Saturday, October 27, 2007

Know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em...

...and unfortunately I don't know one from the other.

Every year at the TTA theatre conference several of us play a rolling game of, ahem, "friendly" poker. This year I came in on the second night, and only won one hand the whole night. As a result, I'm down almost 75% of my original stake.

Although it could have been a much better night, if I'd been paying closer attention.

We were playing a 7-card stud variation called "Baseball". 4's get an extra face-down card (a "walk"), and 3's ("outs)" and 9's ("innings") are wild. The thing about 9's are if you get one dealt face-up, you have to match the pot to continue. I was working on a straight flush, needing only one particular diamond or a wild card - when I was dealt a 9.

Which required me to match the pot, or get out. The pot at that point was over $4, and matching it would've put me very very low. So low in fact, not to mention the fact that my up cards weren't worth much on their own (the strength was in the 3 and diamond in the hole), I decided to fold. I couldn't afford to stay in and risk losing almost my entire set of chips.

Yes, you read it right. I forgot the 9 was wild. I was so intent on deciding whether I could match or not, I forgot. So I folded. With a straight flush.

Which would've won me a pot of about $20 or so.

I think I should stick to music....

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