My Best Poker Session in Six Months

A perfect game was made even better by some “unofficial” table rules.  First, everyone in the game was required to drink (alcohol).  My kind of game.

I don’t play much poker anymore, but when I do — my preferred game is Pot-Limit Omaha.

Figuring there are four-hole cards dealt instead of two, that doubles my chances of winning, right?

Last night, I stumbled into the greatest poker game I’ve seen since Greg Raymer was world champion.  At Turning Stone Casino in Upstate New York, every table was full and the waiting list was just as deep.  But I noticed one game near the back of the room had an open seat.  This was the loudest game in the room, by far.

Amazingly, the game was Pot-Limit Omaha.  I was even told PLO was spread perhaps once every six months inside this room.  Who knows?  Maybe they spread the game just for me.

Even though this was a low-stakes game — with just $1-2 blinds — most players consistently made a string of “mandatory” blind pre-flop raises (straddling wasn’t allowed by law).  The typical hand had standard blinds of $1-2, followed by $5, $10, $15, and $20 which was posted before the hand was dealt.  So, the game played more like a $10-20 blind structure.  There were lots of $100 betting or more just to see a flop.

A perfect game was made even better by some “unofficial” table rules.  First, everyone in the game was required to drink (alcohol).  My kind of game.  Moreover, since drinks weren’t free at the casino, that made each round of beverages cost about $50.  The table rule was — any player who dragged a pot of more than $1,000 was required to buy the entire table a full round.  No exceptions.  As you can imagine, with those blind raises posted pre-flop, the action got out of control very quickly.  There were free rounds of drinks every time the cocktail waitress came by.

The player sitting next to me had three Crown and Waters lined up on the felt.  Most of the younger players were double-fisting Coronas.  The felt in front of each player was soaked with moisture because of the condensation on the glass.  It would have taken a couple of rolls of paper towels just to keep the table dry.  Chips and cards made it like playing poker in a swamp.

Another incredible thing was this.  I’ve played in some wild games before.  Plenty loud, too.  But never have I seen the manager come over and threaten to shut down the entire game because the table was too noisy and there was too much talking.  About 20 other tables were going, and the floorman informed us there were many complaints and that we were making “more noise than the rest of the poker room — combined.”. At one point, the exasperated floorman chirped, “Guys, we want you to have fun, but over on the next table they can’t hear when some says ‘raise.”

This wasn’t about cursing, although there was certainly some of that.  It was just wild and out of control.  Perhaps the alcohol had a little something to do with it.

A few of the players made $150 pre-flop raises, then played their hands blind to the river.  Several of the players complained they had to go to the bathroom badly, but were terrified of missing a hand.  So, shouts of ecstasy when a big pot was pushed across the table masked the entire table’s collective bladder agony.

Admittedly, I had no business staying out as long as I did.  But I told myself that it would take every single credit card getting maxed out or a stick of dynamite to blow me off of this table.  I wasn’t leaving, no matter what.  The game would have to break for me to leave.

Well, how did it go?

Let’s just say I enjoyed my best poker session in six months.

I only lost $1,700.

But at least I got to drink free all night.