On a Roll
Saturday, May 27, 2006
I'm on FIRE!! Last night, I had the opportunity to play in SoxLover's home game. When I arrived, there were two players already there, aside from Sox and SoxWife. One stands up, a tall guy, and in an Aussie-accented voice introduces himself as Garth from Garth's Discofinery. It's a funny thing, meeting bloggers face-to-face. There is a natural comfort in their company, much like one might experience if they are seeing a close friend for the first time in a long while. You already know each other, so as soon as you get through the physical meet, it's just like you've known the guy for years.
Scott, a friend of Sox, was already there as well, and we all shat the shit. I was eating my McDonalds. I don't normally eat that crap, but when I play poker, I tend to totally regress to a state of infantile degneracy. It's like my brain says, I'm playing poker, so I might as well just totally fly in the face of anything healthy for my mind or body. So, I'm eating crappy food, and washing it down with Red Stripe, which is quickly becoming a common thing at blogger-related poker games lately. I wonder if it is a Dr. Pauly effect, since before this recent trend, I rarely, if ever, had Red Stripe outside of a tropical location. Regardless, the Stripe hit the spot, as opposed to Sox's other beer, the criminally-disgusting Grolsh. Good god, man. Once, a friend brought over Grolsh for a home game. I had those beers in my fridge for a year, since no one would touch those god-awful things. But, hey, I guess differ'nt strokes for differ'nt folks.
While I ate my crappy meal, Dawn from I Had Outs arrived with Alceste. With seven players present and WeakPlayer with WeakWife on a later-than-planned flight, we got started. And I stunk. I guess it is a part of my style, especially with people I know, that I mix it up, raising with marginal hands and making moves on ragged flops. I won a hand or two, but overall found myself playing too many hands. It was a relatively tight table too. Sox was on my left, the last player at the table that I wanted there, but I kept out of his way for the most part. I was fortunate enough to get pocket Jacks (or maybe Tens) and raised preflop, only to be called by Dawn. Dawn is a serious player and a degenerate. She's a smart player too, and generally tight. I don't remember perfectly, but I must've been in position where she thought I was on a steal, or maybe I min-raised, something I rarely do, especially with TT or JJ. Regardless, we saw the Q9x flop. I believe that I bet in a way that pushed her short-stack all-in. She called with K9, middle pair, presumably on the assumption that I was making a play. That's part of my style, getting played back at by players with weaker hands because I'm so willing to show my crappy hands. Well, I was ahead to her K9, but sure enough, the river was another 9 and I was in desperate shape.
I rebought after busting. The structure was a single rebuy/single add-on, so I had to make the next stack of chips count. I didn't and was first out of the tournament. At that point, we were 12 minutes before the break when the add-ons would occur. Sox, the gentleman host, was kind enough to offer to the table to let me buy back in at the add-on. Well, I wanted some more playing time, so I didn't object. Neither did anyone else, and at the add-on, I was back in action. Meanwhile, everyone else had me covered by a decent margin, what with their own add-ons and stacks, which consisted, at least in part, of my original two buy ins.
A funny thing happened on the way to the final two. I doubled up. My 88 vs. Sox's KQ. Then my AQ v. Sox's 88. I also got my chips in there with the best of it a couple of times. And of course, I stole blinds like the hamburgler steals, well, hamburgers. I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for your blinds today. (Okay, I'm mixing hamburger-obsessed cartoon character references, my bad!). Suddenly, I was the chip leader, and Sox, SoxWife and Dawn were the only three players left. Sox eventually busted. I took out SoxWife by calling her preflop all in with her 99 v. my AT, with an Ace on the flop.
Once it was Dawn and I, I was outchipped. But we worked out a deal, and I took the official 2nd place, with more money than the 2nd place would normally get. It was a smart deal for both of us, largely because of Sox's input.
Next up, WeakPlayer and WeakWife had arrived, and we sat down to a .25/.50 NL cash game. Within the first 5 hands, I'm in the BB with AKo. Sox, on my immediate left once again, straddled. Dawn, to his immediate left raised from $1 to 4. It folded to me, out of position, so I decided to call with my AKo and dump it if I thought it necessary post-flop. Sox called as well, and the three of us saw the flop: 445. Alrighty then. I checked. Sox checked. Dawn checked. Hmm. The turn was a Queen. I checked and Sox bet $10. Dawn folded, and I decided to call. Sox seemed to be making a play, betting too big (although less than pot) for a guy who wanted action. I figured that even if he did make a pair, I could potentially push him off his hand if the river was a spade, making a three card spade flush on the board. I also thought I had two overs at the very least, but my spidey sense was telling me that he was bluffing. The river was an Ace, a perfect card from what I could see. I check and Sox announces, "All-In." I called and showed my Ace. He showed the Hammer! And I stacked him.
A little while later, I held TT in early position and made a $4 raise. Someone after me called, probably Sox, and SoxWife came over the top to $12. When it got around to me, I figured she had me beat. SoxWife is a tight player and that raise meant she had AA, KK, QQ, or AK. No matter what, it wasn't looking good. BUT, I thought Sox would call, and I liked my implied odds if I hit. So, I called. Sox folded. The flop was Ten-high, and my set was golden. With full knowledge of SoxWife's likely action with an over-pair, I checked. She, natrually, pushed all-in. I called confidently and showed my set. She had QQ, and I stacked her too.
I eventually left the cash game at 11:30pm. I'm glad I left as early as I did, because getting home was a fiasco. I got on the wrong train, and when I realized it and got off, no other trains came until the same wrong train pulled up. I resigned myself to my fate and took the train back to NYC. From there, I cabbed it to home, happy with my $200 in winnings.
I'm on a roll, baby! Thanks to Sox for the home game. I can only hope that I keep my game tight and keep chipping up. I broke the $2k in winnings mark for the year, and things are looking good. I've even offered to pay for wifey Kim and my future AC trip with poker money. And of course she accepted. That's one smart chick!
posted by Jordan @ 10:48 AM,
