Card Game With Friends

June 29, 2007 at 2:20 am · Filed under alltruthisequal

I played cards last night with a bunch of guys, most of whom I know from high school 20 years ago.

We played Texas Hold’em poker and to add some interest we each put in $25 at the beginning and agreed to a winner / runner up split of the pool.

That stake bought us each a huge pile of chips which we assigned arbitrary values to. Those of the group who had done this before agreed on some house rules in terms of how much could be raised or bet on a given round and when it was legal to go “all in”.

Fortunately, the new phone I had bought a couple of months ago to replace the one that jumped into the pool with me had a bunch of games on it, one of which was Texas Hold’em. And three days each week I sit on public transport for 3 hours each day.

Since the last time we’d got together to play, I’d determined I was going to become familiar enough with the game that I could watch the players rather than the cards.

And, as luck would have it, it payed off.

And in the end it was luck. I read the last guy wrong on the last hand. I figured he had a low pair and I had a pair of queens. He actually had two small pairs and bet like he expected to win. He went all in. I covered him. The last card (the river) was my third queen.

Part of the preparation I’d done was to learn the words to “The Gambler”. The later part of the song’s not so useful, but I’ll quote it all here ’cause it sticks in my mind.

Kenny Rogers > The Gambler
quoted from http://www.lyricsfreak.com/

On a warm summers evenin on a train bound for nowhere,
I met up with the gambler; we were both too tired to sleep.
So we took turns a starin out the window at the darkness
til boredom overtook us, and he began to speak.

He said, son, Ive made a life out of readin peoples faces,
And knowin what their cards were by the way they held their eyes.
So if you dont mind my sayin, I can see youre out of aces.
For a taste of your whiskey Ill give you some advice.

So I handed him my bottle and he drank down my last swallow.
Then he bummed a cigarette and asked me for a light.
And the night got deathly quiet, and his face lost all expression.
Said, if youre gonna play the game, boy, ya gotta learn to play it right.

You got to know when to hold em, know when to fold em,
Know when to walk away and know when to run.
You never count your money when you’re sittin’ at the table.
There’ll be time enough for countin’ when the dealin’s done.

Now ev’ry gambler knows that the secret to survivin
Is knowin what to throw away and knowing what to keep.
cause ev’ry hands a winner and ev’ry hands a loser,
And the best that you can hope for is to die in your sleep.

So when he’d finished speakin, he turned back towards the window,
Crushed out his cigarette and faded off to sleep.
And somewhere in the darkness the gambler, he broke even.
But in his final words I found an ace that I could keep.

You got to know when to hold em, know when to fold em,
Know when to walk away and know when to run.
You never count your money when you’re sittin’ at the table.
There’ll be time enough for countin’ when the dealin’s done.

You got to know when to hold em, know when to fold em,
Know when to walk away and know when to run.
You never count your money when you’re sittin’ at the table.
There’ll be time enough for countin’ when the dealin’s done.

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