There are two perks I really like about the Riverwind Casino here in my fair city – one is the ability to call ahead and get on a list for a table, the other is free valet parking.
My plans to get to the casino by mid-afternooon were thwarted by a frustrating few hours trying to get my laptop re-connected to my wifi. I actually arrived a little before 7 pm. With Travis Tritt peforming Saturday night, I was pleasantly surprised that valet wasn’t backed up to the highway.
I secured a cup of ice and a complimentary bottle of water before checking in at the poker room. About half the tables were full, which seemed unusual. The 1.2 list was long but, due to my call before leaving the house, my name was there only a couple away from the top. My wait wasn’t long.
Myself and another fellow were called to table fourteen. We both aimed for the seven seat, he ceded and I took my seat. When I looked to the left and right of me, I began to have second thoughts about that seat.
On my left were two young capable players against whom I’ve played before. One had about $400 in his stack, the other about $600. To my right was a fellow who had about $800 in front of him. I bought in for $189. That plus the $1 chip I brought with me was all the cash left in my bankroll. Ten dollars shy of a full max buy-in. I took a deep breath and hunkered down.
The other end of the table was loosey goosey. My end of the table – well, yeah, it was sharks circling, circling for the kill. I was the baby shark. Naw, not shark… what’s that little fish that attaches itself to a shark? That was me.
I hate playing with scared money, but I had no choice. I was going to have to play very patient, no-frills, solid poker in order to have something in my pocket when I stood up from the table.
My first involvement in a pot was against Papa Stack on my right. I had pocket tens and raised after it was limped to me. I had two callers. The flop came Q-8-3 with two hearts. Checked to me, I put in a continuation bet of about half the pot. One opponent folded, Papa Stack raised all in.
Into the proverbial tank I dove. Time to put him on a hand. His limp and call pre-flop eliminates the big to mid hands – aces through, oh say, maybe nines and the ace-big over cards. So, for pairs, that leaves the pocket pairs eights on down. Does he have a set? If he has a set, why go all-in? The all-in says “don’t call” – but does he read me as a weak player who’ll call top pair or one pair? I’ve haven’t been there very long, he doesn’t know my style, yet. And I’m a girl. Girl’s don’t know how to play right….
Naw… I nix the set. No set for Papa Stack. What’s next? A flush draw? There’re two hearts out there. Is he the type of player who would push on a draw? Maybe, when up against a smaller stack such as mine. Two suited pockets certainly makes sense given the preflop action. Maybe J-9 or J-T (I had the ten of diamonds). And those cards also give him more outs with a gutshot. Ok, so a tentative check in the flush draw column.
Next up is top pair. If he paired the Queen, the all-in is really risky unless he, correctly, has put me on overcards or a lesser pair. If he did indeed pair the Queen, though, he has me beat. I’m not sold on two pair – I just didn’t see him limping and calling a raise with Q-8, Q-3, or 8-3.
My next consideration was my stack size and the fact that I had no re-buy. On top of that, I’d only been there a few hands. I really didn’t want to go home early.
I ultimately gave him respect for hitting top pair and folded. But my gut was telling me he was on a flush draw. Later, as he was leaving the table, I asked him if he would tell me what he had in that hand. He obliged and said he’d had two pair. My gut was wrong. Logic was the saviour on that one and kept me in the game for several more hours.
Stay tuned! More to come in Shark Week at the Riverwind!!