Hump Day & Full Moon Fever II

Continued from HD & FMF…

Hello, my loyal 3. I have been sick for a few days. So sick, I couldn’t work up the energy to write. I’ve never been that bad before and, I’ll admit, it was a little scary. It was some kind of stomach flu from which I haven’t fully recovered. But I am well enough to be back at work which means I have time to write. So here is the conclusion of my previous post that I had promised…before I forget it entirely.

I re-bought for another $400 and, before my chips even arrived, I caught a free ride in the BB with K-To. This is one of those trouble hands that I write about. I wouldn’t play it from any position except on a bluff against weak opponents. So I normally wouldn’t touch it. But, like I said, I got a free look at the flop from my blind and you’ve gotta like that. We were three-handed on a flop of K-J-x rainbow and the SB checked. I figured I might be able to take it down right there or find out how strong/weak my hand was so I made a virtual bet of $25 into the $30 pot. Both players called. The turn was an apparent rag and, again, the SB checked. No one had tried to claim jump this pot on the flop so I continued my stake with another pretend splash of $50 into the now $105 booty. To my surprise, both players called again. These guys were the type to call one bet on a draw, which is what I figured at least one of them for after calling the flop, then go away. But with each of them simply calling on the every street, I was confused. I would have preferred one of them raise and give me reason to get away from my weak top pair. The river brought another rag and, surprise, surprise, the SB checked. But I was done with this hand. I had no reason to think that my hand was best or that a large bet would take down the pot. So any bet would only leave me open to a raise that I should not call. I checked and so did the caboose. Well, well, what do you know? The SB was slow-playing K-J the whole way. The silly bastard on my left had called down with something ridiculous like second pair. So that trouble hand got me in trouble. My chips arrived just in time to pay off the winner and I seemingly started my buy short-stacked.

I was forced to tighten up even more than usual with a hobbled single tower of chips (I likes to stack ‘em high) while several other players were getting looser every hand. As I sat patiently, I watched Mr. 3-2-bluff in the 7s get involved with a new guy in the 2s. The 2s had over $1k that he brought from a broken game, so he was ready to give action. I’ll cut to the chase (although the entire hand was a chase.) The board was A-high with one other paint card and 3-2-bluff was calling down the 2s who was making large bets. The turn brought a second A and the betting continued as before. The river brought another paint card, leaving 3 to a straight up. This time the 2s bet small and 3-2-b raised $300 more. 2s was in anguish with obvious holdings of an A with a weak kicker. He decided to make the call fearing that he was out-kicked. 3-2-b turned up J-T for the nut straight. The 2s was pissed and cursed his wild opponent under his breath for several minutes. Actually, it wasn’t under his breath. I could hear him when I was at a nearby table, talking to Keith.

Anyway, I find this very interesting. The 2s made the call on the end expecting that he might be out-kicked. If he had lost it that way, he probably would have said, “Nice hand,” and that would have been that. But because he didn’t know his opponent well enough to put him on a straight draw, he over bet against the wrong guy and had to call way to large a bet on the end to look him up. So he tilts on the suckout artist instead of learning from his own play. I learned some things from the beat I took. Like stay away from that guy during a full moon.

Things kept going bad for me with cold cards and missed flops. I found myself all the way down to $90. Then I finally picked up a decent hand in mid-late position. There was one limper ahead of me and I held As-Js. I made it $40 to go, displaying my meager stack and, hopefully, letting everyone know that I was committing myself to this pot with that raise. It turns out no one was paying attention because I got three callers. But as when anyone asks, “Do you want action,” I reply, “Always.” I could come out of this hand with a respectable amount of chips. The flop was just what I hoped for…A-high rainbow. I was last to act with both blinds and the limper having stuck around so I looked at each, waiting my turn to get the rest of my money in. The SB checked. I was watching the BB and could see that he was only concerned with the SB. It was as if he thought they were playing heads up. The pot was $160 and he lead out with about $125. The limper quickly got away and I reached for my chips but missed as they were already on their way into the pot! How in the hell? Oh, wait. I made that up. Anyway, I called and the SB folded. Now the BB looked around the table and seemed to realize at last that I was still in the hand. What a nut job.

Its rare that anyone turns up their hand in these games unless they are showing down the winner. But this time, someone else at the table announced that he wanted to see both hands. No need to wait then. I turned mine up right then. Strangely, BB still seemed to disavow my participation as he didn’t bother to look over at me or my cards and kept his hand concealed. The turn and river were one big and one little card, both hearts. The bizarre BB finally looked at my hand, then the board, then my hand again, then turned his stare to his own cards as he turned them over one at a time to display…10h, 3h. There was no ten or three on the flop. Nor was there a draw which would include either of them. But there was one heart. So he made a big bluff, apparently toward the SB only, and back-doored a flush.

Did I mention there was a full moon?

I normally call it a night if I lose two buy-ins so it was very easy to walk away after all that insanity. Before making myself scarce, I laughed and reminded everyone that was the second time that happened to me at that table. It was mostly for the benefit of the 2s so he could see another way to handle a tough beat. But he wasn’t even paying attention. No surprise really. He doesn’t pay attention unless he is directly involved in a hand, or so it seems. So he’ll probably continue to make bad bets and calls.

In response to my statement of multiple runner flushes, Mr. 3-2-b said, “At least I had a straight draw against you.” I quickly assured him with a smile, “I’m not talking about the numbers. I’m cool. Good luck guys.”

You might think a night like that would be discouraging. But I’m itching to get back. And I think I’m ready to move up to the 10-20 NL game. Some supportive words from Keith and my first heads up victory over Kid Crash (HORSE last Saturday night) might have helped me over the hump. Unfortunately, I still don’t feel well enough to drive 30 miles and sit in a game for 4+ hours. But I’ll let you know when I finally make it to the top section.

SEEYa