$2-5 blind NLH – Table 14 – on the 17th, found me with a few seats open and new players on the way. Or old players because they were coming in from another $2-5 game. We usually have three games and two of them are ‘must moves’ into the main game. The player coming into the 6s started unracking chips and put out a Blind – the Button was on his right and he would be right behind the Button at the end of the hand. I asked if he was from another game of the same limit, he said yes and I told him to just wait a hand and he could be dealt in for free.

Max C. was in the 10s. He’s always armed with an ample supply of wit, a cup of coffee, a glass of merlot, and a bottle of water. Max was trying to capture a gnat that kept flitting around his section of green felt and someone made the comment the gnats were attracted to his wine. He said they died when they hit the wine…another reason to stop drinking I suppose. Max used to play only 7 Card Stud but the $2-5 blind NLH has become his new home. Whether or not he does well in it – I would assume he does – he’s there to stay and has filled a little niche that makes him part of the game now.

The game was fun, two frisky kids in the 8 and 9s that were supposed to be going class but were blowing it off for the local poker game, quite a bit of talk and general gambling going on without any pain or agony from anyone.

The 6s made the comment that he’d just put the worst beat on someone in the other game. The other player flopped a straight, the board paired on the Turn, and the 6s hit his pocket pair on the River. He was still shaking his head over it. I said, “Not like it has ever happened to you before, right?”

He said yes it did happen to him all the time, he just wasn’t used to doing it. He stopped and looked at my name tag. This was my introduction to Kram. We finally met in person after reading a ton of his posts on the discussion forum and missing him several other times when he came into town.

Max was in rare form, talking it up, and I introduced him to Kram. Max called him Graham. It took a few minutes of correcting and adding “Mark spelled backwards,” to get it to register with Max.

Kram settled right into the business of playing NLH. He bet into A-K (with a King on board) – heads up – with A-J of Clubs. The A-K never raised him on any street. No…he did not win the pot but he played the hand as if he held A-A. Kram won the next hand, much smaller pot, and sent me a batch of Red Birds. Muchly appreciated. Max made the comment that if tips kept up like that I might break $200 for the night. I just smiled and agreed with him.

My last hand – two players went all-in against Kram. The Flop was out – 5-7-10. They all turned up their hands. Kram had 5-7, one opponent held 9-7, the other had a Q-?. A Queen on the Turn. Kram said something like, “Linda! Holdem, baby.”

Hold they did. He threw me Red and Blue Birds this time as I left the table. I told him I’d check on him on my next break. When I cruised by again, he was getting J-J cracked with a board that was somewhere around 9-8-9-7 by a player holding 8-8. Kram did win the side pot. Ugh! He said he’d lost another big pot earlier by set over set.

I hit another $2-5 blind NLH game on 17. Mark H. was in town and we’d said ‘hello’ the night before when he came in. The 10s was open in this game and they were calling Mark for it. Just when I thought he’d miss the seat, he showed. Said he’d been watching Table 1.

He jumped right into the game and right into the action. He won his first pot and shoved out a batch of Red Chips with, “You’d better write something really happy, Linda.”

Well…OK! It was turning into a ‘red chip’ night and that made me pretty happy, plus I was dealing to people I really enjoyed…I met them through this site. Sweet! He started the Red Bird Train. The guy in the 4s won a pot and threw me two of them. The guy in the 1s won a pot and gave me two of them…love those ‘tip shills’. He even brought up the fact that he started it – I agreed and couldn’t be more thankful.

He was laughing when he told me to write something he could show to his wife. About him and/or his poker play. Here it is – he’s always great to have in a game. I know if someone heckled me in a mean way…or any dealer for that matter…Mark would champion for the dealer and the heckling would stop. He’s never rude or discourteous but he’s a guy…sure I’ve heard him swear…so do the girls at times. I mentioned the fact that he’d always stated what a great wife he had – and he does – and he followed with, “I’m the luckiest man in the world. I did something really wonderful in my last life…(he sort of shuddered with a chuckle here)…and she did something really bad.”

The best of the best…he’s happy, knows it, and shows it. The game went on.

Kram walked by this game and told me goodnight. It looked like it had been an ugly night for him.

*****

The following night, the 18th, I played on shift. Kram had been in an $8-16 game and I talked him into coming to a $4-8 game and playing with me. We both got ran over…literally, they backed up and ran over us again. I met Andy and Will in this game…these two were sitting by me and we visited back and forth while I waited to get kicked off the curb and ran over again.

Kram gave up and I thought he was leaving for the night. When I cashed and left the game about an hour later, I heard, “Linda!” he was in a $2-5 blind NLH game with stacks of chips in front of him. I walked over, he stuffed more Red Birds in my hand and told me, “Thanks for the site.”

I was starting to feel as if I should give him my social security number so he could claim me for a deduction…not that I didn’t appreciate it, I did. I left him with hopes that he would do well in the Fridays at Five Tournament the following day.

I liked his table presence. He has an extremely expressive face but he never gave up anything while he was in a hand. He played each hand as if he had the World’s Fair…whether he was empty handed or not. So…Kram…I would have to say the pleasure was all mine.