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It\’s good to know that Mahjong has been becoming popular in the net.Some of the game site now includes Mahjong as one of their top games. Well, Poker is Poker whatever your race or gae maybe, it\’s the universal language of cards.

Myth told us that Mahjong was invited by the very famous Chinese Scholar CONFUCIUS. He likes bird so much that the game was named after a \”maque sparrow\”. If my memory serve me right there are 3 distinct pictures on the tile or should I say color: red, green, white. And it represents benevolence, sincerity and filial piety (whew!). Those are the 3 virtues the great scholar was trying to instill to his follower. To be honest with you, it was my first time to encounter the words \”filial piety\”, as simple as : respect for parents and ancestors.

So everytime you hold one of those mahjong tiles, this is not only a game to be played but a virtue to be lived.

Sweet!

As i promised, i tried to recall how to play the game \”tong-its\”. If I\’m not mistaken the game could host 3 upto 4 players. A player should win twice in the row to get the pot money. Hence, the word \”tong-its\” or two hits was derived.

Each player would be given 12 cards but the dealer takes 13 cards. The dealer would start the game by throwing a first card. Second player could either \” chow\” or get the card in order to make 3 succedding cards of the same suit or 3 the same card of a different suit. If not, he can opt to pick from the deck but still need to throw 1 card. And the card starts to hit high. It rotates on the counter clockwise fashion. In order to win, a player should be able to dispose all of his cards if not the least num of cards left.

Whew! Geez.. I still have a lot to learn in cards terminology.

Now, with those things in my mind. I should be able to understand Mahjong better. If and if what my dad said was true.

I\’m always been fascinated by Mahjong because of it\’s tiles pieces. It looks like an eraser and most of the time, I\’m tempted to sink my teeth on it. But I know the fact, that I\’ll be on the losing end. I always see my neighbors gambing. Cards and sometimes Mahjong. Though our house was always their hideouts for their Mahjong session ( my dad was uber hospitable, the session comes with a free lunch win or lose), I never learned or played it. I don\’t know, though the tiles fascinates me with its color, texture and graphics, i feel like the game was too boring. Or is it because much older people playing it, more serious, less talk, less fun.

I asked my dad about Mahjong and he was kind enough to answer in a very profound manner. \”it\’s like tong-its (two hits)\”. And then he turned away, grabbed his coffee and went back to his own world. No more explanation, And I am left there, on my seat, contemplating on those 4 word phrase.

Tomorrow. I\’ll google. But for now, I\’m trying to recall how to play tong-its. I know I\’m good at that. Because most of my college lunches were sponsorred by that game.

See, Life isn\’t bad at all.

Mahjong tiles were one of my favorite stuff when I was young. I remember my dad, would always asked me to get and keep the small brown rectangular bag every now and then. And the only time I would be able to touch the real pieces was when they we\’re too drunk to keep it or may dad needs to rush to the bathroom and there was I cleaning up their mess. From sweeping the cigarette butts to the coffee cups and saving the best for last.. arranging the mahjong tiles.I would try to mimic them by making \”halo\” (shuffling) the tiles and then trying to put it row, faced up. Those were the good ol\’ times when mahjong could only be played face to face accompanied with cigars and coffee.

But now, just with a click of button, Mahjong starts to roll.

Over the weekend, I\’ve learned a lot. From holding my horses to keeping my bets at bay. To play with my head rather than my heart. I was able to stay at the table for about an hour and so, until I lost everything in a  heartbeat. I thought I was smart enough to play tough but sitl I can\’t resist a \’call\’. See, i got a good hand and it gets better by the minute.

One by one, players start to fold and to my suprise 3 of us were left on the game. As the game, starts to rock, the player starts to raise with all his might. I fought head on. And i lost the battle.

Tsk. I thought I knew better.

Better luck next time.

I\’m trying to recall if there was any single house I went to, that doesn\’t have any deck of cards. But it seems like I can\’t recall any. It\’s like a basketball court at every street turn. What I remember was that, a pack of cards was an all time favorite \”pasalubong\” (treat) from abroad. My dad would use the cards to be a filler for the balikbayan boxes. And every time someone would pay him a visit, he would automatically give out playing cards. Simple as it may seems but a Bicycle card is more than enough to make someone smile.

Gambling *cough*!

The first time I took cards seriously, if my memory serves me right was in my freshman year in High School. Cards bring out the best memories of my childhood. Every time there\’s a death in the family, we the kids would often play cards. Laughing our heads out like there wasn\’t any mourning the house. Those were the best days of my life and probably the very few rare moments I was with all of my cousins.

So, when I saw my schoolmates playing cards…I can\’t help but join. Though, their game was quite different. Most of them were wearing sandos already, others were sockless. As I approached them, I realized they we\’re playing strip poker.

From them on, because of the consequences of losing, I strived to win, if not learn to fold.

Several days it\’s been raining like hell.Can\’t get out of the house. So what\’s the best way to kill the boredom? 3 P\’s. PC. Play. Poker…

Oh yeah, with a tub of strawberry yogurt and good table, I\’m on my way to wonderland. As the cards was dealt and so was my yogurt, my heart can\’t help the excitement. So with an Ace and my King of Hearts I raised my bet to more than half of my pot. Positivity. First card from the dealer, a perfect 10 of Hearts!..Second, the Jack-ass of my Heart. With this, I bet all what life has to offer. And beside with 3 days on a house rest (thanks to global warning!), I think I deserve all the luck…

With much anticipation, came with lightning and thunder…poof the power went off!

There goes the Queen and my heart..broken into pieces!

Oh! the 4th P\’s…Pissed!

I wanted to learn how to play poker but I didn’t know where to start.  I often watch poker playing on TV and have heard the players and even the host utter different poker terminologies that I could not relate to.  Most probably poker really has its own language.  So I thought of familiarizing myself with the poker terminologies and there are really a lot so I could then build my poker knowledge.  Here are some terms poker beginners need to know the meaning of:  Action, All-in, Ante, Bad Beat, Bang Away, Bankroll, Belly Buster, Bet, Big Slick, Blind Bet, Bluff, Board, Boat, Bring-in, Busted Draw, Buy-in, Call, Calling Station, Cap, Cold Call, Come Hand, Check, Check-Raise, Chip, Cracked, Crying Call, Dog, Door Card, Drawing Dead, Early Position, Fifth Street, Fill up, Fish, Flop, Flush, Fold, Fourth Street, Free Card, Full House, Gut Shot Draw, Hole Cards, Inside Straight Draw, Kicker, Late Position, Lay Down, Limit, Limp in, Loose, Made Hand, Middle Position, Muck, Odds, Open Ended Straight, Outs, Pocket Cards, Pocket Rockets, Porch, Pot, Pot Odds, Protecting your Hand, Quads, Rags, Raise, Rake, Reraise, River, Rolled-up Trips, Runner-Runner, Scare Card, Semi-Bluff, Seventh Street, Set, Short Stack, Side Pot, Sixth Street, Slow Stealing, Straight, Straight Flush, Sucker, Tell, Trips, Turn, Under the Gun, Wired Pair.

 

After getting to know the meaning of the above terms, next is to know all the poker rules.  Errors will be avoided if you know all the game rules.