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Sheltons Organic Turkey

if I empty out all the unimportant stuff here, maybe there'll be more room in my head for important things


name: shelton brett
location: western u.s.

Monday, September 12, 2005

royal flush

So my Jackpot experience was one for the books. I'm there to play golf (and try to help my foursome who aren't great golfers) in a benefit tournament, and instead I stay up all night playing poker at a 3-6 Texas hold 'em table. I wouldn't have stayed there all night, but I was getting very lucky and having a great time.

Did I say I was getting lucky? Yeah, to the tune of a royal flush. I don't expect to get another for a long time, but it was really quite thrilling. I even won 5% of the "bad beat" pot as a bonus, which came to around $260. Quite a nice amount for a small-time guy like myself. But it wasn't about the money, it was about seeing those cards turn over.

I was dealt a Ks Qs and in late position. I was raising the bet and I think 3 players called it back to me after the flop. The flop was something like 5c 10s Js. So I knew I was looking at a possible straight flush right there, but at this point I still have nothing. The odds of getting the flush here are something like 35% and I have an open straight draw so I believe everyone checked to me and I bet the three in which two people called. Now on 4th street, up pops the 9s so I get my straight flush (amazing) so no one is going to beat me at this point as I have the nuts, and the 2nd highest hand possible in the darn game. So here it checks to me and I bet the $6, one player folds and the other calls me down. He probably has a small spade in the hole thinking his flush is not good, but what the hey. In 3-6 most people will call you down for the heck of it because there's not much at stake, and it's almost impossible to bluff anyone out. However, earlier I had mucked probably 20 hands in a row and was talking loudly about how I hadn't had a hand to play in "for-ever!" which probably meant that most people thought that when I played a hand, it must be pretty decent. I'm a real tight player and all (what I wanted them to think) but I had been playing tight all night so they were pretty much right. Anyway, I digress... The guy calls and the dealer flips the river and there it is, the As, to make the royal flush. And I had the 9 to boot, which is whacky, but whatever, that doesn't matter. The guy checks to me again and I bet $6 again but who really cares at this point, I can't believe what I'm looking at. He hums, haws, calls and I flip them over saying something like, "I got the royal" and everyone at the table starts clapping and making a scene. Quite surreal. The room boss came over and set me up with the bonus and on top of everything else, I kept winning at each table I was moved to after that. Didn't go to any huge stake tables, as I'm way too much of a small timer to ever get into it (what a way that would be to make a living... pro gambler would be brutal!) but I must say it was quite a thrill and something I won't forget for a long time.

Got back to the room at 7am, left for golf at 8am, and let's just say that 18 holes later I was glad to be getting off the course. It was a scramble, but I was terrible and we finished way out of the money. Still, it was worth it.

I had stopped at a gas station in Burley on my way into Nevada and bought a $2 little Peruvian elephant carved out of semiprecious stone, for good luck. I kept him by my chips at the table the whole night. Now the elephant is perched in a place of honor on my bookshelf, all shiny and green.