View from the River
By John"Gator" Von

A Gator Christmas Story

It was a few days before Christmas and I still had a ton of shopping to do, but, I was playing in a tournament and figured I would play in a cash game before the tournament., I had hurried to get to the 2-5 cash game before the tourney and I was so glad I did. Little did I know that Santa and one of his n elf’s would be at the table. Mrs. Claus watching. She looked a lot like Jennifer Tilly but a bit older..

Of course I didn’t know at first it was Santa or his elf since they had on very good disguises dressed as downstate (Detroit)Greektown boys in their thirties but it soon became obvious it was Santa and his helper.

Santa entered the game after the elf. Both bought in for about $500. Immediately Santa was a betting fool obviously wanting to share gifts of money to any and all who played.

The first player to be the beneficiary of his largesse was Earl. Earl is what you would call loose aggressive, much the same as Santa. Before long Earl had the largest stack in front of him that he had ever had. Oh what a good Xmas for him

Next, the elf obviously having gotten word from Santa, started his gift giving. I took down a large pot with only an ace high since the elf kept calling to the river with absolutely nothing. Could it be any more plain or obvious that this was simply a way to share the bounties at Christmas time. by the jolly old gent and his elf.

Santa has now bought in again and after taking a few small pots began chasing . First a gut shot straight which missed, a flush which missed, then two pair into an obvious larger two pair and missed.

Then came the final present," the piece de resistance" I was chatting with my table partner about how everyone but Santa and his elf were having such a great night. I looked at my cards and had pocket sixes. I was on the button and simply called the bet of Santa who was on the big blind.

The flop was 6,6,3. My God I have quads I thought to myself. This is going to be a great Xmas. Santa made a bet which I called. The turn was a nine which Santa again bet out and I called. The river was a three. Santa put me all in and I called.

Santa turned over pocket threes for quad threes and I turned over my pocket sixes. Quads on Quads. I thought I saw a little wink from Santa as I raked in this really large pot.

Mrs. Claus leaned over to Santa and said something to him. Santa motioned to his elf that they were leaving and racked up a small amount of chips leaving the table with a Merry Xmas to all.

I openly said for the first time my suspicion that that was Santa and everyone at the table broke into laughter saying how could I believe that. Obviously no one had the same feeling as I did.

It was late and I racked my chips, having enough to make Xmas very, very good for the family. As I walked out of the casino one of the best security guards, Bob, called me over and Said"Gator,you have to see this"

He led me out to the parking area and there on the road were marks that looked like they were made by some type of vehicle which was not a car. Bob then said "and look at this" There in front of the scratches were eight small piles of deer dung each perfectly spaced four in a row abreast of each other

Maybe Santa was here, I said "Yeah" said Bob and "there is a tooth fairy."

I got in my car and while driving home I thought I saw something pass before the moon heading south. I simply said to myself "Merry Xmas Santa" and to all you dear readers Happy Holidays and keep an eye out for Santa.