Tootsie Roll Poker

Yesterday, Labor Day, our friends invited us to their home for a barbecue. The food was good and the company was great. In my opinion, our friends are pretty darn brave. There were 23 people, 12 of which are young men between the ages of 11-22. I've seen what my three boys can eat, it must have taken a whole cow, and then some, to feed all those boys.

As a little bit of a side note, there were three girls, 3, 7, and 16. Wanna guess which girl was surrounded by boys most of the day? She's a beauty too, I don't blame them one bit.

The best part of the day, for me, was when the party was winding down. A few people had left, a handful of boys were in the swimming pool, the adults were cooling off in the house, and the 7 year old girl, Laney, and I were on the patio playing Go Fish, with Clark and Jordan (17) sitting and chatting with us. Part way through the game, Jordan pulled up a chair and said, "Deal us in."

Incredulously I ask, "Really? You want to play Go Fish with us?"

"Yeah. Don't start a new game, just deal us in. Get over here, Clark."

Still not sure I understand, "You know we're playing GO FISH, right?"

"It will be fun."

Wondering what the catch is, I deal both Jordan and Clark their cards.

Laney is a little confused on the rules of the game. I'm not sure she's played Go Fish with a full deck of face cards. I keep explaining that she has to have four cards to make a set.

"Laney, do you have any kings?"

After handing Jordan a card, she said, "Dang it! Now I only have one left!"

We all teased her about trying to cheat, then Jordan took her cards. Looking at me, he asked, "Do you have any kings?"

"You don't know my name, do you?"

Red faced, "Umm....Clark's mom?"

"I'll tell you if I have any kings if you can come up with my name."

Whispering across the table, "Clark, help me out here, dude." After procuring my name...."Denise, do you have any kings?"

"Go fish!"

Clark's turn. In his most mobster sounding voice, "Jordan, give me all your kings." And that's a set!


After Go Fish, we played four-handed War. Clark went out first, but made sure he heckled the rest of us. At one point we figured out that Laney was automatically memorizing the cards that were played and what order they were in when she picked hers up. Essentially, she was counting cards without even knowing what she was doing. Jordan and Clark determined that she's the girl they'll be taking to the casino, as soon as she turns 21, that is.

I was the second to go out. It was turning into the 100 Years War between Laney and Jordan, so I suggested that the next hand should be an "all in." I could see that Laney had an ace on the bottom of her stack, and Jordan was riffling through his cards, looking for an ace, so I told Laney to pull her card from the bottom of her pile. She obeyed my suggestion, after first cutting her stack and putting the top half on the bottom. Laney's seven of spades couldn't stand up to Jordan's ace of diamonds.

After Jordan won both Go Fish and War, I challenged him to play some poker at our house. I'm not proud of the fact that I might have made some unfavorable remarks about his momma (who I truly like).

"Bring it on," said he.

Jordan helped Clark with his physics homework, then the two of them, Davis, and I commenced playing Texas Hold'em. (Brian was busy grading homework).

Those boys made me laugh so hard, somewhere between a hyena and a witch cackle, I'm told. We played for Tootsie Rolls and Double Bubble. Clark and Jordan cleaned up. That was my ploy...lure them into a false sense of security. I'm just waiting for the rematch!