Proud of Myself

So I have been staying in San Bruno for like the last 3 weeks, primarily because it has a casino (Artichoke Joes) within walking distance from the hotel. Over the past 3 weeks I am up close to 2k which is why I returned tonight even though my apartment in San Francisco is now ready. Two hours into this session I grab a smoke and come back looking at a $8 blind since I missed my turn at the small and big blind, so I pony up the $8 (I'm playing 6/12 limit) and draw a 8-J off from under the gun which I decide I should play only because everyone else calls around to me. Right when I go to call,  this bozo sitting across from me decides he doesn't like his hand and tosses his cards across the table and they land on top of mine. I push his aside and call, but the dealer calls a dead hand and has the pit boss come over.

The pit boss asks what happened and decides my hand is dead so they take my cards and continue to play the hand. I'm like, wtf? The pit boss says 'oh, you need to protect your hand' so I ask 'what does that mean'? He says if you would have had something on top of your cards like a chip or token then it would not have been a problem but since you did not protect your hand, your hand is dead. I complain, "you mean because that clown tossed his cards on top of mine I get punished"? He says, basically yes. Turns out next hand I am the big blind so another $6 goes into the pot. $14 gone and I haven't even had a chance to play a hand. I don't think I like that very much.

I start moping and pissing and moaning (even though my aggressive behavior wins me the next two pots) and playing angry and about four hands later the pit boss returns and gives me back my $8 and tells me he is sorry but in the future I will need to protect my hand. I thought that was pretty classy. Eventually about 5 hours later I bust out (lost $200 but still up over the last 3 weeks like $1500) and right before I leave I hunt down the pit boss. I hand him a $50 and tell him "sometimes it has nothing to do with the money and everything to do with how a man is treated". He tells me thank you and I leave. I'm pretty proud of myself tonight which is why I took the time out to jot this down. I hope I can remain this classy throughout the remainder of my poker playing days :-)