Weatherford (November 27)

The months of October and November were good to me at the poker tables. I played in six games and profited a total of $695. My average win at each game was $115.83, but two of those games netted me only $25 and $30 each, hurting my average quite a bit. Taking those wins out I would have averaged $160 a game, but a win is a win and I should not thumb my nose at those two small profits.
My latest game was in Weatherford where I play once a month and usually do well for myself. I once won enough money to purchase a new refrigerator for our kitchen. I haven’t had a huge payday since then and prior to Saturday night the last two times for me there were losses. It was good to get back on track and log a winning session from those guys again.

I won $120 for the night and played for eight-and-a-half hours, breaking down to $14.12 an hour. My year-to-date hourly rate slightly increased to $11.85.

The play at my table was generally decent from everyone for the first few hours until a guy sat down who I can’t stand playing with. He is one of those people who has to tell his bad beat stories over and over. I have heard them all so many times I could finish them up should he want to ever stop talking, which doesn’t happen much. Another complaint I have about this guy is he thinks he is a great player, and he may win money consistently but it is never from me because, in my humble opinion, he is one of the easiest people to read. He makes speeches about not having a good hand before raising on the river with his nut flush. He overbets pots with hands that are huge favorites rather than making value bets.

There was one hand that I called exactly what he had Saturday night. He was in the big blind and after a few people called for $2 it got back to him. Before bumping it another $5 he said, “I’ll raise it in case my hand hits.” Right there I put him down for a suited hand that is either connected like K-Q or will give him the nut flush with the ace. He got a few calls and the flop was A-X-X with two clubs. He led out with a bet and got a call. I figure he hit the ace and is in the lead with top pair. The turn was another club and he immediately checked. The other player made a bet and after posturing for a bit he called. To me this screams of him now having the flush. The river was a blank and he checked again. The other player bet and he came over the top with a raise. Now I am 100 percent positive he has the flush. I don’t recall whether the other player paid him off or not, but the guy ended up showing A-4 of clubs for the pair of aces on the flop and the turned nut flush. It was just as I had suspected.

I’m no professional, but when I can read a guy that well and put him on hands on a regular basis like I normally do, I can only imagine the field day people have with him at WinStar. The guy said he plays poker on a weekly basis and his win-loss ratio is about 2-1 with his combined wins covering any losses. From what I see that is hard to believe.

Generally, my night in Weatherford was pretty tame. I did have to re-buy after I lost my first $100 chasing a straight draw that would have tripled me up, but I made that back and then some by the end of the night. I do have one scenario of interest from the game that I will describe in detail.

I was sitting at approximately $240 at the start of the hand. In early position I looked to see pocket fives. I limped in for $2 and was going to cut bait should a bet be made and I not hit a five on the flop. With four others we saw a flop that came out 3-4-7 rainbow. There was $10 in the pot at this point.

Although not hitting a five, this is a pretty great flop for me. One of the blinds checked it to me and I bet $7. I was called by a guy in late position who had about $75 after the call. Everybody else folded. That put $24 in the pot.

The turn was a six, completing my straight. I decided to not slow-play my big hand and disguise it a bit in case the other guy had a hand worth going the distance with. By betting I figured he wouldn’t put me on the straight, even though it only took a five to make one. I bet $12 and was on cloud nine when my opponent announced a raise. He made it $35 to go. This left him with $40 remaining.

My decision at this point was whether to go all-in now or wait until the river. I figured we were splitting the pot at this point, but should he have two pair or a set I thought he would pay his last $40 on the hopes of hitting a full house even if my raise now made it very clear I was beating him. I could disguise my hand some more and wait to bet his last $40 on the river, but I figured there was no point in that because if he did have less than the straight on the river he might not put all of his money in the pot, even though it would be for so little of an amount compared to the pot.

With that in mind, I decided to go ahead and put it all in now and he instantly called. So that meant he had the straight and we were splitting it. But wait! He had 8-5 for the higher straight, giving me only three outs to tie and no chance to win. The river was a two and he doubled up.

My question is this, is there any reasonable way of losing less money on that hand? I maybe could have bet more money on the flop and not given him a chance to hit the inside straight, but that is really the only other chance I see at winning the pot. Once the straight is there I don’t think I would have folded at any point. There is a possibility that had I slow-played my straight on the turn he also would have checked and we might not have got it all in on the river, but I highly doubt that. Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.

I plan on going to WinStar this week, so I will update you after that. Until then.