Risk is way too much trouble and Sorry is sorry. When our kids were small we enjoyed family time and reliving our own childhood through games like Life and Parcheesi but I don’t miss them. I think I was happiest though when both of my kids learned to play cards.
My card playing experience goes back to first grade when my mother taught me to play Canasta – her favorite game. A few years later my father taught me his favorite game - Cribbage. By the time I reached high school I had found my favorite game – poker.
Weekend poker nights were a regular high school event in the 70’s for two reasons – we didn’t have video games and we didn’t have girlfriends. The next best thing was playing poker for hours while consuming large quantities of junk food.
Six or more guys would head upstairs to our attic (it’s a northern thing) carrying bags of chips and quarts of soda. Hours later, after redistributing our wealth, we would trudge three floors down trying not to wake my father who was often asleep in front of the television.
Poker was a very democratic activity in The Poker Palace, an elegant name given to my attic. Dealer’s choice was the rule which meant that the person dealing got to pick the game and the rules.
Traditionalists would call a game of 5-card stud with nothing wild. Others might go for an extended version of 7-card stud with deuces, jokers and one eyed jacks wild.
Pride was more important than losing a little money. Therefore people learned to play the various card games for a price and never asked questions. Of course some games were more expensive than others.
Nickel ante poker games such as Baseball and 7-card no peek forced players to keep paying to play long before they knew what cards they were holding.
Some games only involved three cards. One called 3-card Monte forced players to bet on a small hand with one wild card. The most dangerous game of the evening was called guts. Players held the cards above the table and when the dealer counted 1-2-3 guts, players either dropped the cards or held them. Everyone still holding cards had to match all of the money in the pool except for the winner. By far it was the most expensive and gutsy game of the night.
There was great satisfaction in winning at the Poker Palace but the financial rewards were slim. A lucky night might earn the winner 400 nickels but that’s only $20.
The stakes were much higher when I visited a real poker palace in Las Vegas many years later. I played two hands and walked away $20 lighter. I would rather lose 400 nickels in 3 hours than lose them in 3 minutes.
If I’ve tickled that urge in you to play poker, then head out tonight (Nov. 11) for the Allen Arts Alliance Casino Night. The Casino Night is part of the weekend activities surrounding the Tom Thumb Texas Stampede at the Allen Event Center.
For more information about the western style Casino Night or to order tickets call 972-727-7272 or visit www.texasstampede.org/events.
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