Call, Check or Fold?

As the song goes, you gotta know when to hold 'em and know when to fold 'em. Apparently neither Mike or I have quite figured out how to do that since we got our asses handed to us playing poker Saturday night. You see I thought it would be a good idea to get a poker game together as a way to celebrate Mike's birthday. Well it was a good idea in theory. If either one of us had a clue what we were doing it would have been a great idea. Originally when I suggested it to Mike he thought it was a great idea as well, but as the week went on he became more concerned about his poker skills was afraid he'd be the first one out. And wouldn't that be a pretty sucky, first one out at your own poker tournament. Well be careful what you wish for, I always say.

You see Mike's Mom and Mark taught us how to play poker, but really just the fundamentals. When it came to the strategy of betting, well they were light weights. Now I'm not sure if that was for our benefit since we were just learning or if that's how they play, if so they wouldn't have lasted long Saturday night either. There was 6 of us in on the game, 2 experienced players and the rest of us still pretty wet behind the ears. Now Dave's only been playing a short while as well, but he plays more often than Mike, Mel or I so he adapted to their level of play rather quickly. Not that it helped him much, since a risky all-in move put him out second, after Mike.

Yes that's right Michael's prophecy came true. He was the first out at his own poker tournament. As an extra happy birthday kick in the ass he didn't win a single hand. Now it may look like Dave didn't fair any better since he was next in the loser lounge, but Dave won himself a few hands with some substantial pots. Then who knows, maybe he got cocky, maybe he thought he could "read" the other players better than he actually did, maybe he thought he had a hand that couldn't be beat. But every hand's a winner and every hand's a loser. He gambled and lost. That, in my opinion, was better game play than either Mike or I.

Mike would limp in on each hand, slowly but surely depleting his chips. I was third out, only because the level of betting was scaring me off so I folded. A lot. These guys were betting hardcore before they even saw the flop. I was in way over my head. I did manage to win one hand with a let's-stop-the-bleeding all in bet. Then I bet heavy on a straight only to get beat by a flush. That was pretty much the end of my night.

Mike was pretty discouraged and considered giving up poker for good. Something I'm sure the poker community could with stand. Instead he decided to treat it as a learning experience. Well that's what I managed to convince him to do anyway. We're thinking about starting a monthly open invitation poker tourney as well. I really enjoy the game, more than I was expecting to and I'd really like to play better. The only way to do that is keep playing. We're actually going to play tonight with Dad and Linda.