the poker table waits for people to make it happen.  The table sets, at times alone, at times ringed with the heat of action and players waiting to join when the heat becomes unbearable for another.  A simple construction of felt or canvas, wood and metal, drink holders, dealer’s rack, a rail, and chips, the table becomes the magnet that brings everyone together in a universal melting pot. 

So many things have been written about poker in the last decade that it would be almost impossible to find a new topic to bring to the masses.  How many times can ‘download now’ or ‘Chris Moneymaker’ or ‘refer a friend’ or ‘Phil Ivey’ or ‘win a seat’ be used as a hook to get someone’s attention about poker?

Here’s the hook, and it’s poker all by itself, without any additives or enhancements or super payouts or free trips.

Yesterday I had the little nudge that started somewhere in my thoughts, that began a ripple, that turned into a wave, that bounced off the emptiness of the walls and picked up speed as it bounced.  I wanted to go play poker, in a live game, with real people.  The way the evening worked out, I gave up the idea and went to sleep about 9:30, doing my usual wake up every few hours and finally got up at 5:30 a.m.  Yah, it’s an ungodly hour, I know.

The plan was set. I spent over an hour on the phone with Claudia, talked to my truck driving sis, and then Kayanna, and then Darian on the phone, and did some work, but I was going to play poker.  I slipped into my jeans, put on my Ruger SR9 baseball cap with my locks up in a ponytail pulled through the back of the hat, put on one of my favorite poker playing shirts cuz it’s made of a nice feeling synthetic with long sleeves (damn I hate the rail on bare arms), tennies, and hit the road.

I went to the Pahrump Nugget.  I was on the phone with Darian when I had full view of the poker room.  In a way it was funny, I told my son, “Oh my God!  It’s five guys and they all look older than me (that’s cuz I think I’m 19).  We hung up and I spoke with Darcie, she was the dealer on break, and she put $40 in chips on the table for me while I went to get a player’s card and hit the ATM.  That part’s kinda funny too, when I was working, I always had 100’s on me – usually because I did the E/O play thing all the time, but since leaving that environment, I rarely have any cash on me or readily available.  There are times I have $13 or $14 laying around that I could get my hands on if I needed it.  During my dealing days I always thought a person was handicapped if they didn’t have a wad of $100’s on them.

I took the 2s and the boys were very quiet.  The 3s is younger than me but he had his back to me when I entered the room and I couldn’t tell his age.  I couldn’t see the board worth a damn – maybe it’s time to see about having the cataract removed from my right eye – so I moved to the 4s after a few hands.

As usual, it wasn’t long before I got gabby…but that’s why I went, to gab and play poker.  Jeff was dealing when I sat down and he’s the manager also.  Even though it was a short handed game, he did a great job of just running the game and being sociable without being ‘in the show.’

The 3s was from CO – hey Monkey, maybe you two have met? – and he’s an attorney and part of a firm that sent him to Pahrump and he either elected to stay or they bluffed him when they sent him and won’t let him go back…just kidding.  I gave my card out to a few of them, he’s one, and he’s played at Bellagio and likes Caesars and Mandalay Bay.  We both completely agreed on the fact that we hate it when a player starts riding another player about how they play.  I feel that’s one of the most unforgivable things a player can do.  It ruins a game and sometimes breaks them completely up.  He was shocked to hear that the boys in the big games don’t tip, but then most people are.

The 7s was pretty quiet and probably the strongest player of the group there and he’s from CO too but he didn’t really talk to me or appear interested in gabbing so I didn’t direct anything to him.  I won’t go into the play, for one thing I don’t give poker lessons and don’t want anyone to change how they play because of something I said.  I can tell you that I liked the play.  The one thing I hate is the infernal/eternal jackpot crap that places feel they have to run, it’s like paying double rake and the rake was too high anyway.

The 1s reminded me of other gents I’ve played poker with that I take an instant liking too, he had a nice approach about the game of poker and the game of people.

A youngster came in and sat in the 6s.  He was green.  He knew how to handle chips and cards but believe me, he was green, and I’d love to have 8 of  him at a table with me everyday for the rest of my life.

I played for close to two hours, racked up, and hit the door after visiting with Jeff as he cashed me out, he has a great attitude about the game and he knows his business.  They had a batch of hotdogs available for players, a soda machine with choices, coffee, and a cocktail waitress with one eye…just kidding…it was a joke between her and the 3s.  She seemed cheerful and happy to have a job – not like some of the doomsday bitches in Vegas.

Hola!  I won $16.

But poker really isn’t about winning.  Here’s the part that doesn’t GET written about most of the time and the masses miss it.  Why do people play poker?  Do you really believe it’s because they believe they can win a WSOP Main Event – wading through days of fatigue, thousands of other players, and possibly playing through 3 or 4 thousand players in a satellite to get to the main event – or having to fade the full buy-in of which $10,000 would buy a lot of food and pay a lot of bills?  Or do you believe the average Joe figures that if he plays correctly every day that he will overcome tipping/rake/expenses and make a $ per hour level at the limit he plays at? Or do you believe that all the pros actually make a living playing poker – get over it if you do because most have massive leaks in other areas that keep them broke and even if they did make a living, they have to play higher (it’s not mandatory but they do it anyway) and anyone of them that’s honest will tell you they have all gone broke and started over.

The wind creates the storm, the players create the game, the poker table holds the melting pot, and the hook is set.