I've Been Cheadle'd

With a few hours to kill before his flight back to Portland, my brother Sande zipped over to Caesars for a little low level action in their $1-$3 NLH game, which tends to play like a rammin’-jammin’ $2-$5. It’s a great game to potentially make a quick score without having to be too heavily invested.

So Sande snagged a seat and scanned the faces and stacks of his opponents. Midway through the visual recon he spied a very familiar face. None other than…

Yup, Don Cheadle, star of numerous Hollywood blockbusters including Crash, Boogie Nights, Hotel Rwanda, Oceans Eleven, Oceans 12, Iron Man 2 and, most recently Flight.

If you’re unfamiliar with his work you definitely need to get out more. Don Cheadle is one of the best actors in the biz and he’s also a really nice guy, to boot.

Anyway, Sande settled into the game and, after a few hands, decided to put on a straddle. It was now $6 to go which Mr. Cheadle, in the small blind, called.

The BB folded and Sande looked down to find a pair of kings staring back at him.

Sande pumped it up $25, making it $31 to go, and only Don made the call.

The flop came A 10 J with two diamonds.

Don checked and Sande bet $35.

After a few moments of thought, DC fingered his $350 stack and pulled out seven red chips.

The turn brought the king of diamonds, giving Sande a set but also putting both a straight and a flush out there.

As literary giant Charles Dickens so eloquently put it in A Tale of Two Cities, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”

Apparently, Cheadle sided with the first part of Dickens’ line and bet out $110.

Unable to fold, Sande made the call.

A black 4 hit the river.

Don studied Sande for a bit before electing to check and Sande checked right behind him.

Don sheepishly revealed his hand…

Q 8 off-suit, giving him a straight… an ugly straight but a winner nonetheless.

Sande showed his cards and grinned. Unfortunately, this wasn’t Hollywood. There’d be no second take. Just Cut! Print! Pay!

He’d been Cheadle’d!