A Poker Story

I confess to my love of the game of poker. I'll share a story with you that happened not too long ago.

I was in a fairly large tournament, over eighteen hundred players, and for the first two hours, I watched as the players at my table were going nuts early. Chips were flying back and forth across the table at a frenzy. We lost four players quickly, and they were replaced by new faces, and they joined right in to the fray.

I had been playing very conservatively, go figure. I was waiting for the right time to make a move, but at this knock down, drag out, action table, it was dangerous.

Finally I looked down to find that I have the Ace - Queen of diamonds. I thought about making a raise, but before I could, the real action player at our table makes another big raise. Everyone folds, and it comes to me. Calling his big raise will cost me a third of my money.

I really wanted to just throw my hand away, and wait for another time to make a move. Maybe I could raise, but I did not want to put all my money in the pot right now. I decided that I should wait, especially against the chip leader. After thinking a bit, I decided to fold the hand, but before I did, my opponent yells at me, "Hey cowboy, we ain't got all day!"

For some stupid reason, and it is really not good poker, the big mouth guy made me mad, and I tossed a third of my stack into the middle of the table.

I immediately felt like a moron, letting him goat me into action, but my animosity turned to pure joy when I saw the three cards the dealer had turned up on the table. It was the King, Jack and Ten of diamonds. I had just flopped the monster, the hammer, the sweet darlin', a Royal Flush.

My poker face must have been working because I quickly checked the bet. My opponent tosses more money in the pot. It will cost me half of what I have left. I decided to act like I have to think about it, while my heart beats so loud in my chest, I really think the whole table can hear it. Finally, I just call again.

My opponent, Big Mouth, yells at me again, "the only way you'd make that call is if you have a flush, and you don't have a flush bro!"

I couldn't breathe right at the moment, much less think or talk, so I kept quiet. The dealer next turns a black King. I quietly check again, and my opponent quickly announces, "I just boated pal (He hit a full house) and your flush is dead," and then, pushing all of his chips out to the middle of the table, he says, "I'm all in."

I could barely get the word "call" out of my mouth, but I did, and waited until Big Mouth, with great flamboyance, threw his cards onto the table. They were pocket Jacks, and indeed a he had a full house. He began to cheer and reach for the pot when I turned over the Royal Flush.

The table went crazy, and I didn't start shaking until I started stacking that huge pile of chips. Big Mouth said, "Nice hand bro," and flashed a smile. A gentleman after all for sure.

I asked the brains over at answerbag.com what the odds are of flopping a Royal Flush. The brains seem to agree, the odds are 649,740 to 1.

I ended up thirty second in that tournament, I wish I had done better, but I had allot of fun.

Poker anyone? Maybe I should buy a powerball ticket.