Thursday, May 11, 2017

The Roller Coaster Ride at PH (Part 2)

Part 1 can be found here.  

A bit after the AA hand I won, the DM ("Designated Maniac") actually folded a hand preflop, and l limped in with 10-9 from the cutoff.  Four of us saw the flop of 10-6-6.  I bet $5 and had two callers.  The turn was a Queen and it was checked around.   The river was 9.  One of the players in front of me bet $6.  I made it $15 and it folded back to the guy who bet $6.  He thought for awhile and then folded.  But before he did, he showed one of his cards—a 6!  He folded the winning hand for a measly $9?  Admittedly it wasn't a big pot, but still.  I had no idea my value bet was a bluff.  And how could he wait until the river to bet?

By this time the DM had calmed down a bit.  He was playing more like a LAG, not a maniac.  And then a woman came to the table. She was youngish (mid-30's?), somewhat attractive and looked vaguely familiar.  I think I've probably played with her before.  Maybe at PH.  I couldn't really place her though.  She was extremely quiet—didn't say a word—and all business like. She was also pretty aggressive.   When she raised, she raised bigger than anyone at the table with the exception of the DM.

I limped in UTG with pocket 4's. She made it $16 and it folded back to me.  Even the DM folded. I had about $260 and the lady had about $160.  So I probably should have folded.  But there was another limper between us and I was hoping he'd call.  But after I called, the limper folded and we were heads up.   I caught my set on a very dry board--rainbow, no straights.  I was sure she'd c-bet so I checked.  She bet $22.  And then, I decided to just call.  It was such a dry board and I didn't want to scare her off. The turn was a King.  I dunno, I just was sure she'd bet again, she had been so aggro up to this point.  I was going to check-raise.

When I checked, she had her coffee up to her lips and just slowly slipped it.  Well?  I got the feeling she didn't know it was on her.  She didn't say or do anything.  It was almost like she was asleep with her eyes open.  Finally the dealer asked, "Did you say all-in?"  That was weird, I hadn't heard a word out of her.  She said no, she hadn't said anything.  Finally she was just about to take another sip of her coffee when she softly said, "Check."  Damn.

The river was an innocuous  looking 9.  This time I led out for $50.  She surprised me by saying "all-in."  I was only two happy to snap-call.  There was no straight and no flush possible.  Only a bigger set could beat me.  So of course she turned over a rivered set of 9's.

Well that sucked.  Not so much because I didn't bet her off her hand—you don't want folds when you flop a set.  It's just that I wasn't aggressive enough in getting the money in.  But as it turned out, if I had check-raised the flop, I'd likely take down a small pot right there, which beats losing a huge chunk of your stack.


That took me down to about $100 or so.  Not long after, she lost most of "my" chips to the DM on my right.  That too pissed me off.  Although I had to admit there was a better chance to get them back from the DM than from her.  And I couldn't really blame her.  They had gotten into a preflop raising war and ended up all in.  Her Ace-Jack lost to his Ace-Queen.  Nothing had hit either of them, they both had Ace-high and his kicker played.  And he was one of the few players against whom you'd be willing to get it all in preflop with Ace-Jack.

Anyway, I limped in with Ace-9 of hearts after DM folded.  The lady made it $16 and another player called so I called.   My notes are a little unclear, so I may have this wrong.  I know I flopped the flush draw, I believe I called $30 from the lady and we were heads up.  The turn was a blank and she shoved.  Our stacks were similar but I think she had me covered.  And I felt when I called the $30 on the flop I was committed (I should have just shoved then).  So I called. That worked out, as  I caught my flush on the river to beat her two pair.

That brought me back to over $200.  And then the maniac left the game.  By the way, it turns out he not only lives in L.A. but actually lives only about 20-miles from me.  I limped/called $12 with Ace-10 of spades.  The raiser was a guy who had been there awhile but hadn't been much of a factor.  Three of us saw a flop of Queen-Jack-x, with both face-cards being spades.  What a draw!  The preflop raiser bet $30, the other player folded and I called.  I guess I should have raised there, huh?  I should bet my draws more often, especially monster ones like that.  Anyway, a medium spade hit the turn giving me the nuts.  I didn't want to wait for a check-raise this time so I led out for $40.  Although I did consider checking because I was sure that PH had a high-hand bonus for a Royal so I didn't want him to fold, I wanted to see if the King of spades would come on the river.  No worries though, he called.

The river was a brick and I bet $60.  Much to my delight, he shoved!  Sweet.  I snapped and he announced he had a flush—9-8 of spades.  It was a nice big pot   I had over $450 in front of me at that point, and I took a pic of my stack.  But I didn't get a chance to tweet out the pic before I put a dent in it.

I raised to $10 with Ace-King off, and four or five players called.  The flop was King-9-8 rainbow. i bet $30 and one player called--a brand-new player to the game.  This was maybe his second or third hand since he had gotten to the table so I didn't have a clue about him.  The turn was a blank and I checked.  Too nitty?  I was going for pot-control.  He bet $40.  I called.  The river was another 9.  I checked and he bet $100.  Having no read on this guy at all, I decided that was too much to risk with just top pair/top kicker so I folded.  I'll never know if it was a good fold. 

I left not long after that.  I cashed out $375 for a $175 profit.  And I finally tweeted out the pic I had taken earlier with the following caption: "As I once said, poker is fun when you've got the nuts & they raise your river bet (dropped $80 of this after the pic but still nice session)."


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