More Pocket Kings Than You Can Shake a Stick At

 The TBC Invitational, Part 2
 

This is the second part of this night of poker, and continues right where part 1 (see here) ended. And it's not just a good idea to read part 1 before you read this part--it's mandatory.  Reading this saga out of order will cause your computer to explode. That's probably just a joke, but why take that chance?
 
But not long after that, luck intervened.  Pete texted me, asking me what was going on with trying to get together at the same table. He said that the table he was at needed players.  Really?  I folded the pocket Aces I had just been dealt (just kidding) and rushed over to his table.  There were actually three open seats at his game, which had apparently all been opened at once. Awesome.  I practically ran over to the guy I had earlier talked to. He was talking to another floorman and I got his attention.  I explained that at Pete’s table there were there open seats, and would it be possible for the three of us to be moved there right now, before they sent other players there?

He said sure.  Then the floorman who he had been talking to tried to interrupt and asked, “Wait, are you in other games now, or are you on the waiting list?”  No, no, we were not attempting to cut in line, we were all playing.  The shift boss knew that.  Did this floorman think his boss was going to violate his own room’s policies?

Anyway, I went back to Pete’s table while the shift boss was messaging to the front about three table changes and reserved my seat right next to him.  Then I went to Tony and Coach and told them to pick up their chips and come to Pete’s table.  And so, we finally were all at the same game. I didn’t use my “influence” to do it, I did what anyone could have done.  Next day I received a tweet back from my Venetian contact and he apologized for not responding earlier, but he was indeed out of town.  No worries, I told him, it all worked out.

So I was in seat 1, Pete in seat 2.  On the other side of the table, Coach grabbed seat 8 and Tony initially took seat 9.  The Venetian 1/2 game is 9-handed.  Anyway, not long after we all got to the table, seat 7 on the other side of Coach opened up and Tony asked to move there, which he did.  Immediately after moving his chips and all of his stuff to seat 7, he went to the Men’s Room.  By the time he got back, a new player had come to the table and taken seat 9.  On returning to the table, Tony saw the new playing in seat 9 and told him to get out of his seat.  He had completely forgotten that he had just moved to seat 7.  Fortunately, Coach was there to remind him before things got heated.

After we were all there awhile, having a fine time, the guy in seat 3 or 4 suddenly turned to Pete and said to him, “OK, now that I’m leaving, I can tell you this.  I don’t want you to think I’m a stalker or anything—I’m not—but I once flew on a plane with you to Charlotte.  I even commented on your blog about it, but you didn’t respond.”

Pete was taken aback, and then the guy described the flight and he knew the guy was not making it up.  He said goodbye and said something about hoping to run into him again.  He also said something about being on AVP and mentioned his handle there.  Anyway, after that, Pete described the flight and it was memorable.  They couldn’t catch their connecting flight home from Charlotte due to a snowstorm.  And Pete did remember a guy commenting that he was the plane with him, but he didn’t respond (he had asked where he was in the airport, while they were waiting for a flight) because it did sound a little scary.  In person, the guy seemed harmless enough.

Now, just based on our conversation at the table, it would have been easy for this guy to figure out who Pete was.  But he couldn’t figure out how he knew who he was back last winter when they found themselves on a plane together. Especially since he didn’t have any contact with him.  And as I’m writing this, I figured it out.  He didn’t know who Pete was or he might have said hello during the flight.  He just happened to be a blog reader and read the blog post that Pete wrote from the Charlotte airport after the flight!  And from his description, he could tell Pete was talking about the same flight out of Vegas he was on.  So he made the comment but didn’t have any idea what Pete looked like.  You can find Pete’s airport post here, and the guy we met at the Venetian is obviously the first commenter, using the pseudonym Anonymous.  Obviously, from all the conversation we were having, he was able to figure out that PPP was the author of The Poker Barrister blog.  Small world.

At Tony’s suggestion, I sent a text to grrouchie to see if he could join us (in case he had missed my tweet and all our blog posts about this).  He was working, but after I assured him we’d likely be there to way past midnite, he said he would stop by if he had a chance.  Oddly, when he arrived, he just got into a game first without looking for us.  Then he texted me to find out where we were. I gave him our table number and he put in for a table change.  One player shouldn’t be a problem.  However, when a spot finally opened up right next to Pete, they wouldn’t move grrouchie there, saying there was a table change in front of him.  He had to come to this table?

Yes, he did, because he had asked for our table.  It was a fellow named Dave, an avid reader of Tony’s (I don’t think he’d ever met him in person before).  When Dave found out about the game, he arranged to join us and even spent some time catching up on all our blogs, which I don’t think he was familiar with before (except for Tony’s).  He had commented on Tony’s blog  before. 

Anyway, it turns out Dave is a really nice guy, and we had a great time chatting with him.  He only recently moved to Vegas to become a full time grinder, and so far, is doing pretty well.  Since this took place, he’s been making a bunch of really insightful comments about poker strategy here on my blog.

And then grrouchie finally joined the table.  He ended up in seat 9, so I was to his immediate left (although there was of course a dealer always sitting between us).  Bloggers were now sitting in five of the nine seats in this game, and when you throw in Dave, a long-time follower of Tony’s, we had 2/3’s of the table. 

So I’m not sure how much serious poker was being played.  To be honest, I wasn’t really paying much attention, which perhaps explains why I did so well.  One of the reasons I haven’t played a lot at the Venetian is that I never seem to do well there.  Isn’t that ultimately the biggest reason you like or dislike a poker room?  I mean, if you always walk away with extra cash in your pocket, you’ll forgive a lot of a room’s sins.  And similarly, if always seem to lose multiple buy-ins at a place, they could have Kate Upton-look-alikes dealing topless and you wouldn’t play there.  Hmm….perhaps that’s not quite the analogy I was looking for.

At my first table, before we all got together, I was even more distracted than I would later be when we all the Avengers bloggers assembled.  That’s because the only thing I was paying attention to was trying to figure out a way to get us all at the same table.  But while there, I looked up from my phone long enough to notice I had been dealt pocket Jacks.  I raised to $10 and had a whole bunch of callers.  I don’t remember the flop (I started writing notes down long after, when we all got together). I bet $30 and had one caller.  We checked it down the rest of the way and the Jacks were good.

I called a small raise with pocket deuces and flopped a set .  I checked and the raiser, a woman, shoved for $31, and it folded to me, with one player left to act.  I just called hoping the guy behind me would call (or even raise) but he folded. The lady had Ace-Jack for Ace high, I didn’t even need the set to win that pot (though I wouldn’t have called her shove if I hadn’t had the set).

That was the last hand of note at my original table.  When the bloggers table assembled, I managed to hit three more sets before I was there half an hour.  It was a set of 7’s, a set of 4’s and a set of 3’s.  I didn’t get much money tho as none of those hands progressed beyond the turn.  I never had to show one.  I whispered to Pete that I had already hit four sets this nite.  Of course, I don’t think I hit another set the rest of my trip.

Then there was the titanic confrontation between Coach and Tony.  I don’t remember who raised first, but there was a re-raise and before I knew it, they were both all in. Wow.  Since this was the first time Coach had raised all night—hell, I’m pretty sure it was the only hand he actually played all night—I assumed he was somehow dealt quads.  They both turned over the hands and I expected this to be one of those classic Aces vs. Kings situations and I was ready to feel sorry for whichever one of my blogger pals was stuck with those dreaded pocket Kings.

But it turned out they both had them!  No Aces here, just all four Kings between two of them. The board mercifully played out nice—no four card flush for anyone—and they got their money back.

Speaking of Coach, when I was dealt his Kryptonite hand—Queen-10—I limped in, mostly in his honor.  Also because it was suited (spades).  Four of us saw the flop.  The flop was Queen-Jack-10, two clubs.  I bet $8, the guy in Seat 4 (one of the rare non-bloggers at the table) raised to $16.  Hmm…..I just called.  It was heads up. Ace of clubs on the turn, and I checked and then called $16.  Another club came on the river, and we both checked.  He showed Jack-10 and no club.  My two pair was just a notch better than his.  Of course, as I dragged the pot, I had to make a point of showing Coach that I won with his “evil hand.”

The guy in Seat 4 was a nice, friendly fellow who seemed to enjoy listening in on the conversation we were all having. And he joined in whenever he could.  He kept asking us about our blogs. “All you guys have blogs?”  This was before grrouchie joined us, so I said, “Well, four of us do.  Less than half the players at the table have blogs….but just barely less than half.”

He asked what we all blogged about— “Poker?” Pete said, “Some of us talk about poker, some of us talk about other stuff…Tony talks about his whole life…..”  And then I added. “I mostly talk about poker.  And also, boobs.”  He laughed at that and so did the cute Asian girl sitting next to him.  I hadn’t intended for her to hear that but she seemed to enjoy it, so I was relieved.

Speaking of the cute Asian girl who laughed at boobs, she hadn’t been at the table very long when this hand happened.  I think she had just bought in for $100 and still had all of it. She opened the pot for $16 and it folded to me.  My good friends, the dreaded pocket Kings were staring me in the face.  I made it $43.  She called.  The flop was Jack high and she led out for $10.  I made it $30 (I would have put her all in but I was worried that she wouldn’t call).  She reluctantly called.  Now she was pot-committed, but based on her flop bet, I wasn’t sure she understood that.  Of course, she should have just put it all in there.  The turn was a blank and after she checked, I bet enough to put all in.  She reluctantly called.  The river didn’t change anything.

I showed my Kings and she showed pocket Queens.  I shouted over to Tony and Coach., “Did you see that…..did you see that?” to make sure they saw I just won a nice pot with the dreaded hand, of course they had already noticed.  Pete had not, he had stepped away from the table. I can’t recall if he was dealt in that hand and folded or didn’t get a hand—if it was the latter, then his absence was the reason I won the hand.  When he returned, I had to tell him about my Kings paying off and of course, he didn’t believe me.

That Asian gal rebought, and she was one of two Asian woman to occupy seat 5 during the festivities.  I believe Tony texted Pete each time a new Asian woman came to that seat to see if she might be Alysia Chang.  But none of them were. At least as far as we told Tony.

And so ends part 2.  We will conclude next time.  You can find part 3 here.