Monday, August 13, 2007

Poker and Stress (LONG ENTRY)

Hello friends!!

Can I just say that this weekend sucked some serious ASS?

Let's just lay it out- Friday, I had an audit (this is where the boss and I go to another office, review office notes that the physicians dictate, and make sure that they're billing the level they're dictating- i.e.- the office note has the information/dictation for a level 2, but they're billing a level 4- big no-no in the insurance industry), so my day lasted even longer than I wanted it to. Because I was sick earlier this week, I was trying desperately to make up more time, so I arrived at this other office at 7am, and worked until about 6pm. I was 12 clicks away from a 40 hour work week (that would be a little over 7 minutes). I just couldn't be bothered, really.

So I left work to head out to Beef O'Brady's to pick up PokerGirl so we could head out to Zbaby's to play- sat and had a beer with PokerGirl and some of her just-barely-21 friends from work. I barely finished mine (I really don't drink beer that much... give me a glass of wine or a mixed drink over beer any day), but since it was only a dollar, I didn't feel too bad. We went over to 7-11 to buy some snacks and Sparks.

Okay, I've never had Sparks before. That had to have been the weirdest tasting drink I have EVER had. It's this energy drink with malt liquor in it. The energy drink side tastes just like Red Bull, but that's where the similarities end. Don't even compare it to a Red Bull and Vodka, because you're WAY off. It's like taking a swig of Steel Reserve and chasing it with an energy drink. I managed to get the WORST headache from this. If I thought I had ever had a migraine before- I was sadly mistaken. That's probably what made my night so horrible.

Move to my first and only fantastic hand of the night. I get pocket Kings. I bet $5. For some STUPID reason, I had 5 callers. I should NOT have had 5 callers. Of all the people that called, I should have only had 1 caller, and that was because he had pocket Queens. Now, the last person who called merely called for pot odds. I hate it when people do that. I mean, sure, if it had been a $3 bet, I can understand, but a $5 bet?! He didn't belong anywhere NEAR there.

Anyway, the flop comes out 5, 7, 8 rainbow (meaning they were all of different suits)- so there was barely any chance for a flush on the board. I'm first to act, so I bet another $5 to get out the remainder of the idiots that should NOT have been in the hand to begin with. That knocks out everyone but me, the person with QQ and the idiot who called for "pot odds". The turn comes, and I can't even remember what it was. The "pot odds" jerk looks at me and says "I flopped the straight, you might not want to put any more money into the pot". So I check, so does pocket QQ's. We check it the rest of the way down, and POJ turns over 4 6 off suit. HE CALLED MY $5 BET WITH 4/6 OS??!?! I was fuming. I promptly through my cards into the center and went outside for a cigarette.

After I came back in from fuming from my cracked Kings, we come in to see a police officer in the basement. A little unnerving, considering what we were doing was a little less than legal. However, he was just there to notify us that there were neighbours complaining of the parking by a few of the people at the game. And since we play with poker chips and not, well, you know, he had no reason to do anything further about our friendly game.

The night ended rather slowly with most of us just exhausted (and me with a migraine). I took PokerGirl home, then went home, ate dinner (at 2am, of course, because when else are you supposed to eat dinner on a Friday night?!) and went straight to sleep. I didn't wake up until almost 11:30, and that was only because Scar decided to jump all over the bed to wake me up. I swear the next time he does that (second Saturday in a row) he's going to be surprised with a knee in the nads.

Saturday was fairly slow until all of our "friends" came over for another poker game at our place. We almost didn't play because we didn't think we'd have enough people, and my word can I say I wish we hadn't?

Long story short- things were going pretty well for about 3 hours until G got knocked out by J. G's girlfriend (K) went all in the next hand (which we all assumed it would have been because of G being knocked out), and here's where the drama ensues. J, Scar, POJ (see above) and POJ's girlfriend call K's all in. Fair enough, it was only about $5. After the flop, instead of being a normal person, J bets $12 into a dry pot to protect whatever hand he's got. Scar calls this raise after much stressed out deliberation, POJ folds (holy crap that's a first) and POJ's girlfriend calls. The turn comes out, and J bets $25 more in. This pretty much pissed Scar off, because it really annoys him when people bet into a dry pot that outrageously. He goes all in. POJ's girlfriend calls (a very pissed off call, mind you) and J not only calls Scar's all in, but forces POJ's girlfriend all in. She has a really mean temper, so she angrily calls. The river comes, and it misses the straight and flush that both J and POJ's girlfriend were trying to hit, but gives Scar trips (see triplets), as he had QQ.

K had AA, which is why she went all in the in the first place.

This is where the explosion occurs. POJ's girlfriend gets pissed off at J for betting into a dry pot, J fires back at her that she did the same thing to him a week or two ago, and the voices get higher and higher. Scar made a bad move in telling K that he was sorry she got knocked out because he should have been the only one to call. This infuriates J, and he starts yelling, so Scar takes a deep breath and tells everyone to chill out. J, being the "grown man" that he is, says "Don't tell me to chill out, I'm a grown f***ing man!".

At this point, I'm in tears, and stand up and yell in my loudest (non-screeching) voice "SHUT UP!".

I got everyone to stop for at least 30 seconds. That was it. J continues on with his whole "I'm a grown f***ing man" rant, and then yells at Scar "F*** YOU!". Scar immediately tells everyone that the game is over, cashes everyone out, and they all leave.

I don't know how to make heads or tails of this situation, so I lay my head on the table and just close my eyes and let the tears fall. I can't stand stressful situations like that, and I haven't had to yell that loud in a VERY long time. Everyone finally leaves, Scar sits me on the futon, puts everything away, and gathers me up into his arms and apologizes for the next 20 minutes that he let things get so out of hand. It was the first time in a very very long time that I felt protected and reassured by him.

Needless to say, I fell asleep in his arms, and he didn't try to wake me once, he just fell asleep right next to me and let me sleep until we both woke up at 7am.

And since this was such a long entry, I'm going to save Sunday for another entry.

I'm out of Balacet- anyone have a Xanax?

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