The Poker Gang (First Appeared in the Country Almanac)

What’s with all this poker business?  People who have never played the game are taking it up in droves while all over America viewers’ eyes are glued to the TV poker channels.  These Johnny-come-latelies seem to think they are the innovators and would be astonished to know how long many people have been at it.

In 1947 or 1948 my brother Charles and some of his old buddies from San Francisco’s George Washington High School began meeting once a month at each other’s homes for an evening of poker.  In the early 50’s the game moved to our family summer home in Woodside.  Fifty years later, they are still gathering there for a monthly mid-week meeting.  This works well, because the family only uses the house on weekends.

These men call themselves the Poker Gang, and they permit few changes to their traditional routine.  Each person has a special seat no one else would dare usurp.  They cover the table with an old pink electric blanket, wire ridges and all, which has made it through most of the fifty years.  One man always comes in his lucky hat.  My brother wore one Pendleton shirt until it fell to tatters.  The group started with a 25 cent limit, but about 25 years ago, amid heavy protest, they upped it to 50 cents.  Only after 47 years were the poker chips replaced.

In early years the guys were young and hale and arrived early for a few sets of tennis, went out to dinner and then returned for poker.  By that time the members lived in various parts of the Bay Area, so it seemed prudent to spend the night where they were instead of returning to their homes in the wee hours.  The fun continued as they all went out to breakfast in the morning.  As time went on, age set in along with bad knees and other physical problems, so tennis was gradually dropped.  When Poker nights began to end earlier, they dropped the sleep-overs, and most of the group went home to the comfort of their own beds.

About twenty years ago, two of the guys who were gourmet cooks proposed that they prepare the dinners.  Tired of local restaurants, the group welcomed the amazing meals their two friends concocted.  The only problem was that they cooked huge quantities of everything and upset the kitchen in the process.  They stuffed the leftovers in the refrigerator, and left no room for arriving family members to store their own weekend provisions.  The poker food was undoubtedly wonderful, but the ladies of the family believed that the only good leftovers were their own, not someone else’s.  After a while, the group began to understand that the family liked their kitchen to themselves.  The wives of the chefs concurred, because their husbands destroyed the kitchens in their own homes with pre-preparations before doing the same with ours.  The poker gang once again resorted to restaurant food.

Most important among the group is the depth of their fellowship.  A true esteem unites them; they care sincerely for one another.  When my brother, a bachelor, underwent a serious operation, I wanted to be there when he came back from surgery.  It warmed my heart to find several of the Poker Gang already in his room when I arrived. 

Over the years the group has become expert on every ailment known to man and probably saved the lives of several members by unrelentingly insisting that they seek medical help.  Despite this, two of them have died.  One beloved friend had moved to Carson City where he passed away, but six of the Poker Gang attended his services, there to don white gloves and act as his pallbearers.

All the smokers have successfully quit the habit, and almost no one drinks alcohol any more.  Despite this they have a fine time together and no one would dream of missing a meeting.  Someone new might steal his chair.

This is a real poker game.