Poker basement was hopping last night. Sadly, due to limited space, poker basement can only handle one table. I had to tell a few people that we were booked, but I was still worried that somebody might randomly show up. Initially we were supposed to play 11 handed, which is too much, so one more person would have been trouble. Just in case, I set up my octagon table outside. It would have been pretty nuts to have a game outside, and fortunately it didn’t come to that. The octagon is still out there because I am lazy.

Luckily one person didn’t make it, so we played ten handed, which is still a little cramped, but the game was good. Everybody bought in deep for a .25/.25 game. Well, almost everyone. I’d say the average buy in was over 60 bucks. The one guy dragging down the average was James, who only bought in for $20. I think the last time James came to a game was over five years ago. I remember he was down for that night. James is a friend of mine through work, so we usually talk about a whole lot of different things besides cards. My impression was, since the time he played here, that he really wasn’t too into playing poker, but the idea of hanging out seemed fun. I knew he had experience playing, but when it was his turn to deal, he was definitely foggy on the details of where to start, and the burn cards, et cetera. I was a little worried to be honest. I thought, oh man, James is going to come in here, lose a small buy in or two in like 15 minutes, and then trudge home in misery, and I am going to feel like crap about it because we haven’t hung out in forever.

 

I hadn’t even finished this little self imposed guilt trip when James doubled up his buy in. Some jokes went around about how his rustiness was really a level, but before the jokes were finished, he doubled up again. Suddenly, he had over $80 in front of him. I don’t think this took more than fifteen minutes to happen.

With all of the deep stacks, there were some big pots. Chips were being pushed around the table, people were emptying their pockets to rebuy, like I said, it was a good game.

Speaking of chips, Josh brought me a gift of old casino chips. Most of them were Paulsons. Not only were the chips cool, but the rack I noticed was really nice too. I recently bought some new racks online, so I definitely noticed there was something different about the rack Josh delivered the chips in. Turns out, it’s a Paulson rack, the best there is. I didn’t even know there was such a thing. The chips are really cool, though. My favorite are these all pink $5 blackjack chips from some place in the Bahamas. They feel amazing, especially if your thing is feeling poker chips. You know, you acquire an appreciation for such things after a while. Josh also had a three page write up on all of the chips. I will post highlights of it soon, I promise.

Back to the game. James is still running super hot. He ends the night cashing out for $405. Remember, he bought in for $20. I think that has to be some kind of Sherwood Street Casino record. I will say that he seemed very happy with the events of the evening and we will most likely be seeing more of him. Andy put him on the Crescent Lounge invite list. Mike A. also had a decent night. I think he was up $200 or so, but you know, what’s $200 when James is taking double that and only buying in for $20. Still not quite sure how that happened. James was the first person in the history of poker basement to have a $100 chip in his stack. I think there are pics on Twitter.

Anyhow, that is a wrap of last night’s action. See you at the table.