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Bad Beat Stories From the Back of a Moped

It is 1:30am and I am riding my bicycle through Berlin. A man pulls up beside me on a moped and slows down to my speed. He is waving his hands and shouting. He sounds angry. Or perhaps he is not actually angry and he is just shouting in German. When I hear people shout in German, I always think they are angry.

I double check that I have my lights on and that I didn't just drive through a red traffic light. Momentarily I am confused.

He is wearing a helmet and I recognise, him from somewhere, but can't quite place the face in the dark. I am also trying to concentrate on the road as I am a nervous cyclist at the best of times. 

man on moped
"So I had kings..."
It isn't until I hear some poker related phrases that I realise that this is the man I have just beaten heads up in a poker tournament. He seems to be berating me once again for my play. This time from the back of a moped.

I have a 10km to cycle home after my glorious victory in the nightly casino tournament in Berlin. I presume,he happens to live in the same suburb as me and is taking the same route. At least I hope so and that he didn't just follow me from the casino on a moped to tell me his bad beat story (which I already know, as I was actually there), and gripe further that I turned down a deal with him multiple times

Back to Live Poker

Playing live poker is like hard drugs to me at this point. After not playing live for over 18 months, I cautiously dipped my toes back in the water when the casino in Berlin started spreading poker again. 

The Berlin casino insists on mask wearing, which makes some sense. And also installing monstrous plexiglass dividers between every seat and around the dealer, which does not. Nevertheless at least poker is back and after some trepidation I was keen to try.

I had a couple of short cash game sessions, but really I just wanted to play tournaments. It is almost certainly more profitable to play cash games than the nightly tournaments at this casino, but I find cash games here a bit stressful and also boring. It is kind of like fishing. Put your line in the water and wait.

Whereas tournaments to me are boring in a different way. More like an innings in a Test Match kind of boring. Where drama and excitement can break through the monotony of your straight bat defence and innings (stack) building at any moment. And you can be out in one hand.

No Deal Justice Returns

I soon jumped back in like a starving man at a Las Vegas buffet. After a few unsuccessful tournament outings, I managed to achieve a cash. Then the next time I got a stack together and succeeded in luckboxing my way to a victory. And with no chop.

There is no better feeling than turning down multiple requests for a deal and then shipping the tournament. It doesn't matter what the buy in is. And as I hadn't won a live tournament for almost two years, I might have even said "yeeesss!" at an above average volume when the final card was dealt.

The Final hand? My AA vs. his KK. Never had that before when heads up in a tournament. Would have preferred to save that one for another day but I will take it. No wonder the guy on the moped was so annoyed.

#Coatgate: An Update


I was pleased to note with all the extra corona restrictions, the most heinous Berlin poker rule of all seems to have been relaxed. Coats are now allowed to be put in the back of your chair! Poker coat wearers of Berlin unite. Let's hope that we can put #coatonchairgate behind us and move on with our lives into this brave new world of taking your coat off and putting it back on whenever we want to.

Poker is Back?

So now I'm obviously hooked and I want to fly to Ukraine or a ski resort in Armenia to play a poker festival because it looks good value. I'll make do with a trip to Bratislava this week to try and secure the elusive Slovakian flag and drink a few pints of the local beer.

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