After New York, New York, it was getting close to the time we’d been planning to hold the Texas Hold ‘Em poker tournament in our room. We headed back up the strip, stopping to buy some beer on the way (for outrageous prices) and then returned to the hotel to set up for the game.
This was one of two times that I gambled during the trip. The buy-in was $20 and there were 8 of us playing: myself, Andy, Carl, Norm, Vicky, Eric, Lisa, and Poom.
The game lasted about 3 hours. It was a winner-takes-all elimination type of game. I’d never played before, but I did pretty good considering. I believe that Poom was the first person to go out, followed by Eric, and then Andy. I hung in for a while–long enough to consume 4 bottles of Dos Equis. And when I did go “all-in”, it was the right move, even though I lost:
I had drawn an ace and a three and stayed in because of the ace. Eventually, the cards on the table showed 2 3’s. Everyone had folded except Vicky and myself. I was in control. Holding that three, I had been raising all along, knowing I had three-of-a-kind. Vicky kept seeing the raises. When it came to my last bet, I figured that she probably had the other 3. that meant we both had three-of-a-kind, but I was also holding an ace, which was high. So I went all-in with my remaining chips–something like 42 chips.
Vicky had a full house and that’s how I ended up as the fourth person out. But even so, I still think I made the right move.
Vicky ended up winning the entire tournament. Carl came in second. Vicky took home $140 and Carl got his $20 back. Andy had managed to get a whole bunch of World Poker Tour stuff (t-shirts, cards, keychains, etc.) as consolation prizes for the rest of us.
I had a good time, and didn’t mind losing at all for two reasons: (1) it was among friends, and (2) had I won, I would have spent the winnings buying them all drinks anyway.
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