Good Table, Good Times

I get to play live poker a couple times a week, usually at home games. Sometimes, however, I venture out to a casino that is about 40 minutes from my house in the Cherokee Nation. The poker action there is a little spotty. Sometimes you sit down to a table of people that all know each other, and you feel like a complete outsider. Those games aren't a lot of fun.

Last night, I treated myself to some casino action. Wednesday nights, the casino hosts a $50 buy-in freezeout tournament. The last time I went, 80 or 90 people showed up and the prize pool was decent. This time...things had changed. The "poker room" used to be a corner of the casino floor, roped off with velvet ropes. There were even a couple of tables placed between some slot machines. In all, there were about 20 tables. Now, the poker room was moved into an actual room that was not there last time I was there. There were still about 20 tables. Unfortunately, about half of those tables weren't yet certified for use by the Cherokee Nation Gaming Commission. Therefore, they had limited the tourney field to 45 people. We got there in plenty of time. I was the last alternate for the tournament, #10. My buddy didn't get in at all. So, I got on the list for a cash game and took a seat to watch the College World Series game three. Not too long after, the casino decided to open another table for the tournament, so alternates 3 through 13 (I don't know how they got 13 alternates if I was the last one at #10) got to play. We started at the second level, but the blinds were still 25/50 out of a 4000 chip stack...not too bad. Of course, 5 minutes after I sat down at the tourney table, I got called for the cash game, which I passed on.

I was CARD DEAD for the first hour of the tournament. I mean not a hand at all. At the first break, I hadn't won a hand, don't think I had seen a flop, and still had 3800 in my stack. UGH! After the break, first hand, I caught pocket ladies and won some chips. Things got a little more lively after that, I won some pots, lost a couple hands, and so on. The blinds were getting up and my stack wasn't growing, so I was happy when my pocket 5s in the big blind became a set of 5s. I was wearing my sunglasses mostly just messing around, but I wear them sometimes just to f*** with people...I'm 6'2", and about 250 lbs with a shaved head. Put some sunglasses and a poker face on and I'm a bit intimidating. Anyway...the sunglasses...caused me to see the flop as a 5 and a spade and a club. I checked my set and the guy behind me (the only other person in the hand) bet out. I called. Then I realized that that club on the board was actually a spade. Two spades...flush draw...shit. The turn was another spade. The pot was good, having some big blinds and antes in there, so I pushed all in. He either had the flush or he didn't. He did. Out I went in 19th place. How about that cash game? A seat had just opened on one of the $1/$2 NLHE tables.

Which brings me to the title of this post. Some tables are bad: cold, aggressive, unfriendly, pushy, etc. Some are fun: people looking to play some good poker and have a good time. This one was a fun table. The buddy that I had gone with, Allen, was there, and was up about $100. Another guy with whom we used to work, Brook, was there too. He had professed, for as long as I knew him, to be a player. Now we would see. I bought in for $100 and sat down.

It was a very fun table. Allen and Brook were leading the way, needling each other and trying to get heads up. There were some big stacks and some small ones. There were some people that looked like they were scared (I like those people) and some for whom this certainly was not their first rodeo (I avoid those people.) And then there were a couple of real fish. As I walked up to sit down, Allen said, in a near yelling voice (he had had a couple drinks) "Uh-oh...Uh-oh! Watch your chips...Shark in the water!" I was a little embarrassed, but played it off as Allen making fun of me for being a bad player. I put my rather short stack on the table and put my sunglasses on top of my head.

The cards were in the air. A couple of fish busted out quickly, but there was a good supply of poor players coming from the tournament. Brook busted twice, to neither Allen nor me, but he kept going to his pocket like a trooper (donk!) The action was good, pretty lively, several people seeing most flops (which I know can be good or bad, but here it was the desired outcome.) There were pre-flop raises on most hands, but the numbers stayed within reason (ever played in those games where the $1/$2 was more like a $5/$10?) Allen was 2 hours into this game and up $100. I won a couple of small pots early and was up $60 or $70 pretty quickly. After about an hour and half, I got a text from my wife. Her best friend's husband had had colon surgery that day, and Jill wasn't holding up too well at the hospital. Melissa, my wife, wanted to know when I would be home so she could go to the hospital. Crap...my good game was getting cut short. I told her I would be home in about an hour and a half.

The game went on, with people cycling in and out and things going well. Everyone was having a good time and playing with lots of chips. About the time I got the text, I was on the button and the action folded around to me. I'm not much of a bluffer. I'll semi-bluff my good starting hands that go bad, but I don't usually (ever) just out-right bluff. I looked down at 7 5 off suit. I put on my sunglasses and bet three times the big blind, just for kicks. Both blinds called me. Shit. The flop came K K 10 rainbow. The small blind checked quickly. The big blind bet $6. I raised to $18 and looked at the big blind. He looked back at me. I smiled at him and I could tell that it blew his mind. He looked at Allen and Allen gave him a quick "Hey...don't look at me...I don't know where he's at" look. Big Blind looked at me again. Then he called. Shit Shit. Two bullets fired and I hadn't shaken him. The turn was a blank (hell, everything was a blank to me.) Big Blind checked. I bet $30. Big blind went into the tank. He was talking to himself, looking at his cards, checking his stack. Counting out chips. Looking at his cards and checking the board. Counting out MORE chips. And then he said "Ah hell. I have no idea what to put you on. I fold" and he mucked his cards. I looked at Allen and we both started laughing. I flipped up my 7 5 and apologized to the guy. He kicked himself but took it well and we all had a good laugh.

Not two hands later, Allen got up and went to the bathroom. I was on a stack of about $220 when he left. I looked down at pocket 8s in middle position. Usually, in middle position with a middle pair, I'll either fold or play them hard. I don't limp in much. I chose to play them hard, betting 4 times the big (my default bet from mid position is 3x.) The guy next to me, who seemed to be a solid player, called. The flop contained my third 8 and a jack (I don't recall the third card). I ckecked my set (having not learned my lesson from earlier.) He bet $15. I called. The turn was a jack. I checked my full house to my opponent. He bet $40. I hesitated, looked at the board, looked at my opponent (I later found out his name was Tim), and pushed all in. About this time, Allen came back from the bathroom, just in time to hear me announce my all in. "Whoa, Whoa! What did I miss?!? I laughed and said "just me donking off my whole stack."

I had trouble with this all in decision. Should I call his bet, confident that I had the best hand, and continue to let him bet? Raise and coax him into a push? Did he HAVE pocket jacks? I put him on jack-x, but I was having trouble with the "x". I was pretty sure that he wasn't on pocket jacks or he would have re-raised pre-flop (that was my read anyway.) He called my all in pretty quickly. Being a cash game, we weren't required to flip up our cards (and I have no idea why that is), but I tossed my pocket 8s onto the table. Tim said "Ugh. Good hand." And showed me his AJ. Avoiding trouble on the river, I took down a big pot. Isn't it amazing how much more fun it is to win than not? Great table, good return on investment, an overall great time.

Get out there and play some live poker! Good luck!