We loved the poker room - it has 46 tables - and we would go and try our hands with the cards. We were pretty addicted.
I fully admit I wasn't very good (he wasn't either), but we loved the excitement of the possibility of doing well, the atmosphere is fun, and we started to know a lot of the people there (players and dealers). Because we went so often for two years straight, we saw a lot of friendly faces.
For me, it became very social and I loved talking with people I knew, even it was only seeing the regular players about twice a month, or seeing the dealers for 30 minutes each table visit.
If you don't play poker, let me share real quick about the dealer rotation.
The dealers rotate around from each table throughout their shift, and they change tables every 30 minutes. So, if I am seated at one table for 8 hours, that's 16 different dealers that rotate through that table I am playing on. We would not see the same dealer again that day, because there are 46 tables in the room, and they would rotate through them all.
Some dealers are talkative, some are quiet. Everyone has a different personality (obviously). When I drank, I talked more, so sometimes I was very chatty, lol, and when I used to go with my ex, I would drink more when I was with him, so I was chatty more back then.
After we broke up, I didn't go to Winstar to play poker but a couple of times in a whole year.
The first time I went, after my hiatus, it was quite the experience!
I sat down at a full table, and the open seat was on the end and next to the dealers' seat, and I was quietly playing poker. I didn't say too much while I sat there and was just mostly listening to the other players at the table and just trying to catch some cards, trying to get the feel to playing again because I hadn't played poker in such a long time.
I was there only about 4 hours, but it became quite comical.
I was getting only a few good hands, but not playing much because the cards just weren't coming. But as the dealers would switch tables, they would see me at the end of the table, and they would say hi.
"Hey! How's it going? How you been?" One or two would ask.
Then a new dealer would sit down and we would chat because I hadn't been there in a long time and we had to catch up. I asked her how her kids were doing, and her husband, and we small-talked.
Then another table change 30 minutes later. A couple of dealers would walk by and they would happen to see me, "Hey - nice to see you!" Or, "Hi - How's it going?" I would smile back and say my hellos.
The players at my table were looking at me real funny. "Who is THIS chick?"
Then the food service girl walked by and noticed me, "Hey How are you?!" smiling. One even gave me a hug, lol.
The players at my table were very confused. And I noticed they started to play timid with me. I was starting to bluff more than I'm used to, but they would fold to me a lot after they saw I knew a lot of people, lol. They thought I was this bad-ass poker player because everyone knew me, haha.
Another dealer would rotate through to our table and we would start to chat and catch up. And other dealers would walk by and say hello to me.
You have to realize that I used to go there A LOT for two years and I had been MIA for a year, so we were all kinda happy to see each other and they were cool and said hello to me.
Eventually, after about two hours of this going on, one of the players eventually asked me, "Who ARE you? Dang, you know EVERYONE here. And everyone knows YOU. You must play good."
I laugh and blush and reply, "no, no, I just used to come here a lot; that's all."
"Yea, surrrrre..." the player respond as others at the table laugh along with him, not believing me at all, lol.
It was really comical, as the next couple of hours it kept happening - a different dealer would walk by and see me, and say hey because I hadn't been there in a long time and used to be a staple at the place, lol.
And the players would say, "See? Another one knows you."
"I swear - I am nobody!" As I bet and they folded to me again, lol.
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