Big Night Results In Big Purchase

Last Saturday night was my monthly poker game in Weatherford. It is always a good time out there whether I win or lose, but posting some wins does help with the mood on the 45-minute drive back to Arlington with whomever I rode out with.

This poker game was a record-setting night according to Clint. Although guys have walked away with more money before Saturday, a person has never seen more profit than I did that night. I was able to buy in for $100 and I left with $1,285. I grinded it out for nine hours and profited nearly $1,200. That works out to $131.67 an hour, which is an astounding amount of money to be made every 60 minutes and my second highest hourly rate since starting to keep track of my poker playing that began last November (my highest rate is $173 an hour, but I only played for three hours).

My night started great as I was never done below my initial buy-in at any point throughout the game. I won the third hand of the evening, which put me up about $30, and I never dipped below $100 after that.

I won some medium-sized pots early that helped build my stack and I rarely was involved in a hand that I didn't win for the first few hours. Once I got really high in the money I played a lot of hands and saw a lot of flops that didn't work out, but any really big pots that I was involved in I mostly won.

An early hand I got away from was when I flopped a straight with Q-J. With two diamonds on the flop I didn't want to give free cards to anyone, so I bet out. I couldn't get a guy off his hand and when another diamond came on the turn and he led out with a bet I mucked my straight with no doubt I had been drawn out on. Oh well. That happens.

My first big win was with J-3 of hearts. I had built my stack up to about $200-225 and decided to raise with whatever hand I got next that could make something decent (so hands like 7-2 and K-5 offsuit didn't count). I raised to $8 and the guy on my left called. We saw a flop with three cards that did not match my jack or three, but it did have two hearts. I believe the flop was something like A-8-5. So I made a continuation bet of $10. My opponent didn't take too long to raise it to $35. So it was another $25 to me and the pot now had $65. To call meant I was not quite getting 3-1 on my money, but I was in a gambling mood and decided to see what the turn brought. With my call the pot now had $90.

The turn was a non-heart card that I really can't remember. Depending on my opponent's bet I was ready to give up on this hand. However, after checking I was pleasantly surprised to hear "check" behind me. The free river card was the heart I needed and I was quite confident I had the best hand with a jack-high flush (technically it was an ace-high flush since the ace was a heart, but if he had a flush then we were both using the ace and it would come down to our highest heart). I bet $55 after thinking for a few seconds. The guy thought for a long time, talking out loud to himself never bringing up the flush. I don't know if he didn't see the three hearts or if he just didn't think I played a flush draw that way. He finally made the call and I flipped up my J-3 of hearts. He never showed his hand, so I don't know what he had, but I assumed it was a pair of aces with a really good kicker like a queen or jack.

That pot made me the chip leader at the table with a little more than $300, and the two closest stacks were at about $250 each. I nearly broke one of those two guys when I had him dominated on an all in, but circumstances resulted in us splitting the pot.

Before getting into the dynamics of the hand I will explain what "doing business" is at this game. "Doing business" means you will run the hand twice and see two separate sets of community cards. If you decide to "do business" pre-flop then it will be two sets of five cards, but if the decision is made on the turn then only two river cards will be seen. Should one player win both hands then he gets the entire pot, but if the players should split the wins the pot will be divided between the two.

A general rule I have with friends is I won't ask to run it twice but if my opponent asks I will grant it. The Weatherford game is hosted at three guys' homes and since I went to college with one of them and have become friendly with the other two I consider this a friendly game. So that means I will stick to my rule about running it twice at this game. If they ask me to, I usually will.

Okay, on to the hand. I had A-J offsuit and simply called the $2 to see the flop. After another call after me, a player three to my left raised it to $7. It went around and two other players called before it got back to me. With that many people calling the raise I decided to call and see if I could hit something big. The guy after me called also and we went to a flop with a pot of about $35.

The three community cards were J-6-4. With only having a single pair, that is the best possible flop I could see. I have top pair and top kicker, which is likely the best hand as long as nobody hit a set or the original raiser doesn't have a higher pocket pair. I think I was first to act and I decided to make a sneaky sort of play here by check-raising the original raiser (who I figured would probably make a continuation bet). I checked as did the guy on my left. Sure enough my thought process was correct and the original raiser led out with a $15 bet. At this point I am putting him on a middle pocket pair and he is afraid of two things: the jack and so many callers. I was pretty sure when it got back to me that a good-sized raise would get this guy to fold and I could win a nice pot with my pair of jacks.

Well, a kink was thrown into my plan when one of the players after the bettor raised it himself. He made it $50 to go and it was on me. Now usually I would be prepared to fold my A-J without blinking an eye, but something didn't feel right about this. The new raiser (whose name is Jason and he is one of the hosts of this game) is a loose-aggressive player that likes to see a lot of hands. He has no fear to raise with a straight or flush draw, knowing if called he can still win the hand by hitting his out, but also knowing that this image gets him paid off when he is holding the real deal.

So it is $50 to me and I have only a pair of jacks. However, I still think the pre-flop raiser is going to fold at this point, so I just have to put Jason on a hand. The board wasn't that scary for a pre-flop raised hand, so I didn't think he would rush to raise with a set. This narrowed his possible hand holdings to two-pair (which is not likely since it was raised pre-flop, but I don't put anything past Jason), top pair, or a straight draw. I was beat by the unlikely two pair, I'm beating his top pair with my better kicker (or we are tied) and the draw I am beating but can lose to with two cards to come. I felt I had the best hand at the time and was going to let everyone at the table know that.

I raised it $100 more, making it $150 to go. The guy on my left and the original raiser folded, getting it back to Jason. Now, I made the $100 raise for two reasons. The first was it was a normal raise for the situation. There was $100 in the pot prior to my raise. My call would make it $150 and I raised it an additional $100, making it 2.5-1 for Jason to call. Normal raise. The second reason for the $100 raise was it was about half of Jason's stack at that point. He had started this particular hand with about $250 and after his $50 bet and the $7 call pre-flop he had close to $200 left.

Jason pondered his options for a little while and joked with me about forgetting I was even in the hand. After some time he finally picked up his remaining $87 and said he was going to go all in. Well, either this was the greatest acting job ever and he was playing me for the fool, or (and the more likely scenario) was he knew he was beat and was just hoping he could catch up. I called the $87 and we flipped up our hands. It was my A-J against his J-8. He had three outs.

This is where the "doing business" came in to play. The dealer asked if we would be discussing any deals and I said it was up to Jason. He pleadingly asked to run it twice and I said that was fine. I won the first run without any problems, but the second time he hit an eight on the river (although the turn was a five and gave him four more outs with a seven giving him a straight). So all that work and all I got out of it was about $20.

I won another $75 or so after calling two all-in bets pre-flop. One was with A-6 against something like K-J. The other was J-10 against pocket sixes. After another hour or two I had worked my way up to $500 or so.

A hand I got some pretty good respect from was a fold I made where I flopped top two pair. I held A-7 and the flop was A-7-3 with two diamonds. I bet $8 on the flop (a little less than the size of the pot) and was called by one guy. The turn was the eight of diamonds giving a flush possibility. I disgustingly checked, thinking I was beat at this point. The guy bet $10 and I called stating, "Okay, you can string me along for that amount. I'll be the sucker." The river didn't give me any help and I checked again. The guy reached toward his green chips (which are $25 each) and before he ever picked one up I threw my cards into the middle face up and said, "No, too much." The guy looked back at my two pair and did a half grin as he flipped up A-8. He also had two pair, but the winning two pair.

Although I was off on what exactly the guy had (thinking it was probably the flush) I was still correct to know it beat my hand. Guys at the table applauded the fold and were impressed I got away from it. In my opinion, not a hard fold, but it was still nice to receive the props.

A really big hand I won was with A-5 of diamonds. I called pre-flop, as did about four or five other players. The flop came 4-3-2 with two of one suit that weren't diamonds. So I flopped the wheel and was feeling really good. The first guy to act led out with a bet of about $7. Jason raised the bet to $14. The night's host, Jay, then called that bet. It was now on me and I certainly wasn't going to slowplay this. With so many people betting, raising and calling, another raise was definitely going to get some action. Therefore I didn't need to worry about being deceptive.

I raised it another $35, making it $49 to go. It got back to the initial bettor and he thought for about 10-15 seconds. He finally moved all in. I don't remember the exact amount the all in was for, but it was more than another $100 on top of my $35. I want to say it was somewhere in the range of another $165 or so. Certainly a large bet that meant business. Jason quickly folded. Now it was on Jay. He thought for more than a minute about what to do, but finally folded. If my memory serves me correctly, I think he folded a pair and a flush draw.

Against one player I was going to call the all in no matter what. If he had 5-6 for the higher straight then good for him. I'm not getting away from my second nuts. However, had Jay called the all in (which would have put him all in also), then I would have a decision to make. I most likely would still call, knowing I have the best hand but having to dodge a lot of cards to remain best. However, since Jay called I wasn't put to a decision. I called and my opponent showed pocket fours, having top set. He didn't improve and I won the large pot.

The hand I was most ashamed to win was where I made a big suckout with A-5 offsuit. I'm not sure how much the hand was raised to, but with the players involved it ended up being a pot of $30 or so on the flop. The three cards in the middle were A-9-4. I wasn't proud of my top pair, but when a guy on my left bet $25 I decided to call and see another card. The reason behind this play was I had seen the same guy lead out with a flop bet when he held second pair, so I thought my ace might be good but I wanted to play cautious at this point. Also, I had more than $1,000 and could afford to speculate for $25.

The turn was another ace, giving me three of a kind. If my ace was good before the turn, it certainly was good now. I decided to play the part of not having much and let my opponent think another bet would win it. Then I could make a decison as to what to do at that point. However, my opponent also checked and I didn't have to make any decision at that point. However, it did complicate things because now I was worried he might really have that ace this time and he was hoping I would get a little help on the river so he could make some extra money.

But everything changed when the river came out. It was a five, giving me a full house. I hadn't made a bet throughout the hand and believed my opponent didn't put me on much of anything. This would hopefully lead him to bet whether he had a hand or not. He bet the same $25 he had bet on the flop. I immediately raised him the minimum, making it $50. The reasoning behind this was that I felt confident he wouldn't lay his hand down for $25 no matter what he had. If he had the ace then I might get lucky and he would re-raise. If he didn't have the ace then he would call just to see my hand. The minimum raise usually screams big hand (which is exactly what I had) but I didn't think I needed to use deception any more at this point.

To my surprise, a few seconds after my raise he said he was all in. I didn't even ask for a count because it didn't matter. I was only beat by one hand (A-9). I called and flipped up my A-5. The guy huffed loudly and lowered his head, dejectedly flipping over A-4. He had flopped two pair, turned the boat and then lost when I hit a three-outer. It was a disgusting loss and I felt really bad about it. But I still took my money because that is how poker can be.

The worst part about that win was the guy had played for about six or seven hours on the same $100 and had just recently had to rebuy. He didn't want to, but some guys at the table talked him into rebuying, which almost immediately went to me on a sick beat.

I did restore my image of a solid (and not lucky) player following that hand by winning a pot not too much later by making a really good call on the host of the evening. I held pocket nines and called a pre-flop raise from Jay. Like Jason, Jay will play a lot of hands, but he isn't quite as much of a loose cannon as Jason. Jay has no problems making bluffs and pushing people around, but they are calculated bets made at timely moments.

The flop was Q-7-2 with two hearts. So I didn't have top pair, but it wasn't as bad as second pair on the board. Jay looked at his cards and made a continuation bet after I checked it to him. The bet was a standard thing for him to do. When he looked down at his cards I felt confident he wasn't on the flush draw or he would have remembered. So I decided to find out where I stood with my nines by putting in a normal-sized raise. Jay called and at this point there was about $90-100 in the pot. I wasn't thrilled with the call.

The turn was the five of hearts. I checked this time, thinking I would be done with the hand if he came out with a bet. Without him looking for the hearts (since I had ruled out the idea that he was going for a flush) his call of my raise on the flop scared me and I was ready to move on if he bet the turn. He thought for a second and silently checked his finger on the table.

We went to a river that was a non-heart eight. So I still have a pair higher than anything on the board except the queen. I was almost convinced I had the best hand after he checked the turn, but I didn't want to make a bet of about $50-75 on the river and get raised. That would confuse me even more on where I stood and I would be out a lot of money if I folded or called and lost. Since I wasn't wanting to risk a lot of money, I checked with the intention of calling a bet (depending on the size) and seeing where the chips fell.

Jay bet $45 (about half the pot). Usually this is a standard bet for a hand that is winning and wants to get paid. More than that (meaning $75 or more) makes one believe the person is overbetting to try to win with nothing. Obviously this isn't always the case because every opponent is different in this game. Since I believed I was the best hand I made the call and flipped up my cards, showing the nines. Jay was pretty shocked to see me call with that, since his thinking was the same as mine that the $45 bet should have meant he could beat a pair of nines. He finally showed 6-7, giving him a pair of sevens.

Since I had checked the turn and river, I had opened myself to losing the hand by being sucked out on, but that was one of the chances I was willing to take. But I was still proud of the call.

A few hands later I busted Jay when my aces got him all in pre-flop with him holding A-K. We ran it twice but I won both times.

There were two hands I folded pre-flop that I could easily have made more than $500 on combined had I made the calls. The first was with A-K offsuit. Jason raised the hand pre-flop to $7 and Jay called the bet. I looked down to see my hand. Lately I have had the strategy to simply call raises with A-K instead of re-raising and see what the flop brings, but since it was Jason and Jay in the hands I figured I was the best hand at that point and I was going to play it that way.

I re-raised it, making it $25 to go. It folded to the guy I had beat with the flopped straight when he held top set. He had made the initial $7 raise and then re-raised $50, making it $75 to play. Jason thought for a bit and then moved all in. His entire bet was for $160 or so. Jay then folded and it was back on me. It is obvious at this point I don't have the best hand. However, I still need to think everything through. I put the first raiser (whose name was also Matt) on a big pair. It was just a question of how big. Then there is Jason. He's not going to have anything worse than A-X suited, but that X is still probably pretty high. And the worst-case scenario for me is he also has a big pocket pair and I am drawing even thinner. Had I been able to get a side pot worth fighting for, I would have possibly made the call. Yet, when Matt called he had only about $15 less than Jason, so the side pot would have been worth only $30.

My decision to fold was pretty easy, but I think a lot of people would look at A-K and make that all in call hoping to get lucky. Matt ended up having pocket queens and Jason had A-Q of hearts. The two of them ran it twice (with Matt winning both I think), and the worst part about it all was I would have won both. The first run ended with Matt hitting a queen for three of a kind, but I would have ended up with a straight. The second run gave nothing to Jason, but a king hit that would have given me a higher pair than Matt's queens.

On the subject of the "doing business" and running it twice though, I won't run it multiple times with multiple opponents. To do business with me, it has to be heads up. That is just sort of an addendum to my rule.

My next to last hand of the night was another one I folded that I would have made a lot of money on. I had pocket dueces and called a $7 pre-flop raise. The player two to my left re-raised it to $45. It folded back to the original raiser and myself. This meant it was $38 for us to call. That was quite a large bump from $7, but so be it. The original raiser folded and I agonized on what to do. I did have more than $1,250 in front of me, but I had made a point in the last 20 minutes or so to lose back a hundred dollars or so to everyone at the table. Clint, who had ridden out with me, was ready to go and I felt bad about leaving before the end of the night with so much money on the table. I knew in the grand scheme of things, nobody really was mad at me or anything like that, but I didn't want to ruffle any feathers and not get invited back. That was the reason for giving up $100 in calls with inferior hands. Call it a PR move if you will.

Well, it was on me for $38 to call with pocket twos. The guy who re-raised was pretty conservative and at worst had A-K. So I am either dominated by a higher pocket pair or barely a favorite against two high cards and I have to hit a two anyway to feel confident. So I folded, but when the community cards were turned over just to see what would have come, the flop showed a two and I would have made a lot of money. Oh well, no need to get greedy.

With my winnings from Saturday night Joanna and I went refrigerator shopping on Sunday and got ourselves a new fridge. It made the wife joyful, but made me broke. Sad for me, but I'm happy for her.

Guy's Night Outcome

First off, congrats to Hector on the win. He slowplayed me into second place. Clint got his buy-in back for a third place finish.

I don't remember any specific hands from the night due to playing a lot of them, loosely and aggressively. I would re-raise with anything from aces to 8-2 offsuit. My plan was to play crazy in the beginning and see a lot of flops with a very wide range of hands so I could get the most money out of great hands. And should things go south I could always rebuy. You might call it the Slope Super System.

Luckily for me, I paid a small price for my losing hands that were the wacky J-4 offsuits and got paid off enough to make up for those and then some on my big hands. It turned out to be a good night overall, but Hector hid the strength of his hands multiple times and won most of the big hands while I took down the small pots.

Until next time.

Spring Break Poker Night

While this isn't exactly part of my "Living the Dream" lifestyle by making a living through poker, tonight some buddies and I are playing a $20 tournament. I'll try to remember some hands from tonight to talk about tomorrow.