Sharing is Fun!

That is, as long as I get the largest share. Another crazy Tuesday with The Jizz & Company. This night the name of the game was “Who’s Going to Beat Dave This Hand?” Although a large percentage of the time the answer was “Yours Truly,” Dave, like the good host he is, made sure there was plenty to go around for everyone. I stopped counting his rebuys around 11pm, and I believe it was 74 at that point. Out of the goodness of our hearts, the entire table gladly waived the $400 rebuy limit to let Dave rebuy for $800 as many times as he liked. Apparently we were all still in the Christmas spirit!

While I won all or part of many large pots, most of my hands were not really worthy of blogging. We’ll make one notable exception, just for Davey Boy. $5/10 NLHE – I believe we’re down to five-handed, as several wimps have left for the night. I pick up A-Jos in the big blind, and it’s limped around to John M in the small blind, who raises to $40 or so. John has been very aggressive, raising with ATC (Any Two Cards), and though I suspect my A-J is the best hand right now, I decide not to re-raise and hopefully try to hit a flop and trap him in a big pot. I call and Dave calls on the button.

Flop comes A-K-9, and I’m liking the flop. John leads out with a $100 bet, so I suspect he has a crappy ace. I smooth-call and Dave calls behind. Dave, of course, could have anything. Hell, for all we know, he may think he’s playing Omaha, and he’s calling with 2-4 hoping to hit runner-runner low. For the uninitiated, it’s usually best not to try and put Dave on a hand – it just makes your head hurt. The best strategy is to treat him like the dead money he is, and then occasionally pay him off when he accidentally plays good cards. My first thought here was that he had some kind of gutshot, like his favorite hand, J-10.

The turn is another A, and now I’m praying that John doesn’t slow down. He doesn’t, and comes out firing with a $200 bet. I’m 98% certain I have the best hand, and decide to take a bit of a chance and not raise, hoping for a call from Dave and a brick on the river. I give my best subtle “slightly concerned” look then call, and Dave calls behind. The river pairs the board again with a K, and although I now have the nut boat, I’m a little disappointed, as I assume John and I will now be chopping the pot. John immediately pushes in, and I call. Dave starts running around pulling his hair out, and doing his best “Whiny Charles” impersonation. It all makes sense when we discover that he has 9-9! He flops a set, turns a boat, and then gets bent over royally on the river. Oh well, at least it’s a position he’s familiar with!

As I suspected, John turns over A-8, but all of a sudden I don’t mind so much “only” winning half the pot. Of course, being the greedy bastard I am, I immediately start thinking that if I had popped in a big raise on the flop, John probably folds, Dave and I most likely get all the chips in on the turn, and I win a monster pot with a sweet little river card! Dave was mumbling about that hand the rest of the night (in-between sobs, that is).

As for the rest of the night, I played fairly tight (relatively speaking, after all, we were at Dave’s…) and didn’t get involved in too many crazy make-or-break pots. I pretty much just steadily built my stack until finally cashing out for a profit of around $3,400. Another night of food, drink, laughter, suckouts, and a wheelbarrow full of money. Once I get some sleep tonight, I’ll be ready to do it all again Thursday. Let’s try to break a couple records, Dave. You try to break your own record for number of rebuys, and I’ll try to break my own record for largest cash out. Good luck to both of us!

See ya at the tables…
Rick