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She’s bluffing, I know she is. In front of her are two queens and a seven. She holds her hole card close to her chest. I know she want me to think she has a queen, but my own hole card is a queen, and face up in front of me lies a jack, a nine and a three – all clubs, as is my queen. Will my fifth street be a club? Has she really got the other queen? I don’t think so … I don’t think so …

“I call,” I say, “and raise …”

I watch her eyes. She blinks twice – her tell! She’s bluffing!

“How much?” she says.

I look down at the stack of cash in front of me.

“Ten pence?” I say.

I watch as she winces.

“Too rich for me!” she says, smiling. “I only had a seven anyway.”

The pound signs flash in front of my eyes. I’m having a great evening! I’m nearly thirty pence up!

 ***

The above is not an excerpt from the new Ocean’s Thirteen (or whichever sequel they are currently on), but what happened during our last mum’s night in! Every other Thursday (don’t ask me why Thursdays, no one can remember) myself and some of my fellow mums get together for a few hands of Five-card stud. Before you get all nervous and warn me how gamblers can lose everything, including friends, we have one golden rule for our poker nights – you can bring money to gamble with, but 1ps and 2ps only!

Our poker nights were my idea. My granddad used to play poker with me when I was a small girl. We used to play for pennies too – old pennies, the pre-decimalisation ones (okay, yes, I am that old) that were and still are worthless. He taught me how to play Five-card stud, although as it was a while ago I had to checkout the rules. I’m not sure why it’s called stud, as you don’t need to be a stud to play it. You get dealt five cards, as with any form of poker, with betting rounds after each deal, but all but one of your cards is dealt face up. I think it’s more fun to play that way, as it’s harder to bluff when four-fifths of your hand is face up in front of you.

There’s a group of about seven of us who play, although nobody plays every single time, except for me that is as I’m the habitual host. It’s a great way of getting together and having a little fun – it’s certainly more fun than playing Monopoly, or any other boring old board game.

Why not get your fellow mums together for your own poker evening? You’ll never know what the cards hold for you otherwise!

*This contribution to the blog was clearly not written by me. If it was I’d have mentioned the importance of having really good food and drink ready for the night in too. Gamble safely if you do fancy a low cost flutter and enjoy!