November 13, 2009

Before getting involved in poker more seriously in the past 10 years, Poker Night for me was generally a night of low-limit Dealer’s Choice games. It started with nickels and dimes and quarters, and the odd Loonie mixed in. Later on, we wanted a more authentic feel, and we worked in a felt cover for the dining room table, and plastic poker chips. The beauty of a night of Dealer’s Choice is that we could draw upon dozens of different games to choose from, or just make one up on the fly. Five Card Draw, Seven Card Stud, Anaconda, Fiery Cross, 7/27, Follow The Queen, Mexican Seven-”Roll Your Own”, and so many more.

We had so many variations that we would re-name the game for the person who “created” the parameters. If someone called “Yeske 7” (named after the player, Sean Yeske, who always called it), we all knew that it was a standard game of Seven Card Stud with 5’s and 10’s wild, but if either of them came face-up, you owed a quarter for the first one, 50 cents for the second one, and doubling going up. It was great having a regular group that knew all the games, and we had always had a great night without ever having to explain the games. If someone new joined the group, you spent some time explaining the games, and they would generally pick it up pretty fast.

The most frustrating thing about these poker nights, though, is that there was always at least one or two players who would not think ahead to what game they wanted to play. When it was my deal, and my turn to pick the game, I would always know a few hands ahead what I was going to call, as most people did. But there would always be someone in your group who would take the cards, gather them up, and start methodically shuffling, and say, “Hmmm…let me see. What do I want to play?”

Seriously? You’ve had 20 minutes since your last deal, and you haven’t even considered what you’re going to call until now? And not only are you going to slow the game down, but you’re going to have a conversation with yourself…that you DON”T KNOW THE ANSWER TO…while you’re doing it? It used to (and still does) drive me nuts. So, sure enough, whoever is “thinking” takes forever, and then finally comes up with a game, starts to deal…then stops and says, “Wait! I have a better idea!”, and gathers the cards again and switches up the game again.

I was reminded of this indecisive-ness this morning on my daily stop at Tim Hortons on the way in to work. The guy in front of me had ordered a dozen muffins and was deciding which ones he wanted. The woman behind the counter was standing there waiting for him to tell her, and for every choice, he would actually put his finger on his mouth like he was deep in thought (see picture below), before saying, “Ummmmmm….” And then he would tell her his choice.
And he did this for all 12 muffins.

“Ummmm…Blueberry.”
“Ummmm…Chocolate Chip.”
“Ummmm…Cranberry.”
“Ummmm…2 Fruit Explosion.”

And so on…

But here’s the kicker…there were only 8 different kinds of muffins! And he eventually picked all 8! So he spent all this time contemplating…deliberating…legitimately struggling with his choices at times…and then picked one of everything. And had to go back and re-select flavours after he had picked one of everything and 2 of a couple, and then she told him there were still 2 more to choose. “Ummm…ok…then…one more blueberry…” he said, “And…ummm…oh…hmmmm…I guess…just throw another chocolate chip in there.”

Just as with the poker situation above, did this guy not consider his order before he came in the store? Was he in his car, knowing he would order “something”, but not knowing what…and then it evolved into a DOZEN muffins? Unlikely. He knew he was getting a dozen muffins, and when waiting in line, he didn’t consider what he wanted? It seems so absurd to me.

It didn’t hold me up, there was another till open and the lineup kept moving very well, so it’s not like I’m ranting because I was late due to this guy. It’s just so confusing to me that people will waste their own time without any forethought.

He’s never going to be invited to Dealer’s Choice night at my place.