Card Night 26-Sep-2006

The table was full tonight, and the Padres came back to beat the Cardinals.

That should have made for an enjoyable night of cards.  Unfotunately, Paul “Heat Miser” Huyser had other plans.

Paul’s favorite stunt of the night was to call with fewer chips than required.  Time after time players had to tell him, “Paul, it’s fifty to you.  You only put in twenty-five.”  Paul would then act all surprised.  (At one point, Paul was in for $60.00, but ended up winning $30.00.  Coincidence?)

He also gleefully slow-rolled his dad with a set of 3s in Omaha Hi-Lo before collecting his share of the pot.  Just plain mean.  Then he had the audacity to proclaim, “I’m usually pretty good about flipping my cards up right away.”

And enough about King Kong!  All night long Paul went on and on.  “King Kong’s the greatest!  Isn’t King Kong the greatest?  Man, nobody can beat King Kong!”  Yeesh!

Mark D	‑$28.00
Mary	+$39.00
Ike	‑$34.00
Mark H	‑$17.00
Paul	+$30.00
Warren	‑$9.00
Bill	+$118.00
Mike S	‑$86.00

Card Night 19-Sep-2006

After their return the previous week, Ike and Mary were no-shows tonight.

The banter was as inane as always.  “You idiot.”  “I hate this game.”  “Declare.”

Paul toyed with the idea of changing his last name to Stefanidis.  Mike indicated that the Stefanidis family would not interfere.

There was a lot of lying and deception going on:

• In Omaha Hi-Lo with two 4s on the board and no possible low, Mike turned over just one card, a 4, refusing to show his 10 kicker until told to do so.  He split the pot with Warren, who also had 10-4.
• In another Omaha Hi-Lo game, Warren announced he had a straight, even though no straight was possible with the given board.
• Omaha Hi-Lo again: It was down to Paul and Mark Huyser.  At showdown, Paul asked Mark if he had a flush.  Mark said, “No,” and turned over his cards, at which point everyone pointed out the flush he had.

In Texas Hold ’em, Mike claimed that he folded what would have been a straight flush had he stayed in.

Mark H said he got a bit flustered during an Omaha Hi-Lo hand when on the turn “the high and low both qualified at the same time.”

Mark D	‑$6.00
Mark H	‑$14.00
Paul	+$3.00
Warren	‑$44.00
Mike S	+$43.00

Card Night 12-Sep-2006

Tonight saw the return of Ike after more than three months, as well as the return of Mary after the birth of Clare.  (Mary only missed one Card Night!)

The theme of the evening seemed to be “four cards to a straight”.  An inordinate number of boards ended up such that a player needed just a single card to complete a straight.  And once, the board had a straight showing!

Highlights:

• During a hand of Texas Hold ’em Hi-Lo Declare where no one was betting, Ike turned over 7-4 to take low.  Mike told Ike that he should have bet because 7-4 is a good low hand when nobody’s betting.  Paul agreed.
• In another Texas Hold ’em Hi-Lo Declare, Ike held A-3 and never bet it.  He ended up splitting a painfully small pot.
• Paul folded 8-2 pre-flop in Texas Hold ’em.  The board ended up with three deuces; Paul would have won jackpot.  Lesson learned?  Never fold anything.
• Ike and Paul were the last two players in an Omaha Hi-Lo hand that showed a board of 9-J-8-6-9.  The two of them raised and re-raised each other till it was capped.  On the final raise, Paul announced that he couldn’t be beat.  Paul showed a J-9-x-x for a full house (turns out Paul could’ve been beat if someone had J-J), and Ike showed A-2-x-x expecting to win low (but there was no low).  Paul scooped a huge pot.
• After the river in an Omaha Hi-Lo game, Warren folded the nuts (a jack-high straight).
• During a Texas Hold ’em Hi-Lo Declare game, Mark DeVol raised in the big blind with A-2 of diamonds.  Mark Huyser, Mary, and Mike called.  The flop had a deuce, messing up Mark D’s low, but it also had two diamonds.  Mark D bet and all players called.  The turn gave Mark D the flush and he bet.  Mark H and Mary called, and Mike raised (he had made a flush also, albeit a lower one).  At this point, Mark D foolishly just called, trying to disguise his nut flush.  This move might have been good in straight Hold ’em, but in Hi-Lo Declare, he should have raised.  He needed to get more money in the pot in case it was split at the end, or chase out the low players so that he could scoop the pot at Mike’s expense.  The river was another diamond, so now Mark D had to bet since there were four diamonds on the board.  Everyone called.  Mark D split the pot with Mark H.

Quote from Mary following the Padres 5-4 loss to the Reds in 11 innings: “Padres, you stink.”

Mark D	‑$9.00
Mary	‑$15.00
Ike	‑$40.00
Mark H	+$12.00
Paul	+$85.00
Warren	‑$59.00
Mike S	+$10.00

No New Football Pool System

Well, based on all the problems we had this last week with people getting errors while trying to enter their Football Pool picks, I was planning on switching over to a service like Sportsline to handle everything.

But, as it turns out, in order to use Sportsline, everyone would have to start up a Sportsline account with a password, then log into the Football Pool with another password, etc., etc.  I didn’t want people to have to go through all the hassle.

So, I’m keeping the Football Pool the way it is on the Card Night web page.  And, again, if you’re unable to enter your picks, simply e-mail them to me and I’ll do it for you.  (Hopefully the problem will eventually go away.)

Clare Anne Farrell

Welcome to the new Card Night Blog!

And more importantly, welcome to the world, Clare Anne Farrell!

Clare was born at 12:45 p.m. PDT on Friday, September 1, 2006.  She was 7 pounds, 8 ounces, and measured 20 inches.

Congratulations to Frank, Mary, and the entire family!