POWAH POKAH CAN LEAD TO BAAAAD BEATS! - The obsession with Poker (Part 2)

"Money won is twice as sweet as money earned"- From the movie The Color of Money

Texas Hold'em has invaded my world and I'm hooked. This love affair began last summer when I started hanging out in the west end with my new friends and its been quite a ride so far. I have always gravitated towards all things that involved some level of risk taking as far back as I can remember. I did the Bungee jumping thing at age 15 off a bridge in the middle of New Zealand, next on the agenda was getting my sky diving certificate and that was followed by my frequent trips to Foxwoods casino (Connecticut) when I was in University (I was a fiend for Blackjack). This game though took it further, this was not just a risk...a gamble... but now there was mind games added to the mix. I love the rush you get just before the 3 cards are shown on he flop... even more than that... I love saying the two words "ALL-IN!!"

The words Tilt, Flop, River, Paint, and 4th street carry a whole different meaning for those who have entered the world of poker. When I hear the word river, I don't think about a stream of water that empties into the ocean, rather, I think about the last community card shown on the table when playing a game of Texas hold'em. Then that word will further trigger the memories of getting a BAD BEAT on the river. I came across a website dedicate just to this "rivered again" and it made me smile... Yes!!! Bad Beats deserve a shrine :) Now I know I am not alone when it comes to getting fucked on the river!
p.s: I am soooo buying one of these t-shirts soon... I love it!

At the start of this affair with poker it was hard... I lost a lot in order to learn the game. I went days losing 10$ a day in hopes of becoming better at the game and as they say practice makes perfect. As winter rolled around and we began to play cards more since it was too cold to go out I started winning a few games here and there and before you know it I am running weekly game at my house. Religion Sundays was already in place for me at the time as Sunday is my holy day... 11 hours of Football!! We just added a new dimension to it... watchin the game and playing poker... I was in heaven :) All this time I am still working on a good poker face ( still don't have a good one) but my friends know all my tells so we want to expand the circle. I call up a few acquaintance's and turns out they always lookin' for a good game... this sounded good to me.. new people wont know how I play easier to play with them. From their perspective it was " No gurl gonna be takin my money!! This is going to be easy!!" The games were great... On any given day I could get together 8-10 people and put together a game at my place. Things have since spiraled out of control as I now and getting phone calls from friends of friends of friends asking if I am running a game and if not then they try to coerce me into it. I mean its great winning random peoples money but I cant do it every night. Over the last 2 weeks I played poker about 8 days... a bit excessive even for my liking. For now I'm pokered out.. I am taking a 2 week hiatus.

On that note here is my top 3 bad beats I took that sting me even thinking of them and stung even worse when they happened!

1. My hand = jack and ten off-suit : Community cards= (flop)queen, 8, 9 (turn)2 (river)2. Hand that fucked me over = Queen , 2 off-suit!! (thanx Chris)
My gripe: Now I have flopped a nut straight and a pretty high one too!! Who the hell plays a queen 2 off-suit when u are not in the blinds!!! As you can tell a runner runner happened and I got fucked on the river by the full house that beat out my straight! I didn't go all-in on the flop because I felt I had a chance to extract more chips from the other players in the hand. In the end I ended up losing half my stack :(

2. My hand = Ace, Queen off-suit : Community cards= (flop)queen, 9, Ace (turn)7 (river)10. Hand that fucked me over = Jack , 8 suited (thanx Adam)
My gripe: Now I have flopped the top two pair. I raise and the aforementioned calls along with two other people at the table. When the turn comes I raise a lot others bow out and he re-raises I guess he is got a half bluff going and so I call it. Here comes the turn!! and there it is... rivered again. He goes all in and I call it the fool I am and *boom* just like that I am done for the night. Why would u chase a close ended straight so far into the hand I will never know but I do know it was a bad beat if I ever seen one.

3. My hand = Ace, 10 off-suit Community cards= (flop)queen, 10, Ace (turn)2 (river)queen. Hand that fucked me over = queen , 10 suited (thanx m)
My gripe: Now I have flopped the two pair ace high. I raise all-in as I remember the last time I got rivered. When I didn't play aggressive in this situation. I get one person who calls me he has hit 2 pair as well with queen high. I am short stacked so this was my time to make a move. Turn gives me some breathing room and I am grinning only to see a queen show up on the river!!! He made the full house and once again I was fucked on the river.

That my friends is a glimpse into my poker nights. If I can recommend a movie about it, the best one made has to be Rounders with Matt Damon. It has tons of classic poker lines and great drama. If you like poker and haven't seen it yet... you are missing out... so go to your nearest movie rental place and grab it.. Until next time "may your cards be live and your pots be monsters!!" - from the world poker tour.