Olivia (She Wasn’t a Jack Off)—Revisited

Well, folks, I didn't get started on my next post last night until way too late to finish it for you today.  You can blame Steph Curry for that.  So rather than rush something out to you (or go without posting anything), I thought I'd "treat" you good people to a blast from the past--a re-post of one my very earliest blog posts.  In fact, this was the seventh post I ever made, back in late 2011, and remains one of my favorite stories from my days of playing 2/4 limit poker.

Reviewing an old post like this, I am always struck by how I feel my writing style has evolved over time (hopefully for the better).  I wonder if it's in my mind or if you folks can see a difference?

Anyway, one of the things I can do when I reprint an old post is spice it up a bit with a pic or two.  This post was so long ago it ran before I started putting graphics in my post.  To be honest, I wasn't even sure you could do that back then!

Since the star of the post is a young lady named "Olivia" (her real name, in fact), I've add a few pics of famous women named "Olivia."  So tell me, who is your favorite Olivia?

And now...take it away, Olivia...

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This story happened during a summer afternoon at BSC some time back.  I had been at this game about an hour and had noticed this rather young woman, barely old enough to be in a casino, playing at the 2/4 game.  She was cute and was there with her boyfriend, who was sitting at the other end of the table, and another couple.  The male of this couple was also playing at this game, but his girlfriend was elsewhere.  Although I didn’t know it at the time, the girl at the table was named Olivia.  And that’s her real name, and you’ll see why I didn’t change it when I get to the end of this story.

Olivia was a nice enough girl but was experiencing a run of extremely bad luck.  In the hour I was there (she was there for quite a while before I joined the game), I had not seen her pull in a single pot.  And she wasn’t even remotely quiet about it.  She was complaining quite a bit about losing so much.  She was bitching and moaning loudly and frequently about how unlucky she was.  No one likes losing but it can get to be annoying to hear someone bitch this much, and she was getting to that point.

She had just run out of money and had reached into her purse to get another $100 out for more chips.  Soon thereafter, in a hand I was mercifully not participating in, I noticed that on the turn, there were two Jacks on the board.  Olivia bet aggressively.  I assumed she had a Jack in her hand.  The river card as yet another Jack, and again Olivia bet aggressively.

No doubt to Olivia’s surprise (and delight), another player raised her.  That got me to look at the board more closely.  The last Jack was the Jack of spades, and the two cards on the board that weren’t Jacks were the King and 10 of spades.  So it was possible that someone had rivered a straight flush (if they had Queen & 9 of spades) or a royal flush (if they had Ace-Queen of spades).  From the betting I was convinced Olivia had the case Jack for quads.  This could be one bad beat if indeed the other player had a straight or royal flush.

The guy who raised was new at the table, he had only played about two or three hands before this one.  So there was no way to know what kind of player he was.  Perhaps he was as stupid as the guy who bet into my 4 7’s (although this story pre-dates my 4 7’s story).  It was too early to tell, but for sure I was paying attention….and so was everyone else at the table.

Olivia raised back, not a care in the world.  The new guy raised again without a second’s thought.  The betting round had started heads up so this was a legitimate instance of there being no cap…..they could keep raising each other until one of them run out of chips.

Which is what happened.  Olivia gleefully kept raising, and New Guy did the same.  On and on.  I had seen enough of Olivia’s play to be fairly certain that she wouldn’t keep raising like this if she didn’t have the fourth Jack.  And the more New Guy kept re-raising, the more I became convinced he had Olivia beat.  With three Jacks on the board, it would have been obvious to even the dumbest player that Olivia had the fourth Jack, and wasn’t raising every time with just a full house—or worse, a flush or a straight.  With trips on board, a full house isn’t a very good hand…..not one you would risk all your money for, anyway.

Although no one said anything, you could somehow feel the murmur through rest of the players at the table that this was a straight or royal flush vs quads, and someone was going down hard. Finally, Olivia ran out of money, and New Guy called her. of course.  She had put almost $100 into the pot.  When called, Olivia flipped over her two cards and literally sang, “I’ve got four Jacks, I’ve got four Jacks!”  In addition to the singing, she stood up and started dancing.  She was raising her hands and rocking her hips and slapping her ass as if some uptempo go-go music was being played.

Eventually all the other players’ eyes turned to New Guy, who calmly turned over his Ace and Queen of spades and in an unbelievably restrained monotone said, “I’ve got a royal flush.”  All the other players nodded, agreed that this is exactly what we were expecting, and congratulated the guy on the hand.  I even said to him, “A Royal Flush?  Wow. You don’t see those every day.”  In fact, in my over three years of playing poker, it was the first one I’d ever seen.  He replied, “Well I sure don’t.”

We looked back to Olivia.  She was standing there, frozen, having stopped her singing and dancing.  She looked at the board and his cards as the dealer pushed all the chips, all her chips, to the player with the Royal Flush.  I expected her to scream, or to cry, but she was totally silent.  After standing there frozen for a few seconds, she just took off.  I mean, she actually ran away from the table, and towards the front entrance of BSC, to the Strip.  She said nothing.  But we all noticed the look of absolutely horror on her face before she left.

The rest of the players were concerned for her well being but her boyfriend and his friend were actually kind of amused.  They were laughing.  Olivia left behind a sweater, some shopping bags and a half eaten bag of potato chips she had been working on.  Since she had no chips left and hadn’t said she was coming back, the floor person came by to clean up her seat so another player could replace her, giving her belongings to her boyfriend.

Some of the players, including myself, were concerned about Olivia.  “Is your girlfriend ok?  Shouldn’t you go after her?”  He scoffed, insisting that “she’s fine.  She’ll be ok.”  Eventually even the boyfriend’s buddy was worried, pressing his buddy to look for her.  But he insisted she was ok.

Finally, after about a half an hour, she did indeed return from the outside.  She came over to her boyfriend and I couldn’t hear what they said to each other, but she did get her belongings from him.  Then she bravely faced the entire table (and the guy with the Royal Flush was still there) and said to us, “I want to apologize to all of you.  I’m sorry I reacted like that. Obviously, I didn’t see the Royal Flush on the board.  I’m fine.”

We all kind of nodded and indicated we were glad that she was ok, and we offered our sympathies.

“Oh, and one more thing,” she added.  “When you all tell your friends this story—and you will—my name is ‘Olivia.’”  And with that, she was gone again.

Thanks, Olivia, for being such a good sport, and for such a good story.  Here’s to you!

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Stolen Blinds, Dreaded Kings & a Welcome Table Captain

Yesterday I made my first visit of the year to The Bike in historic Bell Gardens, CA.  It is historic for being home to The Bike, which I believe to be the second largest poker room in the U.S.  The last time I went there, it was to check out the status of the remodeling project (see here) after they opened their hotel.  This time, I went to see their new system of poker room management which was recently installed by my employer, PokerAtlas. It is called TableCaptain and you can read about it here.  And if you want to see it in action without taking a trip to The Bike, just look at Bike’s page on PokerAtlas (here).

As you will observe, you can see all the live cash games going and also the tournament clocks for all the tourneys going on.  If you click on the waiting list, you can even see the names of the players waiting for a game.  Now, this great software is handled by a totally different side of the business than I am associated with it.  So I only know about it from my colleagues.  Until yesterday, I had never seen it in action at all.  But I knew my colleagues have been working their tails off, day and night, getting the second largest poker room in the U.S. up and running with it.

Now that they have (mostly) completed the task, I just had to go down to the Bike and see it for myself.  Oh, and also get a little poker session in while I was there, of course.

And it was really cool.  I was impressed that my old Bike player’s card, issued to me over 10 years ago, still worked and did not have to be replaced.  I was clocked in immediately when I sat down.  And here’s something neat: my picture actually appeared on the screen next to the dealer, along with my name.  I imagine there might be some players who won’t like that, since the camera that took all those pics many, many years ago was probably not the best.  And some folks might have older pics than mine!  My picture has me with darker hair and a moustache I got rid of last decade.  And aside from unflattering pics, I suppose some folks might prefer more anonymity. But the good news is the pic appears very, very small on the screen!

I was only there a few minutes when the guy next to me asked the dealer how much time he had accumulated that day.  And the dealer told him.  Hmm….the dealer can’t tell you that using some other system you might be thinking of.  That comes in handy for several reasons.  The Bike offers cash back for playing (but you have to play way longer than I ever would in a month to qualify).  Also, you get either free or discounted meals for playing so many hours.  In the game I was playing (2/3 NL), you need to play three hours (in a day) to get a free meal.

All the cash and tournament info for a room using TableCaptain that you see on the website is also available using the PokerAtlas phone app, of course.

When I first sat down, it appeared like this game was going to well exceed Bike’s reputation for wild games.  First hand I was in, a guy raised to $18, got a call, and then someone raised to $102.  The raiser called.  The flop was Ace-high and the three-bettor shoved (another $200 or so).  The other guy folded without showing.

Next hand was similar, a $16 raise, another re-raise, so I folded my Ace-4 of spades.  More betting on the flop where I would have flopped a gutshot and a back-door flush draw.  On the turn, where both players got it all in, I would have caught my wheel.  As it was, the guy who was the bigger aggressor (and shoved the turn) had a pair of Queens and rivered his set.  The other guy had pocket 9’s, unimproved.

It did get a little calmer after that.

I limped in with 9-8 offsuit, one call and then the big blind made it $8, I called but the other guy folded.  The flop was 9-7-x and I called $10.  The turn was an 8 and I called $20.  He checked a blank river and I bet $30, but didn’t get a call. 

With pocket Jacks I raised to $15, only had one call.  The flop was King-Queen-x, but my c-bet of $25 took it down.

I opened to $15 with Ace-Jack and had one caller.  The flop was Ace-high, I bet $25 and he called.  But he didn’t call my $50 turn bet on a blank.

With pocket 6’s in late position, I opened to $15.  One hand earlier I had raised to $15 with a suited Ace and gotten two callers—and had to fold to a donk bet when I missed.  This time, with the sixes, I was three-bet to $30 by the most active player at the table.  It folded back to me and I called. The flop was 10-9-9 and we both checked.  The turn was a 7 and we both checked.  The river was a Queen and he still didn’t bet.  I showed my pocket 6’s.  The other player was on my immediate left and although he didn’t show, I saw him look at his cards and it was either Ace-King or maybe Ace-Jack.  I’ll bet he was shocked as hell that I raised with those 6’s and even called his three-bet with them.  And I’ll bet he was pissed he didn’t c-bet.  I was thinking I might get a few more calls now having showed the table how I played a low pair.  And winning the pot was nice too.

Despite these hands, I was still down to about $280 (from $300) when I got—wait for it—the dreaded pocket Kings. Now, rather than tell you how well that went, I’m gonna show you.  On a previous trip to the Bike, (see here), I met Steve Miller, one of the folks behind the nifty ShareMyPairapp. And yesterday, Steve was finishing up his session at the Bike and he recognized me and came by to say hello,  And despite the fact that we here are only the seventh most awesome poker blog in the universe, he had some incredibly nice things to say about what passes for poker content here.  Thanks, Steve, you really made my day.

And running into Steve got me thinking about his app again, so I decided to give it a try with my favorite hand.  I’m embedding the video below.  But I believe due to the limitations of my blogger software, it might not fit right.  I hope it doesn’t block out any text and that you can view it.  If not, a link to see the video on the SMP site is here.

Hopefully you can all see it.  Basically, I opened to $17 with the dreaded hand.  What I couldn’t figure out how to tell the app was that the guy in the cut-off was posting a missed blind, so he was already in for $3.  That’s the reason for betting $17.  I had already decided my standard 2/3 opening to $12 was no good; I was opening to $15.  I was only called by four players.  The rainbow flop made a flopped straight possible.  Anyone think I shouldn’t have bet there?  I’m open to suggestions.  Once the board paired there were so many ways I could be beaten I didn’t see the point of continuing.  It was, after all, Kings.  Anyone disagree?  The guy behind me was the aggro at the table.  He wouldn’t have folded any draw he had.  Of course, he flopped the straight so….Short stack got ridiculously lucky with the flopped two pair and boating up.  Lucky for the guy with the straight the other guy was short-stacked.

Once again, done in by the dreaded hand.  I only noted one more hand after that.  In the big blind I had King-9, no one raised.  There were many limpers.  The flop was King-10-8, I checked/called $10.  A second King on the turn and I checked, thinking about a check-raise.  But he didn’t bet.  A blank hit the river, I bet $30 and didn’t get a call.

There was one really noteworthy thing I witnessed that I’ve never seen before in a cash game. In the past, I’ve complained, no doubt more than once, about all the walkers at the Bike. Check out this post, for example.  It’s one of the things that drove me away from there.  It seems that half the table would be made up of players who would play a few orbits, then miss a few orbits, then come back, play an orbit, and disappear for two or more orbits yet again.  Drove me crazy.  You seldom had two consecutive orbits that were nine-handed.

Last time I was there, I noticed that instead of tossing players “missed big blind” buttons when they were away, they were throwing a card that said, “Missed 1.”  I think I might have seen one time a card turned over when it happened twice in a row and then it said, “Missed 2.”  I never really knew what that meant.

But yesterday I found out.  The player next to me took off for a long time.  He got the card and next orbit they turned it over so it showed “Missed 2.”  He was still gone when the big blind would have been his again.  And so the dealer asked another player to take $3 off his stack!  And yes, they put that money in the pot (but still had the regular small and big blinds).  They actually penalized the guy—monetarily that is—for missing his blinds so often.  And indeed, they took the small blind from him next time.  And they did it again for one more orbit until he returned.  It was a whole new definition of “stealing blinds.” 

Of course, that’s the standard in a tournament.  But I’d never seen that in a cash game before.  Has anyone else seen that?  Honestly, as much as I complain about walkers, I’m not all that sure I like it.  But I definitely see the virtues.  The walkers yesterday were mostly non-existent.  Sure, players took a quick bathroom (or, unfortunately, a cigarette) break.  But it was fully 9-handed most of the day.  And I like that very much.  Let me know what you think.

I ended up losing about half my buy-in for the day.  And of course, it was the damn Kings that did the most damage.  When will I learn to just throw them away?

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It Only Takes One Mistake To Ruin a Good Session

I was playing at the Linq, the 1/1 game.  I was having an ok session and then….

One of the first hands I had was pocket Queens.  I was in the big blind and the small blind made it $4.  I just called.  Three of us saw a King-high flop.  No one bet.  Another King on the turn, this time I bet $10 and took it down.

I raised to $6 with Ace-10 of clubs, only one caller.  I flopped the flush draw, bet $10 and took it.

I limped in from the button with King-10.  It was 5-way.  I bet $6 on a 10-high flop, two players called.  The turn was a King and first to act donk-shoved. It was about $75 and after the next guy folded, I called.  I had him covered (I buy into this game for $100, typically).  The river was a blank.  All he had was King-Queen and my two pair was good.

I got pocket Aces and a guy led out for $5, another player called.  I made it $20 and no one called.  But the player who called said, “Come on…show.”  I shook my head.  “You gotta pay to see,”  I said it light-heartedly, I’m sure.  But the guy got pissed.  He was a novice player.  He seemed to know poker ok, but was clueless how to play in a casino poker room.  He didn’t really get posting blinds.  He would bet or raise out of turn.  Even when he was the blind (which are both $1), he’d try to bet $5 instead.  He would say “I want to raise” when there was no bet facing him.  He also liked to shove a lot.  Sometimes he’d take the pot, but when called he appeared to be bluffing or shoving very light a bit more than half the time.

Anyway, he was not happy I didn’t show.  It’s true, he showed a bunch of his hands when he didn’t have to.  But I certainly never agreed to reciprocate.  He said, “OK, be nasty.  I’m gonna get you.  I’m gonna get all your money.  I’m gonna play every hand you’re in.”  He was playing most hands anyway.  Now, this didn’t really put the fear of god into me.  It wasn’t like this was Phil Hellmuth targeting me.  Still, I found it a little offputting.  Even if a bad player is targeting you, it makes you uncomfortable.  Plus, knowing he might shove any time just to prove a point made me wary.  I didn’t get any money from him (nor him, from me) but I was happy when he left.

I called $2 with pocket 3’s, five of us saw the flop.  It came 10-5-3, rainbow.  I bet $6 and it was down to three.  I bet $25 on a blank turn and got one call.  The river was a 5.  I bet $50 but didn’t get a call.  I did show my boat as they have cash drawing promo at the Linq, a bit similar to the ones they have at MGM.  They always pull two tickets and each is worth $100.  The drawings are at 5PM and Midnite.  The nice thing is that you don’t have to be playing to win, you just have to be there when they pull the tickets. Also, you don’t fill out a ticket, they are like those raffle tickets at a carnival with a long number on it.  So if you leave and your ticket is pulled, you’ll never know you missed out.  I think you only need a straight to get a ticket and you get three tickets for a full house.

I raised to $8 with Ace-Queen of hearts.  Two called.  The flop was King-7-4, two hearts.  I bet $15 and got one caller.  I checked a blank turn.  There was a Queen on the river.  This time my opponent led out for $21.  Sigh. With the Queen I made the crying call.  He had flopped a set of 4’s.  Hmm….I couldn’t understand why he just called the flop, especially with the heart draw out there.  And checking the turn?  Well, there, he might have been assuming (hoping?) I would bet again so he could check-raise me.  I guess I lost the minimum and he didn’t really get much value for his set.

I had gotten my stack up to close to $200 (which would have been a double up) and then managed to piss away some chips in the way one usually does.  I might have been down to about $140 maybe $130, when the disaster hand happened.

In late position I had 10-9 off.  Someone raised to $3. I called (trying to play a few more hands from late position).  It was five way I believe.  The flop came Jack-9-8, rainbow. The preflop raiser checked, but someone bet $5, I called and it was three-way.  The turn was a Queen.  This time the guy who bet the flop checked.  It was on me and I bet $20.  The last guy hesitated for quite awhile and then called.  The other guy folded.

The river was a blank low-card and I bet $40.  Yes, I knew that King-10 was a better straight than I had.  But I was trying to overcome one of the major weaknesses in my game—not getting enough value, especially on the river.  So I bet with the second nuts.  Especially since I had interpreted his hesitancy on the turn as deciding between a call and a fold.  Yes, he had fiddled with his chips.  I see that all the time from players who think about folding—and then do fold. They want to see what a call will do to their stack if they call and lose.

My opponent took a few moments and then announced, “all-in.”  Damn.  Our stacks were pretty similar, it was a bet for my remaining stack, give or take.  This guy hadn’t gotten out of line the entire time I was there, which should have been my first clue—or maybe my second. I convinced myself he didn’t have King-10.  He maybe had a 10, maybe two pair, but no way did he have King-10.  With my river bet, I had put close to half my stack in, if not a bit more.  After tanking a bit, I called.

Of course, he turned over King-10.  Turned out he just barely had me covered and I went from in the black to down a buy-in.

Ugh.  It turns out my pal Don was sitting right next to me.  I told him and I didn’t think he had it and he told me he did think he had it.  He interpreted the guy’s fiddling with his chips on the turn as deciding between raising and calling.  He figured the guy finally decided to just call to see if he could get the third player to come along.

Another bad tendency I have to cure myself of.  I just default to thinking a guy tanking and then calling was thinking of folding.  I never give enough credence to the player deciding between calling and raising.

I should have been able to have made the read Don did.  Then I could have checked the river.  He probably wouldn’t have shoved without my $40 out there.  He bets a smaller amount (maybe even $40) and if I call I don’t lose everything.  Maybe he bets too much for me to call and I fold.  If I had been smart enough to not bet the river, I would probably have been smart enough not to call a shove.

So I was felted and had to buy another stack of $100.  I managed to lose some more chips, didn’t note how, but I did win a couple of hands. 

I got the dreaded Kings and raised to $6.  There was only one caller and the flop was Ace high.  Undaunted, I bet $10 and got a fold.  Just a few hands later I had pocket Queens and raised to $8 I think. It was three-way this time.  Another Ace-high flop.  I made another c-bet.  Amazingly, that too worked and I dragged the pot.

It was getting close to Midnite, drawing time. I hung around for it, with my three tickets in the drum.  Shockingly, I had one of the winning tickets.  So I got $100 for that.  That cut my loss for the night down to about $30, almost saving the night. 

But….all it takes is one mistake to ruin a session.  And I definitely made one.

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Is This How I Should Play The Dreaded Pocket Kings?

This is about my last session from last week, the very same session where we were serenaded by the guys singing from the sports bar (as told here).  I’ll only talk about three hands.

It was a good table, a few really bad players, some solid ones and a lot of big stacks. Most of the players were willing to put chips in play and not always with very good hands.  And of course, I was mostly card dead the entire night.  I still had around $200 from winning/losing a few small pots.  In early position I looked down at pocket 10’s—easily the best hand I’d seen in at least an hour.  I opened the pot for $8—my standard open in a Vegas 1/2 game.

In hindsight, I should have bet bigger.  I hadn’t really opened very many pots myself to get much feedback that way, but I could see that the game was loose enough to handle a bigger opening raise.  But there were at least a couple of players there savvy enough to remember that I opened to $8 a few times and maybe would thus think I was changing the opening bet based on my hand strength.

Anyway, I was only called by fiveplayers.  So I wasn’t really liking my 10’s right then.  I figured I’d just check/fold unless I hit my set—assuming there were over cards, as they almost surely would be.  But in fact, the flop came 9-7-5, two hearts (I didn’t have the 10 of hearts).  Well, in theory, an over pair is the next best thing to catching your set, right?  I decided to bet, and I put out $35.  The next player to act was a friendly British fellow who had about $400 in front of him.  He seemed like a solid player, but hadn’t been one of the more aggressive players at the table.  In fact, he had won most of that money before I got there.  So I was really surprised when he announced, “all in.”

Strange.  What could he have?  It quickly folded back to me.  I couldn’t believe my 10’s were good.  I assumed a set, and the odd shove there was based on fear of the flush draw (and maybe the straight draw).  Alternatively, I suppose he could be semi-bluffing the flush draw himself, but shoving instead of just raising seemed pretty odd if that were the case.  And it was not impossible that he had 8-6 and flopped the straight, and that the shove was to protect against the flush, same as if he had a set.  Two pair didn’t seem likely…but then, if he could have played 8-6 I guess he could have played 9-7 just as well.

I just couldn’t see stacking off most of a buy-in with just a pair of 10’s.  Not to this guy.  Now, there were a couple of other players I’d seen make some bad bluffs.  If it had been one of them (one in particular), I probably would have called.  But not him.

He dragged in the pot and much to my surprise, he showed his hand.  Two Kings!  Man, I would have dreaded them if I had called.  I shrugged and he said, “I had to do that, because of the hearts.”  I nodded. Not exactly a good value bet but I wasn’t going to tell him.

I was actually more interested in the preflop action.  How could he not three-bet me with those cowboys?  So I said to him, inquisitively, “You didn’t raise me preflop?”  He said something like, “No…I wanted to see what came out on the flop.”  I asked, “Afraid of an Ace, huh?” and he said yes, that’s exactly what it was.

Wow.  Does anybody like his play there?  Not three-betting with Kings because you want to make sure there’s no Ace on the flop?  What th-?  Should I try this play with Kings (in my case, could it hurt?).

Seriously, my first thought was that this guy reads my blog and is more afraid of Kings than I am.  I mean, it was still early position, so when he called he had to know he’d be up against more than a few hands.  And although a good percentage of the pots at this table were raised preflop, there wasn’t all that much three-betting and there was no particular player prone to three-betting a lot.  So I don’t think he was hoping for someone to come over the top pre so he could four-bet.  I really don’t get it.

He’s got those Kings up against five other hands. There’s actually pretty good odds someone flopped a better hand.  And although my stack was only half of his, there were several stacks in the hand that were as big or bigger than his.  Since he was second to act, he could have lost it all there with that play. He could easily be losing to a set, or a straight.  Although he’d seen enough of my play to reasonably conclude I didn’t have 8-6, you couldn’t say the same for others in the hand.  I mean the last player to call had pot odds to call with just about anything.  And you know, I’d have probably played it the same way if I had had pocket 9’s and flopped top set. He couldn’t rule that out.

Basically, he risked $400 for an $80 pot.  Weird.  Or am I wrong?

A little bit later I was in the cutoff with 9-8 offsuit.  One of the looser players had raised to $10 or $12, there’d been two callers, and I decided to call.  Trying to stretch my game a little, at least when I’m in late position.  Unfortunately, after the button called, the small blind—the Brit from the previous hand—popped it to $25.  Hmm…well, at least I knew he didn’t have Kings.  The three players in front of me called, and then the button put her chips out to call before it was her turn.  Ok, so I knew this was gonna be a huge pot pre, and I couldn’t see folding there.  If I smash the flop, maybe I can make a really big score.  I called and the button called, this time in turn.

So five of us saw a flop of King-9-3, two clubs (again, I had zero clubs).  The small blind put out a bet of $45 and it folded to me.  I probably had $150 or a bit less.  It was maybe a small enough stack to risk it all, but I only had middle pair and had to assume I was likely behind. I couldn’t see calling, especially considering my two pair or trips (if I caught either) certainly might not be good anyway.  Even though it was a relatively small bet for the size of the pot, I folded.

Does anyone think I should have called?  Or even come over the top with a shove?

The last player (the button) raised, and the Brit shoved. The lady on the button had put more than half her stack out with her raise, so I was surprised she hesitated to call, but she tanked for a bit.  Then she called.  The next card was an 8, which I was not happy about it.  The river was a blank.  The lady showed 7-4 of clubs.  She lost her whole stack chasing a baby flush. She immediately cut up to go to the ATM for more money. That was nice.  The Brit showed Ace-King and took it down.

It’s results-oriented thinking to dwell on the fact that I would have had a triple up if I had called the flop bet.  Except that, then I would have had to have called an all-in before seeing the turn card.  Of course by then I would have been pot committed. So maybe I should have just shoved the flop in the first place, with middle pair?  I dunno, I think I made the right play but let me know.

As the night wore on, I dropped below $100 and realized I was not willing to put any more chips in play.  I’d play one more orbit and call it a night.  I was down to $68 when I had pocket 6’s and limped in after a few others had.  No one raised, and five of us saw the flop.  It had a 6 on it and I didn’t pay much attention to the rest because I knew with my small stack I was going to get it all in if I possibly could.

I led out for $10 and only one player called—the loosest, worst player at the table. He was under-the-gun and had checked. He had visited the ATM several times during the evening to reload.  Earlier he had been called on a few outrageous all-in bluffs but lately had been a bit more restrained.  I bet $20 on a blank turn and he called.  When the river hit, whatever it was, this time he led out for $35.  And I was wondering if I would be able to get called on the river!  I put all my chips out and it turned out that it was $36.  Then I did something that maybe was inappropriate.  I said to the guy, “Take your time deciding, it’s a whole dollar.”

Now I do something like that when I’m not in the hand if the player who has a buck or two to call is sitting near me.  Technically, it violates the “one player to a hand rule” but it’s so obviously a joke and no one is ever folding for a buck. I’ve never gotten in trouble for it.  But this time, I was in the hand and I had what I was sure was the winning hand.  So does it come across as rubbing it in to the other player?  I kind of felt bad afterward. Plus I think I actually confused him a bit with saying that (as I said, he wasn’t a very good player—but he was certainly no novice—just bad).  Anyway, he threw in a buck and I showed my set.  He had Queen-8 for top pair.  He said the only reason he played Queen-8 was he had won his last pot with it.  But really, who was he kidding?  That was solidly in the middle of his early position limping range.

I kept my vow that being my last orbit, and that double up meant I only dropped $70 for the session, my last for the trip.

Now, I mentioned the player to my immediate for the last two hands was a woman.  I tried to find a picture on the internet that looked like her, for illustration purposes. I could not.  So I found a pic of this lady below, who could not look more different than the woman sitting next to me.  So perhaps this will help the visual—just imagine a woman who could not possbly look more different  than the woman below.

Oh, and in case that pic isn’t sufficient, here’s another pic of the same woman to further help with your mind’s eye.

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I Say a Little Prayer For You

As you probably figured out from my last post (here), despite my recent misgivings about Vegas, I was there as recently as last week.  It was sort of a stealth, under-the-radar visit (I suppose that’s a bit redundant, which is surprising, cuz I’m usually so concise).  It was a very quick trip by my standards (five nights, no weekend nights)….just a quick, slightly belated birthday trip.  My pals LM & Woody were headed there, and they enticed me to join them by promising me a free dinner at a fancy Vegas steakhouse. How could I refuse?

We dined at Alder & Birch, the new steakhouse at The Orleans.  It was a fine meal, and probably too nice a place for The Orleans.  Thanks again, guys!  A few days later, It was LM who surreptitiously took the pic of me that you see in the last post, only a few levels before my soul was crushed for the umpteenth time by a certain starting hand that we won’t mention.

On my last night in town, Thursday, one of those type of things happened that I will surely miss when the evil corporate suits who ruin (not a typo, I didn’t mean “run”) finally make it unbearable for me to visit any longer (see here and here). It hasn’t happened just yet, but believe me, it’s getting there.

The thing that has always appealed to me about Vegas, long before I became afflicted with a bad poker habit, is that you see and hear all kinds of crazy, odd, and silly stuff that you just really can’t see anywhere else. And you experience it and then you go, “It’s Vegas” and you shrug.  By now, I would have thought I’d seen it all, but they keep coming up with more weird shit.  Of course, this blog was started in part to document all this (or all of it that I witness). Of course, the best of this type of thing is salacious, but even the less provocative weird things can be fun.  This story is G-rated.

Anyway, I was playing deh pokerz at the MGM.  Right next to the poker room is a sports bar called “Tap.”  The bar has open windows when it is open, so you can hear the noise from it quite well from the poker room (and I suppose, should there ever be any noise in the poker room, you could hear that from Tap). 

I happened to be sitting at the poker table the very closest to the bar.  Suddenly, while playing, we start hearing singing.  A group of male voices had launched into a rousing chorus of the song, “I Say a Little Prayer For You.”  I looked over and it was coming from Tap.  At a big table nearest the poker room, there was a group of maybe 10, 12 young guys—late 20’s/early 30’s I’d guess—singing the song together.  There was not a female with them.  They were all well dressed by Vegas standards (sports coats).  They were singing loudly enough for the entire poker room to hear them.  Also, they could probably be heard in the sports book too.

As best I could tell, they sang the song completely from beginning to end.  My best guess is that it was a bachelor party and they were serenading the groom-to-be as if they were his intended.  It was pretty funny.  And of course, it reminded me of the scene in the film, “My Best Friend’s Wedding” where the whole wedding party broke out in the very same song (perhaps they were doing an homage to that very scene).  The difference was that in the movie, the song was sung extemporaneously.  Here, it was obviously quite planned (and even rehearsed?).

It was one of those “Only in Vegas” moments. And of course, it wouldn’t have been nearly as funny if it had been a group of women singing instead of guys.  It’s just not the kind of song you expect to hear a group of young guys belt out, especially in Sin City. 

The song completed, everyone went back to their business and we never heard from the lads again.

Here’s a link to the clip from the film that I’m referring to, and if you’d like to hear the original version of the song, click here.

And of course, it wouldn’t be my blog if I didn’t figure out a way to get a little cheesecake in the post.  So I’m including some pics of Cameron Diaz, who co-starred in the movie.  Why no pics of Julia Roberts, who was actually the star of the movie?

Well, I’ve never really found Ms. Roberts particularly attractive.  Nothing personal, just my own taste.  I always thought that the idea of Julia Roberts in a film titled “Pretty Woman” would be like featuring me in a documentary called, “The World’s Greatest Poker Player.”

And yes, this post is uncharacteristically brief again.  Sorry about that.  But I returned from Vegas facing a deadline for my Ante Up column, which I just filed a few hours ago.  It was actually the first time I ever needed the deadline extension I’d inquired about getting.

But I felt I had to get you good folks a post this evening.  I have a reputation to keep up.  You see, the fine folks at this fine website have named the very blog you are reading the seventh most awesome poker blog in the known universe. I do want to thank them for the recognition. Now my goal is to move into the top 3 for next year.  It will be a challenge, for sure.  One of the folks I will have to overtake is my pal Pete P. Peters, proprietor of the fifth most awesome poker blog in the known universe. As you can see from his latest post (here), he is upping the ante by turning his blog into a “Healthy Lifestyle” blog.  How can I compete with that?  It is a topic I know less about than how to win with pocket Kings.  So I guess I’ll just have to up the boobies.  It’s what I know.

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