Where you left your keys ...Rick's Cafe Americain

It was 11PM when I left the Underground Lounge, so I called Ferrari to make sure that the game was still going on.  Since the games usually don’t break up until 3AM, I figured it was a safe bet.  I was wrong!  The game was in progress, but it was going to end at midnight.  I was a half-hour from the game with only an hour of poker left. Shit! I was going to have to go home.

But wait! Pauly to the rescue!  Despite his entanglements with checknraisepoker, he managed to make it out to the Blue Parrot.  Not only that, he brought the $50 he owed me for signing up at Party Poker with his bonus code.  It may not have been worth a trip to Ferrari’s for 30 minutes of poker, but if I was going to finish +$50 just for showing up I’d be a fool not to make the trip.

When I got there, the table was full.  Blue Parrot regulars Ferrari, Coach, Pauly, Joel and Nixma as well as recent addition Charlie.  Adam and Nicholas, new additions and friends of Charlie’s rounded out the table.  (Is it a good idea to let the good players bring their friends?)

I wasn’t going to play, since there was so little time left, but I thought about the free money in my hand and figured, “what’s life without throwing away money to a bunch of degenerates when you don’t have a job and could really use that $50 in your hand.” Like I said, the set didn’t go well and I wasn’t thinking clearly.

The game being played was 7-stud hi/lo with a declare.  I don’t like this game much.  Among other things, I am just not that good at it.  I feel like I never catch my draws and always get sucked out on.  Obviously there is more to it than that, but all I know is I’m not comfortable with anything less than rolled up aces.  At least it isn’t Screw Your Neighbor (another popular Blue Parrot call).  I also dislike 7stud at the Parrot because it is too damn expensive.  There are 6 rounds of betting and we play with spread bets up to $5.  This usually means that from 5th street on it costs between $10 and $20 to see each additional card.  And the declare round is just stupid.  It gives a bonus to the only player going in one direction, and the betting usually gets capped. Blech.  I threw away the first hand, chased a low (at $2 per card) to 4th street on the second.  I was relieved when Charlie called for a round of 2/4 hold ‘em so that I could play a game I understand. Sort of.

With the declaration of a ‘round,’ Coach took the opportunity to cash out.  He finished up $107, so I was pleased to move into his lucky seat. It paid off almost immediately.  On the third hand, I was dealt TT in the cutoff.  There were a few limpers and Charlie raised from one seat to my right (where I prefer to have Charlie; he’s probably a better player than I am).  I called.  I think there was one other caller.  The flop was 8-5-5 (with two spades).  I put Charlie on a high Ace, but was willing to call all the way if he had a higher pair.  Charlie bet, I called and we were heads-up.  I think the turn was a K♠ and the river was a blank.  When I called, Charlie said “Your pair has it.” and showed A♠Q.  He decided that he shouldn’t have bet the river; I agree. I wasn’t going to bet either and it would have saved him $4.  +~$25 for the hand.

I only played one other hand (outside of the blinds).  I was dealt A♥T♥ in MP and limped in.  There were four or five other limpers, and I don’t recall a raise. If there was, I called it.  The flop was A-A-x.  I checked my Ace, and the board checked around.  When the turn was a brick, I bet out.  Ferrari was the only caller.  The river was a brick as well.  I bet Ferrari called and said “Show me the ace.” And so I did.  Two hands played, two hands where people forced me to show what they already knew was the best hand.  I deserve more respect, but I’m happy to not have it.

I finished +$35.25 in a half hour. In poker parlance, 34BB/hr. Not bad. And unlikely to be repeated.

The hand of the (short) night wasn’t mine, though. It was Nixma’s. Or, more accurately, Ferrari’s.  Nixma had QQ (maybe KK) and raised preflop.  Among the callers was Ferrari.  The flop was 8-J-Q, Nixma bet again and (at least) Ferrari called again.  The flop was a 9, more betting. The river was a blank, more betting.  And Ferrari showed T7s to take the pot with a straight to the Q.  He had no rational explanation for why he called a preflop raise with such garbage or why he called a bet on the flop by the raiser with nothing but an inside straight draw.  Frankly, he deserved to have the board pair on the river but it didn’t work out like that (and if Nixma had KK it wouldn’t have mattered).

Check Pauly to see his writeup of the early part of the game - as soon as he finds his notes. It doesn’t look like Nixma is going to write it up.

Update: While typing this up I started playing in a $10+1 SNG on Party.  2d place despite getting knocked down to 300 chips on level 2 when my QQ lost to KK.  I fought back to take the chip lead, but Barbarella1 took me out heads-up.  Look out for her, she can play - she was the big stack by level two and didn’t make a costly bad play all game. In any event, that is four SNGs in a row where I finished in the money.

Update #2: I knew that update was going to cost me.  Stupid hubris.  I played in a $20+2 and busted out in 9th.  On back-to-back hands that I got involved in my opponents rivered flushes.  In the first hand I pushed a guy all-in with top and bottom pair.  He called with a middle pair, a flush draw and an overcard.  In the second hand, I went all-in with top pair, he called with nothing and sucked out on me. Gotta start a new streak.