Marcie.......

I went over and put in a session of poker at the casino last night. Nothing terribly special about my play. I folded a lot and won a couple of pots to avoid losing much. For those that don't know, there is also a bad beat progressive jackpot in the poker room. If one person has a hand of 4 or a kind or better and is beat by a better hand, the jackpot hits. The losing hand gets 50% of the jackpot, the winning hand gets 25% of the jackpot, and the rest of the table splits the other 25%. Last night the jackpot was up to over $200,000.

During my session, I could hear a scraping, high-pitched voice say, "Is that seat open?"

The dealer replied that it was and slowly, a older lady stepped into the seat. The dealer quickly greeted her as Marcie. She was in her late 80s and played poker on a daily basis. Her husband was also in the room at another table.

The guy sitting next to Marcie introduced himself as Jake. Marcie looked down her shirt and began to open up her collar. Everybody started laughing as she started to open up her collar, expecting the worst. Marcie looked up and laughed......

Marcie: You guys are terrible! I was just looking for my necklace that had my name on it. But if taking off my shirt will help me win, I'll do it!

Me: So, Marcie, why don't you play poker with your husband?

Marcie: Oh, we play at separate tables to double our chances of hitting the bad beat jackpot.

Me: Oh, I see.

Dealer: Marcie, have you every been to a strip club?

Marcie: Oh, no. My husband wouldn't ever let me go there.

Dealer: Would you take us there if you hit the bad beat jackpot?

Marcie: If I hit the bad beat jackpot, I'm taking everyone at this table to the strip club and buying them all a stripper!

Me: I'm married, so I'll take one of those $5.99 steak dinners.

Marcie: Well, I'm married as well. We've been married for 69 years. If I won the bad beat jackpot, I'd buy my husband a stripper too!

Everyone at the table was rolling with laughter at this point. Extremely smart lady in her old age. And she could play poker. The regulars respected her bets, so I did the same. Several of the regulars came up to say hi to her and received a kiss in return.

Poker is a beautiful game in that regard. This lady was in her upper 80s and her husband was in his 90s, yet they both came out to the casino on a daily basis to play a thinking game of skill while socializing with other people. Better yet, they were able to compete with the other players as the game requires nothing more than the mind.

Marcie didn't stay at our table for more than an hour, but it was a lot of fun while she was there. Always nice to get the opportunity to those kind of people that you otherwise might not get to meet.