Poker Braggin'

(Recycled stories from when blogs did not exist. THAT tells you how long is has been since I've won in poker, and how my luck truly is.)

I have a friend that has an all night poker game at his house, in his garage twice a month. It is a friendly game, which might translate into only losing pride instead of pride and money. I am not sure, because out of the five or six sessions that I have participated in, I have not come away a "winner" per se. Not that I do not have a great time. It is more like a meeting of The Knights of the Bullshiting Table, which, wherever a table like that exists, always has my name on it. Actually, "friendly" game means the pot limit is five dollars. Even so, I once had to hand someone $8.50 in chips. This is the pride vs. pride and money thing. The amount is not that significant, but the competitor that spend some time amassing that fine stack of .50 chips had just been gutting. Not only was I gutted in the hand, I was gutted for the game. At that point, we only had about 90 min. left to play. Time only for partial damage control at best. Oh, and let me tell you, getting spanked like that ... your next three hands are a haze, because you're still duct taping the wounds from the hand that made you feel you brought a knife to a gun fight.

Personally, I take my ten dollars in chips, and make them last around six hours. Granted, before I leave the house, I have to make sure I have my original ten for chips, and an extra ten in "I can't believe it's only been 90 minutes" money. In addition, I leave the table with six to eight dollars of my original ten, even when I have had to take back extra money I've put in. That basically means that when one of those bastards takes a wrecking ball to my winnings, I can tighten up and do some recouping. (see above)

For the majority of my games, I have noticed a winnings pattern. I lose and lose and lose for the first 90 minutes. Then, I come back. Not big, but steady. Then, the wrecking ball comes late in the night. (And no, I will not do a study on amount of beer vs. amount of winnings. Some secrets of the universe are best left ... blurry.)
We always play on Saturday nights, unless it cannot be helped. I, myself have never attended a Friday night game. Thankfully, my schedule has prevented this. I wake up at 4:30 AM, and going until 2 AM the next day is just tugging too hard on both ends of the day. Still, cards wait for no man, and everyone could make it on Friday. Also, if you want a regular poker game, you honor the host by attending reliably. It would not be right to ask him to organize games, only to have to save his night only to cancel again and again.

I tried to nap that day, but it wasn't happening. Probably because I kept thinking about how tired I would be if I did not get a good nap in. I did not want to do coffee, because I did not want to rush my game, either. Guess I'll have to have the caffeinated beer.

I did not really pay attention to what I had with me, because it had somebody else's name on it. The only thing I really do for myself is make sure my second ten comes in five's, so I can let go of my money in smaller pieces. I did get a glance, and I think I had $24 in my pocket.

I started the game off strong. I lost the first two hands with really good cards, and won the third with great cards, getting my money back plus extra. There was no 90 minute dip this time. My middle game was better, just because I made a small improvement on when to move with medium cards. I was being handed bills, along with chips. (and snacks... mmm snaaacksss... And beer. mmmm beeerrr...)

Well, the wrecking ball awaits no man. In just a few hands, the fat wad of ones and fives in my pocket was gouged clean through, as well as a good portion of my chips. Without going into game detail, we have games with a "guts" rule, meaning that if everybody bails out, and you are caught with the best of the crappy hands, you match the pot. (Should be changed to "Mike's Guts Across The Table.") Five of those hands in a row got me.

There were no more big wins for me that night. I held steady, took some small pots, and in the name of self-entertainment, challenged someone so they could not go out. (When you go out, you get the pot, blah blah blah.)

End of the night, we are cleaning up. For the last hour, I was proped up by my elbows, and people kept having to ask me to continue. We ask each other how the other person did. I did a quick flip of my money, and saw only ones. I was handed $11 at the end of the game, so I assumed that I made a buck. So many bills came and *sniff* went that I did not even want to look. (There is a moment between eleven and midnight every game when I quickly get to a point where it would have been best to leave. The rest of my nights are usually me defending my pile those vultures slowly pick at.)

I usually stay up there, and sleep off my beer gains and wage losses. After getting ready for bed, I took my money out, and counted it. It seems that behind those ones were THE TENS that I could not see. I came in with $24. I left with FIFTY FRICKIN TWO DOLLARS!!! I could not believe it. That would mean that I more than doubled my money even after taking my slow beating. I did not even think about how much I would have had if I kept everything, because in this game, there is no keeping everything. Up until this point, there was only losing by less. I mentally backtracked just to be sure. Competition wise, if I took my winnings from this night, and divied them up between all my other nights, instead of being down a few bucks each game, I am now up a few bucks each game.

At the moment, I like this way better ...