I'm dying on the "River"

Texas Hold 'Em. A poker game you either love or hate. Right now for me it's both. I love seeing the Flop and the Turn but when it comes to the River card I just want to scream.

I played in a tournament game last night on Xbox Live. I folded the first couple of hands until those "all in" fools get knocked out with their tiny 7 - 2 off suited cards. Who are they kidding anyway? Once the table gets down to 4 or 5 players I'll turn the heat on and see who I can force to play a hand they wouldn't otherwise play.

I'm not much of the "all in" type. When someone does that I've found they usually don't have squat but are trying to bluff you out and steal the blinds. At $4 and $5 blinds why would you do that? If you happen to call them (and have the chips to cover them) they're just hoping to get lucky on the Flop. It's pretty easy to beat those types but I'll let someone else knock them out. I only play the hands I know I can win with. That is until I see the River card.

Last night in head to head action I could have knocked the other guy out and won the tournament. I was forcing him into playing hands that any sane person would . . . and should . . . have folded a long time ago. He usually folded at the River. But one time he decided to play his hand through. I had him completely beat with the Flop. The Turn card helped him slightly but I was still the overwhelming favorite to win. There were only 2 numbers that would beat me. A total of 8 cards out of 52 that he could pull out a win if it was played. And guess what? The River card was played . . . and he won. He doubled up, but I was still the chips leader. For once he got lucky.

A couple of hands later (and a lot more chips on my side) he was down to needing a very limited River card to win the hand. This time all he needed was a 7. Any 7 would do. So that would be 4 possible cards out of 52. I wanted to beat this guy from the moment the game started. He was trash talking before we even figured out who would get the dealer's button to start the game. Imagine his surprise when he would find out he lost to a girl? I couldn't wait for the River card.

I had a smile on my face. I was feeling confident and a little cocky. Waiting for that moment when I'd turn my mike on and say "good game". Then the River card was played. A 7. Once is being lucky. Twice a coincidence. Would there be a third time?

I was a little bit mad at how things were turning out. The guy was still talking trash. My mike was still muted. And I was folding good hands because I was too steamed to play. After a little while I thought I was ready to play a few hands and give this guy the loss that I felt he deserved. I bet aggressively but conservatively and before I knew it the chips were split 50-50 (he had a slight $20 lead). What had gone wrong? I'm a better player than this but I guess those 2 big losses were really effecting me.

I struggled to get myself under control when the next hand came up. It was good. A pair of Kings. I slow played him to an "all in" bet after the Flop. There was a King in the flop so I was sitting on 3 of a kind. He had a possible straight. All he needed was a 3. I was a little nervous that lightening would strike for the third time but I liked my odds holding a set of Kings. The Turn card was played. It was a King. I was sitting on four of a kind. I knew I had won this hand. I flipped open my mike, ready to say those two little words when the I took another look at the board.

Yes, he was working on a straight but if he got the 3 of diamonds he would have a straight flush. I had about half a second to rack my brain trying to remember if a straight flush beat a four of a kind when the River card was played. You guessed it. It was the 3 of diamonds. I remember him laughing a lot and that awful message that says you placed 2nd in the tournament. Yes, I won some money but I lost? To this guy? A guy I should have knocked out on two other occasions. I picked my jaw off the floor, muttered a "good game" into the mic and shut the game down.

I love playing Texas Hold 'Em I just don't like losing on the River.

Where's the fun in cheating?

Where's the fun in cheating?

I mean. Seriously. I play to have fun. Sometimes I enjoy the defeats just as much the victories. The more spectacular the better. I'm not saying I'm a saint now. In the early days I needed a little help otherwise I would have quit and never looked back.

I don't know how many nights I was left frustrated on some level in Super Mario for the SNES. Usually the water levels. There are warp pipes available and when I saw them I took advantage. After all if the programmers didn't want you to use them why put them in the game to begin with? But with other games I need just a little bit more help.

Then I discovered Game Shark. Actually my brother did and pointed me in that direction (like a lot of my video game choices as well). I would be stuck in a room with no exit . . . or up against a boss with no apparent weakness . . . and I would just want to quit the game and never play it again. After loading up the Game Shark and then the game I could get past that one hiccup to me fully enjoying the game. But after awhile it just got to be too much trouble for what little gain I got out of the experience.

I like that feeling of exhilaration after beating a particularly difficult part of the game. Using a cheat code well . . . cheapened the experience. Even if I beat the game I didn't feel like I won. A little part of me always knew that the effort involved wasn't all mine so neither was the victory. So I just pushed through those stubborn spots and got better.

Soon I found that those little Game Shark cards and dics were collecting more dust those fluffs of whatever that seem to collect under my bed. It might take me longer to beat a game . . . and I might even put it aside for longer periods of time when I get stuck . . . but the victories are all mine.

I finished my first Xbox 360 Arcade game a while ago. Jewel Quest. There are times in the game after you've lost a level for a couple of times that a message box pops up and asks if you want to move on to the next level (at the cost of one life). As tempting as the offer was I knew when I got to the end the victory would be hollow. So I declined the offer and played every level. Some levels took 8 or more lives to get through . . . others only one. But when I finished I knew I had beaten the game. All me. No one else. Those 200 Achievement Points were all mine. It felt good.

So why do gamers want to cheat? What glory do they get out of finishing a game or being #1 on a leader board if they know they didn't do it all on their own?

I will never be able to get some Achievements in ChromeHounds for the Xbox 360 because there are players and squads that cheat. It's called boosting. Instead of playing against other humans or the AI they play against a second account of theirs where the enemy just sits there. Yes, it's a legitimate battle in that they haven't circumvented the rules of the game but it doesn't take much skill or effort to beat an opponent that doesn't do anything. They get another victory. More experience. And a boat load of renown to dominate the leaderboards. And the corresponding Achievements to go with it.

Take those same players and put them in a match with real humans to play against and they'd probably get their butts kicked. Where's the fun in that?

I'm "sticking" with Gears of War

The other night a group of us were together playing Gears of War and we all sent out invites to people on our friends list to max out the room. There's nothing worse then getting a room almost full of friends but with 1 or 2 jerks messing up the game for everyone. I had a friend who had achievements in Gears, but I've never actually seen him in the game. I sent the invite, only to be declined.

Was it because he didn't want to play with me? No. Was it because he was too involved in what he was currently playing? No. Was it because he didn't know how to play video games? No. The guy's a good player. He didn't want to play Gears because he "didn't like it." WHAT?

Apparently he borrowed the game from a friend when it came out, played a few levels on his own, played a few multiplayer maps and just decided . . . eh . . . "I didn't think it was that fun of a game."

Gears is not a perfect game, but it's pretty darn close. Yes, you do tend to get stuck in cover . . . even if you weren't trying to get into cover in the first place. Yes, you can't see who's talking in the multiplayer (unless you tap your left bumper). Yes, you don't get to respawn. Yes, ammo conversation could make or break you. And yes, multiplayer teams are only 4 x 4.

There are glitches in the game, infinite frags and the like, but every game has a glitch or two. And while you can't respawn, you CAN talk to the players on the other team while you watch whoever's left in the match. Bragging (and/or complaining) of spectacular kills is a must. What other games lets you immediately assail your opponents with a verbal assault while your body is blown to smithereens?

Despite it's very minor hang-ups I love Gears. And while I hate the fact that I keep getting booted from ranked matches because I'm a girl (for some reason guys don't like to lose to a girl) I'll still play. For me I'll "stick" with Gears of War. I'll just have to find another game I'll invite this friend to play.

How hard is it to finish a game?

I was sitting around with nothing better to do (obviously I was at work) when I had an epiphany. I own a lot of video games, but I haven't finished very many of them. Okay, I had only finished 3 (Legend of Dragoon, Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy Tactics Advance). And I wondered why I hadn't finished more. I sat and stared out into space, pondering this dilemma when I had another epiphany. I'm a video game addict.

I play video games a lot. And I own a lot of video games. But there just doesn't seem to be enough time in the day to play them all . . . especially when new ones keep being released. I'd buy a game, play it for several hours, then have to put it aside so I could play the next great game I just bought. When I finally make it back to that first game I'm so lost I don't have a clue what to do next so I just start the game over. I've probably played the first 5-10 hours of ALL my games at least twice. And some of them more than halfway through.

It's great to have a lot of games. I enjoy them all. But I want to enjoy the fact that I've finished them. Not finishing some games meant I couldn't talk to some of my friends because THEY'VE finished the game and they don't want to spoil anything for me. It's annoying when you're not in on the secrets. So I devised a plan:

Pick one game for each console and don't play anything else until you've finished those games.

Since I own several systems (SNES, N64, GameCube, PS, PS2, Xbox, GBA SP, PSP and a PC of course) I figured I could pick several different types of games to play to suit my every changing mood (I am a girl after all). But how was I to "stay on target"? I could enlist my gaming brother. After all, he's the "dealer" that got me hooked on video games.

When I told him of my plan, he liked it, since he's having the same problem as me (with a lot more games to agonize over). He wanted in. We put our heads together and made a list of games that we both own (for the same console). We'd be each other's support system and help network when we got stuck in a game and can't find that damn hidden treasure. ARGH! Since it was my idea, I let him pick the games. He picked: Final Fantasy VII (PS), Summoner (PS2), Star Wars: Jedi Knight II Jedi Outcast (Xbox) and Super Mario Sunshine (GameCube).

I had dabbled in all of them (had 10+ hours in FF7) but I was ready to start over and play them to the end. We started out with a bang, all gung-ho and everything, but that didn't last long for either of us. I found out I have another video game addiction. Xbox Live. There's something about beating another player and knowing their human and not AI (though for some it's hard to tell the difference). I laugh gleefully (some call it a cackle) but I enjoy myself. Especially when they find out they've been beaten by a girl. Then my gaming brother opened the flood gates and got me hooked on something else. Xbox 360.

We both exercise a lot of restraint not buying new console when they first come out. Let other players work out all the bugs and kinks in the new systems, we'll wait for a later release. But my brother couldn't wait anymore. He bought a 360 before Christmas. We met up each week and I had to sit there and drool while he played Gears of War and played around on the dashboard. I couldn't take it anymore. I caved. I bought a 360 in an after Christmas sale. And now I'm hooked. Achievements? I'm all for them. Gamerscore? I'll show you mine if you show me yours. Now it's not just another new game that I want to play, but a whole new system.

It's been 6 months since we started our little pact. Neither one of us have finished a game he picked out. We're getting closer, but at this rate it'll take us 3 years to finish them all. And think of all the games we're NOT playing (or trying not to play) during that time. On second thought, I don't think I want to.