EnderW27
09-12-2004, 03:28 PM
Last night was my brother's bachelor party. We did what any group of red blooded American males would do in this situation: drink a boatload of beer, eat some BBQ, more beer, watch some football, and then take a limo on out to the strip clubs. Drinking beer along the way. Fun times.
But before we head off into the...ahem...lap of luxury, we stop by a local riverboat casino. "Riverboat" seems to be a slight misnomer as it would imply the building was even the least bit seaworthy. This million square foot monstrosity would sink faster than a mob informant if it touched water.
So we get inside and I immediately head off to the poker room with one of my brother's friends. We're still a tad drunk so we're not looking to do any serious gambling. "What's the wait like at the 3/6?" we ask the host, expecting a 30 person list.
"Open seating," he says to our amazement.
We go grab $100 in the chips from the cashier and come back to the desk.
"There are two seats open at different tables. One near the TV and the other one right up front."
I look over at my brother's friend. "What do you want?"
"I'll take the one next to the TV."
"No prob," I say. I grab my chips and sit down in the empty seat.
I immediately notice a slight problem. This wasn't 3/6. Hell...this wasn't even limit.
The blinds were 2/5 and we're playing NL. Aw...crap!
I didn't even know this casino was offering NL! I hadn't been in the poker room since January and back then they were talking about possible changes in the law allowing the room to spread those types of gams. But as far as I knew, it was still just limit. Guess I was wrong.
It's not that I mind NL. Far from it actually. But
a) I was a tad inebriated.
b) I sat down with $100 in a 2/5 game. I knew I needed at least $250 to begin contemplating this.
But then I looked around. This table was the strangest I'd ever seen. The average stack wasn't even $250. I would guess it was around $150-$200.
The average raise wasn't 3xBB. It was 5xBB and it NEVER discouraged people from playing if they were determined to do so. I could attribute part of this to a bored 20-40 player waiting for his table, but it didn't even stop once he left. This is just insane! They're open raising with a sixth of their stack PF and CALLING those raises with nothing.
The basic strategy seemed to be raise a lot PF and then push your money in post flop hoping...I dunno...your beautiful good looks would make someone fold to your bluff.
Man...I saw one bluff all-in get called by a worse hand!
My curiousity was piqued. I had to see how I would do.
Here was my first two rounds: fold fold fold fold fold fold fold fold fold fold fold.
Late position it's open raised by the guy next to me for, natch, $25. I look down and see JJ. I call. I should have raised but I only had about $90 in front of me at that point and I really just wanted to see the flop.
Two more callers. flop comes down 996, two suits. PF raiser checks. I move all in thinking the rest of the table is playing overcards or A-x crap and didn't hit anything. Now I have to wait. One folds immediately and two more stare me down in their "I learneded this move from the WPT" way and each fold as well. I guess they thought I was bluffing but I knew if they even had to hesitate I was already beating them.
So I picked up a nice pot there.
And then two more rounds. Fold fold fold fold fold. A few hands I probably could have won but even now I'm not drunk enough to come in with KJ in ep knowing it will be $20 more to me before I see the flop.
Finally in late position I get AKo. One limper to me and I make it $20. Three callers Hell...I probably could have made it $40 and gotten three callers. I dunno.
Flop comes down Q-J-T. Two diamonds. Heh.
Check check check to me.
How to make the most money on this? I think for a bit, tapping my chips, and the dealer raps his knuckles on the felt thinking it's been checked around.
"WAIT!" I yelled out. Thankfully he stopped. God, while my face didn't give anything away when the flop came down, I'm thinking even Helen Keller could have gotten a tell off that.
I bet $40 into the pot. Called by one person, folded by another, and one more moves all in! I almost beat him to the pot and then the guy who called me also called our all-in!
What in the Sam Hell is going on here? It was almost checked around and now literally 15 seconds later we're all, all-in?
We all flip our cards over. The twice caller has two small diamonds that he "couldn't get away from because the pot was too big." The check raiser? He has q-9!
No help from anyone. I triple up! I'm still halfway drunk and even I realize how badly this table is playing.
I was by far the largest stack at the table and for awhile I had dreams of actually taking every chip in play.
But it wasn't meant to be. A round later, my brother came by, said we're going to the strip club, and that was that. In an hour and a half I went from $100 to cashing out at $475. I played two friggin hands the entire evening and these guys paid me off both times.
The very last hand of the evening I have A-8o UTG. I fold it. I stand up and my friends are behind me.
"Did you fold A-8?" one said.
"Yeah."
"Didn't even want to play that for one final hand."
"No, I don't because it would have been raised to $25."
I turn around. As sure as rain, a guy at the end of the table had raised. 5 chips spread out from his pile towards the pot. There already was one caller. I turned around and walked towards the cashier.
I loves me some gamboolers!
But before we head off into the...ahem...lap of luxury, we stop by a local riverboat casino. "Riverboat" seems to be a slight misnomer as it would imply the building was even the least bit seaworthy. This million square foot monstrosity would sink faster than a mob informant if it touched water.
So we get inside and I immediately head off to the poker room with one of my brother's friends. We're still a tad drunk so we're not looking to do any serious gambling. "What's the wait like at the 3/6?" we ask the host, expecting a 30 person list.
"Open seating," he says to our amazement.
We go grab $100 in the chips from the cashier and come back to the desk.
"There are two seats open at different tables. One near the TV and the other one right up front."
I look over at my brother's friend. "What do you want?"
"I'll take the one next to the TV."
"No prob," I say. I grab my chips and sit down in the empty seat.
I immediately notice a slight problem. This wasn't 3/6. Hell...this wasn't even limit.
The blinds were 2/5 and we're playing NL. Aw...crap!
I didn't even know this casino was offering NL! I hadn't been in the poker room since January and back then they were talking about possible changes in the law allowing the room to spread those types of gams. But as far as I knew, it was still just limit. Guess I was wrong.
It's not that I mind NL. Far from it actually. But
a) I was a tad inebriated.
b) I sat down with $100 in a 2/5 game. I knew I needed at least $250 to begin contemplating this.
But then I looked around. This table was the strangest I'd ever seen. The average stack wasn't even $250. I would guess it was around $150-$200.
The average raise wasn't 3xBB. It was 5xBB and it NEVER discouraged people from playing if they were determined to do so. I could attribute part of this to a bored 20-40 player waiting for his table, but it didn't even stop once he left. This is just insane! They're open raising with a sixth of their stack PF and CALLING those raises with nothing.
The basic strategy seemed to be raise a lot PF and then push your money in post flop hoping...I dunno...your beautiful good looks would make someone fold to your bluff.
Man...I saw one bluff all-in get called by a worse hand!
My curiousity was piqued. I had to see how I would do.
Here was my first two rounds: fold fold fold fold fold fold fold fold fold fold fold.
Late position it's open raised by the guy next to me for, natch, $25. I look down and see JJ. I call. I should have raised but I only had about $90 in front of me at that point and I really just wanted to see the flop.
Two more callers. flop comes down 996, two suits. PF raiser checks. I move all in thinking the rest of the table is playing overcards or A-x crap and didn't hit anything. Now I have to wait. One folds immediately and two more stare me down in their "I learneded this move from the WPT" way and each fold as well. I guess they thought I was bluffing but I knew if they even had to hesitate I was already beating them.
So I picked up a nice pot there.
And then two more rounds. Fold fold fold fold fold. A few hands I probably could have won but even now I'm not drunk enough to come in with KJ in ep knowing it will be $20 more to me before I see the flop.
Finally in late position I get AKo. One limper to me and I make it $20. Three callers Hell...I probably could have made it $40 and gotten three callers. I dunno.
Flop comes down Q-J-T. Two diamonds. Heh.
Check check check to me.
How to make the most money on this? I think for a bit, tapping my chips, and the dealer raps his knuckles on the felt thinking it's been checked around.
"WAIT!" I yelled out. Thankfully he stopped. God, while my face didn't give anything away when the flop came down, I'm thinking even Helen Keller could have gotten a tell off that.
I bet $40 into the pot. Called by one person, folded by another, and one more moves all in! I almost beat him to the pot and then the guy who called me also called our all-in!
What in the Sam Hell is going on here? It was almost checked around and now literally 15 seconds later we're all, all-in?
We all flip our cards over. The twice caller has two small diamonds that he "couldn't get away from because the pot was too big." The check raiser? He has q-9!
No help from anyone. I triple up! I'm still halfway drunk and even I realize how badly this table is playing.
I was by far the largest stack at the table and for awhile I had dreams of actually taking every chip in play.
But it wasn't meant to be. A round later, my brother came by, said we're going to the strip club, and that was that. In an hour and a half I went from $100 to cashing out at $475. I played two friggin hands the entire evening and these guys paid me off both times.
The very last hand of the evening I have A-8o UTG. I fold it. I stand up and my friends are behind me.
"Did you fold A-8?" one said.
"Yeah."
"Didn't even want to play that for one final hand."
"No, I don't because it would have been raised to $25."
I turn around. As sure as rain, a guy at the end of the table had raised. 5 chips spread out from his pile towards the pot. There already was one caller. I turned around and walked towards the cashier.
I loves me some gamboolers!