A Strange Start and a Nice Finish

A recent session in Ventura.  We got the most interesting hand of the session out of the way early.  I'd only been in the game for an orbit or two.  There was a guy who had lost an all-in and just had a few bucks left.  He added on but only $100 so he had like $110 in front of him.  This other guy had tried to straddle for $6 under-the-gun, but he was too late.  So he left the six bucks out there, didn't look at his cards and just did a blind raise for $6.  I decided to call the $6 with Ace-6 of clubs.  Then that guy who had just bumped up his stack to $110 went ahead and shoved the $110.  It folded back to the guy who tried to straddle and he shoved—over $200.  The next guy said, "You stole my move, I was gonna do that."  He tanked for awhile but folded.  I of course folded my A-6 of clubs.  They didn't show.  The flop was 10-10-x, one club.  But the next two cards were clubs.  In other words, I would have had the nut flush if only I'd called the guy's $200+ shove.  I just laughed inwardly.  No way would it have made sense for me to call that bet with such a mediocre hand, of course.

Anyway, the guy who shoved for $110 says, "I missed," and turns over Ace-Jack, off.  All he had was Ace-high.  Surely the other guy could beat that, right?  Nope.  He said not a word and just mucked!

Whenever I see something like that, I can't help wondering what the hell he had.  Even if he was 100% sure his shove would get the last two players to fold, he was still risking $110.  Even if he suspected the other guy might have been shoving light, he couldn't be doing that with nothing, right?  You'd think at least a pocket pair—but no.  Ace-King or Ace-Queen would have won the pot.  A crummier Ace? King-Queen?  Just so strange.

In late position I limped in with Ace-6 of diamonds.  No raise and six of us saw a flop that was Queen-high, but all diamonds. Sweet.  A guy bet $10 and I just called. I dunno why I slow-played that, I guess I figured no one would call my raise on an all diamond board.  As it was, I was the only caller. The board paired the queen and the guy shoved his last $35 or so.  Of course I snap-called.  The river was a brick and he showed King-Queen for trips, my flush was good.

I had Jack-8 in the big blind and there was no raise.  Only seven of us saw a flop of Jack-Jack-9.  I bet $10 and got one call.  The turn was a Queen and I bet $15, he called.  The river was a 5.  I bet $25 but no call.

I raised to $15 with Ace-Jack of diamonds and had four callers.  So when I completely missed the flop, I just check-folded.  Then I got pocket Jacks. I raised to $15 and it was four-way.  The flop was Queen-Queen-5.  A lady lead out for $50.  Now this lady, early in the session, had flopped a boat with pocket 5's and won a big pot.  I'm pretty sure she hadn't played a pot since .  So when she led out like that, I was pretty sure she had a Queen.  I folded as did everyone else.

Now I was down a little from my $300 buy-in.  In the big blind, I had pocket 7's.  A woman who had recently joined the table opened to $23.  Apparently she didn't get the memo that we didn't open that big in this game.  She had a $300 or so stack.  Then another player called the $23.  He had a big stack too, more than the $300.  He had been very willing to put chips in play.  So I figured it was worth putting another $20 out there to close the action and see the flop.  The flop was Jack-8-7, rainbow.  I checked but unfortunately it checked around.  The turn was a Queen, no flush possible.  I bet $35 and they both called.  The river was an 8, giving me a boat.  I bet $100, but didn't get a call.  Did I bet too much or did they both miss draws?  Oh well, it was still a pretty nice pot.

And that was I for the session.  I ended up leaving up exactly $100. Not bad for the amount of hands I actually played.