Hollay
06-01-2005, 10:57 AM
It's that time again! Vote for your favorite article!
The lucky winner scores a tournament ticket :waytogo:
Last week's topic was:
Tales from the tables.
Article #1: from lisamarie20
Monday night I played in the Red Carpet tourney. I was doing pretty well. I beat out a lot of friends!
I made it to the final table and I had 10 + people in the lobby, all watching my game, all cheering me on, and all giving me advice. It was GREAT! I don't think the people I was playing against were reading it or they would know what I was doing.
I finished 3rd, but I've never seen the lobby with such comradeship. Everyone was getting along and cheering and helping and there was tons of poker-talk. Even HP TIM got a rest while I was playing because everyone was focused on me and my playing!
I wish we could do it again. I was laughing so hard trying to figure out who to listen to! IT WAS THE BEST!
Article #2: from coco beanner
As a teenager growing up in Ottawa Ontario I absolutely loved the game of golf. The golf season typically lasts from May until October in this part of the world, which fits perfectly with summer employment opportunities for students. I worked at various golf clubs through my teenage years; I would be at the club 7 days a week all summer long. I worked every shift I could and would play golf when I wasn’t working. The majority of my working hours were spent in the pro shop ensuring that the members were happy, organizing tournaments, selling golf equipment and any odd jobs that the pro might give me. I learned a lot about people and life in general working in the pro shop.
While working at the golf course I also learned how to gamble and in turn deal with pressure. The first money match I ever played was called “nickel a yard” with open presses; I had just finished my shift in the pro shop and ran down to the first tee to catch a threesome that was about to head out. They were members at the club and welcomed me to play with them provided I would play their cash game, I quickly agreed not wanting to miss an opportunity to play. Steve H quickly grabbed me and claimed me as his partner, we sorted out handicaps and I was off on my first real golf gambling adventure. I soon learned that “nickel a yard” is truly a nickel a yard. If you win the hole you win 5 cents for every yard the hole is long. This was a little more money than I had expected given that I was only making $8 an hour and I was about 16 years old. Then I learned what an “open press” is. Essentially if you lose a hole you have the option of pressing on the next hole. A press is essentially the start of another game or doubling the stakes on the next hole. By the end of the front 9 there had been 6 presses meaning that the 10th hole and the rest of the back 9 was now worth at least 30 cents a yard!
Although this game happened over a decade ago I can still remember every shot I hit and the score made on each hole. Although tempting I will keep these details to myself and keep this story moving. By the 18 hole their had been a total of 10 presses, making the 550 yard par 5 worth a total of $275. For a 16 year old kid with $12 in my wallet I think I was as nervous as I would be trying to sink a putt to win the masters. At the end of the match we had racked up a total of $600 in winnings. I tried to refuse the money as I thought they would have refused mine had I lost, but my partner Steve informed me that reneging a golfing debt would upset the karma Gods and I would have to be paid in order to keep them happy. Looking back now I realize that guys who carry over $600 in cash to the golf course don’t really miss losing it.
We went into the clubhouse to a table at the back where many of the members often played cards. I was invited to sit in on their poker game. I had played poker before, sitting around the kitchen table with the family and had done well but I had never seen this type of poker before. I watched for about a half hour when my playing partners suggested I sit in and give them a chance to win their money back. I really didn’t feel comfortable with taking the $600 to begin with and I was sort of afraid that my bosses would find out and possibly fire me so I jumped into my first game of Texas Hold’em Poker. I asked a few silly questions of course, “what are the wild cards guys” and “why doesn’t anyone ever take draw cards”. It got a few laughs at first but the guys were really good about helping me learn the game while slowly earning back their money. When the waitress came over to take drink orders they would order an extra beer for me and sneak it to me under the table. I was a 16 year old kid sitting with a table of men yet they made me feel like an equal. Only now do I realize that they weren’t trying to make me feel like an equal they genuinely regarded me as an equal. By midnight we were the last people at the club and the waitress understandably wanted to go home. The last hand of the evening brought me good fortune when I rivered the nut flush and raked in my largest pot to date reaping an additional $400. I now loved the game of Texas Hold’em and bought Super System reading it from cover to cover several times. The $1000 I won that day stayed in my golf bag and I would play golf and poker with the members several more times until leaving Ottawa to head off to University. I started my bankroll before I ever knew what a bankroll was, now over a decade later I now play with the same guys online once a month and they are still trying to win back their money from our first match.
Golf and poker have a strange way of leveling the playing field in terms of social order. Old money, new money or no money everyone is the same when they tee it up on the first hole or sit down at the poker table.
The lucky winner scores a tournament ticket :waytogo:
Last week's topic was:
Tales from the tables.
Article #1: from lisamarie20
Monday night I played in the Red Carpet tourney. I was doing pretty well. I beat out a lot of friends!
I made it to the final table and I had 10 + people in the lobby, all watching my game, all cheering me on, and all giving me advice. It was GREAT! I don't think the people I was playing against were reading it or they would know what I was doing.
I finished 3rd, but I've never seen the lobby with such comradeship. Everyone was getting along and cheering and helping and there was tons of poker-talk. Even HP TIM got a rest while I was playing because everyone was focused on me and my playing!
I wish we could do it again. I was laughing so hard trying to figure out who to listen to! IT WAS THE BEST!
Article #2: from coco beanner
As a teenager growing up in Ottawa Ontario I absolutely loved the game of golf. The golf season typically lasts from May until October in this part of the world, which fits perfectly with summer employment opportunities for students. I worked at various golf clubs through my teenage years; I would be at the club 7 days a week all summer long. I worked every shift I could and would play golf when I wasn’t working. The majority of my working hours were spent in the pro shop ensuring that the members were happy, organizing tournaments, selling golf equipment and any odd jobs that the pro might give me. I learned a lot about people and life in general working in the pro shop.
While working at the golf course I also learned how to gamble and in turn deal with pressure. The first money match I ever played was called “nickel a yard” with open presses; I had just finished my shift in the pro shop and ran down to the first tee to catch a threesome that was about to head out. They were members at the club and welcomed me to play with them provided I would play their cash game, I quickly agreed not wanting to miss an opportunity to play. Steve H quickly grabbed me and claimed me as his partner, we sorted out handicaps and I was off on my first real golf gambling adventure. I soon learned that “nickel a yard” is truly a nickel a yard. If you win the hole you win 5 cents for every yard the hole is long. This was a little more money than I had expected given that I was only making $8 an hour and I was about 16 years old. Then I learned what an “open press” is. Essentially if you lose a hole you have the option of pressing on the next hole. A press is essentially the start of another game or doubling the stakes on the next hole. By the end of the front 9 there had been 6 presses meaning that the 10th hole and the rest of the back 9 was now worth at least 30 cents a yard!
Although this game happened over a decade ago I can still remember every shot I hit and the score made on each hole. Although tempting I will keep these details to myself and keep this story moving. By the 18 hole their had been a total of 10 presses, making the 550 yard par 5 worth a total of $275. For a 16 year old kid with $12 in my wallet I think I was as nervous as I would be trying to sink a putt to win the masters. At the end of the match we had racked up a total of $600 in winnings. I tried to refuse the money as I thought they would have refused mine had I lost, but my partner Steve informed me that reneging a golfing debt would upset the karma Gods and I would have to be paid in order to keep them happy. Looking back now I realize that guys who carry over $600 in cash to the golf course don’t really miss losing it.
We went into the clubhouse to a table at the back where many of the members often played cards. I was invited to sit in on their poker game. I had played poker before, sitting around the kitchen table with the family and had done well but I had never seen this type of poker before. I watched for about a half hour when my playing partners suggested I sit in and give them a chance to win their money back. I really didn’t feel comfortable with taking the $600 to begin with and I was sort of afraid that my bosses would find out and possibly fire me so I jumped into my first game of Texas Hold’em Poker. I asked a few silly questions of course, “what are the wild cards guys” and “why doesn’t anyone ever take draw cards”. It got a few laughs at first but the guys were really good about helping me learn the game while slowly earning back their money. When the waitress came over to take drink orders they would order an extra beer for me and sneak it to me under the table. I was a 16 year old kid sitting with a table of men yet they made me feel like an equal. Only now do I realize that they weren’t trying to make me feel like an equal they genuinely regarded me as an equal. By midnight we were the last people at the club and the waitress understandably wanted to go home. The last hand of the evening brought me good fortune when I rivered the nut flush and raked in my largest pot to date reaping an additional $400. I now loved the game of Texas Hold’em and bought Super System reading it from cover to cover several times. The $1000 I won that day stayed in my golf bag and I would play golf and poker with the members several more times until leaving Ottawa to head off to University. I started my bankroll before I ever knew what a bankroll was, now over a decade later I now play with the same guys online once a month and they are still trying to win back their money from our first match.
Golf and poker have a strange way of leveling the playing field in terms of social order. Old money, new money or no money everyone is the same when they tee it up on the first hole or sit down at the poker table.