Once again, I'm Even Steven.
After a year without any poker games, the original crew put one together in my friend's "man cave" this evening.
I admit, about an hour in, it looked like I was going to be the first of six contestants to bow out. I'd had my only sleep-deprived night of my vacation the night before and I couldn't seem to catch a break with my hand or the flops, plus I felt like taking a nap at the table.
Then, I actually went out, and thought that was it. I was down to my final three chips, went all in, and was barely defeated... when I noticed that ten cards from the previous hand hadn't been shuffled back into the deck. My friends were fair, and dealt me back in. I went all in the next hand, and won.
A few hands before I'd thought of going all in just to end my participation in the game because I wasn't feeling it, but a voice told me to be calm and ride it out to see where it went.
Somehow we went three hours before somebody got knocked out. It happened to be my friend who'd graduated from Wharton. He was low, so he went all in, pre-flop (this was Texas Hold 'Em). Everyone else bowed out, but I had pocket aces, so there was no way I was backing down before we saw the first three cards. It turned out he had Ace King, but the third ace was produced and I sent him packing. After that I took out my accountant friend on a full house. The third to leave was an editor at Bloomberg. Somehow, early in the game, I'd earned the nickname of "bully," possibly because of my style in previous games. Mr. Bloomberg had scoffed at the moniker later, claiming that one had to actually have leverage to be a bully, and seeing as how I had only three chips, I couldn't qualify. I tried my best to be gracious when he finally caved.
And then there were three. We kept raising the blinds, and when it got down to two, I just went all in because I kind of not-so-secretly wanted to be "Even Steven" for the fourth time in a row (with this group. I actually won with my city friends the one time we played).
So now I still have ten dollars, which will be spent at Northshire Books in Manchester, Vermont tomorrow.
That is, the first nine will be spent, as the first dollar I won back had the number 333 in that corner near the ONE on the pyramid side, which is nice
After a year without any poker games, the original crew put one together in my friend's "man cave" this evening.
I admit, about an hour in, it looked like I was going to be the first of six contestants to bow out. I'd had my only sleep-deprived night of my vacation the night before and I couldn't seem to catch a break with my hand or the flops, plus I felt like taking a nap at the table.
Then, I actually went out, and thought that was it. I was down to my final three chips, went all in, and was barely defeated... when I noticed that ten cards from the previous hand hadn't been shuffled back into the deck. My friends were fair, and dealt me back in. I went all in the next hand, and won.
A few hands before I'd thought of going all in just to end my participation in the game because I wasn't feeling it, but a voice told me to be calm and ride it out to see where it went.
Somehow we went three hours before somebody got knocked out. It happened to be my friend who'd graduated from Wharton. He was low, so he went all in, pre-flop (this was Texas Hold 'Em). Everyone else bowed out, but I had pocket aces, so there was no way I was backing down before we saw the first three cards. It turned out he had Ace King, but the third ace was produced and I sent him packing. After that I took out my accountant friend on a full house. The third to leave was an editor at Bloomberg. Somehow, early in the game, I'd earned the nickname of "bully," possibly because of my style in previous games. Mr. Bloomberg had scoffed at the moniker later, claiming that one had to actually have leverage to be a bully, and seeing as how I had only three chips, I couldn't qualify. I tried my best to be gracious when he finally caved.
And then there were three. We kept raising the blinds, and when it got down to two, I just went all in because I kind of not-so-secretly wanted to be "Even Steven" for the fourth time in a row (with this group. I actually won with my city friends the one time we played).
So now I still have ten dollars, which will be spent at Northshire Books in Manchester, Vermont tomorrow.
That is, the first nine will be spent, as the first dollar I won back had the number 333 in that corner near the ONE on the pyramid side, which is nice
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