High On Poker

I had one of those odd nights last night, where I made a decision but never fully mentally committed. The result was that I spent a great part of the evening with my body in one place and my mind in another. And that “another” place…well, its poker of course.

For whatever reason, I got it in my head that this would be the Week of Poker. I guess it started when wifey Kim told me she had her monthly girls’ dinner this Tuesday, the same day Skidoo was in town. Skidoo in town and nothing to (ski)do? Then why not play poker.

So, the initial plan was in place. Poker at the Tuna Club for the $130 tournament. But then I started to think about the extra benefit to playing on Tuesday at Tuna.  If you play the Tuesday tournament and the Thursday tournament, you get an extra 1k in chips in the Thursday tournament. Starting stacks are around 4,500 (really 2,500, with 1k bonus for arriving on time and a 1k bonus for the dealer add-on), so an extra 1k is no small amount. It’s essentially an additional 25% equity, approximately, of course.

Now I had Tuesday poker and Thursday poker. What? Wifey Kim has a bachelorette party Saturday night and I have a ridiculous comp offer from the Trop in AC. Saturday poker it is!

Ok, so we have Tuesday poker and Thursday poker and now Saturday poker. Hell, that’s probably more live poker than I played in month of February. Go me!

And then we have last night. Wednesday. I had already decided to skip the Dank (aka, the former Mookie) since my bankroll is down to $11 on FullTilt and I know the BBT5 is going to create some monster player pools that require more hours than I care to spend. And I also knew I was playing poker on Thursday and Saturday. Accordingly, the plan was to spend the evening with wifey Kim doing my husbandly duties.

Then came the text. A good pal of mine is re-opening a poker club about three blocks from my apartment. It doesn’t get much better than that. This same game has been running once a week, and I’d been getting invites, but each time I had to pass because the games were held on Tuesday, when I am usually curled up on the couch with wifey Kim watching Lost. (As an aside, the fact that Lost went back and explained why sideways-world Sawyer ignored criminal Kate is fantastic. Just like the Hurley-VW bus episode, at first, it felt like the show was just lazy, but several episodes later, we learn that they allowed that improbable moment for a reason).

Where was I? Ok, new poker room run by friend around the corner v. wifey on couch watching shitty American Idol. I’m not going to lie to you, folks. I was sitting on that couch, but my head was at the poker game.

So, for the evening, I spent much of my time with wifey Kim, admittedly paying MTTs on PokerStars all the while (with no success, such is the life of an MTT player). When 9:15 rolled around and I saw wifey Kim drowzy, I started to second-guess myself. When 9:45 came around and she was out like a light, I even considered escaping. I knew wifey Kim wouldn’t mind, not that she’d even know, but in the end I stayed put.

The plan for tonight is to play poker. I’ll probably return to Tuna unless I get confirmation that the downtown club is open today as well. Even then, I may stick to Tuna to see if I can take down the tournament and some more leaderboard points. At least whereever I am, I will be there mind, body and soul.

Tomorrow, I am seeing Lewis Black with my wife and parents. Saturday, off to AC. Lemme know if you’ll be there to.

Until next time, make mine poker!