What’s crazy is that I barely understand the rules of the game. Somebody called it Rich Man’s Pai Gow. And yeah, I know the concept behind all of it, but I wouldn’t sit down and play for $5 a point, let alone risking my bankroll ten or fifteen hands.
Of course, these guys aren’t risking their bankroll. These guys are all millionaires. In some cases, they are millionaires many times over.
What’s more, these guys think they have an edge on each other. Somebody said, “Ram is the live one.” And, yeah that was supposed to be the case. Ram was supposed to be the gambler among the gamblers. But, other rtp online have the story going another way.
Yeah, that’s the story. Ram is winning, man. Ram is winning big. And he’s going to keep playing this game until this little festival is over. And yeah, somewhere down the road, Raymer is going to take a break from killing the high-stakes SNGs and he is going to start setting Ram’s hands for him. Because, in the parlance of the some of the young railbirds, that’s how these guys roll.
Me? Well, I want one of those pizzas with the big hunks of cheese. And I want to be setting my own hands while a line of nubile Nordic women wait in line to whisper in my ear what a fucking stud I am. And I want to drink beer while my wife sleeps in the heavenly bed upstairs, patiently waiting for me to come up and tell her I just won a couple hundred grand, but no big deal because you would’ve loved me if I’d lost it.
No, I don’t want that. I want to stand here with throbbing feet and broken knees and live vicariously through these guys. Why? Because I’m not a gambler.
No, that’s not quite right. I AM a gambler, but I’m not this kind of gambler. I’m something else that I’ve already forgotten about.
Now, I have to remind myself that, beyond being a gambler, I’m a writer. Or, at the very least, I have deluded myself into believing I’m a writer. And THAT is why…THAT is why, I tell myself, I am standing here at three o’clock in the morning. Because THIS is the kind of thing that people don’t see.
The question is, does anyone really want to watch this? I mean, these guys are talking, but quietly. They are winning money, but the casual observer can’t tell how much, because it is all on paper. Only the winners are going to tell you if they won. And, still, there will never be an accurate accounting of what’s going on here.
And yet, I sit and watch. Not because I’m a gambler. Not because I’m a writer. No, I sit and watch because I can’t stop.
And, that, I tell myself, is reason enough to stay.
Ride ‘Em, Cowboy!
It was my worst fear realized.
Out-chipped and heads up in a HORSE tourney against The Princess. As I told her when heads up began, she had the advantage in 4 of the 5 games, and maybe all five.
Thankfully, I managed to hold my own during the last five mintues of Stud 8 before it moved into that lovely 2 card game. I chipped back up and even took a brief chip lead before running smack dab into trip 6s. I wanted to convince myself, that based on the betting, there was no way she hit the 66x flop. Of course, I was wrong and suddenly short stacked.
That’s when I started catching cards. The turning point was A4. I flopped top pair, but had no idea Heather flopped two pair with K2. I turned a 4 however and doubled up. A few hands later, my Q8s turned a flush against Heather’s top pair and suddenly, I had myself a good chip lead.
Then that crazy 4 card game arrived. All I wanted to do was not make stupid plays. I think I managed to win the first hand and had Heather in big trouble. She chipped up once or twice to cut it to a 3-to-1 chip lead and then it happened. The Luckbox emerged.
Playing for what I thought would have been the best low, I turned a diamond flush draw. Heather was so low I knew she was going to play for her whole stack. I announced that I was going to need a suckout and put her all in. The diamond on the river sealed the deal.
Had it not come, Heather would have cut my lead to about 2-to-1 and I would have been staring down the barrel of Razz, Stud and Stud 8. There’s not enough luck in the world to help me through that minefield.
