MotorCity Mafia

Last night was an amazing session for me. Fairly accurate reads and even better hand selection.

I left the table for a couple hours and came back to see a new player. She was in her 60s with about $600 in chips.

Was not sure if she bought the chips or earned them, but I gave her the benefit of doubt and assumed she earned them.

On my first hand back to the table, I have J-J in early position and make it $50 to go.

My friend Barry was first to act. He likes to see alot of flops and calls.

The woman I mentioned above follows Barry’s lead and also calls.

The flop comes Kc-9s-6s.

I am first to act and bet $100 to see where I am at in the hand, hoping to represent either A-K or K-K.

My friend missed the flop and folds.

The lady, however, calls me.

She seemed bothered by the king, so I put her on a flush draw.

The turn is 3d.

I bet another $100.

She ponders a call.

“You are on a flush draw, huh?”, I ask.

“No, I have something better than a flush draw,” she replies.

She is trying to sell me a king, but my gut says flush draw.

The river is a 2h.

I check the river hoping for a check raise play, but my opponent checks.

She shows 10s-7s.

Ten high.

Baffled, I show the jacks.

“I thought you had something better than a flush draw?” I ask.

“I did. I had a gutshot straight flush draw,” she says.

She paid $250 to chase the 8 of spades on a 50-to-one longshot gutshot?

Nearly half her stack is now gone on my first hand back to the table.

Two hands later, another $250 made its way into my growing tower of checks.

This time, things just worked out.

Last night was a strange night at the poker table.

For starters, I could not see my hole cards while wearing my new prescription Oakley Whisker sunglasses.

I must have folded a dozen hands - rags - that flopped the nuts.

Everytime I got a nice pocket pair, either everyone folded to my pre-flop bet or I was forced to chop in the small or big blind.

My reads were totally off - which is highly unusual since I am reliably spot-on.

In fact, I lost a dinner bet due to my terrible reads. This is the first side bet I have lost in 20 years.

I folded K-2. A young lady sitting next to me said she had pocket Kings.

To which I reply, “There is no way you had pocket Kings.”

She bet me dinner.

And I lost.

In my sunken emotional state over bad reads and a couple bad beats, I forgot that they load up FOUR Kings in a deck.

I made just enough money for 8 hours to fund the blinds and stay even.

The only real hand I won was three way action at the end of the night.

I raise to $20 pre-flop and get five callers.

At this point, I am convinced they can see my Q-Q reflected in my shades.

Long story short, I get all the chips in the middle.

Three players fold.

One flops a set of 10s.

One turns a set of Jacks.

I got lucky and rivered a set.

Thankfully, a player with A-K folded on the flop.

It took 8 hours to triple up.

Now, I have the bankroll to fund the dinner bet marker.

I was in a $2 - $100 spread limit Texas Hold’Em game the other night. Before I disclose the hole cards, let me first describe the action in this exciting hand.

I am in the big blind. Someone in middle position makes it $7 to go. Four players called.

I pump it up to $27.

Everyone folds around to the original raiser and he calls. The four original callers fold.

We are now heads up.

I put the player on a hand like 10-10 or J-J or maybe A-K.

The flop comes 8-8-7.

I bet out $15.

My opponent raises me to $50.

I think my original read is good. I do not put my opponent on pocket 8s. Why would he raise me with a cinch hand?

I re-raise to $150.

He makes it $250.

Is he stuck on a big pocket pair? Is he stuck on A-K, or what Amarillo Slim calls Big Broke?

I cap it out at $350.

The turn card is a K.

I am pot committed, so I put the player all-in for another $100. He calls.

The river card is a 3.

My opponent proudly turns over J-J.

I have no idea what hand he put me on, if he was capable of putting me on a hand at all.

I re-raised him pre-flop and re-raised him after the flop. To me, this would signal strength better than J-J.

I flopped a full house with my pocket sevens.

I could have been beat on fourth or fifth street with an overcard based on my read that my opponent had a higher pocket pair. This is the reason I bet the boat hard once I was re-raised.

In retrospect, I had two things going in my favor: dodging a Jack and having someone in the hand that got suck on pocket Jacks.