Just finished playing Texas Hold 'Em with Son. He learned to play it at school last year and so we got him a version for home play. The three of us played a lot at first, and then it was just Spouse and Son. I'm not that keen on card games. Generally, they aren't kind to me. I just don't get what I want. This includes games like, Go Fish, Old Maid, Rummy, and Hearts.
Actually, the card games I've been most successful at have been poker. But I've never gone up against anyone really good. Most of the time I've managed to come away with more than I went in with, but not always. Last night Son hammered me. He was doing so again today when my luck suddenly shifted. I went all-in three times in a row and he came just short three times in a row. He had a pair of aces. I had three tens. He had two pair. I had a straight. He had a pair of kings. I had a straight. It can change quickly.
We weren't playing for money. I don't like playing cards for money, and neither of us has any anyway.
A long time ago I remember playing cards for money at Chris's house. It was Chris and Stephen and I. We were playing "guts".
Guts was a pretty simple game. At least the way we played it. An ante was put into the pot. Two cards were dealt to each player, and to "the hole". Beginning at the dealer's left, players announced whether they would 'stay' or 'fold'. Staying meant you either won the pot or had to put as much in as was already there. To win, you had to stay and have the best hand. With only two cards dealt to everyone a pair of anything was considered an excellent hand. Ace high and king high were good, too.
We had an added dilemma. If no one else 'stayed', the dealer was required to stay. And since "the hole" was part of the game, it was possible for everyone to stay and nobody win.
This happened continually that day when Chris, Stephen and I were playing. We kept dealing pairs to The Hole. Six hands in a row! And on the one hand, it was amazing, all three of us had a pair. Chris's pair beat Stephen's and mine, but The Hole had a pair of aces. Eventually, we had run out of pennies and were tossing in I.O.U.s. Finally, Chris won. I not only had lost all of my money, but I owed another twenty dollars. Stephen owed about thirty-five. Not much in today's thinking, but back then I suppose it was like two hundred and three hundred dollars. A fair amount of money for three people working part-time minimum wage (about two dollars an hour).
To pay off my debt I was forced to hand Chris my penny collection. He let me keep my two silver quarters. The rest all went to him.
Since then I have been leery about playing cards for money. I certainly won't borrow to gamble, like I did then. How stupid can one get? No matter what hand we were dealt it was a possible losing hand. Even a pair of aces. For we did not acknowledge suits, and ties went in favor of The Hole.
But it's fun to do something different. Life in an apartment can be pretty dull at times.
2 comments:
I don't much like card games or board games.
The most fun I had playing games with the kids when they were younger was playing text based games and later point and click games, where we'd all sit round the pc together and work out what we had to do.
I used to like Monopoly, Life, Sorry, Pachisi, and all of those. The three of us used to play table games a lot. Now not so much.
Son and Spouse like to play Wii together, but I'm not so good at those games. I prefer strategy type games. Spouse is not keen on pc games.
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