I find Two Cowboys in the pocket, early position, and open-raise. Mystery Man 3-bets from the middle, Smiley caps it from the blind, and the flop comes J43, two hearts.
I got no heart, and my impulse is of course to raise Smiley when he bets it, but this time I just call. I wanna see what the guy in between us gonna do. I been watching him, trying to get a handle on his play, but so far I got nothing. Anyway, he just calls.
Turn is the Queen of Diamonds, Smiley bets again, and I fold. Yes, you read that right. If you are surprised, just imagine how I felt! I mean, who lays down Kings in that spot?
Shouldn't I more likely be raising? I couldn't believe it either, and can't really explain it, but I just knew I was beat. Turned out Smiley got called down to the river, and turned out Smiley had flopped a set of Jacks.
So I felt like I played those Kings crazy good, or maybe just crazy, but certainly instinct had served me well, and I felt good about it, until a little later when I found Two Cowboys in the pocket again. This time I was a complete and total moron, and did everything wrong.
First off, I thought I was open-raising from middle position, but turned out UTG had already raised, and somehow I didn't see that, so I inadvertently just called him. What an asshole!
Then, when the flop came with an Ace, and another Ace on the turn, I was still so rattled by my pre-flop fuckup that, well, look, let me just take the fifth on this one, and decline to further describe play of the hand, on the grounds that I might would tend to humiliate myself. Let's just stipulate that I blew it, big time, far worse that anything smart I might have done with those earlier Kings. So the sum of my Kings that day: I sucked.
Later I had pocket Deuces in the Big Blind, it's raised and re-raised before me, and if I call it will be four way action, and is likely to get capped behind me. Should I call? Would you call? I didn't. I don't think I could call there with pocket nines, although with 99 I might occasionally cap it in that spot, depending on where those first couple raises came from.
Anyway, I folded my Deuces, and it did get capped, and of course the flop came a Deuce, and another Deuce on the turn, and at that moment the Monte Carlo for 2222 was $499. Oh well.
Pocket Sixes in late position, and I get trapped for a 4 bet cap, but six way action. No problem. Thanh, Hagen, Hung, me, Han, and Mr. "You Got It." Let there be flop.
And behold there was flop, and it came 984, with two clubs. One bet, no raise, and everyone did call.
5 on the turn, still two clubs, and now two diamonds also. Check, bet, call, fold, I call, fold, and Thanh checkraises. Well, shit, what she got? I have last action on the raise.
Gutshot draw, big pot, but with two possible flush draws out there too. I'm not liking it much.
All along I've been counting bets, and thinking probabilities. All along I've felt like I just barely had good enough odds to be putting in all those chips. Well, almost. If you don't count the possible flush that could kill my gutshot, if they both come in together. And how could I have ignored how anyone with Jack Ten will completely ruin my day if my 7 does come in, and how that officially makes me a dumbass for still even being in this hand.
But screw all that. I'm calling. Until now I've just been involved in this pot, but now I am committed.
Q: What is the exact difference between involvement and commitment?
A: This is best illustrated by a breakfast of bacon and eggs. The chicken is merely involved, but the pig is demonstrably and irrevocably committed. Any questions?
And in this pot, yes, I am committed, just like that pig. Come on 7. Gimme a 7. Daddy need a 7. And hopefully NOT the Club, nor even the Diamond.
Surprise! River is the 6 of Spades. OK, fine. Plan B. Thanh bets, Hagen calls, and I *really* want to raise, even with that scary board.
Yes, Thanh could have a set of Nines or Eights. And a Seven in anyone's hand makes them a straight. I still think my surprise 666 is best, and even say so, out loud, that I wanna raise, but how dumb I'll feel if I'm wrong. So I just call.
Thanh turns over 85, two pair, so I do feel a little dumb, but get over it quickly, showdown my set, and stack the chips.
Taking a Hit, and Liking It.
Last Monday was the best day of my retirement so far. We took the day off from poker, drove up to the University of Washington Seattle Campus, met up with our grandson, got the short tour, a peek at the dorm room he moved into a couple weeks ago, and grabbed a bite on University Ave. But before all that we stopped at the teller window and paid his tuition, in cash, from my poker bankroll. Taking a hit like that usually hurts some, maybe a lot. But not this time. No, this time it felt *really* good.
:-)
The dorm was a surprise, and reminded me how outdated my thinking can be sometimes. Wondered if the men's dorm would be off limits to ladies, such that Mrs. Rock can't visit? Silly me. Turns out they're co-ed dorms, with girls and boys in rooms right next to, or across the hall from, one another.
Anyway, this was a start towards my goal of putting three grandkids through college with poker winnings, but it's a damn slow start. If a pro in a juicy game like the DL 20/40 should expect to win upwards of 1 Big Bet Per Hour, well, I'm coming in closer to 1 SMALL bet per hour. At this rate, I'll spend way more hours in the game than the kids do in the classroom!
I still know what I need to do to improve on that, same as before: Get stupid less often. Pay attention better. Or put even more simply, just . . .
Think!
It's a typical Diamond Lil's Party Poker Game. 20/40 Limit Hold Em, where Smilin' John is raising, and Bill Hagen 3 bets right behind him, hand after hand. I'm a couple seats behind them, and am mostly watching, and folding, and waiting for some playable cards. Still, 4-5 players are seeing most flops.
Then comes a hand where someone limps before John, he just limps too, for a change, Bill raises, and I have 99. Looks like gonna be another caller or two, I cold-call the raise, and Boogie calls behind me. But then John 3-bets, Hagen caps it, Boogie and I call, and the others drop.
So 20 bets in the pot, including some dead money, the flop comes KQ4, John bets his last $12, and Bill calls. And shame on me for not noticing sooner that John was going all-in. Now I'm feeling pretty damn stupid about calling 4 bets, when the guy I'm up against has no chips left to pay me, even if I did flop the set that I'm probably gonna need here.
So I'm not loving it, but I call the $12 all-in bet to see the turn. It comes another Queen, and Bill bets right out. I pull my cards from under the protector, and am just about to pitch them into the muck, but . . .
But wait a minute! If Bill had a King or Queen, he NEVER would have just called John's $12 all-in flop bet. He'd have raised for sure. WTF was I thinking? That's the problem; I wasn't! So I slide my cards back under the protector, grab some chips, and raise. He calls.
River comes another Queen, checked to me, and I can't think of a reason to bet now, so I check too. Turns out John and Bill both have Ace-rag, and my QQQ99 takes it.
Home Improvement
Diamond Lil's has a new owner/partner, and some new cardroom management, and things are looking up. The new guys are smart, engaged, and seem sincerely committed to making it a better room, and a better game. I know, right? Hard to believe! But it's true.
The Monte Carlo payouts are back, nice new speedcloth on all the tables, and 20/40 is now truly a RED CHIP game, with no more stupid breakdown of the odd $5 chip in a split pot, and no more going all-in for odd amounts. $5 increments only now. It's about time.
Hit any quads now, and get paid between $100 and $499, depending. And the progressive bonuses for Royal Flush and Straight Flush Wheel, separate jackpot for each suit, keep growing daily, until they get hit. The Clubs Royal payout got up over $15,000, then some lady hit it last week. Nice payday for a $4/8 game!
Oh, and they're also bringing back the NL Tournaments, every Sunday, at 10:00 AM. $60 buy-in; no rebuys. I myself never get up that early any more, and don't much do tournaments anyway. But lots of players do, and these DL Sunday morning tournaments used get a pretty good turnout, and probably will again.
The Kid From Pullman
The Frisco Kid was a pretty funny 1979 movie, with Gene Wilder as a young new Polish Rabbi. His bosses are sending him to America, in the mid 1800's, to take on a new congregation in San Francisco.
"Where's that?" he asks.
"By New York," they tell him.
So his ship arrives, he learns that San Fran is NOT "By New York," and the rest of the film is about his cross-country trip to get there, accompanied and guided by an outlaw he meets up with (Harrison Ford).
Nowadays, every time I see Dustin, a 20/40 MVP at DL, I am reminded of that movie, and that "San Francisco is by New York" dialog.
Dustin was a track star at Washington State University (aka Wazzu, in Pullman, WA) some years ago, ran 100 meters in 10.07 seconds, and led the team to an NCAA championship one year. After college he also played NFL football for a couple years, with the Cleveland Browns.
Originally from Nigeria, he was a track star back home too, and came to America on an athletic scholarship. Apparently several different schools were recruiting him at the time. Unfamiliar with the geography, he picked WSU because, he reasoned, it should be close to Washington, D.C.. True story.
Seems like it all turned out well for Dustin. He got his MBA in Finance, has a good job, and now has a couple college age sons, athletes both, making their Father proud. He's an outgoing guy, fun to talk with, gets a little hot when he loses, but who doesn't? I guess the only thing I don't like about Dustin is how he left town last week, just because his employer reassigned him to their Dallas office. We'll miss you, buddy!
