A Night to Forget....

Well, I knew one of these was possible because I'd seen a couple of guys have them, but I always hoped that I'd be able to avoid it. It was marathon night over at Corey's home game. Most of the night we were short-handed and I was staying around even till around midnight when I took a couple of big hits. It was like I was a boxing opponent of Mike Tyson when he was about 20 years old. There were three different times that I pushed all my chips in and had my opponent dominated only to end up chopping the pot. For instance, I've got AJos, the flop is A, A, 8. My opponent bets and I come over the top all in. He turns over A9os. The turn is a brick and the river is an 8..... so we chop with Aces full of eights. The only other hand that I'll tell you about is the very last hand of the night.... We've actually kicked the game up from $2/$4 No Limit to $5/$10 No Limit. I have 4d, 5d on the button. The small blind bets $20 and there are no callers except me. The flop 4c, 5h, 6d. The small blind bets $20 and I call. The turn is the 5c. The small blind bets $35 and I raise all in. He quickly calls. I turn my boat over.... fives full of fours. He turns his boat over.... fives full of sixes. That or something very close happened about 4-5 times..... It's a wonder that I didn't quit poker..... again!

I only made one New Year's resolution last year..... Not to kill anybody this year. I almost blew it that night!

Jeff's last hand of the night!

It started off rather blah-say, but we're playing just three handed and I had pocket eights! Jeff bet $15 and I raised it to $35. He calls and the flop is 7, 9, 10. He bets $30 and I go all in for about $180 more. He turns over his A, 10 and calls. The turn is a magical Jack! I really didn't sign up to bad beat him, but as it turned out, I was ahead pre-flop.

Oooops... Misread Petey!

I stopped by PKR Wednesday night while the family was tied up with hockey practice and there was another very small crowd there. We were playing five handed with me, Crazy Carl, Petey, JoeBob, and Drunk Paul (I'm not sure people actually call him that, but they probably should). Everytime I've seen him he's been drunk. Probably not the best condition to be in while you're playing poker, but I guess it makes him feel invulnerable. I have noticed that when he plays, he can't determine whether he is speeding or falling off a cliff. So far, everytime I've played with him, he was falling off a cliff. He busted out three times in less than an hour and a half on borrowed money. LOL.

Petey appears to be someone who likes to be the table captain, but the role just doesn't fit for some reason. We're playing $1/$2 No Limit. This particular hand, he raised pre-flop to $12 and JoeBob, Drunk Paul and I called. I've got 7s, 9s and the flop comes 6s, 8s, 9c. I don't think you could get me out of this hand with a handgun. So Petey bets $17, JoeBob calls, Drunk Paul folds, and I raise to $34. Petey calls and JoeBob folds. The turn is 2d. Petey checks and I bet $30. Petey calls. The river is a Ks. Petey bets $45 and I call. He asks if I have a flush, I flip over the 9 high flush and he doesn't even show his cards. LOL. I should have re-raised, but I was a little concerned about a higher flush. But still it was an OK size pot.

I basically won back the $$ that I donkeyed off on Tuesday night. LOL. But I did accomplish one thing that I wanted to... before I left, Eli showed up and I got his business card to see if we can get him to plug into our weekly game. I think he'll like our group. No Drunk Pauls in our group.

Later!

Suck out night @ PKR

Well, last night was not a good night for me at PKR. Everytime I tried to get value for my hand, I got sucked out on. Twice I flopped a straight only to have a higher straight hit on the river. One of those I won anyway as Rick was trying to suck out with a lower 2 pair. Oh, then he mumbles something about my memory and my inability to remember hands correctly for the blog... LOL. Well, I can remember when he is an a##hole. Oh, but then that's all the time so that is not really a challenge is it. LOL.

It was a very non-PKR kind of night. I was one of the first to show up and by 7:30 we only had 5 players. Jason lost with high pair about 5 times and cut his losses and got out of dodge. Then, and just for Rick, in case I don't remember this one correctly...... Bite me! I wasn't at the table when it happened. The "almost" drawing dead hand of the night came with the guy who won all the chips last night and Stone. I can't remember the guys name, he's a pain, let's just call him butthead. Apparently, in my opinion, it appears that, he raised pre-flop to about $18 or so and Stone calls. The flop is A, K, brick. Butthead bets and Stone pushes all in. Butthead immediately called. Well, can you guess what they have? Butthead has pocket rockets and Stone has the case A with a K. When I came back to the table, Stoney was goney and we were playing 3 handed. We did have one other player show up and just for tricky Ricky, I'll tell you about one other suck out that he did on me.

I had pocket deuces and flopped a set, but unfortunately, Tricky Ricky was holding a suited Ad and a 4d came on the turn which was the boards 3rd diamond. The board doesn't pair and as usual, he is extremely proud of his suck out capability and bets $25. I call just to show the room that he indeed is the suck out master.

At this point, I slipped into the donkey mode trying to double up a few times and ran into Slick Rick when I pushed all in with about $40 preflop on a hand that I straddled for $7 when he had pocket 10s! And, of course, no deuce so I moon them and leave. LOL.

How's that for memory? Biatch!

Monday @ PKR....

Another $1/$2 No Limit night @ PKR. I played like a monkey. I made two perfect reads and then, paid them off. I guess I was just tired as I also mis-played my hand one time... actually forgot what my hole cards were and thought they were something that they were not... basically stupid crap. It is amazing that I only lost a little less than $100. But I did make some very nice moves as well. I got paid when a couple of my sets hit because I had made a couple of lame plays early on.

It was a full night. I got there about 6:45 and by 7:00 we had a full table and by 8:00, there were two full tables.

Probably the most memorable hand for me of the night was against 3 players. I had Qc, 10c and the flop was 8c, 9h, Jc. There was a pre-flop raise to about $12 and 3 callers. I was in late position and there was a $20 bet on the flop and one guy called in front of me so I raised to $75 and both called. The turn was brick, 5d. Both checked and I bet $45, they called. I love the Loose/Passive player. There seems to be an abundance of them, too. The river was Ac and both checked. I bet $110 and both called and turned over smaller flushes. LOL.

I do love this game!

PKR - $2/$4 No Limit Friday Night *MONSTER POT*

As described earlier, the largest pot that I've seen at PKR happened this past Friday night. It was, as you'd expect, between Elly (sp?) and Akash. Elly came in earlier and bought in for $400 and made an unbelievably bad all-in call with no hand and very little draw when he busted out and said, "I've got to go, I'll be back in about an hour!" LOL.

This isn't going to be slam Elly post, but I was in the big blind with AKos, I raised it to $15 and there were a couple of callers. The flop was 8, 8, 3.... no bets. The turn was Ah so I bet $50 and Elly pushed all in for about $40 more. I call "hoping" he wasn't slow playing an 8 or pocket 3's. He turns over A, 3 and calls two pair, Aces and threes. Oh well, I turn over A, K for two pair, Aces and eights with a King kicker. Oooops.

At any rate, the biggest pot that I've seen at PKR happened after he returned about an hour later. He had bought in for $400 a couple of times and topped it off once or twice. In this particular hand, he raises it pre-flop to $18 which seems to be standard bet in $2/$4. There are a couple of callers and Akash raised it $50 more and everyone calls. The flop is Kh, Jd, 8d. Akash bets $100 and Elly calls and there is one other caller. The turn is a Ks. Akash bets $100 and Elly pushes all in for about $900 more. Akash deliberates for what seems like an entire season of CSI:Miami but eventually makes the call with nothing but a flush draw. The river is a Queen. Elly turns over K, Q giving him a full-house Kings full of Queens. Nice! Somewhere around $2,500!

At this point, I was up about $800 but was leaving town early Saturday morning, so I just called it a night! I don't know what happened after that.... I'm sure it wasn't boring!

PKR - $2/$4 No Limit Friday Night

What an action night! I was sitting right in the middle of the table and typically like that seat because my vision isn't what it used to be.... LOL. At any rate, there's a pre-flop raise on practically every hand and although there's a full-table, you've got to play a lot of hands or just get run over. I went up a couple hundred dollars within the first hour and then tried to play more hands to trap somebody. Well, it finally worked!

I was on the button between the two most agressive players at the table, Akash and Elly Z. Elly raised it to $12 and there were about four callers. I had Qc, Js and decided to see the flop since I knew the exact cost of that view. The flop was almost perfect: Ah, Ks, 10s. Everybody checked around to me and I decided to make a little value bet of $26 and there were three callers, Elly, JoeBob and Akash. I had already determined that on the turn I was pushing all-in, regardless of the card, but was certainly hoping that it didn't pair the board or complete the flush draw. At any rate, its the 10d. It checks to me and I push in about $250 and Elly folds and JoeBob takes a long time and finally calls. Akash folds and I turn over my straight and JoeBob turns over Qs, 7s which gives him more outs than I had hoped he would have, but after taking as long as he did, I knew he didn't have a boat. So any spade on the river and he wins and any Jack and he chops. I guess $250 was a lot to call for that size pot and those outs, but he did it. Fortunately the river was a brick and took down the pot.

It was also interesting that this was basically the same flop that knocked me out of the tournament last weekend and it was with JoeBob as well. You may remember that he flopped the top set and flopped two pair, Aces and tens. Glad that this one had a different outcome!

Omaha High - Rick Get's the Monkey!

$2/$4 No Limit @ Corey's on Tuesday night and a beautiful hand!

Rick is in position with 7s, 10c, 10d, Jd. There was no pre-flop raise and probably 4-5 players. The flop is 2s, 7c, kd and Jim, in early position, bets $12 and there are two callers and Rick raises to $45. Everyone folds except Rick who only calls. The turn is the 10s and Jim checks and Rick bets $45 and Jim calls. The river is the case 10h. Jim checks and Rick bets $50. Jim takes several minutes, probably suspecting that he's beat, then comments that the pot is too big and he has to call. He turns over pocket deuces giving him the boat, 2's full of 10's. Rick then announces.... "Get the Monkey!" and turns over the quad tens!

Very nice.....

Sometimes the cards are cruel.....

$2/$4 No Limit night at Corey's. We play a mix of Hold 'em and Omaha High. This is a game where you cannot play only good cards or your lunch will get eaten. And Dave is usually the one that is seated at the main seat with silverware in hand. Last night was really not much of an exception. He played rather loose at the beginning and sucked out on me on a couple of big hands and then he played change up all night, moving from periods of betting/raising every pot to not playing any hands for extended periods. There was a big pot with Dave where I flopped the top set on a flop of Ah, Qd, 6s. I bet $21 against a $12 pot and everybody folds but Dave and he just calls and mumbles something about the monkey and a straight flush. LOL. The turn is 9s and I bet $35 and he calls. The river is another spade and he hit his 5 high flush. I'm persuaded there will be a special place in hell for Dave.... LOL.

There were two other big hands for me for the night. Both of them involved Queens. The first happened with Jim. I've got pocket J's and the flop comes 8, 8, J. Not a bad flop for wired Jacks! I check and everybody checks. The turn is 9 and Jim bets $15 and there are a couple of callers. The river is a Queen and Jim bets $17 and I push all in with another $200 but Jim only had $87 and he calls and turns over QQ. He hit the two outer on me. Again.... when to try to get value for your hand and when to take it down. It's a tough question and apparently one that I haven't figured out the answer to just yet.

The second hand happened within 1/2 hour of that hand. We're playing Omaha high now which is a little scarier when slow playing due to the additional outs that everyone has in their hands. At any rate, I've got Q, Q, 10, 7 and the flop hits me big time.... J, J, Q! Jeff is first to act and he bets about $17 and there's one other caller. The turn is 8 and Jeff bets $30 and I call. The river is a brick and Jeff bets $35 and I raise to $70 and Jeff pushes all in. Dave folds and Jeff turns over J, and the case Queen. Talk about a cold, cruel deck!

At any rate, Dave was the big winner last night. Not sure what he won, but he cashed out over $1,100. I played all night and broke exactly even. Sometimes the cards are cruel....

Monday @ PKR.....

I dropped by PKR last evening to play a couple of hours while my wife and son were to be tied up with hockey practice. This is actually turning into a weekly habit for me. There were a couple of significant hands that warrant a post.

The first was basically the same hand from Sunday. The game is $1/$2 No Limit and I was in the big blind and there was a $6 raise. I've got Ac, 10c and call. The flop is 10, 10, 7. I check hoping that someone bets. Everyone checks. The turn is a J. I was really hoping for a card that wouldn't give straight or flush options. The small blind bets $13 and I raise to $45 (approximately the size of the pot). No one calls and the turn is the case 10. Oh, to know when to slow play.

The other hand happened a little later and I was in early position again with pocket nines. There was a $12 raise and there were a couple of callers. The flop was 10, 10, 3. (Yep, the 10's were hot)! I lead out with a $35 bet and only got 1 caller, Nate. The turn was a brick and I checked and Nate checked. The river was another brick and I checked. Nate asked, "How much will you call?" and tossed in $20. I guess I could have taken that as he was hoping that I would meaning that he had the nuts and how much can he bet that I would put in the pot. But, in fact, the way that I interpreted it was how much do I have to bet to get you to go away? Well, $20 wasn't the number. I threw in the $20 and he turned over A, K and I took the pot with 10's and 9's.

There was a huge crowd there last night. I was there before 7 and by 7 we had a full table. Before 8, there were two full tables.

Why I love and hate re-buy tournaments!

Let me give you a great example.... Saturday's tournament at PKR, the very first hand I get wired 10's and the guy under the gun, Jason, raises the $25/$50 blinds to $400 and I re-raise to $1,000. He pushes all in and I call. He's got pocket J's and of course flops a set, turns a boat and rivers a higher boat. So there you go.... both reasons in one example.

PKR - $100/$20 No Rebuys

Well, we started rather short handed with only 8 players. I had been playing pretty conservatively but took a couple of pots. After the break, JoeBob, who will raise or call with practically any two cards raises the $100/$200 blinds an additional $800. I peer down at Ac, 10c and in an uncharacteristic style, call. The flop is A, K, 10. I immediately move all in assuming that JoeBob has a medium pair or an A, no kicker. Oooops. He turns over AA. I'm pretty much drawing dead to runner/runner 10's or I could chop the pot with Q, J. No such luck. So I get to go see the Chronicles of Narnia which turned out to be pretty good.

I'll update when I find out who won the event.

PKR - $50/$5 with Re-buys

I finished 2nd in the tourney today and we chopped rather than play heads up. The hand of the day for me came while we were still in the re-buy period. I had already been drawn out on twice and re-bought for $20/$5 both times. I'm in the small blind when the blinds are $50/$100 and Randy in position 4 raises $250 on top and Brian in position 6 calls. I am getting pretty tired of getting pushed around so I call with Qc, Js and the flop comes 9h, 10c, Qh. I hit the top pair with an open ended straight draw so I immediately push all-in with about $5,000 in chips. Randy is covered and he calls and Brian is covered and he calls too. Care to guess what they have? I went from excited to depressed in a matter of seconds. I thought that I had the best hand and was trying to push out the flush draws. Randy turns over 10d, 10s and Brian turns over Qd, Qs. Neither had hearts but both flopped sets! It is amazing how many times the cards reward the agressive player and the turn straighted all that out when the Kh hits giving me the straight and the river doesn't pair the board so I triple up and go on to finish 2nd in the tournament to a rather flustered Jason.

He played a great tournament and was the short stack with 5-6 players at the table for about an hour. He must have gone all in 10 times or more. He did double up on Quinlan when Jason's big slick off suit spiked a King against Quinlan's QQ. Quinlan wasn't happy.

There was one other monster hand that Jason got just about as lucky as one person can get.... he calls Randy's all in. Randy has AQos and Jason has A3os. The flop is Q, 3, 5. The turn is a 7 and the river is the two outer.... 3.

So I guess we'll go give the $120 a shot on Sunday!

The power of 7h, 2h

Have you ever been looking at cards and just KNOW that they are going to hit. You don't know exactly how, but you just KNOW it. Well, I've seen it happen quite a few times, but two of them really stand out.

Once was a couple months back at Corey's game. Bryce folded pocket deuces to a big bet and he showed them me before he mucked them. I immediately looked at him and said, "you know they're going to hit like a banchee, right?" Well, the flop.... the other two deuces. LOL.

This past week at Corey's, I'm near the button is $2/$4 No Limit and have a look at 7h, 2h. There's about a $12 raise and I show them to Rick and tell him, I know they're going to hit. But I do the right thing and muck them. You guessed it, the flop was 7c, 7d, 7s. The raiser immediately pushed all in.

Food doesn't even taste the same anymore.

No Prisoners.....

Well, I've learned my lesson and I am not happy about the cost of the lesson. There have been quite a few times over the past months at the poker table when my "good heart" has let someone slide for the full cost/value of my poker hand. It could be any one of countless reasons that I have done it. They look pitiful, their car is in the shop, they're between jobs, their cat has diarrhea, they're a good friend. I could go on, but you get the point. I get the monster hand and instead of getting paid, I let them have the free ride and sometimes even chop the pot with them only to have them a little later in the night grab me by the back of my neck and with no kiss, no dinner and no lubricant.... well, you get the picture. LOL. No more..... if you see my cards, you'll be paying the price.

Oh, and by the way, don't be surprised if I don't get excited about it.

You know who you are.....

There are a couple of guys who play in games with me on a fairly regular basis who, let's just say, are not on my list of favorite people.... which is probably OK, since I am pretty certain they don't go play poker to spend time with me. I don't necesarily understand their disdain for me, but I can't see how they live with themselves. LOL. At any rate, we all probably have one or two of these guys and everytime they're in a pot, it makes you want to play the hand even more and so you spend an extra second or two trying to make the 7-2os look powerful enough to come back over the top! You know, you'd rather bad beat these guys out of $2 than win a $100 pot from anyone else. I don't really know how they go about getting to the top of this ever-so-popular list, but they have found their way to the top!

Last night at PKR I was fortunate enough to have them both at the same table. A veritable dream come true only to be cut short by family obligations. I love earning pots against these guys. Just before I left I entered a hand against the weaker of the two players with 9-4os playing $1/$2 No Limit when he raised to $12 pre-flop. There was one other caller and flop came 10, 9, 3 with two diamonds. He bet $16 on the flop and everyone folded to me. The turn was an Ah and he bet $23, I called. The river was a 7d and he bet $23 and I raised $75 more. He folded. My night complete... I cashed out and went to meet my lovely wife and son for dinner! Life is grand!

WSOP - My Biggest Error!

Yep. I can point right at it. Thursday night at the cash game in the poker room. It's not mis-playing a hand or bluffing at the wrong pot, it's leaving the table. I'm probably up about $400 and most of that had come within the last 20 minutes. I need to make a phone call and get up and instead of leaving my chips on the table, decide to take them with me and go back to the room for a moment. Definitely my biggest mistake of the week!

When I get up, Jeff B, moves from his seat to the one that I am vacating and when I returned about an hour or so later.... he was up about $1500! He definitely was a card rack and playing well along with it. And he even got a bigger payout when I returned. He had pocket JJ in late position and the flop was a JJ7. There was a guy to his immediate left betting into him with pocket 99. The turn was a 9 and that only increased the guys betting ferver. Jeff smooth called him both times. When the river brick hits, the guy makes a bet and Jeff pushes all in and the guy calls with about $500 or so in front of him. What a dream come true!

So.... Jeff says "Get the monkey!"

WSOP Dec 2

Day 2 was better than day 1 for me in terms of the tourney. Same tournament details.... $500/$60 and the details were traveling around the group. There were 299 entries making a total payout of $149,500 and that they would be paying 28 positions. Unfortunately for me, prone wasn't one of them. LOL.

I had AA get cracked after 2 hours and I did get down to 1 individual chip two different times. At the dinner break, I had about $3,100 in chips and was one of the shorter stacks remaining but at that point there were only about 60 people left I knew it was going to be tough for me to survive through 30 people with the blindsand the antes going up rapidly.

There were a couple of very interesting hands that happened during Day 2. I had the same cards in the same position two different times with almost identical board cards, but with different outcomes. At one point, I had rebuilt my chip stack to about $2,100 and had 86os in the big blind. Everyone folds and small blind limps in. I check and the flop is 8, 6, 6. The small blind checks and I bet $500. He calls and the turn is Q. He checks and I check. The river is a 9 and he goes all in having hit his open ended draw. I took that pot with my boat. The second happened a little later when again, I had 86os. I'm the big blind and everyone folds to the little blind who limps in. The flop is 6, 4, 4. I bet $500 and he calls. The turn is Q and we both check. The river is an 8 and the small blind bets $1,000. I knew he had me beat, but I called and he had hit his open ended with the 5, 7 as well. I knew that I should have bet the turn, but just checked because of the over card. Dang, I hate poor play on my part and that was one of the weakest hands of my week.

The hand that crippled me Day 2 was another giant suck out. I had A-10 on the button and bet $500 with $100/$200 blinds. I get one out of position caller. The flop is Ah, 10d, 5s. I bet $1,000 and he moves all in. I call and he turns over A, 5. He rivers a 5.

The hand that busted me out was of course, AA. I pushed all in with only about $1,500 left in chips and had two callers, KJ and KQ. I like it! But unfortunately for me, the flop hit everybody but me with JQ7 and the turn was another J. So there you go.

Back to the cash game! I did meet a great guy there. His name is Mike Hefner and he was actually seated with Jeff B in the first $500 tourney and Jeff pointed me out to him and he introduced himself to me. He is a purple heart recipient withthe military in Special Forces out of Fayetteville. He is recovering from a gunshot wound that he received in July in Iraq. He's still in physical therapy now and will be for a while. He was on a rush and I when I sat down at his table, he had about $3,000 in front of him from a $400 buy-in. I am now including him on our weekly poker game at ITX. I played for about 7 hours only to break even at the table. And some of that was my fault from playing 2 particular hands very soft. I hate it when I do that.

All in all though, I really enjoyed the trip and I did learn a lot. The primary thing that I learned is that I don't believe that I'll play in the $300 or the $500 buy-in tourneys again. I believe that my money would be better invested in the $1000 or even the $10,000 buy-in events in order to weed out some of the poorer quality players. I'll be back!

WSOP Dec 1

Well, my first day was..... expensive! I flew into Philadelphia to save some $$ on the flight. The flight to Philly was $100 and the flight into AC was $300. I was a little late arriving so I had no time to make any arrangements for the trip over so I had to just grab a cab. The price, $175. I told him that if I paid him $175, we'd have to play hold 'em in the car on the way over. He dropped the price to $150, but that was still more than I wanted to pay. Yes, I guess I'm cheap by nature. At any rate, I arrive in time and actually go through the casino at the Showboat on my way down to the tournament area. I stopped off long enough to play a few hands of one of my favorite casino games, 3 Card Poker. It's pretty much all luck and apparently I caught it at the right time as I plopped down $75 and hit a 30 to 1 payout with trip 10s. Now we're talking.

Today's tourney is $500/$60 No Limit Hold 'em with no rebuys. We get $1500 in chips with blinds starting at $25/$50 which I believe too few chips for this buy-in. In talking to others later, I wasn't the only one who felt that way. It almost felt like a shoot-out.

I get to the table and unfortunately didn't last long. I got pocket AA and pre-flop got all-in against QQ and JJ only to have the JJ hit a set on the river. Ouch! I said, "Damn, that's a suck out just like back home!" The table got a good laugh but I was pretty much crippled. I got JJ a couple hands later only to run into QQ that held up for him.So.... Off to the cash game. I met some great people there. It is funny though that there seemed to be a lot of red-necks there. It was an extremely small poker room that seemed to get very hot and stayed that way. I played at the $2/$5 table and while I didn't win a ton, I stayed up the entire night. I finally cashed out around 3AM and was up about $300. That plus my trips at the 3 Card Poker table basically paid for the trip and day one.

Off to the WSOP Circuit Event @ Showboat in Atlantic City

Well, I'm doing it. I'm leaving first thing Thursday morning for Atlantic City and the WSOP Circuit Event. A couple of friends are already there and I plan to hook up with them and hopefully the three of us take AC and the WSOP by storm. That's sounds really good, but this being my first WSOP event, I'm all about learning.

Don't get me wrong, I always think positively about me and my abilities and my luck. So I am expecting big things, but I'm also expecting to learn alot as well.

To those of you who I asked to go..... it won't be the same without you so let's plan the next one together!

I will be keeping a daily log and if I can get to the BLOG site, I'll be updating it regularly. If I can't get to the internet, I'll update it immediately upon my return.

Wish me luck!

Jeff B @ Harrah's WSOP Circuit Update...

While at our weekly poker game at Corey's, we received a call from Jeff B that he had JUST missed making the final table in the $500/$60 No Limit Hold'em tourney at the Showboat in Atlantic City. He did cash however for about $1500. Nice job, Jeff!

I'll edit later with more details if I can get them.

Monday @ PKR.....

I stopped by PKR last night to sit in on a few hands. I arrived around 6:55 and there was almost a full table there waiting for the game to begin. By 7:10, there was a full table and we were well into it. About 7:20 I received a call from the local police department in reference to some troubled teens who had been causing some problems in our neighborhood. Their parents had actually handled it and unfortunately the kids were arrested on some pretty serious charges. So, here I am in the middle of Raleigh NC (where gambling is illegal) in the middle of a poker game talking to a police officer on my mobile. I look down @ 4,4 trying to be witty and pay attention to the nice police officer on the phone. The flop comes and there's a small bet and re-raise before it gets to me. I take a quick glance at the board and realize the flop is 2,4,5! Touchdown! Excuse me officer, but I need to go all-in.... So I casually push my stack to the middle of the table and get one caller. Not a bad way to double up as it turns out.

Jeff B @ Harrah's WSOP Circuit Update...

He played in the $330 buy-in tourney on Monday and there were approximately 750 players and unfortunately he busted out at about 140 when they were paying about 40 places. The hand that busted Jeff out was (horn's blaring) AA... go figure. He had about 6500 chips and was raised so he re-raised all in. The other guy had about 4500 chips and A-10 off-suit and hit a four card straight. A few hands later he was the button and looked down at AQ and with only a couple of limpers pushed all-in and one of the blinds had AK. So there you go.....

He is currently still in the $560 buy-in tourney. There were approximately 250 players at the beginning and both he and Jason G are still alive. Jeff has about 11,000 in chips while Jason has around 8,400. The average chip count remaining is about $7,500. Total payout for this event will be around $125,000 to about 18 places. There are only about 50-60 players still in this tourney. Come on guys! Make the final table...... YOU CAN DO IT!

By the way, I'm seriously considering going up for at least the Thursday and Friday events if anyone is interested in going up with me, just let me know and we'll try to work something out.

Back to the point.... good luck Jeff and Jason! Play solid and good luck!

World's Shortest Fairy Tale

Once upon a time, a guy asked a girl, "Will you marry me?" The girl said "NO!" and the guy lived happily ever after. He went fishing, hunting, played poker and golf, drank beer and farted whenever he wanted.
The End

I know this really doesn't have anything to do with poker, but I liked it!

Jeff B @ Harrah's WSOP Circuit Update...

He has played in a cash game and a Sit-n-go and is up $2600! He's going to give me a full update later in the day! He is scheduled to play in a $330 buy-in tourney and the rumor is there are 750 players. They're experiencing a registration melt-down right now.

Keep checking in! Good Luck Jeff! We're pulling for you!

And then there were QUADS!

Sunday night @ PKR after the tourney, we're playing $1-$2 No Limit and I get to watch as one of my new best friends and poker buddies, Rick, had a three-way pot with Michael and Stone. There was a smallish pre-flop raise of about $12. Rick had pocket 3-3, Michael had A-4, Rick has 3-3, and we never saw Stone's hand. Flop comes A-3-6 with two clubs. Michael is first to act and bets $16. Rick raises to $40, Stone calls. Michael asked if Rick had a hand, and Rick said "not yet." Turn comes a 4, giving Michael two pair. Michael checks, Rick bet $40 and both of them call. At this point there's probably around $280 in the pot. The river is the case 3. Michael checks, Rick goes all-in for around $140 or so. Stone folds and Michael calls, thinking he's either bluffing with a busted flush draw, or has A-K or A-Q which would have given Michael a higher two-pair. Quads scoop a nice little pot. We've really got to get a monkey at PKR.

I assume Stone either had the busted flush draw, or an ace with no kicker. Somebody.... get the monkey!

How can you call a big bet pre-flop with 5-8 suited?

That's what the new guy at PKR asked me..... How can you call a big bet pre-flop with 5-8 suited? Well, he had recently stayed in with a garbage hand to a large raise that I made pre-flop and took down the pot by hitting one of them with trips. So it was lesson time at PKR. Again... $1-$2 No Limit. I look down at 5d, 8d. The new guy is in the big blind and after about 7 limpers including me, he raised it to $16. There were 4 callers and I thought that this could be a great opportunity to get lucky so I called. The flop comes 6s, 7c, 9s. Not the nuts, but I loved it! The new guy bets $25 and there is one caller and I call. The turn is a 2d and our new guy bets $50 and I'm the only caller. The river is a Qh and my new best friend goes all in for about $120 more. I immediately call and turn over the 2nd nut straight. He shows his aces and immediately requires therapy and help with his breathing. I love this game!

Now I've got a buy a truck from Jim.....

Well, Sunday night after the $120 buy-in tournament, we're playing the cash game, $1-$2 No Limit and there are 10 players. I look down at 9, 9. There's a $12 raise and about 4 callers including me. The flop is 4, 4, 2. I'm now thankful to the raise for getting out most that would have had a 4. Jim bets $2 and I raise to $20. Jim is a cautious player and announces pre-turn that he'll check the turn. The turn is a 7 and I bet $65. Jim calls and everyone else folds. Jim announces again that he checks the river. The river is (horns blaring) a 9. I bet $75 and he calls. I immediately begin apologizing because I am pretty certain that he has a larger pair and I probably rivered him. And of course, he shows the cowboys. Now I've got to buy my next truck from him.

My memory sometimes is excellent!

You may remember a few weeks back "Two "questionable" beats in one weekend!" - well, revenge is sometimes slow in coming, but it does come.... usually. This past Friday night... we'll call it FRIGHT NIGHT at PKR. This is the night that the crazies come out, $2-$4 No Limit with max buy-in of $400. Well, I had Ah, 10d and the guy that beat me in that hand with 6, 6, 7 from the "questionable beats" weekend was in the hand. LOL. The flop was Ad, Qd, 10c. I know it was risky, but I bet $55 into about a $60 pot. The guy that busted me out of the tourney re-raised me $200 which was exactly what I had remaining. Sounds suspiciously like he was trying to isolate me. LOL. Well, he got his wish... everyone folded to me and after due deliberation, I called. He turned over one of the two hands that I suspected, QQ. So I've got top and bottom pair against the middle set. And as fate would have it, I hit the back door flush with runner-runner diamonds! Yee haw!

It was definitely "Get the Monkey" night for me!

Well, I've seen others run into cards like this, but this is the first time that it has been me. My second hand of the night I look down at pocket 9's. The flop is 9, 10, K. I bet $25 and Jeff raises about $35. I push all in and Jeff calls with K, 10 against my set. I like my position, but he could have had worst cards and it would have been ok with me. The turn is a brick and the river is the case 9! Get the Monkey! And that was just the beginning.

I'm pretty certain that I had quads 4 times and the 2 straight flushes to the K twice. If you can put an "unfortunately" in that sentence, I believe that first hand with Jeff is the only time that I was able to get all my chips in and get called.

One of the straight flushes came on the flop when I had Kc, 10c. The flop was 9c, Jc, Qc which is the way that I would want it so that the Ac could still pull the nut flush. Mike, a new guy to this game and a friend of Jeff's, bet into me on the flop and the turn, but cooled his jets on the river and I made a small bet and he called. The second straight flush came a little later with the identical cards. The flop was 9c, Qc and who gives a crap what the third card was... LOL. At any rate, Mike bets at me about 1/2 the pot. I call and everyone else folds. The turn is a brick and Mike checks. The river is the Jc! Wow! What a card. Mike checks and I bet a small bet that anybody would have to call and sure enough, he did!

By this time, anytime I was in a hand and the board paired, everyone, including me, expected me to have quads!

There was one big pot that I took down again Dave and Jim. We were playing Omaha Hi and I've got As, Ac, 3c, 4c. The flop is Ah, Qc, Jc. I bet $30 and Dave goes all in with about $75 more. Jim calls and I go all in with about $230 more. Jim folds. Dave turns over QQ with a flush re-draw. (Jim had pocket jakes). The turn is another club and Dave is dead to the case Q.

Still did OK for the night, but I am a greedy cuss and I wanted it all! Or as Jim stated at one point last night.... "I'd trade it all for a little bit more!"

AQ vs KQ - A cruel hand for Jeff!

Well... poker night at Corey's! Late in the evening and I've got pocket J's. There's a small raise by Jeff and Jim and I call. The flop is Q, Q, 10. I was the button and Jeff, being first to act, bets $30 and Jim raised $80. I was folding so fast I couldn't be clocked. Jeff immediately moves all in with about $500 in front of him and Jim quickly calls with a little over $300. Jeff shows K, Q and Jim shows A, Q. Jim takes down a huge pot when the board doesn't pair and the A plays.

The only good news for Jeff is that since he is going to AC next week for a tournament, it's best to get those kind of beats out of the way!

What a flop!

A while back I was playing online in $100 buy-in, No Limit Hold'em game and while in the big blind with 5d, 7d, no one raised, but there are 5 limpers. I made a small raise, just because I could. The flop is 4d, 6d, 8d. You got it, straight flush. I check, a guy bets $10 and everyone calls. The next card is brick and the same guy bets $25 and there are 3 callers including my smooth call. The river is an 8c. The small blind and I check and the guy to my immediate left goes all in with about $130 and 2 others including the small blind go all in on top. Fortunately I was the big stack and had everyone covered. Two of the guys flopped flushes including one with the nut flush and one with the second nut flush, the 8c gave the small blind a full house. It just doesn't get any better than that... for me anyways!

I'd like to apologize to A-K....

For those of you who read some of my early posts, you may remember A-K, my mortal enemy... well, last night they made some huge steps towards making up.

What is the perfect flop for AK? Yep, I've had it happen to me once before, AAA! We were playing $5/$10 Limit Hold'em and I was the button. It was perfect! The pot reached near maximum and I only raised or bet one time. The other guys raised and re-raised me right to victory! What a dream! It could only have been better in no limit with a lot of chips on the table.

Last night was equally as impressive. I am the button and look down at Ah, Ks, 5x, 4x in $1/$2 No Limit Omaha High Only. The flop is ..... Ad, Ah, Kh. Unfortunately for Jon, he had a big piece of it. He bets $40. I smooth call. The turn is a brick. He bets $60 and I call. The river is another brick and he tosses in his last $25 chip and of course, I call and flip over the nuts. He turns over KK. How cruel the poker gods can be!

That is truly a cold deck!

Get the monkey!

Well, one of my favorite poker buddies started what has turned into a grand tradition at his weekly Tuesday night poker game.... Everytime someone wins a hand with Aces full or better (Aces full house, quads or straight flush), he pulls out his toy monkey that screams a ridiculous monkey sound when pressed or flipped and, depending on the power of the hand, lets him scream over and over again celebrating the big hand.

Well, last night was "Monkey Night!" He came out four times! 3 sets of quads and 1 straight flush! And I didn't have a single one of them.

I would strongly recommend a practice like this for any home game. It is exciting when it happens. It is always funny. And there's nothing quite like the feeling of saying.... "Get the Monkey!"

All nighter.... 8:30PM till 9:00AM

What can I say! I know I shouldn't have done it, but it was one ugly night. I kept trying to get the most value from my hands and kept ending up with the second best hand. One hand, as an example, I've got J, Q and the flop comes J, J, Q. I check and he bets, I call. The turn is an A, I check, he bets, I call. The river is a brick. I check, he bets, I call. He turns over A, J.

A little later... Omaha 8. I am the big blind and look down at K, K, Kc, 10c. I laugh and the flop comes K, 9, 3. I make a crazy over-bet to push them out. There are three callers. The turn is a 6 and makes a possible flush draw. I bet about 1/2 the pot and get one caller. The river completes the flush (not clubs, unfortunately) and Rick pushes all in. I lay it down, but I absolutely KNOW that he was bluffing.

The crowd kept thinning out and about 3:00AM, its just me, Rick and Jeff. Both these guys are up big and I am down big. Jeff finally decides to leave and cashes out about $900, plus several hundred that he's loaned out. We shame him into buying back in and he loses $200 and leaves. So around 4, its just me and Rick. I have about $200 in front of me and he has about $1200 in front of him. I slowly build my stack back up to around $500 and the big hand hits. I've got pocket sixes and the floppy comes 6, 4, 2 rainbow. I bet about $25 and he calls. The turn is a brick and I bet about $50 and he goes all in. I look over and I've got about $420 remaining and I make some explicative and I call. He immediately realizes that he made a big mistake. I don't even remember what he had, but he didn't have many outs on the river and I dragged the pot. I know exactly how he felt, as I had been making those plays all night and losing. So now the chips have done a complete exchange. I have about $1200 or so he has less than $100. We continue to play for a couple more hours and he cashes out for $170 and I had made a miraculous comeback!

Till next time!

Poker etiquette... 101

You tell me, what should happen to a player's cards if he voluntarily shows them to another player at the table. I do it some times as I am about to muck them to someone who has already folded, but never do I do it and then continue the hand. It happened on Tuesday in no limit hold'em. I flopped the top set with a pot of about $12. I immediately bet about $16. Jeff shows his hand to Dave and says that I know you couldn't get away from this and then calls my $16 bet. I wasn't happy. And was even less happy when he hit the open ended straight and took down the pot.

I think that this is different from when a player shows his cards to everyone at the table. There are a couple of guys that I play with regularly who will bet and then show one or both of their cards to discourage others from calling and attempting to draw out on them. Once he flips his card(s), it is then the responsibility of the others at the table to surpress any comments or emotions about his exposed cards. I am not certain of what the official poker rules are pertaining to exposing your cards.

Your thoughts/comments would be appreciated. I believe that if you willingly show your cards to ANYONE, they should be considered dead, mucked, folded. Let me know what you think.

Cold deck/Cold Heart... Brain Dead!

Why do we call when we know that we're beat? Why put more money in the pot when you absolutely know that your opponent has you beat? I've given it some thought over the past 48 hours because it happened to me a couple of times on Tuesday at my regular weekly $2/$4 No Limit Hold'em/High Omaha game. I flopped bottom set to a guy that raised pre-flop. The flop was A, 6, 2..... at first I thought maybe he had A,K, but when he bet, I read him with AA. He bet $40 and I re-raised all-in. I KNEW he had the AA, but pushed anyway.

Well, it happens. I guess I would rather that happen than what happened to me in a tourney recently. I had KK and eventually pushed all-in pre-flop. There are 3 callers. AK, QQ and JJ. Talk about a cold deck! At any rate, the flop is three bricks and the turn and the river were both queens.

Oh well.... And I'm ok with a cold deck. It's poker. It happens.

Tourney @ PKR

This past weekend was sort of a heavy hockey schedule for my son's bantam hockey team so my tournament play was limited. I typically try to play in the $100 buy-in tourney @ PKR but my son's hockey game in Greensboro prevented me from being able to play in that one so I opted to play in the $55 buy-in with re-buys. I had played really well and made it to the final table and had accumulated chips to where I was 2nd in chips. In about two hands, I busted out. The big one happened when I flopped 2nd pair with the nut flush re-draw. The guy pushed all-in and I called his $4000. He had top pair and a crappy kicker and the flush didn't come. There were now about 7 people remaining and I made an offer to the short stack (he had about $6000 in chips) to let me buy his stack for $100. He accepted and I enjoyed one of the rarities in life.... I actually got to knock out of the tournament the guy who had just knocked me out. It was worth it just for that.... LOL. At any rate, I ended up finishing second and got a pretty nice return on my re-buy. The final hand playing heads up, I had QQ and raised to $4000 pre-flop. The big stack (around $45000) calls and the flop comes Ah, Ad, 5d. He pushes all-in and I knew that he didn't have an ace so I called. I was right, he was on the diamond draw and hit it on the river. That would have been the tournament turn-around. I would have jumped from about $15000 to about $30000 and we would have been almost tied, but for some reason, the poker gods continue to punish me by letting people out-draw me.

We finished up around 6:30 and my family was going to the Carolina Hurricanes game at 7PM without me so I decided to play in the cash game. I ended up cashing out about $450 up.... I like it!

4+ Hours of "heads up" Hold 'em

Well, we had our first soft attendance poker night in quite some time last night. Until around 10, there were four people playing $1/$2 No Limit. Jeff was having a rough night and finally cashed out around the 10 o'clock timeframe. Dave was whining about the wife's good graces and only played a few hands after Jeff left, but he was nice enough to lose all the chips in front of him on his way out the door. So there we were, Rick and me. We played "heads up" with $5 antes for a little over 4 hours. It's typically not something that I enjoy, but between friends the competition and the banter was alot of fun. It is especially fun if you end up with more chips than you had when you started the heads up play. It wasn't a huge victory but I was catching cards for a while. Normally it is Rick catching the cards, so it was very nice for a change to actually draw out on him. All in all, it was alot of fun.

For you whimps that didn't show up, there's always next time!

Revenge! AND one of the most entertaining poker nights in a while!

There were a couple of big stories from last night @ Corey's.... the "funniest" hand of the evening.... The game is No Limit Hold 'em, $2/$4 blinds. I am in the big blind and pick up pocket 5's. There is a pre-flop raise to about $12 and about 4 people call. The flop is K, 6, 5 and I think I'm pretty good but immediately check. Two more checks and Corey bets $58. It folds around to me and I ask ... "what did you do, flop a set?" to which Corey answers, "Yes, these 5s have been hot for me all night!" It was all that I could do not to fall over.... I'm sure you've already done the math, but unless there are five 5's in the deck, he is lying his arse off. Well I play it soft the rest of the way and he backs off his betting. The table had a great laugh over that one. Although he did muck, he shared with us that he had pocket 9's.

You may remember "Rick" from the tournament over the weekend "Two questionable beats" where he busted me out when I put him all in with one card to come and he was on a flush draw and hit it. (By the way, I understand that he went on to win that event). Well, we were playing $2/$4 No Limit Omaha High when I picked up Qc, Qd, 10h, 9h while in the big blind. There is a $4 raise and everyone called. The flop is Qs, 7h, Jd. There's about $30 in the pot so I bet $26. 3 people call me. The turn is Jh so I bet the same $26 and get 2 callers. The river is a lovely little spade and I immediately check. Everyone checks around to Rick and he bets $75. I glance at Dave and he is already fondling his fold cards so I raise another $100 and Rick calls with the second nut flush. Life is good.

There was another CRAZY hand... $2/$4 No Limit Omaha High and somehow almost everyone is all-in. I only had about $70 in front of me so it was pretty easy when it got back to me and there were approximately 7 players in that with ANY cards, I'm playing. I look down at at Jh, Jc, 7d, 5d so I call all-in and away we go. (I've only seen this sort of thing one other time and it was playing on Party Poker with play money!) I don't remember the exact order in which they came, but there were 2 diamonds on the flop and another on the turn and 7 high diamond flush "took 'er down." Its not often that you can multiply your money times seven in one hand!

There were two more hands than involved me and Dave that warrant telling. The first was about an hour or so into the game. I look down at pocket Queens. I'm in early position and Dave raises $15 on top. There are a couple of callers so I push all in and Dave is the only caller. He turns over As, 9s and cracks the ladies when he flops a 9 and turns an A. The other hand was also hold'em and I get Qc, 10c. The flop is 9d, Jd, Kh. I check and Dave bets $25 and I push all in with another $175 or so and he calls and flips over his two diamonds. Guess what, no diamond comes and I take it down.

Two "questionable" beats in one weekend!

Well, it definitely wasn't my weekend on the tournament front. Saturday I was playing in a $55 no limit hold'em tourney with re-buys through the first hour. After the re-buy period was over I got AA..... the blinds are $100/$200 and I raise $500 on top. I get one caller and the flop comes 6, 6, 7. I bet $700 and he basically pushes me all in. I call and he turns over the 5h, 6h.... and of course no additional Aces show up. Then on Sunday, $120 buy-in, I'm in the big blind and the flop comes Kh, 7d, 2d. I've got suited Ks, Js. The small blind bets $500 and I call (I knew then I should have pushed all in). At any rate, the next card is a brick and Rick bets $700, I re-raise all-in and he mumbles something about "you've got me, but I've got to call because of how much is in the pot".... he turns over Ad, 3d and of course catches the nut flush on the river. Life sucks. LOL.

But tonight is revenge! I'll post it tomorrow.

Wait! You were slow playing me?

Well, it had to happen. $1/$2 No Limit Omaha 8. 7 players at the table and typically the entire table limps to the flop. The flop was J, 2, 2 - I don't remember the exact betting sequence, sorry... age. I've got A, 2, 4, 5. I am certain that Jeff bet. He's always very aggressive. I called and there's one other caller. The turn yields a 3. Now I've got a set and the nut low re-draw. Jeff bets again and I call and there's one other caller. (Sound of trumpets blaring!) - The river is my fourth 2.... I check, Rick checks and Jeff bets $25. I re-raise $25 and Rick folds and Jeff calls. Turns out he flopped the nut boat with pocket J's. Yep. I thought that I was slow playing him and I was behind all the way to the river!

I love it when a plan comes together.

Why do the poker gods reward stupidity?

Last night, PKR, $1/$2 no limit... two young guys enter, I've seen them before and have never been impressed. I'm playing a little conservative, but more aggressive than normal since we're a little short-handed. I look down to AA so I raise to $17. One of the two guys calls and the flop comes Qh, 7c, 2s. I bet $20, he re-raises $20 and I call. You got it, he flopped 2 pair, Q,2. Don't get me wrong, I want this guy to call with that for the rest of his life. I just don't want him to get rewarded for it.

A little later, similar circumstances. I've got AA and raise pre-flop. The flop comes A, J, 4. I bet $25 and he pushes all-in. I call of course and he turns over J, 4. Unless he has a gun, he's not taking any of the cash out of this pot.

Oh well. Let's see what happens tonight......

Have you ever flopped the nuts, and then lose?

Of course you have -or- you're not playing much poker.... LOL. At any rate, my game Thursday night @ my office. We typically play hold 'em, but the dealer button gets to pick. The hand is, are you ready for this, $1-$2 no-limit, Omaha 8.... talk about treacherous! At any rate, I've got 10h, Jh, As, 2s and the flop comes 7, 8, 9 rainbow. There are about 6 players that see the flop so I bet a little more than is in the pot and everyone folds except Corey and he raises all-in. I put him on a set or either two-pair, but you have to call when you're sitting on the absolute best hand, right? At any rate, I call and he turns over 2 pair and rivers the boat. Yep, there you go..... so now I steam for about 15 minutes, but get over it. I didn't bring a lot of cash with me and after getting bad beat and quartered several times was running quite low. But I managed to re-build and cashed out for a little over $700. Not a bad evening, but it could have been better! Next time....

Jeff's Poker Stars - Royal Flush!

This was such a great story that I thought that it warranted a post rather than just a comment. Have a read.....

Surgesilk said...
While not technically a bad beat... it is a heart breaking tale. While playing on Poker Stars today in a 1 table $50+5 NL HE tourney...I call a smallish preflop raise holding Kc,Jc. The flop comes Ac,Qc,10c. Yep. I flopped the ultimate nuts. As two people bet into the pot ahead of me, my gonads grow tight with prospect of taking down a huge pot. As I am about to call (just call mind you, hell maybe someone will make a smaller straight flush!), my connection goes down... a Time Warner repair person outside on the box disconnected me because a previous tech put my line into the test slot...whatever that means. I am down for 5 minutes while he checks to make sure I am not an illegal hookup. My hand gets folded... where is the justice in this world? That was my first flopped Royal Flush ever.

For Dave... My AA vs. his 4h - 8h

You have to understand that Dave... well, he's no mere mortal. He loves to gamble, he loves to bet and he'll play suited connectors like pocket rockets. Well, this particular hand took place in August of 2005 at a local home game. The game is no-limit Texas hold 'em and the blinds are $2/$4 with a max buy-in of $200. I'm in early position and look down to find AA... I raise to $16 - happy just to take the blinds but then there's Dave..... everyone else folds and the action gets to Dave who is in late position. Dave raises to $40. Everyone folds between me and Dave and I re-raise All-In, approximately another $180 or so - perfectly happy to take the $$ that are in the pot right then. Well, the action gets to Dave and he turns over 4h-8h and calls. Apparently the pot odds made sense. The flop produces 2 hearts and he rivers the flush. What can I say! Dave is definitely... the Man!

I almost quit poker that night... at least till the next time.

A-K, my mortal enemy....

I played on Sunday in the $120 buy-in tourney at my favorite local poker establishment and was still about even for the day when we consolidated to one table. I had accumulated about $6,000 in chips (we started with $4,000). I drew Ah/Kh and while it looks beautiful, I've lost a lot of tourneys with AK so I made a small raise of about $500 (blinds were $100/$200) rather cautiously from early position. As it gets near the blinds, another guy, Ed Flush, pushed all in and he has me covered by just a couple of hundred $$. I am pretty certain that I have him dominated so I call. He turns over A/10 off-suit and looks beat already. The flop comes K, J, 7. Now I'm even in better position as his only outs are a Q for a straight or runner/runner tens. Unforunately the turn is a Q and he now has me dominated. My only hope is a 10 to split with him on the river and that doesn't happen. So I had get up and tell him what a wonderful play he made and move over to the cash game table..... Next time.....

a Canadian bad-beat, eh?

Well, this past week I went to Canada for our annual sales & management meeting. We were staying at the White Oaks Resort at Niagara on the Lake. While there, I slipped out one night and went over to the local Casino to see what it was like. I sat down at a no limit table with $5/$5 blinds and minimum buy-in of $100/max $400. I didn't do very well, but it was fun to watch the guy beside me run into cards the entire time that I was there.... He limped in with 8/3 off-suit, flopped 2 pair when the board went 8, 6, 6 and turned a boat with another 8, and made quads on the river. He pushed all-in and the other guy in the hand called him thinking he would be playing the board! LOL. He had about $2000 in chips in front of him and at least another $2000 in cash behind the chips where he had been chipping people back-in when he busted them! At any rate, back to the story.... I've got pocket tens and raise pre-flop to a straight $25 as there were a couple of limpers. All fold except one. The flop is 9, 8, 5 off-suit. He pushes all-in and I call. He turns over pocket sevens and hit the gut-shot on the river! LOL. And that was the high point of my time at the table. Till next time.....

OK.... the other K - 10 Suited hand....

It was about 3-4 weeks ago at the best poker house in the area (at least, my opinion). There were about 10 players in a $2-$4 No Limit Hold 'em game with a $400 max buy in. Again, mostly good players with a couple of very aggressive players at the table. I was up about $450 at the time when I got Kh-10h on the button. There were several callers and I called the $4 when it got to me and the big blind raised it to $18. There were a couple of quick callers and then one of the more aggressive players raised it to $40. The guy right behind him went all in for straight $95. There was one caller and I figured I was dominated, but it was getting close to my time to go home anyway so I called. The big blind raised it all in for another $200 and the guy right behind him called and that put him all in. LOL. Now there's about $750ish in the pot and it'll cost me another $200 to see the flop. I laugh and after much deliberation, I call. Everyone turns their cards over. The big blind has Ks-10s, another guy has an Ad-Jd and the fourth guy has Ac-7c. We're ALL on a flush draw and the flop brings me two hearts without pairing anyone else. So the turn is my 5 to the flush and everyone else is drawing dead! LOL. I know, you all want to know where I play. Email me and I'll give you the details.

I won! $120 buy-in....

It's a small Texas Hold'em tournament with 15 typically pretty good players. I was especially excited about winning this one as when we narrowed the field down to 6 players, I was the short-stack with blinds at $600-$1200 and I had only $2100 remaining in chips. There were several big hands that led to my victory but THE hand transpired as follows: Blinds are now $1000-$2000 and although I have a slight lead in chips, they are fairly evenly distributed at this time. I'm the button and call the big blind for $2000. The small blind folds and the big blind re-raises $5,000. I've got Ks-10s (a hand that has proven very profitable for me over the past few weeks, I may even post another story about this hand) and after a few seconds of deliberation, call. The flop is Ah, 10d, 3s. The big blind checks and I check. This makes me think that if he had an ace, an ace with any kicker, he would bet, but he checks, so I check. The turn is the Ac. He immediately moves all-in with another $8,500 in chips. I measure out my chips and realize that I'll have about $10K in chips even if I call and lose. But my thinking is that he doesn't have an Ace or he would have raised on the flop because of the straight draw that was there so now with the second Ace on board, I have top two pair with King kicker. I call and he flips over pocket deuces. Yee haw. The river is another 10 so I take the pot with a boat, 10's full of kings, and the tournament as I had the other guy about 10 to 1 in chips and we chopped. So there you go, I hope you enjoyed it as much I enjoyed telling it.