MORE MONEY THAN SENSE

BY: Russ Fox

"Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons." -- Woody Allen

Recently, I had to go to Palm Desert for a conference. Rather than fight Friday afternoon traffic, I decided to leave early and play some poker at the Agua Caliente Casino. "Agua Caliente" translates to "hot water." And that's what I ended up in.

Agua Caliente is one of two Indian casinos with poker in the Palm Springs area (the other is Casino Morongo). The casino is about six years old and in excellent condition. While the casino allows smoking, the cardroom is nonsmoking. The poker room offers hold'em with a full kill ($3/$6, $4/$8, $8/$16 and $15/$30) and Omaha with a full kill ($6/$12). After playing hold'em for two hours, I moved into a very lively Omaha game.

How lively? Well, at least five of the nine players saw the flop on every hand. Raises only served to increase the pot size and were otherwise meaningless. Sitting next to me was a retired woman (when she bought into the game, she pulled out a wad of bills). She told me that she loves Omaha because of how much action the game has. She showed me her hand: 39TT. (Note to all readers: if you play hands like this on a regular basis, you will separate your money from your wallet.) When the board came 678/4/9she continued to bet and laid down her hand proudly, yelling, "STRAIGHT FLUSH!" She didn't win anything on that hand.

However, on the next hand she got into a battle with "Sam." It turns out that one of the denizens of this game is a long-time friend of my father (they have been good friends since they were four)! Sam kept betting and raising (I'm sure Sam had seen the woman in action before) and she kept calling and raising. They chopped the pot when Sam held 678K (making "nut" low) and she held 39QK - the board was A23/3/9 (no flush was possible).

OK, this sounds ridiculous but everything I've written is true. The game is that good because these players, most likely, move the money around in a great big circle. Poker gives them something to occupy their minds, which is a very good thing when you're retired. Indeed, there have been several studies linking card playing (both bridge and poker) with preventing mental deterioration.

But, you're asking, don't these players care that they are losing? I doubt it. First, the Palm Springs area is a relatively expensive place to retire to. Many of these individuals can afford to lose. If you're worth a million, what's $100 or $200? They are playing to have fun and have action. In fact, if there game became populated with "card sharks" they would quickly leave the game. An occasional outsider is all right, but having them on a regular basis would be unacceptable.

As for my performance, well, I lost $120. I won a quarter of one pot. I saw a bunch of flops and folded almost all of them. That's Omaha - you must have the cards or you're going to throw your money away. I'm not worth a million so I don't throw money away.

This kind of a game is equivalent to playing with maniacs. Indeed, that's what these players are. You must have patience, patience, and more patience. If you win a pot, you will win a very big pot.

The one extremely nice thing is that the players are exceptionally polite. And they made me feel very, very young. Thirty years from now I might still be the youngest player at the table.

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