Caramel Cider and the Estefans

At Starbucks, they usually have a chalkboard surface near where you wait for your drinks on which they put the barista's name and some info including a drink suggestion. The one I go to has this...
your barista suggests: "Festooning your guts about my living room while carving Lucifer's symbol into your rotting flesh... or how about a Caramel Apple Cicer."

There are some very interesting people working there. I am pleased to say that this has remained on the board all week.

And now, the Estefans...

I was in Las Vegas with Kid a couple weeks ago for our now (and hopefully continuing) monthly trip. On our second night, we played at Caesars. They have a terrific poker room. Its at least twice the size of Bellagio's with plenty of LCD TVs and lots of space between each table so you never have anyone bumping into you while trying to pass. Unfortunately, its located through an inconspicuous hallway snuggled between the sports book and their night club, PURE. You pretty much have to be looking for it so there doesn’t tend to be as much action as there should be for such an accommodating place.

The game I was playing in was one of only a couple 2-5 NL Hold’ems running. I got into my usual babbling act. My opponents were a good audience which means I was having fun. At many casinos these days, they put the face of their headlining acts on gaming chips. For instance, the Alladin (soon to be Planet Hollywood) has Chris Angel. Celine Dion and Elton John both have regular gigs at Caesars Palace Las Vegas so, of course, they are also on chips. I assume that Elton is on $10 or $25 chips since I didn’t see his face on any of the $1, $2, or $5 chips used in our game. But there were plenty of $5’s with Celine’s face glaring up at me.

I started groaning about how she kept staring at me. Let’s just say I’m not a big fan. Some found my angst humorous. But they really got a kick out of my joy in finding a $5 chip with Gloria Estefan on it. Or maybe I enjoyed it enough for everyone. At any rate, I started a dialogue about the merits of Gloria vs. Celine. Then I noticed that the Celine Dion chips were marked with production numbers showing x/10,000. I quickly fished out an ‘Estefan’ (as they became known) to look for the same. There it was: x/2500! That’s right! The Estefans are more rare and, therefore, more valuable than the Dions. I immediately began collecting them, putting aside any found in pots that I pulled in.

Then there was Brandon. Sitting on my left, he got in on the Estefan action and found number 0059/2500, the lowest we had found to that point. It would remain the lowest discovered all night. He had it well protected, sitting atop all $4k of his chips and cash in play. No one at the table had anywhere near enough to put him all in and that was the only way to get 0059 from him. For the next couple of hours, Brando reveled in torturing me with his prized Estefan.

Eventually, we had everyone at the table searching through their stacks for hidden Estefans. It became a contest of who could amass the most or find the lowest number. I found a total of 7 while the player to Brando’s left gladly traded the few that he found, giving Brando as many as 5 or 6, if I recall correctly. But nobody was handing any to me, damn it! I would have to get them the old fashioned way…win them. From that point forward, whenever I saw Gloria looking up from the middle of a pot, I would try to find a way to get involved so I could take it down. But, in all seriousness, I didn’t actually get out of line.

By the end of the night, the table had dwindled to Brando, his buddy Shaun, an Asian guy, me, and 1 fish. We certainly would have ended the game a half hour earlier than we eventually did had it not been for his presence. It seemed like he was actually willing to give his chips away and we were all trying to get our piece of the action. Then I made the play of the night. I picked up the Bonedoneskis (6h-6d) in the ultimate 5-handed position being early, middle, and late all at the same time. I raised to $15 using three Estefans face up and making it known. This induced a call from Brando, Asian guy, and Sean also using their Estefans. I still don’t know why the fish folded. He was ultra loose and certainly priced in to making that call from the BB. But good thing he did.

The flop was Ace high and, being first to act, I led out for $30 which included the last of my Estefans. Again, I pointed out that fact. Brando and AG called again but not so quickly this time. Now all the Estefans were in the pot. The turn didn’t change anything and I was determined to fight for Gloria. So I led out again with $45. This time, Brando thought for a bit and decided to fold leaving the action on AG (BTW, a very good player). He also went into the tank. He started talking his way through it and painfully decided to fold. AG declared that he had A-10 to which Brando announced the same holding. It was late, we were all playing well and having fun, and I was raking in all the Estefans, so I decided to show my small pocket pair. I also announced that I had “the Bonedoneskis” but they didn’t yet know what that meant. They seemed shocked at my hand but not upset because they knew I had been establishing my image all night to set up that play. At least I think they were cool about it.

Kid and I went to the nearest bar to grab a drink with Brando and Sean. Cool guys. We gave them a primer on the rules of Bonedoneskis. I think we might end up playing it at a home game in Vegas soon. Its sweeping the nation, I tell ya!

BTW, I also got number 0059 from Brando in that big pot and saved it. Unfortunately, I won’t get to flaunt it when we meet again as he has since acquired #0026. But we can be fairly certain #0009 is back in circulation since he recently spotted it. The game is afoot.