Busted Cherry and a Question Answered

Last week, I finally got into my first "regular" poker rotation. I started on Wednesday night and followed it up with Thursday and Friday nights, all at the Bike. I had been wanting to make the change from Commerce to the Bike for a long time but hadn't completely made the jump as there isn't always action at the Bike. But its nice enough there to warrant starting out at the Bike and moving on to Commerce if its absolutely necessary. So I finally committed to it.

Wednesday night started slowly as I waited on the list for their 5-5 NLH games (2 tables running) for about ten minutes before electing to take a seat in a 3-5 NLH game while waiting. I prefer the 5-5 to the 3-5 because the higher game has a bigger spread-limit buy-in of $300 to $500. This makes for a much better game than the $200 fixed buy-in at the 3-5 game. I played the blinds and my button before getting the call for my preferred limit and took it.

Long story short, the deck hit me, big time. I was ready to play tight and had no trouble doing so as I picked up plenty of good starting hands and connected on several flops. I also got paid off with a good amount of my nuttier hands. Then something really nice happened...

The bad-beat jackpot at the Bike requires Aces full of tens (I think) beat by four of a kind or better. Then there is the double period from 7pm to midnight (as I was told) during which the payout can be doubled if both players involved in a jackpot use both their hole cards. For the uninitiated, the jackpot is divied up as follows: 50% to the losing hand, 25% to the winning hand, and the remaining 25% is shared by everyone else at the table who was dealt into the hand (known as "the share").

I'd never been involved in any part of a jackpot and, needless to say at this point, that cherry finally got popped (please excuse the crude reference). In many cases, players get excited when they see a flop containing two Aces and a picture card. However, in this instance, no one was really paying too much attention to the hand until all the money went in on the turn with a board of x-10-2-10. The caller, in first position, quickly revealed her pocket 10's for four of a kind. The other player held his cards high a said, "we need a 2," before slapping down his pocket deuces face up. I repeated to him that a 2 would be good. It actually seemed very possible...just one of those feelings. Then, before most of the table had a chance to realize what was going on, the dealer pealed off the bestest card...the 2.

Doubled, the jockpot was just over $20K. That meant $10k to the loser, $5k to the winner (including the $800 pot), and $736 to the rest of us. Here's the other thing...having only ever seen jackpot hands hit at nearby tables (always a bridesmaid, so to speak) and seeing everyone jump up in celebration, I have long wondered how I would react to winning just a share. But that is based on the fact that shares are usually less than the average stack at a table. Well, I finially have the answer to that question. The case 2 hit the felt, the table erupted, and I sat there and said, "......................How cool." Then I low-fived the loser and the woman to my right.

That was it. Nice to win some extra scratch but nothing to lose my head over. Its still nice to have finally been involved in one. It has given me some more hope that I will likely be involved in more jackpots as I play more. How can you not like free money. I mean, I was just sitting there, minding my own, tight-aggressive business.

On Thursday, I played with a man claiming to be the father of poker pro Daniel Alaie. Then, on Friday, we had a fish who took a verbal beating throughout the night. But those stories are for another day...I'm not in writing shape anymore....I feel drained.

SEEYa