My company Xmas party was last night.

I went with my friend Gary, but our wives had to stay home with the kids. The company provided daycare, but only for kids over the age of 1 year(or was it 2?). Violet had a book club meeting anyway and a book gift exchange, but she's bummed she missed it. Me too, since she can gamble better than I can... but more on gambling later...

Enter the main ballroom of the Marriott Hotel, several things were clear:

• EA is a big-ass corporate company
• I was under dressed

I should have wore a suit and the Tigger Xmas hat.. but instead I wore business casual (khaki's and a polo shirt). And a ball cap. Ah well.

It was a bit better than the company Xmas party I experienced at Raven (Owned by Activision).
There was probably about 200 or 250 people at the EA Mythic party, overall.

In the middle of the room was a refreshment table of fancy drinks and appetizers, and an EA Mythic ice sculpture. I dared Gary to lick it, but he's a coward and didn't do it. The main course was a buffet of fancy French foods that I didn't like, couldn't pronounce, and don't really remember. I skipped most of it and just had some turkey, which was good. Desert was fancy chocolate mousse with cream. Half way through I bite into something nasty, and later discover there were a few blueberries at the bottom. WHY THE FRICK do people hide fruit in desserts?

There was an open bar, but all I had was Diet Pepsi. There was a dance floor, but I didn't get on it. There were 2 Rock Band units, each with a projector and a huge screen. Although I can achieve around a 90% on drums on easy, these people were playing on a hard difficulty level that I would have quickly failed. So I passed on that too.

My main salvation was the fact that it was also a casino night. We each got a voucher good for 300 credits. At the end of the evening the top 10 winners would get various prizes like Xbox 360s, Wiis, Rock Band, stuff like that. Losers were given an entry into a raffle. I started off light with some blackjack and was doing OK, but the pace was slow and I wasn't earning very much very quickly. Some people had already won over a thousand credits.

So I decided that the big money was in roulette. I was wrong. I did OK at first, but then lost it all as quickly as I had won it. I had lasted about an hour or so though, so I was content.

I found a 5-credit chip on the floor. My big comeback lasted 3 seconds. I put it on Roulette 9 and didn't win. I don't think roulette is my game...

Later on I was watching some friends play and Chris' wife had a voucher and didn't care to gamble, so she gave her voucher to Chris. Since Chris was doing OK, he gave it to me. So I went and hit the poker tables. It was Texas Hold 'em, of course.

I stayed at the table and was holding my own for quite a while, but then I was whittled down to a mere 100 credits. So on a whim (and a Queen + King on the deal), I went all in. Howard decided that he could easily grab my chips, so he called. Several other people decided to go all in as well, since they had less than 100 credits left anyway. So we all turned up our cards. Someone else who had went all in with her 20 credits matched me with her own King and Queen. Howard had hockey sticks (pocket 7's, that is.. a pair of seven's), and so was the favorite going in. The flop (3 cards) went face up, and they were all nothing but suck. Not good for our hero. Then came the turn.. another nuthin... It appeared the pair of 7's would win it. But then the river came and went, and I ended up winning with a pair of Queens. I got most of the pot, the other person who matched my cards got some, but not all, and the remaining people got a little bit too. You see, when someone bets more than you have, the pot splits. Our pot was split into 3 piles. Confusing, I know, but the dealer did a good job of figuring it all out (Unlike my blackjack dealer who had trouble with adding cards on numerous deals). Now I was top chip count at the table, but the table was thinning. Soon a 5-minute warning came and with only 1 more person at the table, and her chip count fairly low, I went to go bet my 550 or so credits on roulette.

With only 1 spin remaining, I tried to put all my money on 9, since that's my lucky number, but the operator wouldn't let me for some reason.. she said I needed to split my chips. Since I had five 100 credit chips, I put one chip on 15 (Drake's birthday), one on 7 (Violet's Birthday), one on 16 (My birthday), and one on 9 (my lucky number). I put the remaining 100 chip on the MC, which is the column of numbers in the middle (it pays 3-1). I then put my last few chips on 0 and 00, just because no one else had.

The spin....

The Result....

Red 32 or some such nonsense. Total BS. Roulette sucks. I lost everything except my middle bet, so I ended up at the end of the night with 300 credits, the same I had started with. Bah. Roulette definitely isn't my game.

Overall I had fun, but I didn't socialize and make new acquaintances like I would have preferred. I don't know who the top 10 winners were, but it certainly wasn't me. I didn't win the loser's raffle either.

I may not have won any prizes, but I did win a good night out. Thanks, Violet, for watching baby Drake that whole time!