Poker for Dummies

There is probably a book by that title. I haven't read it. Here's my couple-o-paragraphs version.

We had our "holiday party" at work this afternoon. We had a big poker tournament as part of it, what with the current texas hold-em craziness. Not for real money, fake money with some prizes for the top players at the end of it all.

So the secret is this: If you have to meet your wife and kids, and are desperately hoping to lose all your 'money', people can't freaking grok it and you have the ultimate bluff. I would bet big and people would say "Whoah! Kim's gonna be out quick!", to which I'd reply "yeah, I have to get out of here soon, so hopefully I'll lose all my money". Then people would think I was lying and would fold.

So before I know it, the 10 or so tables are down to 2 tables, I've got a huge pile of chips in front of me, and I've got to go!

So, I told my boss to take over and will get to blame him if he lost it all :-)

Now I know the real action doesn't happen until the final table, but it was still fun. It certainly was a lesson on a couple fronts:

- when playing with average players, playing aggressively has an advantage. It's amazing that even with FAKE money, people were intimidated by agressive bets.
- people watch WAY too much poker on TV. Everybody's trying to "read the tells" on other players and shit. One guy said to me "I could tell you had the flush by the way you tapped your fingers" - on a hand where I *no shit* had forgotten whether my second card was a spade or a club, but had gotten too far into the betting to care. It was either a flush or a bluff and it really didn't matter.

Next year I'll make sure I have time to see it through and we'll see whether my luck holds out!