Especially since I brought her along to Monte Carlo and Las Vegas and showed her the good side of the gambling world.
It takes some time for non-players to understand this world.
I made the final table of the Swedish Championships half a year into our relationship.
The year was 2006. She had been with me on poker tours before, to Monte Carlo and Warsaw, but had never railed me.
Now she wanted to when I was about to become the Swedish champion once again. I told her that it could be a long day and probably a bit boring. But she was there from the start anyway.
She brought along a friend and they applauded curtly as each contestant was presented.
Then She Started Laughing
I had an average stack but felt strong and considered myself the favorite. The structure was good and I couldn’t picture myself in any other way than the winner of the event.
The very first hand I went to work. But I got a passenger. I had to use more and more violence to get rid of him.
It would have worked, too, if he had something less than two pair.
I was out. Everybody applauded. So did my future wife. I walked over to her and told her that it was over.
“I’m out.”
“What?”
“Its over.”
“What?”
“I was knocked out. We can go now.”
It took a couple of seconds more before she realized what it meant. Then she started laughing.
One of her strengths is that she always can see the humor in situations. I didn’t exactly feel like The King when we left the building. My wife chatted away with her friend.
They were smiling and laughing as they started to plan the day they all of a sudden had been gifted. My wife asked me what I wanted to do.
“I've just been knocked out of the Swedish Championship. The difference between first and ninth is 810,000 SEK ($90,000). I want to shoot myself.”
Then We Had Dinner with Chris Björin
She started to play poker online in freeroll tournaments. Won a few dollars, won a few more, and finally she had a big score of $1,000.
She spent it all on me at once. What a woman! The next week she was very unlucky so I had to make a buddy transfer to her of $1,000.
She tried a few live tournaments and even cash games when we were in Vegas. I suggested that she try Omaha Hi-Low Split.
She is tight pre-flop and not much looser post-flop. She doesn’t like to bet without anything so she ends up doing a lot of check-calling.
That is actually a pretty good strategy in Hi-Low if you are tight pre-flop. And especially if you're a woman that men with little penises try to run over.
She wasn’t interested. But when we had dinner with Chris Björin and he recommended Omaha Hi-Lo she suddenly was.
I was sent to the Gamblers General Store to buy a book about the game. She read it in one day and went off to the Venetian the very next day. And she won.
She kept on playing and kept on winning. Omaha Hi-Lo is the best game if your girlfriend wants to play poker.
The bad beat stories are so complicated that all you have to listen to is the summary that consists of not much more than “unlucky” and “idiot." It's a thing of beauty; it really is.
Anna used the Player’s Card and was swiped in every day when she played. But she didn’t know that she received $2 an hour by doing so.
I instructed her how to get a comp ticket for dinner. She had played a lot and treated me to a steak dinner at CUT. Best steak I ever had.
The Best Thing That Ever Happened
It's actually pretty sweet to have your misses in the same card room as you. Especially when she’s winning.
It's also nice to have someone to dine with. Especially if it's not another poker player who tells you bad beat stories all through the dinner.
I played $10/$20 at the Venetian and a woman came by to get $500 from her husband. She went back to the same table where my wife was also playing.
I told him that our wives were playing the same game. We struck up a conversation and I asked if his wife was a winning player.
“Hell no, she loses about $500 every time she plays.”
“Ouch, that hurts.”
“No. It’s the best thing that ever happened. It’s ten times cheaper than the slots she used to play.”
“I guess it's worth the bad beat stories then.”
“Hell yes!”
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.
Note: Opinions expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not represent the views of PokerListings.com.
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