I thought two weeks ago was the last round up, but it turned out that we could squeeze in one more night of small stakes and big fun in The Garage Around Back!
We originally had 12 people lined up, but a couple people canceled and another couple people just didn’t show up at all.
All good, there was a time in the past when I would get worked up over such a thing, but these days I’ve got a bit more perspective on what matters – and what matters most is that last night we had a perfect table of eight lovely players and we really had the best time.
Colin, Ian, Jeff G, MC, Lea Anne, Alan R, and the longtime not seen and greatly missed one and only Teresa joined yours truly and we played all the games!
Teresa was it first alarmed by the prospect of playing Badugi, a game she was unfamiliar with entirely. But after a few decent size pots were shoved her away, she caught on, and turned out she really enjoyed it! That really is the very best thing in a mix game, when a player is at first hesitant and then quickly realizes that a new poker variant is interesting and exciting and rewards the Poker brain, I love to see it.
We also indulged in a good amount of PLO as well as a very fun round 2-7 NL Single draw (fun because I won several big pots) and another fun round of straight up Seven Stud. We also played a fair amount of NLHE and the Pineapple that is Crazy.
Once again, for the third cash game in a row I believe, Ian was the big wiener, well over $200 in profit. Your humble host was up almost $200 in profit before taking a few hits later on in the evening. I still ended up with over $100 profit, so I absolutely will take it.
A couple of other players of course finished the evening with dust, the rest were up or down just a bit. I do believe Teresa had a nice profit as well.
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There is not much left for me to say that I haven't already said here and in person, I am beyond grateful for the game and your friendship.
My wife on Tuesday has to go back into chemotherapy, the good news is, she is currently cancer free and this last 10 weeks of treatment is all in the plan and to help ensure that her adenocarcinoma doesn’t come back.
Once she makes it through the rounds and recovers, likely in January, the plan is to get back to the poker. The focus at Pepper Street will definitely be more on cash games going forward, I would love to have two or even three games a month. Friday night seems to be the perfect sweet spot.
Eventually of course there also will be tournaments, but I am thinking of cutting down on those, especially during the summer.
Ideally I’m thinking probably eight tournaments in the course of a year, with half of them the traditional Texas no limit hold ‘em and the other half different variations. Most likely - Omaha/8, HORSE, PLO and Dealer's Choice.
For the TOC and POY we would not have 2024 winners, but rather 2024-2025 champions, combining the 3 tournaments played in 2024 with 8 more played in 2025.
I really can’t wait, but in the meantime the priority has to be the love of my life of course. If you are prayerful please say one last good word to the Lord above for her and our family as we enter this homestretch of what has been a very difficult journey. I know we will get there with your love and support, which has been just stellar through this whole thing.
That truly is it for now, until 2025, I bid you all a fond farewell and a hearty peace, we out!
