A Poison Ivy: A Short Story
When asked to reflect upon my life, and look back at the moments that were special to me, there is always one day that instantly comes to mind. It seemed to be the ultimate silver lining of a dark cloud that has affected me many times in my life.
You see, when most people get poison ivy, they get a small red rash on their skin that is terribly annoying at worst. For me however, the story is much different. When I brush up against a poison ivy plant I can expect to spend the next ten days constrained to my house. When I get poison ivy, I don 't just get a small irritating rash, I get something much worse. It starts off similarly enough; the first sign is an astonishingly strong itching sensation on the directly effected area. From there, the area becomes red and textured with numerous tiny bumps, an ominous sign of what I 'm actually in for. Within a day, the effected area would double in size, and what were once hundreds of tiny bumps become fewer, larger blisters. With time these blisters grow larger and spread. By far the worst part comes next, but to spare the gory details, I 'll just say that when these blisters burst, I look more like a leper than a person suffering from a common rash. …show more content…
When I was 15, I was unlucky enough to have brushed my hand up against some poison ivy whilst walking through the woods.
Of course, there was no way for me to know at the time, so there was no need for me to think twice before resting my chin on my palm, or rubbing my eyes with my hands. Needless to say I found myself bedridden three days
later.
Having more free time on my hands than I cared for, I found myself wandering the internet. Wasting away endless hours on such sites as coffeebreak.com or the Internet Movie Database, I finally stumbled upon something that brought a smile to my disfigured little face... online poker. I had played poker with friends for about a year prior, and was very pleased to discover it came quite naturally to me. So when I first came upon an online poker site, I figured the 'play money ' games would be a fun way to kill time until I was better. Being only fifteen at the time I had no intentions of creating a real money account with website, however my opinions changed once I discovered a risk free aspect of real money play.
I was losing interest in the play money games they had on the website, because nobody took it seriously, and they were becoming slightly more than annoying. Around this time I discovered what were known as 'free-roll tournaments '. These beautiful creations allow people to enter for free, but still give real money payouts to a select number of winners. The prize pools and number of participants vary greatly, depending on who is sponsoring the tournament and how private the event is.
Within a few days I had mastered the craft of crashing the most exclusive free-rolls on the website. My moment of glory came when I found myself in a tournament with a $1,000 prize pool and a little over 800 participants. The tournament paid out to 60 people but the real prizes came to those who made the final table (top ten). After about three hours of almost non-stop poker (the tournaments are set up to provide a five minute break every hour) I found myself sitting at one of two tables remaining. At this point my heart was pounding in my chest as I could almost feel the $250 first prize entering my pocket. Before I knew it, there were but four people left in the tournament and I was dealt the best starting hand in Texas Hold 'em poker; pocket aces. I could hardly control myself at this point and was ecstatic when I realized one of my opponents had pushed all of his chips in. In a heartbeat I called him and became even happier to see that I had him at more of disadvantage than I even originally thought. The next five cards were dealt and in the process I felt like I was slapped across the face. Somehow, someway, four of the five cards that hit that computer-generated table were spades; spades that gave my opponent an ace high flush. In a blink of an eye it was over and I had finished in fourth place.
It wasn 't all bad however; fourth place in that tournament carried with it a prize of $100, which was more money than I had won in all my previous tournaments combined. For some reason it was hard to appreciate it. Rather than feeling like I had just won $100, I felt like I had been cheated out of $150. Still being bed ridden however, I didn 't feel like getting up and burning off my anger. Instead I decided to enter my first buy in tournament for $10. This tournament had a pre-set prize pool of $2,500 and only about 150 participants. After spending almost four hours playing poker, I have no idea what inspired me to buy into another tournament directly after. Maybe I felt like I was in the zone, maybe I felt like I was going to try to get the money I had been cheated, either way I had just signed myself up for hours of more card playing.
I suppose I figured that since there were only 150 people in this tournament that it would go by a lot faster than the previous one. What I wasn 't counting on however, was that every one of the participants in this tournament were playing not just to win some of the prize money, but to defend the money they spent just to enter the tournament. Two hours past and there were still half of the entrants left. Unlike the last tournament, this one only paid the final table. I was doing pretty well though, nothing special, but well enough to play comfortably without worrying about every move being my last.
Two hours later I was still playing and my heart rate was getting back up there. There were twenty people left, and while I was exhausted, once again I could feel my heart begin beating harder and harder in my chest. I was doing considerably well now, holding far more chips than anyone else in the tournament. This time I was going all the way.
Having the chip lead that I did, I was able to sit back and just play the occasional hand, watching my shorter stacked opponents drop one at a time. Fifteen people left, then ten, then five. Before I knew it, it was just me and one other player playing head to head for first place. I no longer held the advantage of having more chips. The downside to my strategy of sitting back and letting the weak finish off the weak was that my opponent now held all of their chips. The heads up battle lasted about 20 minutes, with plenty of back and forth action as I slowly evened up the chip count.
After I had finally edged my way back into the lead I was dealt, once again, pocket aces. To my amazement, before I could even place a bet down, my opponent pushed all of his chips into the pot. A bit disillusioned by the power of the "best hand in Texas Hold 'em," I reluctantly called his bet. To my utter disbelief the first three cards dealt were all of the same suit; a suit that my opponent held and that I did not. Should one of the next two cards dealt also be of that suit, it would be the second time in one night I lost to a near impossible flush. It seemed as if it took longer for those last two cards to fall than the entire tournament did leading up to that moment. When the last card fell, and a banner came across my screen congratulating me on my tournament win, I stared blankly into my monitor, a grin spread wide across my face.
Suddenly I realized something. I had been playing this tournament for hours and not once did I even stop to see what prize first place held. When I checked the tournament info, my smile erupted into laughter as I saw my username listed next to a first prize $1,500.
(No Bibliography necessary)
You see, when most people get poison ivy, they get a small red rash on their skin that is terribly annoying at worst. For me however, the story is much different. When I brush up against a poison ivy plant I can expect to spend the next ten days constrained to my house. When I get poison ivy, I don 't just get a small irritating rash, I get something much worse. It starts off similarly enough; the first sign is an astonishingly strong itching sensation on the directly effected area. From there, the area becomes red and textured with numerous tiny bumps, an ominous sign of what I 'm actually in for. Within a day, the effected area would double in size, and what were once hundreds of tiny bumps become fewer, larger blisters. With time these blisters grow larger and spread. By far the worst part comes next, but to spare the gory details, I 'll just say that when these blisters burst, I look more like a leper than a person suffering from a common rash. …show more content…
When I was 15, I was unlucky enough to have brushed my hand up against some poison ivy whilst walking through the woods.
Of course, there was no way for me to know at the time, so there was no need for me to think twice before resting my chin on my palm, or rubbing my eyes with my hands. Needless to say I found myself bedridden three days
later.
Having more free time on my hands than I cared for, I found myself wandering the internet. Wasting away endless hours on such sites as coffeebreak.com or the Internet Movie Database, I finally stumbled upon something that brought a smile to my disfigured little face... online poker. I had played poker with friends for about a year prior, and was very pleased to discover it came quite naturally to me. So when I first came upon an online poker site, I figured the 'play money ' games would be a fun way to kill time until I was better. Being only fifteen at the time I had no intentions of creating a real money account with website, however my opinions changed once I discovered a risk free aspect of real money play.
I was losing interest in the play money games they had on the website, because nobody took it seriously, and they were becoming slightly more than annoying. Around this time I discovered what were known as 'free-roll tournaments '. These beautiful creations allow people to enter for free, but still give real money payouts to a select number of winners. The prize pools and number of participants vary greatly, depending on who is sponsoring the tournament and how private the event is.
Within a few days I had mastered the craft of crashing the most exclusive free-rolls on the website. My moment of glory came when I found myself in a tournament with a $1,000 prize pool and a little over 800 participants. The tournament paid out to 60 people but the real prizes came to those who made the final table (top ten). After about three hours of almost non-stop poker (the tournaments are set up to provide a five minute break every hour) I found myself sitting at one of two tables remaining. At this point my heart was pounding in my chest as I could almost feel the $250 first prize entering my pocket. Before I knew it, there were but four people left in the tournament and I was dealt the best starting hand in Texas Hold 'em poker; pocket aces. I could hardly control myself at this point and was ecstatic when I realized one of my opponents had pushed all of his chips in. In a heartbeat I called him and became even happier to see that I had him at more of disadvantage than I even originally thought. The next five cards were dealt and in the process I felt like I was slapped across the face. Somehow, someway, four of the five cards that hit that computer-generated table were spades; spades that gave my opponent an ace high flush. In a blink of an eye it was over and I had finished in fourth place.
It wasn 't all bad however; fourth place in that tournament carried with it a prize of $100, which was more money than I had won in all my previous tournaments combined. For some reason it was hard to appreciate it. Rather than feeling like I had just won $100, I felt like I had been cheated out of $150. Still being bed ridden however, I didn 't feel like getting up and burning off my anger. Instead I decided to enter my first buy in tournament for $10. This tournament had a pre-set prize pool of $2,500 and only about 150 participants. After spending almost four hours playing poker, I have no idea what inspired me to buy into another tournament directly after. Maybe I felt like I was in the zone, maybe I felt like I was going to try to get the money I had been cheated, either way I had just signed myself up for hours of more card playing.
I suppose I figured that since there were only 150 people in this tournament that it would go by a lot faster than the previous one. What I wasn 't counting on however, was that every one of the participants in this tournament were playing not just to win some of the prize money, but to defend the money they spent just to enter the tournament. Two hours past and there were still half of the entrants left. Unlike the last tournament, this one only paid the final table. I was doing pretty well though, nothing special, but well enough to play comfortably without worrying about every move being my last.
Two hours later I was still playing and my heart rate was getting back up there. There were twenty people left, and while I was exhausted, once again I could feel my heart begin beating harder and harder in my chest. I was doing considerably well now, holding far more chips than anyone else in the tournament. This time I was going all the way.
Having the chip lead that I did, I was able to sit back and just play the occasional hand, watching my shorter stacked opponents drop one at a time. Fifteen people left, then ten, then five. Before I knew it, it was just me and one other player playing head to head for first place. I no longer held the advantage of having more chips. The downside to my strategy of sitting back and letting the weak finish off the weak was that my opponent now held all of their chips. The heads up battle lasted about 20 minutes, with plenty of back and forth action as I slowly evened up the chip count.
After I had finally edged my way back into the lead I was dealt, once again, pocket aces. To my amazement, before I could even place a bet down, my opponent pushed all of his chips into the pot. A bit disillusioned by the power of the "best hand in Texas Hold 'em," I reluctantly called his bet. To my utter disbelief the first three cards dealt were all of the same suit; a suit that my opponent held and that I did not. Should one of the next two cards dealt also be of that suit, it would be the second time in one night I lost to a near impossible flush. It seemed as if it took longer for those last two cards to fall than the entire tournament did leading up to that moment. When the last card fell, and a banner came across my screen congratulating me on my tournament win, I stared blankly into my monitor, a grin spread wide across my face.
Suddenly I realized something. I had been playing this tournament for hours and not once did I even stop to see what prize first place held. When I checked the tournament info, my smile erupted into laughter as I saw my username listed next to a first prize $1,500.
(No Bibliography necessary)