Sitting at the bar, Bill spied me leaving the poker room and waved for me to join him. An attractive blonde still in her twenties, the bartender fixed me with a warm smile as she served me a small draft beer. Watching her bustle about the busy bar, Bill mused that her sole experience at Hold'Em had been unsuccessful. Interested, I asked for the details.
Several years ago, Bill said, she sat down at his $4-8 Hold'Em table, paying for a rack with crumpled small bills. She didn't play a hand for hours, except for her big blind in an unraised pot. She had won one small pot from the big blind, but after five hours of posting the $20 per hour blinds, her stacks had shrunk to about $25.
On the button, she raised pre-Flop after everyone had limped to her. Every player at the table knew she had pocket Aces or Kings. The Small Blind folded. Everyone else foresaw a big pot and called her raise. The dealer flopped [Kd]-[9s]-[8d]. Everyone checked to her; she bet $4; five called. The Turn was the 3f. They checked to her; she bet $8; four called. The River was the [2h]. She bet her last $6; three called. She tabled her Aces. Bill tabled his [9h]-[8h]. When the dealer shoved the $154 pot to Bill, she started crying. She left the room sobbing.
She was lucky to have been dealt pocket Aces before she was blinded off, I said. The dealer will deal pocket Aces roughly once in 7 hours in a real poker room: like the Good Humor truck they appear but once a day. It was just a 50-50 chance that she would be dealt Aces sooner than 5 hours. Even so, Aces surely aren't invincible. She was lucky that after all the cards were out, there was no possibility of a Straight or a Flush on the unpaired tableau. Two Pairs or a Set were a danger because if one or more players had two of the fifteen danger cards, a 67.3% chance, then she would lose, as she did. All in all, Aces stand up about 1/3 of the time. Bill nodded.
I asked Bill if she ever played Hold'Em again. Not to his knowledge, he replied. She had run short paying her bills, he said, and she thought she would wait for a cinch hand, win a nice pot, and get her young family through a tight spot. If only it were that easy, I sighed.
I asked him how he knew so much about her. He stopped by the bar nearly every day and chatted with her when business was slow. He enjoyed talking with her, he said. (I had noticed when Bill wasn't looking at me, that his eyes tracked her every move like a heat-seeking missile.) She borrowed money from her brother to go to Bartending School, Bill continued. She earned her license and hired on here soon afterwards. She'd like to remarry, he said, and she figured that she would meet a lot of eligible men while tending bar. Yes, I opined, but since they're mostly poker players, sports bettors, horse players, other gamblers, and/or booze hounds, a young woman with little kids would do better shopping elsewhere.
My pager started vibrating. "C'mon Bill," I said, finishing my beer, "Aces await us. Let's go play some Hold'Em." Bill said he'd be along directly.
