Switchfoot & Poker

'Twas an action-packed week for me. Here are some of the highlights, if anyone is interested.

On Thursday, my friend Cliff and I went to the all-ages Switchfoot concert at Cowboys bar. I took a head count and I estimate that there were between five and six hundred people there. Just for fun, I ran the numbers and I figured that each of the band members made about $1000.00 for that concert. (Join in the fun! $20.00+ per ticket, one opening band, the main band had five members...)

The building has one main open floor and the bar and seating areas are along the edges, so the whole place focuses on the stage. Cliff and I were in the balcony sitting down, overlooking stage right with an excellend vantage point for the whole show, other than the drummer. Derrick and Bruce joined us there a little later and I saw a lot of other people that I knew. The show itself was great. The opening act was fine, nicely above average. Switchfoot, however, had the crowd eating out of the palm of their hand.

They had a bunch of popular songs that everyone knew, inviting the crowd to sing at various points. Apparently they were even recording the crowd for a later release that they're working on. They seemed to pull out a new gadget every second song, including a voice synthesizer on the piano keyboard. They put lighting effects to good use, got the crowd into it, pulled one fan up on stage and were a lot of fun.

On Sunday night, I hosted a poker fundraiser for my friends Terry and Gina, who will be getting married this coming June. We had seven of us playing, which was less than we had hoped but the $20.00 buy-in was a bit much for some people. It was a wildly entertaining game, as it often is. Plenty of snacks, an eclectic music selection from Mike, racous laughter and trash talk, good times. I handed out $2000.00 in poker chips to begin and we had $80.00 standing for first place and $40.00 for second place. As a result, people played rather conservatively for the first two hours, which is unusual since there are usually a couple of people that play recklessly.

At that point, we upped the ante and the action really started to pick up from there. Now, I'm usually one of the first few people out of the game. I like focus on hosting and I rarely allow someone to bluff their way out of a hand. So after playing with my usual flair for the first two hours and getting down to around $700.00, I decided to tighten the reins and play with due diligence. Gagh, that was downright painful for me as I proceeded to fold hand after hand for the next hour or so. Eventually, though, it all worked out.

I went all in and swung the hand, doubling my chips. From there, we had numerous changes for the chip lead with many crazy hands, some incredible coincidences, intense strategy and agonizing mistakes all in play. At the end, it came down to a duel between me and Joel, much to my surprise. Who knew that patience would pay off? We upped the ante to $500.00 per hand. I proceeded to receive a strong pair of cards in 19 of the next 20 hands and I kept going all in immediately, while Jevant proceeded to fold like an origami swan. That's right, he's the paper poker player. I wittled away at his chip stack until he finally put it all on the line and I schooled him. No bluffing here, boyo, just lady luck on my side.

Great night overall. Congrats to Terry and Gina on their upcoming marriage and I hope that this small amount of money helps you out a bit with that.

As for anyone reading this blog, y'all are welcome to the second poker fundraiser that I will be hosting at my house this coming Friday evening. This time the buy-in is only $5.00, with $40.00 for first place and $15.00 for second. I'm fronting the prize money and all of the donations go directly to the happy couple. Guys and girls, friends and strangers, everyone is welcome. Just contact me ahead of time so that I can prepare properly. Hopefully it will be a good crowd this time as well.