One minute to quitting time....

What a job, the life of a professional poker player! You can perform your job brilliantly, for 40 hours and then in 1 minute of less then pristine concentration you can lose what you have earned in the last 40 hours.

In what other job could it be a Friday at 4:55 p.m. and you stare at the clock, thinking about the weekend, and “bang” you are docked for 1 week of pay. That happens every week in the life of a poker player.

I left Sunday about 4 p.m. and here it is Wednesday afternoon. I have put in close to 40 hours at the tables and I have made no money to show for it. What a career choice!

Why do I love this game? Why do I want to play it full-time for the rest of my life? Those are two great questions. I don’t have a fully satisfactory answer for them. I know I have never found something so challenging to be really good at. I love the freedom of this career. As it has been said, “Hold-em, takes an hour to learn and a lifetime to master.” And beside where else can you get up at noon, play with the dog, read a book, make your wife an early dinner and then go play cards till 3 in the morning?

I continue to play at tables where I am only investing about 5% of my bankroll. I might be able to move up faster if I risked more. But, I want to be in this for the long term and not go broke like I hear many others have.

I wish I could say my stake was quickly and steadily climbing up. It is not. I am slowly climbing and at times drudging along on level ground. I don’t seem to go into deep valleys anymore, even when I have a very bad run of cards. I have had bad run of cards in the last few days, but I have been able to keep my losses at $100 over 40 hours of play. I think that averages out to a loss ratio of 25 cents an hour. (grin)

I was down about 4-5 times that amount during this trip, but I did have my only big hand, I can remember in three days, KK beat AA for a pot of $300, so I guess that was a pretty lucky hand.

I must be getting a little desperate to make it as a professional player. I have been moving to 3 three casinos over this 4 day trip in San Diego county to play at each, during their double jackpot times. If I hit a respectable jackpot again, I could move up a level and play a little higher.

Jackpots! That is what got me playing full-time in the first place. Two years ago I hit three different bad beat jackpots playing poker in a 9 month span. Each time I wasn’t thinking about the jackpot when it hit. That gave me the 10K bankroll I am still playing on.

A bad beat jackpot is where you have Aces full of Jacks or better beaten by 4 of a kind of better. My first time was in Sycuan when I held pocket Jacks and the board came AA10. A young man bet and I called. The turn was another Ace and the river was a 6. He had AK. So his 4 aces beat my Aces full of Jacks and I won $8900 as the bad beat. He won half of that and the rest of the table each split $4000.

That jackpot was at $18k total that day. Today the jackpots I am playing range from $25-75K, meaning, that if I hit one today I could get 10-30K. That could certainly help my bankroll. But, it has to be a rare combination of cards to make that happen. So I play on, hoping to make a little money and to get lucky. You can’t make yourself get lucky, but you can help put yourself in the right place, in case you do. That is why I am playing during “double jackpot” times at these three casinos.

I will let you know if I get “lucky”.

Well, the sun has set. It is time to go to work.

Poker and RV's

Most RV owners do not get their money’s worth on their RV. A fairly decent one will cost you from 30K-300K. Some people even spend up to a million for the very top of the line. RV’s depreciate thousands when you drive them off the showroom floor and they steadily depreciate over time at a rapid pace. Most owners use them 1-2 weeks a year and even then some of them take them on long trips but stay at nights in hotels or spend 30-60 dollars a night to stay at an RV park which is usually only a step above a parking lot with hookups.

Not me. The first year we got ours we drove 17,000 miles around the country. And we spent less then $250 on RV parks. We stayed in remote areas, truck stops, 24 hour grocery store lots and of course, scores of Wal-Marts. Since that time I average 7-10 days a month sleeping in it at Casinos. And we have since been halfway around the country again. It has been a picnic vehicle, a large group sightseeing vehicle and even an outdoor wedding changing room.

But, most of the time it allows me to go to a Casino or card room and play a few hours, and take a break whenever I want. I can play late into the evening and still play a morning tournament after a good nights sleep.

About 7 months out of the year I can take it to Vegas and enjoy having an extra thousand to use as my poker bankroll for the week. I almost always bring home more then I went with when I take the RV. I pay my gas and buy my groceries out of my bankroll and play no “house-edge” games.

I am so surprised that more people don’t use their RV’s that way. I see it as a multi-way to save money. I don’t pay for lodging, and my food is a fraction of what it costs to eat out. It costs me interest but all that is an income tax deduction because it qualifies as a “second home”. (It qualifies as a “first one” when we are living in it full-time).

I seem to average a little more poker profit on these more intensive poker trips, then day trips to a casino because I take more frequent breaks. And it is easy to walk away from the table and come back later when it is a 5 minute walk rather then an hour drive. When there is heavy traffic we pull over and read, nap, or eat until traffic is better and we never need reservations or follow a schedule to have to be somewhere by a certain time.

My RV is a 1999 26ft Lazy Daze Coach built on a Ford V10 engine and ¾ ton van chassis. If I wasn’t married I would live in it full-time, but my wife is not yet ready for that kind of adventure just yet. However, she is feels comforted like I am by owning an RV in case of a disaster, disability or complete financial meltdown we could live in it if we had to, and still be happy as a couple. I am not sure that many other couple we know could.

I will probably keep it another 3 years unless her company closes in this next year. There are some “rumors” that it could.

She would be very open to buying something bigger, if we decided to go live in it again on a permanent basis. I think something about 32 foot with a slide out might be on the distant horizon for us.

The RV mindset is very different when it comes to taking trips. It is less stressful a drive because I am sitting in a comfortable chair up high with many creature comforts within reach. You can’t accelerate, slow or corner fast so I tend to drive less aggressively and allow a lot more room between me and other traffic.

For most people the vacation starts when you get to your destination. For a true RV’r the trip begins when you climb on board in your own RV.

Know when to hold-em...

12:30 A.M. in the RV at the Barona Casino in San Diego where Kenny Rodgers is the official mascot. He is the mascot, because of his crooning of the lyrics “you got to know when to hold-em, and know when to fold them. In my mind the lyrics “you got to know when to call them and know when to muck them is crooning in my head.

Tonight I “out thought” myself, to my demise.

Mike Caro, the “mad genius of poker” has a term called F.P.S. He says, when players start improving and learning “moves”, they sometimes use Fancy Plays, when simple poker moves would be so much better. Their fancy play syndrome ends up costing them money at the poker table.

Tonight I discovered F.T.S. Fancy thought syndrome. I out thought myself twice, costing me over $250.

The table was filled with good players. Two seats to my right was a player I identified as well above average in his play. He always seemed to have a great hand when he called, bet or raised the pot. He played solid and folded often when he didn’t have the best hand.

I was in the big blind with pocket jacks. When it came to me I bet out $20 after 2 players limped in.

I had stolen a number of blinds, and plays from the big blind, the small blind, and the button because the table was tight and passive. Everyone folded to me, but “above average”.

The flop came 5,10,8 with one heart. He checks. I bet out $25. He calls.

The turn comes 7h, he checks and I bet $40. He calls. He is not a calling station, what is going on here?

The river is a Jack of hearts and now HE LEADS OUT with a $60 bet.

There are three hearts out there and four cards to a straight showing on the board, and I am now holding triple jacks.

I have a history with him where he bet out a hundred on the river just like this, when he caught a flush. I am convinced that he made his straight or flush. I am thinking, he called with two hearts, either, 10,9 or A10. We engage in some table talk. He says I let him “catch up.”

I have a fairly good read on him. He is confident and believes he has the best hand. At the flop I had asked him, when he called, if he caught his pocket Aces again? He had AA three times already tonight and slow played them to the river beating me each time adamantly insisting, when players commented about his slow-playing Aces, “ in this game if you don’t slow play Aces you will only make $4. I had pocket Aces once tonight and won a $200 pot with I played them aggressively, when he was away from the table, but I “held my tongue.”

After my flop question he said no aces. I believed him and thought maybe he has Kings, which he may have slow played like his aces.

After his bet on the river, I said you have Queens? He said nope and again I believed him.

I respected him and had laid down AQ and AJ twice against him tonight and both times he had AA or AK.

I have been reading articles recently about great lay downs by Phil Ivey. This was a chance for me to practice a “great laydown.”

I turned my two jacks over to show him, thinking this will give me some future bluffing ability. I then mucked them feeling pretty good, about my ability to lay down three jacks, when a very good player is “communicating with his betting, he has the best hand”.

He turned over 7,10 off-suit for two pair and he expressed genuine shock at my mucking of three of a kind.

He said he just “felt like gambling that hand” and he said he “believed I had Kings or Aces” and was convinced his two pair were the best hand over my one big pair.

My read was accurate of his belief, I trusted his ability to play, but as I told him later my read of him was accurate, however, he didn’t know what he was talking about when he said he caught up.

So I “accurately read” him, and his “wrong belief” and lost the hand when I normally would have called $60 on a $160 pot. This is when I really wish I had a mentor so I could discuss the hand with them. I am open to any feedback on this one.

The player next to me said to me “you thought too much in that hand”.

I think he was right. I did. And I lost $200 because of fancy thought syndrome.

Sometimes I guess you just need to gamble like he did, and the player to my left did on my final hand of the night.

I was the dealer button with a 5-10 suited in the hole. Three people limped in and I joined them for a $3 call.

The flop came 10,7, 5 rainbow. I had flopped two pair!

I tossed out $10 hoping I would get a call or two. The big blind to my left, a Korean woman dealer who was not a very strong player raises it to $55. I wonder if she has 10-7? Then I realize it is much more likely she has a 10 with a great kicker like an ace.

It folds to me and I push all in my last $110. She thinks about it for a long time while I am torn inside hoping she will call but afraid I will get “sucked out on”.

I had just won a pot from her where I had a slightly bigger kicker and she appeared to be “steaming” from that when she said to me “you lucky”, in a not-so-friendly tone. I am just staring at the pot thinking… call me, no, don’t call me, sure call me…. Etc.

Finally she calls my bet and the turn is an Ace. Her body visibly relaxes, and I tighten up my jaw, and mutter “damn”. The river is a brick and she turns over her Ace-Ten off-suit, just like I suspected.

Lousy call on her part, but great catch, but hey, that is why this game flourishes. It is your money that buys the chips, and you get to play them anyway you want to.

The "King of Poker"

I met and played the self proclaimed “King of Poker” two nights ago.

You haven’t met the “King of Poker”? Then you probably haven’t played much at the Palomar Club on El Cajon Blvd in San Diego lately. The Palomar neighborhood is not known, as one of the nicer area of San Diego.

But the crime rate around the club is decreasing. There hasn’t been a player “pistol whipped” for at least three months. I have only been solicited once on my way out in the past six months and the bar that was right next door has been sold and become part of the remodel/expansion of the club.

It has been well over a year since the daily pattern of two players leaving the table at the same time and stepping next door for a couple of drinks and returning to “cap” every pot pre-flop. Ah, the good old days.

There is a daily, colorful cast of characters, speaking at least 11 native languages at the 6 poker tables. This audible smorgasbord is mixed with shouts, curses and loud bangs coming from the pai-gow table, as the players try to wake up the pai-gow gods, by banging the metal dice container furiously on the table, shouting in languages only previously heard on the National Geographic Channel.

In walks a Iraqi who owns his own cab, and writes his initials on the board: K.O.P. Everybody who has played with him before knows what they mean. “The “King of Poker” is in the house.
He takes the available seat two to my left at a 1/3 No-limit game and begins to give a non-stop, manic, monologue to the player to my left pointing to his initials, still up on the board, and declaring himself the "King of Poker." He speaks like a machine gun fires bullets, in quick bursts, and gets more and more heated up, the more he speaks.

He folds his first hand after waving it a few inches under the nose of another player declaring “you see, you see, I throw this because I am a very good player and that is why I always win. This is my second job… you see, you see, I make $2,000 last month” as he proceeds to take a small wad of $20’s out of his pocket and begins to wave it around toward all the players loudly proclaiming “I will have all of your money by 2 A.M”. (Closing time is 2 A.M.)

He throws almost every hand away, after trying to show it the dealer or to a player next to him, while he continues a non-stop monologue that reveals he could benefit from medication.

He finally wins his first hand with pocket Aces. It is a very small pot, because it has become obvious by now to almost everybody at the table that he plays only premium hands. So he gets no action, when he comes into a pot, which is at the rate of about once an hour. But, he runs a non-stop commentary on every hand played by anyone. He also reminds us that he is a “patient man who thinks, thinks, thinks, as he taps his temple, and that he knows what you have almost before you do, because he can “read the cards””.

He says he is not like us other players… “he reads poker books, he thinks about poker all the time, and when he loses a hand, he goes home and takes out a deck of cards and plays it over and over again and comes back and wins that hand next time.”

He goes on to tell us he takes $20 and gives it to his one child, then another, then another, then another,….. I lost track after he named his fifth child and often stopped listening as soon as he began talking. I knew I was going to win a large pot off of him or “bust him” because I was catching and playing a lot of suited connectors and he only played the top 8 premium hands like the book he read told him to. I hope nobody ever tells him that strategy was written for limit.

The table would have a few minutes of wonderful silence, when he would run outside for a cigarette, about every 10th hand and miss a hand or two.

The Palomar club has an entire glass front opening up on the sidewalk. Players who smoke, would often run out between hands to puff on the cigarettes they had left burning out there.

When the King of Poker would win a hand he would slap the cards face up and fire out… “you see, you see, you see, I knew I would win”.

Finally after four hours, I got into a hand with him. He raised and I re-raised with 10s,Js. He called. The flop came (Qh, Ks, As) for a nut straight for me, with a royal flush draw.

I checked and he made a big bet. I glanced at him two or three times, each time he told me “throw it away, throw it away, I will show you, I will show you.”

I knew he didn’t have a clue so I just called. The turn came a 7. He bet enough to put me all in “save your money, save your money, I don’t need all your money he declared.

I called and quietly turned over my hand, while he slammed down pocket aces and said “you see, you see, I win I have three aces. He quieted for a moment while the realization of my straight came over him, and then the river produced a 5. He quickly walked out and began puffing very fast on his cigarette.

He came back a few minutes later and said “he had the better hand, he should have won that hand and I was lucky, but he was a better player. I said yes “you are the king” and agreed that I got lucky. (What I meant was I was lucky, I was playing with someone who didn’t know how much they didn’t know, and that they were willing to share that information with everybody at the table.)

The final hand that knocked out the King of Poker wasn’t by me, but by a player who had 10 times the maximum buy-in in front of him. By the stacks of chips in front of him, it was obvious he was a good player, or had a very great run of cards. I did watch him wield his “large stack” very well a number of times making it too expensive for some to call him, as he threw in enough chips, to make the odds unfavorable.

The King of Poker came in for a big raise on the dealer button. Everybody folded to him except the big stack who called. The flop was A,K,8 with 2 diamonds. The big stack checked and the King declared. “no, no, no, check,” he then bet ¼ the pot. I knew, and I am sure the big stack knew, the “King of Poker” had either three Aces, three kings or AK paired.
The big stack called the small bet. He then checked the turn, which was another blank, and the “K.O.P” bet out the same small amount. (I am sure he thought he was being clever to keep the other player in the pot. Not even knowing he was giving away pot odds to make the call almost mandatory)

As the river is being “peeled off the deck”, the big stack says "make it a diamond", and sure enough it is a 2 of diamonds. The big stack moves in a large enough stack to cover the remaining chips the King has. The King instantly, yells out, "all-in" and without a second hesitation shoves his remaining chips in and slaps down pocket Aces for trip aces. The big stack shows his two little diamonds for a flush. The king is grinning like a fool, and bobbing his head up and down saying you see, you see… three aces, as he is waiting for the dealer to push the pot to him.

As the dealer picks up the two diamonds and puts them in front of the King of Poker, the dealer states “he has a flush”. You can see the amazement and disbelief come into focus on the features of the King, and he jumps up, and storms out of the room without a sound.

He puffs, and puffs, while pacing in front of the casino. Then he comes back in walking fast, past the table toward the bathroom. I couldn’t help myself, I said “I think the King is going to sit on his throne for awhile.”

He comes out a few minutes later and a player asks him if he wants us to save his seat for him?

He waves him off with a flapping of his hand and without a sound, in a cloud of nervous energy races out of the room.

The King is dead… long live the King.

A turkey in the oven.....

Wow, it has been a week since I last posted. I thought it had been about three days.

I have been playing and winning since the last post so I am pretty upbeat. I am planning on playing again tonight I just haven’t decided where.

I always have about 7 choices, within roughly, the same driving distance. For me personally, I am not affected greatly by the Unlawful Internet act, but I am sure that there are many, many, others who have been greatly impacted by it.

I did leave Party Poker, (who would want to be a part of a party, where there are no Americans allowed there anyway?) I figured out how to get some money to Full-Tilt and have been playing there just a little, in the spirit of defiance, to this “dirty” piece of politics. I would rather play live, then on the Internet, but I am frustrated and angry about this right being abused in the name of morality by an unethical political act.

I took the RV over the weekend, and went to Sycuan for two days and a night. I really thought I would be in Vegas a lot this month, but Caren wanted Pokey and me, around while she goes through some real challenges at work.

Our relationship works for us, because we both, are committed to telling the other what we need from them, when we do. Of course, being committed to hearing, responding or negotiating, in response to what we hear, from the other, is equally important.

Tomorrow, she has scheduled some dental surgery, so I will be the designated driver, while she drugs up, before, during, and after to deal with the anxiety, pain, and effects of the dental work.

So, there will be no live poker for me tomorrow. That’s one reason why I am going to play again tonight. Maybe, I will play a few small tournaments on Full-Tilt tomorrow night while I am home taking care of her.

I am planning on putting a Turkey, in the oven, when we leave, for the dentist, and the house should be nice and warm and smell good when we get home.

By the way I played with the self-proclaimed “King of Poker” last night. I will tell you all about it in the next entry.

A poker lesson....

I had an expensive poker lesson tonight. I also learned something about myself and poker again.

Tonight, at Palomar I bought in for $200 and then lost it at the 1/3 No-Limit table playing a little loose. Then I bought in another $150 and later moved over to the 5/10 because I didn’t like this ½ table, when I had about $75 left.

I had tightened up considerably, and had played about 4 hours, before I moved to the 5/10 game. I added another $125 to make the minimum buy-in at the 5/10 No-Limit table.

I was a very short stack there. The stacks ranged from $500-2000. I played a very strong short stack game, and over the next three hours built my stack up to $450. I was about even and was thinking about leaving for the day.

The table was fairly aggressive and I was playing only premium hands when I received pocket jacks in middle position. I just limped in with them. Five others limped in behind me, which was unusual. I was planning on throwing them if they didn’t improve or if a larger card flopped.

The big blind raised it to $100, when it got back to him. When he set in a $100 stack, there was $60 in the pot.

He had $2000 in front of him. He was a smart player, so I respected his move and then began thinking about whether to call him or not. The bet was 4x the blind plus a bet for every player who limped in. It was a good smart bet.

I decided to call the $100 expecting a few value bets behind me, but they all folded like falling dominoes. This changed my odds considerably, but he was very deep stacked, so there were implied odds, I reasoned.

Does he have a larger pair? I called time to think it through. There were at least 6 hands I could beat that he might have bet. In that position he had lots of incentive to raise the pot as last to act, pre-flop with any pair, or AK, AQ, AJ, or A10. There were six limpers who were not willing risk more then a minimum bet to call. There were three hands that had me beat: Aces, Kings or Queens.

The flop came 2, 7, 5 all different suits. I didn’t believe that helped him at all.

The problem was now it became harder for me to get away from the Jacks. I had an over pair to the board. Now I really went into the tank, because he did a continuation bet of $200 which was 70% of my remaining money.

Why didn’t he just force me all-in? Maybe, he doesn’t want me to call?

One hundred would be too cheap, all-in would obviously pot commit me. Was he trying to give me a way out so I wouldn’t call? I thought about what I would do if I was him, and what I would do it with.

If I had AK, I would bet that amount to take a stab at the pot. I called time again, and was told I had 30 seconds to make a decision.

I wrongly decided to call to see another card, knowing this meant I would end up all-in. I called.

The turn card was a 6. No help for either of us. He pushes in a $100 and I push in my last stack and he turns over 2 Aces.

On the river a face card is turned over, but it is the wrong one. It was a queen, not a jack. I congratulated him on playing a good hand as I got up to leave.

I had reached my loss-limit for the day and I was done playing.

As I reflected back over this hand I can see where I made a number of mistakes. When I limped with the Jacks, my plan was to toss them if it was raised and re-raised or if they didn’t improve on the flop.

When nobody else called but me I even jokingly said “Thanks guys, for leaving me alone with him”. The last folder said if only one more had called he would have stayed in. I thought ok, there is a possible two big cards.

When he bet $200 that made the pot $460 and I was going to have to risk $200 more, so I had about 2.6 to 1 to call this.

I don’t know odds well enough to know whether by pot odds alone my call was a poor one or not. I reasoned that there were 6 hands most probable hands I could beat and 3 I couldn’t so there is that 2-1 again, plus if I win I triple up my remaining money.

Here is where I realized I have a slight weakness that could trip me up. I thought about folding by throwing my jacks face down to reveal what a great lay down. Why would I want to throw them face up? For the admiration of the other players I realized. Then I thought, if I think this through and really have the best hand thnt it shows what a good player I am.

Neither of those thoughts were relevant at the time. In fact they were weak, non-professional, donkey type thoughts.

They took away time from what I should have been focused on and revealed to me it is still important to be thought of as a “smart player”. That need to be thought of as a “smart player” is a weakness that can be exploited. In this case it wasn’t, but it muddied up my thinking a little when it needed to be really sharp.

I could have asked him a question or talked to him to get a read. I have done that in the past and it has really helped me get a read. But, I didn’t this time while I was focused on whether I was a “smart player” or not. I tried for a visual read, but he was frozen and staring at the cards.

I “decided” he had AK when I had no real evidence to support that and partly drew that conclusion from what I might have done with that hand. Unfounded reasoning, and an emotional decision to go home a winner was driving me. I did not want to have to work really hard for a few more hours to build back up to the “just even” point. That lousy thinking also helped push me over the edge to call.

The smarter move would have been to raise his $100 bet to $200 if I wanted to play and if he re-raised fold em. If he just called, then I would know, he had a strong hand and without a third jack I could have folded on the flop. In that scenario I would have lost only $200 on the hand instead of $400.

I would really appreciate some comments on this hand.

Was I just a donk? Do you think some of my reasoning was sound? Or am I in self-delusion and should have just folded, which was my first instinct?

Politicians and Terrorists..oh my....

Tomorrow is voting day. I am so disgusted with our political system I am planning on voting against every incumbent (a.k.a. incompetent) and voting against any and all propositions. If enough people would do that, eventually the political professionals would get the message, that we have had enough of politics as usual, and they would make some serious changes.

I think we are heading for social upheaval in this country. The middle class is getting squeezed and when many of them start losing more of the comforts they have had, look out for a backlash!

It is a great country but our way of life is being eroded by some not so great men and women. Politicians and terrorists seem to have the same goal. Protect their own little sectarian ideals by attacking and eroding freedom.

Please vote your conscience. Mine says vote to tell the incumbents you can’t vote for them until they start doing a better job for us.

But, this is a poker blog, a subject far more pleasant then politics.

It was a great night for me at Sycuan last night. I drove there about 2 p.m. thinking I would play a couple of hours before the 4 p.m. Tournament. When I arrived, I found out the 4 p.m. tournament had been moved back to 6 p.m. So, I ended up playing 4 hours of 2/4 No-Limit. I did very well, there, and then had an amazing run in the tournament. I made every hand I played until the final 4 tables then I lost every hand I played and was out. Talk about a couple of quick swings, up and then out. My play didn’t change, in fact, I didn’t have the time to make changes, but, the cards sure did.

The good news is I got back into that 2/4 game when a seat opened. I did even better then I did earlier in the day. I played three small pairs under the gun for a small raise, intending to toss them or win a big pot if a third one flopped. Each time I flopped a set.

It is hard enough to put someone on a small set, but impossible when they raise with the under the gun. Most players believe you must have big cards to raise.

The stacks were fairly deep for 2/4 so I made some nice pots each time by betting them out and being re-raised and then check-calling. It seems like a nice move, though I haven’t read it anywhere yet. I just discovered it in wanting a chance to play small pairs in early position.

I left at 11 p.m. when I found myself chasing an open-ended straight against a “rock” on the table. It would have been a nice pot had I caught it but I didn’t. I have also discovered about myself after 8 hours of play I tend to lose more then I win. Unless it is a very “juicy game” I usually stop after 8-9 hours of play even when I am winning big. I do have a stop-loss limit that is around $500 if I get down that much regardless of how long I have played. If I get there I stop for the day. There have been some days I have played less then 2 hours when I set out to play longer.

Well, it is time to set out to play the Palomar Club. Let's hope I end up playing longer then two hours.

I'm the lucky one.

I spent a week in Fresno and lost a grand. I could think of a lot of other places I would have rather lost money in, but my daughter Carrie and her husband live there so there you have it. I got lucked out, sucked out, out played, and drawn out on. Not once, but many times. After a week of that I was ready to say goodbye to my daughter and her husband and head for Vegas for a change of scenery and luck. On the way to Bakersfield, Caren called and requested I come home for awhile. She was missing Pokey and me and needed some family time.

I am the lucky one! Even though, I miss many of my draws. Even though, I get “sucked out” on the river more then I think I should. Even though, I haven’t yet doubled my initial poker bankroll yet. I am the lucky one because I have my wife of 35 years who supports my dream to make it as a poker pro. That is a rare combination. She doesn’t play poker, doesn’t quite understand it’s challenges, except through my explanations, but she loves me and supports my quest. That is better then a royal flush in a casino that pays a “monte carlo”.

I haven’t yet ended my road trip, but I have been home now two weeks at her request. We are dealing with an insurance claim on our garage that flooded by the upstairs condo owner. I am dealing with that, but mainly, Pokey and I were missed by her. I am not sure who was missed more, me or the dog Pokey, but being a wise husband I don’t inquire any further. (grin)

I have seemed to have broken that bad streak that began when I got to Casino 101 and followed me all the way down the state.

I haven’t made much in this last two weeks but I haven’t lost any and that is sometime a very good thing.

I having been playing mainly at the Palomar Club. There have been some really positive changes there over the time I have been there since 2003. You could say it has mirrored the poker boom. In 2003, and for many years before that, it had just one 3/6 game with just a few regulars and a pai-gow table. Less then once a week it might get an Omaha game going for a few hours.

It was a dirty little place with nothing newer in it then vintage 1960’s including the TV. There was a little dive of a bar next door that occasionally one or two of the regulars walked over to and then came back and played looser for awhile.

Then the Palomar bought the building, and cleaned out the bar and sold off the liquor license. They removed the wall between the old bar and the old room, and totally remodeled with plasma screen TV’s, new tables, chairs, fresh paint and new carpet.

What a difference!

Now everyday there are two 3/6 limit games, and 4 N/L games going with spreads from 1/2 – 10/10 with as much a 20-50K on the big game.

Now instead of one short-handed table there is about an hour wait list for any game.

I love it!

Even though the Village Club is 4 miles from my home, I drive the 20 miles here because of the difference in the environment. I hope the Village Club gets the message, however, they are still usually full, no more room for parking, and they haven’t spent spend a dime on the facilities since Nixon’s first term. I wouldn’t bet on change there anytime soon.

Today, I am skipping both of them and driving to Sycuan to play the afternoon tournament and maybe hit the jackpot again. That is what gave me my poker bankroll in the first place. That was almost two years ago and it is still about the same size. I would like to see it double so I could play the 5/10 game a little more. It is still a little too small to survive the 5/10 NL variance. I have done ok in it, but I am always the short stack and have a couple of moves that I cannot use because I can only play tight as a short stack unless I want to try a Gus Hansen and go home in the first hour if it doesn’t work.

I hope to be over in Vegas for a week before Thanksgiving day. I seems to write a lot more when I am on the road in the RV.

Longing to get “back on the road again”, but loving being with my wife at home.

Dealing with a poker jerk

Well, my plan to make money playing poker while here in Fresno didn’t work. It seems I couldn’t lose money in Washington and I can’t win money in California. I know it has nothing to do with any state, except the state of variance. Which, I am now in, and I hope to get to the other state of variance.

I drove out to the Palace in Lemoore, California and played 1/3 no-limit. There were some good players there, and I had good second best hands. Which means it was an expensive poker session.

I made it to 13th in the tournament and my Pocket Aces went up against pocket 10s and a ten came on the river. That one “hit me in the gut”, I really was playing well, with sharp focus and thought I was going all the way.

I don’t know if that one put me on a “slow burn tilt” or not. I walked for about 15 minutes in the parking lot to get back in a “winning poker” state of mind. Then, I went back in and got outplayed in one hand. Then I participated in a “donkey play” where I caught my gut shot straight, not even thinking about the flush draw on the board. I also somehow didn’t even notice, that I was up against “Rocky the Rock”. My straight card completed his flush, and I was down and out all the cash I had brought.

The next night in Club One in Fresno with a wild loose table I tripled up by buy-in and lost two river suck outs. I pushed in my last $80 on an open ended straight and was called by a bottom pair. No straight came, pair won. A few minutes later, I was driving home through the valley of discouragement.

I thought I had come further in my development as a player to let three in a row losing sessions get me down, but I “fell off the wagon” and let myself wallow in the mud of despair for awhile.

Yesterday, I drove out through the country and played at Chuchchasi Casino up by Yosemite. I call it “Chucky-cheese” casino. They only had 2/4 limit, so I played a couple of hours, had fun, remembered how to enjoy poker and then left for Table Mountain Casino. I heard they had more tables, bigger jackpots, and no-limit.

The first two items were true, but the no-limit is only on weekends. I played 3/6 limit and went up and down for the evening hoping to receive the high hand for the hour. It was a special promotion night, and the high hand every hour received $300. No high hands, for me, but I left up $16. That windfall, and the eight dollars, I won at Chuck-Cheese Casino brought my winnings, equal to the cost of the gas I spent to get here. Oh, it also paid for a dinner of onion rings and coffee, so I guess I am a winner after all.

I did have my revenge on the poker room jerk. You know the type. He locks up a seat with a chip. Then comes back about 10 minutes later and sits down and waits for the blinds to pass. He plays one round without having to post, then gets up and walks away from the table for 3 rounds. Just when they are going to pick up his chips, he comes back, posts and plays one round. Then he is gone for 3 rounds.


For those of you that don’t know poker very well, in a limit game, when a seat is empty it hurts all the rest of the players. The blinds do not decrease, and there is less potential money in the pot. I complained to the dealer about this rude, disrespectful behavior to me and all the other players at the table.

The dealer just shook his head and said “He couldn’t agree with me more, but the old, grumpy, player was a regular and nothing would be done about it.

I told him I understood, but please call the floor man because I wanted to register a complaint about the player, and if enough players did it, maybe something would be done. I also said, from the looks of that player, I would guess he is not a big tipper either.

The dealer almost choked back his laughter, but it got out.

The floor man was on break, but he promised as soon as he got back he would send him over. The other players started agreeing with me and I suggested every time he did that everybody needs to complain and eventually something would be done.

When he came back and sat down, I turned to him and asked “Will you be staying awhile this time?” He muttered, “you never know”. I stared at him for a few minutes knowing most bullies are cowards and he quickly broke eye contact.

The dealer had moved on to another table, but I saw him talking to the floor man, who had returned from dinner, and he sent him over as promised. He approached me and said “You wanted to see me?”

I said “Yes, I have a complaint against this player, indicating the player on my left. In the last hour he has played one free round, paid for one round, and missed 5 buttons. That is both rude and disrespectful to the table. I request you ask him not to abuse the privilege of taking a break or give me a table change. He quickly said “I will get you a table change, right away sir.” The jerk started arguing I was only gone 20 minutes, the player to his left, told him he was gone almost 45 minutes. The jerk was starting to squirm a little. I guess he was used to nobody talking to him about his behavior.

The floor man came back instantly, and said I have your new seat. “I said good luck to the rest of you.”

I glanced back a few hands later and noticed he had done it again. His chips were there and there was already one missed blind indicator at his place.

Later, I talked to the floor man about it, and he said to me, “Me and every dealer here agrees with you and hates that he does that, but there is no rule against him doing it I said I understood, the situation, he was in, but there is the “purpose for the rule” and the “law of the rule”. When the purpose is being abused, and it is hurting other players, you need to either get a rule in place to handle it or use your authority to pick him up, and put somebody else in his seat etc. He sadly, shook his head, and whined “you are right…but, there is nothing I can do……” I thanked him for his time, and said good luck, and decided to head home and enjoy being with my daughter and son-in-law before I needed to leave tomorrow. I felt sorry for the other players, who had to deal with this kind of attitude night after night and that nothing would be done about it. I just hoped others would speak out until this one injustice would cease.

If enough of us speak to the person in charge, and speak to the offender directly, we can get this stopped, rather then be victimized by a few rude jerks that continue to disrespect others at the table in this way.

Selective, assertive, action is better poker then “crying stations”. Speak out for your rights fellow players!

Fresno

This was such a busy weekend I had no time to blog.

Last Thursday, my plan was to leave Stockton and stop in Modesto or Merced and play for the day. Then I planned to arrive late in the evening at my daughter’s home in Fresno. As I started driving I realized I was excited to see her and I “passed” on poker in Modesto & Merced. I arrived late in the afternoon and my daughter Carrie, her husband David and I went out for a Mexican Dinner It was sure good to see them both..

The next day I rented a car in Fresno, had lunch with Dave and then when Carrie got off work, her and I headed for San Diego in our Gray, Ford Taurus rental with Pokey the dog and his friend Gracey, the wiener dog. They were both in kennels in the back seat, facing each other for entertainment. Eight hours later we all arrived at my home in San Diego. (Imperial Beach Area) Traffic was horrid as soon as we got to L.A. It took an hour just from Burbank to Buena Park.

It was sure good to be with Caren for the weekend. It didn’t seem like very much time at all before we had to leave again on Monday afternoon to get Carrie back to Fresno for her work on Tuesday.

We did manage to get in two different tournaments at two casinos in San Diego over the weekend. Saturday night we played at Viejas in a $70 tournament with about 125 players. I made a couple of poor moves near the end to force myself out when I didn’t need to.

The first one was understandable the second not so much. I was at the third table as the chip leader of the tournament. When the short stack of the table was the big blind I picked up pocket tens in middle position. So I shoved all in to isolate him. I did, and he showed down Ace-Queen. He picked up a Queen on the turn and I didn’t improve. I lost 40% of my stack on that hand. Then a little later we consolidated down to two tables.

When there were 15 people left I figured I better make a play so I raised 3x the blind with 5,6, suited. The big blind called me, and the flop was a K,6,J. He checked and I put in half my stack to his re-raise, which would have put me all-in. I backed down and folded. I went out two hands later with an AK that didn’t improve and lost to a pair.

This was a case where I could have “coasted” to the final table, but I wanted to win, and I know you have to get aggressive and sometimes lucky at that stage of the tournament. I am second guessing myself with that approach so close to the final table. This was a tournament where the blinds doubled every fifteen minutes, and I wonder if it isn’t better to just squeak to the final table and then do the “all-in with any A or K” and see if you get lucky. I will need to give this a lot more thought.

The best part of Saturday night was when our Son Jonathan came to play with Carrie and me in the tournament. We all had dinner with Caren before the tournament at the Casino. It was so nice to have our whole family together. Caren got a little lucky on the penny slots and gave them each $20 and covered ½ my tournament entry. Overall, it was an enjoyable, memorable night together.

Sunday found out sorting and cleaning out our belongings from a water leak into our garage. It ruined some of our stored items and destroyed the ceiling and wall with mold damage while we have been gone. This is an interesting story I will tell later of dueling insurance companies and real estate developers I will tell at a later time.

After running a few more errands with Caren, it was time for Carrie and I to head for my “home casino” Sycuan. I bought in for both Carrie and I into the evening tournament and she went out in the first ½ hour playing a little too loose. I held on until the field of 250 was narrowed to about 60 and was card dead most of the tournament. I did get a lucky break where I was 4X the blinds and I went all-in with an Ace-Seven. Called by a Ace-Queen and a KJ I was looking like I would be walking this hand. The flop came 7,10,4 and I was actually ahead! The turn card was a Queen as I stood to go the river produced another 7 giving me 777. I played another 45 minutes until I went all-in on an AK that ran into AA and I was out.

I got on a cash table a few minutes later and went up and down with my $100 buy-in and then another $50 went on to the table. I played ok, but I ran into AA with AK again and lost my $100. I built back up to $150 when I ended up with AK on the Big Blind.

I played a little ½ NL and ended up losing my buy-in on another bad beat. Carrie and I decided we both had enough and headed back home for the night.

Monday, Caren went in to work early and then met us for lunch in Mission Valley at Carrie and her favorite eatery: Pat & Oscars. We chose Pat’s & Oscar’s for two reasons. The first was they love their salads. The second is we could sit outside and the dogs could join us.

After lunch we said good bye and Carrie, the dogs, and I headed up Interstate 15 toward L.A. I was dreading driving through L.A. in the middle of the day. So, we thought we could miss the most of it by going up Interstate 15 and then cutting across 210 through Pasadena. Carrie used to live in that area, and the closer we got to 210 we realized we were going to have a lot of traffic in Pasadena at the time we were to arrive there.

I decided to go the back way, by continuing up 15 to US395 and going across Hwy 58 to Bakersfield and then north to Fresno. Eight hours later we arrived at Carrie’s home after having to deal with some Highway construction and frequent stops to walk the dogs.

Now I needed to “gear up” to make some money playing poker, while I am here in Fresno.

A losing day in Central California

I did a bit of driving yesterday. My original plan was to just drive 150 miles to a casino south of Eureka. I arrived there at 2:30 in the afternoon. After parking and entering the poker room, I discovered there is no poker on Tuesday night in this Casino. So I began to drive south on the Avenue of the Giants through the Redwoods of Humboldt and Mendocino counties.

It took a little over 2 hours to go 40 miles because I was averaging 20 miles an hour in order to enjoy driving this scenic alternative to US 101. By the time I got to Willits, home of Black Bart Casino, I had driven 300 miles.

Then I discovered Black Bart’s didn’t have poker either.

Another 20 miles put me in Ukiah. We lived here in 1980-1983. We had some significant memories of our time then. We owned our first home, our son was born there, our daughter went to pre-school, and so on. After driving past the Church, where I was a pastor and then the area we used to live in, I thought “how did we ever live in such a small quiet place like this”?

I tried to locate a poker game in town. I saw a billboard for Robinson Rancheria Casino that offered poker but it was about 22 miles east of the direction I wanted to go. I pulled into a Wal-Mart to cook some dinner and do some thinking.

I called a little casino in Hopland, which is about 20 miles ahead. Even though it was more driving today, it was in the direction I was going. They did have a game, and I knew they had a parking lot where I could spend the night.

It was a very bizarre Poker game. It was 3-6 limit hold-em with 7 people. Everyone except me, played every hand, and bet almost every opportunity.(No raises, no folding, just bets and calls) At least 4 people saw the river every hand.

Five of them appeared to be migrant workers, three spoke only Spanish, two helped interpret for the other three. Four of them weren’t sure what hand beat what, and the dealer would have to help them at showdown. In most cases they didn’t know, if they had won or not when every body showed cards. But, they all had fun.

The game broke in about 2 hours because 4 of them lost all their money. But, they seemed to have a lot of fun at it, even when they lost.

I didn’t catch many cards but I still left up $40 for the couple of hours I was in the game.

The next morning I filled up with gas in Santa Rosa and toured Petaluma. We lived there in 1989.

I looked at our old property and met the current caretaker. She game me a tour and it hasn’t changed much except for the 20 years of tree growth. In 1989 I went through a deep period of depression and one of the things that helped me was planting trees.
So consequently I planted 18 redwood trees, 4 fruit trees, a weeping willow and an assortment of others. As you might imagine, these trees dominate the area around the modular home where we used to live. But, they do look beautiful.

I stopped in at Sonoma Joes Poker room in Petaluma. It is now called Casino 101. They had 6 poker tables and I was able to get into a No-Limit game after playing an hour of 4/8. I was outdrawn three times, and failed to catch a straight and a flush. I was chasing too much. I was down about $500 when I caught two big pair and they held up. I left about 6 p.m. only down about $150

I wish that was where it ended for the day.

But, no…. I wanted to get to the eastside of the Bay Area so I wouldn’t have traffic for tomorrow. I made my way across the top the San Francisco Bay, and crossed the Benicia Bridge into the East Bay area of Pacheco.

I located the Grand Casino in Pacheco and played 6/12 limit while I waited for a seat No-Limit Seat. I lost $300 there and finally my seat opened up in No-limit. I went up and down from 200 to 100 with my initial buy-in. Then four of us called a $25 bet. The button pushed all-in for $125. I had KJ Diamonds and would have thrown it away with one caller. I knew from the stack sizes if I called 2-4 others would also, go all-in giving great implied odds to a hand that would play well multi-way.

I called, and sure enough 4 others called resulting in a pot of about $600. When all the hands were exposed I liked mine the best. The first who pushed all in had A8 off suit. Another had A7, and another had K9 and then a 78off suit. Mine was the most potential outs. The A7 was hearts and he caught three hearts for a flush to win it all.

I was down and out. I had reached the maximum I allow myself to lose in one day, so I gave up my seat and left.

I drove across the California Delta Area in the dark which was an eerie experience.

There was no moon and I could just barely make out the murky water as I drove across the tops of levees and crossed drawbridges, many of which were a single lane for both directions. I was praying I wouldn’t meet a truck or another RV on one of these and my prayers were answered. I thought if I drive off what of these poorly lit, winding levees I will become a permanent part of the California Delta Waterway system and never be seen again.

In Stockton, I missed the turnoff for the Super Wal-Mart, and ended up driving 8 miles in the wrong direction before I discovered my error.

Oh well, tomorrow is a new day. I am looking forward to it.

P.S. Just when I thought I could not get any more unlucky today I awake at 2 A.M. to Pokey barking at someone who is approaching the van and trying to look into the driver’s side window.

Then I notice a yellow flashing light and realize it must be the Wal-Mart security person.

Now, there is a knock on the side door, as Pokey is growling and barking like a mad dog, as I try to locate my clothes and dress quickly in the dark.

I open the door and the security guard is telling me how sorry he is, but he has no choice.

He further tells me he doesn’t agree with the decision, but the manager called him and wants no one sleeping in the parking lot in their RV’s.

There are not a lot of us, only one other Class C and a Class A 35 footer. I guess Stockton is not most people’s vacation destination of choice.

I follow the Class C out of the parking lot. He drives across the street to the Home Depot lot and resumes his sleep.

I decide to go a few blocks further and find a side street with a number of truckers sleeping. I join them for the rest of the night and go back to sleep remembering the only other time we were run off from a Wal-Mart. It was in 2002, in Homestead, Florida at the entrance to the Florida Keys, and several police cars showed up like it was a major drug bust.

In this terrorist age, with repeat offender criminals, let out of prison daily, and serious crime at and all time high, you can sleep well, knowing there are a few brave souls on the frontlines, protecting this country in the middle of the night, by keeping seniors and retirees from invading your local Wal-Mart.

Rich is a state of mind...

I feel rich today! No, I didn’t win any money last night.

Well, actually, I won $4 for about 5 hours of poker playing.

The poker director and I were laughing as I cashed out my 80 cents per hour for a night of work. We both laughingly remembered, at each of our respective first jobs, we were paid 75 cents an hour.

Mine was working in a fast food place called Henry’s, a “McDonalds” imitation that never made it. I still remember standing outside during a break, late at night, not wanting to go back inside, because I disliked the work.

I have never felt that way about poker yet, and I hope I never do.

I spent the night in the little parking lot at the Elk Valley Casino, just outside of Crescent City, California.

I awoke about 8:30 a.m. and the sun was shining and I was excited.

The reason I was excited about the sun was two fold.

One, it had rained non-stop for the last two days, and more importantly, the most beautiful part of my trip was today. I would be driving through the “Redwoods Forests”.

John Muir, the famous botanist refers to a Redwood grove as “God’s Cathedral”. Even on a bright sunny day, like today, you are in the shade, because these enormous trees go up almost 30 stories, and some are bigger around then the RV is long. Majestic and magnificent fail to describe the experience of standing in a Redwood Grove. Underneath this canopy of trees, ferns grow everywhere, and the quiet is like another world.

Some of these trees have been growing from before man changed the calendar from B.C. to A.D.

US 101 now go around some of the best groves, but I remember the old roads, through the Redwood National Forest, and Prairie Creek State Park. No one drives them anymore except bicycles and those that know they are still there. So after locating the first one, I slow to about 20 miles per hour and roll down the windows to enjoy the drive through the Redwood Forests, as much as I can.

We stopped at a trailhead, and hiked in about a mile. Later, I saw a sign that said dogs weren’t allowed on the trails. Oh, well, Pokey got to “go where few dogs have gone before.”

A little later we pulled over to observe a herd of Elk. Pokey was fascinated by them as was I. Three miles later we saw what I first thought was an auto accident. A number of cars were on the side of the road and people were out milling around. It turns out it was a herd of 30 elk crossing the road and feeding right by the side of the road. We were within 20 feet of them. You could see the wonder on some people’s faces and the enjoyment on many others.

It was in this setting that I realized again that “rich” is a state of mind.

Here we were enjoying this setting and a logging truck comes barreling down the road.

He is both driving too fast for the setting, (this is a posted area with signs indicating an Elk Crossing Area.) and it is obvious that he is bugged that people stop to enjoy the elk.

They possibly impede his progress for a few seconds by slowing and pulling over. He is cursing and yelling out the window while pulling on his air horn to try to stampede the herd. Both the people and the elk looked at him with momentary interest, and then went back to what each was doing before.

In that situation the only one making money was the trucker. Yet, he was, by far, the “poorest one” in that setting of great richness.

For fear of sounding too Zen, I offer this lesson from this experience, “it is not what we possess that is important, it is what possess us that is most important”. Being possessed by wonderment is rich, being possessed by anger, and frustration is abject poverty.

We continued down the road, continuing to enjoy this “sacred setting”. We pulled off the road near the ocean shore just north of Eureka. Pokey, and I hiked through the brush to the ocean and walked, while looking at the rough churning sea of Northern California.

Then after this exercise it was back to the RV for a nap for the both of us.

Since this was turning out to be such a special day I decided to make a “special meal”. I opened the can of Spam, Fried some eggs with it and warmed up some flour tortillas. Of course I added a generous portion of hot sauce to mine. Pokey got all the same for breakfast minus the hot sauce. It was a meal fit for a Mexican King. Since Pokey is both English (Yorkshire) and Mexican (Chiawawa*), he qualifies in both counts.
(*Since I don’t know how to spell it I just wrote it the way you would understand.)

He “gulped it down”, showing his pleasure with brisk, tail wagging. I gulped mine down, but didn’t have a tail to wag.

After cleaning up it was time to get back on the road. After Eureka there are plenty more trees waiting for us.

Didn't it rain....

I didn’t play the shootout at 11 A.M. at the Mill in Coos Bay, Oregon.

In fact I was on the road by 9:45 A.M.

I think I wanted to get back to California to feel like I was making some progress toward home.
It rained all day again today. In fact the rain was so heavy at times I just pulled off the road and took some breaks three different times today.

The first break was at a view area overlooking the Ocean. There was not too much of a view because of the rain. I utilized the time to clean up the RV, and do a little writing, and make lunch.

Then near Gold Beach, Oregon, I found a little quiet spot near a Visitor’s Information site that was closed for the season. I took a nice long nap to the “drumbeats of rain” on the roof of the RV.

My third stop of the day was Brookings, Oregon when it began to rain so heavily my wipers had difficulty keeping up with the deluge.

I found a rest stop, “fired up” the hot water heater and took a shower and changed out of the clothes I had been wearing for the last two days. (I apologize if that is way too much information for some readers, but I want to be able to communicate the ambiance of an old guy and his dog living in close quarters). I wasn’t sure which one of us really had that “wet dog” smell, so I decided to eliminate the possibility it was me. (grin)

My final resting place for the day is at the Elk Valley, Casino outside of Crescent City, California.

I arrived here close to 5 p.m. and signed up for the 6 p.m. Single Table Tournament and then I am planning on playing some No-Limit Poker afterwards.

Tomorrow, my goal is to make it to just south of Eureka, California. I am hoping for a clear, or at least, a non-rainy day, so Pokey and I can do a little hiking in the Redwood Tree Groves.

P.S. I logged onto my Party Poker account and tried to play a little poker. As Party has promised they have suspended play with all U.S. players. So, I logged onto my account and transferred the $100 balance I still had with them back into my bank account.

An Era has ended. I was a “net loser” on-line over the last year. I shouldn’t be too sad about not being able to lose any more money on Party Poker. And I am certainly better off then many of my fellow Americans who don’t live within a close distance to a place to play poker. It is a sad day for poker players.

We continue to lose more freedoms everyday. Land of the free, home of the brave, needs to up-dated to “Land of the governmental fees and home of the legislative hypocrites.”

The Mill Casino, Coos Bay, Oregon

It rained all the way from Florence to Coos Bay, Oregon. I stopped about ½ way and took a nap because I planned on playing late in the evening at the Mill Casino in North Bend. We arrived at the Mill Casino in the middle of the day and I went in to check out the poker room. I was slightly disappointed. It was not a room. It was a roped off portion of the casino floor with two tables. The Casino reeked of smoke. Smoking was allowed anywhere in the Casino except the “roped off portion of the two poker tables.” I guess the smoke knew not to go past the ropes.

There was a 4/8 limit game going and the ½ No-Limit game would not start until 5:30 p.m.
I put my name on the list for the No-Limit game and went back to the RV to make dinner for poker and me.

The rain had stopped and the sun was shining, so I took Pokey for a long walk around the Casino park and out to the old wharf on the bay. He seemed to have a lot of fun and broke into a run and jumped quite a few times. I think he was happy the rain was over.

After reading and cleaning up from dinner I went in to play. The game didn’t begin until shortly after 6 p.m. There was one fellow my age, and the other 9 were all young men in their mid 20’s that were Caddies at a local Country Club.

A couple of them were good players. Two of them were really bad. And a few were just fair poker players. Fortunately, one of the really bad ones was lucky at Blackjack. He would lose $200 at poker and go to Blackjack and win a few hundred. He would come back and do it all over again. I think he transferred $800 from the Blackjack tables to the Poker Table. That is the only way I can win any Blackjack money. (That is, when someone brings it to the Poker Table.)

I lost my first hundred and bought back in for another $100. The game broke at midnight and I was about $400 up. So I did alright at the game tonight. I played well, but I got two lucky river cards that accounted for ½ my winnings tonight.

I may play a “shootout” in the morning at 11 A.M. and then hit the road for some serious driving. Tomorrow, I should make it to California on the coast somewhere around Crescent City.

A night in Florence, a day in the woods...

We spent the night last night in the RV at a Super Wal-Mart in Florence.

Then we drove the 50 miles to the Oregon coast in a light Oregon rain. The drive was so beautiful in the forest, we stopped two times just to walk by the river, through the trees, even though it was raining. Pokey, the dog, enjoyed all the smells, while I went for the visual beauty.

We stopped at a new casino in Florence: The Three Rivers Casino. It is a large dome tent and doesn't have any poker. So after stretching my legs, using their restroom, and walking a couple of times around the building I considered myself lucky and left without placing a bet. (grin)

Now I am sitting next to the "Lighthouse Historic Inn on the Ocean, using their Wireless Connection to write and upload this.

Next stop... The Mill Casino in Coos Bay, down the road another 50 miles.

Here is my tribute to the people that are doing the most damage to this beautiful country of us.

It is all disgustingly true....


Can you imagine working for a companythat has a little more than 500 employees and has the following statistics:

* 29 have been accused of spousal abuse
* 7 have been arrested for fraud
* 19 have been accused of writing bad checks
* 117 have directly or indirectly bankrupted at least 2 businesses
* 3 have done time for assault
* 71 cannot get a credit card due to bad credit
* 14 have been arrested on drug-related charges
* 8 have been arrested for shoplifting
* 21 are currently defendants in lawsuits
* 84 have been arrested for drunk driving in the last year...

Can you guess which organization this is?

Give up yet?

It's the 535 members of the United States Congress.

The same group that just passed a law banning us from playing on-line poker, because on-line poker was corrupting the moral fabric of this country.

Is it just me?

Or do you also think we are being led by idiots, without a clue?

A blast from the past.....

I am filled with emotion tonight and memories. I just had dinner with Bruce Westlund, my best friend from 5th grade until I was about thirty. Then we lost track of each other until yesterday, when I contacted him through his brother. I found a reference for his brother Paul on the Internet.

When I was 10 I went to Bruce’s house and said “Do you want to shoot some hoops?”

He was a year older then me at our church and we had only said Hi, a couple of times before that. We played basketball together, and became best friends. I went to a college because he was already there, we were roommates, and we quit college together. Then we joined the Army together. We separated in the Army, when he went to Vietnam and I was stationed in Korea. I got out before him, and got married. He lived with us, for a short time, while he was getting his feet back on the ground from having his head messed up by drugs & Vietnam.

The last time I saw him was in 1982. We had lunch at an Airport in New York City.

Caren, and I were flying back from the Middle East. He was working in New York for Federal Express.

We lost track of each other until tonight. We did a lot of talking to catch up the 25 years we had both lived since then. He is living here in Eugene, with his wife Jean, and near his brother and his family in Eugene.

When we both saw, each other we both started laughing, and I stated the obvious. It looked like we were each wearing “old guy masks.” It took a couple of hours to adjust to the old guy in Bruce’s body, and I am sure it was the same for him.

We laughed, we shared some disappointments in our life and some struggles. He has in-laws near us in San Diego, so we talked about being able to see each other again in a year or so.

What a treat to have such a long time friend who still cares for me and I for him.

I suggested we split the dinner check in case it is another 25 years we won’t remember who owes, whom, a dinner. (grin)

Last of Spirit Mountain...

Well, the day began with a tournament here at Spirit Mountain Casino, near the Northern Oregon coast. I lasted till the blinds got to 1K & 2K and had 6K left, after paying my big blind. One person limped in and the small blind called and I checked with a J7 unsuited. The flop came J, 10, 8 and the small blind went all in for 4K. I thought he probably had me beat, but I said…”well, I hear you have to get lucky to win one of these things and I threw in my 4K thinking he had a Jack with a better kicker, then the bettor called also behind us. When the hands were exposed, it turns out, the small blind only had a pair of 6’s, but the caller had a J,10 for two pair. I needed a 9 to make a straight, in order to survive. It didn’t come and I was out.

I went back to the RV, played with Pokey, read and took a long afternoon nap. Then after making us dinner, I went in to play for the evening. I played 2-4 N/L from 4-10 p.m. with a very enjoyable table. The two gentlemen to my right, and I told jokes for hours. The whole table was laughing either with us, or at us.

The only part that was frustrating was, there were two horrible players that raised often with nothing. The lost at least a thousand each from their horrible play and very little of it to me. They were such easy money, and I was card dead all evening. I went 3 hours without being able to play a hand. I was willing to play and two cards over tens, and any two suited connectors from 6-10 never once got any cards within that range in that 3 hour period and that is difficult to accomplish.

I only wanted to risk $200 tonight, so I would blind down under $100 before I got any cards to play, and then would double up to $200 and do it again. I think I did it 4 times in 6 hours.

When I got down to $70 I looked for a place to go all in. One of the horrible players, bet $20 in first position and I knew he would not have a very good hand. I only had A,10, but figured everyone else would drop if I went in for my last $70. I did and they did, and he called.

He had a KJ and sure enough a J came on the river and my $200 buy-in was gone. I thanked everyone, and told the two to my right, how much I enjoyed playing with them and joking with them and headed back to the RV to walk Pokey.

Now I am drinking a cup of hot chocolate, thinking about the evening and wondering if there was something else I could have done for a different outcome.

Well, it is still early enough after I am refreshed I may go in for a second round tonight and hopefully get some better cards.

(A little later….)

Well, I did go back and played until 2 A.M. I did catch some cards, and more importantly I caught a couple of players who thought they were a lot better then they were. I was able to have pretty good read on them most of the time and was able to win back most of the money I lost in that wild 10/20 game in La Center.

This will be my last night in Spirit Mountain Casino. I am going to drive down to Eugene Oregon, tomorrow evening to have dinner with an old friend. Bruce Westlund and I were best friends from 10 to age 30 then we lost track of each other for 25 years.

Tomorrow night we will have some catching up to do.

Pokey the dog, enter's his first poker tournament...

Well Pokey the dog buys into his first poker tournament, but he doesn’t win it. Here is how it happened.

When I pulled into the parking lot of the Chips Casino in La Center, Washington yesterday, I noticed a line of people at the front door of the casino. So Pokey the dog, and I walked over to investigate. We found out that a poker tournament was going to start in 30 minutes, when the Casino opens at noon.

I was also told this was only a three table tournament, and there were already 22 people in line. Three more guys were walking this way. So Pokey and I got in line. One of the regulars said they only allow 5 alternates and then turn away the rest. I was hoping they would come out and give cards or markers to the first 30 in line. Then I would take Pokey back to the RV before I had to go inside. It was not to be.

At noon the doors opened and our line marched in. I picked Pokey up and tucked him under my arm. When we reached the door the security guard looked at me, then at Pokey, and I quickly said. I will take him right out, as soon as I secure my place in line.

The line slowly slinked past the main cage, where the cashier saw Pokey and smiled.

Then when I got to the tournament director’s desk I shielded him with my body, slapped my money down and got my seat card. I did an “about face”, and marched out of the casino, saying “thank you so much”, to the security guard.

I got Pokey settled in the RV, and walked back into the Casino and took my seat waiting for the tournament to begin.

A few minutes later the tournament Director, and another security guard approached my chair on both sides. The director said Sir, do you have a dog with you? I looked at her blankly, and said have you checked under the table?

She said in a stern voice, there better not be a dog under the table.

I said “did someone see a dog?” She said, “upstairs” saw you with a dog”.

I said “really, do you think they might be drinking up there?” Now, she is starting to laugh while still trying to look stern.

I said, I saw the sign at the entrance that said no weapons in the casino, but I missed the sign about dogs.

Now, she is realizing I don’t have a dog, and she is about to laugh at the situation, but she was trying to still act stern. After a moment of her looking at me, I finally said “did you know there was a monkey that played at the World Series of Poker this year” and they made him leave. (Which is true)

She said “she didn’t know anything about that, and grinned and said “crazy old man”.

She wasn’t that much younger then me, so I let that one go with only a grin.

Later, when she came back by, I said, you know that was really a serious situation, no one “carded” him when he came in and he is underage.

She walked away with a grin, just shaking her head.

Then the jokes began at the table about a couple of poker players that smell like old dogs.

And the guy that use to date only dogs before he got married. This hand is a dog… oh, no offence meant… (And on, and on, and on it went).

I didn’t win the tournament, but it sure was fun.

I leave some money at the state line.....

After understanding the food policy at the Ironhorse Casino, we started driving south on Hwy 161.

I try to avoid Interstates, whenever there is an alternative available. I also try to avoid as much commuter traffic as possible. Taking that approach opens the opportunity for little discoveries like the beautiful Spanaway Park, on the edge of Spanaway Lake.

Spanway Park is a beautiful forest of old growth Pines with cushions of pine needles and well cut paths leading down to a majestic lake. Spanway Lake reminded me of my favorite lake in Wisconsin, Lake Spencer in Waupaca.

Pokey and I enjoyed walking among the beautiful old trees until it began to get dark. We found a back road that skirted around Fort Lewis and eventually got on I5 for a few miles until we exited at the Super Wal-mart in Chellis, Washington. I needed to do a little grocery shopping, and read, and clean up the RV and those are good places to do it.

I hope to get a fairly early start tomorrow in order to make a noon tournament about an hour south of here in La Center where we are planning on spending the day.

(Later in the day)….

I got knocked out of the tournament with the best hand pre-flop. I feel like I did my best whenever that happens. I had pocket 8’s and got called all-in by KQ off-suit. Most players don’t realized how easily dominated that hand is. Not only does any pair dominate it, but most players will call or even call all in with AK when calling. Then ½ of the outs are no good for the KQ.

After the tournament I played 4/8 for a few hours and broke even.

Then I walked across the street and joined a 10/20 game. I had my first significant loss in that game. I am frustrated, not at myself, but at the 5 bad beats it took to beat me at that game in the space of 3 hours. I lost with AA, on the river to a guy who called me down with 4/5 and caught a 5 on the turn. I lost after flopping a straight, three of a kind, and a King high flush along Aces and Kings when I flopped top two pair.

Well, when I think back at my time in Washington. I will remember it fondly, except for this afternoon. I dropped $700, when I should have been up at least $300, if anyone of those bad beats had not occurred.

Oh, vey, dat’s poker, as dey sey!

Well, I am going to dump the crap out of my RV here at the rest stop before I leave the state. I am also working on “dumping” the “bad attitude” I am caring right now too. Too bad changing an attitude is not like dumping the RV. Just attach a hose and open a valve and you are empty and clean again…..

I got to remember and practice what Johnny Moss said years ago….” The next best thing to a day of playing poker and winning is a day of playing poker and losing.

I had my day.

No free food for you

Policy is policy….

I left Muckleshoot Casino after winning the tournament this morning and headed over to The Iron Horse Casino to play a little 3/6 while I ate their free lunch.

It was not to be. I stopped in and there was a list of 4 waiting for a seat at the table.

Well, I thought I would just order the lunch while I waited. The last two times, I stopped in they asked me if I wanted my player’s food comp while I waited. They were quite friendly about it.

This time there was a Chinese Woman floor manager who was badly in need of customer service skills.

When I asked if I could eat while I waited she said “Only people with player club card can do”. Then I remembered when I stopped in here the first time they were so nice I signed up for the player club card because I thought I would be back.

So I said “no problem, here and handed her my club card. I went over sat down and started looking at a menu. She came back in a few minutes and said. “No free food until you play, you have only played here a few hours. Only customer, who have played many hours here can eat free food before they play.”

I said that is right I have only played here about 6 hours because I joined TWO DAYS ago. Then I made a mistake by attempting to use logic with her. “So when I get a seat how long will I have to play before I order free food?

She said. “No wait, you play, you can order right away”. Ok, I say let’s see if I got this straight. I want to play now. But, you can’t give me a seat now. You don’t have a seat for me.
I want to eat, but I can’t eat till I get a seat?

She then proceeds to say, “I explain policy to you so you understand. I said I don’t understand your policy. She said “I explain, you play a lot of hours on your card. you eat before you play. You not play a lot of hours you eat when you play. “Now I explain policy and you understand”.

I said are you the poker supervisor today? She said yes and proceeds to begin to explain the policy again. . I said I understand your policy now. I don’t like your policy. I don’t like your customer service policy. I don’t like your room anymore, I quit your club, here take my card, I don’t stay now that I understand your policy.

She continued to follow me to the door saying that is policy.

I went to the RV and ate lunch in peace.

Won a tournament!

I woke up in time to just make it to the morning $60 buy-in No-Limit tournament at Muckleshoot Casino. There were about 40 players and the tournament started at 10:30 A.M.

I won it.

I had almost all the chips, though I did agree to a chop within a chop.

They normally only pay 4 places in this tournament. When there were 6 people, we agreed to give everybody $200 out of the price pool, regardless of what position they went out in. Then first place would pay an additional $300 and 2nd place would pay $100.

I did play well. I avoided playing suited K10, in two different situations I used to do without thinking much about it. In either case I would have been knocked out of the tournament had I played that hand.

There is one noteworthy hand that caused me to win the tournament. We were down to 5 players and the blinds were 1K & 2K.

I had about 12K and was the 2nd lowest chip count. I was in seat 1 on the small blind.

Seat 7 raised it to 4k of his 8k in chips. Seat 8 raised it to 6K which to me, based on his previous play was an obvious attempt to steal it with a non-premium hand or he would have gone all-in.

I thought about it for quite awhile and believed he was on a King high to do that.

I went all-in for my 12K with my A5 suited. The big blind right behind me, started to call by throwing in a handful of 1k chips across the line. He then froze up with fear and said I thought the bet was only 6K not 12K and pulled his chips back out of the pot.

The tournament director was actually dealing to give a dealer a break at the time. I glanced at him and he looked back at me. Technically, if a player objects, to that breach of the rules, that player is forced to put in his chips and call the bet.

I held my mouth shut. The tournament dealer continued to look at me and I said nothing.

He then proceed on with dealing the hand. He cannot call the foul. He can only enforce it when another player points it out. I did not want him in, and I was not about to force him into playing.

The hand was played out. An Ace came on the flop. I won it with a single pair of Aces with my weak little 5 kicker. The big blind, the player, who had retracted his bet was in anguish. He had an A10 and he believed I must have had a bigger kicker then him to play it that strong.
The tournament director told him and I the real play of the day was when I didn’t say anything and let him retract his chips.

He said a lot of players immediately react to something like that and say he has to put his chips in. My nice guy image, deceived the player, and offered a reasonable reason for my not objecting to him, removing his chips, out of the pot, after he had thrown them in.

I then was able to use my big stack to bully the table and knock two others out, which gave me the mammoth chip lead.

I was willing to split the pot, and possibly make a $100 less then I might have, because I am a nice guy. However the real reason I agreed to chop at the end is, because I know anything can happen in a poker game regardless of how many chips you are ahead.

Back to Auburn again....

This afternoon in Renton, Washington, Pokey the Dog and I walked around in the city park. A couple of guys playing basketball let me borrow one of their basketballs. I shot some free throws. The shooting and the bouncing of the basketball freaked Pokey out a little and he stayed on the outside of the court.

I went into Diamond Lil’s Casino in Renton which had a number of nice games. They played 4/8, 8/16 &12/24 limit which I had never seen before. I asked about the tournament and was told it started at 6:30 p.m. I should have asked what kind of tournament it was?
I bought in for the $65 and then walked Pokey the ½ hour before it started.

The first hand I raised to $200 and was laughed at. It was a limit tournament. The limits at that time were $25. (That was all you could bet)

I never play limit tournaments. I don’t think there is much skill involved, you just have to get luck and have the best cards. Also they take a long time to complete. I didn’t last very long in the tournament and was soon looking for a live game.

I started at a 4/8 game waiting for a 8/16 seat to open up. It did, and the table was filled with pretty good players. I was able to get up only about $40 in the first hour. Then a new table started and I moved over to it hoping to find a “softer” game. I did and was able to double my $200 buy-in over the next hour.

I decided to start driving back further south toward Muckelshoot Casino in Auburn because this Casino had no parking lot. I was parked in a grocery store lot that had just closed and it was a pretty dark lot.

When I drove back into Auburn, I remembered where a couple of Internet access points were. I drove to one of them upload my latest blog. I also spent a little time reading other Poker Blogs and checking my email.

I stopped in the Iron Horse Casino I had visited here in Auburn last week and was able to double up my money on a 3/6 game. I got some nice cards and made some big pots with two sets against top two pair. They also have free food comps, so I had a salad and sandwich on them.

I am going to drive the two miles to Muckleshoot Casino and spend the night in their parking lot. Tomorrow, I may start driving further south.

I will check to see if their No-Limit game is going tonight. I kind of doubt it because of it being Tuesday night.

Only a couple of days left in Washington.


Good night from Muckelshoot Casino.

Renton Casinos...

Well, I woke up in the parking lot of the Drift on Inn and Hollywood Casino in North Shore, Washington at 11:00. It was just in time to make Pokey the dog and me breakfast and get inside for the 11:30 morning tournament. Who needs to shower and change clothes when you are an old guy and a dog traveling in an RV. It would be different if Caren were with us, but brushing my teeth and hair is enough for this morning. (I will refrain from trying to turn this into a joke about the “hair of the dog”.)
Who do I want to impress anyway? (I know who will be there, 40 other old guys, who have the time to play a poker tournament at 11:30 in the morning on a work day. Beside they wouldn’t be impressed if I came in a Tuxedo. In fact, it would make the jokes that much worse.)

I made the final table and went out in third place for $220. I only got all-in lucky once. Early in the tournament I went raised all-in with an Ace-King diamonds and got called by a pair of Kings. The flop had an Ace and he was upset, but as I candidly admitted when he said he had the best hand pre-flop “You got to get lucky, to win one of these things.”

I was the chip leader when were at three and the other two were playing super cautious. We also had made an agreement to split the pool $220 for 2nd & 3 and $270 for 1st so I played a little more aggressive at this point thinking I could dominate. I would have if it wasn’t for two hands getting outdrawn. The first one I went all in with KK against 99 and a third 9 flopped. He won that one.

The very same guy I went all in with 99 two hands later and he turned over AQ. A third 9 flopped giving me almost a lock. However, anything can happen in a poker draw and it did. The other two in the flop were J,7. The turn was K, and the river a 10 for him to hit a runner-runner-gut-shot straight. It was a very low probability, but as I say about probabilities in poker draws, after the fact it is a 100% probability and no amount of skill can beat a lucky draw.

I felt very good about my tournament play and it took two low probability outdraws to get me out of the tournament.

So we headed south through Seattle to a South East Suburb of Renton. I am planning on playing here tonight and finding a place to stay the night here.

Pokey and I stopped at the main public park for some serious walking time and dog playing time. He has been such a great companion on the trip and has done so well in the RV with me.

I just flipped on the hot water heater. I may take a little nap, make dinner, and take a shower before I go to Diamond Lil’s or Freddie’s Club. I have a program on the computer even when I am not on-line that let’s me look up any address in the U.S. and get directions to it. It has served me well in finding my way to small casinos I see advertised in Poker Magazines.

One day, seven Casinos

Well, I finally had a losing session. It wasn’t bad though. I lost $100 playing 4/8 at the Drift On Inn after 3 hours of play there tonight.

Today, has been a marathon of Casinos for me.

I woke up this morning and left the Tulalip Indian Casino and drove into Everett, Washington and stopped first at the New Grove Casino.

They have my vote for the friendliest casino I have ever been in. After you give your name, each of the dealers calls you by name. Even the dealers, who have just come on shift, after you have been there awhile, call you by your name. The regular players each call you by your name. The level of respect was truly remarkable.

I played 3/6 Omaha until a seat in the 4/8 Hold-em game opened up. I moved tables about $20 up. I then played another two hours and left this casino up $12.

I drove a little farther south on Hwy 99 and came to an Iron Horse casino. There was a tournament starting in a half hour, so I went out to the RV and made dinner for pokey and me.

There were 24 people in the tournament and I finished in 5th place. It paid me $25 which was the amount of the buy-in. So I broke even for the tournament.

I drove just a little further down Hwy 99 and stopped in at the Royal Casino. All they had was one table of 3/6. When I told the board man “I think I will drive a little more”, he said, “that’s a good idea”, looking over at the guys at the table. I am not sure what exactly that meant, but I thanked him and started out the door. I noticed they had a lot of decks of cards stacked over in the corner and I requested some for the patients at Caren’s hospital program. They were very gracious and gave me an entire case of used decks of cards for her.

Another 10 miles down the road I stopped in at the Silver Dollar Casino. They did not have any poker going at the time so I went down the block to the Red Dragon Casino. As you may guess, it appeared to have Asian ownership and a lot of Asian customers. I played 4/8 for a few hours and was served a free Chinese dinner of General Tso Chicken over broccoli. It was very delicious.

I left there up 2 dollars, plus a free meal, and drove down the road and saw the Drift-on Inn. I had stopped there on the way north and had a very nice time.

This time I decided to park right by the casino entrance so I could spend the night in what I believe to be a safe, well-lit area. The last time I was here I parked on the perimeter of the parking lot and the area did not feel that safe to me.

So the net count today is 7 casinos visited and about a net $80 loss. I sure got in a lot of hands of poker for that $80 and if I hadn’t made a dumb mistake on one of the last hands I played, I would have broken even.

I had a 5,6 and the flop came 776. I bet out and 4 people called. I assumed one of them must have the 7. The turn was an 8 and I checked. Three people bet. I decided to call because the pot odds were good and I had an open ended straight draw. I probably should have raised, but I went passive on this hand, which is usually not a good thing to do.
Then the river came a Q and I checked and two people called. They were both good players. I thought one of them surely has a 7. The first caller threw his hand in face down for a fold after getting called. The second one turned up an A9. All he had was an Ace High. I would have won with my pair of 6’s he bluffed both me and the other guy who threw his hand face down out of the pot. It was a good play and maybe, if I had not played all day, I would have called and won, like I should have because of the amount of money in the pot.

Oh, well, that really is the only mistake I can think of that I made today, and it didn’t cost me too much, so I am not going to be too hard on myself for that one. I am going to just try not to do it again.

Well, tomorrow is another day. Hopefully, it will be clear, because I am hoping to do a little sightseeing in the east suburbs of Seattle.

Tuda-loo Tudalip!

I am going to miss this place. So far the nicest poker room and the nicest RV parking lot I have enjoyed on this trip has been here at Tulalip in Marysville, Washington

I am planning on leaving tomorrow, but I have not had a losing session here at all. I wonder how long it could go on?

I just came back from another later session in the evening on 3/5 No Limit. I bought in for $200 and cashed out $800 about 2 hours later. I am playing at the right times. I have been lucky hitting cards, getting out early, and taking advantage of my position. It has been a very profitable time here at Tulalip, but I do need to start moving on. Beside, the Casino closes at 6 A.M. and I have heard the games will not be that juicy until closer to next weekend. So I am trying to play smart as well as play at the right times.

It is a very cold night tonight with a full moon out. There is frost on the windows. I think it is ice on the outside of the front window shield.

Tomorrow I will stop by Marysville to upload these last couple of blogs and then will check out Everett and a couple of little casinos I saw there on the way. I am hoping to find a rest stop with a RV dump so I can start this next leg of the trip with empty holding tanks and a full load of fresh water.

Good night for now from the great Northwest. Let’s see how I do with some weekday limit games at smaller clubs. Maybe, I will get to play one of those blackjack tournaments again.

How not to celebrate a birthday.....

The one thing about Poker is no matter how many times you have played it. No matter how many years you may have played, you will probably see something new every day you play.

Today I did. I just participated in the hand of the century. It is hard to imagine I will ever see anything quite so unlikely or so emotionally satisfying.

I sat down at a 3/5 No Limit game at Tulalip Casino. There was an Asian woman who was celebrating her 39th birthday by drinking all day. She was loud, she was obnoxious, she was drunk, and she would go all in with no hand or any hand. I also suspect she was maniac-depressive on a maniac episode.

She would lose a thousand. Then she would re-buy and go all in on a 5 and a 7 for $500.

Of course the KK would call her and she would catch a 5 and a 7 for two pair to get a thousand back.
I was getting a headache from her noise and I didn’t wish to play poker like this so I moved to the bigger game that was just opening up. She moved there.

She continued that pattern and I won a couple of smaller pots. However, I wasn’t willing to move in $500 pre-flop, so I couldn’t play much and folded respectable hands when she would do that.

Now comes the hand of the century.

I looked down at pocket tens on the button. A bet for $25 was made, then it was called by three people. I decided since I had been playing so tight this would be a good time to try to steal the $100 out there so I raised it to $125. The person to my left, who had about as many chips as I had, re-raised it to $325.

The yelling birthday girl goes all in for $450. The seat to my right goes all in for $450.

I was praying he wouldn’t bet, so it would be an easy decision for me to fold. It is now $325 more to me, but I had won about $700 so far and the odds were acceptable, so I decided to gamble by calling.

The flop came 5,5,Q The guy with chips looks at me and checks. I check back. The turn comes another 5. I have a full house with 10’s, but I don’t think that is going to be good enough to win this hand. He checks and I check.

The river comes the 4th five, putting quad 5’s on the board with a queen kicker. Any Ace or King is going to win the pot and I am looking at tens.

He checks, I check and the four of us turn over our cards. The guy to my right has 88, I have 10,10, the guy to my left has JJ, and the screamer has QQ, who proceeds to scream at the top of her lungs “I won, I won.” Not once, not twice, but more times then I could count. This was not your ordinary screaming either. This was glass shattering, hands over their ears by the persons on either side of her, and potential serious ear damage screaming. “I won, I won, I won….” finally someone got her attention and told her this $1700 pot she was screaming, that she thought she had won, was a 4 way split. She did not win it.

Everybody who played won, because the best hand was the board quad 5’s with a queen kicker. It didn’t matter that she had 3 queens. We all shared the board Queen, and no one had a King or an Ace that would have been higher then the board.

Now her screaming of ecstasy turned into shrieks of cursing. The guy next to her, told her to shut up, and they got into a yelling match. Then the floor person came over to try to quiet her down and she walked out of the room, while yelling at the dealer, the floor person, and the player to her right in a rapid, maniac, shrieking manner.

As we stacked our $450 of chips each, that we had put in the pot, the smiles were ear to ear. Even the people who were not in the hand, and the 20 or so people who had gathered around the table to watch the spectacle were laughing and talking about that hand.

The river 5 was the only card in the deck that could have produced that four-way split.

She had the best hand from Pre-Flop thru the turn, and only the highest mathematically improbability possible in poker could have had this result.

Only the emotion, the drama, the probabilities, and the psychology of poker could have produced a experience like this. It could not have been scripted any better.