Ho Hum...

Another Tuesday - another pocketful of cash. The night started off a bit slow, just kind of treading water waiting for cards. My first big hand of the night came in Omaha 8 when I’m in the big blind holding Jh-9s-9d-4h - a real piece of cheese. The Jizz makes a small straddle UTG, everyone calls and I complete. As is normally the case, the action junkie makes one of his patented goofy raises in straddle position. This one was a large one, something like $85. I have a crappy hand, and I’m hoping that half the table folds so that I can just muck and wait for the next hand. No such luck – pretty much the entire table calls, so I toss in the call as well. Hey, you can’t win the lottery if you don’t buy a ticket.

The flop is about the best I can realistically hope for; 10h-9c-3h, giving me middle set and a flush draw. The important thing here is that there’s only one low card. John M is first to act and pushes all-in for around $300, and I move in over the top for around $400, hoping to isolate. Riiiiight…what kind of drugs was I smoking? Three callers later, I turn over my cards and start praying for the board to pair. The turn brings a 2x, a card I’m obviously not very excited about. I am, however, very excited about the 3x that comes on the river, allowing me to scoop a pot of over $2K. For once, the hand that was ahead when all the money went in stayed ahead – phone the neighbors and wake the kids…

I had a couple smaller scoopers later, and got ¾ of another decent pot (I was on the unpleasant end of one also), but most of the night was just about slowly building the stack. I had around $3,500 when I got down to four-handed with Bill, Dave and John M. I broke Bill, then Davey cashed out, leaving John and I to play heads-up again. He roared out to a nice lead, making some good plays and catching a few cards along the way. The luck finally turned around, and I was able to catch some cards myself, and trap him in a few large pots. It a fairly long heads-up session, but I finally broke him around 7:30am or so, and cashed out for over $4,800.

As usual, Dave wussed out, “pulled a Nate” and got out while the getting was good. The Jizz may be crazy, but he’s not stupid! Come Thursday, Dave, your chips will be mine.

See ya at the tables…
Rick