The Ace of Spades

Well, this past weekend was Loud Park weekend. Originally I was planning on going because there were some bands I would have liked to see. The bands I mostly wanted to see were Edguy, Motorhead, Chthonic, Accept, and Ozzy. I also wouldnt mind seeing Ratt, Halford, and Angra as a bonus. However, after giving it much thought, I decided not to go this year. Its 25,000 yen for the 2 days and I honestly am kinda broke right now. I have enough to get by and stuff but I couldnt really afford to drop that much money on Loud Park this year, and basically out of the bands I really wanted to see, Edguy, Chthonic, and Accept would be playing sorta small sets. Also, I would totally miss Ozzy cuz hes last on Sunday and I would need before then to get home. The other major headliner for Saturday is Korn and I dont really like them so it didnt seem worth the price IMO. Ill just wait for another good band I really like to play their own headlining show and drop the 7000 yen or whatever and it will be better worth my money. I still had plans to go to the Loud Park after party at Current though.

So Friday night, since I was trying to save money and there wasnt anything in particular going on, I just stayed home and drank cheap beer.

On Saturday I headed to Tokyo and got out there at around 5 pm. Emmet was already out there and wanted to go to an international party. I had nothing else to do in particular and if I drank enough (since its all you can drink... and eat) it would justify the cost. I told him I would meet him at Mikado and then we would head out to the party at around 6. He called me up later saying he was with that crazy Roppongi girl from before now and that he changed plans and suggested we just go to the Mexican place, Sol Amingo, that has the 1575 yen nomihodai for 2 hours. I was down for this.

So I stayed at Mikado and played for about an hour or so. It wasnt really packed but there were enough people there to get games in and it was also still sorta early. I started off fighting some pretty good Eddie. Inoue, Ain, and Nage were there watching me play. I lost to the Eddie. Then I rematched him and beat him twice. Then I lost again. Then Ain got on to fight him so I went to another cab. From here, I ended up getting a 17 win streak and then just left at around 6-ish cuz thats around when I told Emmet I would meet up with him by Shinjuku station. I actually really enjoyed just that little hour or so session of GG and wish there were more tournaments going on right now.

So I found him and Roppongi girl at the station and we went to Sol Amingo. We totally got our money's worth and kept them busy getting us drinks. I think I had a little more than everyone else cuz I was drinking my regular drinks a bit faster. So we all did like 5 double shots of good tequila and then on top of that I think I had like 2 tequila cokes and 2 beers and this was within 2 hours. Emmet and the girl had the same but maybe 2 less drinks than me. I also ordered a burrito and when I got it, I looked inside and aside from like a small chunk of meat it was literally a fucking empty tortilla! WTF?! I wasnt sure if they made a mistake so I called the waitress over and asked what was up. Then some guy came who I think was the manager and told me thats how they make it here. I dunno about you... but where I come from, a good burrito AT LEAST has lettuce, tomato, onion, beans, and meat... and it SHOULD have cheese and sour cream and some salsa or cilantro. It was probably the shittiest looking burrito I ever ordered at a restaurant anywhere in my life. period. I didnt even taste it but luckily the guy was nice and said I could just order something else and he wouldnt charge me extra, so I just got 2 soft tacos like last time I went which were fine.

Anyway, otherwise it was pretty good there, but Roppingi girl was getting too drunk and emotional about stuff and it was kinda a hassle but whatever.

After we left there, we walked near a combini and sat down to have a few more pre game beers before going in to Current since it was still early. Around this time, Andy met up with us cuz he had just came from a nearby festival anyway. He hung out a bit but decided to go back home. At some point, I guess drinking all that stuff in such a short time got to me and I fell asleep sitting down when we were drinking. I dont think I was out for that long, maybe 15 minutes. Eventually Emmet woke me. There was now some other random dude with us. Appearently he was just some guy walking down the street and wanted to drink with us so Emmet invited him along lol. We then headed to Current.

When we got inside it was already fairly packed for being early. I said hi to Michi and Nozomi and they asked wtf was all over my arms and shit. I looked down and didnt even notice that Emmet and Roppongi girl drew a bunch of crap all over my arms with her black eye liner. They also taped a piece of paper to my hat and wrote some crap on it. I quickly went to the bathroom and washed it off real fast and came back acting like nothing ever happened lol. From then on I was fine for the rest of the night and didnt feel sleepy at all either while at Current. As the night went on, it got super packed but as far as I know or remember, unlike other years, no famous musicians showed up this time which was kind of a bummer. There could have been some but none I recognized. I was pretty drunk anyway so maybe I dont remember.

After Current closed, I went to PSY and that random dude from earlier went with me. Emmet and Roppongi girl were already gone by now. I dont remember anything at PSY, but Im pretty sure I fell asleep for a bit. After they closed, I left, grabbed some McDonalds real fast and went to sleep at the manga kissa.

I woke up on Sunday afternoon and esophagus hurt pretty bad. I could tell it was from the McDonalds cuz I was fun until then. I gotta resist those early morning munchies.

Today, the plan was to play poker! Emmet knows this guy named Grant from back in New Zealand who has been living in Japan for 16 years. He lives in Maebashi (the capital of Gunma), Last month they organized a poker game but I was too hungover and didnt go. This time I was only slightly hungover so I was all for it!

I met up with Emmet and we headed back to Maebashi on the train. When we got to the station, Grant met us there and we took a cab to the bar. It was a small old-school style bar called Propeller. It was pretty cool and had really nice lighting and stuff. Very yellow tinted to make it look more old-school.

The owner of the bar is also a player in the poker games so it was totally cool that we played there. No one knows his name so they all just call him "masta" since hes the master of the establishment. Hes like an older guy in his 50s. Andy also came to play poker. We used to play poker together back home in Chicago with lots of our other friends (many of whom were fellow fighting game players). In addition to Andy, there were these 2 Italian guys and their Japanese girlfriends but only the 2 Italian guys played. So with that we had a 7 man table which is pretty good.

We played a cash game with chips which worked out well since not everyone showed up at the same time. Im used to playing tournament style but this worked out fine. We started at about 5 and played till about 10:30. For almost the ENTIRE game I was straight up dominating. Im far from a pro hold'em player. I know what I am doing and consider myself decent at best but aside from Grant, Emmet, and Andy, everyone else at the table were pretty much beginners. I was also getting ALOT of good hands. I cashed in with 3,000 yen and at one point I probably had around 14,000 yen or something in my chip stack.

That was... until one hand...

So basically I get dealt Q spades and 9 of spades. Emmet has position to act before me so Emmet bets pre flop about triple the big blind (blinds were 25, 50... so 150 yen). Having a decent hand and being big stack I figured why not. A few other people were in as well. I forgot exactly what the flop was but basically I think there were 2 spades and something else. I was a card away from a flush. Emmet bets a sorta high amount but it was nothing too crazy. Something like 300 yen. I matched it. Then the turn comes up and its another spade. I now had a flash. This time Emmet bets like 500 or something. I raised him to 1000 and he re raised me to like 1500 and I accpet. Emmet had been bluffing his ass off for like the last couple hands so I figured he was doing it again. I had the 3rd best flush in the game so I was fairly confident. Last card comes up, I forgot what it was but it didnt matter. Emmet bets again like some sorta high amount, then I raised him again for like 4000. He accepts and wants to go all in. I instantly accepted. I flip my cards to show my Queen high flush. Then... Emmet flips his to reveal his King AND Ace of spades! WTF!!?! Oh... man... I was so upset with that outcome. I know I didnt have the nuts and I probably shouldnt have gone all in. I just cant believe he had BOTH the Ace and King. Not that it matters but it just adds insult to injury.

In any case, after that hand, I was still up 800 yen. We finished up soon after that and I still came out with more than I started with but I could have had WAY more if it wasnt for one bad mistake.

We will play again on Sunday, November 7th. Either way, it was fun. All the people there were cool, Masta gave us some free whiskey and it was overall a good time. This was the first time I played poker in like a year or something so if felt good. (Since moving to Japan the only time I ever play is maybe one game while I am visiting Chicago for holidays and stuff).

After it was over, I headed home and thats about it.

Next weekend there is PSY/GODZ escape from the bar on the same day as the next Final Roundbat. I am thinking I will probably go to Final Roundbat cuz I havnt played in any tournaments in a while and I had a lot of fun last time. It will also end up being the cheaper option.

Anyway... fun weekend, despite my bad poker decision. What would you have done?