You've Got To Know When To Hold 'Em

A few months ago it occurred to me that I LOVE to play cards and I don't do anywhere near enough of it - so I resolved to play more.

I mentioned it to my friend - "I used to play a ton of whist." I told her.

"Oh my God," she said, "ME TOO!"

So we decided to get our husbands together and play.

And we did.  The four of us played while the kids watched a movie and it was great.

I started playing whist on my phone.  It was fun.

Then my husband started playing poker and I thought, "Hm, that may be a more useful life skill than an obscure British card game."  This was roughly around the time winter REALLY came to Boston and it snowed - a lot.  That put a damper on my running outside so I grabbed my ipad and hit the elliptical and started playing VIP Poker.  I got killed.  Luckily it was fake money.

I started getting better. Well, at least I learned that a full house beats a flush.

And never draw on an inside straight.  

Whatever that means.

A few weeks ago we invited our friends over to play cards again but they couldn't make it because they were going out of town so we invited a different couple.  We didn't really say what game we were going to play but they showed up with a professional poker case with fancy colored chips.

Poker it is!

Their kids played with our kids while we figured out how to play poker.  The husbands both fancied themselves experts, I was more realistic, the other wife had never played before in her life.

We had a great time.  They didn't go home until 11.  The kids had a great time.  It was a perfect suburban night.

The next day my husband and I were playing cards.  He looked at the back of the cards and said, "If I ever got a tattoo it would be of the bicycle playing card logo."

Then he saw an insert in the deck that advertised clothing with the bicycle logo.   We pulled up the site and saw George Clooney wearing the t-shirt.  The designs were great.

I contacted JacksandJokers.com and asked them if they would be interested in letting me review a couple of shirts so they sent a shirt for me and for my husband.

I got this shirt and I have to say it's the softest tshirt I have ever owned.  It fits great and is beautiful.

My husband got this one:

It has the Bicycle logo on the back.  That's a much better option than a tattoo and much less expensive.  It's also so soft that I LOVE snuggling up against it.

These shirts aren't inexpensive but they're incredibly high quality, soft as can be and have a great design.

If you're interested in Poker and like soft tshirts you can wear to the club or wear to bed I can't recommend them more.

And if you're looking for a GREAT inexpensive way to socialize more and meet more people, start asking everyone you know if they play cards.  This weekend we went back to the home of the couple we played poker with.  The wife is now a pretty solid poker player and they invited a third couple.  Neither of them had played much poker before but by the end of the night they were both excited to play again.

Note: We don't play for money - just for fun - so the whole night cost us $20; $5 for the appetizer that I brought and $15 for beer.  

I wrote a post a while back about how hard it was to make friends when you get older.  Then I realized that it was because I wasn't really trying.  Since I've started inviting people over for poker I've realized that most people are excited to be invited - they're not doing cool things on the weekend - they're doing the same nothing I'm doing and wishing they weren't.  

And that cool couple you'd like to spend more time with?  They'd like to spend more time with you - and they have cool friends.

Comments

[joeinvegas]

Your husband is looking pretty good in that shirt. Maybe he can do more with a razor, but the look is pretty good.

[Katie]

You are so right! Plus, I think "coming over for cards" everyone assumes its casual. Whereas "come over for a drink" can be intimidating.

[MyOtherJob]

I agree - that when you invite someone over for drinks or dinner, they assume they'll be expected to converse intelligently on world news or travel. Playing cards eliminates any such expectations! Thanks for the reminder. We had friends who have moved out of state, but we always played board games when we got together. We had a blast. I'll have to dig out Trivial Pursuit ...

Nice tattoo idea, BTW. My husband told my daughter that the day she gets her college degree, he'd get a tattoo. Well, 2 weeks and she's done!

[angela king]

i love playing poker! my ex husband and i used to go every friday night and play with twenty or so friends. it was amazingly fun.