Find Hotels near Big M Casino Gaming Yacht, Myrtle Beach ...

Ticket time: 7:30 EST
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Set One (8:10 - 9:32ish): ENERGY (11 min) -> WOOOOOAAAAAH WEEKAPAUG (9 min), The Moma Dance (9 min) > Lengthwise (1 min) -> Maze (10 min), Petrichor (18 min), Things People Do (3 min) > Sample in a Jar (6 min) > Bathtub Gin (17 min)
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Set Two (10:21-11:45): Soul Panet (12 min) -> Wider (5 min) -> UNDERMIND (7 MIN), The Final Hurrah (9 min) > Beneath a Sea of Stars Pt. 1 (17 min), Ghost (11 min) -> WEEKAPAUG GROOVE (1 min) -> Birds of a Feather (13 min), Waste (6 min) > Golgi Apparatus (7 min)
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Encore (11:46 - 12:08): AAAAAAHAHHHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAFOOOOOOOOOOAM (8 min), Contact (7 min), More (7 min)
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Notes:

1. Energy was last played 8/4/13, 226 shows ago
2. I'm not nearly resourceful enough to find when the last standalone Weekapaug was so let's go with a while
3. But u/poopfacejohnson has informed me the last standalone Weekapaug was 12/2/03...wooooow
4. First Foam encore, last played 7/22/17, 79 shows ago

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I'm baaaaack! Who's ready for some hot, piping, northeast, casino Phish?! It's a pleasure to be joining you all again as your guide through the first show of one of the most hyped runs of the summer! Fun fact: Tonight marks Phish's first performance at the Mohegan Sun Arena which also just squeaks past St. Louis' Chaifetz Arena as the smallest venue of the tour with a capacity of 10,000.
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Let's hear some opener calls for tonight! I'm gonna be going with the ever elusive Colonel Forbin's Ascent GLIDE to get the show kicked off.
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I'm currently studying for an exam that I have tomorrow so I am going to be in and out of the thread until show time but I'm posting early again to encourage some friendly chatting, discussion, banter, jokes etc etc etc. I really enjoyed hearing everyone's favorite jams of the tour so far in my last thread so this time...let's hear your favorite show you've attended and why. My personal favorite that I have seen would have to be 7/28/17 AKA Double Chocolate night of the Baker's Dozen. This show contained EVERYTHING that I want at a Phish show...fun and wacky covers, YUGE jams, surprise bustouts and bizarre song placements. Also, it doesn't hurt that I've never heard anything louder than the crowd reaction to that Chalkdust Torture peak. Here's an awesome recording for you to check out for yourselves if you so desire, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHNZ-oVygDc (said peak is at 23:00).
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Checkins: Elkridge, MD, Mohegan Sun, On the Way to Wisconsin, Tampa, FL, Winooski, VT, Birmingham, AL, Foxwoods Casino, Louisville, KY, Savannah, GA, Middletown, CT, New Hampshire, Palo Alto, CA, Eugene, OR, Syracuse, NY, Nashville, TN, Los Angeles, CA, New Haven, CT, East Lyme, CT, Frisco, TX, Littleton, CO, Ocean City, NJ, North Myrtle Beach, SC, Denver, CO, Guilford, CT, Portland, OR, Bronx, NY, Boston, MA, Gaithersburg, MD, The Woods of Maine, Tokyo, Japan (WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER), Pottstown, PA, Chicago, IL, Bend, OR, Nuevo Havo, CT, Seattle, WA, Franconia, NH, Boulder, CO, Canberra, Australia (WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER), Denver, CO, Frederick, MD, Johnson City, TN, Fort Wayne, IN, Granville, OH, Hartford, CT, Indianapolis, IN, Brooklyn, NY, Columbus, OH, Richmond, VA, Hampton, VA, Tulsa, OK, Olney, MD
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Favorite Attended Shows:
u/scarletfire72 - 7/28/17
u/amazen55 - 8/5/17
u/jopnk - 6/30/19
u/sdcasurf01 - 8/7-8/09
u/ADriedUpGoliath - 8/1/17
u/mocksong - 12/30/17
u/spautrievas - 7/24/99
u/TuckHolladay - 10/30/10
u/pm_me_your_miletime - 3/6/09 or 7/22/17
u/TeaAndAche - 8/7/15 (today at least)
u/Flash_Gordon - 6/30/19
u/Gam1019 - 12/7/97
u/BrinxJob - 7/25/17
u/colonelphorbins - Big Cypress
u/Jammin_CO - 11/16/96
u/runawayBrian - 7/11/00
u/ButYourChainsOk - 10/31/10
u/wharf_rat88 - 6/21/19
u/gratefulbend - 8/14/15 and Magnaball
u/TheAnt06 - 8/14/09
u/Buehler-buehler - 12/30/97
u/voxangelikus - 12/29/18
u/runawayjim_617 - 12/30/18
u/massofparticles - 10/20/13
u/mrsEminomily - 7/6/19
u/binary_burn - 12/30/18
u/00000000000 - 8/4/17
u/Poster_Nutsack - Big Cypress
u/Bryanmahindrew - 6/14/19
u/elsneech - 8/14/09
u/Dierin - 7/11/00
u/bmault - 4/3/98
u/idsimon - 8/3/18
u/Your_Latex_Salesman - 7/18/99
u/REOpeenwagon - 9/6/15
u/Hukijiwa - 7/5/13, 8/22/15, 7/22/18
u/eleventhjam1969 - 12/29/18
u/headyhwak - 8/31/18
u/vguy72 - 12/6/96
u/JazzOdyssey - 12/5/09
u/bill-ward-rose - 12/31/93
u/kemnitz - 10/26/18
u/lechatblanc233s - 10/29/13
u/uuuhhhh - 11/27/98
u/CaptainJackRyan (Clancy fan?) - 8/5/17
u/cmmn518redux - 9/14/00
u/howluckyarewe - 8/12/10
u/fuckoka_gumbo - 7/30/17
u/sshore61 - 8/7/15 or 6/30/19
u/gsurberRVA - 3/1/03
u/elliescomet - 6/9/94
u/DarwinFox - 6/26/19
u/winnsanity - 9/6/15
u/87ofHarts - 7/30/17
u/Cletus_Van_Dam - 12/30/16
u/diginfinity - 11/17/97 or 12/6/96
u/carinisnutbag - 12/31/92
u/Tabooter024 - 12/16/99
u/unclejohnssocks - 8/31/12
u/Space-Antelope - 12/31/17
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Commentary from the Couch:

• I've already spoken with Vegas for the degenerates among us and I've been told the pre-show Hee-Haw o/u line is set at 3 after a measly showing of 2 Hee-Haws at Fenway 2. Live lines to come.
• Just finished off way more food than anyone should eat from my favorite Chinese joint! What're y'all feasting on tonight?
• Finishing up AHS Asylum before the show, first time seeing this. Man this show is faaaaacked up but so good

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SET ONE COMMENTARY

• Right out of left field with that call there Troy
• Let's hope for a little yam in this one!
• HOLY SHIT THIS ONE'S GONNA GO
• This is absolutely looking like its gonna be one of those shows
• Surprised this only the second Maze of the summer! I'm still hunting one with Lengthwise
• That pinterest line makes me seriously consider taking a header off of a high ledge
• Love Sample! Bit of a resurgence after being somewhat of a rarity the past couple of years
• We're all in this together!
• I love Fish's new trigger pad with the gong and triangle sooooo much
• Oh fuck yeah let's get weird with this Gin dudes

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SET TWO COMMENTARY

• I'll be totally honest, I was at the debut of Soul Planet and absolutely despised this song at the time. That being said, it's grown on me more than any of the other new songs I think
• Really cool beat Fish is playing there with the triplet on the hi-hat
• Wider, Debut. Definitely digging this one so far. When they did that second transition in the Soul Planet jam I was wondering if they were moving to something composed but didn't recognize it. How lucky we are!
• OH JESUS THAT WAS SMOOTH
• Final Hurrah is another one that has really grown on me. The faceepluntintorokk sample has always driven me nuts cause I really enjoy the song portion but I think I can look past that going forward
• Oh man this takes me right back to the lawn on that beautiful night in Camden. By far my favorite debut of the summer
• You know how sometimes a song was just SCREAMING to be played...yeah now's one of those times
• Loving the big Birds this summer!
• Love to see some Rambo Big Red!!
• Seems like the shows have been trending towards the longer side side this tour...me likey

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THE SEXY MAN-O-METER
[ ] Standing
[ ] Raging
[ ] Perspiring
[ ] Crushing a sandwich
[ ] Porno-clav action
[ ] Glasses off
[ ] Faceplanting into rokk
[ ] Still Waiting
[ ] All alone
[ ] Melting
[ ] Summoning demons
[ ] Scanning pinterest *barf*
[ ] Sexy Fender Rhodes action
[X] Sobbing
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DON'T BE A DICK AND ASK FOR STREAM LINKS IN THE COMMENTS WE ALL KNOW WHAT HAPPENS AT THIS POINT
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Official Stream on Phish Radio: https://www.siriusxm.com/
Mixlrs won't be posted on here because, all together now, FUCK NUGS!!!
Be discrete when sharing mixlrs amongst yourselves
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Let's have a great night folks!!!

Thank you to everyone who read and commented on part 1, your feedback is much appreciated. If you haven't read part 1 or want to see the original poll that brought me here, scroll back in this sub or (if you're reading this in the future and it's long since buried) click on my profile and find them there in my posts.
By the 50s, it had become clear that using Clifton Hill as a series of budget, away from the falls tourist camps wasn't nearly as lucrative as the land could potentially be. Welland Securities opened the Quality Inn Fallsway where Dinosaur Adventure Golf now sits and the Park Motor Inn (later Venture then Comfort Inn) where Niagara Speedway now is. Clifton Touring Camp was torn down to make way for these, save for the snack bar where Wizard's Golf now is that was an original Zimmerman estate gate house. The guest house building and gardens of the estate that remained at this point were torn down, but the stable building was gutted, re-enforced and turned into the Welland Securities offices in the Park Motor Inn. This remained Welland Securities (now HOCO)'s offices until Comfort Inn was torn down in 2015 (and the nearly 150 year old stable building with it). Quality Inn featured a restaurant and nightclub in it's lobby building: the T-bird room. The T-bird hosted a variety of early rock and roll acts over the years until it's eventual transition into a Golden Griddle and Q-Balls Billiards Pub in the 70s. The hotel also featured 4 swimming pools: a large outdoor pool, an outdoor kiddie pool, an indoor pool and an indoor hot tub. The Park Motor Inn only featured a single outdoor pool and hot tub (area became an enclosed atrium in the 70s.) However, it featured a gift shop (where Kelsey's has been since the 80s), the Queen' Door Nightclub (became Rumors Nightclub in the 80s, now divided up into multiple things like the relocated Kelsey's bathrooms and Zombie Attack) and Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum. Ripley's leased the land from Welland Securities. It was the second attraction in the Ripley company's popular chain of "Odditoriums", predated only by the original St. Augustine FL location. The Niagara Falls History Museum had opened a few blocks away in the early 1900s in the building currently occupied by the Bird Kingdom, but it was closer to a museum than a tourist attraction. Ripley's was the first real attraction to open up in Niagara.
Ripley's was a massive success, becoming Niagara's must visit location second only to the falls itself. It (along with Marilyn Monroe's breakthrough film "Niagara" in 1953) opened the floodgates, and by 1960, all the cabin courts had been demolished. In 1955, Charles Burland tore down his Niagara Falls Tourist Camp and bought all the land from the aforementioned field where Captain Jack's now is to Tussaud's. He tore down all the cabin courts on this land, building the Honeymoon City Motel (known as Travelodge since the early 2000s) in the place of Reinhard's Riverhurst Inn and his Niagara Falls Tourist Camp, a parking lot (now Castle Dracula) in the place of the Darling Cabins, and the Clifton Motor Inn (known as Thriftlodge since early 2000s) where Clifton Camp was. The Honeymoon City Motel had a restaurant where the Guinness museum now is, as well as the gift shop that's still there beside Guinness. Clifton Motor Inn had the Clifton Hill Family Restaurant in the old Camp Clifton restaurant building (still there), a "Bonanza" company shooting gallery (now replaced with a newer gallery) and the iconic Dairy Queen, which was then a Frostee Freeze. Burland responded to Ripley's in 1958 by opening the Life Museum in the former restaurant in the Honeymoon City and moving the restaurant a floor up (now Ruby Tuesday's.) The Life Museum was a bizarre attraction celebrating the life cycle from conception to death for both the male and female body, incredibly taboo for the time. Ripley's and the Life Museum would begin Clifton Hill's staple of bizarre attractions themed to the curious and macabre. In 1959 Louis Tussaud's Wax Museum had opened attached to the Foxhead Hotel where the building with the Pink Panther ride/former MGM attraction is now.
In 1960, 2 hotels opened between the Frostee Freeze and the old Victoria Ave. railway station at the top of the hill. These were the Clifton Motor Hotel (renamed the Pilgrim just 3 years later, now the building now occupied by Captian Jacks) and the Hilltop (the land now occupied by the Upside Down House.) With these hotels came Oneida Ln. running off Clifton Hill towards what's now Casino Niagara's Parking lot. Of course, in 1960, this was the parking lot for the Oneida Plate Factory that was the Casino Niagara building's original life. At the front of the factory between the 2 Falls Ave. hotels was the Antique Auto Museum, opened the same year, and a few years later in 1964 they would add a large observation tower sticking out the top as part of the factory tour, now the abandoned steel-plated tower that simply says "Casino". The Clifton Motor Hotel had a restaurant and gift shop on the main floor adjacent to the lobby as well as a pool on the third floor at the back of the building in a room with a glass ceiling. The Hilltop Motel's office was where Beavertails now is, and the motel contained a snack bar (now burger king), and 2 gift shops. One was in the current location of the Crystal Caves attraction. A fun history tidbit: this basement gift shop was leased out, and apparently a brother of the motel owner conspired with the gift shop operator in the mid 60s to run a bookie racket, but a Toronto investigator seemingly found out the jig fairly fast. This brother would mysteriously disappear years down the road in the 80s, which may or not have been related to his criminal activity nearly 20 years before. The other gift shop was what's now the first floolobby of the House of Frankenstein. The building was only one story at this point, seen here. The second story wouldn't be added until 1969, in a business move by local businessman Robert Dunham that would forever change the face of Niagara Falls, the world of animatronics, and the amusement industry as a whole. We'll cover that later in part 3.
Meanwhile, riding high on the success of Ripley's, Welland Securities leased more land to private companies for more attractions to be built starting in 1965. The first was a motel built between Quality Inn and the hill, the Cliffside. The Cliffside resided roughly where the employee parking space is now between Dinosaur Adventure Golf and the large cliff down to Victoria Park. It's driveway in off the hill was where the Great Canadian Midway now resides, as can be seen here. At the end of the motel farthest from the hill, it was adjacent to one of the wings of the Quality Inn. This often created confusion as to things like which lobby was who's, if guests from one were allowed to use the other's pool, etc. This confusion would end much later in 1989 when Welland Securities stopped leasing the land out and amalgamated the Cliffside into being part of the Quality Inn. Just down the hill from the driveway into the Cliffside was a small snack bar on land leased from Welland Securities by the same people as the Cliffside, with a miniature golf course on the roof.
Further up the hill, the last remaining gate house from the Zimmerman estate that was being used as a snack bar was torn down in 1965 to make way for a new attraction. Malcolm Howe leased the land from Welland Securities and would take 2 years to build a pivotal attraction: Movieland Wax Museum. Opened in 1966 in the building now occupied by Wizard's Golf and the Upper Canada Trading Co., the museum was on the main floor with a gift shop called Niagara Marketplace in the basement. All of the figures were sculpted by legendary halloween mask creator, artist Don Post at his Don Post Studios in Florida. Chances are, if you know anything about trick or treating from 1950 to the early 90s, you're familiar with a celluloid plastic mask created by Don Post. However, Post's artistic abilities went far beyond disposable plastic monsters. His team at the Florida factory, headed by sculptor Pat Newman, created 60 wax figures for the museum. The lobby was Egyptian themed, with two torches on either side of the door in to the white building and simulated Egyptian sandstone walls in the lobby. Beside the ticket booth in the lobby, just beside the entrance was Elizabeth Taylor dressed as Cleopatra from the 1963 film of the same name, with a cameraman and director filming her. The museum itself contained many stars such as Marilyn Monroe, Bing Crosby, Lucille Ball and Laurel and Hardy. The most impressive figure however was a 12 and half foot tall King Kong figure, the largest wax figure ever made at the time. The news article about his creation can be read here, however it incorrectly calls Movieland the "Hollywood Wax Museum". Noticeably absent from Movieland on opening day was a horror section. The notion of putting horror movie sections in wax museum hadn't caught on yet, with Tussaud's "Chamber of Horrors" being dedicated to torture methods and historical tyrants rather than film. This would later change and Movieland would receive a horror movie section as we'll cover in part 3.
To coincide with Movieland's opening, Howe also leased the land from Welland Securities just up the hill from the driveway into the Cliffside. On this land he constructed the 184 ft. tall Space Spiral Tower, built by Universal Design of Wildwood, New Jersey. The tower was half ride-half observation deck, with a large, circular, slowly spinning observation deck that rose up the tower that held 30 riders. This is exactly where the Fudge Factory now sits, as the store is circular because that was originally the loading area for the tower before it was demolished in 2006.
So by this point, the hill had gone from a budget, off the main strip camping and cabin area to a strip of motels and small attractions, with a large observation tower ride it's focal point. Motel strips like this could be found all throughout North America in the 60s, in tourist hot spots like Lake George, Gatlinburg and Myrtle Beach. But a single attraction was about to usher in a wave of arcades, haunted houses and testaments to the weird that would make Clifton Hill unlike anything else on earth... And it would all be thanks to a young artist, beloved city engineer, avid horror fan and technology wizard who was about to change everything. Stay tuned for part 3!

I like seeing all of these stories about 2000's underground poker. I wrote about my time in the 2000's running an underground poker ring in Charleston South Carolina.
Here is what was going on in South Carolina during that time. This was a real cat and mouse game with the police that turned into a poker game all on its own.
https://www.cardplayer.com/poker-news/4065-poker-players-fight-the-law-in-south-carolina
Chapter 1
https://imgur.com/gzs3uYJ
Every other morning as I iron my shirt for work I am reminded of the secret life that I had lived for nearly two years. See, an eight foot by four foot felt poker table with a four inch raised padded rail, automatic card shuffler, and chip drop-slot makes for a great ironing board. In a pinch it also serves many other, equally as important purposes. I name them off in my head as I flatten the collar of my favorite blue shirt; a large desk for history homework, a hard table for an impromptu interrogation, a soft platform for sweaty sex, and of course a poker table for making money. I put on my shirt, still hot from the iron and I roll up my sleeves as I walk down the stairs from the third story of my townhouse. The October air in Charleston is cool and feels good against the heat on the back of my neck. I slide into my shiny red BMW, nearly two years old now, but paid for. The smell of raw leather still lingers in the interior, and seems stronger on mornings like these. I instinctively push the button on the center console to lock the doors before I grab the gear shift and put the car into reverse. I don’t know why BMW doesn’t make them lock automatically. I pull out onto the highway and spin the tires, listening to the 330 horsepower wake up the car. I’m not in a hurry or anything, in fact I haven’t been in a hurry for quite some time. It’s just that it is sometimes important to make it look like you are in a rush, and sometimes it is just because it feels damn good to go fast.
“Folks don’t get wealthy by being in a hurry.” I remember lecturing to Kevin in one of the first months of our two year, million dollar endeavor. He was always in a hurry. I still stand by my saying, though I should have replaced “wealthy” with “anything they want.” Folks don’t get anything they want by being in a hurry. Oprah Winfrey did not get rich by rushing into having a talk show with a book club, and presidents don’t get into the White House by throwing their name on the ticket the minute the idea pops into their head. No. Oprah started by landing a co-anchor position on the local nightly news. And Ronald Reagan started as a B-list actor before becoming president of the Screen Actors Guild, Governor of California, and finally President of the United States. People don’t get married by flying to Vegas minutes after meeting each other, or after a one night stand. Well, maybe they do, but this is why it doesn’t work. They slow down and date for years, are engaged for another and then they get married, in a church, surrounded by their families and are then taken off in a horse drawn carriage to their honeymoon. That’s how you fucking do it.
It is an uneventful two hour drive on highway 17 going north. Myrtle Beach isn’t really busy this time of year, but the traffic is still just as bad. It’s a good thing that I am not in a hurry. I pull into my VIP spot with almost an hour to spare, the parking lot is empty except for a few cars spattered in the first two rows. An old minivan with curtains on the windows, a Ford Escort with a spare tire rusting on the rear axle, and an old Chevy truck with a child’s car seat in the passenger side, just to name a few. The owners of which are probably already claiming their lucky seats. Fucking suckers. They all probably rushed to get here too and onto the boat. I stay in my car for another 15 minutes and wait, listening to the ‘pumped’ playlist on my iPod, my car’s premium speakers matching perfectly to the acoustics of the interior space. I think just for a second about pulling out of my space and driving further up the coast to Atlantic City. I would probably be too exhausted from the drive by the time I got there and would sleep in the hotel until late at night. That is when the real whales come out. Here on the 11 am Myrtle Beach casino boat the closest thing to a whale is the 350 pound mother of five glued to a stool in front of the “Wheel of Fortune” slot machine. I don’t leave, instead I open my glove box and stuff six 100 dollar bills into my pants pocket, any more or any less would be unnecessary, at least on a Wednesday. I walk slowly up to the path and say hi to Dave as I pass up onto the ramp. I don’t need to show any ID to board.
“Good Morning, Ryan.” Dave says as he straightens his back and pulls the daily newspaper from his stand, handing it to me. They all know me by name; I know most of theirs too, but not them. Which is alright, that makes us even. I pass through the halls and by the sad looking, unlit slot machines. Some people have already claimed their seat with a jacket and their lucky bucket. I go up to the tallest portion of the ship, the poker room, and head out onto the deck. No one else is out here, probably due to the two flights of stairs and the fact that there is a free buffet on the floor below. I sit down in one of the cushioned white chairs and pull the first cigar of the day out of my shirt pocket. I light it with my silver Zippo that is etched with a royal flush and blow out the puff of smoke as I put my feet up on the metal rail. It’s going to be another half hour before we undock and another half hour after that while we float out into international waters. I know from experience that this cigar will last exactly one hour, paired with two Grey Goose and Red Bulls it is truly the breakfast of champions. At this time most people in the eastern half of the United States are sipping on their second cup of coffee while sitting on their uncomfortable office chairs in their grey or brown cubicles. I think about this just as land disappears from sight over my polished black Italian shoes. That could be me, making 40k a year in an unhappy office; only looking forward to the weekends for freedom. My college degree is somewhere in a box already. I graduated in May, majoring in business management with a 4.0 GPA. My parents were thrilled; their little boy had accomplished something great. They didn’t know. Their little boy hadn’t been a little boy in a long time, and he had already accomplished something so great that he couldn’t even tell them. Fuck a degree, fuck a 4.0. The only reason I had even stayed in school for my last year was because I had nothing better to do, not because I wanted a fucking job. My parents think that I have submitted my application to nearly every business in Charleston. “Sorry mom, this economy just isn’t a good one for a freshly graduated 23 year old. They want someone with more experience.” I’m not sure how true this is, because I haven’t even made my resume, let alone actually gave it to a company. I was too scared of getting hired. So I don’t travel back to Ohio to visit them that often. I couldn’t lie to my mother right to her face. I could lie to nine strangers around a piece of felt, and they would believe me, but to my mom, no. I sometimes think that if she knew the basics of poker, she could beat me.
My coworkers are all already around the table when the signal is called for the first hand to be dealt. I take the last good drag off of my cigar and tossed it over the two decks below into the water and grab my Vodka Red Bull and headed inside. The scene has changed dramatically from an hour ago. I slowly walk to the open chair on the right end of the table in seat three and pull 400 dollars out as I sit down. I surveyed the table while walking up. Most people have 200 dollars; one guy has about 350 dollars with his wallet next to his stack on the table. Sometimes it’s good to be the last to sit. I know exactly how much to put down to top everyone yet not be too robust and scare everyone off when I am in a hand. Mr. Wallet is not afraid to lose every bit of that 350, and I have to have that covered. The locals know me – and my play. They know exactly what I am doing – they think they know exactly what I am doing, I’m not worried about them. The good thing about casinos is the vacationers; rotating money. None of them know me or how I play, but I know all of them and exactly how they play. Well, at least the 90 percent of them that play the same damn way. This is especially true of the ones with dark sunglasses, or earphones, or their lucky card covers. They watch too much T.V. The dealer knows me by name and after taking my frequent player card he slides over my stacks of chips. Mostly white-one dollar and red-five dollar chips, but a few are green-twenty five dollar chips. “There you go, Ryan. Good luck” He says, tapping the top of the largest stack. Luck? I don’t know what it is about tapping and poker. I look around the table and catch a glimpse of a sunglassed teenager tapping the rail with a green chip, a fat man with an iPod tapping his knee along with the beat of his music and then the dealer tapping my white chips. And of course the tapping that every player does when they say “check”. I swear if I could block everything else out but the tapping it would sound like some sort of long lonely song. I grabbed my chips and pulled them close to the rail. The sound of chips clanking together is a sound that every poker player knows. It is especially prevalent during the first ten minutes of any game. Most people have been waiting, impatiently, to get those chips, and now they want to feel them in their hands. They want to show off their talent of chip-shuffling, and chip-bouncing, or other hand tricks. I have seen them all. Chip tricks are cheap tricks, who do these fuckers think they are? I can’t resist. I take a stack of three red chips and three white chips and put them side by side. I shuffle them once with perfect form, and then I cut the stack of six into two stacks of three again and shuffle once more. I again put them in two stacks of three and shuffle one last time. When I split them again they are in two perfect stacks of three reds and three whites. I amuse myself by doing this a few more times. No one is watching. They are all busy doing the exact same thing; killing the two minutes while the dealer shuffles the brand new deck of cards. Before I know it I have two cards in front of me and I take a quick peak. 4d9c. Rags, I have a 32 percent chance of catching a pair, and that wouldn’t even help. I probably have less than a 5 percent chance of winning this hand.. “Fold.” I say, tossing my cards into the middle of the table as I slump back into my chair. I’m in no rush.