Hawaii Home Poker Games and Big Island Living – Full House Under a Full Moon

My husband and I have been playing cards (mostly poker) ever since we’ve been together. Now, don’t get me wrong, we do other things too; dancing, kayaking, golf, sailing, work a ton, etc., but nothing is the same as playing cards with good friends, good food, and a good hand under our starlit skies here on the Big Island.

This past weekend was another star studded event (get it…stud…as in cards, not the horse, or self appreciating man). The evening started out perfect; table of eight (5 men, 3 women) outdoors on the lanai with only a gentle breeze and a great starlit sky. The stakes were low; $10 buy-in with $0.10, $0.25, $0.50, and $1.00 chips.

As the evening wore on, the bets were bolder and the the buy-ins were more frequent with a shifting of the pot settling to one end of the table. The other two women dropped out as they lost their initial investments (?), but…having been raised by a mother who owned bars in Alaska, I made my college tuition by tending bar on summer vacations where we played cards on both sides of the bar. It is not that I was particularly good at cards, but you learned fast how to read your fellow players when your education depended on it!

My Saturday night group was fabulous…a mix of facial and exploitative verbal tells. One never bluffed; if he had cards, he tripled his bet. Too easy. Another nearly hyperventilated when he got a good hand and kept betting before his turn…not too tough to read. The hardest one to read was the “talker” who bet on everything and had several buy-ins! My husband was the easiest one yet, at least for me, to read as he looks at his cards several times just to be sure they haven’t changed when they are bad, and doesn’t take a second peek when they are good!

Oh, and the most important thing about playing cards with men…they will always out bet you, regardless of what’s in their hand…period! P.S. this is not a sexist statement…just human nature.

All in all…the night was great fun. Thanks, guys; I paid for golf on Sunday with your beautiful faces, expressions, and body language! See you again soon, I hope.