Life Lessons I Learned From Poker

Never bet on these...proven bad luck.

Never bet on these…proven bad luck.

This weekend, SLS Couples Poker night was held.  Quite an ostentatious event complete with fake birthday cake and everything!  As I was sitting there drinking ma margaritas and playing some semblance of a poker hand, I realized one very important thing.  The stuff needed to play decent poker, is the same stuff one needs to wander down life’s little escapade into fundom.  Here are some of those deep life-affirming thoughts one has during a regular poker tournament among friends.   And the phrase  “No crying over spilt beer” should be embroidered on a pillow….

Bullies are everywhere.  It’s how you react to them that matters.  If you stand your ground, they tend to back down.  If you stand up and they still beat you, take heart.  Even if they win the battle, they don’t usually win the war.

Bluffing usually only works with people who don’t know you very well.  You can probably tell somebody anything and they’ll believe you just because they don’t have any prior experience or knowledge of you to look back on.  Once that’s established, bluffing/ lying is off the table. 

A good poker face goes a long way.  Keep neutral and you can pretty much get through anything.  Show your ‘hand’ and people will try to manipulate the shit out of you…well, some people will.

Thinking is a part of everything.  Always think before you act and try to think about what the other person is thinking.  Think about thinking and others will think of you as a thinker and will underestimate your ability to act.  It’s a bit confusing, but if you really think about it, it makes perfectly good sense.  At least it did after five margaritas. 

Go with your gut.  Usually your gut instinct is the best.  If the situation doesn’t feel right, then it isn’t.  If it feels like it could be the best case scenario, then go for it.  Your gut is usually right. 

Don’t underestimate the power of luck.  Some say luck has everything to do with success and I’m kinda in line with those people.  A little bit of luck can lead you in a very positive outcome…so can a little bit of alcohol and chocolate, but that’s a different story.

Strategy only goes so far.  A good strategic plan can set you on a goal-attaining mission that enables you to harbor success and fulfill all your wildest dreams…until somebody comes along and fucks it all up.  That’s when strategies tend to fall apart and you end up with an empty margarita glass and little left in your ante.  Strategies need to remain flexible and be ready for the unexpected pitfalls of the shit disturbers.  Stay the course and remain resilient.  Those SDs are only there to party and throw a wayward arrow at the bulls-eye on your back.  They got nothin’….

Most people think poker is a ruthless, merciless game only fit for the shrewd and sly among us…but throw in a bunch of drunk, carefree ladies and it’s up for grabs.  Tradition goes out the window and everybody scrambles to find the common ground and ANYTHING that remotely resembles logic, common sense or rationale.  Don’t miss the obvious and take it for what it’s worth…fun.  Play with gusto, take the risks and watch your back.   

It’s all really just a big poker game….

 

Wait...What?  Yeah, I don't get it either....

Wait…What? Yeah, I don’t get it either….

 

 

 

 

I Played Poker With Uncle Jesse And Lost

uncle jesse

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Playahs:   Miss H, Mrs. Jacked,  Mr. Frankie,  KS, Mr. Toyota, Rogue, Coach

Nurse Betty, Birthday Girl, Mr. Bing, Frankie, Mr. Jacked, Bestie, Mr. Banker

The Event:   Couples Poker

The Place:  The lovely and lively abode of KS and Mr. Banker…three dogs and two kids….lively.

Where was Rogue’s other half? Sick in bed

Who took his place? Why, Bestie of course.  Her Hubby was AWOL as well…so we coupled up.  We’re trampy like that.

Who won?  Stop rushing me, I’ll get to that.

The evening began like any other.  The house was alive with the sound of puppies barking.  Yeah, I’m not the only intelligent human who decided to get a dog…only KS went a step further and bought TWO.  Must have been a BOGO sale.

Anywho, we were all placed at our tables after reading the seating arrangements and  deftly mocking Mr. Bing’s  poker table cloth.  What? IT’S A POKER TABLE CLOTH!!  So funny.    I was swiftly seated at the GROWN UP  table with the first Playahs listed.  Not sure how I registered as GROWN UP… must have been my maturity and professionalism on one of my rants when I referred to everybody (not as in my lovely neighbours ‘everybody’, but everybody else…)  as assholes.  Obviously a step-up from my usual reference of ‘fuckwits’ and ‘asshats’.  Score one for maturity.

Seated at the Kid table was the second line of Playahs listed…interesting mix.  There is strategy in everything people, so there was strategy in this one.  No couples to sit together.  What?  You were expecting something more complicated?   Uh, nope.  That’s pretty much it.  I was fairly confident at the beginning of the game especially with two previous wins under my belt and since I was seated next to Mr. Toyota whose track record for winning at Couples poker is a little, well, to put it nicely, suck-ish.  Yeah.  Just sucks.  Coach, was the previous winnah since he took me out big time last game, was seated on my right…I was looking for payback.  So didn’t happen, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

The first few hands were getting along quite nicely with everyone pretty much winning one each.  Miss H was sneaking up on all the men…where did she come from?  Mr. Toyota was the biggest come-from-behind-the-garage-and-sock-me-over-the-head-with-a-monkey-wrench that I have ever witnessed in my 7 years playing this game.  Holy fuck, Batman what was that?!  He took virtually all my nice chips with his ‘a full house beats a flush’ …WHO MADE THAT UP??!!!  Crap.   I was confident I had him in the palm of my little hand with my Ace high club, then he full-housed my ass…what?!!  YOU??!!  No, seriously.  You’ve played this before, huh? Ugh… Coach was nice enough to pat my shoulder and say ‘there-there’ and not say ‘Idiot, Ray Charles could have seen that one coming’.  Yeah.  To my credit, I didn’t get humiliated only once.  I allowed it to happen a second time which took me right out of the damned game.  I love poker.

The game went on quite long before someone was declared as the first loser.  I think Mrs. Jacked got a prize for that.  I was second out since Mr. Toyota/Uncle Jesse found it necessary to call my ‘all-in’ and win it with 4 fives.  WHO HAS FOUR OF A KIND??!!  KS, that’s who with four Aces (in a totally different hand that has nothing to do with this mini-rant over Mr. Toyota/Uncle Jesse) Yet, sadly she didn’t win.

Several glasses of wine later, the four aces happened….a little scant on the details, but I was still stinging from the ass-burning I just took.…I think KS was hiding one of those Aces down her top.  Mr. Frankie was seated next to her and with all the references to his new cat and how was he getting along with his new puss-???   So many jokes, so little time.  He barely cracked a smile!   He was playing cagey, that one.  Yet, sadly he didn’t win.

Miss H was holding her own against the Biggest- Loser -Ever -Turned -Gagillionaire -Mr. Toyota/Uncle Jesse, eventually having people folding all around her.  It gets a little fuzzy at this point until we hear that Nurse Betty, who is seated at the Kids table (wait, what?) who reportedly HATES to play poker, would rather catheterize a thousand pound gorilla than play, GOT THE BEST HAND EVER IN THE HISTORY OF EVER, as documented below.  A straight royal flush.  Fucking amazing.   Yet, sadly, she didn’t win.

lisa

As for the Kids table, we were all amazed that Bestie was not the first, second or third out…After that, who the fuck knows? Frankie managed to make it to the Final table and frankly, Frankie, can I call you Frank?  That’s all that matters.  THE FINAL TABLE.  Yet, sadly, she didn’t win.

All I know is that I was seated deftly at the Loser table with Mr. Jacked (sadly, also a loser) , Birthday Girl ( I was secretly rooting for you ), Mrs. Jacked (a previous champ) and….it escapes me. Memorable You. Us losers…that’s all I know.  With a bottle of wine as the big prize, I was going for it…and lost again.  I rock!  Birthday Girl won the Loser trophy bottle of wine which she so graciously shared with us DH ladies the next evening…you didn’t think we were going to cancel a perfectly good eat and drink night just because we had a perfectly good eat and drink night, the night before when we kept KS up past her usual bedtime of 9:30pm and trudged on home at 2:30am, did you?  Wimps!

At the Winnahs table, everybody was battling it out for the big prize..the cash and the bragging rights to claiming SLS Couples Poker Champ!  I have no clue how it went down, but by all accounts, Mr. Toyota/Uncle Jesse  lost all his chips bit-by-bit to Miss H, who incidentally took out her Hubby Mr. Bing ( WITH A PAIR OF DEUCES)  and EVERYBODY ELSE AT THE TABLE!!  Dats right.  Miss H was the Winnah!!!!   If you guessed Miss H, than you are more awesome than even I give you credit for.  Rock on!

Miss H...SLS Couples Poker Champion 2013

Miss H…SLS Couples Poker Champion 2013

Congrats to Miss H and now you join the ranks of the few, the proud, the SLS COUPLES POKER CHAMPS!!

I hope you enjoyed this installment of SLS Couples Poker run-down.  Next time, I’ll try to stay sober enough to report on actual events at the opposite table.  Dammit, Jim I can’t be everywhere!  Ugh….