I wouldn't say that we tried to hustle each other, but we had both strong opinions and a bet is the natural order to settle the score.
I have no idea how they solve issues outside the gambling world.
All I know is that they are pagans who have not seen the light yet.
A Direct Translation is SittingFat
So a bet among buddies happened quite frequently. Sometimes the bet became a good story. Like this one.
You probably have similar stories with your gambling buddies.
Those stories are what makes our world unparalleled. And make dinners with us gamblers the best in the world when the stories are relived.
Anyway, back to Pavan and my bet with him. I had moved to London and lived close to the Vic, which was one of the busiest poker rooms in Europe back in 2001.
I had convinced Pavan to fly over and stay with me. At the Vic you could grind long hours against mediocre opponents on the low limits.
It was perfect for Pavan because he had “sittfläsk." I don’t know the English word for it.
A direct translation is “Sittingfat” which means that you have the proper attribute (fat, so you can sit softly) to stay in a game for a long time without losing it if you lose.
But Pavan didn’t fly from Stockholm to London. He took the train, via Paris.
More Scared of Reeperbahn than Ryanair
I suppose you have to be really scared of flying to take the train from Stockholm to London.
The journey by train took so long that he spend a night in Hamburg, where he stayed in Reeperbahn because the hotels were the cheapest there.
I would be more scared of staying a night in Reeperbahn with my whole bankroll than flying Ryanair.
But Pavan used the logic of a gambler and said that the pushers and whores would never imagine him having that kind of dough on him.
He had a point, and he had a leather belt with a small hole on the backside where you could slide bills inside the belt.
It took him an hour to get the bills out when he arrived - minimum one hour - and a few hundred cusswords.
10-1 Maybe a Little Too Much
His girlfriend came to live with us. She went on some kind of seminar and came back all happy and bouncy.
She started to explain what a wonderful opportunity it was and so on. It all sounded exactly like a pyramid scam to me. So I told her.
She told me that she had paid £300 for some kind of tuition fee. I told her that she could kiss her money good bye.
Pavan came to her rescue and all of a sudden we had a heated argument. Pavan and I that is; his girlfriend went to the bedroom.
One thing led to another and finally my big mouth said 10-1 that she will get her money back. Pavan was warm under his forehead as well and bet £300.
That’s when I realized that 10-1 maybe was a little too much, but by then it was to late.
I Believed Her Then
The more I thought about it the more certain I was that she would never get her “tuition fee” back.
I liked my bet. No freaking way she would get her money back. It was absolutely a pyramid scam. It just must be.
Two days later she came back and claimed she had gotten her money back. I believed her then, but I’m not so sure today given what I know about her now.
She knew about the bet and I can see that she thought that £3,000 for her and Pavan to spend sounded like a good idea.
Anyway, I got it all back the very next week. You can read about it next week.
About Ken Lennaárd:
Sweden's most controversial poker blogger Ken Lennaárd has been around the professional poker circuit for almost 20 years. Among his numerous accomplishments are Swedish Championships both live and online, three WSOP final tables and over $1.5m in live earnings. He's now bringing his singular poker voice to the English world via PokerListings.com. Look for new posts every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
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