Full of 'Craps' part 2

Upon arriving, Dan met up with his family and Shaun and I started the circle in search of our table. We have a friend Dennis who is a big time poker player. I have never watched him play, but he does eat and sleep poker. We usually invite him on our casino runs to add a little legitimacy to our entourage.

Shaun had been calling him most of the day but had yet to connect. I decide to give his cell phone one last ring as I had a strong suspicion he was already at the casino. I got his voicemail and explained we were at "Foxwoods" and he should call my cell if he was there.

Meanwhile, we couldn't find the nerve to start betting at $10 tables so early in the evening so we each resigned ourselves to putting $5 into a quarter slot machine. After losing that in 30 seconds, we decided to eat at the $13.95 buffet.

The length of the line to the buffet was intimidating at first, but the attendant said it would only be a 25 - 30 minute wait. We decided to go for it. As soon as we had gotten in line, a battalion of people passed by us claiming they had folks further up in the line holding their spaces. I was ok with this until an elderly couple just walked past the end of the line and stopped just ahead of us.

Normally I would have said something, but to be honest the women of the twosome looked like a scrapper with a walker and was just looking for a reason to go upside someone's head with it. So I resigned to a nasty sideways glance in her direction and let it go.

At this point my phone rings. It is Dennis. As I suspected he was there (and had been for 11 hours). He says he is having a miserable day and would like to join us for dinner. He met us at the line (after losing a battle with the rope barrier that separated him from us). It was pointed out that we were now the obnoxious people holding place for people in line and the irony of the situation was a little embarrassing. It subsided as we got closer to the front of the line.

It should be stated here, that Dennis has taken a very different career route then the rest of my college friends. He has had at least half a dozen jobs in laboratory settings since graduating with a bachelor's degree in biology. While I could write a half dozen different things on Dennis' exploits, what you need to know is that he really wants to be a professional poker player. I have never met someone so comfortable on the floor of a casino than Dennis.

So, as soon as Dennis meets up with us, he is on the phone describing the play by play of his round of bad luck to one of his poker buddies. It sounds as if he couldn't get a break and was at that moment down $1000.00.

Shaun and I hear this and turn sickly green. We can't imagine being in a position of being $1000.00 up, let alone losing that amount. Even though Dennis is a little crabby about his loss, he buys us dinner with his casino points. I know for me, if I was that much in the hole, I wouldn't be able to eat, let alone pick up a tab! But that is Dennis for you!

By the end of dinner, we were all stuffed and as ready to hit the tables as we would ever be. Dennis needs a break from poker and heads with us to reconnect with Dan. We find Dan and find a craps table that had space for us.

To be continued...