The Dugout (8 Viewers)

The new poker room art has been hung…

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Background…

I’ve been a major Jimmy Buffett fan since I was 12. I talked my parents into taking me to see his concert in ‘96, and I’ve seen him every year since.

When he died, I decided to go on a last minute Key West trip to visit his old haunts.

I stumbled upon a music and movie memorabilia shop on Duval Street and found a signed Jimmy Buffett lyrics page. Immediately bought it.

While the manager was doing the paperwork, while browsing in the store, I found The Godfather collage.

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Next event is set. 11/4. Some of my regulars are big horse racing fans, so opening up The Dugout early and watching the Breeder's Cup all day, then poker at night.

Planning on doing a huge Italian spread from a place I only usually cater from for Christmas. It's a little further of a drive so I'll have them deliver the spread that day.
 
So - if anyone is looking into changing their events up...

I usually have a drink of the night made. For the majority of the poker only evenings, my players usually drink bourbon, beer, or some of my barrel aged cocktails (Maple Old-Fashioned, Coffee Old-Fashioned, and Tiki Time Old Fashioned - Rum based with Falernum and Chinese 5-spice). If I open up the night to family and friends who don't normally play cards, I usually create 3 cocktails with a holiday theme (summer, Halloween, Christmas, St. Patrick's Day, etc.) that I make in batch.

As a nod to Jimmy Buffett, I decided to batch make a Key West umbrella drink that is a signature cocktail of a hole-in-the-wall bar at Disney's Old Key West Resort.

Absolutely SPECTACULAR!!!!!

For anyone who has frequented this resort, you may know it.

Cocktail - Turtle Krawl
-1oz Bacardi (Or whatever light rum)
-0.5oz Dark Rum (I am partial to Plantation, but Sailor Jerry or other dark rum will do)
-0.5oz Malibu (Or any coconut rum)
-2oz Orange Juice, 2oz Pineapple Juice
-1/4oz Key Lime Juice, 1/4oz Grenadine
Make in glass, stir, and add ice.

The absolute key ingredient in this is the Key Lime Juice. I have made it before with the bottled stuff in the grocery store - total crap.

This batch was made with Kermit's Key Lime Juice, the real deal famous place in Key West. It was a game changer.

I was shocked that a bunch of my regulars not only drank 1 pitcher, but I had to make another.
 
So - if anyone is looking into changing their events up...

I usually have a drink of the night made. For the majority of the poker only evenings, my players usually drink bourbon, beer, or some of my barrel aged cocktails (Maple Old-Fashioned, Coffee Old-Fashioned, and Tiki Time Old Fashioned - Rum based with Falernum and Chinese 5-spice). If I open up the night to family and friends who don't normally play cards, I usually create 3 cocktails with a holiday theme (summer, Halloween, Christmas, St. Patrick's Day, etc.) that I make in batch.

As a nod to Jimmy Buffett, I decided to batch make a Key West umbrella drink that is a signature cocktail of a hole-in-the-wall bar at Disney's Old Key West Resort.

Absolutely SPECTACULAR!!!!!

For anyone who has frequented this resort, you may know it.

Cocktail - Turtle Krawl
-1oz Bacardi (Or whatever light rum)
-0.5oz Dark Rum (I am partial to Plantation, but Sailor Jerry or other dark rum will do)
-0.5oz Malibu (Or any coconut rum)
-2oz Orange Juice, 2oz Pineapple Juice
-1/4oz Key Lime Juice, 1/4oz Grenadine

The absolute key ingredient in this is the Key Lime Juice. I have made it before with the bottled stuff in the grocery store - total crap.

This batch was made with Kermit's Key Lime Juice, the real deal famous place in Key West. It was a game changer.

I was shocked that a bunch of my regulars not only drank 1 pitcher, but I had to make another.
This was a real popular drink on a dinner cruse ship that I worked on in college. They’re great!
 
Next event is set. 11/4. Some of my regulars are big horse racing fans, so opening up The Dugout early and watching the Breeder's Cup all day, then poker at night.

Planning on doing a huge Italian spread from a place I only usually cater from for Christmas. It's a little further of a drive so I'll have them deliver the spread that day.

I am going to have to invite myself to your game sometime and make the 4 or 5 hour drive. Horse racing, Jimmy Buffet, custom chips, good food and a sweet set up. You have hit all my favorites.
 
I was expecting about 8 players tonight.

Nope. 16.

2 full tables. 1 circus games. 1 NL Hold’em.

Both tables went until 1 in the morning, then combined to 8 NL hold’em. That table went until 3:30am (2:30am with time change)

Huge pots, including the first hand at the combined table with over $700 and an all in.

Learned a new circus game tonight 3-5-7. Frickin blast.
 
So I ended up buying a shuffle tech.

Since the shuffle tech cabinet is discontinued and it will be months before the redesign is released, I decided to go to Ikea and buy one and do it myself.

Absolute pain in the ass.

For anyone who has worked with a shuffle tech flush mount or cutting Ikea wood, you have to cut the short sides of the flush mount st a 45 degree angle. Torture.

Promptly ruined the first cabinet top with the wrong cut, and had to go back to Ikea to pick up another. Second time, got it right.
 
I added a couple things to the cabinet today.

I put a bumper around the entire back cabinet edge and top corners, along with cutting the hole in the back better, and putting a wall plate on the hole to look better for the cord.

Forgot to get picks, I'll do that tomorrow.
 
The cabinet is cheap, but also too big. It's 23" deep, which to me, is 6" too much, so I have a message into @alecnetwoodworks to get a ballpark estimate on a custom one that matches my poker chip cabinets, and is 17" deep x 14" wide.

Another plan of mine is to better sound insulate the inside to decrease the noise of the shuffler. I'll probably use some foam and pillows on the top shelf to decreased the noise level.
 
After some consideration, I'm having @alecnetwoodworks build me a custom cabinet for the shuffler.

The advantages of the custom build is 1) Smaller profile 2) Better sound proofing 3) will match my existing chip cabinets.
 
And because buying drum sets is like chip buying, you never can have enough, though on a much larger scale, I bought another DW set 3 months ago. Jazz Series ( considered the most versatile of all DW Collector‘s Series wood types). ETA was 6 months from the order.

Well, I received the email that it was complete last week, and will be arriving sometime next week.

For anyone who wants to know the wood types of drums and the intricacies, the original jazz series wood type was developed by Gretsch back in the 40’s and 50’s. For any music people here, Gretsch may be the most widely played brand amongst professional drummers in the world. To name a few who play Gretsch - Charlie Watts (Rolling Stones), Chris Fryar (Zac Brown Band), Phil Collins, Taylor Hawkins (Foo Fighters), Nic Collins, etc.

The wood shell formula of Gretsch is a Maple and Gumwood ply shell. Again, this formula dates back to the 40’s and 50’s. It is extremely versatile, so other companies have copied. Pearl and DW to name a few. It is such a versatile wood type that a lot of rock drummers play this shell, including Todd Sucherman ( Styx Drummer - Pearl Maple/Gumwood) and Roger Guth (Jimmy Buffett - DW Jazz Series).

Long story short - The DW Jazz Series wood shell type is a Maple/Gumwood, pretty much the same as the Gretsch shell. I was torn between a Gretsch USA Custom (maple/gumwood) or a DW Jazz Series (Maple/Gumwood). I went with the DW. Slightly cheaper and better build quality.

This set is a smaller configuration for, hopefully, future gigs.

Pics to follow when it arrives.

Sorry for getting into the weeds on drums.
 

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