Would you believe that I have defied the odds playing poker?
About two weeks ago I went to a friends house for a game of Texas Hold 'em poker. For those that don't know how to play it, here are the basics.
Each player is dealt two cards face down. The two players to the left of the dealer position have to posts blind bets to insure action on every hand. There is the small blind (half the minimum bet), and the big blind (the minimum bet). These will go up at regular intervals. After all the players have decided to call the big blind, raise, or fold, the community cards are dealt in this sequence: The Flop-three cards face up that are common to everyone's hole cards. A round of betting follows. The Turn-a fourth community card face up followed by another round of betting. The River-the final community card followed by the final round of betting and then the showdown to see who wins the pot. The showdown is all the players who haven't folded making the best five card poker hand out of their hole cards and the five face up on the table. After the winner is declared, the dealer position moves and the process repeats itself.
Here is my story. On the night in question, I was dealt the Ace of clubs and Ten of clubs, a fairly decent starting hand. I called the big blind. The flop was: Queen of clubs, King of clubs, and Jack of clubs. Holy shit, folks. I FLOPPED A ROYAL FLUSH!!!!!! That is the highest poker hand you can have. I have no idea how I contained myself to continue, but I did. I checked, meaning I opted not to bet and left it up to the other guy in the hand. What I did is called slow playing so that I could get the other guy to bet into the pot. He bet into me and I called. The turn was the Three of clubs. I bet a somewhat large amount into the pot to represent that I had a plain old flush. The guy I was playing against folded and I won the pot. Usually I muck my cards at the end of a hand, meaning I throw my cards to the dealer face down so nobody else knows what I had. Showing people your cards on a fold can give them information on your betting habits. In this case, I had to show it. Everybody's reaction was worth doing it. Hell, I might never flop a hand like that for as long as I continue to play poker.
