Hold 'Em

The popularity of Texas Hold 'Em Poker is gi-normous right now. You can't even flip through the tv channels without seeing at least 5 different channels featuring the high stakes competitions. Saturday, I was invited to a Hold 'Em game, and I was ready to clean house!!

Many of you faithful readers will remember my previous articleThe Final Table , but that was just a game with family members...this was to be my first REAL competition.

The buy in was $20, which in turn gave you $20 in chips. Once you were out, you could re-buy in, and you could cash out any time. Unlike the previous competitions, this time, you played til you wanted to leave...and took home (or left behind) whatever amount you ended with.

Five players butted up to the table at around 7 pm...After about 4 hours of play, we had our first casualty. I don't recall his name, but I knew him as Crown Royal because it was his drink of choice. A fierce competitor, Crown Royal was down to his final 3.25 before he made his comeback. He called it quits, and cashed out even for the night.

It was down to four.

To my left sat a real high roller named, um, well, I don't recall his name, either, but I think it was John or Josh or something with a "J". For this post, we'll call him J. Now J was the most calculating player on the table. He was tight with his cards, playing a strong, yet conservative game. All night long I starred jealously at his two stacks of chips...one stack was the $20 he began with, the other was the $20 or more he had won.

Across the table was the game's host, Steve. His style was a bit more loose. He would pay to see the flop on a 7/2 off suit (I know, he beat me with it once!!) His stack was fairly consistent all night.

To my right was my friend Toby. By far the loosest player in the game, Toby won some, and lost some, but always did it with a smile.

We traded money for several hours. At around midnight, I was seriously short stacked. With a Queen/4 off suit, and a Queen on the board, I pushed all in. Steve followed, and we flipped our cards. My pair of Queens layed with about a 1% chance of winning over Steve's cards...he had a pair of 2's, and one on the turn made a set.With one card coming, I had only 2 cards that could save me. The Queen of hearts, and the Queen of clubs.

I held my breath as Toby flipped the card.

Queen of Hearts!!I was saved on the river. I was back in the game!!

A half hour later, I had busted out. I bought back in for $10, and around 2:00 that was going fast as well. Toby gave me some sage advice..."Always buy back in BEFORE you bust out." With a few dollars left, I did just that and bought in for another $10.J was gone at this point, cashing out with $20 in one pile, and $20 in the other.

Steve, Toby and I played until a little after 3:00 am. When the chips stopped falling, Toby's advice paid off. I cashed in $37 dollars in chips, which meant I only lost $3 on the night. Steve was even, and Toby was down a little over $20, but he was still smiling...what a guy!!

It was a blast playing, trying to figure out the tells of the other players, and in the end, I walked away with a new respect for the game (which isn't as easy as I thought!!) and with the desire to pull up to the table again in the future.