A Trip to the Oaks

Yesterday my good friend Jake and I made a trip to the Oaks to play a little low limit ($6/$12 limit) hold'em. We've made similar trips about once a month since the beginning of this year with the main purpose being to bull shit and have a few drinks. I am, however, undefeated on these trips so far and even though it's small stakes the wins are starting to add up.

What's amazing to me is how soft the games at the Oaks have gotten. I used to play $6/$12 at the Oaks when I was 21 and still dealing cards for a living. Back then there were a few nut jobs who would come in from time to time, but in general most of the players were OK if not good. In fact there were a few people who would qualify as semi pros (people who count on poker winnings for a significant piece of their income, but have another main source of income). Of course I still dominated, but it took a great deal of advanced strategy and concentration.

Now that we're in the post poker boom days there are two or three times as many players in general and it seems like almost none of them have a clue what they're doing. Players who would have been squashed and busted in no time 6 years ago find themselves winning without much difficulty.

So yesterday when Jake and I took our seats as they started a new $6/$12 game on table 10, we liked our chances of winning. As the day progressed it was as if the table was slightly tilted in our direction and all of the chips we're slowly flowing down into our stacks. After 6 hours we both found ourselves ahead over $500 (a sizable win for that limit) with huge towers of chips in front of us while all of the other players in the game were looking forlornly at the their tiny stacks. Even if they're only $2 chips it's nice to be at the cashier hoping the people in front of you will speed it up because the weight of all the chips you're holding is starting to bother you.

Also I have to say congrats to Jake on the biggest poker win of his life (I think his previous best was somewhere in the $300 range). Jake and I actually started playing poker at the exact same time back in August of 2000 in the Cloyne home game. That game and the long drives out to Cache Creek (an Indian casino about 100 miles from here where you only have to be 18 to play) are how we became such good friends.

Sadly Jake's poker career got sidetracked by a classic pitfall: going to class in college. Jake fell deeper into that hole when he spent the following years going to law school after he finished his undergrad degree. While he was going down that non traditional road, I of course did what every guidance counselor I'd ever had told me to do: stay out until all hours of the night associating with lowlifes while pursuing a job at which almost everyone fails that comes with no benefits and no guaranteed income! Stupid, stupid Jake.

In other news it took less than 36 hours for my $3,700 from Neteller to hit my bank account. Like I said before the timing on that couldn't have been better. I was planning on getting back to work today, but after picking up $500 on what I was planning as a day off, I think I'm going to spend another day unwinding and get back on the horse tomorrow.