The End of an Era

It sure was fun while it lasted.

A long, long time ago, in the basement of a house not very far away in Takoma Park, MD, my former girlfriend and I started up a $1/$2 NL game. Out of the seven nights in the week we chose Wednesday not as a random decision but in a way to smite the overlords of MD-Poker.

Brian and Justin, two entrepreneurial geeks in their mid twenties started up the website to give the poker players in Maryland a place to meet on the interweb and discuss strategy and whatnot. Between our Wednesday Night game and Pops' every-other-Saturday games and E's Friday night games.... we whored the shit out of that site. I truly believe the underground poker scene in the Maryland outskirts of Washington, DC would not thrive anywhere near as much as it does now if not for this website.

But, after all B&J did for poker, they didn't know thing one about running a game of their own. I can't remember exactly why without digging up some old e-mails, but Brian pissed me off about something stupid and he used to run a game on Wednesday nights. I said, "Ooh! Let's start up a $1/$2 NL game on the same night as his game just to spite him!"

This was springtime in 2005, I believe. Wasn't it? Let's see... I joined the Air Force the Monday after Thanxgiving in 2001. After Basic Training in Texas and Technical School on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, I found myself in Oklahoma City in May of 2002. After three Summers in Oklahoma, I got an Air Force job at the Pentagon and showed up here.

So yeah, Spring 2005. Wow, has the game moved around. We started in a basement in Takoma Park where you could barely move around and had to duck to keep from hitting your head on the way up the steps.

Back in the beginning there was a house rule that the game had to break at 0230 at the latest.

Oops. Had a hard time keeping that rule alive.

Next thing you know, we're not allowed to run in the basement any more because my current girlfriend was the house owner's ex-girlfriend, and his current didn't care for his ex living at the house. I didn't care for it much myself, either, but that's another story.

So - we moved the game to a new location, the Club House. Kendrick was the maintenance man and let us use it for a small fee one night a week. All of the sudden, wow, did the game ever start going long. But at this time, I was still in the Air Force and had to leave to be at work by 7am or so.

Next thing I know, winter time is coming around, and we won't be able to use the club house much longer. So we moved the game to a random college kid's place in College Park.

All of the sudden, everyone's favorite donkaholic had an opening in his apartment in Kensington. Wasn't long before we moved in there, and so did the game. And the best part - Trav's out of the Air Force and the game can go forever now, atleast as long as he can stay awake to deal.

That year went quick, and next thing I knew we were moving into a house up the street in MoCo. Bar in the basement, plenty of room, smoke upstairs, very secure. Great setup. We even had pictures of Donkeys on the walls.

But, as we grow older we realize that nothing lasts forever. Everyone grows older, but we don't all grow up. Noelle and I became two people that wanted two very different lifestyles. I would never suggest that one life path is wiser or more appropriate than the other, they are a bit of polar opposites, however.

So, the relationship ended. Sadly, we were unable to come to an agreement where the game could go on while the relationship would not. I left the game in Nelly's hands, and it just recently died.

Who knows, maybe we can re-ignite the Wednesday Night spark in the not-so-distant future. I don't have any immediate plans to do so, but if that should happen, I'll let you all know.