| Reporter goes "all in" to raise money for charity. A king and an ace. Not a bad way to start my first game of high-stakes poker. Heck, even some newspaper ads for Foxwoods show a person holding a king and an ace, so it must be good.
With my $2,250 worth of chips piled neatly in front of me, I raised the $25 blinds and put in $100. Forget about playing conservatively as I planned to, I was feeling good. "Put the pressure on the other players," I think I remember one poker expert saying.
"Beat that," I thought as I placed my four $25 chips on the table.
Someone did.
Unfortunately, as the flop was flopped, followed by the river and the turn cards, there wasn't a king or an ace among the five cards on the table. My king and ace lost to a pair of eights, and I ended up losing more than $100 after some more betting.
Fortunately, this was high-stakes No Limit Hold 'em poker only in the sense that unlike the few friendly games I've played in friend's houses, this game was in a real casino, Foxwoods, and against complete strangers. So it just felt high-stakes.
The actual money at stake in last month's New England Poker Classic "Media Showdown" went to various charities. I was playing for United Community and Family Services.
The event was part of the New England Poker Classic at Foxwoods, which ended this week with a prize pool in the millions. Now that's some high-stakes.
My goal going into the game was not to be the first one eliminated. The first hand hurt my chances of that and after a few more hands, I was down to $375 in chips. I was the short stack and the "loser's lounge" was preparing for my arrival.
As I said, I've played only a few friendly games before this experience. But since the poker craze has swept the nation I, like many others, have become more interested in the game and looked forward to showing my stuff against nine fellow members of the media.
Hey, I've watched "Celebrity Poker" enough and even received advice from Kathy Griffin during a phone interview. Of course, the comedienne didn't win when she played on "Celebrity Poker" so I wasn't sure what her recommendations were worth.
According to reports, Nevada's poker revenue is up 38 percent. Foxwoods has made poker one of its main attractions in enticing people to visit. Poker brochures are now included in the casino's convention packets and poker is featured in some of its ad campaigns.
The game is what everyone wants -- easy to learn, yet challenging to master.
So here I was, sitting inside the world's largest casino, playing at a table with the green felt covering and handling those chips that weighed, well a lot more than the thin plastic chips in my small poker kit at home.
While I skipped donning the sunglasses and hooded sweatshirt ala the Unabomber (that's the nickname for professional poker player Phil Laak who goes with the Ted Kaczynski look when he plays), I donned a black button-down shirt, which is the most intimidating piece of clothing I have in my closet. Well that and my bright red and yellow Hawaiian shirt, which scares everyone.
The other players weren't that intimidated when I finally decided to go "all in." I've seen people on TV say "all in" and push a huge amount of chips toward the middle of the table. The chips spill all over the place.
My first "all in" wasn't quite as dramatic. I put the chips, all 19 of them, in my one hand and placed them in the middle of the table.
An easy call for a few of the other players.
Another player goes "all in" as well. I have a queen and an ace off-suit as my hole cards and the flop includes a 10 and a king. All I need is a jack for a straight. The turn is of no help, but then comes the river and it's a jack.
I'm still alive and not the first one out. And then there was nine.
Playing poker is like playing golf. You win one hand (or hit one good golf shot) and you're ready for more.
It's also like golf in that it can be a humbling game. You're up. You're down. You're in the rough. You also have people who want to give you advice.
"He should have gone 'all in,''' one woman watching the action said to her friend after seeing me lose about half my stack on a hand.
The chips that I won with my first "all in" slowly went to other players. That's another thing about No Limit Hold 'em, even when you don't bet you can still lose money if you happen to be one of the two blinds, which increased about every 20 minutes.
A few more players were eliminated and I survived two more "all in" hands. The first I won with two pairs (nines and fours). The second I won with a pair of queens.
With the competitors down to four, I'm forced to go "all in" again -- for a fourth time. It's heads-up action against a reporter from Boston Metro. She has a pair of aces. After the flop and turn, I have four diamonds and need one more on the river to make a flush and win the hand.
The tension mounts for that few seconds before the dealer turns over the final card.
A jack of clubs.
"A round of applause for David," the announcer said as I walked away from the table.
Someone handed me a large mock check for $1,500 made out to the United Community Fund and Family Services and snapped a photo.
I left Foxwoods a little older and a little wiser. But thankfully, not a little poorer. I made some money for a charity and can now go back to my friendly low-stake games with perhaps a better chance of winning.
Then again, the World Poker Tour returns to Foxwoods in November.
Shuffle up and deal.
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Reporter goes "all in" to raise money for charity. A king and an ace. Not a bad way to start my first game of high-stakes poker. Heck, even some newspaper ads for Foxwoods show a person holding a king and an ace, so it must be good.
With my $2,250...