"No Poker!"

Got out of bed at 8:15, got to work at 9:30 as Stephanie requested, and reviewed the two page memorandum for her she asked me to come in early for.

At 12:30 we had a 2 hour merger & acquisition presentation, with lunch provided.

In the afternoon I wrote a letter on Ian's behalf and researched for the two memorandums I'm writing. I left work at 6 and got the bus at 6:20.

This morning I sent out a mass text to various people around Beijing, inviting them all to dinner. Several were available, and we agreed to meet at 6:45-- which would usually be a decent time if I had indeed gotten out of work at 6, like I did. But the bus was caught in the most horrific traffic, and I didn't arrive near the hostel until 7. So I got off at the Worker's Stadium stop instead of the Worker's Gymnasium and went straight to Kro's Nest (instead of changing first) for free beer night.

Lixuan, Veronica, Milton, Alex, Cole and a few others were there. I got two free beers before they ran out (only the first keg is free). Actually, I got one, but when they ran out I hid mine and Lixuan told them I had been promised a free beer and never got it, so I got a second one for free.

Last week (or was it two weeks ago? How time flies!) when Cole and Maya and I were at Kro's Nest, we tried to play a friendly game of cards. But we were yelled at; "No poker!" Everywhere we attempted to play a simple card game the response was the same; "No poker!" But we were never even playing poker! Gambling in China is incredibly illegal, yes, but paranoia is a little much when you can't differentiate between friends having a good time and friends passing money back and forth.

Anyway, the irony is that after dinner, when Cole and I got back to the hostel, we got small change for 100 yuan and bought into a heads-up poker game for 50 yuan each, cash game, and the entire two hours we played, no one came up to us and yelled "No poker!"

Jonas bought in while we were still in the early stages of our game. Being a cash game, anyone could join at any time and cash out at any time. Jonas lost fairly quickly, and didn't feel the need to buy back in. Then a new person came by, Patrick, who is from the US but has been moving around for years. He bought in twice, and Cole and I knocked him out twice, for a total loss of 100 yuan. To be honest, he started to really annoy me while we were talking -- it's rare for me to judge someone harshly like that after just meeting them, but he was way too forward and unrelenting and closed-minded for my tastes. His overall excruciatingness very quickly became, well, excruciating.

After about 2 hours Cole cashed out with 57 yuan or so, slightly up, and I had just shy of 200 -- I quadrupled my money. It was a good game, and damn does it feel good to nix the chips and play for hard cash. And there was no "No poker!"

After the game, I had a beer or two with a bunch of people sitting outside the hostel for the last few hours of my night. I met Tom, from England, and two identical twins from England (one named Eden, I forget his brother's name), who were chill, and Chris, from Connecticut, who is in China for Shaolin Martial Arts training. Alex was with us for a while, and Jeeyoung, and Patrick (who went downhill in my book even more as he got drunk and belligerant).

At 12:30 I went upstairs to sleep. Instead I packed a bit, and at 2 I went to bed.