Sometimes there are hands I almost feel bad about winning. It was the last hand of the night, by prior agreement, and the game was Crazy 8 [four cards to each player, five on the board, first one up before the first bet, turned one at a time with betting rounds between, third card turned is crazy, if it’s an eight, game is straight poker, best five card hand wins, use ‘em all, if lower than eight, lowest card of that suit in any players four card starters wins half, if higher than an eight, highest card of that suit in any player’s four card starters wins half the pot]. By this point in the evening, and it was only about 12:30, I was so tired I couldn’t think straight. I had been trying to recoup a certain person’s losses and head home more or less even, but I was still a couple bucks away from doing that. I faced one opponent, Mr. O’Hair, who can be dangerous when sober, and he was. His was the short stack, about twelve to my eighteen. I catch two kings in the hole, and a couple low cards (which aren’t necessarily the worst thing to have with kings in this game). The first card on the board is trash. Betting is vigorous, as this is the last hand, but Kyle is taking the lead, so I’m calling along. Second card is a king, giving me trips. I get bet into again, a little heavier, and call. The third card is the Jack of Spades, making my King of Spades a favorite for half, with only the Ace somewhere out there to reckon with. The fourth card is an ace, but not the Spade. Kyle is still betting vigorously, and I’m happy to let him dig what may be his own hole. I still have that ace out there to worry about, along with straights, flushes, full houses, etc, any of which can be concealed fairly easily in this game, but, except for the high straight, aren’t necessarily likely with this board. The fifth and final card is a Jack, and that’s what I’ve been hoping for, a pair in the air but not the aces. This gives me kings full and the King of Spades for the other half. Suddenly I’m thinking about how to get the rest of Kyle’s money into the pot. I’m a big favorite, but I’m pretty sure he will fold if I go all-in, but it is the last hand of the night, and I definitely want to put the screws to him. There’s also the probability to consider that he may want to call because it is the last hand of the night, not just fold it out. I express caution, and bet a dollar. Of course I’m hoping for a raise, but I really don’t feel like he has enough, and I want to show a little weakness in case he feels like raising. He quickly surprised me by going all-in. It was nine dollars or so for me to call. Of course I did, but in the next two seconds or so, I was hit with many doubts. His all-in bet indicated a strong hand, or a very, very gutsy bluff, and he was not in a bluffing mood. As a matter of fact, the read I was getting from him was that he thought he had it won. Of course, both of us were very tired, so I was a little confused anyway. He declared his hand, full-house. I thought, “Oh no, he’s got two aces, and one of them is the Spade. I’m drained.” He laid his hand down, and there were no aces in it. I was relieved. I have been hitting so many brick walls lately, and he seemed so sure. I was a little slow in naming my hand, and felt bad because I know how it feels when I think I have won and someone is slow about telling me that I’m beaten. It was a dramatic turn of events, but that’s what we both signed on for when started playing Crazy 8, No-Limit.

That twenty-five dollar win (not counting the fifteen dollar loss Tina accumulated) put me about ten dollars up over the last few months. I don’t remember when all the games occurred, but I remember losing five, losing ten, winning fifteen, and losing fifteen, since the last time I recorded here. The only things worth mentioning about those games is that when I won the fifteen, I was drunk and it was a very big game, meaning many players. That’s a good combination for me, because when there are a lot of players probability tends to win out over the finer nuances of the game, and my basic game when I’m drunk is better than when I am sober, because I don’t get so bored waiting on good hands. It’s a known fact that if you start out with better hands you end up with better hands. That’s something I can’t get Tina to figure out just yet. Actually it’s a lesson that still stings me a little when I throw down an ace-four or so in a five handed game pre-flop. The other thing worth mentioning is that I have obviously not been doing as well lately as I have in the past, and I think there are two reasons for that. First of all, these guys have been playing roughly twice as often as I have, and they’re just getting better. The second thing is that I have been so distracted and worn out I have been a little off my game. The five dollar loss in an excellent case in point. It was at my house, four players, just me, Tina, Anthony, and Mona. I don’t usually worry about a five dollar loss, except that by the time I had all my chips in, I was convinced that I could not win at that table. I felt like my poker thinking had turned to mud. I was on Mona’s right, which isn’t good for anyone’s sanity, and I was so tired it hurt to pick up my cards. When my chips were in, mostly thrown away on calling the blinds with mediocre crap and getting raised until I folded pre-flop, I begged myself into a game of Trivial Pursuit. It doesn’t require nearly as much brain power as poker.