05-17-2002, 07:28 AM
As Dynasty mentions below, we played some home poker after Star Wars. I liked the movie, but was a bit more lukewarm than D. Andrew, Dynasty and Riff Raff. It is strange watching a Star Wars movie with no discernable "bad side". But I don't want to spoil it for anyone. Good flick, not great.
So we buy $400 of chips at the Monte Carlo and head over to Casa de Dynasty for some home game fun. We plan on playing $1-2 dealers choice.
We start by playing 1-2 draw. It was painful. The game is slow, there's not enough betting rounds, and none of us were confident enough in our hand reading to make any value bets. I hated it.
Of course, that means I start the night $20 in the hole for this stupid game.
I call Crazy Pineapple. For the uninitiated, it plays just like Holdem except you get dealt 3 cards instead of 2 and you discard one of your cards before the turn.
We managed to not discard a minimum of a dozen times, resulting in multiple reshufflings for the river card. Smart dudes those 2+2ers. Can't even remember to freaking discard. These discard mishaps ended up playing a factor in the outcome of at least 2 decent sized pots later on. (In one, I made the nut flush and wouldn't have, in the other, Dynasty caught a straight on the turn that he wouldn't have. He would have had to fold the turn.)
So we are playing Crazy Pineapple, limit for $1-2 stakes. I do pretty well, make a few hands and crawl close to even.
D. Andrew then calls Omaha High. I am the only player at the table with ANY experience in this game. A funny hand occurs when I 3-bet the flop 239 flop headsup with A45T and a backdoor flush draw. Riff calls the flop and turn. I fire at the final board of 2239K after I miss, but he misreads his hand and my A-high is good! Woohoo! I exit the Omaha session up a little.
Then Riff calls Holdem.
This is where some player profiles are needed. In a nutshell, D. Andrew and myself are significantly more aggressive than our two counterparts. So for shorthanded holdem, this means that basically, we are going to be going to war. This is problematic for me since he has position on me.
Dynasty and Riff more or less sit to the side as D. Andrew and myself butt heads frequently. We go to war almost every hand, and pots are decided on the flop or on the river. I suck out on him with A9 when I call his turn checkraise with 46 on a 26TT board. I catch an A on the river and he pays me off. Thank god because I was calling his ass down. Whew!
Riff gets tired of the aggression and raises my blind. I 3-bet him with AQo. The flop is rags, I bet and he folds saying the most memorable line of the evening:
"I tried to push the Clarkmeister around. Not a good idea"
We all had a good round of laughter.
So the two aggressive players do well in the shorthanded holdem and I start to get well. Up like $30 which is quite a nice turnaround for a $1-2 game.
We play some more draw, which I stay away from and don't get involved in. I call some more Crazy Pineapple and it is pretty uneventful.
So we then play some 7 stud with a joker. There is a $1 blind and the high card gets first option. We have very few showdowns. Riff takes down a large pot from Dynasty when Dynasty mucks to a river raise. I lose with rolled up 4's to Riff's Pair+gutshot+flush draw keyed off a joker. He makes trip J's on the river and takes it down when I don't fill. Riff is doing well, sitting up about $20 or so. I think Dynasty is down the most at this point - something like $35 if memory serves.
Then, the night changes.
Big time.
I call Pot Limit Crazy Pineapple. We have one $1 Blind.
My plan is simple. I play every hand. Yup. Every one. For a buck and with 3 cards to hit the flop, I figure my implied odds are too big to pass up, as long as I am playing solid postflop poker.
So its kind of calm....a few smallish pots. I steal a bunch of little ones but no one seems to want to commit enough chips to stop me. Then I raise $1 behind Riff (RR) and Dynasty (DY)who both limped. D. Andrew (DA) pots it. RR and DY fold, I come over the top for the pot with AA6s. DA calls. Something like $46 bucks in the pot. Too tired to redo the math.
Flop is KK9. DA checks, I check. We discard. Turn is a T. Checked. River is a 5 or some such crap. DA bets the pot. I think for about 5-7 minutes. I am really pissing off the other guys. I think, I think, I think, I think.
I muck.
He shows me his 4 K's and we have a brief discussion about how hard/easy my laydown was/or should have been. You decide.
DA then bets the $4 pot at a flop of 366. RR calls, DY pots it, I muck, DA repots it, RR mucks and DY makes what I think is a horrible call and all-in reraise with K64. DA has 33 and DY keeps the K kicker. Alas for him, the river is a 4 and he is left to wonder what might have been as the chips go the other way.
DA does a "I busted out Dynasty" victory lap as DY reloads the gun.
After that hand, there was pretty much no doubt that we were playing pot limit the rest of the night. Though it would have been amusing watching Dyno try and grind it back in $1-2.
Riff makes what I think is a great laydown on the river against me in triple draw high. I limp with AAAxx, I pot after my first missed draw. He calls. I draw just one the next time, wanting to represent aces up. I pot it again. He calls again. I don't improve and for the final betting round, I bet about half the pot. He lays down three 7's. I bitched about his fabulous laydown for an hour. Dammit, he was supposed to make me for two pair and raise!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHH, good laydown, sir!
After that round of triple draw, it is Pot Limit Crazy Pineapple for the remaining 2 hours. Some highlights:
I come over the top of DY preflop with KK7s and muck preflop when he RE-pots my ass. He claimed to have had AATs.
I flop the nut straight with 2d3sJs on a A4d5d board. I pot, DA repots, I come over him again. He thinks for a long time and calls with 9Td. His flush doesn't come, but running 2-3 does and we chop it up.
I muck AA on the turn on a 3367 board when DY comes over the top of me on the turn in a huge pot. He claimed to have 45.
Riff makes a small bet into a huge pot on a 9TTJ flushed board. It's too small and I call with my AA. Thankfully, the river is checked through and I hang on against his QJ. I would have probabaly had to muck if he potted me on the turn. when the straight AND flush card came, nevermind that he might have flopped a Ten or a boat.
I have Dynasty set up so beautifully when he "steal raises" me and I call with 339s in the BB. I lead the 3QQ flop and he calls. I instantly think he has AA or KK. I pot the flushed turn and he calls. I plan on checkraising the river unless an A or K comes. This should put him all in. But the river is a nauseating Q and I have to check-fold. He shows me his AA and goes a bit white when I show him my 33.
On one strange hand, I pot the turn with 46 on a 3345 board. DA calls me. The river is a 2. I call time ( I am freaking sloooow ) and DA flips over his AQ and says "I call". I think about it for a minute, shrug and bet. He calls and I take it down.
Meanwhile, RR is setting traps for me left and right, and somehow I am tightroping around them and not getting hurt. DY is slowly creeping back into it, taking several medium sized pots.
Finally, RR gets his chance to hammer me but gets unlucky. He flops the nuts on a 89T board and I pot it with 8T. He decides to wait til the turn to put me all-in.
The turn is a Ten.
Remember in Indy Jones the Last Crusade at the end when they are trying to choose which chalice is the Holy Grail?
"He chose......poorly."
In another tricky hand vs RR, I have A4x on a turn board of AAJ7. The flop was checked and he bets half the pot on the turn. I call. The river is a Ten. I pot it. He thinks and thinks, and finally repots it. I think for a long time, tell him it must be TT or KQ and muck. He flashes KQ.
My one big (?) mistake came vs DA. I limp with 884s. DA pots it, all fold and I call.
The flop is Ah Jc 8c. I bet half the pot, he pots it. I think for a while. Finally, Dyno wants to see my hand. He looks and says "I better leave the room". DA looks at me and says "your hand is that big?" He is genuinely suprised. He only has $40 more in front of him. In my gut, I think I am beat, but there is a chance that he has a big ace in the flush suit. I hem, I haw. I almost muck.
Finally, I reraise and put him in.
He flips over JJ and no miracle 8 comes for Clarky.
FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK.
I still think I should have mucked. Dynasty thought it was an easy call.
Dynasty basically ends the evening when he busts RR with T2 vs JJ on a T249Q board right at the agreed upon 1AM ending time. 6 hours of poker complete.
Final score: DA 49, DY, 28, CM 23, RR -100.
The amazing thing is that DY was down almost the whole night and RR was up almost the whole night. Man, the swings in this pot limit crap are BIG.
I had a great time and want to thank these 3 guys for the evening. It really was fun. Especially since I got to see every flop for two hours. /images/smile.gif
So we buy $400 of chips at the Monte Carlo and head over to Casa de Dynasty for some home game fun. We plan on playing $1-2 dealers choice.
We start by playing 1-2 draw. It was painful. The game is slow, there's not enough betting rounds, and none of us were confident enough in our hand reading to make any value bets. I hated it.
Of course, that means I start the night $20 in the hole for this stupid game.
I call Crazy Pineapple. For the uninitiated, it plays just like Holdem except you get dealt 3 cards instead of 2 and you discard one of your cards before the turn.
We managed to not discard a minimum of a dozen times, resulting in multiple reshufflings for the river card. Smart dudes those 2+2ers. Can't even remember to freaking discard. These discard mishaps ended up playing a factor in the outcome of at least 2 decent sized pots later on. (In one, I made the nut flush and wouldn't have, in the other, Dynasty caught a straight on the turn that he wouldn't have. He would have had to fold the turn.)
So we are playing Crazy Pineapple, limit for $1-2 stakes. I do pretty well, make a few hands and crawl close to even.
D. Andrew then calls Omaha High. I am the only player at the table with ANY experience in this game. A funny hand occurs when I 3-bet the flop 239 flop headsup with A45T and a backdoor flush draw. Riff calls the flop and turn. I fire at the final board of 2239K after I miss, but he misreads his hand and my A-high is good! Woohoo! I exit the Omaha session up a little.
Then Riff calls Holdem.
This is where some player profiles are needed. In a nutshell, D. Andrew and myself are significantly more aggressive than our two counterparts. So for shorthanded holdem, this means that basically, we are going to be going to war. This is problematic for me since he has position on me.
Dynasty and Riff more or less sit to the side as D. Andrew and myself butt heads frequently. We go to war almost every hand, and pots are decided on the flop or on the river. I suck out on him with A9 when I call his turn checkraise with 46 on a 26TT board. I catch an A on the river and he pays me off. Thank god because I was calling his ass down. Whew!
Riff gets tired of the aggression and raises my blind. I 3-bet him with AQo. The flop is rags, I bet and he folds saying the most memorable line of the evening:
"I tried to push the Clarkmeister around. Not a good idea"
We all had a good round of laughter.
So the two aggressive players do well in the shorthanded holdem and I start to get well. Up like $30 which is quite a nice turnaround for a $1-2 game.
We play some more draw, which I stay away from and don't get involved in. I call some more Crazy Pineapple and it is pretty uneventful.
So we then play some 7 stud with a joker. There is a $1 blind and the high card gets first option. We have very few showdowns. Riff takes down a large pot from Dynasty when Dynasty mucks to a river raise. I lose with rolled up 4's to Riff's Pair+gutshot+flush draw keyed off a joker. He makes trip J's on the river and takes it down when I don't fill. Riff is doing well, sitting up about $20 or so. I think Dynasty is down the most at this point - something like $35 if memory serves.
Then, the night changes.
Big time.
I call Pot Limit Crazy Pineapple. We have one $1 Blind.
My plan is simple. I play every hand. Yup. Every one. For a buck and with 3 cards to hit the flop, I figure my implied odds are too big to pass up, as long as I am playing solid postflop poker.
So its kind of calm....a few smallish pots. I steal a bunch of little ones but no one seems to want to commit enough chips to stop me. Then I raise $1 behind Riff (RR) and Dynasty (DY)who both limped. D. Andrew (DA) pots it. RR and DY fold, I come over the top for the pot with AA6s. DA calls. Something like $46 bucks in the pot. Too tired to redo the math.
Flop is KK9. DA checks, I check. We discard. Turn is a T. Checked. River is a 5 or some such crap. DA bets the pot. I think for about 5-7 minutes. I am really pissing off the other guys. I think, I think, I think, I think.
I muck.
He shows me his 4 K's and we have a brief discussion about how hard/easy my laydown was/or should have been. You decide.
DA then bets the $4 pot at a flop of 366. RR calls, DY pots it, I muck, DA repots it, RR mucks and DY makes what I think is a horrible call and all-in reraise with K64. DA has 33 and DY keeps the K kicker. Alas for him, the river is a 4 and he is left to wonder what might have been as the chips go the other way.
DA does a "I busted out Dynasty" victory lap as DY reloads the gun.
After that hand, there was pretty much no doubt that we were playing pot limit the rest of the night. Though it would have been amusing watching Dyno try and grind it back in $1-2.
Riff makes what I think is a great laydown on the river against me in triple draw high. I limp with AAAxx, I pot after my first missed draw. He calls. I draw just one the next time, wanting to represent aces up. I pot it again. He calls again. I don't improve and for the final betting round, I bet about half the pot. He lays down three 7's. I bitched about his fabulous laydown for an hour. Dammit, he was supposed to make me for two pair and raise!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHH, good laydown, sir!
After that round of triple draw, it is Pot Limit Crazy Pineapple for the remaining 2 hours. Some highlights:
I come over the top of DY preflop with KK7s and muck preflop when he RE-pots my ass. He claimed to have had AATs.
I flop the nut straight with 2d3sJs on a A4d5d board. I pot, DA repots, I come over him again. He thinks for a long time and calls with 9Td. His flush doesn't come, but running 2-3 does and we chop it up.
I muck AA on the turn on a 3367 board when DY comes over the top of me on the turn in a huge pot. He claimed to have 45.
Riff makes a small bet into a huge pot on a 9TTJ flushed board. It's too small and I call with my AA. Thankfully, the river is checked through and I hang on against his QJ. I would have probabaly had to muck if he potted me on the turn. when the straight AND flush card came, nevermind that he might have flopped a Ten or a boat.
I have Dynasty set up so beautifully when he "steal raises" me and I call with 339s in the BB. I lead the 3QQ flop and he calls. I instantly think he has AA or KK. I pot the flushed turn and he calls. I plan on checkraising the river unless an A or K comes. This should put him all in. But the river is a nauseating Q and I have to check-fold. He shows me his AA and goes a bit white when I show him my 33.
On one strange hand, I pot the turn with 46 on a 3345 board. DA calls me. The river is a 2. I call time ( I am freaking sloooow ) and DA flips over his AQ and says "I call". I think about it for a minute, shrug and bet. He calls and I take it down.
Meanwhile, RR is setting traps for me left and right, and somehow I am tightroping around them and not getting hurt. DY is slowly creeping back into it, taking several medium sized pots.
Finally, RR gets his chance to hammer me but gets unlucky. He flops the nuts on a 89T board and I pot it with 8T. He decides to wait til the turn to put me all-in.
The turn is a Ten.
Remember in Indy Jones the Last Crusade at the end when they are trying to choose which chalice is the Holy Grail?
"He chose......poorly."
In another tricky hand vs RR, I have A4x on a turn board of AAJ7. The flop was checked and he bets half the pot on the turn. I call. The river is a Ten. I pot it. He thinks and thinks, and finally repots it. I think for a long time, tell him it must be TT or KQ and muck. He flashes KQ.
My one big (?) mistake came vs DA. I limp with 884s. DA pots it, all fold and I call.
The flop is Ah Jc 8c. I bet half the pot, he pots it. I think for a while. Finally, Dyno wants to see my hand. He looks and says "I better leave the room". DA looks at me and says "your hand is that big?" He is genuinely suprised. He only has $40 more in front of him. In my gut, I think I am beat, but there is a chance that he has a big ace in the flush suit. I hem, I haw. I almost muck.
Finally, I reraise and put him in.
He flips over JJ and no miracle 8 comes for Clarky.
FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK.
I still think I should have mucked. Dynasty thought it was an easy call.
Dynasty basically ends the evening when he busts RR with T2 vs JJ on a T249Q board right at the agreed upon 1AM ending time. 6 hours of poker complete.
Final score: DA 49, DY, 28, CM 23, RR -100.
The amazing thing is that DY was down almost the whole night and RR was up almost the whole night. Man, the swings in this pot limit crap are BIG.
I had a great time and want to thank these 3 guys for the evening. It really was fun. Especially since I got to see every flop for two hours. /images/smile.gif