Hollay
08-31-2005, 10:33 AM
It's here again! Vote for your favorite submission and you could win HP gear! The writer with the most votes scores a tournament ticket :)
Entry #1
Charming Superstitions
As a realist, I have no superstitions. I sometimes however, envy that neat little charm protecting people’s cards. I listen to stories of that time in Vegas, or hear about that coin belonging to their great-grandfather who won it off of Abraham Lincoln. Sometimes, it's carved jade, or a crystal, or some other semi precious stone, abundant only on the beaches of some far off place. If you ask them, most will say that this little charm of theirs brings them luck. I would have to agree, that in fact, this spirit ridden little idol does bring them luck - but not in the way they think.
I raise 3 times the pot pre-flop, continuing strong, as my pocket aces just flopped trips. They and their little lucky monkey knuckle are calling right along, thinking: "Oh! What is this? My little petrified piece of bread that used to belong to Gandhi is now protecting my cards? By Buddha! We have made our wheel on the river with 5,2 off-suit, at a full table, under the gun, only calling the big blind.
Together we have defeated MinnesotaRon's trip aces!"
They’re "lucky" alright! Lucky I don't jump across the table and shove that glued together stack of $1 Harrah's poker chips right up their @$$! I do sometimes envy that little charm protecting their cards.
MinnesotaRon
Entry #2
The path through the dense woods was no longer clear and the moonlight was fading behind some very dark clouds. Young Egil Skallgrimson noted that his heart was beating faster and his mind growing less clear. If he did not find his way home soon, he would be lost in the woods all night, maybe forever! Just then a crow cawed loudly. Egil turned, tripped and fell. As he fell a small medallion, shaped like the hammer of Thor, fell from his pocket. Egil had forgotten he'd had that medallion, and he remembered his father saying that the medallion would bring good luck. Clutching the hammer, he calmed, his breathing slowed, and he began to think of all the other things his father had taught him. Looking about for signs, he soon found the warmth of home. Egil kept that medallion with him always from then.
Years later Egil told his father of that night in the woods and how the medallion's luck had saved him. With a mischievous twinkle in his eye, Old Skallagrim laughed loudly and said "Boy, have you not yet learned a man's wisdom?A trinket is needed for the young - a token to invoke the strength and will already within them. A man must know how to draw on that strength without tokens. The strength comes from within Egil, not from the token. This you should never forget ."
Egil never forgot, but he still kept that hammer with him, even unto his dying day. When asked of this by his own son Egil said, "The strength, the wisdom, the luck, it does come from within, but it never hurts to have a constant reminder around, lest you forget where to find it when you most need it."
And that explains why my favorite little replica statue of the Holger Dansk, a Viking warrior sitting and brooding over strategy, the original of which can be found in Copenhagen, is always near my terminal or guarding my cards when I play poker.
Skallagrim
Entry #3
I have never been one for good luck charms or trinkets of sentimental value on the poker table. I always have kept the philosophy that good players win consistently, not lucky ones. However I have always had a love affair with the number seven, some of the best things that have ever happened to me have happened at 7am or 7pm and I have hit quads several times, but I have only hit quad sevens. I still don't believe in good luck charms, but as a result of one hand I now also despise the number that had loved me for so long.
On a brisk October morning I started out of my house to begin the drive to my favorite casino and when I say favorite I mean the only one within an hour's drive. As I stepped out of my house I happened upon a half dollar laying "heads up" in my driveway. On a side note, when I was a child I thought half dollars were wonderful. They were my favorite type of "money". I put money in quotes because as a child I had no grasp of money having value, I just liked the way a half dollar looked. I decided to pick this half dollar up and use it as my card weight for the day.
I finally get to the poker room and get my name on the list for my usual game at my usual stakes of $2/$5 No limit Hold 'em. After twenty minutes of sipping on a cup of coffee and chasing each sip with a swig of water my name was called. I sat down with a full buy-in, my coffee, my water, and my new card weight at table number seven. In the countless number of times I have played poker here they have never had a $2/$5 NL game on table number seven. I find this much to my liking.
Within my first 2 hours of sitting down, I have made 2 buy-ins in profit. This card-weight combined with being at table 7 have really equaled up to be a lucky combination. I have been dealt the same two red aces 5 times in that 2 hour window. They got cracked one time but for a very small pot against a short stack. Getting the same two red aces six times in two hours is almost impossible online and it is even more of a phenomenon in a live game which moves much slower with fewer hands per hour.
Then comes the luckiest pot I have ever won in my years on this planet.
The day was ‘Splash the Pot Day’ at my regular card room. This means every thirty minutes the casino adds a full buy-in to the pot at whichever table number they draw out of a hat. This time they call table seven. So this means on out next hand there will be five hundred dollars of dead money in the pot before cards are even dealt. I get dealt a seven and a two both of diamonds and simply call the blind. The man to my left went all-in for less than a full buy-in because it was his best shot at winning the money. By the time it got back around to me everyone was all-in, and I had the whole table covered. I had to call here simply because of the overwhelming pot odds.
Call 600 to win 3000 or so. I flopped the flush and it held up. In fact it cracked the man's kings to my left, it also emptied half the table out and we got some fresh blood from the list seated.
I should have left right then. I was up $3000 in less than a few hours.
I stayed, won some more money, lost some too.
After six hours of play I was at $2700, one of the gentlemen who sat down after half the table had been cleared out had been playing a very solid game and in 4 hours he had a stack of $2000. Then all hell breaks loose.
I am in the buttton and I look down at "crabs" or two tres is the hole. Mr. $2000 bumped it to $70 straight to see a flop and only I call. The flop came 3, 7, 8, and I flopped a set. Mr. $2000 leads into me for $250, I raise him to $750 and he just pushes for what he has left. To me, this screams Aces or Kings, but after I called he flipped over two black deuces. This means he was drawing dead short of turning and rivering a deuce. I actually asked the floor man for a couple of racks because I planned on going home after I won this hand. Turn: Deuce....River: Deuce. I couldn't believe it, I just lost my biggest one day score on a million to one shot. I was crushed and knew I couldn't win anymore on that day, so I still racked my chips up and cashed out, but as I was leaving I flipped that half dollar to the gentleman who had just pulled off the suck-out of the century and said, "I think this is your good luck charm, not mine" He said “Thank you” as I left.
I saw that man 2 months later at a different cardroom and he told me that 3 days later, the exact same thing happened to him, only for a lot more money...and he passed on that half dollar to the man who had pulled it off on him.
So if you ever get a half dollar flipped to you at a table after sucking out, please don't accept it.
And never play at table number seven.
-Aflanders111
Entry #1
Charming Superstitions
As a realist, I have no superstitions. I sometimes however, envy that neat little charm protecting people’s cards. I listen to stories of that time in Vegas, or hear about that coin belonging to their great-grandfather who won it off of Abraham Lincoln. Sometimes, it's carved jade, or a crystal, or some other semi precious stone, abundant only on the beaches of some far off place. If you ask them, most will say that this little charm of theirs brings them luck. I would have to agree, that in fact, this spirit ridden little idol does bring them luck - but not in the way they think.
I raise 3 times the pot pre-flop, continuing strong, as my pocket aces just flopped trips. They and their little lucky monkey knuckle are calling right along, thinking: "Oh! What is this? My little petrified piece of bread that used to belong to Gandhi is now protecting my cards? By Buddha! We have made our wheel on the river with 5,2 off-suit, at a full table, under the gun, only calling the big blind.
Together we have defeated MinnesotaRon's trip aces!"
They’re "lucky" alright! Lucky I don't jump across the table and shove that glued together stack of $1 Harrah's poker chips right up their @$$! I do sometimes envy that little charm protecting their cards.
MinnesotaRon
Entry #2
The path through the dense woods was no longer clear and the moonlight was fading behind some very dark clouds. Young Egil Skallgrimson noted that his heart was beating faster and his mind growing less clear. If he did not find his way home soon, he would be lost in the woods all night, maybe forever! Just then a crow cawed loudly. Egil turned, tripped and fell. As he fell a small medallion, shaped like the hammer of Thor, fell from his pocket. Egil had forgotten he'd had that medallion, and he remembered his father saying that the medallion would bring good luck. Clutching the hammer, he calmed, his breathing slowed, and he began to think of all the other things his father had taught him. Looking about for signs, he soon found the warmth of home. Egil kept that medallion with him always from then.
Years later Egil told his father of that night in the woods and how the medallion's luck had saved him. With a mischievous twinkle in his eye, Old Skallagrim laughed loudly and said "Boy, have you not yet learned a man's wisdom?A trinket is needed for the young - a token to invoke the strength and will already within them. A man must know how to draw on that strength without tokens. The strength comes from within Egil, not from the token. This you should never forget ."
Egil never forgot, but he still kept that hammer with him, even unto his dying day. When asked of this by his own son Egil said, "The strength, the wisdom, the luck, it does come from within, but it never hurts to have a constant reminder around, lest you forget where to find it when you most need it."
And that explains why my favorite little replica statue of the Holger Dansk, a Viking warrior sitting and brooding over strategy, the original of which can be found in Copenhagen, is always near my terminal or guarding my cards when I play poker.
Skallagrim
Entry #3
I have never been one for good luck charms or trinkets of sentimental value on the poker table. I always have kept the philosophy that good players win consistently, not lucky ones. However I have always had a love affair with the number seven, some of the best things that have ever happened to me have happened at 7am or 7pm and I have hit quads several times, but I have only hit quad sevens. I still don't believe in good luck charms, but as a result of one hand I now also despise the number that had loved me for so long.
On a brisk October morning I started out of my house to begin the drive to my favorite casino and when I say favorite I mean the only one within an hour's drive. As I stepped out of my house I happened upon a half dollar laying "heads up" in my driveway. On a side note, when I was a child I thought half dollars were wonderful. They were my favorite type of "money". I put money in quotes because as a child I had no grasp of money having value, I just liked the way a half dollar looked. I decided to pick this half dollar up and use it as my card weight for the day.
I finally get to the poker room and get my name on the list for my usual game at my usual stakes of $2/$5 No limit Hold 'em. After twenty minutes of sipping on a cup of coffee and chasing each sip with a swig of water my name was called. I sat down with a full buy-in, my coffee, my water, and my new card weight at table number seven. In the countless number of times I have played poker here they have never had a $2/$5 NL game on table number seven. I find this much to my liking.
Within my first 2 hours of sitting down, I have made 2 buy-ins in profit. This card-weight combined with being at table 7 have really equaled up to be a lucky combination. I have been dealt the same two red aces 5 times in that 2 hour window. They got cracked one time but for a very small pot against a short stack. Getting the same two red aces six times in two hours is almost impossible online and it is even more of a phenomenon in a live game which moves much slower with fewer hands per hour.
Then comes the luckiest pot I have ever won in my years on this planet.
The day was ‘Splash the Pot Day’ at my regular card room. This means every thirty minutes the casino adds a full buy-in to the pot at whichever table number they draw out of a hat. This time they call table seven. So this means on out next hand there will be five hundred dollars of dead money in the pot before cards are even dealt. I get dealt a seven and a two both of diamonds and simply call the blind. The man to my left went all-in for less than a full buy-in because it was his best shot at winning the money. By the time it got back around to me everyone was all-in, and I had the whole table covered. I had to call here simply because of the overwhelming pot odds.
Call 600 to win 3000 or so. I flopped the flush and it held up. In fact it cracked the man's kings to my left, it also emptied half the table out and we got some fresh blood from the list seated.
I should have left right then. I was up $3000 in less than a few hours.
I stayed, won some more money, lost some too.
After six hours of play I was at $2700, one of the gentlemen who sat down after half the table had been cleared out had been playing a very solid game and in 4 hours he had a stack of $2000. Then all hell breaks loose.
I am in the buttton and I look down at "crabs" or two tres is the hole. Mr. $2000 bumped it to $70 straight to see a flop and only I call. The flop came 3, 7, 8, and I flopped a set. Mr. $2000 leads into me for $250, I raise him to $750 and he just pushes for what he has left. To me, this screams Aces or Kings, but after I called he flipped over two black deuces. This means he was drawing dead short of turning and rivering a deuce. I actually asked the floor man for a couple of racks because I planned on going home after I won this hand. Turn: Deuce....River: Deuce. I couldn't believe it, I just lost my biggest one day score on a million to one shot. I was crushed and knew I couldn't win anymore on that day, so I still racked my chips up and cashed out, but as I was leaving I flipped that half dollar to the gentleman who had just pulled off the suck-out of the century and said, "I think this is your good luck charm, not mine" He said “Thank you” as I left.
I saw that man 2 months later at a different cardroom and he told me that 3 days later, the exact same thing happened to him, only for a lot more money...and he passed on that half dollar to the man who had pulled it off on him.
So if you ever get a half dollar flipped to you at a table after sucking out, please don't accept it.
And never play at table number seven.
-Aflanders111