Wednesday, August 19, 2009 - Debo34
I can’t believe it…my son Jarod turns 15 this week! For those of you who have met him before he is a little taller than he was 3 years ago when I brought him to Aruba. WTF he is over 6′1″ tall now. He has been reading the learners permit book and is ready to go in and get that done. Now I know why my parents were the way they were. This next weekend I have plans to go up to Portland and meet up with the Wisconsin boys, H0, Wisco, Jon Green, and of course Phil to hang and do some golfing. Should be a fun time.
If you have read my last 2 blogs you know that they have been 2 of my ” favorite Aruba moments”. They are in no particular order, just fun memories I have of my 6 straight years going to Aruba. Aruba moment #3 – The Debo. This moment was pure circumstance, I believe it was Aruba 2006. This was the first year that Phil’s Penthouse party was partially planned. In previous years it was a small, impromptu get-together. Soon after word spread about the fun that was had at these parties and UB stepped in and gave it a little structure. So that day wisco, H0 and I were hanging with Phil watching college football before the party started. The people from the Radisson started coming in and bringing some food and drink to cater the party. The selection was fairly small for drinks, consisting of Champagne, Grey Goose vodka and for some reason they had a couple of bottles of watermelon pucker. Just before any of Phil’s guests arrived Wisco, his friend James (Madtownmell) Mell and myself headed to get a drink at the bar. Wisco asked what I thought we should drink and I told the bartender to give us 3 Vodka with Sprite and a splash of pucker. We made a toast and started drinking. After a couple rounds of these, Wisco and James decided this name needed a drink and decided this drink was forever to be called “the Debo”. As the night went on people would ask what we were drinking, and of course we would just simply say “the Debo”. By the end of the night I would estimate that 50+ people had a Debo in their hands at one time. When all was said and done 44 bottles of Grey Goose Vodka were empty.
The next night something funny happened. We were at the awards party at the Radisson pool and we walked by the bar, and the bartender who we still swear to this day was not at Phil’s party, yells out “Hey, you guys ready for a Debo”? We of course got a big kick out of this. The Debo is still a drink of choice for a few people on the island and has since spread to the drink menu at Players Sports bar in Madison, Wisconsin. I know from time to time The Debo is mentioned in the writings of UB blog master Gene Bromberg. He took a liking to the Debo on that first night and was cussing me the next day. Gene and I talked about ordering them at this year’s WSOP party but decided that the Debo should be reserved for Aruba. If you are one of the fortunate people who get to experience Aruba this year, come find me and your first Debo will be on me.
Debo
Tags: Aruba, Debo34, drinking, Gene Bromberg, Golf, Jon Green, P0ker H0, Phil Hellmuth, Radisson, ub, Wisco, WSOP
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Sunday, August 16, 2009 - Debo34
Those who have been to Aruba have undoubtedly seen the late night drunken cash games in the Radisson poker room. My second year in Aruba was the first year the event was held at the Radisson. The first night that year was a fun and crazy night in the poker room. This night basically set the tone for all first nights in Aruba that would follow.
The night started out like you would expect it to in Aruba, drinking Aruba Aribas as fast as they can bring them to you, and playing reckless 1/2 no limit holdem with a group of friends. So the table was a fun table, mostly filled with a group of players that had met in Aruba the previous year, with a few first timers. A few names you might recognize at the table were P0ker h0, Shawn Rice, YngmanN4quiki, and Fatcats. P0ker h0 had brought a friend this year named Bill who played with the UB name H0ldempr0.
So the hand that will be forever talked about ( at least by a few guys who were at the table) came down in a drunken stooper. I was in first position and put in a live straddle of $4. My buddy Mike (YngmanN4quiki) was first to act and raised to $20. A few people called including Bill on the button. I had last action as the straddler and looked down at 82 off suit. Of course in my drunkenness I decided to put in a raise to $100. Mike immediately goes Hollywood on me with ” Debo man I have a big hand here etc. Mike thinks for a good minute and makes it $240 to go. The action folds to Bill on the button and he goes for the Oscar right on night 1. He goes on and on about how there is no way he can fold his hand and if we weren’t all friends he would just move in for the $1200 in front of him, and then decides to call. For some reason ( might have been the Aruba Aribas) , I thought my best play sitting here with 82 off suit was to instantly just move all in for $1400. When mike didn’t immediately call I knew I was getting a fold from him… or was I? Mike had Bill and I covered, and again started yapping about how he can’t fold, his hand it too big, blah blah. Now by this time everyone at the table and the 20 or so people watching were side betting who they thought had the best hand. I figured with all my money in the middle, and knowing that if I can get them to fold I will make $500 and I should hedge my bet with the 82. I offer up bets to 2 people at the table for $100 each that I have the best hand pre flop, trying to act strong knowing I would surely lose the $200 but win the pot and more importantly not lose my $1400 that I shoved in the middle like a drunken side show clown. A good 5 minutes went by with the 3 of us yapping at each other trying to convince each other that we had the best hand. Mike and Bill both told me they were going to call me and suggested I make some sort of deal with them if they wanted them to fold. At this point I had no idea what to do, nor any idea of how strong each guys hand was. None of what happened next makes any sense still to this day. We all 3 agreed to the following drunken plan. I would take back my all in bet, and would get a half off discount on calling the $240 raise Mike made. So I would put $120 in the middle, the betting would be done and we would just flip up all 5 and see who won. Now this seemed reasonable to me, rather than risk $1400 I would just gamble for $120 and get out of this situation. Right before we were all about to agree to this deal, someone suggested that we all put $100 each into a side pot going to whomever had the best starting hand. Now of course I knew I couldn’t win this bet, but the both of them said I was getting called in 2 spots if I didn’t want to do the side bet. I said fine, and threw $100 in the middle I knew I would never see again. I just wanted to cut my losses and be done with this hand. So the fun part came when the hands were turned face up. Bill turned up 53 off suit and the place went nuts. Mike looked at me and said ” I have Bill crushed” and turns up 64 suited. I slammed my 82 on the table and yelled “I knew I had the best hand”!! WTF I won the side pot with 8 high and am free rolling for the pot. The dealer put the flop on the table, it was AK7 rainbow. Everyone was yelling for what they wanted to come up. The turn was a Jack and the river a 9, and my mighty 8 kicker played for a dominant AKJ98 winner. I had won both the pot and the side bet with 8 high.
Now this obviously isn’t something you see in your typical card room. If we hadn’t been all friends at the table and in Aruba this surely wouldn’t be allowed. I still to this day have no idea why we all just decided to go nuts on each other with bad hands. I guess we were just looking for some fun and to get 1 over on the others. At any rate it is one of my personal Aruba favorite memories, and one that we still talk about whenever we get together.
Good luck
Debo
Tags: Aruba, Fatcats, P0ker H0, Poker Poker Poker, poker tournaments, Radisson, ShawnRice
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