Three Poker Stories

1. Juvenile table humor at it's finest/worst:

PosEV: is anyone else having problems connecting?
PosEV: i go in and out every few minutes
ME: I do that with the ladies
UnforgivenII: lol
ME: drives em wild
PosEV: ha


2. Recently I discussed limping in level 1 of a SNG with a pocket pair of deuces, and today I hit the kind of hand that demonstrates the implied value of seeing a cheap flop with any low pair.

Table Table 11101 (Real Money) -- Seat 8 is the button
Total number of players : 8
Seat 3: pakeboy (848)
Seat 4: tunchum (1379)
Seat 5: ostrich1enr (1025)
Seat 6: ME (940)
Seat 7: Sjiraff (1345)
Seat 8: wesolis (628)
Seat 9: LordofRings (1050)
Seat 10: WeaselB (785)
LordofRings posts small blind (10)
WeaselB posts big blind (15)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to ME [ 2c, 2h ]

Okay, here we go... wanna see this one cheap.

pakeboy calls (15)
tunchum folds.
ostrich1enr folds.
ME calls (15)
Sjiraff folds.
wesolis folds.
LordofRings calls (5)
WeaselB checks.
** Dealing Flop ** : [ 7s, Ad, 2s ]

I flopped a set of Two's, and I know somebody paired their Ace. Perfect! The two spades are a little scary, so I'll need to pay attention to that.

LordofRings checks.
WeaselB checks.
pakeboy bets (75)
ME raises (150) to 150
LordofRings calls (150)
WeaselB folds.
pakeboy folds.
** Dealing Turn ** : [ Ac ]

There's no better turn card I could have seen here. Now I'm putting my opponent on three Aces, but I have a VERY deceptive full house. He'll probably call anything I put out there if he has the Ace, and the flush is no longer a worry.

LordofRings checks.
ME bets (775)
ME is all-In.
LordofRings calls (775)
** Dealing River ** : [ 4s ]
Creating Main Pot with $1985 with ME
** Summary **
Main Pot: 1985 |
Board: [ 7s Ad 2s Ac 4s ]
ME balance 1985, bet 940, collected 1985, net +1045 [ 2c 2h ] [ a full house, Twos full of aces -- Ad,Ac,2c,2h,2s ]
LordofRings balance 110, lost 940 [ Tc As ] [ three of a kind, aces -- As,Ad,Ac,Tc,7s ]


3. Same tourney as the hand above and it's level 7 and heads up. I'm sitting with T4123, almost dead even against T3877. Let's call him "Tighty", because mostly he's only been playing good hands in good spots all tournament, though I have seen him start loosening up recently. I can't think of a better name, okay?

First hand heads up, I'm in the BB with QTo. Tighty pushes all in, and I agonize for a bit... I'm holding okay cards, nothing to feel real good about calling with, but I'm a little skeptical of Tighty pushing all in on the first hand heads up, especially since I've seen him playing loose in the last dozen hands or so. I probably should have folded and waited for a better spot, but for better or worse, I call. He has A6s, and wins with a flush. Damn.

At T246, I can't even cover the BB and push all in with AQo, catch an AQ3 flop and double up to T492. Long way to go.

Next hand, the blinds jump to level 8 (250/500), and I'm automatically all in on the BB with Q4o, and a pair of fours wins me the hand. Up to T984 and still looking at my opponents 7 to 1 chip lead.

Next hand, realizing that I still am going to have to get damn lucky to have a shot at this, as well as the fact that I have less than 2 BB's, I push all-in hoping that Tighty is an idiot who will let me steal his BB, and if not, I'll let the deck tell me if my 75o is worth anything or not. Tighty calls of course, I pair my 5 and miraculously double up for the third hand in a row. T1968, Tighty's lead is down to 3 to 1, and most importantly, I have some room now to play correctly.

We go back and forth stealing blinds, occasionaly showing down hands in small pots, and I am encouraged by the fact that Tighty keeps calling my BB instead of raising. Bad move Tighty. I pull back even with T3936.

I really should have just kept on the pressure and played smart, but for whatever reason decide to raise all-in with a suited A2, mainly hoping for a chance to vary my play. I had been making minimum raises and I figure Tighty might put me on something big if it looks like I'm taking a stab at the tourney here. I get called, and Tighty's K5o loses as I pair my Ace.

Sitting at T128, Tighty is put all-in when the board makes a high flush and we split the pot. Tighty gets put all-in again, doubles up, then get's busted on the next hand. It was kind of fun just watching the hands play themselves for 3 hands, knowing that I'd eventually get him.

I'm not proud of my play here, but it was easily my biggest comeback ever, going from T246 and getting the win. As they say, "a chip and a chair". Tighty was not amused and said so in the chat box.