Card Night 28-Oct-2008

The big story of the night was Paul, who bought in five times for a total of $100.00 but then had a huge comeback, thanks to some big scoops in Omaha Hi-Lo, and ended up winning $21.00 for the night.

Lyndon continues to be the hottest player.  He was the big winner for the night (+$79.00), the third time he’s accomplished that in his last ten Card Night appearances.

Mike seems to have finally stopped his downward slide, recording two $50.00-plus weeks in a round.  He’s got a ways to go, however, to avoid a losing year (-$337.00).

Unfortunately, Mary’s slump continues.  She’s lost the last eleven times she’s played.  Perhaps Ireland will turn things around for her, and she’ll return to close out the year with a winning streak.

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Despite the fact that we had eight players tonight (yes!), jackpot grew by a healthy $21.00.  Usually, the more players, the less we contribute to jackpot (because it takes longer to play each game).  Crazy, baby!

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Mark D	‑$5.00
Mary	‑$41.00
Paul	+$21.00
Warren	‑$117.00
John	+$1.00
Lyndon	+$79.00
Mike S	+$64.00
Glen	‑$23.00

Card Night 21-Oct-2008

Hey!  The “core” group of Card Night players were all in attendance tonight!  It was the first time since August 19.  Not only that, they were the only players tonight.  (Honestly, with a player pool of twenty people, don’t you think someone else could have shown up?)

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Everybody seemed to be winning on the river tonight.  “Oh, I had you till the river!”  “I can’t believe you rivered me again!”  “Why were you staying in?  You had nothing till the river!”

Please feel free to call a game with no river card if it’s upsetting you that much.

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Mark D	+$7.00
Mary	‑$25.00
Paul	+$15.00
Bill	+$48.00
Lyndon	‑$63.00
Mike S	+$57.00

Card Night 07-Oct-2008

This morning, it looked like we were going to have a full table.  But then Mary sent e-mail saying she was under the weather and couldn’t make it.  No problem; we’ve still got seven players.  But then, at around 4:00 p.m., Paul called to say he couldn’t make it because he was too busy at work.  Paul!  Our stalwart!

But a quick check with the other players indicated everyone else would be there, plus at the last minute John said he could make it.  So, we did have seven.

Of those seven, only Mark DeVol and Ike were members of the original poker group dating back to the late ’80s/early ’90s.

No, that wasn’t a misprint.  Ike was here tonight.

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With Paul’s absence, his streak of consecutive Card Nights attended ends at 124.

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It was nice to have Ike back, although he only brought twenty bucks.  Luckily he also brought his checkbook (he lost $70.00 for the night).

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Ike called Baseball, which several of our newer players had never played before.  At the end, it came down to John and Bill.

Bill announced he had a full house.

John said, “I just have three deuces.”  However, John had failed to realize a 3 he had down was wild, so he actually had four deuces.  But wait!  Upon further review, John actually had a straight flush!  Cards speak, my friends, cards speak.

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Miguel and Ike left early, so the last twenty minutes or so there were just five of us.  Bill took the opportunity to call Apollo.

Glen had never played it before, so Bill gave him advice on how to play.

On the first round, John had A-3-4 in one hand, so he bet.  Glen asked if he should call with his pair of 6s in one hand and a 4 in the other.  Bill told him, “Absolutely you should call.  This is a game that usually comes down to the last card.”  So Glen called.

Mark then folded with a queen in one hand and 8-4 of hearts in the other.  Bill said to Glen, “See, Mark plays this game way too conservatively,” to which Mark replied, “Scoreboard,” meaning, “Who’s up more for the year, you or I?”

Epilogue: John ended up scooping the pot with the wheel.

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Mark D	‑$37.00
Ike	‑$70.00
Bill	+$82.00
John	+$53.00
Lyndon	‑$12.00
Miguel	‑$29.00
Glen	‑$3.00

Trying to keep the game together

This past year it’s been difficult to fill the Card Night table with enough players each week.  Sometimes it’s just because people are out of town or have other commitments.  That’s no big deal.

What is a big deal is that we’ve been losing some of our regulars, the latest being Mike S who told us last night, “Only call me if you’ve got four players or less.”  In other words, he’ll only play if we absolutely need him in order to have enough people.

I was told a while back that one of our regulars dropped out because I take the game too seriously.  I’m sorry if that was the case.  Perhaps I do go a bit overboard with a web page, a blog, and a podcast devoted to our little weekly game.  That’s my way of having fun with it.  But ultimately, it’s more important to me that others are having fun.

Please let me know what I can do to keep the game fun for players.  Let me know what I can do to keep our regulars coming back.

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Here’s a list of Card Night players we’ve had over the years.

Paul	One of our die-hards. Rarely misses a night. And, he’s probably the best poker player at the table.
Mary	Always makes it barring family commitments.
Bill	Travels a lot, but always attends if he’s in town.
Lyndon	Another dependable regular who occasionally has other commitments.
Mike S	Until recently, also a dependable regular. Mike’s been running cold lately.
Mark H	Used to be as regular as clockwork. Mark still holds the record for most consecutive Card Nights attended. Then a few months back, he just stopped coming.
Frank	Was a regular until about five years ago. Frank tries to make an appearance about once a year now.
Warren	Regularly attended for years, but cut back recently to minimize his losses. He attends once every couple months now. For years, Card Night was played at Warren’s house.
Phil	A semi-regular for a while; we rarely see him now.
John	Too busy and lives too far away to be a regular, but shows up when he can.
Jason	A relatively new player who has been attending regularly.
Norb	Mike S’s father-in-law Norb was a great guy who lived in Minnesota, but always came to Card Night when he visited during the winter. Sadly, we lost him to cancer last year.
Stan	One of the core group back in the 90s. Then he got married and moved away. He coined the phrase, “You idiot!”
Mike C	Used to show up every week and taunt Paul and Mike S as he dealt Pai Gow Poker. He disappeared a few years back, apparently for financial reasons. (He still owes $5.00 for the last Football Pool he entered!)
Ike	Used to always play when he was in town, which was about 50% of the time. The other 50% he was visiting relatives. Poor health has kept him away from the game lately. (Ike coined the phrase, “The cheese is in the ointment!”)
Troy and Violet	Very consistent in their attendance for the short time they could. They have since moved.
Ty, Greg, Rand, Matt, Miguel, Glen, Nick Have attended only a few times. Their regular attendance is unlikely, but would be welcomed!