Last Wednesday night, while I was out playing cards with a group of friends(Ray, Harry, Ian, Phil), we realized that it was the 40th anniversary of our little poker group. It consists of 5 guys and three of us, including yours truly, have been in the club since our first monthly get together in September, 1969. The other 2, Ray and Phil, who we still call rookies, have been playing with us only since 1986 and 1996 respectively.
Who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks? Not us!
Oddly, through all those years, the stakes have never changed – no inflation with us! The dealer’s ante is 5 cents with a limit of 3 raises and a nickel is the highest single raise allowed. So, for any one round of bets, the maximum with 3 raises, is a whopping 15 cents. On average, a really good pot would be $5 and since we play a lot of “hi-lo” splits, the winners usually get about $2.50 each. At the end of the night, the “big winner” is lucky to have amassed $7 in total.
In 2007, we visited the scene of Wild Bill Hickok’s shooting in Deadwood, SD
The small stakes, however, have done nothing to limit the fierce competition among us to have the biggest pile of chips in front of us at the end of the night. It’s not the money at all – it’s just about winning and gaining the bragging rights for the next month or so. The great part of the low stakes is that when one of us is “bluffed out” of a winning hand, because of a paltry 5 cent raise, it is a great cause for laughter and a whole lot of ridicule rather than grief over losing the family meal money! But, 40 years with the same small stakes? Amazing!
Our goal for each poker night is to amass the biggest pile of poker chips
Another reason we’ve probably lasted so long, apart from being good friends, is that we’ve kept it simple. While we are actually playing, we only serve beer, pop or water with a few bowls of chips, peanuts or pretzels. After we’ve finished the last hand, we have coffee, sandwiches and donuts – that’s it. We rotate homes each month and the host is responsible for providing all the food and refreshments.
Sometimes, it seems that we’ve been playing poker together for a very long time!
The sandwiches we make drive Paulette crazy as I’ve only ever made 2 kinds – ham and salmon. Every time it’s my turn, she wants me to do “something different” and asks “do all the other guys just have ham or salmon sandwiches”? To which I reply “yes, of course” and it’s absolutely true! Rarely, in 40 years has the menu ever changed.
We only play for 3 hours, 7:30pm to 10:30pm. When we started, way back in 1969, it was 7:30 to 12 midnight, but we’re far too old for that now! Just one interesting side note, in all the 40 years, involving thousands of games and hands dealt, we have only once had anyone get a Royal Flush!!
Nothing like ending the night with a coffee and Tim Horton’s donuts
Our whole group is retired now, so because of vacations and traveling, we aren’t able to get together each month like we used to. In fact, I’m probably the biggest offender being away for up to 5 months a year. But, we still manage to get together as often as we can which means 4 or 5 nights a year anyway. We’ll probably keep doing that until the last hand is dealt for each of us, I guess!
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