Right? When cards hit the board, don't you need to figure out what the best possible hand is?
Sure. And I do that, most times. But on New Years Day, my favorite holiday, a little before midnight, I caught a hand that made me lose sight of that principle, and it probably cost me a couple extra bets on the end, but I got over it.
Two players limp from early and middle position, I find Pocket Aces, on the button, and raise. I think 4 players took the flop.
Flop comes A 2 4, all Spades, and at that point I should be asking myself "What's The Nuts?"
But no, I haven't really studied the board yet, and am just hoping nobody flopped a flush, or is drawing with a big Spade. I'm just wanting to see no more Spades, and please pair the board.
I also barely considered that if anyone else had a smaller set, and if the board did pair, there'd be that TINY chance I could be facing quads.
But forget that, when the turn came, and did pair the board, way better than I ever hoped, and now I'm sitting on four Aces! I got them now.
But LyLy, who open limped early, checkraises me, and we cap it. Then we cap it on the river, too.
I never for a moment considered that I might be beat. Four Aces sent my brain into vapor lock, and I just kept pushing chips in, never gave the board another look.
But LyLy came in with 5s 3s, had exactly one chance in 19,600 to flop the Straight Flush Steel Wheel, and hits it!
Then Sarge, at that point completely toast and with one bogus "out" to quads, hits that too.
Well, if this hand isn't the epitome of drawing dead and getting there, please tell me what is.
Then, God Bless Diamond Lil's and her Super Bad Beat Jackpot that I also never thought about. When the new management came in last year, they changed up the High Hand and Monte Carlo bonuses and Bad Beat Jackpot, suspended some for while, then brought them back, "bigger and better," on a fancy electronic signboard.
But one thing they left out there, unchanged, was the old Super Bad Beat, on a separate static signboard, where for at least the last six months (more?) the Jackpot has been frozen/capped at US$ 65,000.
They said it had no backup, and would simply go away, replaced by all those other promotions, just as soon as somebody hits it.
All you gotta do is make Quad Eights, or better, and then get beat.
OK, fine. No problem. I can do that.
So when LyLy turned over her Steel Wheel, then I turned over Quad Aces, eight players jumped up and started cheering, while I just sat there, like a rock, completely dumbfounded.
Give me an F for Situational Awareness here; I was by far the last one at the table to realize what had happened. Then I was just in shock, paralyzed, and it was a while before I could manage to say, quietly, "Damn, all that practice finally paid off!"
You know the drill: I get half of the jackpot, she gets a quarter, and the other 7 players chop up the remaining quarter.
Ka-Ching, what a payday. As I am neither a tournament nor a no-limit player, this was by far the biggest win of my gambling career. Happy New Year!
So I got a big check, and a big Form W2G to match, and next day made my deposit at the bank kiosk in the supermarket right by DL. The teller looked at the check, looked at me, and said "Wow, did you hit the jackpot?"
And please, no cracks about my opponent open limping early with that hand. God Bless her too.
Dealer Doug pointed out to me how very lucky I am that she did come in with that hand, and how if she hadn't, then I still would have made 4 Aces, and won the same $371 Monte Carlo, just not my 32.5K piece of the Super Beat.
This was the first time I ever told a Bad Beat story, or ever wanted to. Thanks for listening.
Reality Radio
Do you watch Reality TV? Some of my friends do, but not me. And is that actual reality, or just some staged bullshit? Just because something gets a label like that does NOT make it so.
I mean, can Clean Coal ever be truly clean?
Are Books on Tape really books?
Does a Head Butt actually have anything to do with your butt?
No, No, and NO! False Advertising! And so-called Reality TV is the worst fake of all.
But the internet stream that I've been listening to truly IS reality, as real as it gets, and in real-time, too. I call it Reality Radio.
For many years, radio hobbyists, journalists, crooks, ambulance chasers, police groupies, and various other weirdos with nothing better to do, have used VHF and UHF radio scanners to monitor Police, Fire, EMS, Air Traffic, etc. frequencies, and listen to all the chatter.
Now many scanner outputs are uploaded to a website that streams it back out over the internet, and you can listen with the free Scanner Radio app. (Android & iOS)
Here's page one of their Top 50 menu, ranked by how many listeners each stream has:
A normal person — you, for example — might find it interesting for a few minutes. But me? Maybe not so normal. I was born and raised in Los Angeles, but grew up in the Army Signal Corps. Radio communication: Morse code, voice, teletype, Ham Radio, MARS Radio, Shortwave, Microwave, AM, FM, Sideband, Repeaters, Multichannel, you name it.
And I'm still into all that radio stuff, and am just fascinated by the LAPD Dispatch stream, from my old neighborhoods and hangouts, familiar streets and locations. I can sit in the 20 game for hours, earbuds in the Note II, listening to the all the LA action. To understand everything they say, you have to know all the codes.
LAPD gets some poor press, and doesn't have the greatest reputation. Deserved? I don't know. But on radio dispatch across the 18 divisions heard on this stream, these people have got it going on, taking care of business, night and day, busy, busy, busy, and they do they have their act together.
Calm but fast-talking, confident, professional, proper procedure, by the book, just the facts, Ma'am.
It's impressive. It's entertaining. Sometimes it's funny, or poignant, or scary, or sad. But it's always Reality Radio.
