Storytelling Sunday--Poker Playing Kids

On Friday night, Connie invited us along with Hugh and Pam over for poker. Connie and Pam are new to poker and we've only played a couple of times, so each time is a re-learning for them. I've been playing since we were kids. Either I'm pretty good, or pretty lucky. I nearly always win. Last night, I won $13.20. Of course, Butch lost---again. He says I usually win what he loses. But it's MY poker money and I keep my own separate. That's the first thing I told Connie and Pam---they need to have their own poker tin or container. Connie does, Pam still "mooches" off of Hugh. That's not fun. You want to know what you start with so you know whether you win or lose and how much. Otherwise, why bother?

When mom died, I took her poker purse to add that money to the estate. Mom really had her money compartmentalized. She had her coupon money, gambling money, bingo money---she kept it all separate and used her winnings for special things.

I ended up keeping her red poker purse. I figured it might bring me luck. That makes two poker containers for me now. After last night's win, both containers are bulging. I decided that I want to take the money (leaving the small change to replenish my "stash"), get bills and buy myself something in NewYork. Butch is going to take it to Coinstar for me. I have $36. already in bills alone. I believe the $20.00 bill came from Ronnie at our last family poker game in August. I won really big then.

The story that I've decided to share today is about how I started playing poker. It really began when I was about 5, with a card game called "Fan Tan." I still love the game---pretty easy to learn and great for kids. You just need to know your numbers. Pretty basic.

Grandpa and Grandma Preli came over almost every Sunday afternoon. Grandma usually had a hat on. You could count on grandpa to be smoking one of his "old stogey's." Grandpa gave each of us a roll of peppermint Life Savers---I still remember that blue paper. He must have bought them by the box, because they were the only ones he ever had. Not my favorite, but heck, it was candy. I was very happy to relieve him of more than a few rolls.

They would give each of us kids 25 pennies to play "Fan Tan." We loved it. Of course, the "sore losers" of the family showed themselves early on. Jeanne was the worst!

It started with "fan tan" and progressed to"blitz" with grandma Zimmermann. We've always been a gambling family---I guess that plays to our competitive nature. By the time we got to high school, we were playing the "big" games---"in-between," "indian," and "2 card guts." I don't think mom was really stupid enough to believe that we were really playing with matchsticks for fun. Each one of those sticks represented 5 cents. We weren't even playing penny poker anymore. We loved it and had tons of fun. I don't recall anyone really losing to much.

When Butch and I started dating, it wasn't unusual for us to play poker with my brother, Ronnie and our neighborhood friends. But now, for me, we added the drinking factor. I've never been a good "drinker," I get sick pretty early on, pass out and then miss all the fun. They called me "2-beer Barb." That's all it took for me to become senseless and play badly. One night, I had I.O.U.'s all over the table before I passed out. Once that happened, Butch and Ronnie spent the rest of the night trying to "win back" my I.O.U.'s.  They did it too---all except for ONE. Danny Schultz had my final I.O.U. for $12.00. He carried it around for years and presented it to me one day. I told him, "forget it, I was drunk, I'm not paying." For all I know, he still might be carrying that around.

Here are a few old photos reflecting that time when we first learned to gamble.

If the weather was nice, you would find us outside playing croquet. We loved that game too. We pretty much loved all games and played constantly. In the background, you can see the only dog I ever loved---"Shadow" our boxer. I had no idea that I had this picture. It's the only picture I have with her in it.

Grandma Preli took this shot. She was legendary for cutting someone out of the picture. Guess who that is barely visible on the left? That would be mom. How in the world do you cut out a whole person? Grandpa always seemed old to me. He looks pretty old in this picture.

I couldn't resist sharing this picture. First off, you can see mom's organized way of telling the twins shoes apart. Janice got the tape. In the background, you can see me holding my "Barbie" wallet. If you didn't know that this was around Christmas time, you could easily figure it out by my chapped lips. I can still remember how they hurt. I couldn't stop licking them. I had chapped lips all winter long. Sometimes the chapped reached to my nose. My lips hurt---really, really bad.

I'm glad I have his photo of Ronnie. This would be the ONLY time he might have been in charge for a half second. He must have felt pretty darn "big" pinning on that sherriff's badge. Everyone knew I was the BOSS! You can bet on that!