AimlesslyChasingAmy

It was kind of a busy week, and I wasn’t sure I was going to get to play the home game.  But a busy week is the best time to play poker and unwind.  So Wednesday night, I passed on dinner and started smiling almost as soon as I pulled into the lot.  As far as I know, this is the longest running legal game in Austin.  While I’ve only been playing it a few months, the game’s been going for the better part of fourteen years. 

For a game to be legal in Texas - 1) it must be fair, 2) it must be private (ours is by invitation only), and 3) the house can’t profit in any way.  It is also one of the safer games to play in Austin.  A robber would be risking a lot for our low stakes.  Many of the guys are from the contractor trades and can clearly handle their own.  I’ve never seen a gun at the game (although I’ve seen mace and an assortment of knives), but I wouldn’t rule out that a few people are packing.  

We start with a tournament until enough people bust out to start up the side games.  Usually it’s a low buy-in with rebuys, but sometimes it’s a higher buy-in freezeout - and there’s been at least one bounty tournament in my tenure.  Wednesday was our “usual.”  Although they’re all fun tables, I was lucky to draw Kevin for my first table.  Kevin is a damn fine player and has plans to “go pro” in August 2024, once the kids are grown.  But Kevin is always full of mischief during the rebuy period, simultaneously pulling down a big stack while putting everyone else on tilt.  His signature move is raising pre-flop with one chip of every color (rainbow) without looking at his cards.  It never fails to get the obligatory moans from the table. Wednesday night, like all poker nights, was filled with good natured ribbing, solid discussions about strategy, recent Vegas trip reports…and a lot of laughter.

As the WSOP final table is a hot topic in our little world, I wasn’t surprised that the subject came up again at the game.  William started it off by confessing that he liked the ESPN pay-per-view.  As far as I know, William and I may be the only ones on the planet that actually prefer not seeing the hole cards.  We want to be put in the position, as viewers, of having to make decisions with the same imperfect information that the players have.  William’s coverage solution would have them show a hand without the hole cards.  Once the hand is complete, they would reveal the hole cards and have a post hand discussion while the next hand is being dealt.  I thought this would be a perfect solution all the way around.  It would also have the added benefit of cutting down on Norm Chad’s stories about his ex-wives and amp up the actual discussion about the game.  But delay or no delay, I suspect the current hole card model is sacrosanct.   Alas.            

I tend to play better when Kevin is at my table.  I usually play too tight during the rebuy period and Kevin forces me to mix it up.  Wednesday night I was able to build a decent stack during the rebuy period and eventually eke into fourth place for the money.

Unwinding with great people over the game we all love is the primary benefit of my Wednesday night game.  But there are other perks.  My AC froze up last week (low on coolant) and the company that came out gave me a high pressure pitch for a new system - along with a fairly high estimate with no details.  The system is 15 years old - which is pretty much the normal lifespan here in Texas, but I still didn’t want to jump in without more information.  I seemed to remember that one of our game regulars was an AC guy.  Sure enough, Russell was out within 24 hours with all kinds of meters and gadgets.  After 45 minutes in the hot sun and even hotter attic (along with some poker talk), Russell assured me that I had some time on my side.  He’ll work up a detailed estimate and deal with it once the summer busy season is over.  I love my home game.

On the work front, something odd is happening.  I’m beginning to miss the voices in my head.  It seems that ever since I started writing my blog, I have been producing a constant monologue in my brain.  Most of the hours in my day were spent performing this strange, almost out-of-body, commentary about my life and the world of poker - I assume as a way of testing out future blog material.  It was even stranger when I was putting in the bulk of my time on the Matusow book as often Mike’s voice would also chime in - which is as strange as it sounds.  At work, these voices are stilled.  I was beginning to fear that they would leave me for good.

But yesterday I was sitting out on the back deck with Blacula (former stray - current outdoor cat) and I started singing a rather complex and silly song to him.  It wasn’t my voice - it was Matusow’s.  In the course of the near hundred of hours of recorded interviews with Mike, I must have a dozen or so ”songs” sung by Mike to his cats.  These not mere ditties.  They are epic compositions that revisit the cat’s social interactions, play preferences, moods, and life history.  They are usually performed with Mike holding the cat up to his face while simultaneously composing and singing.

So I think I can live without voices in my head during the 9-to-5, as long as they continue to serenade me on the home front.