A Little Bit of My Poker Background

      Like others, I learned the game sitting around the kitchen table with family and friends when I was in my teens a very long time ago. There was no internet then and no video games existed. We played various games and had social interaction that didn't involve a keyboard or microphone. I learned how to play Hearts, Cribbage, Chess and, of course, Poker. 

     Poker claimed my interest over the other games and it became a great past-time for those long winter nights growing up in Minnesota. I started playing regular weekend games at my neighbor Ron's house and we would keep them going til sunup most times. When I graduated, Ron got me a job at Whirlpool on the assembly line. Hard work but good money for those days. 

     Paydays would come and we used to cash our checks at the bar down the street from the factory. I was barely eighteen but the bar overlooked age if you had a paycheck to cash and spend. Ron introduced me to a game in the basement of the bar and every Friday, I would cash my check, go downstairs, drink beer and lose my paycheck to a table full of angle-shooters and cheats. 

     Loving the game, but tired of losing, I wanted to learn more. Keep in mind there were no internet forums, on-line instructions or anything of the kind. I was gifted a book called "Scarne's Complete Guide To Gambling", a huge 800 plus page "bible" which contained basic rules and strategy for every type of game you could imagine. Not only did it give me an education about various gambling odds and edges, but it also pointed out ways to avoid being cheated. I reveled in the book and learned alot about the gambling world in general.

     Leaving my Friday night basement game when the factory went on a 3 month strike, I found out about the world of what we used to call "after-hours joints". There were three that I knew of in St.Paul. They were basically 24 hour "cafes" but if you knew who to ask for, (ask for Bubba) you would be allowed upstairs. 

     There you would find an entire mini-casino with a full bar, blackjack, craps, roulette, and of course-poker. Needless to say there were some unsavory characters there, but, hey, they had poker. I would alternate between the three different spots weekly with Ron and we were actually beating the game-for awhile. 

     The last night I played in one of these underground, smoke-filled rooms Ron and I each sat with around $500 (alot more in today's dollars). There were no "house" dealers back then and we noticed that there was an unfamiliar face in the game. Every time he would deal, we both had strong hands and he would always beat us. We lasted about an hour or so before we busted out. The manager came over with a smile on his cigar-chomping face and threw us each a $10 bill "for cab fare" and told us to come back soon. 

     That was the last time I played "underground" and as luck would have it, all three places were raided for illegal gambling a few weeks later and everyone inside was arrested, including 13 off-duty police officers!

     Just as my "picket-duty" pay was running out, the union settled with the factory and we were called back to work but I had other plans-I joined the Marine Corps! That stint is a whole other story but suffice it to say that I made a few dollars in Infantry School. My game had improved and we would play on the bunks in our barracks all the time. I soon became a "bank" and  started making high-interest loans to supplement my poker winnings. Not that I was good, just that the guys I played with were horrible at poker. 

     So there you have my intro into the world of poker. So much has changed since then and the play has become very scientific and advanced. I try to keep up with the latest techniques and strategies, but as we all know, they continually change. Don't get me wrong-I know what VPIP is and I track my "M" occasionally but I'm an old man and I just enjoy sitting around a table full of like-minded players wanting to have a good time and exchange some chips.