Yu Must Ve Keeking Yurselv Now

I had an interesting experience last night to say the least.  A Brazilian friend of mine, Andre, has asked me if I wanted to play poker with him on the continent at least 100 times and I have said no 100 times in absolute fear of where and who I would be playing with.  He has been helping me out a lot on business stuff down here so after being asked for the 101st time last night, I finally caved and said yes.  Coincidentally, I had somehow gotten on the topic of sports and gambling yesterday at lunch.  He told me that, like most places, gambling is illegal in Brazil.  Apparently, they used to have casino-type places with only slot machines but they have long since been shut down.  Therefore, when my friend Andre asked me to play poker, I asked him if we were playing with his friends or at an "establishment."  He answered the latter.  We made the 30 minute drive and parked the car in a back alley (I wish I was kidding).  My trepidation was at an all-time high.  Upon entering, it was like I just entered a scene from Rounders only with Brazilians instead of Russians ("just like a young man coming in for a quickie").  After getting my chips, I decided to watch for a few minutes.  The place itself was intimidating enough let alone the language barrier.  I soon found out that poker terms (flush, full house, etc.) are actually spoken in English so the hardest part was just getting acclimated to the pace of the betting, which is done in Portuguese.  The intimidation I felt only got worse when Andre told me that about half the players are sponsored by Partypoker.com.  What in the hell did I get myself into???  Anyway, after about 30 minutes, I picked my seat and began to play.  To make a long story short, all in all it was like any other poker game.  I played very soft (i.e. folded a lot) and didn't really lose much until my two Kings, which I was dealt, lost to three 8's after getting nothing on the flop, turn, or river.  The highlight of the night was when I stayed in with an Ace and a 9.  The flop gave the table two more 9's and a 2.  Therefore, I easily had the best hand on the table.  The turn didn't produce anything useful.  There were three of us left in the game.  Andre was sitting next to me and literally starting kicking me under the table.  I could only guess that this wasn't legal and the others would not have been happy about it had they seen it (this was not pre-planned, trust me).  Nonetheless, I viewed it as his advice not to play this hand because he was obviously holding something great.  There was no way I was folding and so I went all in.  Andre and the other guy followed only there weren't necessarily all in because they had more chips than me.  We all showed our cards and Andre produced a Jack and 9, which would have been a monster had it not been for my Ace and 9 (the third guy's cards were irrelevant).  Of course, the river produced another 2, which voided my Ace by making the three 9's and the two 2's the best five cards on the table.  It was disappointing to say the least but I at least got to split the pot with Andre.  I played for a little while longer and ending up losing another tough hand (I was again dealt two Kings) to end my game.  At the very least, it was a great experience from start to finish.  As is typical here, I found the players very welcoming of a Gringo (perhaps because they were soon to take all my money!).  Most importantly, I had a few laughs and can look back at is at a great experience.  I didn't lose a lot of money, and I just played underground poker with the pros in Brazil.  What else can you ask for on a random Tuesday night????

Enjoy some pictures from the last week.