Quest of a Closet Poker Player

$1/3 NLHE at Caesar’s, and just a horrific hand sends me from a winning session to down $400 for the day.

Look, I realize that this baby stakes is a breeding ground for all types:  low bankroll grinders, tourists, college kids ready to take on Vegas, businessmen.  It leads to a bit of a wacky game.  Seven hand limps are the norm.  Raise it up to $25, and you get three calling stations coming along.  Without a big pair or catching your flop, continuation bets just get harvested by everyone.  So I adjust:  I pull back, muck noticeably more than everyone, call some raises in position hoping to hit something, make the occasional re-raise steal.  It is a waiting game, waiting either to catch and trap with a big hand or to pick off one of the aggros who show up.

I made an early play on a Long Island chatty-cat, only to be called on the 7-high board by picket 8’s.  I was able to get up about $200 after several hours of dutifully logging hands.  I picked off a young player from the previous night, calling down a flop bet and a $75 river bet with 88 on a board of 9-10-Q-4-8 board (he announced, “I have an ace” before I showed my rivered set).

A new crop of players came by and changed the game.  The hottie talked the Long Island guy into dumping his accumulated $750 to her and to the Drew Carey look-alike.  She took the seat of the internet whiz kid who blasted through $1k in ninety minutes.  His barking drew the focus of the Texan lady with marital troubles, as well as the Long Island guy.  She shoved with Kh-5h after the youngster and one other had moved all-in.  Her king spiked on the river to take down his pocket queens and the A-10s of the third player.  He then snap shoved for $375 when Drew made it $18.  Long Island called as did Drew.  You can guess the hands (Drew:  AA, Long Island:  KK, whiz kid:  AKs).

I was in the 1s, and an aggro 40-something starting bumping it up to $25 indiscrimately. He took a few called pots.  After a raise and three limpers, he made it $75 from the button.  I looked at AKo, and I shoved immediately to take down the pot.  He eventually busted out before heading to a satellite.  In the middle of all this, Bangs sat in the 3s.  He too was a guy who would mix it up, liked to bet and raise pre-flop.  I’d watched him for over an hour and got tired of his aggression.

I was rarely raising in position, so I made it $15 from the CO with 9c-7c.  Bangs bumps it to $50, and I make the call in position.  The flop comes 9-8-J with one club, and he leads out for $75.  He had almost three stacks of red chips behind, although I admittedly never looked at his chips.  I stacked out my $75, looked a bit tortured, then said, “I’m all-in.”  I was certain he was empty here, one of those times where you are going to bet any flop that hits you.

He didn’t quickly fold, which I obviously liked.  Then he said, “Do you have A-10?”  I think I glanced at him when he said this, I’m pretty sure I did.  For two minutes, he sits there, then he says, “OK, I call.”  I’m pretty stunned, and at Caesar’s you don’t have to show your hand all-in.  I table my pair and gutshot, Ac-4d hit the board, and he turns over As-Qc for a pair of aces.  That put me at $400, and I put out another $100 to top off.

I sat there pretty stoic trying to understand exactly how anyone makes that call.  Bizarro.

The real hand of my session came about two hours earlier.  It was a passive table with an internet kid sitting at my left.  He looked familiar, although I’m not sure if I’d played with him before or not.  Still a very, very, very sick hand.  I limp with AJo, and he raises to $15 which I call.  The flop come A-9-2, and I check/call $50.  The turn brings a 2, and I again check/call another $50.  The river brings an Ace, filling me up.  The board was a rainbow, and I make it $75.  He announces that he is all-in for another $391 (I have him covered).

I must have thought through this for five minutes as I tried to figure this hand out.  I had done everything wrong here, and here I sat with an apparently simple decision that I just couldn’t make.  Does he really have A-9 here?  Does he have 9-9 and doesn’t think I have an ace?  Deuces are out of the question (I never thought that it was a possibility, and he didn’t show which would have gotten him a high hand jackpot).  I ended up mucking the hand.  Horrible, dreadful, I dunno.

The laydown didn’t stay with me very long, but the other hand did a bit more.  It was particularly troubling as he shoved it all-in on a flop of Ac-5s-2s with the 5s (a college kid who I’d played with the previous night).  Another ace hit the turn, and the college kid tabled A-K to take the pot.  He took his $1.2k twenty minutes later after his two-hour hit-and-run.  The hottie had headed to dinner, so the table had suddenly broken down.  I hadn’t eaten, so I racked up my $500 chips and headed for dinner.

BTW, The Price is Right has to be rigged (lady just spun $.60 to make her $1.00 for $1k, then she gets her bonus spin and spins $1.00 to get an extra $10k).  Speaking of Drew Carey…

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 18th, 2007 at 12:13 pm and is filed under Uncategorized.