As soon as we arrived Dwayne found out there was a king crab eating contest. First prize was a years worth or king crab. In normal Dwayne fashion he knocked it out of the park, eating over 20 lbs of king crab in 2 hours. Gary came in a distant second with just 10 pounds of crab consumed.
We decided to play some poker, Reno is much smaller then Vegas and so are the poker rooms. We were staying at Harrah’s Hotel and Casino on the Reno strip. After a few hours of poker I was about even. Then I was dealt Q of clubs and Q of spades. I made 4 blind raise and got called by the button. The flop was Q of hearts, J of Diamonds, and King of Diamonds. This left a lot of drawing hands. I bet the pot which was about $50.00 and got called. The pot was now $150.00. The turn was a 9 of diamonds. There was now 3 diamonds on the board. I had a set of queens, but a ten would have me beat with a straight or any 2 diamonds would have me beat with a flush. I decided to check, I wanted to see what the other guy would do. He bet 10 dollars. This was very strange. If the board paired I would most likely have the best hand with a full house. Clearly he wanted me in the hand to trap me, or he wanted a cheap card on the river. Since I did not know the player I simple called. The river was a Q of diamonds I hit 4 of a kind. I had just a 2% chance of hitting that card. Now how do I trap him? If he had a high diamond he will make a bet. So I checked, he bet half the pot I pushed all in and he called. The pot was $500.00. I have quad queens. I turned over my cards and proudly showed 4 of a kind. The other player slowly turned over one card an ace of diamonds, he had a flush, and then he turned over his other card a 10 of diamonds. He hit a straight flush, AKQJT of diamonds. The only hand that would have beat me. I was ready to head up to my room and jump out my window, when everybody at the table went nuts. I was very confused. Then the pit boss came over to me and said,”Do you realize, you just won $100,000.00?” I just laughed and continued to walk away. The pit boss then pointed to a sign on the wall that said, “Bad Beat Jack Pot $200,000.00.” He went on the explain if a hand of 4 of a kind or better gets beat, the loser gets half the Bad Beat Jack Pot, the winner gets 25% and the other players at the table split the other 25% about $8,000 each. The last time someone had won this jack pot at Harrah’s was 4 years ago. The pit boss asked if I wanted a check of cash, I quickly said a check showed my Botswana passport so they would not take taxes out and I was happy as a lark.
What a great way to start a poker trip. The next day we headed to Tahoe a one and a half hour drive from Reno. As we climbed up the mountains the weather turned from a light ran to a heavy snow storm. We had rented a mini-van that Dwayne was not to happy about driving on a mountain pass in a snow storm. Even in the snow Lake Tahoe and the mountains were just spectacular.
As far as gambling Tahoe is even smaller then Reno, the three casinos in town share one poker room. We found some tourist, showed them my check for $100,000.00 which must have intimidated them because between Gary, Richie and I, we won $1,000.00 off them in less then an hour.
Reno does not have the night life of entertainment that Vegas has, the weather was slightly cooler, 45 degrees instead of 65, and so much of our time was spent in the Casinos. Dwayne played 3 and 4 card poker, he would win ten or twenty thousand and then lose eight thousand. He would play four to five hundred dollars per hand and play 2 or 3 hands at a time. I think it is more fun to watch Dwayne play then for me to play myself. On the other hand Ronny was making a name for himself at the Black Jack tables. I do not know what he had done, but as soon as he would sit down at a table, everybody else at the table would get up and leave and it would be just him and the dealer. He seemed to be winning, but clearly no one else wanted to play at the same table as him.
I am glad we visited Reno, I am $100,000.00 richer because of it, but once was enough. Now back to Botswana and getting ready for the Presidents visit.
Cheers,
DUG
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