Certain card games a person plays in are unforgettable. This is not because of the money profited or lost, the hands won or beaten, or even specific events that take place throughout the game, but rather the game is memorable because of the lack of every one of those characteristics. Last night was just such a night for me in that I ended up in only two showdowns and the rest of the three-and-a-half hours of my time were spent glancing at the score of the football game between the Baltimore Ravens and Atlanta Falcons while raking in the occasional pot while implementing a tight-aggressive style.
I ended up with a $30 profit for the evening, which was pretty close to my peak. The lowest I ever got in chips after initially buying in for $180 was $100. I’m not going to say I didn’t get any cards to play with, because I did get my fair share of good starting hands. I had A-K four times, pocket kings, tens, and eights once each, and pocket sevens and fours twice each. The sevens came back-to-back and I won both pots, turning a set on the first of those two hands. I also saw A-Q and A-J suited, which neither won. All in all it was a decent night for hands. What stopped me from getting a bigger profit than $30 was my image apparently was very well known as nearly every bet I made was respected and I won most pots uncontested. Either my tight representation was winning me my pots or I just never got in a situation where my great hand was up against another great – albeit second best – hand.
The two hands I had a showdown with were identical in that I held a pocket pair in each. The first showdown was with pocket eights and I hit a set on the first three community cards. The flop came out A-K-8 rainbow. Since it was not raised pre-flop I felt confident I was not beat by a higher set of aces or kings and I was also not too worried about being outdrawn by someone holding A-K. With that in mind, I decided to slow-play my three eights and I checked the flop, as did the other four players in the hand.
The turn was the 6 of hearts, putting two hearts on the board. When it was checked to me, I decided to find out if anyone was holding something worth fighting for and I made a pot-sized bet of $10. This seems large compared to the relative amount of what was in the pot with five people limping in for $2 each and the great strength of my hand, but this was a table where pre-flop raises ranged from $6-20 and people holding draws liked to see if they could make their hand by the end. People at this table wouldn’t look at my pot-sized bet and think, “Woah dude, what’s with the power play there?” I was called by one guy at the other end of the table and everyone else folded.
The river was a black ten, completing an ace-high straight but not making a flush. I led out and bet $15. When I was raised the minimum amount I decided to simply call. I was still confident I had the best hand and probably could have gotten another $15 or $20 out of the guy, but had I re-raised and he came back over the top of me I would have a very serious decision as to whether he held that straight or not. I made the call and showed my hand. He was shocked to see what I had and said it was good as he threw his cards into the muck.
The other hand I won at showdown was against five other players and it was checked down to the end. I limped with pocket fours and when the flop came out with two aces I had mentally clicked the check-fold box, but we just kept checking. By the end of the hand we showed our cards with some thinking their queen would win, but I took down the pot as my pair of fours was best. One guy to my right said he thought I missed an opportunity to bet somewhere along the way and I couldn’t tell if he was joking, because at no time was there a reasonable flush or straight draw and if the second best hand was queen-high then I wouldn’t have been called had I made a bet. If by missing an opportunity to bet he means to win the pot earlier on, then sure, I would agree with that. But if he means it as I missed an opportunity to win more money by building a pot, then I couldn’t disagree more. Nobody would have called a bet because we all thought somebody was slow-playing their ace. The first person to bet would have won that pot.
The rest of my night consisted of raising a few hands pre-flop and making a continuation bet on the flop for the win, limping pre-flop and hitting my hand on the flop and betting for the win, or making calls for a draw that didn’t come and not winning the hand. There really wasn’t much to talk about from last night. It was an enjoyable table with only one over-talker from the woman on my immediate right. But after a few hours the table sort of turned on her and started mocking her jargon – I should mention she was a foreigner – but it was all in jest and no harm was meant by the things we said.
Financially, last night was not a disappointment, but winning $30 certainly isn’t much to write home about. My hourly rate from last night was $8.57 and since the beginning of 2010 I have made $1,400 playing cards at a rate of $10.75 an hour. In a year’s time of playing cards I have won $3,015 and have made $16.14 an hour.
The Weatherford game is coming up the Saturday after Thanksgiving, but I might not be able to attend since that day is our family feast with Joanna’s kin. I will definitely get in a game before the Las Vegas trip in December. Hopefully two games can be found.
Until then.
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