Ugarte's Poker Grovel #31, or Finding My LevelWednesday meant the game was at the Churchwarden’s. After playing so poorly at the Blue Parrot and having a run of bad fortune on my beloved $25PL Omaha/8 tables at Party Poker I figured it would be nice to get back to a game where I care more about the company than the poker. Also, it doesn’t hurt that I usually take in a few bucks to boot.
The night started auspiciously. Joel, friend of regular player Sean and a new player in our game, was flustered by the lack of parking in lower Manhattan and forgot to bring the beer. For shame, Joel, for shame. Fortunately, I had come through with a quality 6 which supplemented the Churchwarden’s stock enough to last us through the game. Churchwarden’s regular Helmut couldn’t be at the game because he was at the Sting/Annie Lennox concert with Sous Chef.
This is a low-stakes game and we started with a loop of 1/2 Hold ‘Em and Joel quickly showed that he knows the game. I flopped top pair, but he raised me on the flop, forcing a check on the turn. And then he caught his card on the river. Remember, kids: don’t bitch about people catching on the river when they set themselves up to see the river for a bargain price. Sean did the same thing a few hands later, though I folded to the raise on the flop and watched forlornly as the turn and river would have given me a runner-runner K♣ flush just as it gave Sean his second pair. No worries, though. I learned a lot about both players on those hands, and it stood me well the rest of the evening. And what was that lesson? Be aggressive.
A second lesson? Don’t trust organic popcorn. I wish I knew the brand so that I could pass on the name of this aggressively disgusting corn. Not only was it bad going down, but the inevitable belching that comes with quaffing brew made this popcorn the gift that keeps on giving. As Leo wrote to me the next morning, “I just thought you’d want to know that after a full breakfast and couple hours of eating Listerine Pocketpak strips like there’s no tomorrow, I am STILL burping that awful popcorn. Again, I am so, so sorry.” Apology accepted, Leo, but lets try to keep our snack food chemically treated from now on, shall we?
Nobody remembered the stogies either, but since I also brought along Rold Gold pretzel rods, they became the oral-fixation substitute of choice. Alas, (to quote the master) they did not replace the popcorn-of-doom nearly soon enough.
Sean and Joel got their comeuppance shortly thereafter when Leo Bloom called for a round of Omaha/8. This was something of a shocker; I am the only person who ever calls Omaha at this game, and then only often enough to keep everyone from getting mad at me. Two hands in the flop hit me perfectly. Holding A2xx, the flop was a golden 3-4-5. The river cost me some money when 5♣ turned up putting both a runner-runner flush and a boat on the board. There were four players in the pot, so I was afraid of chopping the low and was wary of anybody holding even a low flush. So I called the river instead of raising and watched Joel and then Darren and then (after my reveal) Sean, turn over nothing better than two pair with qualifying, but unimpressive, lows. A sweep of high and low for your raconteur, and I’ve made my money back and then some.
The rest of the night played the same way. A few small losses, a few large wins and a killer take in Anaconda when I bet into (in order of the roll) 33A3 with QAAQQ when Darren didn’t have the case 3 (whew). I lost a lot of that back shortly thereafter when my wired 7s fell to Darren’s wired Qs in a game of 5-card stud. I figured he had the wired Q when he reraised me off of the deal, but he kept it cheap enough for me to catch a second pair on fifth street. My joy was short-lived, though. Right after turning over my second pair, he turned a second pair for himself. He didn’t bet the max, so I made the crying call and he showed me, to my dismay, his Q in the hole. At least he kept it cheaper for me than I would have kept it for him.
Lots of laughs, good cards and a nifty take. The final tote board for the night reads as follows:
Ugarte +$43.75 USD Churchwarden +$14.25 USD Darren -$11.25 USD Sean -$14.00 USD Leo Bloom -$15.00 USD Joel -$18.25 USD
For the year-to-date I am +152 on this table, and I have no idea how that compares to my performance to date at the Blue Parrot. Better, I suspect. Read Less...
