High On Poker

Tuna Club

I finally had an opportunity to play some live poker last night. Wifey Kim was having dinner at her friend’s place, so that left me solo for the evening. I returned home from work relatively early since the workload is light during the holidays. I packed up my backpack for AC tonight (I leave on a 4pm bus), and suited up in my usual $uperman t-shirt and cargo pants. All ready to go, I hit the road and arrived at the Tuna Club for their 5/10 Limit Omaha 8 or Better game that runs on Wednesdays.

Alas, when I arrived, the game was suffering the same problem it always does. Even though I arrived around 7pm and the room has a promotion where the first 5 people to arrive before 6:15 gets 10% of their buy-in back if they play through 9:30, there were all of four people there for Omaha. The 2/5 NLHE table was hopping, but I didn’t bring the roll, and frankly, don’t have the roll, to play in that game. While idly chatting with one of the dealers, he mentioned how he went on a tear in the 2/5 game a few nights before for almost $5,000 profit. Let that soak in. $5k profit at 2/5. That’s essentially 10 buy-ins. Not too shabby. It’s not too surprising either, though. That 2/5 game, like most underground cash games, plays a lot higher than the blinds would have you believe.

I grabbed a seat at the empty table in the back of the room after saying my hellos. I popped in my ear buds and surfed the web on my iTouch, killing time. I had already mentally decided that I was leaving if the game didn’t start by 8pm. One hour was enough to waste sitting around. I still had to finish packing and shave my head at home, and I intended on leaving the game at 10pm, so it made little sense to wait even longer than 8.

One thing annoyed me while we waited. With 4 players, W, a friend who runs the room, was going to play as our fifth so we could get started. An older Asian man, with thinning long hair and an old blue sweatshirt with a white paw print in the middle and the writing “Lee School Pandas” or something, refused to play five handed. All I could think of, and in fact, I may’ve mumbled it, is, “What is this guy so scared of?” I even offered a bit louder, “Hell, I’ll play shorthanded. I’ll even play heads up.” I motioned to Boat, a regular player who was also waiting, and said, “Come on, Boat. Let’s playu heads up!”

When Fu Manchu wouldn’t budge, I went back to waiting. At about 7:50, I was ready to walk when W came by. “We are ready to start.” Thank fucking god.

It was a fun game. I played my usual disarming self, joking with the table about my poor play. It wasn’t only jokes, though. I just wasn’t focused. I was trying to carry on a conversation with W, but I couldn’t focus on anything. Not the poker. Not W’s conversation. Nothing. But I was having fun, and shorthanded limit O8 is a good time if you can find it. It was almost, for lack of a better word, relaxing.

I made a stupid river bluff out of position against W and another player, who I’ll just call Carnival, since he had more full boats than Carnival Cruiseline. They both folded after W hemmed and hawed that I was just bluffing at the tiny $15 pot with my $10 bet. After both players folded, I showed my bluff, and realized for the first time that I had went runner runner for an improbable straight! W had me read right. I was bluffing. But I had myself read wrong. I was way ahead.

At one point, I was down to about $120 of my $250 buy-in. I clawed my way back and eventually was damn near even when I an interesting hand that was aided by wifey Kim. I held 66xx in the BB and the flop was 36T. It was me, Boat, and Carnival in the pot. Carney, incidentally, was a nice guy. The whole table was chill. We would discuss hands and optimal play. At first it started off heated between Carney and I, but once we started chatting about the PLO SNGs on Stars, we both warmed up a bit. It was the difference between chatting with competition (pre-PokerStars conversation) and chatting with a co-conspirator (post-PokerStars conversation).

I had flopped middle set, but with an obvious low draw (and perhaps a flush draw, I don’t recall), I just checked. I wasn’t pushing players out of the pot with a bet, and I felt the 66 was too vulnerable. To be honest, I may not have even appreciated at the time that I flopped a set. I wasn’t my most observant self last night.

I think it checked around. The turn was an Ace. If someone was drawing low, they just got there, most likely. I think there was a bet from Carney, and Boat and I called. The river was another Ace, giving me a full house, Sixes full of Aces (666AA). I checked. Carney bet. Boat raised. I paused.

It seemed from the action that my full house was no good. TTxx beat me with Tends full of Aces. A6 or AA beat me too. A3 was my biggest concern, since most people were playing A3xx hands. Someone probably had the low.

As I was contemplating what to do, my phone rang. On some level, I knew my phone would be the deciding factor in this hand. Something told me my opponents were strong, but in a high-low game, that could mean a myriad of things.

I reached into my pocket and saw the caller ID on my phone: wifey Kim. “I fold.”

Here’s the thing. Wifey Kim is the best thing that ever happened to me…but her telephone calls and text messages are the worst thing to ever happen to my poker hands. I swear, it’s like she sends bad juju my way through the telephone. As soon as I saw it was wifey Kim, I knew I couldn’t win. So, I didn’t try. I just folded. In fact, I even announced why I folded. “Good news for you guys. My wife is bad luck so I have to fold this hand.”

As it turned out, wifey Kim may be bad luck, but last night, she saved me $20. Carney was rocking the A6 for Aces full of Sixes (AAA66) and Boat had AT for Aces full of Tens (AAATT). I wasn’t second-best. I was third! Good thing wifey Kim’s call gave me a sign. Even when things look bleak, it’s not easy folding a full house.

At about 9:55, I checked my stack. I had $251, exactly $1 more than I started with. I tipped the dealer, Dre, and then packed up. An even session is fine by me. I enjoyed myself for the two hours and that was more than worth my time.

Atlantic City

I plan to catch a 4pm bus to AC tonight with wifey Kim. Our friends and family will precede us down to AC. Davey Roose is driving bro-in-law Marc. My parents are driving down with Roose’s parents. And poor wifey Kim and I are left to fend for ourselves on the big bad bus. Here’s hoping that the Christians are too busy with Christmas to take a bus to AC. This may be one of the most empty trips I’ll be taking to AC by bus.

Tonight, we do dinner at a local restaurant in a nearby suburb of AC. It’s a Xmas Eve tradition that’s lasted at least the last 6 years. Tomorrow, wifey Kim’s grandpa and his girlfriend will be in AC, so my afternoon may well be taken up with them (no complaints, though). As things are shaping up, there doesn’t look to be much time for poker, but we all know that I’ll be sneaking out of our hotel room either at midnight tonight or 7am tomorrow morning. A man’s got to have his poker.

Here’s wishing everyone a Merry Christmas!

Until next time, make mine poker!