Pai Gow Poker Dream

I will begin by saying that I am noted for my strange and frequent dreams.  I wake up with a really good memory of them and often share them, whether people want to hear them or not.  Last night I dreamt about walking into a casino to find that there was not a poker game going on, but a table just loaded with chips in front of every player, arranged in artistic fashion (tall, colorful arrangements).  They were playing "Poker Pai Gow" according to the dealer, unexpectedly, my cousin, Linda from Missouri.  There was a "seat open" so I sat down, bought in for about 5% as many chips as anyone at the table had and was dealt a large number of cards, at least 6, but seem to think it was much more.  My goal was to make the best 4 card hand, and another 2 card hand.  Did I forget to mention that there were jokers in the deck?  I had two, and was confused as to whether they could only be used to make straights or flushes.  Tried to get some help and finally put together a flush and a pair of 10's, which naturally lost to quads and a bigger pair.  Hmmmm.

On to another subject:  American Legion night.  I stepped up and offered to deal when asked, but wanted table 1 (final table), which was no problem.  This meant a long night for me if only dealing not playing, but also pretty much assured that I would break even on my buy-in.  As luck would have it, I ended up playing on the final table, but not for long, being the 10th place finisher.  Found myself in desperate stack position with 3300 and 600/1200 blinds.  I pushed with my new almost favorite hand, A/10 (offsuit), and was called in two spots, one player the chip leader and the other with exactly as many chips.  The leader had JJ, the other player AQ suited.  Oh great, dominated and an overpair, what could possibly go wrong?  The flop had an ace on it, so that took care of the big stack, but left me searching for a 10.  Nope, there was a queen on the turn putting 4 diamonds on the board.  Did I have the 10 of diamonds, nope.  Gone unless the river is another diamond for a 3 way chop.  Nope.

Anyway, recovered my buy in with a $45 tip, with the other dealers receiving $27 and $17 so not all was lost.  On a side note, dealt pocket aces 5 times, once to myself and twice to the eventual 2nd place finisher.  When he was heads up the other player jokingly asked if he "wanted to chop", with the leader having about 80% of chips in play.  He refused.  4 hands later he was eliminated on 4 pushes that all held up.