The End of Mark

It was a brutal finish. Within fifteen minutes, Mark. was all-in. Bobby had aces from the beginning. Mark was trailing with two eights after the third card. Last card. Baldwin turned each over slowly, dramatically. It was as if he were parroting some scene from an old western movie. But the drama died suddenly when Mark’s card failed to help. Bobby made aces-up, but that was irrelevant. “Play some more,” Mark urged. “I ain’t got it right now, but I’ll owe it to you.” They played for $10. It was solemnly agreed that it would be the last game, no matter what. After that was lost, Mark cast an imploring look toward Baldwin. He couldn’t ask to play again. That would be less than honorable. But it’s hard to maintain honor under stress. Especially for a twelve-year-old miser who is suddenly penniless. Still, Mark refrained from begging. Instead he tried to convey pity. But Baldwin declined to respond to this emotional blackmail. He did pat Mark affectionately on. the back. “Could you.. .could you loan me $5. My mom’s gonna have a birthday and...” The last of Mark’s words were obscured by a semi-deliberate mumble. Bobby gave his friend the money and left. He had twenty-five dollars more now than when he’d ridden his ‘bike over to Mark’s. Plus, he was owed fifteen more. poker was going to be easy. My exaltation was not merited by my play. I’d drawn out on Mark more often than he’d drawn out on me, gone in with the worst hand repeatedly and come out best. Of course, I didn’t realize this at the time. I was floating on a cloud hut I was destined to fall through it. Some things I had done right. For the first time in my life, I’d sandbagged a hand that Saturday afternoon, it had worked perfectly. Also, I’d agreed to play for that double-or-nothing freeze-out. And even though Mark was the better player, mine was the right decision. He was psychologically beaten. I think he knew he was going to lose. He played several hands terribly, even though he knew better. He was desperate, and I’d taken advantage of that. But I wasn’t ready to win at Poker Games. I didn’t even understand the fundamentals of a game as uncomplicated as five-stud. That game is seldom played seriously in big- time poker today. But, because it’s a game made popular by movies and dealt in friendly home games, I’m going to discuss it briefly. Since it was the first form of poker I ever played, this would be an appropriate time to talk about it. I’ll tell you what the most common mistakes are and then provide you with a very simple winning formula. BeforeI do this, I want to point out that in the popular movie, The Cincinnati Kid, the Kid makes a gigantic mistake which costs him the world title. That’s in spite of the fact that it was the most realistic, well researched and expensive poker movie of all lime! I’ll tell you about that mistake shortly.