So I busted the 1k rebuy in 40th place when I lost 2 flips. I managed to cash for 10k + and was only in for a shocking 4k which I was very proud of to say the least. I took the next few days off and did absolutely nothing. I logged at least 10 - 15 hours of F.I.F.A. 07 on Xbox, bet on the Olympic trials, went out a few times and managed to hit the gym once or twice. Obviously didn't play any poker or anything productive except for the story which follows that I'm quite proud of. It's a little complicated but the degens will have no problem keeping up!
I'm not sure if I mentioned this before but my friends and I bet on "meals." By meals I mean if a bet is placed and are fortunate enough to win, the loser owes you a "meal." This entitles you to a "freeroll" if you will (meaning you are exempt from paying at the next dinner). However, this is not done in typical fashion. To reach the ultimate point of degen we need to gamble on the dinner bill. So we devised a game (as many of you know) called credit card roulette. The game, although quite simple is very fun. Each person puts in a credit card (8 people; 8 cards) and gives them all to the waiter. He then places them behind his back and draws picks them at random one at a time. The last person who is picked pays for the entire bill. This can get very costly considering the average dinner for us is roughly $1,000 split between 6 - 8 people. As you can see, the variance is high and free rolling can save you lots of money. To give you some idea, thus far we have probably gone to 15 dinners where we played (usually only played with groups of 4 or more because it's more exciting) and I've paid twice. Once at Olives at Bellagio for 600 and the other at Sensi at Bellagio for 1,200. I dodged a few huge bullets for 1,500 + meals where I had two cards in (because I lost a meal) and therefore doubling my chances of paying.
Now that you understand the game, back to the story. So we are chilling at the condo late one night when my roommate Nick pulls up the 500/1k game on FTP to watch. Naturally, we immediately start betting (bets are always made in meals) on who is going to get stacked first, who will win the next pot, who will re-raise first and everything in between. The game was between Present (Lars Lusak), Patrick, Durrrr, Genius28 and David Benaymine. After Pat made a large bluff and lost, I picked him to get stacked first. Nick wanted Durrrr but since him and Present were battling it out I needed odds. After much deliberation, we settled at 3:2 (his 3 meals to my 2). Now I really like Pat and didn't want to root against him, but I couldn't pass this bet up. Pat was sitting with only 70,000 whereas the other two players had over 150,000. Despite the history, the other two weren't going to get all the money in as often as Pat was. I liked my chances. The very next hand Pat raises on the button and Present 3 bets from the SB. Pat calls. On a board of 467 they get all the money in. Present has 444 and Pat has AA. The turn and river blank and I break Nick for 3 meals. This may seem trivial to ya'll, but breaking Nick for meals is right up there with breaking Mark Vos for a World Series bet. It's a high priority for me!
A short while later my buddy Dane and I decided to bet on who would win the next pot. We had two games pulled up (one PLO and one NL) and I knew that no matter what two people I took Dane would want the same. He always thinks I'm trying to get an edge in every bet we make so every time I propose a bet, he says "lets flip it" meaning he wants my side and I should take his. I picked two horses, he said flip it. I instantly took the bet and both my horses won, netting me another two meals. I was very proud of this and I really feel that it takes a lot of practice to be good at hustling meals. I'm still learning but these are two prime examples of me escaping dinner for the next week. Tonight we got reservations for 7 at Olives and I'm totally free rolling. It's not even about the money; just the mere bragging rights and the look on the persons face when their card gets picked last. It's really great. I'd recommend trying it at home if you get a chance.
P.S: Perhaps the most degen of all was last week at 4 am after we got back from the night club "Jet" my buddy Skylar was convinced that he was better at putting left handed than me. We were both pretty trashed and I suck at putting sober but I had one thing going for me. I was left handed and Skylar was not. I knew he had no prayer and gave him 3:2. I beat him 3 times in a row and he finally says
"Alec, I think you're better than me at this."
"Took you long enough."
"Yea well I need better odds than 3:2."
"Okay."
"How about even money?"
For those of you that don't sports bet better odds than 3:2 is 2:1. He went the other way and gave me better odds at even money when I was putting up 3 in the first place. Not sure if that's moron or degen or a combination of both but I sure hope ya'll find it as funny as I did. Until next time...
Cheers,
~ Trah ~
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