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The other Doyle tries his hand at poker

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JUST SO THERE'S no confusion, Doyle Brunson is a famous poker player, skilled enough to win more than $1 million playing cards. People buy the book he wrote to learn how he did it.

Doyle Murphy is a rookie reporter, skilled enough to lose 50 cents as a third-grader when the one card trick he ever performed failed. People buy the things he writes to line their shelves and clean their windows.

Unfortunately, I'm not the millionaire, but in an effort to right that cosmic wrong, I persuaded Aims Community College instructor John Hutson to let me sit in on the one-night poker class he taught on Monday with his wife, Diane.

During the day, John works with computer courses and likes to discuss and play poker tournaments in his free time. Diane Hutson is a card player, too, and she took her husband to Las Vegas last month after she earned the trip through a Texas hold 'em tournament.

John starts the class in the traditional style. With a blue marker, he writes on the board "Poker 101" and "The Basics." Besides me, eight people arrive for the class. We sit at long desks while John and Diane explain which cards beat which, some general rules and how a game works.

I get a little lost as he talks about "streets" and "rivers" and focus on my favorite handout -- a glossary of poker terms to make you sound cool. Did you know a hand with a 10 and a 2 is called a "Doyle Brunson?"

After a break, the Hutsons divide us into two groups and demonstrate games around the tables. I learn fourth street is the fourth card the dealer turns over, and the fifth is the river. Everything else is a little sketchy, but Paul Newman probably had to learn a few things before he could play "The Hustler."

The groups sit down, and we start playing Texas hold 'em. I'm not real sure what happened, but John Hutson tells me I won the first game. I suddenly feel much smarter and theorize the difference between Brunson and Murphy is only a name.

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The second hand goes to someone else. So does the third. I fold on the fourth game and wonder if I'm a natural after all. John Hutson talks about "tells." I decide to reconsider my strategy of saying "might as well," when betting a poor hand.

The guy next to me, 56-year-old Keith Bishop of Greeley, has been quiet most of the evening. I remember he said something about taking the class to hone his skills but get distracted when I draw a King and a Ace in the fifth hand.

The dealer drops a Queen, Jack and 10 on the table after some betting. I consult a handout and realize I have a straight even before fourth street or the river. I beat the next best hand, two pairs and rake in a cool -- although fake -- $300 in chips. Maybe I should play "The Hustler" in a remake.

I push chips toward the center without much thought. Call? Of course, I call.

Bishop takes the next hand, and the next hand. I wonder if I miscounted the amount I'd won earlier. There's no way that pile could have dwindled so fast.

John announces the last hand. Somehow, my pair of fours come up short. Bishop sweeps the chips into his pile. He's won $860 in fake money. I've lost $120.

In the hallway, I ask him for what I'm sure must have been a secret strategy or a tell he'd noticed.

"I was just concentrating on my own cards," he says.

Oh.

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