Cigar Room Poker

Interesting evening yesterday. My buddy E had been trying to get me to go out and would not say what the plan was. All kinds of mysterious questions and clues, but nothing quite enough to make me figure it out. Are you bothered by smoke? Cigar smoke? If it comes down to it, what size shirt do you wear? We might need to be there at 7pm, would that work for you? We might need to grab some food before we go and on and on...

Even while we were in the car and pulling into a semi-deserted strip mall he wouldn't reveal what was going on. "We're just going to grab some cigars at this smoke shop over there," he said. But then his friend K was at the door and welcomed us in with a big smile and a firm handshake. So that's what it was. A poker game in the back room of a cigar shop. Well, that was definitely a first for either of us.

It wasn't a big game. We started 7-handed with the shop owner and few regulars. The buy-in? A cigar. The payout? Winner take all. S0 we stepped into the cigar room and bought a couple of stoggies for the pot and then E got himself one to smoke during the game. I don't smoke and never have so I didn't get one. I got plenty of second hand smoke though.

We settled in for the super turbo where we all started with 2000 chips and 25/50 blinds that doubled every 15 minutes. Well, doubled until we had to go from 200/400 up to 300/600. Seven players with 2K chips means we had 14K on the table so at the end of the hour we were basically down to 35 BB on the table. There was a 15 minute rebuy period if you busted but you would only get 1500 and nobody did that.

I have never played with these folks and started out quite tight. That was a good table image because when I did raise I got everyone to fold. I tried to knock out a short stack in the SB and ran my KQs into his AQ. So then with the blinds at 200/400 I had about 4BB. Then I found bullets and more than doubled up against A7s where I managed to dodge the heart draw. Then some more good cards came my way and I made a few flushes of my own. Dodged a couple of mad draws and ended up playing heads-up with E. That lasted a few short hands with me as the victor. To the victor go the spoils which I handed over to E with a big "Merry Christmas, Man!"

Obviously K who invited us to the game got a ton of crap from the other players for bringing in yet another pair of ringers. Apparently a few weeks back he brought in a couple of friends who went on to demolish the competition. They were not invited back. But we were and we might just go there again.

All in all, it was a lot of fun. The game was short and lasted about an hour and fifteen minutes. They usually start at 7pm and play two games and we only joined them for the second one. I did come home smelling like an ashtray, though. But that's the price you pay for cigar room poker, I guess.