I Feel ALIVE! Aug 26 '03    Write an essay on this topic. Tweet Popular Products in Music Jersey Boys [Original Broadway Cast Recording] by Original Broadway Cast From $8 Mai by Eri Sugai From $4 The Bottom Line Just a small poker experience that I thought I might share with anyone interested. The following will be a short story from one of my experiences playing poker. I myself enjoy little stories like this from average everyday players and I hope you will too. If you've never played poker before, or just a nickel dime game at home, I urge you to give it a try. The small limit players aren't nearly as vicious as the ones you've probably seen on TV. Most casinos offer free lessons once a week or so to anyone willing to learn to play the game. It also happens to be the only game in the casino that the house doesn't have an edge on you (of course you don't play the house). Note: This is pretty long, so leave yourself some time if you want to read the whole thing. After sitting in a $3/$6 fixed limit Texas Hold 'em game at the El Dorado Hotel & Casino in Reno Nevada (hotel review coming soon), I find myself with about $360 in chips. More then a modest win in a game of such small limits. Personally, I feel like a million dollars. For the past 4 hours I have been giving every player at that table the ride of their life, using every play in the book against them. Some of the small time professionals are glad to see me leave, but politely say, 'Nice playing with you.' anyways. The drunks don't seem to notice, as they look at poker like it's bingo. Just another Casino game to them. The players are insignificant. This is the single biggest win I've had to that date in casino play. I felt pumped up to try my skill and see just how good I was. This was only the 3rd time I've played poker in a casino. I had a year and a half experience under my belt playing free Internet poker. As well as my dime ante game back home. This was a big money game to me. I mean I just made a weeks pay in 4 hours! I could do no wrong. As I walk over to cash out, I peer over my shoulder to a $100 minimum buy-in No Limit game at table nine. The 'Biggest game in town'. It had dwindled down to 4 players now. That was where the action had been all night long. Could I beat some of the toughest players in Reno at No limit play? I had to find out. It was all profit anyway right? The kind floorman greets me and gets ready to hand me a few crisp bills with Ben Franklin freshly painted on them. I told him to give me 60 bucks cash and 3 stacks of red (1 stack is 20 chips, making it $100 for a stack of red). I walk over to the table and plop down in seat 2. As I set up my chips, the dealer promptly asks me if I want a hand. I tell him that I've never played 'Brick-and-Mortar' no limit before and I'll watch a round or two. I had always done well playing no limit on the Internet, despite my limited poker education and experience at the time. What I quickly found out in this game was, you don't get much respect being a younger player who is obviously a virgin to no limit play. On the web all the players look the same, so when I make a bet, everyone assumes that I'm a 43 year old accountant who knows every move. Here, that clearly wasn't the case. After about 30 minutes of trash cards and me evaluating my opponents, I find myself with only about $240 of my original $300 left. Not too bad, but I made one fatal mistake when I sat down. Everyone else at the table had at least $600, one with over $1500! I was being bullied like the guy with thick glasses and braces in 4th grade. Finally, I got a hand worth playing. I was in the big blind with the 7 and 5 of different suits. The player in first position called the blinds cold and so did the small blind. The flop came down Kh-6h-4s (h=hearts, s=spades, etc). I tried my hardest to keep my face stone cold. I had just flopped an open-ended straight draw. Not worth anything yet, but it has the possibility to win me big money if I hit. The small blind checks to me. Now is my chance, I've been the little push over the last half hour. I had to make a move. I needed to let them know I wasn't afraid to put out a day's pay at my near minimum wage job into the pot. I keenly bet out $60. An appropriate bet as the pot currently had exactly $60 in it. Meaning it would be mathematically wrong to call if you had a flush draw, since I'm costing you $60 to win $120 and it's a 4.2-1 shot on the next card. The guy behind me folds immediately, without a second thought. Good, I'm half way there. I want to win the pot right now, because I don't really have anything. Then it gets to the small blind, who checked previously. He ponders for a short while, then pushes his entire stack in. How much doesn't matter, because it's more then what I got. Great, that guy just presented me with the worst case scenario. It would be very wrong for me to call, given that he Must have me beat, and only 8 cards in the deck could help me. Even then I might still lose. What have I done? I'm not ready for this game. Most of the players were at least twice my age and had 10 times the experience I did. What was I thinking? Well, I know one thing for sure, this guy knew I could be bullied around. I would have gladly called him with a pair of kings. Unfortunately, I didn't have even that. Before I realize what I was doing, I hear the words come out of my mouth, 'I call'. What!? I call! What in the world was I thinking? Well, it was too late now. I lay my hand face-up and close my eyes, the cards will do the rest. I hear the dealer pound his fist on the table to let everyone know the betting round is over. Another pound. All the cards are out now. Time to see if it was my turn to get lucky. Before I can open my eyes I hear a player at the end of the table say something,' What's he got over there?'. Another player responds immediately, 'That'd be the nuts'. My eyes fly open. I'd made my straight! The poker gods were smiling on me now! I was unstoppable. The dealer pushes the monster pile of $500 in red chips my way. I can hardly contain myself. All I can hear from my opponents mouth is a mutter of disgust, as he gets up for a break. I'm ready to go now. The other players know I'm not afraid to make some moves. They'll never see what hit 'em. Although I just made a pretty stupid play, it paid off. Now I've got a little respect. Another 20 minutes go by and I won a small pot, but not much else and my stack is looking healthy at about $480, although it's still the tiniest at the table. In fifth position I come across the ace and 3 of diamonds. Not exactly a powerhouse, but I manage to sneak into the pot with it anyway. Again, with 3 different opponents, the dealer pleases me with a flop of 3h-5d-7d. This time, not only do I have four of my 5 diamonds needed for the nut flush (If you haven't figured out, the 'Nuts' is poker lingo for the best possible hand), and I have a pair of 3s! It doesn't get much better then that. I'm the first one to act, so I smoothly check, hoping to get a free card or let someone else bet for me so I know what they're sitting on. The guy to my left also checks and the player down the table makes a strong bet of $100. $100!, That's almost twice what's in the pot. Is this guy insane? With a bet that big he's probably either bluffing or has something resembling AJ and he thinks it's good. That bet is far too big for me to just call. After a few seconds of deciding, I push my whole stack in. 'What'cha gunna do now?', I think to myself. It'll cost you $350 to call. Basically I'm trying to represent a set of 5s, or at least a pair of 9s. He can't possibly call me with a lone 3, 5, or 7. 'Who raised?' he asks. What kind of question is that? you know damn well who raised. Then, he calls my bet without hardly even thinking about it. Crap, I'm going to need some help again. This time I watch as the cards fall. No flush, no ace, no 3. All I got is one lousy pair. He shows me a 4 and a 6 for all of my money. 46? who plays 46? Are you kidding me? at least have pocket 10s or something! 'Good game guys', I mutter as I get up to leave. No one responds. Two months later, I'm back in the El Dorado. Once again feeling like a Million dollars after taking a local $10/$20 limit hold 'em game, down at the Peppermill(review coming soon!), for over 2 grand in less than 8 hours over 2 days. After gaining some extra experience from some no limit Internet play, and reading over my poker library, I felt I was ready to take another shot at the No Limit table. This time, I did two thing differently. First, I signed up for the game a day in advance, so I wouldn't be stuck with the veteran players who had mountains of chips late in the game. Second, I bought in for $400 assuring that I wouldn't be short stacked. To my surprise, I had more chips then anyone at the table. The players were playing very tight early in the game, allowing me to steal a lot of pots, working my stack up about 80 bucks. Some of the better players were catching on to what I was doing, so I had to slow down from time to time, but I still was definitely the table aggressor. Not long after the game had started, I found myself into a 6 way pot with 57 suited. A very mediocre hand, but ok against 6 players if you can get in cheap, which I did. As the dealer shows the first 3 cards, I'm very glad to see it come 3s-4h-6d. I just flopped the nuts, a 7 high straight! Not only that, but the first guy to act bets $40 right into me! It's a poker player's dream. Now, I'm faced with a decision; Do I go ahead and raise, most likely winning a small pot, or just call, hoping I can get all my money in on the turn without a better hand being produced. Since I'm not too fond of the latter being a counterfeit card, I say' Raise $100'. The dealer repeats what I've said so it's clear, 'Raise it another $100'. 'No', I say, 'I meant raise it to $100'. 'listen', says an impatient player on my right, 'we already discussed this earlier, you said raise $100'. 'Fine', I said. Besides, why should I argue? I've got the iron clad nuts. The next two players pass on their hands and it gets down to the last guy before the original bettor. 'Raise, all-in', he says. This is just wonderful, not only did my argument with the dealer make it look like I didn't have a good hand, but the guy who raised me was the same guy who beat me with a 7 high straight a few months ago! I'm gunna nail him to the wall! I can't show too much emotion yet, because I'm still waiting for the first bettor to decide. He passes on his hand. Immediately I let a big smile go. 'I call'. All I can think now is, 'Don't pair the board! Whatever you do don't pair the board!'. The 4th card comes the jack of spades. I still have the nuts. Last card.... Queen of hearts. That's it, I win! I just broke the guy who got the best of me last time! I've never felt so alive in all my life. As the huge pile of chips gets pushed in my direction, I can only think of 2 things. I am a great poker player, and I really love this game!

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