The BLT incident.....

So we begin. I'll note that I will assign nicknames to the various players to try to make it easy to keep track of the participants.

The ride up to Atlantic City was a very quick one. For those of you that don't know the area, the ride is a pretty easy one up I-95 followed by trips on the New Jersey Turnpike and the Atlantic City expressway. All roads are a 4 lane road at a minimum and most of the time they are 6 or 8 lanes. Most of the road is also a toll road. Tolls total $10.50 for a one way trip. To their credit, the roads are very well maintained, so it's pretty obvious that the tolls do go to maintain the roads themself.

Another common trait of these roads is speed. The general speed limit on the road is 65 MPH. Evidently, that is merely a suggestion for those that can even read the signs. My guess is that most can't read the signs well at the speeds they are going. I traveled at a pretty steady speed between 75 and 80 MPH. That was pretty much keeping pace. I counted 5 dual-exhaust Audi's that blew by me like I was driving in molasses.

Perfect example of what the norm is on the NJ toll roads occurred on my return trip. I was going about 80 MPH in the fast lane and passed directly in front of a NJ highway patrol officer. I, of course, did not do it intentionally. He was in the median with his lights off. After I saw him, I obviously hit my brakes to slow down. The HP officer didn't even pay any attention to my misdeed. These guys don't even mess with people going 75-80 MPH because they know that they'll get someone going 90-95 MPH if they just wait a few minutes more. Since speeding fines are doubled on any NJ toll roads, they can easily make several hundred dollars for each stop over 90 MPH. If I had passed in front of a cop going 80 MPH in Missouri, you can be sure that I would have been pulled over, especially in Booneville.

I made the trip in 2 hours flat (which is good time) and got into the poker room around 9:00 AM. When I arrived, a guy I'll call Action (because he liked to play a lot of pots) was already at the table. Action was a nice guy in his 70's who was really fun to play with. Constant chat, even with other people while playing a hand. He's the kind you want at a game because he's a nice guy who's not afraid to throw money out on the table. Several minutes later, a guy I'll call WSOP showed up. I'll get into his nickname in another blog. WSOP had not had breakfast yet, so he was looking for a cocktail waitress. He had mentioned that to everyone at the table.

At some point, Action, who is a regular player, got the attention of the cocktail waitress. Action told the waitress that he wanted a coffee and a big old BLT. The cocktail waitress smiled at Action and then went over to WSOP. WSOP said that a BLT and coffee sounded great to him too. The waitress laughed and said OK. After a few minutes, the waitress returned with the coffee. WSOP waited about 15 minutes and wondered aloud where his BLT was. Action just smiled. After another 15 minutes, he did the same thing. I chuckled at his plight as did several others including Action. A few minutes later, the cocktail waitress showed up again and WSOP mentioned that he never got his BLT. The cocktail waitress laughed and said she thought he was kidding because they didn't serve BLT's. WSOP mentioned that Action had ordered a BLT. She said that Action was a regular and always does that to mess with her. Action starting laughing along with most of the table because it became obvious that Action knew how the BLT order was going to end. WSOP chuckled and ask the waitress to bring him a bagel. WSOP then turned to Action with a laugh and said he was going to take him down.

At some point around lunch, Action got up to go get something to eat. 30 minutes later, WSOP got up for a smoke break (poker rooms are the only non-smoking area in most casinos). Action came back while WSOP was smoking and asked where WSOP was. I mentioned that he went off to a smoke break. After a few minutes, WSOP came back and sat down. Action stood up and extended his hand to WSOP with a smile. In Action's hand............a fresh BLT from the restaurant. Everyone busted out laughing and WSOP took the sandwich and shook his hand. Great gesture from a really nice guy.