Well, this week's poker was an evening of many firsts - first time in josey's fabulous tho' somewhat feng shui new pad, first time that gerry announced to the kings that he's fucking off to blighty, pistachio nuts were included with the bacon frazzles and onion rings for the first time, first time in about 3 years that azriel won some money, first time that jonah's legendary poker luck deserted him and some other interesting stuff that I can't remember. Food was - as expected from the new unterman kitchen - plentiful and delicious, tho' rayfel may have wished there was a little more for him to pack away in a doggy bag - funds may be running thinner than we thought at the zauer household if rayfel's slightly crazed signs of starvation were anything to go by.

We played a few rounds of the two card game and a few rounds of the one with four cards. Josey had a couple of lucky breaks when on one occasion with a shitty hand he took half the pot where the other 3 players with nuts hands shared a sixth each; and on another occasion when he almost forced jonah to change his underwear when he beat jonah's perfectly respectable hand in the two card game with a running flush - crikey! That was pretty wild i can tell you.
Scores on the doors:
Gerry: -27.5
Rayfel: -75
Jonah: -75
Rico: - 51
Joseph: 135
Azriel: 49.5
Adrian with a huge and skilfully won 44

oh and one more first - first time we've seen the use of a semi-colon in the blog; let the good times roll...

Poker at Gary's

He is, officially, the luckiest bastard in the whole of the poker playing world. I am, of course, referring to Jonah who won some outrageous hands this week at Gary's. He screwed Gary, he screwed Adrian, and I'm sure he screwed everyone else at the table at some point during the evening. Not that I'm bitter in any way, shape, or form. I'm beginning to side with Adrian and believe that it is purely a game of luck.

Ariel may also agree as he continued his fabulous losing streak. It's not that he has yet to win this year. It's more the fact that when Ariel loses, he loses spectacularly. His average loss currently stands at 65 sheks. Skill? Pah! Ariel has just been incredibly unlucky.

Anyway, everyone enjoyed burgers, chips, onion rings and baked beans. Munchies and drinks were a bit on the poor side - for future reference more than one bottle of diet coke is required. Whilst Ariel was the big loser, "Lucky" Pransky was the big winner and has closed the gap to Eric to less than 200 sheks.

Next week poker is at Yossi's new pad. He will let us know where we can park in the vicinity.

Poker at Adrian's

After being served shnitzel and chips, last night's poker almost didn't happen. Eric foolishly left the chips at his home, but fortunately Gary was able to save the day by grabbing some chips from his office (and almost being killed on the journey back to Adrian's because Eric wasn't wearing his glasses).

Because there weren't enough chips for our normal denominations we played blinds of 1 and 2 sheks. This changed the dynamics somewhat and we saw some big swings in fortune - although for once Yossi was unable to live up to his title of the Comeback King. Adrian started the evening with a huge win and, as we all predicted, it didn't get any better than that for him. To be fair he did get beaten a couple of times by higher kickers which pissed him off no end.

Eric played his normal aggressive game and this time it paid dividends as he was the evening's big winner. Eric has now stormed to the top of the winnings chart. Ariel continued his miserable run - he has yet to finish up this year - and props up the chart.

Last weeks tournament winnings have also been added.

Next week poker is at Eric's (unless we otherwise - which is a possibility).

Due to the elections we all decided that we could stay up beyond our official closing time of 12pm and held the first tournament that was exclusively for the Poker Kings. We played with the blinds being raised every 20 minutes and one rebuy allowed. The game was, of course, Texas Hold'em no limit.

It goes without saying that Adrian was extremely UNlucky, and it had nothing to do with his poker abilities that he was the first player to fall. The next to go was Yossi who tried his normal "rise like the phoenix" strategy, but was unable to pull it off when it counted.

As we got closer to money time there was some tense play between Jonah, Ariel, Rafi and Gary, who were all pretty even. Eric, by this point, was miles ahead of everyone with Rafi having the next largest stack. Ariel made a couple of bold plays, but was next to fall by the wayside. Jonah tried to make his short stack last as long as possible, but with the blinds getting larger he too lost an all-in.

By this point we were down to the money. After a couple of great plays Gary finally bagged third place and it was left to Rafi and Eric to duke it out. Eric was the overwhelming favorite and this was confirmed after he saw Rafi's all-in and took home the winning pot.

Order of Places and Prize Money
1. Eric - 275 NIS
2. Rafi - 165 NIS
3. Gary - 110 NIS
4. Jonah
5. Ariel
6. Yossi
7. Adrian

Poker at Rafi's

Rafi spoilt us with a delicious spag bol and didn't let us down with the fizzy drinks and munchies.

Last night saw the return of our soldier hero Jonah, who, after fleecing his miluim comrades for 500 sheks continued his good run of form by taking home 120 sheks. And it could have been so much more with a new record looking likely midway through the evening.

Yossi was officially named the 'Comeback Kid' after having to dip into the bank and then going on a run that allowed him to finish with a good positive amount for the umpteenth time. This is how he will be known from now on.

There were some crazy hands with lots of money thrown in. Most of it going to Jonah.

Next week poker is at Jonah's.

Poker at Eric's

This week poker was held at Eric's who supplied us with shnitzel and chips (french fries for you Americans). There was fizzy pop and munchies aplenty. Not much happened this week other than Yossi going on a massive winning streak.

It should be noted that on the following day Gary came in 17th (out of 507) in a company wide poker tournament, notching the best result for Israeli employees.

There is now a clear separation between those kings in positive territory and those in negative and those in the middle with Mr Eric "2 shekels" Wachstock leading the way and Mr Ariel Zauer propping up the bottom.

Poker next week is at Rafi's.

Poker at Yossi's

Last night poker was held at Yossi's pad for the very last time before he moves apartment. He treated us to sumptuous amounts of roast chicken and roast potatoes of which Adrian must have eaten at least 3 huge pieces.

There was plenty of munchies and fizzy pop to go round. The night was remarkable for two reasons. Firstly Yossi had a running flush. Unfortunately for him there were no other big hands and he had to split the pot so he only won about 2.5 sheks. Secondly, after the cigarette break Eric's karma certainly changed and he went on a run that was almost recordbreaking and for once his opening 2 shekel bets worked for him.

As punishment Eric will be hosting next week.

Poker at Ariel's

After a long wait, the blog is finally back (do I hear cheers in the background).

With a new year comes new blog management, and a couple of kings have retired.

The first game of the year was hosted by ariel who provided us with roast chicken, roast potatoes and roast veg - well done ariel. There was plenty of fizzy pop and munchies to round and adrian tries to share his with eric by snorting it through his nose. Eric was not impressed and threw his popcorn everywhere in disgust. Rafi had a successful evening and took money off of everyone apart from adrian who was the only other person to finish up.

There were no fuck ups which is disappointing. It was decided that i had the coolest phone and adrian and yossi have phones from the dark ages.

A special mention must go to Jonah who was drafted the day before. Contrary to popular belief he is not guarding the fizzy pop but is rather doing something very important which cannot be mentioned here. Well done Jonah.

Here's to another fantastic year of the kings getting together, eating, having a laugh and playing the odd hand of poker.