Just Call Me "South 40 Slim"

Wow, have I been burning up the pavement here the past few days. Tonight I went to Devol, Oklahoma and played in the poker tournament at Comanche Red River Casino. To my surprise I didn't completely suck! I actually made it all the way to the final table.

Things started out slow. I couldn't draw a decent pair of cards to save my life. I felt like Felix Leiter in Casino Royale, "I'm bleeding chips!" But after a dealer switch my luck began to change. Slowly but surely I began to win a hand here and there. Before long I had a decent stack and I was back in the game.

I was apparently the unknown factor to everyone else as the small talk between the players made it apparent these people knew each other from previous play. I tried to remain quiet, still and emotionless to keep from giving off any tells (we'll come back to that later) and it seemed to be paying off.

I started working on the chip leader and before long I WAS the chip leader. I had a freaking $12,000 chip lead at one point! One by one I began to knock off players and others became intimidated by me. I was winning pots just by making a raise.

My adrenaline was pumping and it was everything I could do to keep from shaking like a leaf! Fortunately, it was freezing in there and it was easy to feign being cold instead of an anxiety attack. Then it happened. I made it to the final table.

It was time for the big boys and girls to play!

One problem with playing at an Indian casino is the absence of liquor. I was desperately in need of a shot to calm me down. I decided to walk it off during the break. It didn't work.

When play resumed I continued to win. Two players exited and then came the dealer change. It was the dealer I had when the tourney started and had such rotten luck. This was a bad sign. Just like that my luck went to pot. I would draw very good cards but couldn't do a thing with them. I had Big Slick(ace/king) 3 times and lost every stinking time. I started making mental mistakes like playing out of turn. That's pretty freaking amature and it showed everyone just how inexperienced I am.

I joked it off the first time it happened. But the second time was a giant neon sign. I had drawn a pair of tens and the flop was 3 queens. A boat! A player went "all in" with about half my chip count. The player before me had folded and I could have sworn the player before him had too. So when I defiantly called "all in" and pushed my chips in everyone looked at me.

Uh, it's not your turn dumbass!

Everyone folded. I won the pot but got many thanks for saving them a lot of money. The guy sitting next to me said "that's called a tell..." It was the beginning of the end. That would be the last hand I won. My final hand I was holding a pair of fours and there was nothing threatening showing. I went "all in" and the chip leader called. The river was an ace. I'll give you 3 guesses what he was holding...

I finished in 7th place.

Overall it was a good thing. I gained a lot of experience and made it a lot further than I had expected. Maybe I'm not ready to quit my job and move to Monte Carlo just yet.