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ACE DEUCE SUITED

by Frank Lee

ACE DEUCE SUITED
Commerce Casino, LA circa de 2008
I have played a lot of poker hands in my life. I have seen so many hands and know that a good portion of poker is luck. No matter how well or how poorly you play a hand it all can change by the cards and no one can control this but the poker gods. But, poker is also about picking and choosing the right hands to play and if you are strategic and disciplined you can ‘grind’ your way to a nice living. I have lost more money in poker than I have won. But, I have won a lot.
In 2008 there was a tax rebate check. I had just moved out to LA in March and was expecting the check to come sometime in mid-April and was planning on using the check to pay my rent as I looked for a job. I also had around four or five thousand dollars saved, but living in LA and partying like you are a rock star can get expensive. Regretfully, I was not honest with myself or honest with my ‘friends’ about how much money I really had. I tried to impress girls and acted like I had money to burn. Looking back, I have no idea why I was like this. I was always a very simple person, not materialistic at all. But, LA gets inside your head. Even though I only lived there for about three months it really changed me and I was very confused about who I was and what my priorities were.
I was 24, naïve, and cocky. I tried to impress girls by buying drinks and 8 balls. That first month in LA was wild, but it left me broke and paranoid.
The rebate check was for 600 dollars. I needed a thousand bucks for rent and I had blown threw almost all of my other money. I didn’t have a real job and I was avoiding my roommate at all costs. Looking back, I was a complete and total asshole. I had no reason to avoid him, if id given him the 600 and said I’d pay him back when I got the money he would have been ok with that. But, pride and testosterone are funny. I needed to act like I had the money and that the 1000 dollars, even though I had no job and he must have known I was broke, was not a big deal. I decided that I would use the only true asset I had. I would play poker.
I took a train to Commerce Casino. I had no car when I lived in LA and I was avoiding my roommate who drove us everywhere. I remembered where Commerce was and assumed the train would drop me off at the casino. Little did I know there was no bus or anything that would take you to Commerce so I had to get a taxi. I think it was from Chinatown, but I honestly can’t remember. I took the taxi to Commerce and it cost me around fifty dollars. I now had 550 for rent. It was around midnight when I finally arrived at the casino.
I couldn’t have planned this better. From growing up around Atlantic City I knew the best time to win money playing cards safely is at midnight. That way you can build your chip stack for 2 am when all the drunks and tourists come in because they have nowhere else to drink. Like I said earlier, I was extremely confident and naïve at this age. I really thought that I could double my money, pay rent, and everything would be gravy.
I still have a vivid memory of every person sitting at the table. Typically, poker tables have nine players at them. I guess because it was a weeknight and it was late the casino, even though it has one of the biggest poker rooms in the world, had a hard time filling up the table. There were just 6 of us at the table. To my left was a Korean who smelled like she had not left the casino in a week, spoke no English, and had about 3k in chips (the max buy in is 300 so she built her stack x10). Even though she had a ridiculous chip advantage and could probably bully her way into taking everyone else’s money, she played extremely tight. A bit of poker 101 for you non poker players. It is never good to have an aggressive player or an unpredictable player sitting to your left. It doesn’t matter what you bet, they will raise. I am a very ‘tight aggressive’ player. In other words, I don’t play a lot of hands, but when I do play hands I bet aggressively. Having a player like her to my left was good because she was predictable(if she bets unless I have aces I fold) . Next to her was a tourist. He definitely was not from LA and had his 200 dollars that he was going to donate to the table. He was young, probably 25 or 26 and probably thought the same thing about me (that I was a young tourist). The other three players all were locals. Commerce Casino has a lot of local poker pros and on any given night it is a who’s who contest with pros, porn stars, and celebrities. The tables are very competitive with the best players from around the world. This was a 1-2 no limit table and including myself there were probably at least three of us who had played at the World Series of Poker in Vegas.
Anyway, back to the poker. I always try to use the ‘maverick’ approach when I sit at a new table. If you are a poker dork like me you probably know what I’m talking about. In the movie ‘The Maverick’ the lead character is in a poker tournament and never plays a hand for the first hour that he is at a table. He watches his table mates for ‘tells’ and calculates the right time to make his move. As I said earlier, poker is more about picking the right hands to play and choosing the right times to risk your chips than it is about what cards you are holding in your hands. I played very tight and won a couple small pots. I cashed in the standard 300 and was sitting with around 350 chips. But in poker nothing ever works out the way you think it will and true grinders can adapt their game to any table.
I always like to nurse an expensive beer when I’m sitting at a table and act drunk. Poker is also about acting and psychology. You want to get inside people’s heads. Being from Philly I had a strange accent that these California folk didn’t recognize. I was wearing a button down shirt, baggy jeans, and timberland boots. I was loud and never stopped talking. I wanted to appear like a tourist who had no idea what I was doing and appear like I didn’t understand the game. I figured going against big stacks and experienced players my best bet was to trick them into thinking I was bluffing and steal a big pot by getting them to call my big bet.
This plan was not working. I talked too much about my past and right away one guy recognized me from a tournament that we played together in AC. I decided to just drink and have fun. Not a good idea when you are playing poker for rent, food, and your only source of income.
I hadn’t played a hand in at least 20 minutes and was dealt ace deuce suited in spades. If I was playing at a home game or a local Atlantic City (these days philly) casino I would limp in with this hand. ‘Limping in’ is slang for just calling the ante. But, I was growing impatient and made an aggressive pre flop raise of twenty five dollars (a semi bluff hoping for people to fold) . I was ‘first to act’ or sitting directly to the left of the big blind when I made this bet. The Korean girl who smelled bad quickly folded. The tourist called my bet very quickly. For the sake of the story I will call the other three players Ace, Joker, and Jack. Ace was probably in his mid 30’s and played poker for a living. He was sharp, drank coffee, and played a lot of hands. He also called my bet. Joker was an oriental man who (like the Korean girl) spoke limited English (never spoke at all really). He had a big stack of chips and didn’t play any hands. He also folded. Jack was a LA businessman in his 40’s and was just playing poker to get away from his wife/kids. He was a good player with an unlimited bankroll. He also called.
“No respect,” I said with a smile and sipped my beer. I did not like all the callers. I had maybe played 3 hands in the hour that I sat there. They had to know I was playing tight but still called. Meaning either they didn’t care about losing money or they had a good hand. I didn’t like my chances with ace deuce. But, then the flop came. It was ace, ace, ten rainbow. (ace of hearts, ace of diamonds, ten of clubs). This appears like a great flop for me because I was holding the third ace. But, I would have much rather seen spades. There was a good chance someone had the other ace with my kicker beat because they called my pre flop raise. Being first to act, I decided I would test the water and checked. The tourist then bet ten dollars. With at least 100 dollars in the pot, and a pre flop raise of 25, a 10 dollar bet made no sense to me (stupid California poker tourists). But, it was just the right amount to get us all to call. I thought I was beat and figured the tourist probably had my deuce out kicked. But, I couldn’t lay down trip aces, not for a ten dollar bet. The turn came four of hearts and I again checked. This time the tourist also checked, which I again thought was strange. This was another sign of weakness. Did he have a ten? A straight draw? An ace with a low kicker? Joker also checked and then Jack decided to stop all this kiddie pool nonsense and made a very good bet of 100 dollars. If it was any other player at the table I would have folded my trip aces right away. But, coming from the loosest player who probably had the least amount to lose (usually the most dangerous kind of poker player at a casino) I couldn’t get a good read on him. Did he figure no one had the ace and was trying to buy the pot? If I truly was a disciplined, committed poker player who was responsible with my bankroll I would have said nice bet and folded my hand. But, I impulsively went over the top, all in. My heart was racing like crazy and my whole act of being cool and carefree went out the window. As I pushed my chips to the center of the table my hands shook. I had lost my cool and the other players probably knew I had a good hand but not ‘the nuts’. The tourist looked at his cards, then his chip stack of roughly one hundred dollars and said, ‘I really wish I had something to call you with’. He smiled as he threw his cards away. Ace spent a good minute just staring at me. It was like the casino stood still for a minute as his eyes pierced me. After what felt like a century he folded his hand. I think he had the other ace and made a disciplined fold.
The Joker didn’t appear nervous at all. It was at this time I realized I was a child sitting at a man’s table and my life was about to get really messed up. I had an epiphany. I had flashbacks in my head of the last two months. Alcohol binges and late nights at strip clubs and dive bars. Foolishly spending money and not being ambitious at all. I had come out to LA to pursue a dream. With a dream to make it big with my band and with my writing. But, nothing changed from the life I left behind and I was living one gigantic lie. I was sitting in an overpriced casino with degenerate gamblers donating my rent check to a wealthy businessman who probably would not remember if he won or lost playing. The game was over and I needed to grow up and be realistic about my life and the choices I was making.

“I call”. My heart sank as the words came out of his mouth. I flipped over my ace deuce and he flipped over pocket tens. His full house was better than my trip aces. I had played the hand very foolishly and completely misread my opponent. I was supposed to play poker like it was my job and only play in hands that I would win, but I risked all of my chips on a hand that is never a winner and that I was not disciplined enough to fold.
Then, the dealer dealt a deuce of hearts on the river. My aces over deuces were a higher boat. I was in shock. I couldn’t believe what I saw. Everyone at the table screamed. The businessman was a gracious loser and laughed it off. My hands were shaking so much I could barely collect all the chips. The hand nearly gave me a heart attack. I had gone through a roller coaster of emotions and couldn’t believe that I won such a big pot on a hand that I had played so awful. Poker is not always fair and sometimes the poker gods are on your side. I was done. I tipped the dealer and cashed out. I had close to 800 dollars, not my full rent check, but I had won enough and realized I needed to walk away before I foolishly lost all my money. I was not playing good poker and needed to stop gambling with money I couldn’t afford to lose. I have taken my share of bad beats, but I’m not sure if I ever took one worse than that. Jack couldn’t have played the hand better (unless he bet big after the flop or raised my pre flop raise but as tight as I was playing he couldn’t) and lost close to 400 dollars. I felt like I got away with a murder and promised myself I was going to be smart, realistic and practical. I had learned my lesson, or so I thought.

04/02/2011

Author's Note: A bit long especially if you dont like poker but this is part of 'a series of epiphanies' and has sparked me to continue my novel. most of which, in bits and pieces is in my library.

Posted on 04/02/2011
Copyright © 2024 Frank Lee

Member Comments on this Poem
Posted by Clara Mae Gregory on 04/02/11 at 04:13 PM

Interesting. Your topic drew my interest, as my once very wealthy brother had a "poker" gambling problem. He played with the big boys out in Vegas. He lost heavily and finally gave it up. Now, my 20 year old son is caught up in this. You describe it perfectly. Robbie has won alot and is now overly confident. I tell him his "fall" is coming if he doesn't quit while he's ahead. He'll probably have to learn the hard way. Thanks for sharing and giving us a glimpse of insight to this topic.

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