Hello everybody, and welcome again to a different enjoyable, fact-filled poker story pulled from the archive of my misspent youth. Before we dive in, you should definitely head to my web site Kardsharp.com to check out a helpful video tutorial and join my FREE reside streaming Kardsharp Academy poker safety seminar that’s going down Tuesday, Dec. 15 at 6 p.m. PT (9 p.m. ET)
The vacation season is now behind us, and what I missed this yr greater than something was the house video games. One recreation I keep in mind fondly got here per week earlier than Christmas in 2003. I discovered myself at a no-limit maintain’em recreation in Silverlake, California. For people who don’t know, Silverlake is form of like a hipster haven that’s situated someplace between Hollywood and Glendale.
A buddy of mine had arrange the sport and he was fairly excited as a result of he had a pair actors coming to it. One of actors attending the sport was this up-and-coming, flavor-of-the-month child who had been on a kind of Disney-style reveals as a toddler, and now had a brand new motion film out. Now, I can’t keep in mind his identify (he didn’t final lengthy) or the identify of the movie (it wasn’t value remembering) however I do recall what occurred on the recreation that night time.
The first man to indicate up was my buddy Mike. Like myself, Mike was a tv producer and he and I had labored collectively on many various tasks. However, this could be my first time taking part in playing cards with him.
In reality, as I regarded across the room, I started to appreciate that apart from my buddy Ash, who arrange the sport, I had by no means performed with any of those cats earlier than. But there they had been, money in hand and excited to get the playing cards within the air. One dude even got here sporting a Santa hat which I assumed was a pleasant contact.
Like most video games within the early days of the poker increase, it was Texas maintain’em solely. Ash dealt the primary hand of the night time and I used to be happy to see two of the newbs wasted no time by instantly getting all of it in preflop. The first hand!
My buddy Mike was one of many all-ins. I’ll always remember seeing him and his opponent flip their playing cards over to observe a showdown between J-9 offsuit and Q-3 suited earlier than the deck was even heat! Mike hit a 9 on the flop and however the different man went runner, runner to backdoor a flush.
I regarded up, enthusiastic about these newcomers who had been within the giving spirit, and caught eyes with Ash, who simply quietly mouthed again, “Christmas come early.” At least that’s what we thought.
When Ash was finished dealing, he handed the deck to the man on his left. Now it was the kid actor-turned-action star flip to deal. When handed the deck, the actor dude checked out Ash like he was loopy and stated, “Oh, I didn’t think I would have to be dealing tonight. I just came to play.”
And then, as if it had been a very regular process, the child simply handed the deck again to Ash. He didn’t even know sufficient to cross it to his left. Of course, no person stated something as a result of the actor was the “draw” for the night so to talk, and I for one, don’t prefer to filter out the cobwebs when there’s a whole lot of flies swarming round.
Ash politely handed the deck to the subsequent individual and stated, “Looks like you’re up pal.”
The subsequent man with the deck was some dude from Silverlake who dressed prefer it was nonetheless 1993. This cat regarded like a cross between Eddie Vedder and a Venice avenue bum. And he reeked of that bizarre incense folks used to burn of their automotive or condominium to try to disguise the scent of weed. It was like smelling a skunk lined in pine needles.
With about as a lot confidence as a one-legged man in an ass kicking competitors, this dude picked up the deck backwards and began overhand shuffling it with all of the playing cards dealing with outward in plain sight. I used to be loving it as a result of all of the playing cards had been staring me proper within the face, however Ash was sitting on the opposite facet of the desk and knew I had a pointy eye, and he wasn’t going to let that fly. He informed “Eddie” that he needed to maintain the playing cards on the desk.
The man checked out Ash like he had requested him to unravel the riddle of the sphinx and stated, “This is the only way I know how to shuffle man. This guy here (pointing to the actor) didn’t even have to shuffle, why do I have to shuffle?”
Then, nearly as if on cue from a Quentin Tarantino movie, each man across the desk started to pipe in one after the other with their very own opinion on how the sport needs to be ran. To Ash and my shock, not a single one in every of these dudes had anticipated they must deal. In a house recreation!
They had been all stomach aching without delay when Ash yelled, “Guys…it’s a f***ing card game! Why would you come to play if you didn’t want to get your pansy ass hands near a deck of cards?”
I had already found out the reply to this query, however the actor saved me the difficulty by standing up and saying, “I’m out bro. I watched Chris Moneymaker win the World Series of Poker and he never had to shuffle the deck one f***ing time!”
At that time, you’d assume there can be an uncomfortable silence across the room adopted by an eruption of laughter. Nope! All of those yahoos had been nodding in settlement with him!
I signaled to Ash to concede, requested the actor dude to remain, and politely supplied to be the only real vendor for the night time. That solely to brought on Ash to do a spit take along with his beer. After throwing out just a few completely different options, together with a crash course in tips on how to deal poker, all of us ended up canceling the house recreation fully and heading to the Hollywood Park Casino. At least there, these guys would solely have to carry on to 2 playing cards at a time and acquired to really feel like they had been on TV.
We all acquired separated on the on line casino and I took my place at my outdated acquainted stomping floor within the high part taking part in pot-limit maintain’em. To my delight, about an hour into the sport, the actor sat down with three racks of $10 chips he had earned taking part in within the $10-$20 restrict recreation. Apparently, he had been taking part in on the on line casino fairly a bit and even appeared to know just a few of the regulars on the desk.
It took about 45 minutes earlier than he went broke and needed to head to ATM and reload for the minimal purchase in. I acquired a bit of him, however he mainly acquired chopped up between myself and 7 different grinders on the desk. It regarded like a bunch of vultures feasting on the stays of recent street kill.
So, what’s the level to my little story? Don’t be afraid to learn to deal with a deck of playing cards!
Some of in the present day’s greatest gamers grew up taking part in on-line poker, and have by no means dealt a hand of playing cards of their life. I really feel like studying tips on how to deal with a deck is form of like, shaving or driving a automotive. It’s a ceremony of passage, particularly in case you love the sport of poker. Plus, it simply can’t damage to study the essential mechanics that associate with shuffling and dealing a sq. recreation of maintain’em.
While I’m fairly sure the actor child would have nonetheless misplaced at our house recreation, had he identified tips on how to shuffle, he would have not less than had a shot. Hell, he might need even received just a few pots off the opposite newbs, and he undoubtedly would have had a greater time. Learning the dealing process isn’t troublesome and it teaches you numerous concerning the recreation whereas supplying you with a unique vantage level that may show worthwhile to you in the long term.
So, within the spirit of the Christmas house recreation that by no means was, I needed to present Card Player readers a free tutorial on tips on how to deal with a deck of playing cards. Simply head to Kardsharp.com or test it out on my Kardsharp YouTube web page.
For these of you interested by studying extra, I’m going to be internet hosting a free reside “Ask Me Anything” card dealing with seminar on Tuesday, Dec. 15 at 6 p.m. PT that guarantees to give you some eager perception into defending your poker recreation, recognizing card cheats, some enjoyable prop bets, and way more. All it’s a must to do to get in is sign up to my mailing list at Kardsharp.com for extra info.
Houston Curtis, founding father of KardSharp.com and creator of Billion Dollar Hollywood Heist has lived a profitable double life as each a producer and excessive stakes poker participant for almost 30 years. His credit embody government producing gambling-related TV reveals comparable to The Ultimate Blackjack Tour on CBS, The Aruba Poker Classic on GSN and pioneering the poker educational DVD style with titles that includes poker legend Phil Hellmuth.
Barred for all times from Las Vegas Golden Nugget for “excessive winning” at blackjack, Houston is among the world’s most profitable card mechanics and sleight-of-hand artists of the trendy period. Curtis, who hardly ever performs in tournaments, received a 2004 Legends of Poker no-limit maintain’em championship occasion besting Scotty Nguyen heads-up on the last desk earlier than happening to co-found the elite Hollywood poker ring that impressed Aaron Sorkin’s Academy Award-nominated movie Molly’s Game.
Curtis now resides in Columbia, Missouri whereas sustaining places of work in Los Angeles, and Phoenix, Arizona. In addition to operating a manufacturing firm and unbiased document label, Curtis additionally consults as a poker safety professional to purchasers throughout the globe in search of perception into grasp stage card dishonest ways by way of superior sleight-of-hand method. In addition, Houston is now accessible for in-person and on-line talking engagements, personal sleight-of-hand instruction, and a wide range of media creation/manufacturing companies. Houston may be contacted instantly at stacked@kardsharp.com.