Poker Saturday
After playing a few fun rounds of
Hold'em on the fourth and at
the beer garden, Jon
and I were both in the mood to play some serious poker while he was
here. He'd also taught Sara and I some cool one handed cuts and we'd
talked at good length about getting a nice set of poker chips to replace
the cheesy plastic ones I had.
We'd decided to go to Atlantic City Saturday, and we were both sort of looking forward to the experience, but I know I was worried about the cost of the trip and about getting to play at maybe one table before I busted out and was out of money (that I considered expendable in the name of fun, at least).
It turns out that Jon had already been scheming, and had ordered Sara and I a really nice set of clay-composite pokerchips. They arrived Thursday, and I immediately thought that with chips like these, we should hold a tournament to break them in! I invited everyone who might be interested to come and play with us. It was a good idea, but I didn't give people much notice, and many of us had been out late the night before at Karaoke.
With the Saturday home tournament a bust and Atlantic City pretty much out since it was already kind of late, I racked my brain for another way to get our poker fix. I really wanted to end the week-long stay on a great note for Jon, and I was a bit bummed that poker hadn't come together.
Cragislist came to the rescue in a big way. I looked up "poker", and found a friendly $20 tournament on 57th and 7th in Manhattan. I had no idea what to expect. for all I knew, we could be walking into a really seedy place, or it could be the lamest thing ever with 4 people there.Thankfully it turned out to be neither.
The Manhattan Bridge Club is basically just a nice open office space where they put some poker table toppers on the existing furniture. There was, indeed, a room full of bridge players over to the left, but the other half of the people, and brightly lit space, were dedicated to the poker.
It was $30 to enter ($10 for the club, and $20 for the game) and the $10 got us an awesome space, 3 great dealers, and some seltzer and cookies. They also had peanut butter and crackers out. Seeing as I'd neglected dinner so that we could get one last RC Plane flight in before heading to the tourney, that little protein boost was a lifesaver.
Jon and I had talked on the train-ride about Phil Hellmuth's basic rules for tournament play, and I went in prepared to play only the 10 best hands. (pocket 7's or better, AK and AQ). The strategy worked amazingly, and I made it to the second table because of it. My only deviations from the pattern came when I was on the big blind and got to see the flop for free.
At the first table, I sat across from a slightly European brunette somewhere near my age (anywhere between 23 and 32) and I could swear that I knew her face. I had a feeling that I'd seen her play poker on TV, and she played like it. They other players were wary of her as well, and she was playing a tight game with occasional aggressive moves.
I was on the big blind when she made her next big swipe. I'd been dealt Ace Jack and I'd gotten to see the flop for free.
The flop came up A 8 4, and my heart started to beat a little faster. I had a pair of aces, and I was getting a bit itchy to make a move. A pair of aces seemed like a good place to start, but 2 pair could take me down easily, so I played it light and put 200 on top of the 100 I'd put in on the big blind. I still had a stack of 1700 or so, so it was a safe bet.
A few players folded around, perhaps wary at my extremely tight play and the ace on the board. I was either holding some good cards, or an extremely patient bluffer.
The action came around to the brunette, and she called "all in - no wait!... Arg, screw it, okay." and pushed her chips in. She'd clearly made a mistake, but she stuck with it, looking upset with herself.
I was now in a pickle. I was prepared to drop 300 on a pair of aces after the flop, but not to risk the rest of the evening on it. I could cover her 1200, but it would cripple me. I wasn't ready to be out - Not yet at least. There was still a glimmer of hope. She'd hedged that bet, and didn't seem happy about having gone all in.
The question was - did she make a mistake because she'd put too much in, and didn't want to risk it all, or because she realized she could have slow-played it and sucked us all in bit by bit?
Two folds in front of me, then a call. "At least I'll get to see what she has" I thought to myself as I considered her for a moment, and then stared at my cards.
A J with A 8 4 on the table and 300 of mine in the pot. There was no flush draw and she couldn't have a straight yet, so she either had 2 pair, or was making a big bluff.
I looked at her once again, and folded my cards.
I was both surprised and proud of myself. Somewhere in the back of my brain, I knew she had 2 pair, and that it was time to throw the hand away, but the pair of aces was screaming at me to be played. It was satisfying to ignore them in a way, it meant I was becoming a better player.
The others folded around, and she and the caller were heads up. The cards came up, and sure enough, she had A 4.
The caller had junk, and nothing saved him on the turn or river. I was satisfied not to see a Jack come up. I'd made the right decision. As she pulled her pot towards her, doing slightly better than doubling up, she said "what a mistake!" She had wanted to slow-play it, but jumped when she hit 2 pair on the flop.
Flush with the excitement of playing a hand, I got in the action twice on the next two orbits, hitting great cards. Pocket 7s worked for me and I nearly doubled up, busting the man I couldn't really see to the right of the dealer (I was to the left.) On the big blind, and seeing the flop for free, I'd flopped a pair of queens, and he was in "full tilt" as the others at the table called it, playing anything before it was too late to re-buy. Queens were respectable, and I thought he was making a grab for it, so I called. We were heads up.
He showed Ace King. He'd been playing full-tilt, and came up with "Big Slick." He hit another King on the river, and his luck cost me half my stack.
It seemed like a good time to rebuy, and the extra 2000 upped my stack to 3700.
One more orbit, and I finally hit my cards, once again on the big blind. I had AK, big slick. This time, I got to steal the blinds, and whatever anyone bet before me. If I was going to go out, this was the hand.
I waited, to see what people would throw in before it came all the way around to me.
"Fold. Fold Fold Fold Fold Fold Fold Fold. Well, the pot is yours." The dealer said, pushing my big blind and the small back at me. It was the first time that had happened all night - I hadn't even gotten to show my cards or make a bet. I was ready to go all in on this hand, and I hadn't gotten a damn chance to play it!
I threw my cards down face up, and yelled, smiling "Are you kidding me?!?" I said, a grin breaking out of my face, "I finally get Ace King, and you all fold around without a single bet?!" I laughed, and the table laughed with me. It was a crazy coincidence, that was certain, and we all teased around the table about the hand. We were having a good time needling each other and making jokes.
With a decent stack after the rebuy, I played tight and made my way to the second table with just about 2500 when we consolidated.
The second table was a bit more aggressive, but we were all fairly evenly matched, stack-wise. I'd gotten to join Jon at his table, and it was fun to watch him play across the table while I waited for the right cards. He was playing tight, but well, and made a call or two saying "I'm going to go on record as saying this is a bad idea." Each time he said that, it paid off for him.
My blinds and meager hedging bets attempting to see the flop were stolen numerous times, but I was sticking to my game, and at least I was hanging on as others fell out.
The blinds climbed upwards, and before long I was short stacked with 1000, and the blinds were up to 300 600. Pocket 7's came my way, and I knew it was now or never.
I went all in pre-flop, and was called by one of the players sitting on enough to call me just for the possibility of pushing me out.
We were heads up, and I showed my 7's
And she showed her Ace King. Big Slick was back to haunt me.
I wasn't thrilled, but I had a pair going in. The flop came up 9x 8x 2x, and I breathed a sigh of relief. The turn was a queen, and then finally, a 10 showed up on the river. She hadn't hit the straight, and hadn't paired up.
I was still in the game - patience had paid off.
I survived the blinds, and landed pocket kings about half way around the next orbit. Once again, my call-center went heads up against me.
She threw down Ace Two, "Those are nice," I said, laughing " but I like mine a bit better" as I tossed out my Kings.
"So would I" she laughed.
I don't remember the flop, or the turn, but the Ace on the river will stick with me for a while. She collected the pot, and I stood up and shook her hand.
"Well, I'm proud to go out on pocket kings." I said, smiled, and turned to find some more of those crackers and the peanut butter.
Jon was still in it, and it was time for the tables to consolidate again. I'd missed the final table by 1 spot, but I was pretty proud of the way I'd played the whole night. There were some monster stacks at the other table being consolidated and some of them had the look of pros slumming it to pick up some cash. In a way, I was glad not to be going in with them.
Coming up - Jon's battle at the final table
