Dave's New Favorite Number?

I’ll give you a hint:

_____ Dog Night
_____ Times a Lady
_____ Blind Mice
_____ On the River to Scoop a $3,800 Pot!

After last night, Davey Boy will probably be seeing threes in his sleep for a week. After playing mostly Omaha 8 all night, by 3am I’ve accumulated a decent stack (though definitely nothing to write home about). I have maybe $1,300 in chips when I’m dealt 3c-3s-4c-5s. We were doing a lot of straddling, and I believe there was one this hand as well. As usual, pretty much the entire table sees the flop, 9-8-3 with one club. Dave makes a fairly large bet ($140 I think?), and gets a couple callers before it gets to me. I’ve only got bottom set, but I’ve got some back door possibilities as well, and I toss in the call.

The turn brings a Kc. Not exactly what I was looking for, but not a horrible card either, as I now have a flush draw. It checks to Dave, who pushes all-in for $1,500+. Someone (Mike, I think, but all the hands run together after a while…) calls for less, and the action is to me. Against most players, I would feel like I was definitely behind at this point. Our hero, however, could literally have anything. I figure almost no matter what he has, I either have the best hand, or at the very least, a draw to win half or all of the pot. Besides, it’s late and I’m ready to go get some sleep if I lose the hand and my chip stack, so I make the call. I was hoping for something like a 2c (I don’t like to get tooooooo greedy asking for cards – it just pisses off the poker gods), No such luck. The low doesn’t come…the boat doesn't come...the flush doesn’t come…but the fourth 3 does – Get the Monkey!

Now the fun part. All the chips were in on the turn, but nobody has turned up their hand yet. Dave, for whatever reason, is on this kick lately about slow-rolling. Dean used to be the only one utilizing this ploy (a ploy, by the way, that will get your ass kicked in most games), but lately there has almost been a contest to see who can make the longest delayed slow-roll. While it’s against my nature to slow-roll, it’s even more against my nature to pass up a chance to torture Dave. I tried to look disappointed, shaking my head and saying I missed my draw, and that I was ready to go home. Dave mumbled something along those same lines, so a few seconds later, after it appeared to me that nobody else had much of a hand, I threw my cards down on the table and exclaimed “Get the Monkey!” Dave let out a gut-wrenching yell, and turned over pocket nines - the bastard outlasted me! Turns out he was trying to slow-roll me as well. If I just could have hung tough for a few more seconds, I really could have twisted the knife in his gut. I must admit to feeling a bit cheated, but a $3,800 outdraw helped to ease the pain a bit… :-)

Good job, Scout! As usual, Dave did his job the way I trained him - gathering chips from the other players, then bringing them back to me. Remember, Dave – it’s the second mouse that gets the cheese!

See ya at the tables….
Rick