Real Life Rounders Essay, Research Paper

?No, I guess the ladies didn?t help me. I flopped the nut straight.? Yeah

baby ? I won! It just so happened that this was the final game of cards for

that particular evening ? always the highest paying jackpot. I sat in all my

glory. The two queens in my hand that everyone had been fearing had meant

nothing. The pair of ?ladies? served as bait in one of the most grueling and

mentally exhausting night of card playing in my life. My straight, a sequence of

5 cards in numerical order, will be remembered and duplicated for some time

within the group of patrons that night. But it was not just mere lady luck by my

side. I outsmarted or out-guessed my opposition. It was through a conditioning

of memorizing facial and verbal expressions that I was able to earn quite a

healthy sum that evening. On January 1, 2000, first day of the new millennium,

and it was time once again for the annual ?end of winter break? card game.

This occurs when a small group of friends and neighbors that normally never see

each other throughout the year get a chance to bond through a spirited night of

playing poker. Among the eight players gathered around the table on this

particular eve were my good friends Dave and Joe. It was every man for himself

at the table, but on occasion, the three of us have been known to work together

and then at the end of the night we would split out earnings. Minimum buy-in was

a hundred dollars since this was a once a year special occasion for us. It was

ten o?clock at night, and the game was under way. At first, we played some

small money games just to feel out the competition. You can tell many things

from the eyes of your opponent. During this stage, you would be examining who is

working together, detecting others tendencies, and starting to counting cards.

Usually the player(s) who win these games are the first ones out of money when

the real games start. This is because this means that they are beginners, and

lack of experience or inability to disguise a bluff later lead to the deflation

of their over-confidence. By about two o?clock in the morning, the heavy

bidding poker games begin. Now all your hard work begins to pay off, and the

night really becomes fun. We had about five people left as the others had lost

all their money at this time. As a tendency, we do not play just one style of

game, but many different styles of poker. Cincinnati, Texas Hold ?em and Stud

name just a few. The only notable difference in each type in the number and/or

order in which you receive your cards. Each type brings out a new personality -

and thus a foretelling mannerism – in each of my friends. Some become more

aggressive while others become quiet and uncomfortable for each type of hand

they are holding. For example, if Joe licks his upper lip or stares blankly off,

he has a good hand and will bluff that he has a bad hand to get others to invest

more of their money into the game. A technique that would not be something you

could find in a reference novel but is considered unique to the opponent and

situation. Meanwhile, there are usually all sorts of worthless bantering going

on. This trash talking means absolutely nothing, yet can mean absolutely

everything as it served a dual purpose. The first was to confuse the opponent

either by making him or her lose count of the cards or by disguising your

reaction to your own cards. The idea was to make no expression at all, hence the

term ?poker face?. The second purpose was to intimidate the others by trying

to psyche out the opponent – forcing them to play your game. A good irritant

that works only if you are winning for the night but happen to lose one hand

would be, ?It doesn?t matter, I?m just paying you with your own money

anyway.? Around four o?clock, we came across a high stakes game. The pot was

up at around $280, and there four of us still left in that were going for it -

Joe, Dave, one other, and myself. The other guy was drunk by this time and out

of money; obviously, he was not a legitimate contender. Dave lit a cigarette, so

I knew this meant he had a damn good hand. Joe, on the other hand, was staring

through me with a cold intense demeanor, yet it was curious. What did this mean?

Judging from earlier, Joe had won a few times with this confidant look. However,

this time it was a bit too confident. He would not have acted that confident if

he indeed had a good hand – he would not have needed to. He was trying to psyche

me out into believing he had something unbeatable. I then realized that whether

Joe stared too intensely at me or too passively at nothing at all, he had

something far from unbeatable. There was such a fine line between catching a

bluff or being tricked by one. The normal eye would not notice these unspoken

words. Although there were piles of money in the pot, and I did have a decent

hand, I folded before I lost my money. I then sat back and watched. Dave then

proceeded to take Joe?s money just like I knew he would have taken mine.

Guessing correctly at another?s hand was a very satisfying experience. Now its

8 AM and everyone is tired, but it?s time for the last game of the night which

is usually a very high staked, winner-takes-all game. The game was very long and

tedious. However, after the smoke cleared, it boiled down to just Dave and I

with any money left. There was $600 in the pot for the winner. Since that amount

of cash and bragging rights for the year were up for grabs, we were extremely

cautious. Judging from Dave?s expressions, he had nothing neither too good nor

too bad. Neither did I. An ace, a ten, a jack, a three, and a king were my fate.

We were each dealt an additional two cards face up. That is just how the game is

played. You then use the best 5 out of the 7 cards for your hand. He was dealt

nothing that could really help him dramatically. I was dealt two queens face up.

So it was an educated guess from his cards showing that he had three of a kind,

but there was always the outside possibility that he could have picked up the

fourth card in the series – making for an unbeatable hand. Now, my game plan was

to convince him that I had another queen in my hand – thus giving me 3 queens.

From my expressions, he was convinced of this because he raised the pot. That

means he thought he had a three of a kind that was higher in rank than the

queen. Bingo! I knew he had three kings or three aces. The pot was up to $800

dollars and winner takes all. Taking a gamble, I assumed that he could not have

gotten four of a kind because I had in my hand his forth ace and his fourth

king. We are both confident that we were going to win. He lights his would be

last cigarette for the night which further makes me believe that is hand is good

but not that good ? he is nervous. Sure enough, he turns over his three aces

and says, ?Sorry the ladies didn?t help you out.? I let out a big sigh

that was interpreted as defeat as he then started to reach for the money.

However, it was merely a huge sigh of relief because I said, ?No, I guess the

ladies didn?t help me. I flopped the nut straight.? And then I proceeded to

proudly lay my straight on the table for all to admire. If you did not know, a

straight in poker just barely beats three of a kind. That night, actually the

next morning because I did not get home until 10:00 am, I walked out of there

with $800. Also, that night there were no friends or mercy. But after all the

arguing, everyone was friends because you wouldn?t have sat down at the game

in the first place unless you were willing to lose your original hundred

dollars. So all of the tricks and minuscule characteristics that one can pick up

on can prove to be useful. Thanks to the jargon and unspoken language of the

night, I now have the money to pay for this quarter?s rent.