Of course there is gambling at Rick’s. The regulars all play poker with one another, albeit poorly and for not much money. Blogging about my developing poker habit was originally going to be a way to talk myself through the learning curve. Alas, becuase I play against the rest of the staff at Rick’s (though Sam has been bailing lately), and the blog has not shall we say, “achieved significant momentum” the readers of this are likely to be mostly my opponents. This means that the comments page runs the real risk of being a little incest-fest. With that warning in mind, and with a nod to Stephen Elliott, so begins Ugarte’s Poker Grovel.
Monday’s game at Ferrari’s apartment, my first game since my meltdown at The Tournament of Which I Promise Not To Speak Again, Or At Least, Less Frequently started slowly. Despite promises of seven to eight players by Ferrari, most of the prospective players—including Rick and Sam—begged off on gameday claiming work commitments. Ferrari panicked and solicited players to fill the table on craigslist, but only drew in one more player. So with only four people expected, and Brother of Ugarte likely to show up only to watch football, we resigned ourselves to playing at a short table.
The games I typically play in have a buy in around $60. People rarely lose that much. With a high buy-in, relative to the low stakes we play for, we avoid having to slow the game down for people to buy more chips. Upon reflection, that is a wise decision; we really could have used a cashier. While we waited for the stragglers to arrive, Ferrari, Helmut (friend of Rick’s and host of TTOWIPNTSA,OAL,LF, henceforth TT) and I figured a little lowlowlow stakes action ($1 max raise) meant that a low buy-in was appropriate. So we bought in for $10, figuring that we couldn’t lose money so quickly. A plan quickly scuttled by Helmut, who decided that every hand was worth seeing to the river. The quick burn led us to quickly change the buy-in to $20. Ferrari bought $30 so he could bully the table before the next card fell.
Our craigslist friend, Christian, eventually arrived and was also bit by the short-stack bug. Despite evidence that he played often and with enthusiasm, he had a rough night. He shared Helmut’s passion for seeing all of the cards but lacked Helmut’s good fortune (Did I mention that for Helmut the third time was the charm? After investing $60 to play, he cashed in $100.) After draining his third $20 buy, Christian bid us good night. I think we will see him again.
Brother of Ugarte chose to play, and as the most novice of a table of novices held his own, though how well he held his own depends on whether or not he was paid back for dinner. Ferrari started strong, but faded late and finished either barely down or barely up, depending on whether he paid back Brother for dinner. Ferrari’s reputation and character were allowed to override the failure of anyone else to recall the payback. So the night finished:
Helmut +~40
Ugarte +~20
Ferrari +~3
Brother -~3
Christian -~60
Come back, Christian.
I play again tonight, so another report will follow anon.
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I am shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on here!, or UPG #1
