One of my favourite movies of all time is Ocean's Eleven (the new one, that is - but then, who really liked the old one, besides the actors in it?). No matter how many times I watch it, I always laugh at the heists and hijinks of Danny Ocean and his crew of ne'er-do-wells. And even though I've never been to a casino, and have little desire to do so, I can't help but relish the spectacle.
It may come as some surprise, then, that even though I have watched Ocean's Eleven and even its sequels many a time, I had never played a real game of poker until last night. I had played against a computer a few times and was familiar with the basic rules, but it would be fair to say that the extent of my knowledge put me on par with Topher "all reds" Grace:
At any rate, last night, a few hands into a friendly game of Texas Hold-em, I received a rather memorable hand. It didn't start off as much. I was dealt the queen of diamonds and the two of hearts, and I was seriously considering folding right off the bat. In the spirit of bluffing, though, I checked, and when the dealer turned over two diamonds in the flop, I became more interested. There was a small possibility of a flush, so I stayed in. The next card was another diamond, and I raised. My friend also raised, however, and ended up going all in. I matched and waited with baited breath for the final card. Not only was it a diamond, but it was in fact the diamond: I had a royal flush.
Later on I checked up the probability of getting a royal flush in Texas Hold-em. The oracle of Google revealed the odds to be one in 649,740. I'm seriously considering never playing poker again, just to keep my rare hand ratio high.
As pleased as I am, though, I can't help but think that it would have been much better if my luck had been spent on a Timmy's cup with a car under the rim. Maybe next year . . .
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