So as most of you know ... I like to play poker....and my game of choice is Texas Holdem No-limit... which means you can bet as much (or as little) as you like, up to how many chips are in front of you (ie. No limit)
Well, I do it quite often while Im in the US ... I have most weekends to myself, and its a good way to kill an afternoon/evening .... yes I am one of the guys playing/listen to an IPod (nothing too agro ... don’t want to make too rash a decision, and I find mellow music most suited to poker ....U2, Massive Attack, ColdPlay, Pink Floyd, Radiohead .. you get the idea), and usually don’t play any more than 4-5 hours, as I find that after that time I get tired, and make impatient betting decisions.
Basically, when its time to go, its time to go (and thats around the 5 hour mark)
Anyway, today (Sunday evening, 17th August), I was sitting at a $300 table (you need that amount to start playing, and no more)... the blinds are $3/$5....
- I have a stack of approx $700.
- Jack (didn’t get the guys real name, so I made it up) has approx $800.
- Kil (50 something little asian guy) has only about $200.
PRE-FLOP BETTING: 
It was one of those hands, where after initial round of betting, there were only 3 players left, all paid $5 to play, and no real action (Pot $15).... I was on the button ... which means that I was first to bet.
FLOP: 
- I check (I hit a straight) .... Remember, I’m the first to bet,with straight flush draw.... I figure there is only two others, need to suck them in.
- Jack checks : He also hits the same straight, except he has no other draw.
- Kil also checks.
TURN: 
- I check ... I just hit a straight flush... cannot lose, but if I overplay it, I will scare everyone away, and get no actual winnings (no good having a great hand if nobody plays)
- Jack bets $15 (he still has the straight)
- Kil calls the $15 bet (he now has a flush, with a straight flush draw)
- I think about it, and figure might as well start building up the pot, and raise to $45
- Jack calls
- Kil goes All-In (raises my $45 bet by approx $140)
- I go All-In (raise Kil’s bet approx $550), there is no way I can lose this!!
- Jack thinks about things, realizes that with no hearts in his hand, his straight is no good, and drops out.
RIVER (Whole table is yelling for a 5 of Hearts): 
Well Kil is All-In, so there is no more betting... he hits his straight flush 3,4,5,6,7 of hearts... but I have a better hand .. and I win (some $200) !!
Ok ... so that is a interesting hand ... but so what?
Well, the Casino I play at (Hawaii Gardens) have a $100,000 poker "BAD-BEAT JACKPOT" which runs at certain times of the day .... and there is a RED light spinning when the jack pot is “ON”.
Conditions for Jackpot:
Minimum hand of Full House of Aces and 10’s (eg. A,A,A,10,10) with player having a pocket pair, and losing to a Four-of-a-kind or better.
Well Straight-Flush losing to another Straight-Flush qualifies for the JACKPOT ....and at the time, THE RED LIGHT WAS FLASHING!!!!
So I play here regularly, and know of the jackpot ... but right now I’M IN IT.... hundreds of people start gathering around the table.... Hi-5s flying, hand shakes, pit-bosses start checking cards, checking video footage, all the admin stuff.
I know that its the actual losing hand that wins majority of the Jackpot (ie. NOT ME!!!) .... didn’t really know how much, but as things progress, I find out that I also get a share.... so the Jackpot was split:
- $60,000 to Kil
- $20,000 to me
- $4,000 to each of the other players on the table (ie. Reminder of $20,000 split 5 ways .. there were only 7 people on the table)
So a great result for everyone .... more Hi-5s flying around .... and everyone pretty stoked about their unexpected win-fall.
Now here is where things in USA are different:
- The recipients of the Jackpot have to declare it in their Income Tax as income (and get taxed), except you can start writing-off any gambling losses against the win
- The players, started tipping the dealer/pit bosses and were throwing around discussions of tipping out 5% (fuck that .. Im not giving away $1000 for nothing)... Kil gave the dealer $1000, and $500 to be shared amongst the pit bosses .. I gave $200 to the dealer, and $225 to the others .... I figured that was plenty .... and don’t really agree with the whole notion of tipping!! .. true to their word, all the other players gave $100 to dealer and pit-staff, but I figured that they did nothing, so they can give away 5%
- They were going to take the tax out of my share immediately, because I only had my Australian driving liscence as ID (and therefore considered a non-resident), and eventually after they checked my Social-Security Number (yes I have a SSN because I now work for the US arm of my UK employer), they cut me a check for the full amount.... its going straight in the bank (like I said before .. you have to know when its time to leave)
So thought I’d share this with you .... it is probably the most exciting Poker hand I have ever been in .. and by far the most profitable... except I kept feeling that even though I won the hand, I some how came off second-best (by some $40,000) ... but then again $20k is nothing to snub your nose at!!!
In hindsight, it was lucky that when I (and Jack) hit the Flop, we didn’t get into a betting race, because we would have most probably knocked Kil out of the game ... and then there would have been no jackpot.
Morale of the story:
- a WIN is a WIN
- and know how to quit while your ahead
This week I flew back into LAX at 4pm ... and then moved straight into a new house ... a 3 bedroom “BeachHouse”, approx 50m from Newport Beach (above photo is view from balcony).
