Really, What Was The Point?

One of my last nites of a recent visit to Vegas, I was at BSC when a rather odd couple joined the game.  The guy appeared to be in his mid-50’s, at least.  The woman on, on the other hand, was mid to late 20’s, blonde, and very attractive.  A little too modestly dressed if you asked me, but she didn’t.

The guy looked familiar, I suspected I’d played with him before.  His cute wife didn’t look familiar.  Based on the fact that he was old, overweight, and not exactly a George Clooney look-alike, and she was young and beautiful and could get any guy she wanted without any effort at all, I assumed their relationship was based on true love.  Right.  I’m sure she really loved him for the size of something in his pants.  You know…..his wallet. 

They sat next to each other and it became immediately apparent that she was quite the poker novice.  He clearly knew what he was doing, but she did not.  In fact, she even tried to ask him for advice during a hand (when he was out of the hand).  He told her that was not allowed even before the dealer had a chance to. 

She never raised and rarely bet if she didn’t have to.  It wouldn’t be fair to call her a tight player because she did call bets she had no business calling, really not having any clue as to what a good hand was.

She was friendly, though, and at one point admitted that she just tried playing poker for the first time the previous night.  This was hardly surprising.  She didn’t have any problem knowing the hand rankings, so I suspected she’d played some kind of poker previously, but definitely not in a poker room.

Since the guy looked familiar, I assumed I’d played with him before while his young bride entertained herself doing something else.  Somehow, on this visit, he had gotten her to screw up her courage and try playing some poker with him.

She lost some money and then won a very small pot.  She was one of many limpers, and on a Queen high flop, no one bet.  Another lowish turn card, and again, no one bet.  Same thing on the river, no betting, including the pretty blonde.

Dealer asked everyone to show their cards.  Somebody had Ace high, and someone had a low pair.  You know, what you’d expect when nobody bets any street.  The young blonde showed her hand.  She had pocket Kings—yes, pocket Kings—and took down a very small pot on a Queen high board.

Everyone kind of gasped.  Even I don’t play pocket Kings that timidly and I’ve read all my blog posts about the dreaded pocket Kings.  Hmm, come to think of it, I’ve actually written all my blog posts about Kings. 

I’m not sure if it was her husband or one of the other players who asked her why she never bet.

And she gave a perfectly reasonable explanation.  “Well, no one was betting, so what was the point?”

Indeed, what was the point?