Wow. This post is going to sound silly to those of you who play for big stakes, but I just won the single biggest pot of my life.

I’ve been trying to bust out my meager bankroll on Stars so I can take a hiatus from poker and do stuff that I need to do. Like write a lot more. Anyway, I’m so hugely talented that I keep taking my buck or two and increasing it twentyfold. I just can’t go broke. I’m too good.

So today I get an email from Party, Mean Gene, come back and play with us. And here’s fifty bucks to play with. Play a measly 500 hands and it’s yours.

So I sit down to play at a $25NL table. I like me some no-limit poker. Anyway, first hand I have pocket threes. Flop a set, make a full house on the river. Not a bad start, but that’s not the hand I’m talking about.

I played volleyball tonight, played well, and then I went to the bar for a few beers to ease the aching in my knees. For Lent this year I gave up staying up past midnight during the week, for years I’ve been a night owl who hits the hay at 1AM and gets up at six. Which may explain the typical state of exhaustion I’m in. But tonight I got home after midnight. And I had to throw laundry in the dryer. And I went to bed early both days last weekend. So, how ’bout I check the email? And maybe play a few hands of poker.

First hand I’m dealt the QJ of spades and I check. The flop comes 9-10-4. There’s a bet, everyone calls. The turn is a seven. Close, but not quite. It’s checked around. And the river is a glorious eight, giving me the immortal nuts. What’s more, there’s four to a straight right there on the board, but I have the two top cards of the nut straight.

There’s a bet, and a raise. I raise. The original better raises. Another raise. I go all-in. Call, call. They both have a jack. I have a jack and a queen. I triple up and win a $75 pot. Again, not a big deal to those of you playing big-dog poker, but as my bankroll couldn’t buy a Big Mac two days ago, not a bad little win.

I folded the next hand and logged off. The two players I cracked logged off too. I fear I ruined their night. It’s funny, I wasn’t really gonna play. Maybe a hand or two. And usually when I do that, I donk off a few bucks and soon give up. Instead I win my biggest pot ever. I feel odd, though. Here I am breaking my Lenten promise, and the Poker Gods reward me with a sick hand. Is there warring in Heaven? Or am I just gonna be really, really tired tomorrow?

Poker. It’s an odd game.

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