Wednesday, April 06, 2005
Keeping my chin up...
But it keeps getting heavier and heavier. And so the cards continue to run against me... actually, hurtle toward me and kick me in the gut is probably more apropos. It's been about two weeks of a bad run so far but as always, the optimist in me keeps finding some good things to concentrate on.
Almost every time I've gotten my money in with the best hand and gotten drawn out on or rivered. They haven't all been bad beats, but all have been tough... very, very tough to swallow.
Example: Tonight I went to play at the Warehouse again. I sat down with $100 and was dealt pocket sevens. Flop came Q 9 7, with two diamonds. I checked hoping one of the other six people in the hand would help me build it (it's a pot limit game). We checked around and a six came on the turn. This time I led out, got two callers and then someone pot bet, two folds, I pot bet back at him (which put me all-in and made it $47 more to go), two folds and then it was decision time. He thought I had the straight but ended up calling anyway with the nut flush draw. I think you all can guess what happened. First hand, all-in... busted.
Reload for $100 more. About fifteen minutes later I look down at two red Aces. I raise pot, get called which gives the third caller the odds to put his money in. He naturally flopped his nine high flush. Positive note: My game has progressed to the level where I can lay down pocket Aces, but it still cost me a bundle.
Down $135 at that point, when I get in a pot where I river Broadway and the other guy rivered his King high flush.
Down $165.
I made a decent comeback when I got doubled up on what I will unabashedly designate a great read by yours truly. Played 89 hearts and then called a pot raise of four bucks from the seat in front of me. Flop came J94 with two spades. Raiser bets out seven dollars, which is about a quarter of what I have left. I've only played with this guy for about ninety minutes but my instincts tell me that he missed this flop and is playing overcards and a draw. I decide what the hell, and pot bet back at him which put me all-in for my last $35. He called, turned over KQ of spades, and shockingly he did not flush out on me.
I made another two good plays which got me back to even on my second hundred bucks, but right before it shut down for the night I put some more money into a 966 flop where I had A9. I still think I got bluffed off of it, but oh well.
Well my friends, there are better stories to be told than my bad beats tonight (even though it indirectly is the worst beat I took all night long). Along about midnight an old guy everyone called Sparky walks into the room. He sits down with a Benjamin and promptly goes all-in blind with the guy sitting to my right. Guy to my right had AK over a J 10 8 board and Sparky turns over Q 10 when he finally gets to his cards. Turn is a brick and the river brings a Queen which stunned the table for a second until we realized Sparky had lost out on All-in #1 to Keith's Broadway.
That's right, All-in #1. Sparky promptly reloads for $100 and is all-in blind on hand two. He gets into it with the guy on my left who turns over pocket Aces against Sparky's AK hearts. Two hearts come on the flop, but the guy on my left (Tight Tony) holds on and takes down the pot. Reload... all-in blind on hand three. Gets into it with TT again, who this time turns over pocket Kings and takes down another C-note. Sparky gets up and leaves and then comes back five minutes later and gets into it again. All-in blind, after the flop this time, except that TT flopped a set with his pocket eights and they hold up to Sparky's straight draw and bottom pair. Fifteen minutes, three hands, three hundred bucks... poof.
How's that a bad beat for me, you ask? My buddy Matt moved from our table to the no-limit table right before Sparky showed up, which means I would have had TT's hands instead. Thanks Matt, you owe me three hundred bucks.
Sparky got involved one more time before he left when he backed another guy at the table to go all-in blind for $100, and the guy lost. So Sparky was there for about 45 minutes and dropped five hondo. Apparently he's the reason the games went from no-limit to pot-limit. But that was definitely some entertaining "poker" to watch.
About 2:30 am as we're playing our last few orbits, Sparky calls in to Uncle Rob and tells him to ask TT if he'll go double or nothing on two blind cards in the middle of the table. Unfortunately, Tony declined.
[Editor's note: If I were Tony, I just might have done it.]
Almost every time I've gotten my money in with the best hand and gotten drawn out on or rivered. They haven't all been bad beats, but all have been tough... very, very tough to swallow.
Example: Tonight I went to play at the Warehouse again. I sat down with $100 and was dealt pocket sevens. Flop came Q 9 7, with two diamonds. I checked hoping one of the other six people in the hand would help me build it (it's a pot limit game). We checked around and a six came on the turn. This time I led out, got two callers and then someone pot bet, two folds, I pot bet back at him (which put me all-in and made it $47 more to go), two folds and then it was decision time. He thought I had the straight but ended up calling anyway with the nut flush draw. I think you all can guess what happened. First hand, all-in... busted.
Reload for $100 more. About fifteen minutes later I look down at two red Aces. I raise pot, get called which gives the third caller the odds to put his money in. He naturally flopped his nine high flush. Positive note: My game has progressed to the level where I can lay down pocket Aces, but it still cost me a bundle.
Down $135 at that point, when I get in a pot where I river Broadway and the other guy rivered his King high flush.
Down $165.
I made a decent comeback when I got doubled up on what I will unabashedly designate a great read by yours truly. Played 89 hearts and then called a pot raise of four bucks from the seat in front of me. Flop came J94 with two spades. Raiser bets out seven dollars, which is about a quarter of what I have left. I've only played with this guy for about ninety minutes but my instincts tell me that he missed this flop and is playing overcards and a draw. I decide what the hell, and pot bet back at him which put me all-in for my last $35. He called, turned over KQ of spades, and shockingly he did not flush out on me.
I made another two good plays which got me back to even on my second hundred bucks, but right before it shut down for the night I put some more money into a 966 flop where I had A9. I still think I got bluffed off of it, but oh well.
Well my friends, there are better stories to be told than my bad beats tonight (even though it indirectly is the worst beat I took all night long). Along about midnight an old guy everyone called Sparky walks into the room. He sits down with a Benjamin and promptly goes all-in blind with the guy sitting to my right. Guy to my right had AK over a J 10 8 board and Sparky turns over Q 10 when he finally gets to his cards. Turn is a brick and the river brings a Queen which stunned the table for a second until we realized Sparky had lost out on All-in #1 to Keith's Broadway.
That's right, All-in #1. Sparky promptly reloads for $100 and is all-in blind on hand two. He gets into it with the guy on my left who turns over pocket Aces against Sparky's AK hearts. Two hearts come on the flop, but the guy on my left (Tight Tony) holds on and takes down the pot. Reload... all-in blind on hand three. Gets into it with TT again, who this time turns over pocket Kings and takes down another C-note. Sparky gets up and leaves and then comes back five minutes later and gets into it again. All-in blind, after the flop this time, except that TT flopped a set with his pocket eights and they hold up to Sparky's straight draw and bottom pair. Fifteen minutes, three hands, three hundred bucks... poof.
How's that a bad beat for me, you ask? My buddy Matt moved from our table to the no-limit table right before Sparky showed up, which means I would have had TT's hands instead. Thanks Matt, you owe me three hundred bucks.
Sparky got involved one more time before he left when he backed another guy at the table to go all-in blind for $100, and the guy lost. So Sparky was there for about 45 minutes and dropped five hondo. Apparently he's the reason the games went from no-limit to pot-limit. But that was definitely some entertaining "poker" to watch.
About 2:30 am as we're playing our last few orbits, Sparky calls in to Uncle Rob and tells him to ask TT if he'll go double or nothing on two blind cards in the middle of the table. Unfortunately, Tony declined.
[Editor's note: If I were Tony, I just might have done it.]
