Earlier this week, I played for two nights at Artichoke Joe’s in San Bruno, California. A decent, but a little run down, card room in northern California. The only table open when I got there the first night was a 1-2-2 No Limit Hold ‘em. I had been on a plane all day, so I only wanted to play for a couple hours.

I bought in for $200 and took the #7 seat at the full table. The table was fairly aggressive, but I was able to catch a few decent hands and rake in about $75 over a few pots. About an hour in, I looked down at the hole cards and saw the delight of aces. (I will tell you that my first impression for aces is to play them aggressively, but I hoped to use the aggression of the table against itself so I smooth called $5 with 6 players left.) The flop came, rainbow and all low. I was second to act so I bet $15 on a pot of about $30. Everyone folded except a guy that bet $100. I looked at him and read a small pocket pair trying to steal the pot. He had about $100 left in his stack, so I pushed all in, and he called. He turned over pocket 5’s and groaned when I rolled over aces. He was a big dog at this point and had little chance of winning (about 15%). Well, low and behold, he caught the miracle 5 on the river, and I was tapped out by a miracle. Being fairly exhausted, I decided that it was time to pack up for the evening and write the evening off as a loss.

On the second night, I grabbed another seat at a 1-2-2 No Limit table. I bought in $300 tonight and fell right into my saga. My second hand, I looked down and found American Airlines. I was in the small blind, so after all of the action there were 5 people left in the hand when it came back around to me. I decided to try and make a big splash, so I went the slow play route and just smooth called the $5 minimum bet. The flop offered a pair of nines and a 5 of hearts. I bet $40, and everyone folded except the button who came over the top with a bet of $100. I decided to make the big splash, so I went all in and in two seconds he called. I knew I was screwed as soon as he called and flipped over his deuce-nine. I missed on the turn and river and $300 disappeared in two hands.

Not deterred, I bought in another $200 and had some luck, winning $3,000 throughout the evening. But my saga with pocket rockets was not over. The very last hand I was going to play, I looked down and found my friends in the hole again. I was first to act so I decided no slow playing. I raised to $25. Everyone folded in turn, and I wound up taking down the blinds of $5 total!

For those keeping score, I had pocket rockets three times in about four hours of playing: 2 huge losses (one an ugly bad beat, one stupid playing by me), and I won a whopping $5 on the third!

When walking through a casino, some of the games can seem daunting - they’re played quickly and the players seem to speak in a foreign language, using terms you don’t understand.

One of the easiest games to learn is Blackjack, also known as Twenty-one, and the only person you have to beat is the dealer, no matter how many players there are. The goal of the game is to get your cards to add up to twenty-one or as close as possible without going over and beating the dealer’s hand by the dealer either busting or not coming as close to twenty-one as you did.

The Cards:

Cards 2 through 10 are face value (their suit doesn’t matter).

Jacks, queens, and kings are counted as ten.

Aces are special and they can either be worth one or eleven depending on how it helps the player’s hand.

Playing:

Each player is dealt two cards face up, and the dealer is dealt one card face up and one face down. If you are dealt a 10 or any face card with an ace, that’s a blackjack.  Unless the dealer’s got one, too, you’ve automatically won. If you didn’t get a twenty-one, then you have to decide to “hit” or “stay”. Hitting means you want to be given another card to add to the ones you already have, but remember the closer you are to twenty-one the easier it will be to “bust”. Busting means that you’ve gone over twenty-one, you’ve automatically lost - for you it won’t matter if the dealer ends up busting or not. If you decide to “stay” that means you’ve decided you’re close enough and you are done with your turn. Then the dealer takes his or her turn, and you hope he or she either busts or your cards are higher so you can win.

The other day I had just a half hour to kill and conveniently drove by Sharky’s Card Room in Nashua, NH. I had not been in Sharky’s for about a year so I figured I would stop by and see if maybe I could find someone to play a quick heads-up game for $100. Unfortunately, there was no one there to play a heads-up match, and the only table with an open seat was a 2-4 Omaha High Only table. I generally like Omaha and think the opportunity to make a few dollars is greater because most people play it poorly. So I grabbed the #2 seat and bought in $40 worth of chips.

But 2-4 Omaha is not really poker at all. It is however a reformatted form of a lottery! Because the stakes are so low people will call with almost any opening hand. They will call with any flush draw, gut shot straight, or low two pairs. 2-4 Omaha is a game where people see a dream in every hand!

I played for my half hour, which saw me get a set snapped off once on the river with a guy who had a two card out.  I made two flushes that were winners, and I made a full house on the river that beat a guy that had me until that point. You win some, you lose some, but in low stakes Omaha you just keep hoping!

After a half hour I walked away with $55 ($15 profit), but the key is that it was fun. The table was chatty and friendly and that is all you can hope for in low stakes Omaha.

Last week, I was playing at Artichoke Joe’s in San Bruno, California. I had my name on the list for 3 different games and finally was able to squeeze into a 1-2-2 No Limit Game ($100 minimum Buy-in, $300 Max). I bought in $200 and grabbed the number four seat.

About 20 minutes into the table, I had been able to steal a few small pots and I was up $20 or so. With the button two in front of me, I looked down at my hole cards and found:

Feeling pretty good about that, I made a pre-flop bet of $15.

I got one caller and we were left with a pot of about $30.

The flop comes:

Nothing on that flop scares me so I bet the pot, $30.

My counterpart has about $75 left and says, “All in.” I smell a bluff, so I call.

He turns over:

I feel like a champ!

The turn and river change all of that when I see:

As the nutjob rakes in the chips, I am left in amazement why anyone still plays this game!!