Poker Night

 OK, my Dad used to play poker "with the guys" on Friday nights.  He even built a round poker table (and it was "perfect" with pockets for drinks and others for the chips..  He was good at stuff like that.  But average at poker.  We kids could tell when Dad had a bad night because our allowances came late.

I used to play penny poker in college.  I was better than average (my penny collection box got heavier) but I was never in it for the pennies (broke as I was at the time).

But at least I understood all the rules.   Five card draw, 7 card stud, even "chicago" (best and worst hands split the pot).

So my neighbor has weekly poker nights for quarters and has been asking me to attend.   I decided to attend last Friday.  I can play for quarters.    So I arrived with a bag of potato chips as a gift and a pocketful of quarters.  

But OMG!  Their basement was a room of games.  Poker table, pool table, darts, some old video game,  etc and 2 tables of fancy snacks.  Let's just say I set my bag of potato chips in a corner, LOL!

And they don't play any version of poker I know.  I can't even find them on Google.

Bowtie - I can only HOPE I describe this correctly.  5 cards down to each and YOUR middle one is automatically wild for you.  And so is the same card for the person to your left (but not others).  So if the person to your RIGHT has a wld card you have, you have that too.  

Then you turn up a down card from (fom left to right) and decide to bet a quarter or not (which can be raised a quarter).  And everyone has to know what each other's wild card (and the person to the left) is. 

And you can buy a new card for $1.50 (and that is routine).   Eventually, there is a (sort of) standard poker hand that wins.  But, by the time they are done with all the various wild cards, a straight or a flush is a loser.  

They all know the game and there are cards being flipped and quarters tossed into the pot almost too fast to follow.

27/7 - Some combination of 21 and Natural Nine.  I thought I had a chance at understanding this one, but no.  The object is to get 7 or 27 points and 7 beats 27.  Aces are zero and face cards are a half point (a 6 and a face card is great) but a 7 is bad because you have to accept at least 2 cards and a face card throws you over 7.  

And they throw quarters around like they know what they doing (and they apperently do.). I've seen those machine coin counters in stores, and they don't move quarters around as fast!

I've read "Never play poker with a man named 'Doc'".  Well 'Doc' would lose his mind and money in these games.

And oddly, these folks are helpful to each other about who won each hand.  I can't say it was a "vote", but often enough the groups seemed to decide who had won each hand.  I have the vague idea it was so someone would got more quarters, but not by much.  On the other hand, they were pretty firecley trying to win each hand.

I tried one hand of bowtie on the promise that if I won, they would tell me.  LOL!  I eventually left  with 4 quarters less than when I arrived.

The good lady neighbor tried to explain each to me, even showing me her cards (thankfully, I do have a bland poker face), but none of it made any sense to me.

But there were great snacks.  And the pool table.  And dart bord.  And a bored English teen from one of  the poker players.  We played darts.  First person to hit the bullseye won.  Neither of us could.

Pool Table - At least I know that!  So I racked up and practiced.  The neighbor lady left the poker table to play a round with me (good hostess she was).   Naturally, the game wasn't what I expected.  I know 8-ball and rotation and I've played 9-ball.  

But she said "stripes or solids"?  Huh?  Oh, I caught on fast after thinking a few seconds.  You each try to sink all "yours".  I won that easily (and she was trying her best, honest).  

So the english teen asked me to show him how to play.  When I was his age, I could play a double hit to a corner pocket and jump a ball.  But I was also an advanced Boy Scout and Cub Den Chief at his same age, and helping other's learn a skill comes naturally to me.  

We had a grand time of it.  He thrust the cue like trying to kill a bison, LOL!  So I spent a good happy hour teaching him  that the forward hand was like a golf tee (just a holder) and all the aim came from the back hand.  He was a "lefty" so I had to adjust my advice for that.

I explained that pool was (mostly) all geometry (my favorite class in high school) and he was taking that himself).  And he caught on to that.  

I couldn't get him to stop hitting the cue ball at the bottom though.   Can't teach everything in 1 hour.  But I did get him to actually aim and move his cue slowly.  His Dad gave me a "thumbs up" a couple times.  And neighbor lady smiled a few times too.  

I enjoyed the evening, even if I had no idea how to play the weird poker games.  But sometimes it is good to just be around other people.

And I wonder if that teen will someday remember "that old guy" who showed him pool.  It's like mentioning something to a person in a grocery store about how to choose good produce.  Maybe they will remember or maybe they don't.  And you will never know.