Iraq - Day 10 Army Poker

10 days already.  Cool.  Just a little dust in the air today.

Last night I played my first poker ever in Asia.  The recreation hall, called and MWR, hosted a free no limit hold em tournament.  It was well organized, though not well played.  Splashing the pot was mandatory, I think.  String bets were also encouraged.  I saw several times where a player would put out some chips, put out more chips, go all in and then pull some chips back for his final bet.  Andres the Bold would have been carried out in a straight jacket.

Another local custom was racing off who would get moved to another table.  Usually you pick the player who is in the same seat, relative to the button, as the seat he is taking.  Not here.  When someone had to go, the dealer would give everyone a single card face up.  The highest card (or first highest in case of a tie) would move.  I got moved one time.  My first two hands at the new table were knock out hands for someone else.  I quickly became the tourney chip leader with 3 tables to go.  I think I won one more hand the whole tourney.

It was fun.  I took 5th place (out of about 50) and may be able to enter the 12 week championship next Monday.  I got a prize chip for my efforts.

One note about this picture.  Did you notice the guy on the far side of the table wearing his gun?  That black pipe in the lower left is an M-16.  That was cool.

Other than that, work continues on.  Some of the guys are getting ready to go on vacation.  They must be ecstatic to get out of here for a while.  Most have families and must miss them terribly.  I know I miss Dr. K that much, and I've only been gone a week and a half.  I'll soon have a big presentation and may move to another office, but I know my way around now, so learning the new names will be the biggest challenge.

Update: Scratch that.  There is a data corruption issue that I've been pulled into.  I guess I'm here for that, too.  

10 down, 11 to go.  I sure could use a beer.