Congratulations to Bravo for catching the end of the poker wave and running it into the shore. I had hoped that Celebrity Poker Showdown and the televised incompetence so central to the show would encourage more players and much more bad play. Instead, it seems to have sucked all the joy out of poker for everyone and filling a table has become much harder. At least that is what I am blaming for my second short table in a row. Rick had to work again.
Wednesday’s game was my monthly game. Most of the poker I play has its moments of frivolity, but the laughter is a facade. Underneath the smiles, the game is sullen and competitive. From the first deal until we go to collect our coats, I think we actually hate one another. (Of course, we like it that way and keep going back.) But perhaps I am projecting.
My monthly game is a respite from that. We take the poker seriously, but it is a relaxed affair involving various whiskeys and cigars and a lot of laughing. The core of the game, Churchwarden and Sean, have been playing together since time immemorial. Leo Bloom, another longtime player, invited me into the game a year ago. I brought in Rick and Helmut when the game roster was the real casualty of an internecine squabble regarding the office space in which we play. (No, I won’t give you the details. But I will say that continuing to play puts me on the side of justice, truth and light.)
This game, despite the short table had all the marks of the usual cheer, bolstered by Helmut’s contribution of 12 year old bourbon and egg nog. To egg nog, I say: the goyim can keep it. To bourbon, I say: between the contributions of this and tobacco I think Kentucky gets a very bad rap. But we are here to discuss poker.
Today when the cards fell, they fell hard, and they fell hard primarily on the Churchwarden. Tom was in the middle of a successful run, but he came down with a serious case of Second Best Hand, and it ended up costing him his whole stack. Plus 50 cents. It turns out that felt-burn is a frequent side effect of Second Best Hand. He lost a lot of this money to Sean, who finally hit the big time after a year in which the game would only have been useful for him had we incorporated as a charitable foundation. I had a bad inverse-Rodney problem. If I raised, the table folded, and while I am still winning, I’m running break-even after the cab to Brooklyn.
It has become clear that a river runs through Helmut. Most of his success owed to some good old fashioned aggressiveness. Churchwarden and Leo were playing uncharacteristically weak, calling Helmut on drawing hands all the way to the river and then folding when Helmut made the expected final bet. And then Helmut nailed me good when he called me to the river. My A-9 looked pretty good when the first four cards were 8-9-10-9, but Helmut hung in with his 7-x, got his J on the river, and took a decent pot. I’m sure Helmut did his share of bluffing, but calling him Wednesday brought only pain. The final reported tally (which somehow doesn’t add up):
Helmut +$64.75 US
Sean +$34.25
Ugarte +$13.25
Leo Bloom - $45.75 US
Churchwarden - $60.50 US
There is a tournament on Sunday, but I don’t think I am going to play. (Interesting.-ed.) I’ll report if I change my mind.
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Ugarte's Poker Grovel #2
