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Las Vegas Gambling Tips: Naked Eskimo |
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On The Town With Vegas Vic
By: Victor H. Royer
Welcome to Las Vegas! My name is Victor H. Royer, but everyone just calls me Vegas Vic. I was named after that famous neon sign in Downtown Las Vegas, that cowboy with the hat on top of the Pioneer Club, always waving his hand and beckoning to his long love, Sassy Sally, on the other side of the street. I will be writing a few articles for AccessVegas.com, so I hope you enjoy them.
Naked Eskimo
No, this article is not about the famous poker player Eskimo Clark, clothed or otherwise. It is instead a fable from a time more innocent, a time of great joy, and a time when poker was not just a game – it was an event. The time is 1983, in the weeks spanning Christmas and New Year’s festivities. It is a story personal to me, and one that to this day warms my heart. It is also a story of something quite funny – but I’m getting ahead of myself. First, let’s set the stage …
Soon after I was invited to join the game, it became apparent that -- in this game -- in order to win I would have to show down the winning hand. This was definitely not a game for the faint of heart. Just about every hand was raised pre-flop, and most were capped before we ever saw any cards. It was a rare occasion indeed when one of the players actually folded a hand after the flop. Folding a hand was something that nobody did in this game before the flop, and almost never on the flop, and certainly among those players who saw the turn most of them saw the river as well. I was therefore pretty convinced that this was one of those Wild West type poker game shootouts.
As it turned out, I was on the button. I was dealt the Jack-10 of spades. In addition to me, there was the small blind, the big blind, and two other players in this particular hand. Before it ever got to me there was one bet and one raise made. The player on my right folded, leaving only five of us in the hand. It occurred to me that I was in a pretty good position with this particular type of hand, especially having observed how this game played up to this point. I called. Based upon what happened previously, I fully expected that this will be raised and capped before we continue to the flop. I was not disappointed.
Imagine my surprise, shock, and awe, when the flop came Ace-King-Queen, all in spades! Yes, dear friends, I flopped the Royal Flush in spades! The ultimate hand in poker, the very best there is, the poker player’s Holy Grail. What was even better was that the betting was capped before it ever got to me! The turn card was the Queen of diamonds, pairing the board.
I was pretty sure that the under the gun player opened with pocket Aces. Therefore, he flopped a set of three Aces, and then made Aces full with the pair of Queens on the board. The big blind obviously had pocket Kings, which means that he also flopped a set, with his three Kings, and now he made Kings full with the pair of Queens on the board. This now lead me to consider what the third player might hold. Although I didn’t want to believe it, I felt very certain that this particular player had pocket Queens, and that, therefore, he flopped a set of Queens, and then turned the quads. Although the odds of all these situations happening exactly as described are extraordinarily long, nevertheless I felt pretty certain that this was exactly what was happening. Naturally, I called.
Victor H. Royer is the Author of 22 books on casino gaming. His newest series of 13 books -- including the new release Powerful Profits from Tournament Poker -- are now available in all major book stores, or from The Gambler's Book Shop at 1-800-522-1777, or at Amazon.Com . Visit his Web site at: http://hometown.aol.com/vicnvegas/myhomepage/newsletter.html
© Copyright 2006 Victor H. Royer. All rights reserved.
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