Home again, home again

I returned home from my weekend of fun last night, thoroughly exhausted but happy. Had a great time Saturday night. Though the steaks were underwhelming - the Big Buck Brewery in Auburn Hills seems to think that garlic by itself is all that is needed for a good marinade - the company was great. Best of all, I won $140 playing poker so the whole trip was paid for. God I love that game. Gotta give credit to Dan Ray for hanging in there and playing cards with a bunch of sharks. He's not really a poker player, but he picked it up pretty fast and played pretty well. I was glad to be able to introduce old and new friends.

I'm afraid there are no crazy stories. No one went to jail. Heck, no one even got tipsy. And it's really not a group you're gonna find at a strip club or anything like that. But they sure do stay up late. I swear I must be the only one who has gotten old. Dan left around 11. By midnight, I was tired. But we played until 3:30 am and only stopped then because I was virtually a zombie (I was gonna say literally a zombie, which would be an inside joke, but I don't think anyone who was there really reads this blog to get the joke). The rest would have happily played all night long. I used to be able to do that. In fact, that used to be normal for me. But these days? God, I'm turning into my grandfather. Anyway, nice to be back.

More like this

Okay, more like the exhausted return. We had a great time last night. Mickey is always a fabulous host for these semi-annual parties (though I think I'm gonna do one here this summer sometime and make a weekend of it, complete with lots of ribs in the smoker), if for no other reason than he always…
I know I've got some poker players among my readers, and though I rarely post about poker strategy, the game Saturday night and the ridiculously long journey home combined to spark some thinking. And since at least one of the guys I played with Saturday night reads this blog from time to time, I…
Went to Soaring Eagle last night to play some poker for the first time since they reopened the poker room. I arrived about 4, but there were already fairly substantial lists going for most of the games. I put myself on the lists for 3/6 and 6/12 holdem and went to the buffet for some dinner. Came…
Posting was light since Friday because I had a couple of friends in town for a weekend of poker and BBQ. On Saturday, we went to Soaring Eagle casino to play poker and I had what is simply the most bizarre and amazing session of poker in my life. You're not gonna believe some of this. Soaring Eagle…

Gotta give credit to Dan Ray for hanging in there and playing cards with a bunch of sharks. He's not really a poker player, but he picked it up pretty fast and played pretty well.

Ed is being far too kind. The evening started off at around 5 PM with what I quickly figured out was a friendly game, intended, I think, to make sure that I wasn't really a player. Having confirmed that, we adjourned for dinner at the aforementioned Big Buck Steakhouse, where I really enjoyed the conversation. We then returned to play more poker, and things got serious.

Having played poker all of about two times in the last 10 years, I knew I was in over my head. But when Ed said at one point "Well, I figured my chances of winning that hand were about 38%," I thought Holy shit. This guy's doing linear equations in his head while I'm sitting here thinking "Maybe this last flop card will give me the straight I'm chasing." It was shortly thereafter that I resolved to cut my losses and call it a night. I can say, quite proudly, that I only contributed around $70 of the $140 that Ed won on Saturday.

Since I went into the evening knowing I'd lose money, I confess that it was great fun. Good company, lots of laughs (I'm sure there was even more laughter after I departed at 11), and it was nice to get to know Ed's old buddies. I hope to be a mark at the next poker outing.

Ed is being far too kind. The evening started off at around 5 PM with what I quickly figured out was a friendly game, intended, I think, to make sure that I wasn't really a player. Having confirmed that, we adjourned for dinner at the aforementioned Big Buck Steakhouse, where I really enjoyed the conversation. We then returned to play more poker, and things got serious.
LOL. Actually, I'd never played poker with any of those guys before except for Jeff, who played in our regular Thursday night game for months before moving back to DC. I knew the other three liked to play and had played a lot, but that doesn't tell you much about how good they are. So I was more interested in evaluating how they play than how you play. And frankly, Jeff is about the worst poker player I know. No discipline, he just can't stand to not be in a hand so he calls everything. He's an ATM machine at a poker table.
Having played poker all of about two times in the last 10 years, I knew I was in over my head. But when Ed said at one point "Well, I figured my chances of winning that hand were about 38%," I thought Holy shit. This guy's doing linear equations in his head while I'm sitting here thinking "Maybe this last flop card will give me the straight I'm chasing." It was shortly thereafter that I resolved to cut my losses and call it a night. I can say, quite proudly, that I only contributed around $70 of the $140 that Ed won on Saturday.
Oh man, I didn't think you'd lost anywhere near that much. I thought it was only 30 or 40 bucks. You didn't play badly though. I've had lots of nights where I played perfectly and still lost money. Like it or not, there's still a lot of luck in the game.