Nowadays, I tend to stick to playing free poker online, but years ago one night during a poker tournament, I got lucky and won an event and quite a bit of money. When the smoke cleared, it was 2 a.m. or 3 a.m., and I got paid my $1,000 in prize money. I felt great, but I had one small problem. Even though I was staying at the Four Queens, I didn’t have a safe-deposit box there. I did, however, have one at the Horseshoe, which I kept all year long. It saved me the time and trouble of obtaining a safe-deposit box every time I came to play in a tournament at the various casinos in Vegas.
So, not wanting to keep about $1,000 in my pocket, I knew I had to walk across the street to the Horseshoe to put my money in my box. Nowadays, that wouldn’t be a problem, but as I said, at that time there were lots of undesirable characters inhabiting Downtown, and let’s just say that there was little or no security.
I didn’t think much of it until I hit the street. I then realized how dark it was, and with the street all torn up, there were no cars and virtually no people, either. Furthermore, there was a light mist falling. I was tired and thought, “Oh, what the hell. It’s only across the street – less than a block away.” So, I started my short walk.
This was the point that I was wishing I was playing free poker online rather than being out in the streets like a crazy man!
Just as I approached the corner, two big, tough-looking guys came around the corner. Both were carrying beer bottles and appeared to be very drunk and looking for trouble. As soon as they saw me, I knew what was coming. I was sure that they were on the prowl for a handout or, with no one else around, maybe something worse.
As I kept walking, they approached me as if they were going to block what was left of the sidewalk.
When they got within a few feet of me, one of the guys asked, “Hey, you got a couple of dollars?”
Now, I guess if I were an honest person, I would have said, “Well, yes. As a matter a fact, I just won a big poker tournament and have about $1,000 in my pocket. Will $2 be enough?” But instead, I stopped and said in a very loud and forceful voice, “Hey, don’t – - – - with me! I just lost $25 in there!” They both looked at me and parted like pussycats as I walked right past them.
After marching on (and totally ****ping myself) I turned around and shouted a few more comments. It was a great spur-of-the-moment bluff. Oh, I could have said, “I don’t have any money,” or given a dozen other excuses, but I don’t think that any of them would have worked quite as well as what I did. The bottom line was that these fellows wanted no part of a guy who could be that angry about losing 25 bucks.
It had to be the best bluff of my life, because I am here today retelling the story. If that bluff hadn’t worked, well I’d be lucky to be even playing free poker let alone big money!
Nick, originally from the UK now lives in Sweden with wife Lena, 2 daughters and a Border Terrier called Gunnar. He is Marketing Manager for free poker games site NoPayPOKER and publishes free online poker tips videos on YouTube as well as running free poker tips blogs where you can learn about poker and find out more about free online poker sites.
