I Guess This is Why They Call it "Lady Luck"

Yesterday I traveled to Ventura to play poker at Player’s Casino.  I was seated immediately at the 2/3 game, and bought in for the usual $300, the max. The place was rather dead, which didn’t surprise me.  Memorial Day Weekend in Southern California, a lot of people go out of town.  And let’s face it, a lot of people who might normally be there to play poker may have gone to Vegas to play poker there instead.

Still there were three full tables of the game and we were never short-handed.  I recognized a few of the players, but the one that stuck out was the lady who I mentioned the last time I played there (see here).  She had that odd playing style, sometimes very aggro, a real LAG.  I knew I had to keep an eye on her.  As it happens, she never had a big stack, and played her wild game a smaller percentage of the time than two weeks ago.  But she still liked to make the occasional big bet, the big three-bet, the odd shove.  Just not as frequently.

The very first hand I was in, I was in the cut-off with King-Jack of diamonds.  A few players had limped, and I decided to limp as well.  The lady was in the big blind and I wanted to see what her level of crazy she was playing this week.  It was a marginal hand, and not really knowing many of the other players, I didn’t want to raise so early.  Sure enough, the lady made it $18, one of the limpers called so I came along.

There were two low-ish diamonds on the flop (the other card was low too) and she led out for $20.  I called.  The turn was a blank and this time she bet $15.  That was such an odd bet.  I felt like raising but was worried that she would re-raise—that was certainly in her repertoire.  I figured that since she was giving me excellent odds to chase my flush, I may as well take advantage and just call.  The river was indeed a diamond and I had the second nuts.  She checked.  I bet $25 and she folded.

Nice to win the very first hand.  I was hoping it was good omen.

I lost a few bucks chasing but was still a bit in the black when I raised to $15 in late position with King-10 of hearts.  Only the guy next to me called.  From one hand I’d seen that day, and from my recollection, he was a bit of an aggro.  So I didn’t c-bet when I whiffed the flop.  But he checked.  I was still sensing something so I kept checking and he kept checking back.  Nothing hit and my King-high was good (he said he had overs but obviously below a King).  Ok, I’ll take even though I would have ended it sooner with a c-bet on the flop.

Then came the most interesting hand of the session.  I looked down at my first pocket pair of the day, two Queens.  A tight player who hadn’t played more than two hands since I’d been there raised to $12.  I just called.  The guy behind me called and then the young Asian fellow at the table made it $35.  He had been up and down, losing his stack recently and only re-buying in for $100.  But he had hit some lucky hands both before and after busting and re-buying, and had demonstrated some interesting play.  He had three-bet pre a few times with Ace-rag type hands—and in the cases I’d seen, hit them big.  Just before this hand, he had three-bet with Ace-4 off and taken a pot with two pair against a much stronger Ace.  When his stack was below $100 he seemed to shove (sometimes a three-bet shove) fairly light.

It looked like he had around $150ish left after the bet $35, give or take. But his chips were arranged oddly so it wasn’t clear.  I had a bit more than the $300 I’d started with.  When the original raiser folded, I decided to re-raise. I felt my Queens were way ahead of his three-betting range.  I thought he very likely had an Ace but the other card was lower than a Queen and thus it wouldn’t be a coin-flip, I’d be a big favorite.  I also thought there was a pretty decent chance if a tight player like me pulled the call/re-raise move, he’d fold a crappy Ace.

There was still a player behind me.  I was a bit worried about him.  His stack was closer to the Asian’s than mine.  I decided to put another $100 on top of the $12 already out there.  I figured he’d either fold or shove, not call, and I was fine either way.  The player between us got out of the way and the Asian immediately announced “all-in.”  I snap called.  He said, “Is it Aces vs. Kings?” Gulp.  He showed me two Kings and I was certainly dreading them.  I just shoved another stack out in front of me, expecting to be down a fair amount after the hand played out.  I got unlucky there, I thought, but based on my read of this guy, I was ahead of more than half the hands he could have there.  Oh well.

The flop was all low, and rainbow….no one was catching a flush.  I saw a face card come out on the turn, but it was a Jack.  I found myself thinking, why couldn’t that be a Queen?  Of course, it could have been a King too, leaving me drawing dead.  I was resigned to the worst and then….well, wouldn’t you know, an absolutely beautiful lady hit the river.  Everyone groaned or whatever it is you do when you see that.  The guy took it pretty well. He muttered something under his breath but otherwise was a good sport.  I gave my apology.  “Sorry….not sorry.”  And as I was stacking my chips, I said, “It was worse because it was on the river, right?  Wouldn’t have been quite so bad if it had been on the flop?”  He didn’t really agree with this assessment.  OK, whatever. 

I few of the other players said things like, “That’s awful,”  “You hate to see that,” or “That’s sick.”  Really?  I found it rather inspirational, myself.  That Queen on the river was the best looking lady I’d seen in a long, long time.  And she wasn’t even naked.

When I finished stacking, I had about $510 in front of me.  The pot must have been $360-$370 or so.  I’m sure that’s the biggest I’ve dragged (in a cash game, of course), since I left Vegas at the beginning of the year.

Later I was in the big blind with Queen-Jack off and saw the flop for free. Only three of us were alive and it came King-Queen-10.  No betting on the flop and I called $17 on the turn, it was heads up.  It checked around on the river, another blank.  He had pocket 6’s and my Queens were good.

I raised to $18 after a couple of limpers with Ace-Queen suited; no one called.  Very next hand, I raised to $12 with Ace-King off, and had two callers.  The flop was 10-6-2, rainbow.  I led out with a $20 c-bet.  The next player made it $60 and the third player called.  I got the hell out of there.  There was more betting on the turn and they got it all in.  Turned out it was set over-set, 10’s vs 6’s (the 10’s just called the flop bet).  Actually the board paired on the river and the guy with the 6’s lost boat-over-boat.  Tough way to lose your stack.

I raised with Queen-Jack of spades and had a couple of callers.  The flop wasn’t bad—Ace-King-10.  There were two of some other suit.  I bet, an older gentleman, a seeming nit, min-raised.  I came over the top, he shoved, I snapped and of course he showed Queen-Jack too.  His was unsuited but he didn’t have the flush draw.  Beats losing, right?

Eventually my $200 profit had worked its way down to closer to $100.  It was getting late—I was interested in getting home in time to see the basketball game (Warriors-Thunder, game 6, what a freaking game!).  So when I posted my big blind this time, I felt it was likely my last orbit.  I had still been fairly card dead most of the day, save that one incredible suck-out that went my way.  The only other pairs I’d started with were 10’s twice, both times calling raises with them, both times folding to decent-sized bets on flops that had an Ace.  The only Ace-King, Ace-Queen hands I had I’ve already described.  The Queen-Jack where I flopped Broadway was the only suited connector I had above 5-4. 

Anyway, the big blind hand was garbage and then in the small blind, I finally saw another pocket pair.  Two Jacks.  That same Asian fellow, under-the-gun, had limped in.  After rebuying when I felted him, he had been quite a bit quieter than before.  Might have been that this was his last buy-in, or maybe he was just not getting cards he liked.  He had about $200 or so, which is what he’d bought in for after he started liking Kings as much as I do.

It folded to me and I made it $15.  The big blind folded and the Asian fellow called.  The flop was Queen-Jack-2, two hearts.  I bet $25 and he called.  The turn was a blank.  This time I put out $50.  He tanked.  But eventually called.  A low heart hit the river, and I was not happy at the scare card.  My naturally tendency there is to check.  I thought about overcoming it.

Yeah, he had tanked on the turn.  But I remembered all the times—particularly the post here—where I had misread a player taking his time, thinking it was almost a fold when it was really almost a raise.  Was this guy capable of raising me on the turn with a flush draw, thinking I might fold a one pair hand to him?  Yes, he was. 

So if I bet and he raised, would I have the discipline to fold my set?  Well, likely not.  Hard to fold a set of Jacks, especially to someone who was certainly capable of bluffing or betting a worse hand than mine.  I figured if he had hit it, a check would cost me less money, so I ended up checking. 

I was somewhat expecting him to bet, I was just hoping it was something I could comfortably call.  But he instead flipped over his hand. King-Queen, no hearts. I showed my Jacks, and he dutifully said, “nice hand.”  As I dragged in the pot, I said to him, “I thought maybe you were on the flush draw.  It would have only been fair if you rivered me back.”  He sorta-laughed. 

By then I realized he wanted to get to the showdown cheap.  If I had bet $100 on the river, he’d probably have folded.  But if I had bet $50 again, it would probably have been too cheap for him to fold.  Oh well. I’m not losing sleep over that.

Second to last hand, I got another pocket pair.  It was 3’s.  I had to call $15 to see the flop, which was Queen-4-4.  I was done with the hand.  But here’s something I’ve observed, maybe it’s just my mind tricking me.  But have you ever noticed, whenever you have a small pocket pair, and the board comes out paired, more often than not the board pair is just one off from yours?  I mean, you have two 5’s and there are two 6’s or two 4’s on the board, something like that?  Or is that just me?

I racked up and was up $202.  I wished everyone luck, as I often do when I leave, and then nodded to the Asian.  I guess I said, “sorry,” and he said, “Hey it’s ok…that’s poker.”  Good sport!  I’ve seen plenty of guys who don’t take it so well.  I said back to him, “Well, next time, you’ll get me.”  I sure hope I’m wrong about that.

My best session, believe it or not, since the first few days of the year (from my Christmas trip).  I dunno how well I played, but it was sure nice to be on the right end of the luck curve for once.  I was due, right?

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"If I Fold There, I Should Go Home & Put On My Skirt"

The last time I played at MGM during the Monday Night NFL promo, a story I told here, I noted that the games were especially dull and nitty.  Last night I played there again, the first time Monday for me since that opening night double-header.

There are no words in the English language—or any other, I'll wager—to describe how different the game I was on this Monday night to the ones I described in that post.  I mean, if I said the games were as different as Lindsay Pelas and Kate Hudson (see below, Lindsay is the lady with huge floatation devices) are in the, umm, chestal region, it wouldn't come within light years of describing how different the games were on the two Monday nights.

The game I was just in was absolutely the wildest, most insane, most maniacal game I've ever seen.  It was so crazy, it should have been televised.  Why wasn't this game on Twitch?   I described the previous wildest game I'd ever participated in here.  But this game last night made that game seem like a 5¢/10¢ game at the local retirement home.

When I got into the game, right before the football started, it seemed normal enough for a few hands.  I recognized two players.  One, a local grinder, I've mentioned a few times before.  He was the guy with ribs in the post here.  I think it's finally time to give him a blog name, so we are going to call him Dave from now on, because I've never used "Dave" before (ok, those thousands of you who memorize all my blog posts—and I know you're out there—will recall I used "Davey" once but the dealer I gave that name to retired and will not likely be heard from ever again).  Dave had at least $600-$700 in front of him, as he usually does because he's that good.  There was another reg I recognized, a guy who always reminds me of my best friend from Junior High School, but he has a European accent.  He had a few hundred in front of him. 

No one else looked familiar.  The guy to my immediate left had a huge stack of well over $1K.  And he was Asian.  But he soon proved himself to not be a Crazian.  He played very tight, in fact one of the regs even mentioned that he was playing tight.  There was an Indian with a big stack, and for a few hands, it appeared he was going to be the table's designated maniac, but this proved to be a false positive.  A mild mannered older gentleman (short stack) and a couple of non-descript looking guys (one from L.A., one from Canada) with around $300 each when I got to the table rounded out the field.

Oh, I left out one player.  The real maniac, who was sitting directly to my right.  He had a $300 stack too, and I have no idea how many times he had re-bought before I got there, but I suspect he had.  Just calling him "The Maniac" wouldn't do justice to this fellow.  He mentioned he was a truck driver but calling him "Truck Driver" won't do either.  Since he was a maniac on steroids, a turbo maniac if you will, let's call him Maniac cubed (not squared, not good enough), so we will refer to him as M³ (and always in bold).

As I said, it was tame for a few hands. My first big blind, I had 9-2 offsuit, and M³ just completed form the small blind.  A few of us saw a flop that gave me a gutshot  with two hearts on it; my deuce was a heart. I called a $6 bet.  There was another small bet on the turn, a third heart.  I called it (might have been $6, might have been $10, no more).  Now, as I entered the room, I asked and found out that there were two $1k cash drawing envelopes available for the last three drawings (at 8PM, Midnite, and 4AM), so there was a 66.7% chance the next drawing would be for $1K (either six $200 winners or one $400 winner and six $100 winners).  That's why I made the loose calls as long as they were cheap.  A fourth heart hit the river, giving me the babiest of flushes. I wouldn't have called a big bet, but fortunately, no one bet, so I got the ticket for the drawing without further cost.  But I lost the pot, I believe it was M³ who showed a 10 of hearts.

A little bit later, when things were still calm, I got the dreaded pocket Kings. M³ open limped, I made it $10, two players called, including M³.  The flop was Queen-high, I bet $20 and took down the pot.

Then it just got totally insane. Hard to really describe the action.  M³ started shoving.  A lot.  Usually pre-flop.  His whole $300, or whatever he had.  Sometimes he would see a flop and then shove.  Other times he would make a small raise, or call a small raise, and shove the flop.  He also limped in, and would sometimes fold or fold to a big bet, One thing he almost never, ever did was fold preflop.  He did that very rarely.

At one point he said, "I shove every other hand," and that was pretty accurate.  And so, a pattern developed.  It was sort of like this.  M³ would shove, either preflop or on the flop.  Sometimes he'd take it down, but he started getting called a lot.  He'd frequently get doubled-up.  He'd keep doing it and then would lose his $600 stack to someone, who was thus doubled up.  He'd rebuy for $300 or sometimes only $200.  Lather, rinse, repeat.  Double-up, bust (doubling someone else) and rebuy.

The stacks at the table were getting bigger and bigger, as every 10 minutes or so this guy would add another $300 to the table.  Of course when he actually won the pot, the guy he beat would have to rebuy.  There was soon a ridiculous amount of money on the table.  Of course, most of the time the guy was shoving very light.  When he didn't get called, he almost always showed his hand.  If there was a flop, it would likely be middle or bottom pair, or maybe top pair with a bad kicker.  Or a weak draw. Or a totally naked bluff. Of course, sometimes he really had a hand, but that was always a long shot.  And of course, sometimes he'd shove with garbage and catch the card he needed to win.  He won most of his big pots like that, and lost them the same way.  One time he shoved pre, didn't get a call, and showed pocket Kings just to shock the hell out of all us.

A couple of hands that I wasn't involved in will give you some idea of how crazy it got.  M³ shoved preflop for $300 (he had just rebought after busting the previous hand, or maybe the hand before that).  It folded to the guy on his immediate right, the guy from L.A. who had about $350 in front of him.  The L.A. guy called.  M³showed his hand, which was King-10 off.  That was a lot better than some of the cards he had showed when he shoved preflop.  But then the L.A. guy showed his hand.  It was....wait for it....Jack-3 of hearts!

Now, I was distracted by the turbo maniac but I hadn't really noticed the L.A. guy much, he wasn't on my radar.  But for sure I never saw him make any kind of crazy play, and I couldn't recall him ever calling any of M³'s big bets before.  And he calls with Jack-3 of hearts!  As wide as M³'s range was, Jack-3, even soooted, didn't really compare all that favorably to it.

We were all shocked.  He was quizzed on why he had done that.  He explained, "Well, I have to leave to catch my flight in a few minutes, so I figured, why not?"  O.  K. 

Well the dealer put two hearts on the flop.  And then a 3 on the turn.  And for good measure, a Jack on the river. And L.A. guy had a double-up, and suddenly had over $600 in front of him.

We noticed he didn't leave for his flight back.  It was suggested that he could get a later flight, and sure enough, he ended up changing flights so he could stay at the table a few hours longer.  Just because of the crazy action.

M³ just laughed it off and took out three more $300 bills.  And the pattern continued.

Which brings me to the hand with Dave.  Dave made a reasonable raise and it folded to M³who still had his $300 or so.  He thought for a bit.  I overheard Dave saying to the guy on his right, "If he shoves this time, I'm calling."  Since I heard it, M³ may have heard it as well, not that he needed any prodding.  I seem to recall that a bit earlier, Dave had raised and then folded to a M³shove.  And when he showed the total garbage hand that he had shoved with, I could tell that Dave was rather annoyed that he had folded his premium hand (and I'm sure it was) to that maniac's garbage hand.

So of course, M³ did what M³ does....he shoved.  Dave thought for about 3 seconds and shoved. "I can't fold this hand, it's too good," is what he said. They both showed their cards.  M³ had 9-8 of diamonds, actually well above the middle of his shoving range.  But  Dave flipped over Ace-King, also both diamonds. M³ groaned, no flush was going to save him.

So of course, there was an 8 on the flop, and nothing else.  Dave was out $300 and M³had another double up.

Dave was not happy, as you can understand.  But he's a grinder and he did his best to shrug it off.  Still, it was bothering him, at least a little, the rest of the time I was at the table.  He did keep talking about it, I guess to the guy next to him but loud enough for me to hear.  At one point I heard him say, "No way I could have folded that.  No way.  If I fold there, I should just go home and put on my skirt."

I know you're all asking, what about me, where was I in all this?  Well, I was just trying to get a hand.  It was a terrible time to be card dead, and that's exactly what I was.  And with the guy on my direct right shoving $300 every other hand, it was kind of tough to find a hand to play.  I wasn't willing to lower my calling standards to calling a shove with 4-3 suited, even against this lunatic.  I would be willing to call lighter than normal, but wasn't getting anything close to anything I could play.  And keep in mind, there were now mostly huge stacks all around me, so even if I was ahead of M³, I'd still have to worry about the other players.

But I knew if I did get a big pocket pair or Ace-King, Ace-Queen, I was willing to risk my now less than $200 stack.  But I needed the cards to cooperate just a little.

A few hands after Dave doubled him up, M³generously donated the chips he'd gotten from Dave, plus his own, to L.A. guy. I don't recall the hand.  But L.A. guy now had well over $1,200 in front of him (as well as a new flight to L.A., I presume, since the one he had planned to take was now somewhere over Barstow, looking over the In-N-Out Burger I failed to stop out days earlier.) And that's important to keep in mind as I describe this hand I actually played.

Yes, I played a hand.  I looked down at the dreaded pocket Queens, and as soon as I saw them, I knew my stack was going in.  But first action was L.A. guy, and he opened to $20.  Now M³would occasionally fold preflop to a raise, or just call a raise preflop (likely planning on shoving the flop).  So it was not a lock he would do what he did, which was shove, of course.

I wasted no time in announcing my shove.  I was a bit worried about L.A. guy, but after all, I had only recently seen him call a $300 shove with J-3.  His opening range would be a lot of big cards, a lot of pocket pairs, and probably suited connectors as well. 

And it folded to the new guy in seat 9.  He had come to the table, replacing the older gentleman who was clearly looking for a milder game, awhile back with a $500+ stack from another game.  I recognized him as someone I played with before, but I didn't think he was a local.  I think I played with him when he was visiting last year.  A younger Asian gentleman, to my recollection, a solid player, a TAG, but no maniac.  And so, this guy...shoved.  Uh Oh. I think by this time he had over $600.

It folded back to the L.A. guy, who tanked.  And finally said, "There's too many players.  I can't call with three players....."  And then folded face up.  Two Kings.  He folded pocket Kings!  Holy shit.  Everyone was stunned.

Everyone in the hand was all-in, so M³showed his hand, 3-2 offsuit. Yes, 3-2 offsuit.  That is not a typo.  He shoved $300 with 3-2 offsuit. I showed my Queens.  But the Asian didn't show.  There might have been an Ace on the flop, not sure, since it didn't come into play.  But there sure as hell was a Jack on there.  And so when the board was complete, the Asian said, "I got lucky," and showed pocket Jacks. 

And there went my stack.  Bye bye.  It was an interesting hand.  The Asian shoved to make sure the L.A. guy didn't call, of course, but I'm sure he wouldn't have expected him to have folded Kings.  He might have figured he was behind me as he was, but he also probably figured that with my stack, he might overcome some of his losses to me with the sidepot from M³.  So he had the same assessment of L.A. guy's hand as I had, that it wasn't necessarily that strong.

And I'm sure that if the Asian hadn't have shoved, L.A. guy calls the $300 easily with KK.  Why wouldn't he?  Even if he thinks I make that move only with pocket Aces (not a bad assumption considering how few hands I'd played), he loses less than $200 to me and likely gets over $100 back from the maniac. 

So apparently he just didn't want to risk half of his stack, even with those Kings.  Which makes me wonder....why did he stay?  If he was so protective of that $1,200+ stack he had, why not catch his flight to L.A. and have a really sweet flight home?  I'm not sure I understand his mindset.  He was clearly staying to try to get more money from the maniac, but then got scared when push came to shove.

Of course, results-oriented thinking, he made the right move.  And so I think either way, I wasn't going to win that pot.  Asian folds, L.A. guy calls, his Kings beat my Queens, and he has me way covered.  Instead I lost my stack to a set of Jacks.

I bought another $200 in chips.  It wasn't many hands later that I looked down at pocket Kings.  Of course. I had just a few bucks less than the $200 due to blinds and such.  To my shock, with his latest $300 stack, M³ only raised to $22, instead of shoving.  So I thought about it, and as crazy as the action at the table was, my shoving there would look weird.  Plus, he might actually fold to a nit like me if I shoved, but he'd likely call a smaller raise.  So I just put out $100, a tad more than half my stack.

It folded to the Indian, who had been up and down all night, but had around $400 at this point.  He called my bet.  Considering what it turned out he had, it's stunning he didn't shove.  But no problem, M³ did indeed shove.  I snap-called, as did the Indian.  Hmm...

Well M³ showed his hand, Ace-10 of hearts.  In other words,  the very top of his range.  I didn't show and neither did the Indian.

Do I really have to tell you that there were two hearts on the flop, and another one on the turn?  Do I really?

My Kings were both red, and apparently the river card was another heart.  I didn't even notice, I was too busy trying to get the license of the bus that had just run over me.  But the dealer gave me a drawing ticket as he pushed my chips to M³, so it must have been the case.

And just to make the hand even more interesting, the Indian showed his hands.  He had two black Kings.

Yeah.

I really didn't feel like risking taking another shovel to the head. I seemed to be the only one at the table unable to take advantage of M³'s largess.  And truth be told, I didn't have another $200 buy-in on me.  I really hate paying the exorbitant ATM fees in casinos, so that wasn't an option to me--and my budgeted sockroll is $400 per session.  However, I had two drawing tickets, so I decided to buy in for $100, which I scraped together, just to be eligible for the drawing.  That sounds lame, but it actually worked the night before (a story I will tell another time).

It didn't work this time, and I was hoping to use that $100 to maybe get another big hand and finally win one.  But I just got total crap again, and lost about half of it somehow. 

It turned out to be a miserable night for me but I got a hell of story out of it.  Maybe I should have titled this post, "The $460 Blog Post."  I'm sure it will be a long time before I see another game like that.  I think I saw M³ put at least $3K on the table, and the there at least four $1,200+ stacks when I left.    

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When Quad Queens is One Too Many

Timing is everything, right?

You know I jump around a lot in writing up my stories, my sessions.  Well, I was just about to start writing up this session from early July when, by an incredible coincidence, something happened to put a whole new spin on it.  If I had written up the story even a day or two earlier, I wouldn’t have known something quite interesting about one of the players involved.

I think it’s best to tell the twist on the story first, before the actual story. 

The other night I reviewed my notes, looking for the next thing I wanted to blog about.  I came upon a session at MGM that took place the last Friday I was in town.  It happened two days before I ran into Orel Hershiser (see here) which, as you recall, was a story about playing with a famous celebrity and not recognizing him (at least immediately).  It’s no coincidence that I reference that story in relating this one.

So I listened to my voice notes that I had made the day after the session and then had some time that evening to starting writing the post.  But as sometimes happens to me, I just got this incredible case of writer’s block.  I mean I had the material, but suddenly I just didn’t feel like I could write up one more poker session.  I mostly stared at the monitor and finally went to bed without writing a single word.

All day today (today being the day I’m actually starting to write this, not the day you read it), I knew I was going to at least get started writing that post this evening, all the time hoping I’d be more inspired. 

Just as I was finished working and about break for dinner, I checked my Twitter feed and noticed that someone I follow—let’s call her Poker Lawyer since that what she calls herself—mentioned running into Victor Ramdin while on vacation.  I’m embarrassed to say that the name didn’t ring a bell but in the context, it sounded like Victor was someone I should have known from the poker world. Well, I don’t really follow the professional poker world as much as you might think, seeing as how I write for a poker mag.  But my column is for recreational players, and covers the poker scene in Vegas for the grinders and the tourists (mostly the tourists).  I don’t cover the pros. 

Anyway, I decided to click on Victor’s Twitter profile just to see who he is.  Honestly, it was mostly to see how jealous I needed to be that Poker Lawyer ran into him.

And when I did, I did a double take.  Now, Victor is a pro affiliated with Poker Stars.  The guy pictured in Victor’s Twitter profile looked pretty much exactly like I remembered a player I’d played with at the MGM six weeks earlier looked.  I mean, a whole lot. Of course, I’d only seem him that one night and it was like 6 weeks ago, so my memory could be off.

But get this—there was a buddy of his at the table and he spent the whole evening calling him, “Victor.”  And in my notes, I referred to him as “Victor” in my notes because, you know, that certainly appeared to be his name. So, I did a little stalking, I mean “Googling.”  Victor Ramdin lives in New York, and I definitely remember the Victor I had played with saying he lived in New York. 

And of course, you know where this is going.  Yes, yes, the voice notes I had just listened to the night before were about the session with this guy apparently named “Victor.”  Who looked like the guy in Victor Ramdin’s Twitter profile.

Coincidence? 

I didn’t think so. But what to do about it?  Just write the post as I had planned?  Or do I mention that the guy in my story might have been a famous pro, but that I wasn’t sure?

Then I thought….why not ask Victor if that was him?  I’ve got nothing to lose.  He may not answer, and I just do the story.  But if he answers and confirms it, I have a better story.

I tweeted to Victor Ramdin a question with enough info so he’d likely remember the session—was that him at the MGM that night?  In less than an hour, he tweeted back that indeed it was him!  Awesome.  Now I had a way to write this story that would surely cure my writer’s block.  Honestly, the timing was outright freaky, but it couldn’t have been better.

Victor and his pal Dan didn’t show up until the middle of this session.  In fact, they showed up while I was taking a quick dinner break. 

Before they showed up, there were a couple of memorable hands.  The first one was when I raised to $10 with King-9 of diamonds and had two callers.  The flop was King-high, two diamonds.  A guy made a donk bet of $10 and I just called.  He had stolen a pot from me with a bluff earlier—he showed the bluff even though he didn’t have to—and I was hoping to get my money back by letting him build the pot for me.  I figured I could really make a nice score if I caught my flush.  The other guy called too.  The turn was a 3 of spades and I just called the guy’s $15 bet and the other guy folded.  A 3 of clubs hit the river and now he put out a bigger stack of chips--$80.  I tanked.  Did he really have something?  Was my top pair good?  I decided to call and he showed pocket 9’s.  So that was a decent pot.

A little later six of us limped in when I had pocket deuces.  The flop was A-5-2, two clubs.  I bet $7 and a guy raised to $15 after someone called my $7.  We both called.  The turn was a Jack of clubs and I checked, the guy who raised me on the flop put out $50.  I called, fearing I needed to boat up to win.  The other guy called as well.  The river was a red 3, not good for me at all.  I checked, and the guy who had only been calling put out $95.  The other guy shoved for a bit more than the $95.  I tanked, but found the fold button.  Too many ways my set was no good.

Well, the guy who bet $95 had Ace-x, but the Ace was a club so on the turn he had the nut flush draw.  The other guy had King-4 offsuit.  Yeah.  He played that crazy.  But the four gave him the straight and the pot.

When I returned from a quick dinner break, there were some new players.  Over at opposite end of the table was a guy who eventually introduced himself as “Dan.”  He had a big stack and said, “it was all in play.”  I assume he had moved over from a different table or had perhaps won a big pot there before I showed up.  He made it clear that he was not going to be shy about putting those chips at risk.

And across from me was a gentleman that Dan kept calling “Victor.”  He had a more normal looking stack, as I recall.  They were both indulging in adult beverages, which may partially explain their play.

Pretty much the entire night, one of them would raise preflop.  If it wasn’t one, it was the other.  But there wasn’t too much three-betting going on.  A simple raise was mostly enough for them.  Dan liked to raise in odd amounts, like $7, $11, $13.  I guess $13 was the most frequent and we were actually sitting at table 13.  At one point, Dan said, “No one has guessed why I keep betting these odd amounts.”  That was after he opened for $13.  Someone guessed that it was because we were at table 13.  He said, “Well, that’s only partially it.”  Hmm….

About an hour later the light bulb went over my head.  I suddenly remembered Didi. You remember her, right?  Tha well-endowed young woman who liked to extract a kiss from the male dealers before tipping them very generously (see here).  Well, in addition to frequently calling attention to the fact that she had big boobs (something it was hard not to notice), she liked to bet in prime numbers.  She made a point of it and took time to figure out the next closest prime number to the amount she wanted to bet. 

It seemed like Dan was betting in prime numbers too (but, fortunately for him, didn’t have big boobs like Didi).  So finally, between hands, I shouted over to Dan, “Excuse me, but are you only betting in prime numbers?”

Bingo.  Dan exclaimed, “Yes, yes, the gentleman wins the prize!  That’s exactly right.  And here’s your reward.”  And with that, he tossed me a $5 chip.  I hadn’t realized there was a prize.

From the conversation they were having, across the table, it was clear Dan and Victor were in town for the WSOP.  Dan was actually still alive in an event that was going on right then, and Victor was going to play in the Main Event that was a few days away from starting.

As Dan finally starting slowing down with his preflop aggression, Victor started speeding up.  And for about an hour, he raised pretty much every hand preflop, if it wasn’t raised first.  Every single hand was worth either $10, $15, or maybe more to Victor.  At the time, I just assumed he was your average maniac, and perhaps this was intensified as he kept drinking.  But now that I know who he was, I have to assume that a good part of his play could be attributed to the fact that he was playing such a smaller game than he usually plays.  He was certainly playing like the money didn’t mean anything to him.

Did I mention that Dan and Victor liked to straddle?  Every damn chance they got.  Fortunately, the only allow the UTG straddle at MGM.  And for some reason, the straddle in the 1/2 game is $5, not $4 (a recent change). So I looked down at pocket Jacks when Dan had straddled to $5.  I made it $20 and Dan was the only caller.  The flop was King-high.  Dan checked, I bet $30 and Dan check-raised me to $80.  I tanked and then folded. That bothered me because, the way Dan was playing, it was very possible he was betting with air there.  I probably should have called….but I folded and allowed myself to be annoyed by it.

With pocket 9’s I called Victor’s $10 raise.  The flop was Ace-Queen-Queen.  Victor bet $20 and I decided to call.  Based on my observations, I thought there was a decent chance my 9’s were actually good.  The board went blank-blank and there was no more betting.  He showed pocket 3’s.   I told you I thought my 9’s were likely good.

With Ace-2 of spades, I called a $5 straddle.  Victor made it $15 and I called.  So did Dan, the straddler.  The flop was Ace-2-x, two diamonds.  I led out for $30.  Victor made a big raise—I didn’t note the amount, but it was almost as much as I had left (probably started the hand with $120-$130).  That got Dan to fold but I shoved, just a bit more than Victor had bet, not nearly enough to get him to fold.  Of course he had King-Queen of diamonds and caught his flush on the river.  Time to buy another $200 worth of chips.

Victor raised to $20 and I had pocket Queens in the big blind.  I just called, and it was actually 5-ways.  The flop was all low cards, I checked and Victor only bet $20, which was odd.  I called and we were heads up.  The turn card was a beautiful Queen.  I checked, sure Victor would bet, and he put out $80.  I thought for a bit whether to just call or shove.  The $80 was about half my stack, give or take, and he had me covered. But I also was hesitating trying to figure out if I could raise without shoving and the answer was no—didn’t have enough chips.  It was either call or shove. I decided to just call.

The river was another Queen.  If you’re keeping score at home, that means I had all of them.  The only question was whether or not to bett.  My thought there was that the paired Queen might scare him off.  I sensed he had a decent hand but might be willing to check behind me if checked.  Also, my stack wasn’t that much as compared to the pot.  I figured if he had anything at all, he’d call.  It was less than $100 into a $300 pot.  He has to call there, right?

So I shoved and Victor tanked.  He talked for a long time, trying to decide.  I was sure he’d eventually call.  Obviously he had something or he would have insta-folded.  He said that the second Queen might have counterfeited him.  He agonized quite a bit—surprising to me for the money involved and the way he liked to put his chips in play—and damn it, he did indeed find a fold.  Seriously?

I showed my hand (to get two drawing tickets) and said, “How could you not pay me off there, for the size of that pot?”  He said he had two pair on the flop.  Damn.  He is going to pay me off if the board doesn’t pair.  My hand actually became too damn good on the river.

Later I had the dreaded pocket Kings and Victor had raised to $!0.  Another guy called and I made it $40.  They both folded.

Last hand I noted, I made it $15 with pocket Queens.  Note: Victor had limped in on this hand.  I’m impressed I didn’t faint.  It was four ways and the flop was King-Queen-x.  I bet $30 and no one called.

I never made back all of my money but it was small loss.  It was a fun night and I had no idea that Victor was a professional poker player.

But I guess the best part of the story happened right before I started writing this, the amazing coincidence of learning who Victor really was right after listening to my voice notes about for the first time since I recorded them 6 weeks earlier.

Thanks to Victor Ramdin for being a good sport about this (I hope) and to Poker Lawyer for inadvertently contributing to this post in a totally unique way.

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