i heart my india

volume ii: hold 'em (subtitled: c. "pocket aces" humm)

historically, poker nights have been a men's only event here at woodstock school. i garnered a half-hearted invitation to the first poker night of the year only because it was at brian's house (#section 34a. of the best friend clause, gender, religious background and other traits are to be forgone for the acceptance of said individual in given activity. invitation is to be made with disregard to the judgment of others.) similar to brian's invitations to sex and the city gatherings at homestead #1). think of it somewhat akin to the time your mom made you invite your sister to your boys only sleepover. my presence at the poker table would have resembled the time benny "the jet" rodriguez tried brought smalls to the sandlot for the first time. even though the following allegory (taken from the 2005 sat verbal section) demonstrates my card-playing prowess:

courtney is to poker is not as scotty smalls is to

since poker night was a testosterone-driven event, i never made it on the invite list. a month or so ago i decided to invite myself to tag along, as a little sister would tag along when her big brothers were playing homerun derby. however, just like my childhood friends came to realize during my stint as a tom boy, this girls' got game.

the simple fact that i have game, which was demonstrated on multiple occassions (especially when not accompanied by alcohol), won me (as i proudly told my ninth graders) a spot on the email list for last night's game. i felt as if i had truly arrived when dave " “pocket 2 of clubs and 7 of diamonds equals ‘all in’ before the flop” weber included a lone woman king (a.k.a. girl). chris "burnin' the flop" starr, ethan "i bet like kamikaze pilots, like i mean it" vandrunen, brian "straight flush and four of a kind in-one-night" meyer, dave and i started our first hand around 9. at 1:30 am (never a stranger to a late night for a worthy cause) the table was down to brian and i. we finally ended the night at 2:30, and though i did not take home the 500 rup. purse, it was more than a moral victory. to quote waiting for guffman, (this is a shout out for molly e. b. "grupe") "we women are just as strong as you men!"