The Week That Was...

Nothing much on TV tonight, so I decided to do a little long-overdue blogging. A few interesting hands from the past week:

Last Tuesday with The Juice, $5/10 NL Omaha 8. I look down to find Ah-As-2h-4c in the big blind. Dave is in straddle position on my immediate left, and makes he usual $25 straddle. Most of the table calls, and I decide to just call, hoping he’ll raise (which he’ll do more often than not on his straddle). Dave doesn’t disappoint - he raises to $160, and it folds to Eli who makes the call.

(Note to Dave: If you made it down this far - you can stop reading now, since I know you have the attention span of a flea on crack. I don’t want you to get a headache, since there will be several big words and no pictures.)

Now Dave, Eli and myself all have big stacks, and there’s almost $500 out there right now. I decide I’m not going to make a small raise here, I’m either going to take the pot right here or make Dave or Eli commit a large portion of their stack if they want to see a flop. They’re both action junkies, so I’m pretty sure Ill be getting a call from at least one of them. I re-raise to $1,000, Dave sits up in his seat as he immediately announces his call, then Eli announces he’s all in for close to $3K! I call, Dave calls, and we turn up our cards.

Dave has some sort of low suited combination, but Eli has nothing, something like Q-9-9-3. Of course, a 9 comes on the flop, allowing him to win half the pot with the high hand, and the low gets there allowing me to win the other half. Could have been a monster win, but of course, I could have also won nothing. You pays your money and you takes your chances. In the end, Eli and I ended up splitting Dave’s $2K or so, so how can you complain about that…?

Friday in Cary, $2/5 PLO8. I was on both ends of several interesting hands, but I’ll just blog two. I was sandwiched between Big Dave and Matt M most of the night, and both of them were pretty much snakebit all night. Both of them seemed to suffer from cold decks or suckouts every couple hands. I have A-4-8-8 in late position, we have the usual pre-flop straddle, and the flop comes K-Q-8. It checks past Big Dave to me, and I bet the pot. It folds back to Big Dave, who goes all-in for not too much (maybe $150?) more. I figure I’m beat of course, but it’s just not much more to call, plus I can hit running cards for a low or flush. I call, and he turns over Q-Q. His inevitable pain comes in the form of the case 8 on the turn. Having played this game before, I fully expected the case Q to pop up on the river, but no such luck for Dave.

Not two or three hands later I look down to find 2-2-4-7 with two clubs. Same situation with the straddle and table full of callers, and the flop comes Q-J-2 with two clubs. Again it checks to me, again I pot it, and again it folds back to Dave who goes all-in. Sheesh! Since Dave normally only buys in for a couple hundred at a time, it’s almost impossible for him to bet someone out of the pot (at least until he builds a stack). Again I assume I’m beat, but it’s not much more to call. I do, and he turns over J-J. This time his pain comes in the form of a club on the turn. My flush holds up, and he’s left to mumble to himself the rest of the night.

Saturday night with The Juice, and it’s the last hand of a moderately wild night. It took me two rebuys to get going, but I eventually built my stack up to a respectable size. Eli is on my right, and has really been getting squirrelly the past hour. I’ve been patiently waiting to trap him for all his chips, but the timing of the hands just never came together. I have Ad-Qc-10d-8c, and after the usual straddle, we see a flop of Jd-4d-4c. Eli leads out with a $65 bet. I call, and everyone else folds. He’s been hyper-aggressive lately, and I’m not yet convinced he has a 4. If he doesn’t, I’ve got plenty of outs. The turn brings a 9s, and he makes a bet of (I think) $200. Though I can’t exactly say why, I’m about 75% convinced he doesn’t have a 4, and now the straight draw gives me even more outs if he just has Jacks-up, so again I make the call.

The river brings the Qh, giving me the second-nut straight. Now Eli comes out with a $600 bet – wow! Against many other players, I’d be leaning towards laying it down. Here though, I was almost 100% convinced my hand is good, and was actually considering raising. That thought passed after a few moments, as there weren’t but one or two hands he could have that were worse than mine, but that he could call a raise with (even Eli). I make the call, and he asks if I hit my straight. I say yep, and turn over my hand. He turns over his to show Jacks-up, and says he didn’t figure me for a 4 either, but had already decided to pay me off if a straight card came. Sweet - I need more opponents like him!

Of course, that hand was just payback (with interest though!) from earlier, when my Aces full of Kings ran into his Royal Flush!! I paid off a $300 river bet, though I think I lost about the least amount I could have on that hand. The flop came As-Kc-10c, he checked to me and I made a small bet, which he called. The Ac came on the turn, and his eyes lit up like a child on Christmas morning. He checked to me again, and I checked behind, telling him “Your straight flush is good.” He didn’t say anything, but the expression on his face all but confirmed my suspicions. I wish I could say I was a good enough player to not pay him off on the river, but who am I kidding. Realistically - if a guy’s got a Royal Flush against my Aces full of Kings, he’s going to get paid. At least I was smart enough not to raise him. Of course, I couldn’t resist twisting the dagger just a bit as I pushed the chips his way, telling him I would’ve paid off a $500 bet! I love this game… :-)

See ya at the tables,
Rick