atoast2toast.com

I have seen the ace of hearts twice in the last 3 weeks and both times the events and the outcomes were strange. I was in a Lombards bar at Christmas and I saw someone I knew playing cards. Bubbles was sitting at a table. The guys he was playing with were looking sheepish.

I was coming back from the toilet and I asked Bubbles what game they were playing. He said “forty five”. I saw the jack of hearts on top of the deck. I indirectly said “he probably has the ace”. He looked at his cards for the first time as they had just been dealt. He had the Ace of hearts. He almost squealed when he saw. It meant he could take the jack for his own hand and put a bad card back in the deck. Basically it is a big advantage.

That same coloured Ace was back again tonight at the annual work poker tournament. It would be almost meaningless except I work for an online poker company and everyone gets to play. It is like a mixture between a freeroll and a home game tournament except they pay out in cash. I was at the final table of 400.

I knew I had gotten lucky a few times to be there. I had played smart and got some sweet pocket pairs. It was an all in fest a lot of the time but you were guaranteed to have someone all in before you when it got down to 20 or 30. I tripled up from around 40k with pocket aces as 2 guys with huge stacks battled over a side pot that was bigger than the main pot. I waited a long time. Some strong bets in good position allowed me to stay alive.

The hand that beat me was Ah\2c and I had Qh\Qc (I think). I pushed my 40k and I couldnt believe when I saw the lady typing “this is such a hard decision” but called anyway. She had me covered by around a hundred thousand. I was 70% likely winner. Three hearts came on the flop and then a black ace, she was winning with 2 pair now. A heart would save me, any heart except the Ace. I saw the last card was red but it was an Ace. I finished in 6th place. Soon after a guy with 900k was heads up with a guy with 100k and then it was done.