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Poker Joe: The King of Poker

It's funny how huge poker has blown up since they started airing the World Series of Poker on ESPN. Who would have thought it would be a sport? Who knows, maybe one day it will be in the Olympics. Anyway, a by product of this are the hopes and dreams it instills in wanna-be professional poker players.  One in particular being my College poker crew and the ringleader of them all - Poker Joe.

Joe is a great guy. He's the guy who will be there to help you move into a new apartment or the one who will drive 50 miles at midnight to jump start your car, God love him. But, when the cards are dealt he turns into a whole other beast. At first glance, he looks like the second coming of Doyle Brunson, stoic and calculating, but when you play against him you realize that he will play very hand, and is as reckless as Gus Hansen, just not as successful.

Usually we play a couple of games in one night, a low, mid and high level buy in.  I usually play pretty loose for the lower game to get a feel for everyone, and then tighten up my game in the high buy in.  Well it finally came down to Joe and me in the big game.  Holding Ace Deuce of hearts and knowing Joe would play any hand, I just called preflop.  I almost peed myself when I saw the 8, 9 and Jack of hearts.  I was holding the nut flush and put Joe on one heart, I saw him double check his cards when the flop came – a tell I picked up on him when he had a four flusher.  He checked and I put a small bet in, he called.  The turn came Queen of Hearts.  He goes all in.  I am sitting there looking at the baseball cap we use as the bank, now filled with cash.  Hey it aint the World Series, but it was gonna pay for gas for the week and probably a dozen trips to El Burrito. 

I’m thinking this dude has the King of Hearts and thinks I got the 10 of Hearts.  Needless to say I called.  I flip my Ace and hear him scream bloody murder, as I scream SUCKER!  As I start to count my winnings, my girlfriend at the time (now the ex, you’ll see why in a minute) asks “Joe, what did you have?”  He replied “Just the 10 of hearts, he’s got the Ace though.”  To which she says, “You won, you won, you got a straight flush!”  I stormed out calling her names like turncoat and others I will not mention, maybe one more - Judas.  As she gets in the car I realize she flips me off, locks all the doors and drives off, with my ego crushed I can’t go back in and end up walking the 2 miles home in the middle of the night, only to realize she has the house keys and won’t let me in.  You’d be surprised how comfortable the grass is on a summer night.  Damn you Poker Joe.