Where peace is not a pie ...Rick's Cafe Americain

The ring games are always more chatty than the tournaments.  I’m not sure why; the financial stakes are higher in the ring game.  It probably comes down to pride.  Nobody minds losing small amounts of money and even if you win, the money in these games isn’t enough to live on anyway.  On the other hand, bragging rights from one win last a while and everyone knows if you bust out early.

I started strong.  I was playing tight and betting aggressively when I had the cards to make a play.  No stone bluffs, but I did a decent job of representing a stronger hand than I was holding when I read the other players as weak.  I tried not to bet into strength and almost always avoided trouble.  I also made a few drawing bets that panned out - a nut flush here, a nut straight there ... I slowly built up my stack and was probably sitting on almost $50 at the peak of the night.  Most of the money came from JCatz, but I was doing a good job of spreading the pain.  It didn’t last, though.

Aces are what you want to see when you look at your cards, but things took an unfortunate turn for me when I finally saw them.  I raised, of course, to $3.  Enough, I figured, that I’d get a caller or two, but not so little that my aces were in a family pot.  The flop came Q-9-x with two spades.  I put another $5 into the pot; not quite a pot-sized bet, but I just didn’t feel like counting out the pot.  JCatz called.  I knew he was on a draw.  The turn was a brick and I bet out another $15, expecting a fold.  The odds were distincly against calling on a flush draw. JCatz called anyway.  The river was a spade, and JCatz checked to me.  I checked back because I knew he had me.  He turned over T♠9♠.  He has tried to check raise me on the river in the past.  He always does it with his drawing hands.  It isn’t a tell so much as a strategy.  As much as I lost on that hand, if I hadn’t read him for the flush I could have dumped a lot more.  He also nailed me on the trouble hand of the night.  I got away (sort of) cheap on that one too, but only because JCatz was as afraid of me as I was of him.

I had Q♠3♠ and limped in from the SB.  The raise was small enough, and the play was loose enough, that I thought I could keep my senses and hope for a perfect flop.  The flop was 4-4-3.  I didn’t put anyone on a pocket pair, and knew that I could get away from the hand if a 4 bet back at me. Who would have a 4 anyway?  So I threw in a pot-sized bet, which, at this point, was only $1.50.  JCatz called.  The turn was a brick and I checked. JCatz made a small bet - smaller than the pot.  I couldn’t decide if it was a trap or a steal, so I called.  JCatz is aggressive, and I think he tries to steal often against players that don’t have confidence in their cards.  The river was a 6 and he went all-in when I checked to him.  Fuck that.  I don’t have that much confidence in my threes.  I mucked my cards and he showed 46o!  Ooof!

I spent a lot of time blinding down after that.  I took a small pot or two, but my play was weak and my stack was shrinking.  As the time passed 2PM, we decided that we would wrap it up after one more orbit.  During that orbit, on consecutive hands, JCatz rivered Sheffield (who made a GREAT call on a bluff by JCatz that pushed him all-in) and busted him out, and Deke busted out Stony.  Down to five players, and only two hands to go, I found myself up roughly 75 cents.

Waddell raised under the gun to $2.50.  JCatz called, Deke and Mullaney folded.  In the big blind I saw a pair of tens.  My first pair in quite some time.  I raised to $7.50.  It took Waddell roughly a breath and a half to say “I’m going all-in” and JCatz another single breath to complain “You knew he was going to do that” as he mucked his cards.

But I didn’t know.  I haven’t played at the same table as Waddell much.  I knew that he was tight - he limped into just one hand in his first hour at the ring - but I didn’t know how tight.  People will say that there was a clue in his sig file on the UCB message board ("I’ve got kings. Fucking fold already."), but would a guy telegraph his game in a sig file?  I decided that four hours is a long goddamn time to play poker to lose $7.  There is dignity in busting out; none in slowly bleeding.  It was with that tortured logic that I said “Call.”

He had kings.

The cards that came were uneventful - except for JCatz’s lament that my raise cost him his chance to play his ace, which would have paired up on the flop - and I went bust.  At least I had my dignity.

Right?