Tuesday at Dave's

Another Tuesday night, and by now we all know what that means: another opportunity to stuff my pockets with Dave’s cash. And as usual, he did not disappoint. Don’t get me wrong, I want everybody’s money, but for some reason it’s simply more fun taking Dave’s.

My favorite situations occur when Dave is on my left, and I check the nuts to him. Yes, I could bet, and he could raise, and I’d end up basically accomplishing the same goal, but where’s the fun in that? Dave (bless his heart!) was born with some sort of a birth defect (Donkeyitis Pigmentosa, I think it’s called) that precludes him from checking anytime there’s more than, say, $13 in any given pot, regardless of what his cards are.

At any rate, the best part about this play is that if I bet, most people will fold, knowing that I must have a hand. Nobody gives Dave any respect, since he bets every pot, and he’ll usually have half the table call him. This situation came up a couple times last night. Once was in Omaha 8, when I have A-2-2-7, and the flop comes 4-2-2, with two spades. Woo hoo! I’m first to act, and throw out a little bet of $30 or so to get the ball rolling, and Dave raises another $100. I think there are three callers, and I just call when it gets to me. I figure I’m not going to get anyone off the low draw anyway, so I want as many players in as possible. And who knows, if the right cards come, my A-7 might end up winning the low also.

Anyway, the turn brings a K, a great card for me. I glance over at our hero, who is just itching to get his chips in the middle, and who am I to stop him? I check, and he pushes all-in for $800 or so. Elvie calls for less, there’s a fold, and the action is to Bill, who deliberates for a good 4-5 minutes. In the end, despite my best efforts at telepathy (“Call Bill… Call Bill!”), he folds. I call of course, and hope for any card 9 or higher. I get my wish, as a J comes on the river and my monkey rakes a monster pot. I could have made a double-batch of Toll House Cookies™ with all the chocolate chips I scooped – thanks Dave!

Another nice hand came in NLHE, when I get A-A on the button. I raise to $35 when it gets to me, and Dave raises another $100 from the small blind. Eli is on my right, and calls Dave’s raise. Hmmm, how to play, how to play… Here Dave is not the issue, I know he’ll call an all-in bet. In fact, if it was just us, I probably would have just min-raised and allowed him to raise me all-in (I usually like to play with my fish a bit before landing him). Eli is still a pretty loose player, but has tightened up a bit, and is a much better player now than he was a year ago. Still, I don’t want to play aces against two players, and I don’t want to give him any more reason to get involved any further. I decide to push in to try and isolate Dave, and let the chips fall where they may.

Dave immediately calls for his last $500-600 or so, and now Eli has a tough decision to make. Eli and I are the two big stacks. I think he may have me covered at this point, but a loss will cripple him, and he makes the right decision and folds his Kh-2h (hey, don’t laugh, the old Eli would have never laid that down!). Boy, I was sure glad I pushed once I saw the two hearts come on the flop, then the third come on the turn! Luckily, my aces held up against Dave’s jacks, and I drag another nice pot.

As strange as it sounds, the theme for the night was “What could have been.” I laid down a marginal hand pre-flop (where I was on the fence about calling) that would have boated up and scooped a $1,900 pot. Ouch. I got screwed on the river several times to cost me all or part of a handful of big pots. Though I had a big night, I didn’t hit a single river card myself. It’s hard to have a big night playing Omaha without hitting a few river cards, but I did pretty well with the medium-sized pots.

After the sun came up and the pretenders left, John M and I played heads-up for a bit. He spanked me fair and square the last time, but this night (morning) belonged to me. I broke him, and we called it a night. After a couple losing night in a row at Dave’s (what the hell?), it was fun being back playing big-stack poker. I cashed out for over $5,400. Of course, being the greedy bastard I am, I couldn’t help but feel it should have been $8,000-9,000 or so. And to answer your question – no, it never is enough…

See ya at the tables…
Rick