Your Last Hand is Played ‘All In’

By Bertie Brouhard

As our monthly poker game winds down about 9 PM someone may ask a defining question, “Let’s play this last hand ‘All In?’” Which is to say everyone wanting to play this last hand will wager their entire bank – be it several tall stacks of chips or sadly a few – on the next, the last seven cards  dealt. Winners can become instant losers and vice versa.  Life is much like our simple game of Seven Card Texas Hold-Em.

Every day’s a gamble. Surely Julie Veress when she pedaled off on her bike or when Brent Leuschen started his Stebbin Canyon hike did either think it would be their last day. Neither did my friends, Bill, Bruce, Marilyn and Ed who also like Julie succumbed to bike accidents. As I look back I remember the sudden loss of friends Gary, Chris, Doc, Bob, Mickey and Francie. Names no doubt come to mind when you think of tragic, unexpected, sudden deaths. The day before he recently passed Senator Lindsey Graham was in Ukraine. Go  figure!

To be successful at poker like the game of life it’s best to acquire some skill and maybe more precious, some luck. I like you know several who struggle as adults having grown up in loving families, with highly supportive parents providing the best possible opportunities. And others who were raised in foster homes, homeless perhaps, or with alcohol or drug addicted parents offering little, grew into happy, well adjusted, productive adults and parents. Mysteries abound.

Some hopefully more today than in prior generations have the needed drive, motivation, ambition, determination to play the game well. The who, what, why, when, where and especially “how” of this needed IT fascinates me. I do know as in poker there’s skill and luck needed and there’s limited time to win in life.

We four to eight meet once a month on Tuesday for about two hours to play about ten games. Expect to wager no more than ten dollars which I feel is cheap entertainment. Our banker will give you chips; red (5 cents), white (10 cents), green (25 cents) and black (one dollar); with the invitation to purchase more should you go bust early.  Some skin, cash in the game  is needed for one’s interest and pride.

Of course both life and poker have rules which are rather analogous. You need to know some basics. We play Seven Card Texas Hold-Em which at first glance seems easy to learn and master. Simply, the best five card hand wins the money in the pot. But it quickly gets complicated or not depending on your risk tolerance (and skill and luck.)

We’ve done away with the small blind and big blind bets and demand a 5 cent ante to play a hand; to see your first two face down cards. These cards are dealt to each player by a dealer who has “the button” which moves clockwise around the table after each hand. Two cards, known as hole cards, are dealt face down to each player, and then five community (shared by all players) cards are dealt in three stages. The stages consist of a series of three cards (‘the flop”) and later an additional single card (‘the turn or “fourth street”), and a final card (‘the river” or “fifth street.’) Each player wants the best five-card poker hand from any combination of seven cards; the five shared cards and their two hole cards. Each player has the betting options to check, call, raise or fold. Rounds of betting occur before the flop is dealt and after each subject card is dealt. The player who has the best hand and has not folded by the end of all the betting rounds wins all the money bet for the hand; the pot (chips in the middle of the table.) Players with the best equally good hands split the pot.

However … there’s a most interesting practice in poker (as in life) called a “bluff.” Having a poor to lousy hand can be used to buy a pot by scaring off possible opponents. The size of one’s raises may unsettle optimistic, confident opponents sufficiently for them to fold their hands. You would then win the hand. It’s surely “a gamble.” And a gifted few are its masters.

For we mortals needing high ranked hands here are the ranking of hands low (worst) to highest (best) with the probability for each: High Card, 17.4%, 4.74:1; One Pair, 43.8%, 1.28:1; Two Pair, 23.5% 3.26:1; Three of a Kind, 4.83%, 19.7:1; Straight, 4.62%. 20.6:1; Flush, 3.03%. 32.1:1; Full House, 2.60%, 37.5:1; Four of a Kind, 0.168%, 594:1; Straight Flush, .0279%, 3589:1; Royal Flush .0032%, 30,939:1.

Currently I’m thrilled to make Two Pair, Three of a Kind, a Straight or in my fondest dreams a Flush or Full House. At our last Poker Night I was up then down and after two plus hours of play at the end had lost $1.50. The evening’s socialization is my prize.) Not particularly lucky, maybe I should work on my bluffing technique.

Gambling has never held much appeal for me. I don’t come from or was raised by a card playing family. My risk tolerance is probably about average. And I’ve visited my casinos. (They’re hvac manufacturer and contractor goldmines; large structures often in deserts with summer ambient temperatures of 110+, well financed and packed with countless heat generating machines – slots, restaurants, showrooms and thousands of corpulent folks wanting to cool off.) Cache Creek seems to be thriving in case you wondered.

Required in life – and poker – is moderation and balance. Will a limb fall off a tree and strike you dead as it did our roofing friend, Roger, and not long along the Mother at Slide Hill Park? Not likely. Getting hit by lightning? Nah! Yup. Your heart could stop or the plane could crash. But …

Each day you’re dealt a few different hands and you play them as best you can. Maybe they’re all small numbered cards of different suits. You can always fold. Saving your pride and money for the next hand. Maybe you’ve been winning and your bank and skill at bluffing will reap a reward. You decide.

Some of you may be of a certain age to remember “the one … the only” Groucho Marx in his hit TV series of the 50’s “You Bet Your Life.” Unscripted and improvisational, the host’s interviews with the contestants was its attraction. I well remember the “secret word” and the descending duck. We do bet our lives, hoping to beat the odds, and get a few good hands before we play our last “All In.” I don’t suggest hang gliding. bungy jumping or sky diving.

I do suggest getting out there. Hopefully Out For A Walk.

— Long a Davis resident and retired from a successful HVAC sales career, I enjoy travel, reading and now finding my writing voice. I value your input so please email me (bertieb1970@gmail.com). Thank you. Bertie.