Another Crazy Weekend

Yes it was. And finally, some blogworthy hands! I just moved, and don’t have Dish hooked up yet. With only my computer to entertain me, I have some time to post a few hands in between porn downloads.

We had the usual $2/5 PL Omaha 8 crowd at Cary Friday night, with one notable exception. Theron, a buddy of Mike D’s, came to play for a while. Mike’s weekly ritual is to play for a few hours, leave to hit his favorite watering hole for a bit, then come back to finish the night at the poker table. A couple guys played for a while and left, so when it came time for Mike and Theron (along with Danielle, Mike’s girlfriend) to head down the road, it left us with just four players. We decided to keep playing for a while, and the four of us basically just traded chips for the next hour or so. One of the guys decided it was time to go, so the rest of us called it quits, making it an early night.

We had all cashed out and were literally on our way out the door, when Mike and Theron stroll back in wanting to play more. Honestly, it took a little convincing. At this point, nobody was too excited about continuing, but what the hell – we were there and the poker gods were beckoning…

I had gone card-dead for the last couple hours, but the hands started coming as soon as we sat down again, and pretty quickly I got involved in a hand with Theron, sitting on my left. There was a straddle and a nice pre-flop raise. I have As-Qd-Js-9d, and decide to see a flop. I saw a flop alright…Kd-Jd-10d. Yep, I flopped a straight flush!

Now Theron is a pretty good hold ‘em player, but is a new convert to Omaha 8. We all know what that means. Most all of us went through the same learning curve when we started the game. When you start playing Omaha with a hold ‘em mentality, you may have top two pair on a flop of Kd-7d-6c and think to yourself “I know I have the best hand right now, so surely a nice big bet will get everyone to fold - and if I get a donkey to call, all the better!” Riiiiiight… The next thing you know you’re drinking vodka straight out of the bottle, wondering what just happened to all your chips.

I check to Theron, and he doesn’t disappoint me – he comes out with a $200 bet. I don’t feel like I need to do much Hollywooding against this guy, but hey, you’ve got to have a little fun! After a little hemming and hawing, I make the call and dark-check the turn. Again, he comes through, and pushes all-in for $400 or so. I call, and tell him “You’re not gonna like this” as I turn up my monkey. He was betting, yep, top two pair. Oh well, he’ll learn – I just hope it’s not too expensive for him! Before he places another bet at an Omaha table, he should go out and buy a good $30 book – it’ll quickly pay for itself hundreds of times over.*

*Note to any donkeys out there: Ignore that last sentence – reading really is overrated!

The next hand came soon after - we have the usual straddle and I look down to find 2x-2x-4x-5x. The flop of Ad-2x-7d fits in pretty well with my hand, but it’s still nothing to get too excited about yet. I make a bet of more than half the pot and get two callers, Mike D and Eli. Of course, I’m trying to conjure up a black three on the turn. Alas, my psychic ability (much like my waistline) is not what it once was, and the 3d comes instead. While it doesn’t give me the double-nuts, it was a pretty card nonetheless. I decide to check my wheel in hopes that someone else will bet, either with a flush or thinking my low got counterfeited. It checks around instead. A pretty little ace comes on the river, giving me both a boat and wheel. I’m not quite sure how much action I’ll get, but I lead out with a $300 bet. Mike calls with (I believe) second-nut low, Eli calls with a flush, and I scoop a nice pot.

The night was simply a case of beautiful timing. If Mike and Theron returned two minutes later, I’m down the road with an okay night, making $500 profit from the session. Instead, I cash out with $2,500 profit. Timing is everything!

Saturday night $5/10 NL Omaha 8 with The Jizz can mean only one thing - The Jizz will take chips from everyone else, then he will give them to me. An astute observer might be thinking “Hey wait, that’s two things,” but it usually happens in pretty much one continuous sequence. We had an interesting cast of characters last night, and the mix resulted in some heavy action, even more than normal for this game. After an early rebuy, I scooped a couple nice pots to accumulate about three times my $1,500 buy-in. Then came the dry spell. For 2-3 hours I’m not sure I won even half a pot, and my stack dwindled (ever notice that “dwindled” is never a good word when describing anything, especially your chip stack…?) down to around $2,300 or so.

Then came my big hand of the night. We have the obligatory straddle, and I look down to find Qd-Qh-6h-4d. After a couple porkings on the river (courtesy of Charles) Eli is running on steam at this point – especially after Charles executed another of his patented hit-and-runs. As he cashed out, he mumbled something about having to get up early to get his hair shampooed, but I’m not sure I believe him. Anyway, Eli had rebought for $5K, but his stack is already dwindling (there’s that word again), and I’m a-hoping to gets me some of it before it’s gone into the night like Charles. Eli bumps it up pre-flop, and gets several callers.

I like the flop of Ad-Qs-3c. Eli is on my right and first to act, and leads out for $75. I raise to $300, Chad pushes all-in for $350, Dave calls and Eli calls. Wow – we have a nice pot a-brewing! Though I’m obviously hoping for some brick like a 9 to come on the turn, I mainly don’t want to see another wheel card. I get my wish (kind of), as the turn brings a Kd, but Eli immediately announces he’s all-in! I have around $1,800 behind and he has me covered. I go into the tank for a minute or two, but I just can’t put him on a gutshot or wrap. He’s been making some big bluffs lately trying to get some chips back, and in the end, this bet just doesn’t pass the sniff test. Besides, worst-case scenario is that I make a bad read and call with the worst hand, in which case I still have outs with my set and nut flush draws.

I call, and Dave calls with only a few hundred behind. We all turn our cards over, and I’m very happy with what I see. Dave and Chad both have low draws, and not much else. Eli is the only one with board cards, but he flopped a set of threes, and is drawing to one out. I’m hoping for the board to pair, and oh boy does it…with the case queen - Get the Monkey! It was one of those rare times in Omaha when the best hand held up all the way through, and my quatro reinas scoop a $5,500 pot! After that hand Eli wasn’t running on steam anymore, he was just running. He cashed out and left, and the rest of us played for a while longer before calling it a night (or morning, as it were).

It’s now time to put this weekend to rest, and start thinking about Tuesday night. Bill Gates has his vision of “a computer in every classroom.” My vision is “a 50” plasma in every room of the house.” So far I’ve got all the bedrooms, bathrooms, hallways, living room, kitchen, and back patio covered. A good night Tuesday will cover the laundry room, meaning I can wash my shirts without missing one precious second of Maury. And with any luck, by next weekend I should have the most pimped-out coat closet in town…

See ya at the tables…
Rick