Look at the game on table 10! All new faces, no leisure suits or fans and more chips on the table than the cashier’s cage has in it. The pots are so big the dealer has to forklift them to the winner, which by the way, (no matter who it is), is still stacking chips while they reach for the next hand. This could be the game of the year. Year? Hell . . . this could be the game of the century!

You’re already on the transfer list, (that’s a given when you walk through the door), and someone wants to move from table 10. You walk over and take a quick look to see if the person who wants to transfer has a Dr. bending over them. No one with a brain or a pulse could leave that game.

Yes! A guy in the 2 seat has his chips in a rack and you are moving to 10 . . . you’re there in a heartbeat. You buy another stack of chips, (just in case), and settle into your seat. Your mentally building an overview of the table . . . players, chips, play of the hand in progress, watching the dealer to see if she’s alert . . . while you’re fastening your seat belt. You’re ready to cruise. All systems are a go.

Then it happens! You look down to the 10-7 of spades. You posted mid position from the button, (you couldn’t wait to take a hand in THIS game), and you put in the first raise. Before it gets back to you the bet is capped with 8 players. Your heart is racing. You’re trying to watch all the players and look nonchalant at the same time. The flop comes down 6-8-9 with the 8-9 of spades. You’re wondering if the veins on your neck are going to blow up and if you’re pupils are dilating . . . and if anyone around you, (or at the next table), noticed that you stopped breathing.

All the raises are in by the time it gets to you. You’re a caller with a flop so big that no matter what happens, you’re going to bet and raise every street if you get the chance. The turn comes an 8, the initial bettor slams chips onto the table, everyone in between calls, you raise it, the small blind calls, the loop repeats, raise and re-raise. The last card comes an 8. (We need a medic for this one!) The initial bettor has one $5.00 chip left and bets it, everyone between you folds, you call, the small blind calls and turns over a pair of pocket deuces.

You feel the sudden impact of hitting the earth after free falling from 3,000 feet. It hurts like hell and all of your senses are reeling with the pain and shock of understanding of what has just happened here. You grimly look at your cards, turn them up and say, “I can’t believe that hand is going to win that pot!”

The winner of the pot looks at you defiantly and exclaims, “We play poker here!” The dealer takes your straight with an open end straight flush draw and sends it into the muck and fires up the forklift to push the pot to the winner.

Pardon me, Officer. Why did you stop me? Was I speeding?

Now you’re not quite so sure that you made the right move into this game and maybe the guy that left knew . . . knew that he was the underdog if it came to luck. He could out play some of the other players but what if it turns into a shoot out and you have to rely on luck instead of skill.

Some players never know when they had a move put on them or that there is such a thing as a move. Of course when we get through dissecting all of it and trying to figure it out . . . the play . . . the hand that won versus the hand that raised . . . the betting . . . our brains go into terminal overload because it’s too confusticating to sort out.

You have several options here. (1) You can always take your chips and leave . . . that’ll really hurt them. You’ll deprive them of the chance of beating you. (2) You can go crazy and slam all of your chips into pots that you know you can’t win, figuring if you bet enough, they have to fold. (3) You can settle down, grin at all of them, and slip into the cruising mode. There may be a few hills ahead and dangerous curves, but if you keep your wits and hit the brakes or the accelerator at the right time, you’ll have the game right where you want it in the long run.

Personally, I’m married to option No. 3. See you there!