lytic
03-25-2006, 03:37 PM
You guys have probably noticed that I haven't been playing the bi-weekly game recently and that is due to being in a really hard term this spring (I'm doing my Master Degree, if you didn't know). I also had a normal $25 Friday game that I found in Aug on homepokergames.com. Good competition and for the most part, I like the people (1 or 2 cry babies "I have a gift for being called, people *always* want to call me, I don't get it... waaaaaah"). That is the same guy that is mad that I beat him back in (get this): November. I had a open end straight and flush on the turn (I was holding face cards too, so it would have been a high flush or straight). He pushes all in and I think about it and call. I don't remember the odds I had figured out, but I had a lot of outs. He shows A K off suit and has 2 pair (if I remember right). I got either the straight or the flush and bitched and moaned that I called him on a draw and obviously still crying about it. I had him covered, so he was gone like 5 minutes into the game. Considering how much was in the pot and my odds, I liked my chances and took it. Anyway, that's a long time ago and something I don't think about until he brings it up (though he did bring it up again last night, in which everyone rolled their eyes, again). So besides the 1 or 2 babies, it's a fun game.
The story of me on that table is me losing heart breakers and bad beats. I don't let it bother me too much, I just wish I could place in that damn game. I've lost and was bumped off the table 3 different times holding pocket 10s with a boat on the table to pocket Jacks. They have renamed pockets 10s as the Jason Killers. 2 out of 3 of those I was leading when I was all in and lost on the draw to the higher boat. The heart breakers are the 1 ups. I have a King high flush and they have the ace, etc. It's the hands that you can't get away from because there is only 1 or 2 hand that can beat yours. Last night, of course, was no different. I was playing supertight last night. I had stolen a couple blinds and 1 after the flop. I hadn't been getting a lot of cards and a A 4 of diamond shows up on my BB. It comes around free to me. I checked. Flop was Jd, 8d, 4s. I have low pair with a Ace high flush draw. I bet half the pot since it came around free on a semi bluff. 2 pay. 2d on the turn. OK, I got the nuts flush... just keep them in on their draws. I bet twice what I bet last time, which was a little less than half the pot (trying to show a little weakness in the process). 1 caller. 10d on the river. He checks, I look at the board again wondering if he got the straight or the flush. He's usually fairly easy to read. I know he has something good. I had him on the K high flush (as did a few others stated later on). I call all in, I have him covered by 50, which was the SB at that time. He calls right away. I said, I got the Ace, and he states that he has the straigh flush. The only thing that could have beat me and he held on to it. He held 7d 9d and rivered me out. Typical one up on me, so I laugh it off. Later I put my 50 in with 7 8 suited since I was under the gun, I would have been BB next turn. I get 2 7's on the flop for a set, so I thought I was gonna start my come back. People fold, 2 guys left, another card. He bets, the other folds we flip. He's on a flush draw and gets in on the river. He got runner runner spades for the flush to beat my set on the flop. Whatever, I was pretty much done anyway.
I had rode with my friend who has been playing for a bit (he came to one of the Sunday games and lost right away I think his pokerstars account name is Tlo_BFS). I've been teaching him odds and strategies, he still doesn't understand the odds completely, but his game has improved a lot. Anyway, since he drove I could drink so I grab my 3rd Sam Adams after I was eliminated with my heart breaking nuts flush and just watched the rest. My friend Tedd ends up winning the tournament and the $160 first place money several hours later (to my amazement). He also took down the last weeks winner, which is worth 2 bounty points on top of the first place points. It put him 1 point ahead in the standings over me, so he's happier than hell. The points go to your chips in the final tournament. More point = more chips obviously. It's actually a $20+5 tournament, where the 5 goes to the final game.
(If you read this far, thanks, I didn't mean to take so long to get to the point.) So my idea was that if I ever win at that table, I'd go to the casino and blow it all on the tables they have there. I convince my buddy to go and try the table out there. They just opened a new casino called Horseshoe that has like 30 poker tables with different buy-ins and limits and blinds. Most of the games are limit with 4 tables dedicated to no limit hold em. The game is $2/$5 and the min buy in is $100. He's like, well I guess I could put $100 down and play. I call the wife (it's 1:30AM at this point) and she doesn't answer. Sounds like my "go ahead" to play. If I lost the hundred, I'd have to just skip poker next weekend or something. We sit at different tables. I buy in for the min $100 and sit down and right away notice that $100 is nothing at this table. The next lowest was about $200 and it was with a loose playing old female with big fake tits and lots of botox or whatever. You could tell that she has money to spend. Their was like a 50 year old annoying guy sitting next to me that loved to hear his own voice. A few younger guys to my other side that seemed like good players, but not great. The guys across from me who was very quiet and had the biggest stack at that point who seemed to play fairly solid poker and beyond the female was a couple of older guys that look experienced and weren't afraid to throw their money in. So, they all had well over $500 and that guy across from me probably had close to a grand. I haven't played a cash game in a while and am not use to the flow of it. Since I sat down, I had my option of waiting or playing for the blind of $5. I decided to play. I get dealt A/T suited, so I check on my option (I wanted to see what the prices and pots were like). K and J are dealt and like an 8, all of the wrong suit. So I have an inside straight draw and I bet $5, just see what happens. Most laugh at me for the small bet and pay the $5 and a few fold. "Big spender!" Next card doesn't help, so I bet $20 kind of stupidly but it was more of a feeler bet... like I said, I'm not used to cash games at all. They annoying guy raises to $100 and he gets a caller and I obviously fold. So I'm down 33% already. So I gotta play smarter obviously. I got pushed off with little to show for it except looking a little loose and like a noob. Not a bad vibe to give off, if you are a tight player. I fold the next hand or 2. Steal a flop that everyone was in with A K in hand a K on the board. A little bit later I get dealt pocket 4s and I throw $15 out and get 4 or 5 callers. People mostly had been limping in, so I did too. Still trying to feel people out. The flop had 2 Js and a 2. So I have 2 pair, but a rather low second pair. I throw $15 out and after a few more laughs, I get 2 callers. The turn was a 9. I throw another $15 out and get 2 callers. The last card was an ace. I tried to look excited and throw out right away. The guy was scared and almost sounded like he was talking himself out of calling. "I got J 9 and I think that ace helped you. You got A J or something like that." After thinking about it a bit he just calls me and I show my 4s and he shows a J 9 boat. He was confused and I stated that I was on a semi bluff and that I don't have a lot to throw out to scare people off. He said something along the lines, "Oh, I forgot that people do that." I dunno, I had a few beers in me and can't remember all the stupid things he was saying. OK, I have my rep set up the way I wanted. A loose cannon that plays strange. I fold a lot and get Q J a little bit later. I play the raise of $15 and get a Q and J on the flop (and like a 7). I've got 2 pair. Checks all the way to me and I raise to $30 and everyone calls (my rep worked). The next card was a Q, so I got the nuts boat. Checks around and I throw $50 (which was most of my pot) and get a caller (the loose female). The next card is lower than the J, so I go all in for maybe $20-30 and she folds. I show my boat and everyone was like "yeah, he had to have something to actually start putting money in the pot. har har." That was the beginning of the end. I had some money now, I want to say I had about $300. People were still trying to bully me with their stacks. There was a time later that I had K Q and there was a K 8 2 8 on the flop and a guy pushed me all in. I looked him straight in the eye and saw weakness and called. He had a K. I had a few split pots with people trying to push me all in, but I read them. I don't know what it was, but I could tell even before they fliped their card over what they had. It was like in the 30 minutes I had sat at that table that I had known them for years and knew how they played. I used every tool I had and switched up my game a few times to keep them off me. By the time my buddy had blown his $100, I was up $800. I started getting respect and was pushing people off the hands. I think towards the end that they were giving me too much respect and wanted to know what tour I just came off of. I just laughed and kept. My second to last hand was my small blind and I got dealt my new favorite of the night Q J. The highest card on the table was a J and there was no straights or flushes possible. I think the other guy might of had pocket 10s or a Q with a lower kicker, but we went all the way to the river me checking and calling his raises. I checked raise the river to which he called and didn't show. Another big pot ~$250-$300. I sat for my button hand and folded it and left. I cashed out $1100 and went home a grand richer.
I know it's not a great story, but I was so happy, I just had to share it. It sounds like I got lucky a few times (and I did), but a lot of it was actually being able to read these guys like an open book and not being scared of the guys with money to burn. I know the competition at Casinos is about as good as online slop games. In fact, I would rate my Friday game more than twice as skilled as the casino table I was at... but I am a grand richer for just under 100 minutes of card playing.
Thanks again for reading my novella and allowing me to get it off my chest for people that would actually understand.
The story of me on that table is me losing heart breakers and bad beats. I don't let it bother me too much, I just wish I could place in that damn game. I've lost and was bumped off the table 3 different times holding pocket 10s with a boat on the table to pocket Jacks. They have renamed pockets 10s as the Jason Killers. 2 out of 3 of those I was leading when I was all in and lost on the draw to the higher boat. The heart breakers are the 1 ups. I have a King high flush and they have the ace, etc. It's the hands that you can't get away from because there is only 1 or 2 hand that can beat yours. Last night, of course, was no different. I was playing supertight last night. I had stolen a couple blinds and 1 after the flop. I hadn't been getting a lot of cards and a A 4 of diamond shows up on my BB. It comes around free to me. I checked. Flop was Jd, 8d, 4s. I have low pair with a Ace high flush draw. I bet half the pot since it came around free on a semi bluff. 2 pay. 2d on the turn. OK, I got the nuts flush... just keep them in on their draws. I bet twice what I bet last time, which was a little less than half the pot (trying to show a little weakness in the process). 1 caller. 10d on the river. He checks, I look at the board again wondering if he got the straight or the flush. He's usually fairly easy to read. I know he has something good. I had him on the K high flush (as did a few others stated later on). I call all in, I have him covered by 50, which was the SB at that time. He calls right away. I said, I got the Ace, and he states that he has the straigh flush. The only thing that could have beat me and he held on to it. He held 7d 9d and rivered me out. Typical one up on me, so I laugh it off. Later I put my 50 in with 7 8 suited since I was under the gun, I would have been BB next turn. I get 2 7's on the flop for a set, so I thought I was gonna start my come back. People fold, 2 guys left, another card. He bets, the other folds we flip. He's on a flush draw and gets in on the river. He got runner runner spades for the flush to beat my set on the flop. Whatever, I was pretty much done anyway.
I had rode with my friend who has been playing for a bit (he came to one of the Sunday games and lost right away I think his pokerstars account name is Tlo_BFS). I've been teaching him odds and strategies, he still doesn't understand the odds completely, but his game has improved a lot. Anyway, since he drove I could drink so I grab my 3rd Sam Adams after I was eliminated with my heart breaking nuts flush and just watched the rest. My friend Tedd ends up winning the tournament and the $160 first place money several hours later (to my amazement). He also took down the last weeks winner, which is worth 2 bounty points on top of the first place points. It put him 1 point ahead in the standings over me, so he's happier than hell. The points go to your chips in the final tournament. More point = more chips obviously. It's actually a $20+5 tournament, where the 5 goes to the final game.
(If you read this far, thanks, I didn't mean to take so long to get to the point.) So my idea was that if I ever win at that table, I'd go to the casino and blow it all on the tables they have there. I convince my buddy to go and try the table out there. They just opened a new casino called Horseshoe that has like 30 poker tables with different buy-ins and limits and blinds. Most of the games are limit with 4 tables dedicated to no limit hold em. The game is $2/$5 and the min buy in is $100. He's like, well I guess I could put $100 down and play. I call the wife (it's 1:30AM at this point) and she doesn't answer. Sounds like my "go ahead" to play. If I lost the hundred, I'd have to just skip poker next weekend or something. We sit at different tables. I buy in for the min $100 and sit down and right away notice that $100 is nothing at this table. The next lowest was about $200 and it was with a loose playing old female with big fake tits and lots of botox or whatever. You could tell that she has money to spend. Their was like a 50 year old annoying guy sitting next to me that loved to hear his own voice. A few younger guys to my other side that seemed like good players, but not great. The guys across from me who was very quiet and had the biggest stack at that point who seemed to play fairly solid poker and beyond the female was a couple of older guys that look experienced and weren't afraid to throw their money in. So, they all had well over $500 and that guy across from me probably had close to a grand. I haven't played a cash game in a while and am not use to the flow of it. Since I sat down, I had my option of waiting or playing for the blind of $5. I decided to play. I get dealt A/T suited, so I check on my option (I wanted to see what the prices and pots were like). K and J are dealt and like an 8, all of the wrong suit. So I have an inside straight draw and I bet $5, just see what happens. Most laugh at me for the small bet and pay the $5 and a few fold. "Big spender!" Next card doesn't help, so I bet $20 kind of stupidly but it was more of a feeler bet... like I said, I'm not used to cash games at all. They annoying guy raises to $100 and he gets a caller and I obviously fold. So I'm down 33% already. So I gotta play smarter obviously. I got pushed off with little to show for it except looking a little loose and like a noob. Not a bad vibe to give off, if you are a tight player. I fold the next hand or 2. Steal a flop that everyone was in with A K in hand a K on the board. A little bit later I get dealt pocket 4s and I throw $15 out and get 4 or 5 callers. People mostly had been limping in, so I did too. Still trying to feel people out. The flop had 2 Js and a 2. So I have 2 pair, but a rather low second pair. I throw $15 out and after a few more laughs, I get 2 callers. The turn was a 9. I throw another $15 out and get 2 callers. The last card was an ace. I tried to look excited and throw out right away. The guy was scared and almost sounded like he was talking himself out of calling. "I got J 9 and I think that ace helped you. You got A J or something like that." After thinking about it a bit he just calls me and I show my 4s and he shows a J 9 boat. He was confused and I stated that I was on a semi bluff and that I don't have a lot to throw out to scare people off. He said something along the lines, "Oh, I forgot that people do that." I dunno, I had a few beers in me and can't remember all the stupid things he was saying. OK, I have my rep set up the way I wanted. A loose cannon that plays strange. I fold a lot and get Q J a little bit later. I play the raise of $15 and get a Q and J on the flop (and like a 7). I've got 2 pair. Checks all the way to me and I raise to $30 and everyone calls (my rep worked). The next card was a Q, so I got the nuts boat. Checks around and I throw $50 (which was most of my pot) and get a caller (the loose female). The next card is lower than the J, so I go all in for maybe $20-30 and she folds. I show my boat and everyone was like "yeah, he had to have something to actually start putting money in the pot. har har." That was the beginning of the end. I had some money now, I want to say I had about $300. People were still trying to bully me with their stacks. There was a time later that I had K Q and there was a K 8 2 8 on the flop and a guy pushed me all in. I looked him straight in the eye and saw weakness and called. He had a K. I had a few split pots with people trying to push me all in, but I read them. I don't know what it was, but I could tell even before they fliped their card over what they had. It was like in the 30 minutes I had sat at that table that I had known them for years and knew how they played. I used every tool I had and switched up my game a few times to keep them off me. By the time my buddy had blown his $100, I was up $800. I started getting respect and was pushing people off the hands. I think towards the end that they were giving me too much respect and wanted to know what tour I just came off of. I just laughed and kept. My second to last hand was my small blind and I got dealt my new favorite of the night Q J. The highest card on the table was a J and there was no straights or flushes possible. I think the other guy might of had pocket 10s or a Q with a lower kicker, but we went all the way to the river me checking and calling his raises. I checked raise the river to which he called and didn't show. Another big pot ~$250-$300. I sat for my button hand and folded it and left. I cashed out $1100 and went home a grand richer.
I know it's not a great story, but I was so happy, I just had to share it. It sounds like I got lucky a few times (and I did), but a lot of it was actually being able to read these guys like an open book and not being scared of the guys with money to burn. I know the competition at Casinos is about as good as online slop games. In fact, I would rate my Friday game more than twice as skilled as the casino table I was at... but I am a grand richer for just under 100 minutes of card playing.
Thanks again for reading my novella and allowing me to get it off my chest for people that would actually understand.