• Home

• Poker Home Games
• Poker Stories

Brothers don’t shake hands…brothers gotta hug!

I was split on whether to write this week’s article about another current event  I’ve been reading about, or to go the holiday route and talk about something that came up this past weekend during our annual Thanksgiving celebration.

            And although both are timely, I’ll leave the current event article for a future date, as I’m sure it’ll still be debated and relevant in the weeks to come.

            All right, so….Thanksgiving.

            I smoked a turkey…yeah, it was awesome.  We did have 24 people here, ballooning over the last few weeks to include people I’ve never even met before.  However, the ones I had met were fans of poker, and while it’s not a holiday tradition by any means, from time to time we’ll carve out an hour or two and clear off the leftover corn kernels from the tablecloth so we can get a game going.

            Now this brings me to my dilemma, or more accurately my awkward observation…which is I’m actually uncomfortable playing cards with my family.

            I can’t take money from them.

            It has nothing to do with their financial status…has nothing to do with how much we’re playing for, either, or that it’s the holiday season and I should somehow allow that to affect my judgment and “nice” bone.

            I don’t have a nice bone anyway.  I have a naughty bone, but that’s definitely a different article, one I’ll never write on this Web site.

            Anyway, I think the reason is it just doesn’t feel right wagering anything among family members.

            It’s a weird and out-of-character experience for me, since I’ve never had trouble matching stakes against my best of friends.  I’ll gladly take their money or contribute to their videogame fund with a sigh or a smile.

            But for some reason it’s different with family.   Especially my wife’s family.  They’re such good people, and really know the meaning of family.  The coming together just to see everybody, and all that storybook crap.

            Strike a chord in ya, don’t it?  Well, enough of one in me to have to start thinking about backing out of games.

            And it’s not like we’re playing for gas money here.  Sometimes we’re not even playing for pennies, it’s marshmallows and chocolate truffles this year. 

            But hell, it’s their marshmallows and chocolate truffles…and who am I to let a few boats come between my brother in law and his dessert, right?

            For Christmas, I’ll have to do a better job of pre-planning activities to fill the extra time instead of gambling.  Guitar Hero and Rock Band are always strong fallbacks…and since there’s kids around, those do-it-yourself gingerbread houses are a sure hit, as well.

            And, the wise decision would most likely be not giving any decks of cards as gifts from St. Nick….

            ….or Hannukah Harry.

Poker Home Games: Man of the House

So here’s a variation of follow the queen that’s been popping up in a few card game circles I still frequent.  I don’t think it’s a new one, but I haven’t seen it before.  I don’t even have a name for it…but I’ll think of one before the column is over and tack it up in the title

Bad economny? Just keep dropping the legal gambling age

1) The first, and strongest argument that I agree with, is the legal age for fighting in a war.  18.  The country considers you old and mature enough to decide how important your life is to you versus doing what’s right for your country.  You can make the call to travel abroad, spend months or years away from your family and familiar surroundings, and put your life on the line….but you aren’t mature enough back home to handle a few hundred bucks?  Please.

2) Similar to point #1, but on the different topic of voting…the legal age of which also is 18.  At no point in history perhaps was the weight and importance of voting as significant as it was just a couple weeks ago during this last presidential election.  You’re telling me some 18-year-old can make a smart, informed, mature decision – and be given the power to put someone like Sarah Palin in a position of national leadership along the way – to decide the presidency of the United States, but he can’t be trusted not to gamble away his summer McDonald’s earnings at the blackjack table?  C’mon now.

3) We’re almost there already.  The age requirement to play at tribal casinos in California and Arizona already is 18.  Our neighbor to the north has its gambling age set at 18, at least where Windsor casino is.  Indian reservation casinos around Wisconsin (where I used to live), are also 18.  Get with the program.

4) Sex.  Hello?  You can legally create life with someone else who’s 18 anywhere in the country (I think it’s actually younger in some states), but you can’t spin a roulette wheel a few times a night?  Whatever.

So what’s the holdup here folks?  Follow suit.  Do the patriotic thing for your country

Now, I readily admit it’s probably not the best, long-term solution for fixing the economy and housing market, but you gotta like how Nevada thinks.  And, if this isn’t a flashing red sign to ANYONE who gambles that you’re never going to win – especially when the state can legitimately come out and say getting more people into the casinos will guarantee more cash flow to the state – then you’re blind as a bat.

But that’s fine, I think most people are mature enough to realize you’re not going to a Las Vegas casino to win money unless you’re semi-professional.  You’re going there to have a good time. 

Hell, I knew that when I was 18.

Poker Home Games: Die tryin’

 Here’s a nifty little variation of Texas Hold ‘Em I just learned. It can be done a number of ways, but it’s easiest with a single, standard six-sided die (and a deck of cards, of course). The game more or less follows the same structure of Texas Hold ‘Em in terms of betting, etc..

A few quick notes:

- Standard poker hand ranking applies.

- Aces are high or low.

- A dealer button is used and rotates

- Ante, blinds and betting/folding follow standard Hold ‘Em rules.

Here’s the game:

1) The games starts with each player being dealt two down cards (hole cards, whatever you want to call them). You are free to look at these cards.

2) Round of betting

3) Six community cards are dealt face up. They need to each be identified by a number: 1-6. You can put them into “boxes” that already are numbered, or if that’s too much trouble, just agree on the order with the other players. But remember which card corresponds to which number.

4) Second round of betting

5) Dealer rolls the die. Whatever number comes up on the die, the card in the corresponding box is removed from play. Then, a new card off the deck replaces the empty spot of the community cards.

6) Third round of betting

7) Repeat step 5.

Fourth and final round of betting.

9) Showdown.

It’s a pretty decent game. Sort of reminiscent of follow the queen in terms of having a good hand changed on you. (In follow the queen, of course, the only thing that can change is the wild card.) I like this version a little more than follow the queen, because it’s hard enough to make a good hand without wilds (although a little easier with 8 cards instead of the traditional 7)…so if you break up two-pair or trips in a no-wild game, it carries much more significance. It’s also a strong test of keeping your poker face when your full house becomes two-pair in one roll of the die.

I guess I know now what all those craps players are screaming about all the time.

Braving the elements

For more information on Poker Home Games, check out Google.