10 minutes or so of watching us fold our worthless cards. The Two Daves watched for about half an hour, then moved to an empty table to discuss topics unknown for about an hour. At around 3 the first Dave (that being "Dave and Eric Dave") departed in search of his long-lost bed. "Dave and Kathy Dave" then bought some french fries, which he kindly shared with us Seattle Cosmic poker players. He watched us for another half an hour and then began his long trek home.

Ben and I played for another 20 minutes or so. The casino closed at 3:45; we left at 3:39 when we were about to have to post blinds, against the protests of our fellow players.

The quest for a card room was successful.

If you're interested in the poker: I folded. A lot. I won some hands and lost a couple. Ben played more hands, and won many of them, hitting a peak of around +80 at one point. Only one pot involved both of us: I was on the button with Q9o and there was one limper to me. I raised hoping to isolate the limper and steal the pot on the flop, but both blinds (including Ben) called. The flop was KQ9, about as good as I could hope for. By the end it was just me and Ben, but unfortunately he had KQo and took my chips. I guess they stayed in the Cosmic family at least.

At the end of the night (or should I say morning?) I had won a total of $45, and Ben took in $46. He made me promise to tell Nat that he had beat me by a dollar. Always the competitor, that Ben. We made plans to drive up to Tulalip to play $2/$4 next time the venerable Tim hosts game night.

And thus ends the Quest for the Hold'em Grail.

Marty_Hale-Evans?:

Well, good to know that poker was eventually found, and I'm glad y'all did the footwork so that I know where to go the next time I have the irresistible urge to play poker at 1 am. :-) Maybe next time I'll join you.

Afterword

Remember, Seattle Cosmic Game Night occurs every weekend, in one of a number of Seattle-area locations. Come play for fun and FABULOUS PRIZES from the PrizeBag! Email Ron Hale-Evans for a full schedule and directions. If you come, please bring a snack or drink to share (cookies, chips, soda, juice, etc.)

Supporting Seattle Cosmic and Games to the Rescue

GamesToTheRescue is a philanthropic project of the Center for Ludic Synergy and Seattle Cosmic Game Night. The aim of the project is to provide game equipment and a book of game rules to hospitals, for use by patients and visitors. You can support GamesToTheRescue by buying games via our Funagain affiliate program, buying Seattle Cosmic Gear, and in a number of other ways. See the GamesToTheRescue page for more details.

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