BAD NIGHT AT THE BIKE

I jumped on a rare chance to play a live event. There was a $200 multi-rebuy event at The Bycycle, a place I had never been. I budgeted $600 for the tourney and packed an extra $400 for the cash games, should I bust out.

My table was crazy. There was a guy who was all-in any time he remotely connected with the flop. He check-raised all-in with second pair more than once. He was already $1000 invested when I took a flop with him. The flop came ten-high with two diamonds. When he checked to me, I knew he was dying to check-raise all-in. I just hoped he had diamonds or second pair. I made a strong bet with my QT to encourage the raise, which is what I got. Of course, this time he actually had a hand, AT, and I was the one digging for a rebuy.

With my second chance, I limped, then called a raise with 44, hoping to get lucky. The flop came K64 two clubs, just what I wanted to see. The preflop raiser made the obligatory continuation bet, which was called by the all-in specialist. I just called as well, figuring I would take this one to the river and take my chances. A lady behind me called and four of us saw the turn.

The turn was the ace of spades, which was a very hansome card for me. When it checked to me, I made a callable bet, hoping all-in man had aces up. The lady called, but the other two players folded. I had about $300 left to toss in at the river, which blanked. She called me with a pair of kings that she was hoping was still good. Too bad nobody had an ace.

Soon after, I got KK on the small blind, and I flat called an early position raise, knowing that I could check-raise the flop, so long as an ace didn't fall. The flop came Q64 rainbow. I lead at it, since there was a chance he had AQ. He made a strong raise, and I came back all-in. He assumed the tortured expression, and I was sure he had AQ. When he called and flipped JJ, I was surprised. I guess my QT push was still paying dividends, despite the intervening 44 extraction.

This gave me a nice stack, and two hands later I got KK again. There was a 3x raise to $150, and all-in guy called. I bumped it to $600 and both players called. The flop was all low stuff, but with straight and flush draws everywhere. I bet out $1000 and they both folded.

That was my last playable hand. At the break, I invested my final $200 for an extra $1000 in chips. You could single or double rebuy, but I wanted to stick to my $600 budget. After the break, I folded everything until our table broke up.

I got moved to a table full of people I didn't recognize. Play was predictably tight, except for one guy who kept coming over the top of anyone who called in front of him. One time I limped on his button with A4s, just to see his reaction. He made a huge raise, so I folded, and realized that the way to get this guy's chips was to limp with a monster. He was sitting two to my left, so stealing blinds was no easy matter for me. I managed a few, but my stack was slowly deteriorating due to the antes and rising blinds.

With my stack at $4k and blinds at $150/300 with a $75 ante, I called an UTG raise with TT. The over-the-top guy pushed all-in and the original raiser folded, since I was still in the pot. I was sure the original raiser laid down AK. I put the pusher on either AK, or a pair under queens, down to eights or maybe sevens. If anyone else on the table makes that raise, I lay down my tens no problem. But with this guy, I just saw him trying to bully people out of a big pot. The only hand I really feared was JJ. He could just as easily have 99 or 88 or AK. If he had AK, then I'm sure some of his outs were in the other guy's hand.

I decided to take the gamble and call. There was a decent chance I had him dominated, and if the worst case jacks appeared, at least I still had a 20% shot at getting lucky. I really didn't expet to see a pair higher than jacks. I made the call and prayed for 99, but it was jacks and I was toast. In the boxscore, this was a terrible call with tens, but given all the info I had on this player, I had to go with my gut and try to double up. Before I went home, I peeked in the tourney section and saw that this guy was still alive at the final three tables.

I wasn't devestated, because my read was right even though it turned out bad for me. My read warned me that jacks was a possibility, but you've gotta take chances and I felt that a call was the right move there. You can't get anywhere by meekly folding whenever a bully reraises. So, I licked my wounds and headed for the cash games.

I wound up sitting in a $6/12 LHE game. The game was beatable, but I got shit cards for hours on end. I bought in for $200 and hovered around $140-180 for a long time, but then I began getting cooler hands like trips versus straight, flush versus higher flush, and two pair versus rivered flush. I was making all the right decisions, but it was just one of those sessions where I couldn't win a hand.

I lost a monster pot with KT on a KJT flop. I called a raise on the big blind and we saw the flop three-way. I knew the raiser had AK, and the other guy was looking for a straight to come in, so I waited for the turn to put in a juicy check-raise. When the raiser flat called, I was relieved to learn that she didn't have AQ. The river bricked, but it did bring a third diamond, and as my luck was running, the AK she held were both diamonds, so she took that pot which would have gotten me even.

I bought in for another $200, but it just drained away to nothing as I hit second flush and top pair versus overpair, and set versus straight, and other textbook coolers. I never did get dealt any premium cards, and I just wasn't hitting flops unless it was just enough to get me in trouble. Altogether a very bad session.

Now, my $1000 was gone, but I still felt like I was playing well and could recoup some of my losses at the NLHE table. I visited the ATM and got $400 to take to the $200 buy-in NL table. On my first hand, I got AK and raised the limper from the big blind. The blinds were $3/5. I bumped to $25 and he happily contributed $20 additional with 63 offsuit. The flop came A63 and all the money got in. He hit the miracle flop, but an ace on the river saved me. Serves him right for standing a raise with that garbage. Of course, I'm not going to put him on rags, but once they hit, they still have to hold up.

So, I doubled up on my first hand, and now I felt as if the night was turning around. Then, I dwindled back down to $200 by missing every flop and donating every blind. I looked to be a real tight player, so one guy decided to dark raise to $30 on my big blind. The guy between us called the raise, and when I looked down at 99, I bumped it to $90. Dark Raiser decided to look at his hand, and he got all excited to find a real hand there, so he called the $60. The other player called too.

I had only one play: if I liked the flop, it was all going in. The flop came 443 which was a no-brainer push. Dark Raiser, it turns out, was sitting on A4. Now, what is going on? How can he call $60 with that garbage, with a player to act behind him even? If he doesn't hit 44 or 532, he's got no hand.

I should have taken this beat as a cue from the poker gods to pack it in, but I went back for my final $200. Only now, I was steaming, so I was playing double or nothing with this buy-in. My first hand, I got AQ in the small blind. Every player at the table limped in, but I decided to take a flop rather than pushing. The big blind bumped it to $100, and I figured he was on a steal with all that dead money in the pot. I pushed my $200 in, expecting to have him dominated, or worst case, looking at a race. He's got pocket aces.

There would be no more visits to the ATM. I sucked up my $1400 loss and just wrote it off as a piss poor night of poker. These things tend to even out, so I got rid of a lot of bad stuff all in one night. I may have been a bit hasty with that AQ, but overall, I wasn't playing poorly.

So, when I left the Bike, the adventure continued, as I found the northbound onramp closed. I had never been to this part of LA, and now it is 11P and I was driving aimlessly through god-knows-what-part-of-town. I locked my doors and dialed up Marci to get me out of there. While Marci was loading MapQuest and I was idling at a stoplight, I got rammed from behind by a Ford Expedition that must have been going 30 MPH.

I was dazed and confused. All I could think of was that I was about to get dragged out of my car and beaten to a pulp. I was locked in place by a car behind me and another in front. I was searching frantically for my phone, which had been knocked out of my hands. I kept thinking it would be at my feet, but a couple of minutes into my search, I found it in the back seat under my hat.

I redialed Marci and since the Crips weren't coming for me, I got out of the car and went around back to give her the license plate number of the car that rammed me before he could get away. Once I saw the front of his car and the water pouring out of it, I realized he wasn't going anywhere. He had no plates, but there was a temporary DMV tag adhered to the window. The cops got there right away, and after I gave them all my info, I was allowed to drive away since I was clearly not at fault.

Lucky for me, I took a few minutes two years ago to put my headrest at the proper height after reading an article. I was able to avoid whiplash, so I'm only sore where the seat belt caught me. My car is home, but now one of the rear tires is flat, and it will be at the collison center for awhile.

Insult to injury, and easily my least favorite day of poker ever.