Last Wednesday, friend Tom invited me to go with him and his friend Steve to the Riverside Hotel Casino in Laughlin, Nevada. The two men regularly go to the Riverside to play poker and since I am a very occasional poker player too… The only problem was, I was to meet Tom at his home at about ten minutes after 6 a.m. We would then drive to Green Valley Ranch where Steve would pick us up for the one hour and 15-minute drive to Laughlin.

I hadn’t been to Laughlin in a couple years and loved the idea of going. However I am not a morning person and this early time was daunting. I set my alarm for 4 a.m. so that I could take care of business before leaving. Let’s just say the early time did not do the trick, but I did make it to Laughlin.

The poker room at Riverside was just getting started when we arrived. Tom had given our names to the room and we had seats. The room was crowded with mostly seniors. I had brought a couple $100 bills, having no idea what would happen after play began.

I was surprised that the antes to play were just one and two dollars. As a result many of our ten players often played just to see the flop. Big betters at our table would occasionally play maybe $5, $8 or at most $10. As each hand ended, the winning player would give the dealer a dollar or two. As a result, the dealers were very fast. One lady dealer was so fast, my head was spinning.

Another thing the poker room has is special prizes for high hand or aces cracked or I’m not sure what else. Steve was sitting next to me and he won some $50 because of a high hand (with $20 or more in the pot) before 10 a.m. And so we played, hour after hour. I was getting hungry (which I seldom am because at home I eat a little something rather frequently.) I remembered Tom talking about doughnuts in the room and I asked him about them. He pointed the way and I had a doughnut; the hunger went bye-bye.

Bit by bit I lost my first $100 after a couple hours. I was tired and had a feeling I should be going out to the slot machines instead. But I stayed. And bit by bit my hands got better, as did Steve’s, and the two of us suddenly were very much into the games. We played until 2 p.m. and after six hours of poker, we quit and went to lunch which turned out to be breakfast for all three of us. I won $7; Steve won more than $100 and Tom….we’re not sure.

Then we drove home another one hour and 15-minute drive–very pleasant. All in all, I had a great day; liked the poker set-up at the Riverside; the people were all very nice, and I had had a new adventure.