Texas Hold’Em

Image by HOerwin56 from Pixabay

text16.png

Texas Hold’Em

text16.png

I have been playing cards from as far back as I can remember. Played Old Maid and War with my sister. Playing those games were probably the most calm interactions between the two of us. I'd never played poker though.

I was a mid-teen the very first time I played poker with real money, but that didn't represent being the first time I’d gambled. A town nearest where I grew up sponsored a street fair every summer, benefiting their Volunteer Fire Department.

They ran a wheel; not an actual roulette wheel, but just a wheel they’d spin and if it stopped on the number you’d picked, you’d win. I won a few times, which increased the spending money I had in my pocket for the fair, and I thought it was greatest thing ever, and so much fun.

The first poker that I played was just ordinary five card poker. With wild cards of course, and some of those playing would get quite ridiculous with them. No one played Texas Hold’Em poker.

I graduated high school and soon afterwards, I enlisted in the army, still at the age of eighteen; after basic training, I played poker with army pals. Still, just regular poker. By this time I still had not heard of Texas Hold’Em poker, as not one guy from anywhere in America mentioned it.

It was later in my life when I encountered it.

Image by Pexels from Pixabay



Most people that gamble, from my experience, are clueless. Hopeless.





This is why casinos do so well, as a lot of the people that go to Las Vegas or other casino towns in America, gamble like it’s a novelty. It’s stupid, because they aren’t expecting to win anything, so they throw some of their money around, just thinking it’s exciting to try.

Image by Greg Montani from Pixabay
Most people going to casinos don’t even have a clue which “games” will gobble up their money the quickest. So really, they are throwing money away. For the serious gambler, an education in gambling is a requirement. A necessity. Intelligence not wasted.


I first tried playing Texas Hold’Em in the early 1980s, at a Native American casino. It wasn’t too far from my home, and I had been ending up there on Friday nights partying after work and spending much of the night there, playing poker until dawn.

It was regular seven card poker that I always played there, but every weekend I’d see people at the Texas Hold’Em tables and I’d wonder. The word from everyone was, it was pretty difficult to play, and took lots of money to stay to the end.

When I finally got up enough nerve, I bought in at a Texas Hold’Em table one Friday.

It was brutal, as anyone who’s played the game knows that someone as clueless as I was, would do poorly. Knowing one’s cards and the odds of one’s hand winning the pot, is knowledge aided by studying statistical data a gambler can use to play the game intelligently.

Texas Hold’Em © free-reign 2020

text16.png

Contest Sentence order(numbers represent words):

13, 8, 14, 5, 24, 18, 26, 30, 12, 16, 6, 27, 4, 22, 10, 9, 1, 29, 23, 19, 7, 11, 2, 3, 15, 31, 25, 21, 17, 20, 28

This is my entry to The 31 Sentence Contest Round 14 by @tristancarax. It is a contest based on creating a story with 31 sentences exactly, and each sentence has a set number of words allowed. For more information on joining the challenge see this post:

Thanks for reading!

text16.png

Power House Creatives Logos FINAL_float.png



0
0
0.000
18 comments
avatar

Nice! That's a helluva contest to enter. Well done! Is the story based on a real event?

0
0
0.000
avatar

Thanks! I enjoy doing this contest each week, and it's become my favorite contest.

Yep, this one is non-fiction all the way. :)

0
0
0.000
avatar

Nice! That particular contest intimidates me. :) One of my neighbours is heavy into Texas Foldem too, and likes to tell me about the competitions he enters. He usually comes out a little ahead, too!

0
0
0.000
avatar

"Texas Foldem" - I love it! That might be a more logical name for the game, especially if you're playing at a casino, because usually everyone else at the table in casinos are people who could easily be called professionals.

0
0
0.000
avatar

Applause! I know it's not easy to face this challenge and you did it. Well done!

0
0
0.000
avatar

Thank you! I love challenges, and I love this contest. I think it's one of the greatest writing exercises to be found anywhere!

0
0
0.000
avatar

Nice piece of writing for this challenge. You nailed it!

0
0
0.000
avatar

Thanks! Have you tried your hand at this contest? It's a blast, and I think it's another really great way to expand our imaginations and writing skills.

0
0
0.000
avatar

I havent yet. Maybe one of these days Ill give it a try.

0
0
0.000
avatar

actually I enjoyed that game but I haven't tried playing it with money. Maybe because I'm not a gambler that for me betting money in gamble is hard for me. What if I will not win, my money will just fade in an instant. It's true that it can make you free from stress if you have lots of money in your pocket.

0
0
0.000
avatar

What you say is very true, and a lot of smart people just don't gamble. It makes a lot of sense to not gamble away one's money, but for me, I approach it much the same way as when I choose to purchase shares in a particular stock. I need to know what I'm doing, and I need facts and statistics in order to consider if buying that stock (or making that bet) will turn out profitable for me.

0
0
0.000
avatar

You have garnered support from the @bananafish community. We appreciate you're fine work and hope that you will continue to produce awesome content for us to feast our minds on.

0
0
0.000
avatar

I thought the story might be based on real events.

I used to play the same game and our progression into the gambling life seems to be about the same, almost non-existent.

I lived in Las Vegas for a short while. I went to play Texas Hold'm at the tables once just like you say, "No care in the world about losing it; all that I wanted to do was play." I did well at the first table, coming up fifty bucks. But, as the drinks kept coming, my decision making got worse and I began to care less and made those risky plays. That was a fun fifteen minutes!

0
0
0.000
avatar

I think the subject matter of the prompt is a really great method to approach the game and realize success. It really looks almost foolproof. I'm itching to give it a real-life test by studying it and then using it in an actual game. Probably just with friends at first before hitting that Native American casino, which became a Hard Rock venue in the early 90s,but is still owned by the Native Americans.

0
0
0.000