To Cash or not To Cash

"WHEN" is the question! This weekend was our annual trip to Foxwoods in Connecticut for the WPT Ladies' Poker Tournament. Last year it was held on a Sunday, but this year, they changed the venue and it started on Saturday morning which meant we left here on Friday. It's about a 3 1/2 hour ride from Pennsylvania but Pat thought it wouldn't be too much out of the way to drop off her daughter's dog , who she had been watching all week while said daughter was away on a business trip. Her daughter only lives an hour and a half away from us. Yikes!!!!

So we had decided to begin our sojourn at 12:30PM but didn't get on the road until 2PM because my car had to be inspected and they decided I needed two new back tires which meant it wouldn't be ready in time. So we started off the trip a little bit stressed and it got worse from that point on. There was an accident on the turnpike and there were so many trucks going by so slowly and blocking my view that I didn't see our exit and ended up getting off at Exit 16W instead of Exit 16E. After backtracking a bit and frantically calling my husband Bob, we finally found our way, walked the dog, carried the 40 lb. bag of dog food up the stairs (actually Pat did this), loaded up her refrigerator with all the food Pat had bought her, said good-bye to Bear (the very cute and darling dog) and headed for the George Washington Bridge. At this point, it was 4:30PM on Friday and needless to say, the traffic was incredibly heavy. The good news is that by the time we hit the New Haven area, it was so late that the rush hour traffic in that area had passed. We finally arrived at Foxwoods at 7:30PM....not too bad...only 5 1/2 hours.

We dropped everything off in our adjoining rooms and headed out for dinner. We opted for the same place we had eaten last year, Al Dente, and were glad we did. The food there is incredibly good as is the service and the ambiance. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for Foxwoods as it is definitely not one of my favorite places. I can't exactly put my finger on it but I guess if I had to describe it in one word it would be "tacky". They are in the process of building a new MGM Grand Hotel on the premises and that's where we intend to stay the next time we go there.

Up early the next morning, we headed out to breakfast and then on to the tournament which began at 10AM. Once again, it's probably our favorite thing to do...we just love it!!! The women are all so nice and so much fun. It's why we choose only to play in the ladies' events. I don't think I'd enjoy it as much if there were men at the table. I started off slowly until I came upon a hand I'll never forget. I know many of you readers aren't poker players but, for those of you who are...Michael, Josh, Nick, Daut, Nat...you'll definitely appreciate this hand. I am sitting with JJ and the blinds are 50/100. There is a preflop raise of 300 and I call. The flop is J8A. The other player bets 1K and I raise it to 3K and she calls. The turn is another 8 and she bets 2K and I move all in and she calls. She flips over AA so she has a full house, aces over eights to my full house of jacks over eights. Wow, that really stinks for me until the river brings me another Jack and I now have quads. This one hand put me at over 10K in chips at the first break and looking pretty darn good (we started with 5K in chips by the way).

I accumulated some additional chips during the next two levels and then my run of cards ended...just like that, I got nothing. I guess I really need to learn how to play when you get no cards since this is something definitely lacking in my game. By this time, they had posted the payoffs and thirty players would get paid. I made it to right before the dinner break when I was finally dealt my first pair in about three hours...55...so I pushed only to be up against KK. Oh well, close but no cigar. I ended up finishing in 48th place...18 away from cashing.

The good news is that I'm getting closer; the bad news is that I still haven't cashed. But I will continue to try. Since we were both knocked out before dinner, we asked the front desk if we could check out and not be charged for the room and they agreed so within a matter of 15 minutes, we were packed, checked out and on the road again. All we talked about on the way home was how much fun we had. We also talked about finding a Friendly's where we could have our favorite tuna melts and a Happy Ending Sundae which was really so appropriate as every trip always ends "happy" for us.

Until the next event, I remain, Cashless in Washington Crossing.