Last Friday night, I went to a poker game one of my coworkers had invited me to. He had invited me a few times in the past, and I had always shied away. I had played poker before, but rarely, and always in the company of friends who were no more skilled than I. When I was growing up, all we ever played was five-card draw; I had played Texas hold ’em a few times in college, but I was never completely clear on how the betting worked. The game on Friday was a no-stakes event held at the Deadwood Saloon in Midtown Atlanta. I finally accepted my coworker’s invitation because he had just received his GSSP-Java certification and seemed like he could use someone with whom to celebrate.

I went into the game fully expecting to embarrass myself, since this was more or less my first “real” poker game. I ended up having much more fun than I thought I would. Since I knew my lack of experience would show, I was up front with my opponents about my skill level. Rather than trying to capitalize on my greenness, everyone was very friendly and patient with me, explaining the rules and procedures I had never been exposed to before. The game was no-limit hold ’em, and the blinds increased every 20 minutes as they do in tournament play.

I played fairly tightly, preferring to watch and get a feel for the game, except when I thought I had a good chance of winning the hand. I was hardly prepared to pull off a big bluff my first time at the table. What was undoubtedly my most exciting hand came after I had been playing for about an hour and a half and was down to only eight chips. I had stepped away from the table to order my second beer, and when I came back I was informed that the action was on me. The dealer, a nice guy named AJ, told me that he had almost folded my hand since I was gone from the table, but he had decided to wait because I was close by. It’s a good thing he didn’t fold for me!

By this time, the big blind was $10, so I would have to go all in just to call the blind. I peeked at my cards and found two kings looking back at me. I wasn’t even sure if I could play the hand without having enough chips to match the big blind, so I asked, “Can I go all in?” AJ told me I could, and two other players at the table instinctively muttered, “Good luck, all in.” (They said the same thing every time anyone went all in, the way you might say “Gesundheit” when someone sneezes.) There were two other callers, and I ended up winning with three kings … tripling my money on a well-timed deal and staying in the game for a little while longer.

I’d like to think that life is like that too. When it looks like you’re down and out, you’ll get dealt that pair of kings. The hard part is finding the courage to go all in.