Crazy Cash Gamers (AC Trip Report Pt 4)
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
I could tell that the 1/2 NL cash game table was going to be an interesting one. Early on, the player to my immediate right, a Jamie Gold midget lookalike, was using his outdoor voice, practically screaming in my ear as he shouted across the table, "RAISE!" He was clearly donking it up, and his miniscule stack, under $100, looked silly compared to the rest of the table, many of whom had $500 or more (with an initial $300 max buy-in). In other words, I was to the immediate left of the game's donator, and his obnoxious behavior was like pure ecstacy to me.
To his right, a big dude with a sleeveless sweatshirt, jet black hair, and a make-shift goatee was whooping it up, playing loose and having a fine ole time. To his right were two barely-21-year-old kids, guzzling Red Bulls and vodkas and talking to each other about particular hands and stategies as though the rest of us were deaf and blind. To their right were a couple of big stacks, including one that just felt like a good player. This was confirmed by the kids and the Golden midget, who stated to watch out whenever the good player entered a pot. After him was someone I pretty much ignored. I think he was uber-tight, but whatever the case, I don't recall him. Somewhere over there was the sole non-white male of the table, a small, intelligent-looking black dude who seemed on edge. The to his right was a big white dude with a shaved head, goatee, and water bottle for spitting his tobacco. He seemed GCoxian to me, both in attitude and play-style, and I noted this for later. The rest of the table was really just an afterthought.
While we played, I chatted up the Golden midget. He was clearly hated by the table, so I wanted him to keep on riling them up, all the while feeding me info on himself, the table, and just about anything else I would ask. The kids were talking strategy, and I chuckled to myself as one of them bet out $20 into a $8 pot to take it down uncontested against three other players. What a stupid bet, I thought. I was then surprised when one of them got into a hand with the Golden midget, only to have the midget push on the river for what amounted to, at that time, the same bet as the turn, and about 1/5 of the total pot. The kid folded and stated, "There you go again. A bet like that will only be called by a better hand." Clearly, the kid didn't have anything worth playing, and I noted that for later. He also seemed to have the inklings of poker knowledge, and his aggression actually impressed me to an extent. He was like a bundle of raw poker energy with no real focus.
I became friendly with the kids as I chatted them up. They were trying to order 2 Red Bulls and vodka each, but the waitress wouldn't agree. I piped in, "Hey, that sounds good. I'll have one too." When the drinks came, I called out one of the kids named Joe and said, "Joe's got my tip covered." He affably paid, and when I moved to hand him his second drink he was confused. "I ordered it for you, buddy. I can't be drinking Red Bull right now." He had paid my tip without even realizing that I was actually ordering for him. Of course, he was pretty drunk. To keep him and his buddy from thinking we were all just having fun (and we were), I called over to the waitress, "Hey honey, this Red Bull ain't going down right. Can I get a Corona?" Now we would all be drinking, just some a bit harder than others.
I played a hand with the GCoxian guy. He was aggressive when in a hand, and I think I missed the flop, but there was a flush draw and I called his bet hoping to represent the flush if it hit. On the next card, the flush scare card is dealt and I check. He bets $20 and I raise to $60. My read is right and he folds.
I don't remember many hands with particularity. I don't think I reached showdown much. I got my stack up almost $200 at one point and felt like this table was ripe for the taking. One of the kids checked in the dark and showed down AQo in the hand, interesting if only for Gavin Smith' theory that 2 out of 3 times if someone checks in the dark, they are holding AQ.
The Golden midget got into a hand with the bald GCox. The midget was bluffing the entire way and at showdown the GCox had the nut flush (which he oddly checked on the river). Earlier when I played a hand against him, he threw his cards face up across the table so I could see what he had at showdown. This time, when he chucked them, the cards bounced, flipped face down, and landed in the much. The dealer was looking away so when he looked down, he was the mucked cards and began pushing the pot. This caused a ruckus. The floor was called, but ulitmately, the GCoxian guy lost. He should have, too. Just place the cards, buddy. No need for flare. Meanwhile, the black guy, who was totally not in the hand, seemed to steam and told the dealer that he was going too fast. Too fast?! I love fast dealing. I kept my mouth shut, though, as the Golden midget was yelling at some other guy across the table for defending the GCox's version of the faux muck. The table was all yelling and anger. I loved it.
A few hands later, the dealer turns to the black guy, who is still very angry, and asks, "Is this slow enough for you?" Holy shit, you'd think he called the black guy's mother a whore.
The black guy gets even more riled up now. "Why you gotta turn this personal?" Meanwhile, the action is to him, UTG+1 and the entire table is being held up by this madness. Golden midget starts getting anxious and yells, "FLOOR!" Meanwhie, the black guy is explaining, "Hey man, this money might not be a lot to the rest of you, but it is to me, so I take this very seriously." All the while, I want to tell the black guy to fold so the rest of us can play, but I, for once, keep my mouth shut. The floor comes over and the black guy barks at midget Gold for getting involved. Eventually everything calms down, but I say to my side of the table that the black guy is ripe for the taking.
Roose comes by, busted by another bad beat, when he hit TPTK with AQ and was called down the entire way by suited AK, who goes runner runner flush. I tell him that my table is too good to leave, especially with those kids across from me, to which he replies, "They'll just suck out on you." "That's fine with me," I say, and sure enough, both Roose and I are right. A few hands later, I have QJ and call a raise from the kid, who was shuffling his cards, a common sign that a player doesn't like his cards. The flop is Q high, and he bets out. I call, knowing that I'm in great shape. The next cards is a blank and he bets out again. I call, just in case. The river is a King and he bets out the same amount as his last two bets, another sign of weakness or inexperience. I call, and he rivered me with his KT. Like I said to Roose, though, I don't really mind. I'll win from him later.
Or so I planned. As it turned out, not much later, I got into a hand with the black guy. I was going to represent the flush draw again after hitting middle pair, and let him bet into me. When the flush card comes on the turn, I decide to just call him again, looking to make my move later, knowing that he is playing with scared money. The river makes a four-flush, and I'm pretty screwed, even with my Jack-high flush. I decide to test him, though, since people were playing 2-pair on flush boards like it was perfectly natural. By this time, the pot is significant, so I grab a stack of chips that constituted all of my profits, about $60-75 by the river. He pauses and announces, "raise." This is his first raise of the game over several hours. I muck and say, "You caught me on the river with the Ace?" He shows the Ace. I made a play at a bad time. I rack my chips up, happy to have played and broken even. I was tired, literally falling asleep at the table. As I racked up, one of the kids says, "He's just better than you at poker," referring to the black guy. I look over my sunglasses and burn a whole through him with my eyes. He looks sheepish, his joke obviously falling short, and he jokes, "He doesn't even need sunglasses. heheh?"
Now, the truth was, I liked the kid. I saw some potential for his game, and besides, I was leaving. I also got that he was joking. As I racked up, my side of the table seemed disappointed to see me go. We were all having a good time together. I motion for the jokester kid to stand up and come over, as I near the far corner of the table. "Me?" he sounded scared. "Come on kid, we aren't going far, I gotta tell you something." He came over looking like a deer in headlights. "When you shuffle your cards, it means you have a bad hand. That's your tell." I wanted to help the kid and if I humbled him a bit, all the better. He thanked me earnestly and I told him good luck.
I headed to the cage, cashed out my $300 and went upstairs. I was exhausted, but Roose was hanging alone. Randy had disappeared, and we had some migraine medication to relax us after all of the poker adrenaline. We played some more Rummy 500 and shot the shit. Randy eventually came up, at least an hour later. He had went to the poker room, and actually was right near me, but poker rooms cause tunnel vision.
Before we hit the sack, Roose and I agreed to play Showboat's $53+12 tournament at 11am tomorrow. As I lie in bed, I changed my mind. The tournament was another crap shoot, and I felt confident that I could make more money with cash games. I resolved to tell Roose to give it his best, and I'd wait for him at the cash games.
Then it was off to slumber, where I dreamt that wifey Kim and I broke up, and I couldn't get laid for the life of me.
Coming up...to tourney or not to tourney?
posted by Jordan @ 10:55 AM,
4 Comments:
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At 4:30 PM,
MrGoss said...
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I really like the way you put the kid in his place by helping him out. That's one of the best ways to humble a person. Nice angle.
MG -
At 5:42 PM,
Jordan said...
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Thanks, Goss. I kinda felt a little silly about it, but then I thought that I had nothing to lose. Pay it forward and all that jazz.
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At 6:18 PM,
said...
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The detail you put into your trip reports is amazing. Do you take notes? Nice work.
Not bad for an attorney. :) -
At 6:43 PM,
Jordan said...
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Mental notes, and some audio notes at tourney breaks and after some cash game sessions in my cell phone. That's how I remember some of it, but a lot of it is just reliving the experience in my head. It's part of the reason why I try to do them so soon after the trip.
