The Home Game

Three nights ago a very peculiar thing happened. The missus asked me if I wanted to play a card game. At first she suggested Gin Rummy, but as both of us couldn't remember exactly how to play, her second suggestion was poker. Now, this may not seem so odd at first unless you know Mrs. T. My wife asking me to play poker with her is somewhat akin to Mother Theresa asking you to watch a porno with her. I love my wife dearly but one of the qualities she does not possess is a love for anything sports/gambling related, which, sadly, includes Las Vegas.

I must admit that I probably share part of the blame for Mrs. T's aversion to poker. The few times she has played socially (and I can count those times on one hand), she is the SLOWEST and LUCKIEST person I have ever seen and I'll admit that times I have been a little impatient with her. It is painful to play poker with her. I have no idea what her exact thought processes are, but the time that she takes for each hand make Chris Ferguson look very speedy. On top of that, she catches ridiculous hands. Playing heads up she has had more full houses then I get in a month. A perfect example. I'm on the button with 55 and she raises. Flop comes Q 6 2 and she bets out. Each time she makes very small bets relative to the pot. In the end the board is something like Q 6 2 8 6 and she turns over pocket queens. Two sevens on the board? she has A 7. It's sick.

So for the past three nights we have played an ongoing game. We each started with 500 in chips and at the end of each night we count up how much we have and start with that amount the next time we play. The first night, the night of the slow played Queens, Mrs. T jumped out to an early chip lead that I was able to erase the next night. Last night I gained a few more chips so that I'm now a 640 to 360 leader. It's been interesting to try and figure out what she's thinking. We will stop and talk about a hand here and there but for the most part she is playing on her own. I can't read her to save my life. We'll see how long her enthusiasm for the game goes on, but for now I'm just riding the wave. Who knows? maybe she'll becoming hooked on poker and want to go to the WSOP one day. A man can dream, can't he?