Where you left your keys ...Rick's Cafe Americain

As all good home games should, there was a great deal of food. Pizzas arrived on time (a shocker on Super Bowl Sunday). The Wing Wagon had a line out the door, but the only-in-New York Chinese/Mexican takeout hybrid next door had no line at all. And 100 wings were the same price. We had olives, good cheese (thanks Toni!), wine (thanks Helmut and Consuelo!), mini-meatloaf footballs (thanks Sous Chef!), lemon bundt cake (thanks Rebecca!) and more. I was afraid that someone was going to throw up at the table. (Coach has a story about that, which he would be more than happy to tell you. Ask for the short version.)

We started playing at the end of the first half because we knew that if we started watching Paul McCartney’s halftime show we would kill ourselves. My table only seats 9 comfortably, so Brother of Ugarte and Rebecca nobly backed out and joined the other non-players watching the football. The non-poker-players were laughing a lot. Probably on account of all of the wine. The poker table was relatively somber. Probably on account of all the wings.

I should have written earlier. The result of the delay is that I remember very little about the game.

I do remember that the women were far more aggressive early in the tournament than the men. Zinester and Lisa built large stacks early by betting hard after the flop. Lisa’s aggressiveness eventually betrayed her when she overplayed her small aces one too many times. The second-to-last time, however, came at a time when Zinester was busy overplaying an even smaller ace. Also, aggressiveness on the flop is ineffective if one always folds on the river. I’m talking to you, Sous Chef.

Josh and Helmut - two notoriously loose-aggressive players - kept going head-to-head. Helmut kept winning. Eventually Josh was gone.

I busted Chris when he pushed threes into my pocket sixes shortly after running into my QQ with AT. I was busy winning other pots without a showdown so I slowly took the chip lead.

Toni and Cathy were flying under the radar. Surviving without too much combat. Toni routinely overbets the pot by design. When I had a hand I pushed back; usually I didn’t. She never had the aces that I needed to worry about and I don’t recall a showdown.

We soon got down to three players and I had the chip lead over Cathy and Helmut. It wasn’t a very big chip lead. When Cathy laid a bad beat on Helmut to clean him out, I was way behind. The cards were not helpful and I went out in second. That meant in two days I had played in two tournaments. Both times I fell to the women of Kelley Drye & Warren, where I had my first law job. As if I needed another reason to hate that place.

Most people left after the first tournament, but Brother of Ugarte joined Josh, Zinester, Sous Chef, Helmut and me for a second tournament. Again I had the chip lead early, again I blew it. This time I blew it in heads-up play. I bluffed at Josh one too many times and miscalculated the size of my lead very badly.

Two tournaments, two second places. Finishing in second twice wasn’t bad, but I set myself up to win both tournaments and fell short both times. Then again, it could be worse. Hard to complain when you have good company and good food anyway. Especially when you restrained yourself from placing a large bet on the Patriots - and giving the points.

I should, but will not, write about the monthly game at the Churchwarden’s that took place this past Wednesday. For a regular game, it had been somewhat irregular since November so I was relieved that the game didn’t fall apart. The game was as much fun as I have had at a poker table in ages but I can’t convey that on paper. It is my favorite game in the city and I’m glad it is back.