LIVE TOURNEY IN TAMPA

Except for the occasional home game I have not played much poker over the last year. The last real poker marathon was for Kevin’s 40^th birthday back in 2009 when we spent a few days in Vegas and I even had a chance to play Commerce, the Hustler, and Hollywood Park. That was not a good trip for me, especially the Vegas portion where I went absolutely card dead. When I returned I played the cash game at Full Tilt from August to December late at night compiling double player points. I won enough to put the bankroll back in shape but other life responsibilities kept me from playing during most of 2010. My one casino trip during 2010 was a day at the Ocala fronton where I won $300 playing the cash game. It was pretty soft field which may or may not be common for a weekday over there. I wanted to get back and find out, but it’s nearly two hours away and I hardly have two hours to do anything.

A week or two before Black Friday I played a few cheap Rush Tourneys while I was watching baseball on TV. Sean had recently won a few thousand dollars on those tourneys buying in for $3 or so and convinced me to give it a go. I have never found a casino chair more comfortable than my couch. But the government doing everything it can to conserve energy on the one hand now insists that drive more than an hour to play poker. Why that has to be the case I don’t understand. Almost every para-mutual in the state has a poker room, yet the two in Orlando don’t. I’m told the dog track can’t because it is too close to a church. But what about the Orlando fronton located in the strip club zone? Do they not see the market they are missing out on? I am located almost directly in the middle the Daytona, Melbourne, and Tampa Hard Rock poker rooms. Google maps says that they are all 1 hour and 15 minutes give or take a minute from each. 6 different casinos are within 2 hours from my house and that was my thinking as my poker Jones needed a tourney this weekend. Ocala has a deep stack on Saturdays and the Tampa Greyhound park has one on Sundays. I opted for Tampa since I had never been there.

The buy-in was $115 for 15,000 units and an optional dealer ad-on for $10 giving you another 5,000 units. The poor dealers. Who wouldn’t have paid $20 for those extra 5,000 chips?

The track opened at 11:30 and I was there about 10 minutes after opening where I bought an entry and played the cash game for an hour before the 1pm start. The guy next to me hit a straight flush that was worth $500 in cash. He said he had only come that morning because a guy who owes him $100 promised to meet and pay him. Not a bad outcome for him. One thing I noticed in the cash game is that no one gives anyone credit for their raises although there was very little pre-flop raising. It was nothing to see a 6x raise to get 3 callers and a guy that gets a piece of the flop will likely call it all the way down heads up. Most guys just wanted to limp and see a flop with any two rags. Top pair with a mediocre kicker can take half a guy’s stack. My preflop raise with KK was able to get $80 from 66 when rags fell.

Saturday night I read the first half of Gus Hanson’s book “Every Hand Revealed.” While every poker book praises being aggressive, Gus does the best job of explaining how to do it. Gus also told me to take off the head phones and watch the players when I’m out of a hand. With 20,000 chips and 25 minute levels I spent the first two hours sizing up the competition. Within the first few hands I guessed the best player was in seat 3. He was a muscular hulk of a character full of confidence. Guys built like him usually have confidence away from the table, but I have seen more than a few become timid when at the table. This guy had a look of someone who expected to win the tournament. The older guy to his left seemed like he would play a solid poker and the guy in seat 5 in a Full Tilt cap looked like a guy that had seen some action. The rest of field looked to be people trying to strike gold. The two players to my right were both women playing the tight passive variety you might expect. The guy to my left in seat 10 was showing his frustration too much to be a threat.

The first real confrontation happened about 20 minutes into the tourney. The Hulk made a big raise into seat 10. I stared at the hulk to get a read and there was a twitch or something in his eyelids that told me he didn’t want a call. Seat 10 was totally oblivious to it. He sat and thought and did everything but look into the guy in the eyes. When seat 10 folded the hulk let out a sigh of relief. It probably seemed like nothing to him, but it gave me confidence that I had the proper read on a guy I felt was the biggest hurdle at the table.

About an hour in I landed KK in the SB. With the blinds 100/200, the old guy in seat 4 raises 700 and he gets one caller around to me. Without much thinking my internal calculator told me to bump it 2200 more. The original raiser called and we lost the guy in between. The flop brought an ace, but I couldn’t check UTG and give him a chance to steal it so I lead out for 2400 and he folded. The weak passive to my right said that my raise felt like KK. Here was woman who has obviously played enough poker to read hands and yet I don’t think she used that information once to make a play on anyone. She just sat back waiting for a set.

Later in that level I landed AA in late position, but it folded around to me and my raise won the blinds. While I was quiet seat 10 crippled himself on a draw and then pushed in with garbage in order to re-enter the tourney which was allowed through 5 levels. He left the table and since our seat was the only open seat on the floor he wound up back at our table about he purchased the re-entry. On his first hand back he landed AA and pushed all-in after a preflop raise from the other women to my right. She called with JJ, but doubled up when a J flopped. He walked away saying that he pushed hoping that the raiser would think he was tilting. That’s what happened but he got the wrong result.

We must be three hours in when the blinds arte 150/300 with a 25 ante. I have around 17,000 chips. The hulk and another guy limp and I’m on the button with J9. There is finally enough money in there that a raise is in order so I bump to 1200. The hulk calls. The flop is Kh Jh Jc. Although slowplaying is an option I decide that if hits any kind of K he will not give me credit for a J plus there are too many possible draws to slowplay. I bet 2000 into a pot of 3625. Surprisingly he check raises me to 5000 total. Okay, there is no way he has me on a J. He likely has a KQ or KT and wanted to pop my continuation bet. I can’t give him credit for AK because he didn’t raise preflop and this is a guy who doesn’t let a raise situation go by. I have 13,000 or so left and decide we might as well get it all in right now while he has the wrong read on me. I push and he calls. He turns over Ah 8h. Wow. What a funny way to play that hand. If you decide to play A8s out of position for a raise and flop a draw in first position why not just lead out? You might win the pot. The tricky check raise makes you commit too many chips without learning anything about your opponent’s hand. If he was trying to represent the K then better to lead with it. A lead could win the pot and a raise from me would have allowed him to get away from it. Instead he is put in the position of calling 8,000 into a pot of 18625. He needs to be a winner 42% of the time for positive EV and he barely gets there if I just have Kx. This is not the kind of game where a guy folds a nut flush draw even on a paired board. As it turns out I am a 74 to 26 favorite when he hits the 6h on the turn. He has me covered and the board does not pair and I’m knocked out.

If I had slowplayed the flop and let him get the flush for free I would have cursed myself for not betting and I cannot be upset about taking any positive EV situation especially when my M was around 10 with blinds and antes at 625 around. He celebrated like he hit the lottery which he did. I moved to the cash game, but didn’t feel on tilt. I was happy every time I went through it in my head. I could beat myself up for playing rags like J9o, but I wasn’t playing I was raising. The purpose was getting aggressive after being relatively subdued. In his defense he had around 30,000 in chips and could afford to gamble. I want those guys to take the gamble every time. I find that I like the $100 buy in format because it’s enough money that it’s worth the time to play. On a field of 55 the first prize was $1800+. It’s also not so much money that I play too timidly.

I played the cash game for an hour when they announced a $30 evening tournament. I had no intention of playing it, but the cash game was getting annoying. The guys I was sitting between were getting cell phone calls at 5 minute intervals. What is it with poor people and their cell phones? They always need to know what everyone else is doing. One guy had an Emminem ring tone and the other had a soap opera ring tone he blamed on his sister that gave him the phone. The game was soft, but the guys were buying in $20 at a time and then rolling the dice. Boring.

Including re-entries and the $30 tourney drew 53 players. It was a mix of older people waiting to get cards, good players taking chances to get a chip stack so they could bully, and gamblers that thought any Ace was a bull by the horns. I tried to read players again, but at $30 no one is emotionally attached to their tournament life. They could call and push with anything and not mind being called as an underdog. With only 6,000 chips and twenty minute intervals that jumped quickly I was sitting on an M of 8 about an hour and half in when one off the button raised. I was in the Big Blind with JJ. I decided to push and make him decide. He insta-called with A6o, hit his card, and I was down to 225 units. After 50 for the ante, I was short 25 units for the small blind. Somehow I quadrupled up. Pushed again on the next hand and tripled up. I kept the mojo going brining my chip stack to more than 30,000 moving into the final table. First prize was $463. Fifth paid $90. With 6 of us left we decided to pay the bubble $10 each. I wasn’t getting much in the way of cards and the guy to my left was pretty aggressive making limping a bad choice. I took down a round of blinds when I raised with ATs UTG. Nobody had a dominant stack. The chip leader had maybe an M of 10. The rest of us were between 5 and 8. This was mostly a result of the tourney jumping from 500/1000 to 1000/2000 when we were down to 14 players. With the blinds at 2500/5000 and an ante of 400, KT utg looked pretty good 6 handed. I pushed and the guy to my left called with QQ. He said, “Do you have Kings?” I said, “Not Yet.” The table laughed at my confidence. The board didn’t help in the least and I took the payout which turned out to be $15 per player for $75 total. Did the $90 5^th place give me $15? If so, 6^th paid the same as 5^th.

With food and drink on the day, neither comped, I wound up with a $2.50 profit between wins in the second tourney and the cash game. The hulk made it to the final table where I think they made a deal with around 8 people left. If that was the case he made around $700 and it all started with his overplaying A8s. The Sunday deep stack is the right price and structure to make it worth a weekly attempt. Alas, I cannot make Trish a poker widow on Sundays to try, but when I can make it over there I think I could have success in it.

ALL-NIGHTER

My night was basically defined by three hands in which I flopped a straight. The first hand was a multiway raised pot in which I closed the action by calling with (T-9). The flop came (Q-J-8) with two spades. The preflop raiser bet out and the player to my right went all-in. I went all-in as well with the nuts. The raiser says aloud "can I possibly be behind here?" and calls with top set. The other player had the nut flush draw. It was over for me quick when the (8) turned and filled up the queens. I was down $200 and had to go to the pocket.

Several hours later, I was running about even for the night and I flopped another straight with (8-7) on a (9-6-5) board. I got check/raised, so I flat called in position to see how it played out. The turn brought a (6) and I called the $45 bet even though I had my suspicions. The river blanked and he bet out $125. The way it played out, I couldn't imagine he didn't have a full house, so I folded the straight face up, which earned me some street cred the rest of the night. My opponent later claimed to have flopped bottom two pair and filled up on the turn, as I suspected.

So I was 0-2 with flopped straights but I was able to use my cred to start bluffing since I was now the guy who always knew where he was at in the hand. The player to my right was a pleasant fellow who liked to gamble and had built up a big stack. Towards the end of the night, I limped in under the gun with (Kc-Qc). Everybody and their brother called and when it got to the player on my right, he casually tossed in a $100 raise, confident that everyone would fold and that would be that. I had spent many hours watching him raise light, but never more than around $45, so I liked my hand very much in this spot and liked that I had position as well. I made the call to see if I could manage to hit a friendly enough flop to relieve him of the hundo.

The flop came (J-T-9) rainbow, which was pretty much ideal, as you can imagine. He checked and I put in a $100 bet, which he called. He looked more worried than confident so I just wanted to see any card that wasn't a queen hit the turn. Fourth street brought a (9), which I didn't love, but didn't despise either. If he just filled up, then I'm just going to go ahead and stack off to him. With the board pairing, I feared he could be drawing live to a boat as well as the possible chop. I didn't want to see either scenario play out and the pot was plenty big enough already, so when he checked to me, I went ahead and shoved for $500 or whatever I had behind. He was drawing live with (Q-9) and made the call. For once, my straight held up and I raked a monster pot.

I dropped a couple of hundred a few hands later when I turned two pair against a set but I still managed to finish the night with $475 profit. There was one other notable hand from earlier. The dealer rakes a buck out of every pot for a bad beat jackpot which is paid out whenever somebody loses with aces full of tens or stronger and both players use both hole cards. I raised preflop with (Ac-Tc) and a tight player called along with another caller. The flop came (A-A-K) and I led out at it. The tight player raised in position and I was in an awful spot. I thought his most likely holdings were A-Q and A-J, which both had me beat. However, I had the lead in the hand and was still able to represent A-K or K-K with a reraise, so I went ahead and did so.

I had seen this player lay down a couple of hands I would never have dreamed of folding and he was also the guy who didn't snap call with top set of queens on that earlier hand. I was really hoping he could lay down A-J in this spot and maybe check down A-Q. It turned out he had (A-J) and he did indeed lay it down. The real kicker is that we rabbit hunted after he folded and the turn would have been a ten and the river would have been a jack. If I had not played it as I did, we would have seen the turn and if I had been thinking jackpot, I would have let him see the river on a freeroll, which would have filled him up and awarded us a split of the $4400 bad beat jackpot. Honestly, at the flop, the idea of the jackpot never entered my mind; I was solely interested in winning the pot.

So, I guess I could have brought home even more winnings, but at the end of the session, I was pleased to have beaten such a tough table - a couple hundred hands of running even, punctuated by one monster pot.

FAVE EVER

So many of my big hands in the past have been decided on the flop. I've been making an effort to extend the hands and trust my multi-street skills. Here is a recap of what is now my all-time favorite hand.

PREFLOP

We are playing 6-handed $1/2 NLHE. I am first to act. My stack is $350. I raise to $6 with (8h-6h). Next player calls; next player raises to $24. Both have bigger stacks than me. I've seen this type of preflop squeeze play plenty and it is not always a big hand but often simply a player with position trying to pick up some dead money. I will generally fold in this spot if I have an easily dominated hand like A-J or K-Q or if there's not a ton of money to win, but here, I've got medium suited cards that could manage to hit a flop and if I call, there's a real good chance the third player comes along as well to make for a juicy pot. I call and he calls so we go to the flop with three players and a $72 pot.

FLOP (5h-Qh-9d)

It's a decent flop for my hand so long as I'm the only guy with hearts. I've got a draw to nine hearts and three sevens for 12 outs. That gives me roughly a 50/50 shot at beating any hand, even one as strong as kings. Even so, I'm not itching to make the first bet because then I might be looking at the old option of getting all in on the flop and hoping for the best. I check; next guy checks; preflop bettor puts in $48. The bet is a bit weak so I'm not convinced he has a queen or better. I make the call to see what develops. The next guy surprises everyone by putting in a huge check/raise to $175. The bettor folds. I am on the fence. It's a big bet. I can basically put him on three types of hands: a set of nines, A-Q, or a draw like J-T or two high hearts. If the non-heart on the board was the queen, I would have folded, but since it was the 9, I didn't think he had paired. Even if he did have a higher flush draw than me, I could still be drawing plenty live with the 6, 7, 8 and the opportunity to bluff the 5, 9, and Q, should the board pair. With roughly half the deck working in my favor, I decide to call the $127, leaving $151 behind. The pot is now $470.

TURN (2s)

The ultimate blank hits the turn and I decide to give up. I check. Surprisingly, he checks behind me. There's no way he doesn't shove with top pair or better in this spot. I'm now certain he is drawing. The pot remains at $470. I have $151 behind.

RIVER (6s)

I miss my draw but pair my six. I think there is a chance it is the best hand but I'm willing to check down to showdown to find out. I check; he makes a pot-sized bet of $473. His bet is effectively $151 since it puts me all-in but the fact that he bet the pot is a bit of a tell. It is the classic act-strong-to-disguise-weakness tell. It screamed to me one thing only - I CANNOT WIN A SHOWDOWN! I think if he had an ace-high flush draw, he would have checked through and hoped he had my missed draw beat. After checking the turn and making this bet on the river, it was almost like turning his cards over. I was sure he had J-T. I made the call, he showed (Jc-Tc) and I won a $772 pot with a pair of sixes.

VEGAS RECAP

Here it is, my first post in five months. Methinks a trip to the Holy City, and a winning won at that, is worthy of a new post. It started with my wife asking me what I wanted for my 40th birthday. I don't know, nothing much. I was content to ask for something I thought I had the chance to receive: the best steak dinner in town. Wife decided to fly in my best bud, Tom, from Orlando and surprise me. My other best bud, Steve, tagged along to double the effect. All my local friends were there as well, and the steak was imported in the form of tri-tip, catered by Wood Ranch. All in all, a perfect birthday.

But it didn't end there. Tom and I were scheduled to fly out of LAX Sunday night and arrive in Vegas for 44 glorious hours of poker, sleep and buffet. There would be time for nothing else. The poker began at the Mirage around 930P Sunday. We played until after 2A and neither of us did well. Tom, I think, lost only $17 but I fared much worse. My original $200 buy-in disappeared when the loosest player at the table flopped a set against my top two pair.

I bought in for another $200 and over time I got back to even. I was ready to quit around 1A but Tom was down over $100 at that point, so I ordered another Anchor Steam and got back to work. Over the next hour, I endured punishment like never before from the vagaries of chance. It started with K-K, which I lost to my good pal Tom and his J-J. The next hand, I had Q-Q and lost to A-J. I then turned the nut flush with Ad-Td and lost to a rivered full house. I kept getting big hands which all went down in flames, losing with A-K, A-K suited, A-A, and trip sevens. When the carnage was over, I was down $530, all from that final hour.

I had only taken $1k with me for the trip, but I felt I was playing fine so I needed a boost to the bankroll in case I got into a juicy game. I visited the ATM and pulled out another $500, intent to transform those twenties into hundreds over the next two days.

We started Monday by fueling up at the Wynn buffet, then we entered the noon tournament at the Venetian for $150. The first hand I entered was with old reliable, K-K, which went on to lose half my stack to Q-9. I got back to even but never much further until I busted out in level five. I hung around the poker room emailing via BlackBerry until Tom busted. We went to put in more hours at Mirage so that we could earn our $15 comp after eight hours of play.

Tom and I played at different tables. There's really no details to report other than the cards fell as they're supposed to during this session and I won $530, exactly the amount I had lost the night before. I was now down only the cost of the earlier tournament. When we hit the eight-hour mark, we cashed out, got our comp, and headed back to the Venetian for the evening tourney.

This time the entry was $120. Tom busted out hours before me and I went on to make the final table and finish 7th for $366. Only nine places were paid but the final table assembled the final ten, so we all contributed $15 to ensure busting tenth was good for at least repayment of the buy-in. I had been card dead for ages and finally got desperate enough that I was going to play the next hand no matter what. It turned out to be 9-9 which was an automatic all-in. I ran into queens and it was curtains at 1230A. The walk back to Treasure Island was great as it was pouring yet warm, a nice Vegas treat - lots of drunk girls splashing through puddles and such. Tom had another miserable day and he was crashed by the time I got back to the room.

Tuesday began at Cravings, the Mirage buffet. Our comps were good for $15 so we only had to pay a few bucks each for enough fuel for the day. We played $1/2 NL at the Venetian until 5P when we had to catch a cab to the airport. Tom had another miserable session but I was able to bank $633 while having a great time socializing with our tablemates. I doubled up as the chips were still on order, with K-K vs Q-Q. Finally, the kings won a pot. I would see them four more times and would win them all.

I lost with A-A but not as much as I should have after the board four-flushed on the turn. He had kings and would gladly have gone all-in preflop if I had chosen to play it fast. One of my biggest losses was an excellent river bluff raise early on, feigning flush, against a player who couldn't lay down aces up. I figured he might not be able to get away from it, but it was such a perfect spot, I had to make the attempt. Hours later, I felted the guy with a set of nines over his set of deuces, so the chips were merely on loan.

The other biggest loss was when I held a disguised overpair to the board and doubled up a lady with the dreaded ten-deuce, who had flopped two pair. I had no idea what she had because I never expected she would play junk, so I paid her off on the river hoping she'd show jacks. I was on the winning end of a monster pot when I had Q-T and another lady had T-8. We both flopped two pair and the river was a ten, giving us both the full house. It's easy money when you're on the correct side of that situation.

So, I finished with about $700 in poker winnings, minus the $400 cost of the room and flight. The whirlwind trip only could have been better if Tom had won too. It was good to get my poker mojo out of mothballs and get away for awhile. I look forward to my next Vegas sojourn whenever I can drum up a pal to join me.

SILLY ME

I joined an 8-Game Tournament to hone my all-around poker skills. There were 12 players and only 3 were paid. With 4 players remaining, I was the runaway chip leader. Then I played a hand of deuce-to-seven lowball as if it was razz. I stood pat with an ace in my hand as if it was low, not high. At the end, I merely checked and watched the pot go to the other guy who would have gladly folded his queen-high hand had I bet. Soon after, I invested a lot of money into a pot-limit Omaha hand as if we were playing hi-lo. I thought I had half the pot locked up but instead, I was scooped. Once I realized what a knucklehead I was being, I played another hand against that same player that I just doubled up. This time, I had the best hand when the money went in - I had an overpair to the board with a flush draw against his top pair with two overcards. He went on to hit one of each of his overcards without giving me the flush, so he doubled up again. I was crippled and I wound up busting in fourth place, out of the money.

PLAY LESS WIN MORE

So, I can pretty much only play tourneys on the weekends now. Last weekend, I made two final tables, bubbled another, and profited $1k. This weekend I did my taxes, but being off on Presidents' Day, I entered three tourneys Monday morning. I busted early from two of them, then finished third in the other, profiting $2.5k. I had a hunch that going back to work would not only improve my psyche but also my poker game.

HOME GAME

I have not been blogging because I have not been playing much in the past month. I finally broke down and got a real job, so I am no longer at home at all times, looking for action. I love the new job and plan to stay with it for many years, so poker goes back to being a leisure pursuit.

Last night, I got the call for a home game at my neighbor's house, where I played a tournament a few years ago, finishing second. I made for a game of six and we agreed on a $50 buy-in cash game with $.50/1.00 blinds. I established the limp early on, so as a result, most hands were four or five-way action with only the occasional preflop raise. I threw a lot of money at flops I had no business seeing, but I figured with my experience, my best chance at a big win would come by understanding where I'm at as the hand progresses, so I wanted to be involved in as many hands as possible.

My first buy-in was short-lived. The big blow came when I took a flop with T-5 and the flop came 9-7-5. There was some action, but I wasn't buying it. The turn was a 9 and there was a bet and a call. I made the call again, thinking neither guy had a nine. The river was a T and I figured I just beat whichever guy has a seven, so I called a $15 river bet and fell to Q-9.

I bought in for another $50 and immediately got A-A on the big blind. When the limpfest got around to me, I put in small raise, looking for a couple of callers, which is what I got. The flop was 7-5-4 and I led out with a bet. There was a call and then the small blind raised it up. I called. The turn was a J and he bet into me. Well, if he's not scared of the jack, then he's already got two pair or trips. I just had to hope it was two pair or a pair of sixes. I wasn't folding, so I went ahead and shoved and he showed trip fives. The river was another jack, so I would have beaten 5-4, but instead, I was rebuying again. I threw a $100 bill into the middle and was given a stack of green $5 chips. At this time, I was looking like the patsy at the table, but what nobody realized is that being $200 into a cash game for me is like being $50 in for them and I had no concerns that I wouldn't be able to get it back.

Almost imediately, my luck turned. I tried to shake things up by min-raising with Tc-4c in first position. I got one caller and the flop came Q-T-6. I bet out and he called. The turn was a 4, giving me two pair. I reached for chips which made him reach for chips so fast, that I decided to check to him. He bet $5 and I bumped it to $20, which he called instantly. The river was an 8 and I bet another $20. He folded and said he had nothing. I couldn't resist showing the T-4 and claiming I got lucky. I figured he had nothing so I was happy to have made the extra money on the turn.

I won another big pot when my third pair held up against a bettor and a caller. I called with my pair and straight and flush draw but checked the end when I didn't improve. My pair of eights were good enough. The hand of the night came when I limped utg with Kc-Qc, looking for a big multi-way pot with a superb multi-way pot type of hand. The flop came Q-9-6 and I led out, getting called, then raised. The turn was a K and I checked. The next guy bet out, which surprised me, then the third guy raised him. In a tougher game, I probably muck my hand at this point, but unless I'm getting burned by trips again, then I'm likely up against a lesser two pair. I had concerns about the J-T but I doubt if the raising guy would have been raising a draw on the flop. The other guy was more likely to have me beat but he had a smallish stack, so he was getting paid off regardless. The third guy, raising guy, with the big stack either has trip sixes or something he is overplaying, so I cold called the raise, as did the middle guy.

The river was a blank, so the strength of my hand now was the same as when I cold called on fourth street. I checked with the intention of calling a bet. The middle guy bet a measly $10 and the third guy proclaimed all-in. He didn't expect anybody to call him, so he thought I was just wasting time when I asked for a count. It turned out to be $108 to me. That's a lot in this game, but it's not enough to make me fold top two pair, so I called and the middle guy tossed in his remaining chips. The all-in guy had A-K and the middle guy had flopped two pair with Q-6. I took a huge pot, bringing me into the black.

I won some other more boring pots and redistributed some money back into the game with loose calls rather than locking up my win and ended the night up $220. There was one missed opportunity that went down like this: I raised to $3 with Ah-Kh and got called by two players. The flop came A-3-3. I checked, to allow somebody else to either get greedy or overplay their lesser ace, but it checked around. The turn was a 6 and one player bet $3. I just called, hoping the third guy would call as well, and instead he declared all-in. It was a crazy bet. These guys just like to say all-in, I guess. It was a $90 bet into a pot with less $20 in it. That guy had been a fan of the all-in move all night and had always shown the goods, so I was thinking of laying down my hand anyways, but when the other guy called him, I couldn't imagine that one of them didn't have a three, so I mucked my A-K. Turns out the all-in guy had A-Q and the caller had A-K like me. I guess my slowplay worked, but I didn't get to benefit from it.

There was one other notable hand. Three of the guys had come to the game contingent on Dave, the host, ordering the pay-per-view UFC match, which he had on in the other room. Two guys left the game to watch one of the undercard matches and the four of us who remained played some hands with a $1 ante. I got dealt an ace in every hand and so I saw every flop. On the last of these hands, I min-raised with A-4 and got some calls. The flop came 5-3-2 and I made the continuation bet. It folded to Dave, who pushed all-in with a pair of sixes. Again, it was a crazy $60 bet into a small pot. I relieved him of his stack, the same as if I would have had a pair of nines. It's easy to make money in home games like this where the opponents are so enamored with the all-in move that they think it's a device to ensure everybody else folds. The turn/river came 7/J so he would have saved money by seeing I was still interested on later streets if he had left himself the opportunity.

Well, the game broke for the UFC main event and I walked home to chat with Marci and the Jacksons, who were in my jacuzzi. When I got back, the match was soon decided and we got back to the game, but with the match over and me taking all their money, there was little reason for these guys to stick around, so the game busted at 10PM and that was that.