Posted by Johnnymac 10:32 PM
Some things are better than poker

I finally got into the 5-10 game at the Friendship tonight. I've been wanting to play in that game for some time now but I was never able to arrive early enough to get a seat. I decided to leave work earlier today than my usual poker-departure time and I was one of the first to arrive.

By all accounts it was a lucrative opportunity. The button started just a couple of seats to my left and I was immediately dealt a three raising hands in a row that got beat after some respectable pots had been built. All three times I ended up losing, but I never had to show my cards or give any information to the other players about my hands. I had never played with most of the other players and the combination of my early aggressive play, my status as a stranger to their game, my straight-from-work business casual appearance (a sweater vest and loafers!), and my relatively young age was apparently more than enough to build a an image in the eyes of these guys that I was just another bad-playing cocky youngster. They didn't know that it was my AQ suited that lost to the big blind's check-and-call AK or that I had flopped a small set and been beat by two pair that filled up on the river or that my QT suited lost to someone playing AT offsuit from under the gun. All they saw was my constant raising and mucking when I saw the other player's cards at the end of each hand. Very quickly I was down almost $160 (16 big bets) in the first 20 minutes of play and, strangely, it was looking to be a very good thing for me.

There were a couple of smart comments a few minutes later when I started raking some smaller pots ("oh, you actually had some cards that time), but I could sense that these guys had formed an opinion and were ready to call me down with just about anything. I could smell the payoffs coming all night long. Then my phone rang.

You see, my girlfriend was finally offered a permanent position with her law firm and she was calling to invite me to go celebrate. A beautiful blonde woman was offering to take me out to a very swanky dinner at one of the nicest restaurants in town. No contest here.

So I left after just 45 minutes in the game. I ended up down only $32. If I had stayed and played I probably would have made all of my money back and a whole lot more, but my beautiful blonde girlfriend was calling to ask me out. I'm sure these guys will recognize me on Friday night - they'll be back and so will I.

Besides some things are much better than poker, anyway.

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