Getting Even (with epilogue)

I considered playing some PLO today but had a bad taste in my mouth after last night’s game, as my “buddy”, Stan, decided to chase his “more outs than a baseball game” hand to the river. Despite my pot-sized bets each street, he effectively cleaned me out. I rebuilt, but not enough to get back to even, and besides, it was late. (It’s the price you pay, Stan. You get to see your name on my blog.)

Instead, I decided to hit the micro NLHE games and see what the Sunday crowd had for chops. There weren’t any real loose tables available, so I chose a 30% room to see what was what. One player had a 150 BB stack, another had 120BB and there were a few shorties. I bought in for 100BB.

The table was a helluva lot tighter than the 30% had advertised. Maybe I just missed all of the action and the donk had been where I now sat. The big stack, Fflash, was pushing the table around a little bit, raising 5 x BB any time he came in, probably because everyone else was pretty much folding anyway. A seat opened to my left, but not for long. The guy who sat down,"all-erii", bought in short, posted UTG, and raised it upright away. Little alarms went off.

The guy was LAG as hell. I played accordingly, looking to trap. The plan was flawed. I limped with no one behind on the Button with 44. He completed the blind. I flopped a set and he turned a flush with 72h. The river didn’t pair and I paid the value bet. He raised UTG and I called from the BB with 76s. The flop gave me a pair of sixes and we checked it down after the flop bet. He raised with J 10 off and had paired his 10 on the flop as well. I was into him for 50BB.

I thought about finding another room at this point, but something told me to stay. Maybe it was because he was giving other players the money he had of mine. He built back up again, and kept pushing. I could not get into a hand with the suited Aces I held and stayed away from connecters altogether unless I could limp, which was a rarity.

I was on the Button with AK when the first aggressive player, Fflash, opened early with his standard 5x BB raise. I had seen him get lucky doing the same earlier with AJoff against a shortie’s jammed pair of Queens. I had played AQoff against one of his raises from the BB earlier and check-raised the flop when an Ace hit. He folded. Again, I smooth-called his bet. What I didn’t expect was all-eeri’s jam for almost 100BB. Fflash folded. What to do?

I remembered all of the times I have folded AK to heavy action in these micros, only to see a board that assured me a win and triple up, had I played. I put him on a range from pocket tens to kings, or perhaps the same hand as me. I called. An Ace came on the flop against his pocket 10s and held up.

Fflash wrote, “Nice play.”

I responded. “I consider it payback.” I can’t say with assuredness that it was indeed a nice play, risking my stack with what is at best a drawing hand. I thought that perhaps Fflash really didn’t mean what he had written, intending to encourage such loose play in future hands. I wouldn’t oblige him. All-erii left and the game resumed its plodding pace. I made $5, better than even, so I left.

Epilogue: But I just can't stay away.

After taking care of a few matters, I returned late to the tables. PLO to be specific, and bought in short. What a ride!

bastinptc: shows [9h Td Kh 9c] (four of a kind, Nines)
Board [9s Qc 9d Ad Tc]
Seat 6: mjklek (big blind) mucked [Ah As 7h 2c]
bastinptc collected $5.38 from pot

The guy went on full tilt boogey. The next ten or so hands made this quite evident, and he had one particular player in mind from which to exact his revenge. Maybe he would get it after all.

Seat 1: trins ($1.75 in chips)
Seat 2: masterchefs ($5.84 in chips)
Seat 4: bastinptc ($5.30 in chips)
Seat 5: kckcmartin ($1.17 in chips)
Seat 6: mjklek ($4.06 in chips)
kckcmartin: posts small blind $0.01
mjklek: posts big blind $0.02
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to bastinptc [As Ad Kd Tc]
trins: calls $0.02
masterchefs: raises $0.07 to $0.09

I’m not a huge fan of pocket Aces in PLO, single-suited or double-suited. The appeal with them this time is that there are also broadway possibilities. True, I was on the Button at this point, but still, I’d rather see what ensues on the flop before getting crazy, and from my position, I have a good view.

bastinptc: calls $0.09
kckcmartin: calls $0.08
mjklek: calls $0.07
trins: calls $0.07

*** FLOP *** [Jc Kh Qh]

Well, ain’t this peachy?

kckcmartin: checks
mjklek: bets $0.45

Well, maybe not so peachy after all. We may be looking at a split pot here, albeit unlikely in that I have two Aces. More than likely the dude has a flush draw…

trins: folds
masterchefs: folds

…but I have to find out. If ya got it, pot it.

bastinptc: raises $0.59 to $1.04
mjklek: raises $2.53 to $3.57

Either we have the same hand and he’s freerolling with the flush draw too, or he’s looking to suck out with the flush.

bastinptc: raises $1.64 to $5.21 and is all-in
mjklek: calls $0.40 and is all-in
Uncalled bet ($1.24) returned to bastinptc
*** TURN *** [Jc Kh Qh] [2h]
*** RIVER *** [Jc Kh Qh 2h] [3h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
mjklek: shows [Ts 2d 8d 3d] (two pair, Threes and Deuces)
bastinptc: shows [As Ad Kd Tc] (a straight, Ten to Ace)
bastinptc collected $7.99 from pot

Tell me how this is anything else but absolute, nutso, drunk on his ass at eight in the morning somewhere in Europe, eyes rolling back in his head in anger ready to blow an artery, Mother Teresa donking it off to help a poor bloke such as myself (insert dashes where appropriate) tilt.

Of course it is.