Call Me ‘Redbeard’

Am I fated to suffer the same fate as the characters I have created? Creations? Or perhaps an unconscious expression of my inner depths. Ask. Venture the poker halls, the back rooms. Inquire of the poker room managers, the tournament directors, the players that witnessed my fate and others; those to whom the tale has already spread. Then you’ll know that I write the truth, though an enthusiast of a game often characterized by deception.

It was Saturday, a return to the Omaha Hi-Lo table at the Potawatomi Casino. My stack was dwindling. Two 3’s came on the flop. The pot grew. I had a three in my hand, but more significant was the two Aces among my four cards. Certainly if I could hit an Ace on the river, a full house, Aces full of threes, with no potential for four of a kind, I had a three, I should be back in the game, back in the black.

(In Omaha you receive four cards but must make a hand from two of the four you hold and three of the five cards on the table. In Hi-Lo you need not use the same two cards for your high hand and low hand, any separate combination will do.)

An Ace did come on the river. I was confident I had the hand when raise after raise gave me a bit of pause. Yes, there was one hand that could beat me; a straight flush, but this player had already made a straight flush earlier that afternoon. Alas, the one hand that could beat me was there. Further, my cards for a low hand were all counterfeited; that is the three low cards on the board were also in my hand and I could not create a five card low hand (must be five different cards 8 or lower) Call me ‘Redbeard’. A character from one of my books.

They changed out the cards for new decks shortly afterward. I guess you’ll have to read my book to know what I’m writing about.

In the world of super secret, Major Chuck Hammer and his Invisible Squadron take on the forces of evil in service to the country they love. Fighting battles unknown to all but those involved, the future of the world as we know it hangs in the balance. Standing for the cause of freedom, with the most highly trained and talented men in the business, aircraft unmatched the whole world through, what could possibly go wrong?

I dropped out of several similar hands, where a fortuitous river card would have given me a killer hand. I was pleasantly surprised that when the card I needed came, that an even better hand would have taken me to the cleaners if I had stayed in. Just about anything and everything can go wrong.

I wasn’t playing good poker. I was in far too many hands but happily it paid off, until it didn’t. My mind wasn’t in the game. I looked more at the size of my stack than the size of the pot and it cost me.

Not to worry. The poker fund, all winnings set aside for the service and benefit of others, is still strong.

It was the 28th anniversary since my wife and I first met this last week. We were hoping to get to the casino for dinner, using our club points, but our schedules didn’t come together. We are often busy in the evenings.

The Potawatomi Casino has a new restaurant with their hotel; “Locavore”. The menu looks inviting; a bit of international fusion focusing on locally sourced quality food. There was a time, before I went to any casino, before casinos were as numerous as they are today, when the word was that food was very cheap at casinos; it was one of the draws. I wouldn’t say the food is cheap at the casino two miles from our home, or the few others we had stopped by in the past, but I would say the food is reasonably priced. Even if the photographs may make the portions appear somewhat larger than they are, considering the quality, the food at The Potawatomi Casino is very reasonably priced.

I, and my wife, stick to the top floor when we visit the casino. It is ‘no smoking’ and has the poker room, the gift shop, OTB and the Bingo Hall with a ‘no smoking’ room of slot machines alongside. The New Hotel opens into the Casino with a broad passageway that is flooded with natural light. On the top floor the torch room has been opened up, flooding that area with even more natural light. The flow of natural light into a casino is far from the norm. I like it. I believe it is a bold decision, even though only a small portion of the gambling areas are effected. The natural light enhances the atmosphere.

Associations

I just made it. Just made the top five of forty-nine and made it into the prizes.

My last outing I won with four of a kind. This time around I lost to four of a kind. Some similarities. I had an Ace-King suited, almost no choice but to call a heads up all-in. I faced again a King-10. Three tens came down, though it was a good call. The odds were in my favor.

I find every deck has its own attributes. Last night many three of a kind came up early, to the disgruntlement of many. Later, two pair became dominant. I was at a Omaha hi-lo game at the casino some time ago and four of a kind was prominent for some time.

I never read or heard anything about rhythms of a deck; the dynamics of a shuffle. Perhaps it is mere coincidence. But it is something I pay attention to, out of simple experience.

I lost big before winning big last night. I made some bad calls and very poor pushes. I was not feeling on my game but it worked out. You can find in previous posts examples of my winning big and then losing big on similar hands, often losing to a hand I had recently won with.

Enjoy a good story where men play poker? I would be very appreciative if you would purchase my books, appropriately priced for Kindle. They are also available free with Amazon Prime or Kindle Unlimited. In “Chuck Hammer and the Invisible Squadron; A Vendetta’s Wage” there are four Aces, and they all play poker.