Poker Night

Tonight is poker night. My favorite night of the month. I know that poker is “hot” these days. Game on: Leisure is at play in home decor talks about people buying game tables, Poker equals next college campus trend is self explanatory. To tell you the truth, I hate that poker is so popular now.

“Within the online gambling boom, poker is by far the fastest growing sector, ” according to a Times article today. I don’t understand online poker. I understand it, but I don’t care about it. What I love about poker is the bond.

I started playing regularly in the 80′s. Ellen, Holly, Janene, Diane, Pam, Laura and me and a girl whose name escapes me, but I remember her being very sweet. She dated a guy named John who spent his time training his frisbee-catching dog. But back to poker, it wasn’t cool by society’s standards to have a girls’ poker game, just unusual. We played weekly or bi-monthly. It was great. We were all single. Then Ellen got married. Some of the rest of us did too. But it really changed when the babies started coming. I don’t know when the group dismantled. It wasn’t sudden. It happened slowly — but I missed it.

I tried to start a game in Omaha when we moved out there. But no go. The women there played mah jong or stayed home. Most stayed home. So after we moved back east and my book group blew into a million pieces, I called Ellen. She lived nearby. We chose women we really liked and who didn’t know each other. We put together our Chick Poker group. Almost 2-1/2 years strong now. We’re all different. Some married. Some single. Some with kids. Some without. Some great women. Women I love to spend my favorite night a month with — playing poker.

We don’t play for much money. But we play with heart.