Make Mine Mike

My poker face must’ve been Botoxed.

At tonight’s game of Texas Hold-Em in Venice California, I did much much better. It came down to former underdogs, One-Hand Mike vs. Two-Hand Tooley. Yeah, the guys who used to get knocked out early were now the ones keeping everyone up late, watching the stacks of chips change hands between us.

When I was down to a short stack, I tried some new tactics – going all in without looking at my cards (Tooley called it and I won), going all in when I had a flush (he didn’t call it), then going all in when I had a pair of 10s (he called it and also had 10s, but a higher kicker). So I took second.

I don’t mind; it was fun. Nerve-wracking -- my elbow is chafed from nervously grinding it into the table -- but fun. And everyone acknowledged I played well; Tooley admitted he had the cards all night, and more importantly, we ended Indiana Slim’s three-time winning streak. Now he’s anxious to recapture his glory, but I reminded him of his advice, which I used to my advantage tonight -- patience.

And as we headed out, Slim said it was weird to leave without a big wad of cash. Tooley said it was weird to have the money. The weird thing for me was that I still left with nothing, but felt pretty good about it.