$6/12 stud/8 hand
Recently, the stud jackpot at Canterbury Park got up towards $20,000. This is about as big as it ever gets. Some jackpot-minded $4/8 Omaha/8 players got the bright idea to play $6/12 stud/8, and although the jackpot has gone out a few times since then, the game has taken hold. It's gone almost every day for a month or so.
This is a good game for me, and I can even play during the week because
1) the players stink and I can do very well even if I'm tired after a long day at the office and
2) I am capable of leaving when I'm stuck $300 or so. I can't leave when I'm stuck $1000 or more.
Of course, this past Wednesday, the one day I don't call down to make sure the game is going before driving down, they decided to play Omaha instead. Bleah. I'm stuck playing in a juicy-as-all-get-out $6/12 HE game. Two not-atypical hands from that one (feel free to skip):
I get AQo in early position and raise. I'm called by an UTG limper and one of the blinds. It was very unusual for there to be this few players in for the flop, and there were a few family pots. The flop is AA4. I like my hand. Both of my opponents' two favorite words are "check" and "call," and that's exactly what they do.
"How many Aces are in this deck," I ask the dealer.
"I dunno; four maybe," is his witty reply.
Turn is a Ten. Same action. River brings the fourth Ace, just for insurance. Same action. UTG turns over T9o (!). Blind doesn't show. I love that place.
A while later, my friend Cindy has joined the game. She couldn't win a hand in an $8/16 game and was going to leave, but Tom the floor guy talked her into this game. About seven people limp in on this hand. I show Cindy my pocket Sevens. Flop is QJ6. I tell Cindy she's a lousy sweater. Checked around. She says I can still hit.
"BRING IT!" I say.
Seven hits.
"THAT'S RIGHT!"
As subtle as I was about the whole thing, someone in early position bets, and T9 guy from the previous hand says, "let's raise." Does. I say, "sounds fun" and proceed to splash perhaps 30 of the necessary 18 chips for the three-bet. Cindy is having a good laugh. I get paid off in both spots. Game is good for $483, which is more than I've ever won at $6/12 stud/8. I try to remember why I've been working overtime for the last month.
<Begin actual stud/8 content>
So a few weeks ago I'm in this $6/12 stud/8 game. Ante is $1 and the bring-in is $2. It's a nice little mix of less-than-mediocre regulars and outright incompetents. On this hand, I get (6[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] 3[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]) 5[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] I try to restrain myself, but can't. Deuce brings it in, one limper, and I make it $6. About five of us see fifth street.
On fourth, I catch the 4[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]. I like my hand. The A[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] 7[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] is high and bets. Astute readers will note that those are desirable cards for my hand. There are also three Deuces gone, if memory serves. Undeterred, I bet. Next guy, showing <font color="red">4[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] 2[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]</font>, raises. We'll call him "Mike," because that's his name. Mike is a very conservative player, and gives me more respect than I deserve. He's got the goods. He might have trip Fours or a wheel draw or a flush draw with low potential, but he isn't in there raising with a lousy pocket pair. We get a couple of callers, I three-bet, and Mike four-bets. One of the stragglers decides that this is getting too expensive and checks out. The other guy calls. This is what he does best. He's showing 82o or 72o or some such. I cap it at five bets with three of us in.
On fifth, Mike hits the <font color="red">Q[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]</font>, making him high. He bets. This can only mean that
1) he's made a flush
2) he has a set of Fours or
3) he has four diamonds and four to a wheel.
The other guy has caught an Eight or a Seven, giving him 872 on-board. He calls. I pair my Trey. I get skeered and just call.
On sixth, I hit an Ace. Mike has caught the <font color="red">T[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]</font>. I like my hand, but I've always been the cautious sort, so I check. Mike bets. He has the flush. Other guy calls. It's all he can do. I check-raise, hoping that Mike will have the sense to leave the other guy in. Mike disappoints. Other guy finally gets the idea that this might not be his hand and folds. I four-bet. Mike calls.
On the river, I catch the T[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]. Mike checks, I bet, he calls. Your comments are welcome.
On another irrelevant note, this game is usually the domain of older guys. I'm frequently the youngest guy at the table, but I have a certain amount of gray hair and bifocals, so I fit in pretty well. At one point in this game, we had five guys under 40, which is almost unheard of. Last night, for a while, we were play seven-handed, and six of us were under 40, including two kids who aren't old enough to drink and another kid who's 23. And I think Greg is only about 45 or so. This is enough to give me some hope about the future of this game. The $30/60 stud/8 crowd is dying off.
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