neurological dryer lint

so something revolutionary happened tonight, something i didn't expect.

i won at poker.

i saw a trend emerging like a butterfly from a cocoon - slow and delicate, it started to stare me in the face. if i play stupid - play like i have nothing to lose, play like every hand is my last hand, like i just want to lose my chips and go do something else, with no strategy whatsoever - i win. bizarre. but it carried me on for a long, long time, eliminating everyone else at the table. i was careless and ridiculously foolish, and had a lot of fun, who'd have thought.

the best, though, was eliminating brian horton, nate's friend, the guy who pretty much invited himself to start playing with us, even though, well, let's just say the guy is a little difficult to play poker with. for all of us.

anyway, my patience generally wears thin within minutes of him joining the game. he always plays way over the top, lots of bold, 'intimidating' plays, with no real cards, just to be a punk, it seems. tonight, as he joined the game, he made a comment about how little i was betting, and i commented back how i hated the 'play to win' attitude when we were just hanging out as friends, and people that play to win in that environment just kills stuff for the rest of us, sometimes. anyway. so we play for a while, and i'm getting into my stride of playing like it's my last hand every time, and naturally this brings me to a head with brian quickly. within a dozen or so hands, i realize i have the stack to take him out. my chance comes up soon afterwards - i get 9-3 offsuit. normally i'd toss it, but i see the flop, and it's like 3-9-J. sweet. he bets like three, i call it. next up we get another 9. it's my time, he checks, i bet five. he takes it. river card is a 7. he bets ten. i raise him all in. he walks into it.

i flip the cards, and simply say 'boat'. it owns his pair.

i doubt that in any state of his imagination did he predict that I would be taking him out. it was absolutely wonderful. the rest of the night was good too, it felt nice to win for once, it was validating that i wasn't absolutely the worst player in history.

i finally joined everyone after poker for skyline, too. that kinda capped things off. i think winning once did it for me and now there's no pressure, or not as much, i can now play with my boys and not worry too much about people thinking that i have no capability for poker strategy. i can play, sort of, enough to win it once, that's something. :)