Amelia Mae - card shark

Michael invited friends from work over for a friendly game of Texas Hold'em tonight. They were scheduled to meet at seven, so Amelia and I dropped by the clubhouse at eight to make a friendly appearance.

After finding "Lady and the Tramp" on the clubhouse television I was invited to sit in on a couple of hands of poker. Michael counted out some chips and I joined the men at the end of the table.

Well, it wasn't long until Amelia decided that she'd rather sit with me than watch TV. She enjoyed playing with my chip stacks as I threw away hand after lousy hand.

At some point I decided to show Amelia my cards. I know she can recognize some letters and numbers, but didn't think it likely that she would reveal much to the table. Looking at a lousy five/seven combo Amelia said, "Ooh, triangles, butterflies." I thought that was pretty good, since diamonds do look a little like triangles and clubs do resemble butterflies somewhat. I pitched my lousy cards quickly, but later noticed that had I stayed in the hand I would have made a full house; who knew?

I was dealt two spades the next hand (including the ace). Amelia looked at my cards and said, "One bird, two birds." I can see how spades might look like birds. This hand was good enough to keep and was a winner when I managed to get the nut flush.

Then I got another matched set with an ace. This time my cards were hearts. Amelia apparently knows hearts and pointed to my cards saying, "One heart and another heart." Luckily, no one was paying much attention and I won yet again with another nut flush.

So what did I learn by playing cards with Amelia? First of all, she seems to bring good luck, which is great. Secondly, she isn't shy about telling everyone what she sees in your hand. That may be okay with a couple of fellows playing Hold'em poker for the first time, but it won't work well with Mike's parents who are good card players and very attentive to Amelia's every word.

Lisa