Quad Aces for the Re-suck!

(This is part 1 of 2 parts)

As you know from my last two entries here, I was in Vegas recently.  And I had a poker session that was so much fun that I just have to blog about it.  So at least for the time being, my blog is back.

I was in Vegas for 12 days, and for much of the first week, my blogging pal Lightning was in town with me. In fact, he has already blogged about this night, which you can see here.  But now, for the first time, you will tell the true version of this night.

Back in the day, I played a lot of poker at MGM, but not so much recently. It’s not that I no longer like the room (although I must admit, I’m not a fan of uncapped 1/2 games like they have now). It’s mostly that over the recent years, all my dealer buddies have left the room. I go there now and I don’t recognize anyone.  It’s just another poker room, nobody knows me there. In the old days, it was like Norm walking into Cheers whenever I showed up there.

On this night, Lightning suggested that we hit up MGM for our evening session and it seemed like a good idea.  Because parking is always an issue at MGM properties, he picked me up at my hotel and we made our way to the poker room.

I got seated first and almost immediately picked up a fun vibe from this table.  I was in seat 5, directly across from the dealer, and the young lady on my right in seat 4 was obviously having a great time. When I first got there, she was mostly conversing with the young fellow in seat 2, who I noticed would occasionally take a camera out and appeared to be recording some hands. Two things became immediately obvious to me.  One, the young fellow was a vlogger (a blogger like me, except with video instead of text) And two, the young lady was British.

Emily (her real name) appeared fascinated by the concept of a vlog. And she was peppering Will (the vlogger, also his real name) with questions about vlogging.  I stayed quiet for a while, and noticed that Emily seemed excited that she might appear in a future vlog, especially after Will asked her name and wrote it down. She enthusiastically gave him her permission to use her likeness and her name should she be involved in a vlog-worthy hand.

Emily was chatting with everyone at the table, talking about the hands and about poker and about differences between poker in Vegas and England.  She was just one of those people who, while playing poker, engaged in just the right amount of conversation.  She talked a lot, but not so much that she ever got annoying (though she seemed to worry about that).  And almost everything she said was interesting and usually amusing.  She was just a really fun person to be sitting at a poker table with.  The most apt word I can think of to describe her is “delightful.”  Sadly, I don’t think I can sufficiently convey with just words just how truly delightful she was.

I asked Will what his YouTube channel was and looked it up on my phone.  It’s 4 Bet Blind.  He explained that he had come down from Portland for the WSOP where he hoped to find lots of material for his vlog.  He had played the Gladiators event at the WSOP the day before and gave us a few details about that.  Emily too had played the Gladiators.  She cashed but busted before Day 1 ended and we heard about that.

My session was up and down to start.  I won a small pot flopping a set of Jacks.  For this trip, the single hand I was dealt most often was pocket Jacks.  You’ll be surprised to hear that I only lost one time this entire trip with the dreaded pocket Kings.  That one time I ended folding to a bet (it may have been a bad fold, I’ll never know). 

Meanwhile Lightning was having a miserable time at his table, lost a buy-in and took a break.  I told him I didn’t know if my table was going to be profitable but that it sure was fun, and I wasn't about to leave it any time soon.  He got back in a game at a different table and put his name on the list for a table change to my game.  I was thinking it’s a shame that he was missing out on this fun.

Eventually the seat directly to my left opened up.  Lightning’s table was near mine so rather than text him I tried shouting his name.  The room was packed and he didn’t hear me.  Emily asked me if I was calling my friend and I said yes so she joined in yelling “John, John!”  He didn’t hear my voice but somehow he heard Emily’s!  I guess he’s been married so long, his ear is more attuned to hearing a female voice yelling at for him.

Lightning settled into seat 6 and I’m sure he immediately picked up on the fun vibe of the table.  Then a familiar face came in to deal.  It was my old pal “Joyce,” who’s been dealing to me at MGM probably since I started playing poker in Vegas. In researching her blog name, I discovered that despite dealing to me probably thousands of times, I had only mentioned her on the blog once.  But it was a fun post because, of course, it was the time we discussed her bra size.  But on this night we discussed what happened to all my old pals from MGM instead.  

Joyce turned out to be the only familiar face among the dealers that I saw in the room that night.  She greeted me warmly as I did her, and I asked about all my old pals.  She told me that there were just a few left…..but they were either floor people or shift managers.  The other dealers had all moved on.  I did know that a number of them were now working at South Point. 

We had just about finished going down memory lane when Joyce dealt me pocket Aces.  Nice.  I didn’t write down the details like I would have in the old days so I might not have this exactly right, but I believe I was one of the blinds and the relatively quiet fellow in seat 3 (so maybe the button?) raised to $8.  I made it $25 I think.  He called and it was heads up.  The flop was really nice. As5d8h.  Always nice to flop a set of Aces.  I didn’t expect to get any action but since I was the preflop aggressor I dutifully put out a bet and he called. The turn was 7d.  So a straight was possible if he had 6-4.  Since he had initially raised and then called my pre-flop three-bet, what were the chances of that?  Still there were now two diamonds on the board in addition to the straight.  I believe I bet again and he called.

I wasn’t too worried, but better safe than sorry, I remember thinking it would be nice to see the board pair just in case.  The river did indeed pair the board.  With an Ace!  A set of Aces is nice. Quad Aces is damn near perfect.

I assumed there was no way Seat 3 would call anything with two Aces on the board, so I put out a really small bet.  To my astonishment, he shoved!  Of course, I snap called and turned over my hand, saying “I think I got this!”  Seat 3 was surprised and somewhat argumentative.  He showed his hand, which was indeed 6-4, both diamonds and pointed out that if the 8 of hearts had been the 8 of diamonds, he’d have beaten my quads with a straight flush!  Except that it was the 8 of hearts, and he only picked up that straight flush draw on the turn, when he made his straight.

Wow, what a hand. It was the old “suck/re-suck.”  He sucked out on me on the turn, and I re-sucked out on him on the river.  Phew.  BTW, MGM does not have a bad beat jackpot, so if it had been quads vs. straight flush, I would have just had one horrendous bad beat story to tell, and not the prize of winning a bad beat jackpot.  Anyway, imagine winning with quad Aces which I actually needed them to beat his damn straight.  Set of Aces no good there.

Well there was quite a bit of excitement to say the least.  For one thing, the room has high-hand bonuses.  They are progressive, and it would be at least $100.  As it turned out, it was good for $150.  This was actually the second time since I’d been there that someone had quads. I think it was quad deuces and I also think they were hit by the very fellow in Seat 3! They also have a High Hand of the Hour that I might have qualified for in addition to the $150, but it happened after 9PM and the last high hand period ended at 9PM. Oh well.

There was also the pot.  I had Seat 3 covered but not by much. It was a healthy pot.  Damn, I didn’t write down how much it was, but I was sure that after it was over, I had more than a double up of my $200 buy-in, not counting the $150 bonus, which I pocketed when I received it some time later (I had plenty of chips to play without with the pretty green ones).

And you know who was almost as excited as I was over this hand?  Emily, of course.  She loved it. She insisted I hurry up and take a picture of the hand, then grabbed the phone out of my hand and took the pic for me because she had a better angle. But what happened was the guy in seat 9 was expressing his disapproval of Seat 3’s play.  How could he call my three-bet preflop with 6-4???  Even it if was sooooted???  He wasn’t involved in this hand at all but somehow the play of Seat 3 offended him!  Hours later, when seat 9 left, Emily commented to me about the guy being so upset with the way the hand was played, she was still wondering why it bothered that guy so much.  And Seat 3 seemed to be defending his play because he almost had a straight flush.  Or maybe because he had sucked out on me on the turn, and what were the chances of a re-suck?

Emily asked me if I was worried about the straight (before the river).  I said I saw it but it was so unlikely.  Emily agreed.  She said something to the effect of, “How could you imagine anyone playing like that?  I mean, he’d have to be a complete idiot to have 6-4 there!”  That’s just a weak paraphrase, I wish I had written it down at the time.  But I do know she referred to Seat 3 as an idiot over the way he played this hand any number of times.  And she was actually arguing with Seat 9 about it, even though they were both questioning Seat 3’s play.

I was a bit surprised that Emily was so critical of Seat 3.  I mean calling him an idiot seemed out of line, to say the least.  But they had been friendly and I had already picked up that Seat 3 was a Brit like her.  I had assumed they met at the table and bonded over their mutual heritage.  Boy was I was wrong.  Before the evening was over I figured out, and then confirmed, that Seat 3’s name was Matt and he was indeed Emily’s husband!  This made it even more fun for me that Emily seemed to be so happy about my quad Aces.  And I guess it somehow made it ok that she called him a complete idiot.  Likely not for the first time!

And let me defend Matt’s play there.  By this time he obviously knew I was a tight player and when I three-bet there he can put me on a very narrow range that includes Aces, Kings and maybe Ace-King.  Maybe.  Probably not even Queens.  So maybe if he hits something unexpected, I will get sticky with it and put all my chips in play against a hand I couldn’t possibly expect a decent player to have there. Which in fact is exactly what happened.  Except I pulled off the re-suck. Trouble is, if that was what he was thinking, he has to know it is almost more likely than not that I do have quad Aces on the river. I mean I wouldn’t play Kings like that with all the Aces on board.  And would I have played just top pair that strong with the straight out there (however unlikely)?

Emily confessed that they never play at the same table usually but because it was so busy there they had no choice.  So they ended up sitting right next to each other.  I wonder if that hand came up in their subsequent conversations during their trip?

I’m not sure about this but I think Emily asked Will if he caught any of that hand for his vlog, and I think he said he might have. But since he wasn’t involved in the hand I rather doubt he recorded any of it.  But Emily was excited about the possibility of it appearing in Will’s vlog.  It was probably at this point that I did something I rarely do.  I came out of the closet.

Yes, I admitted to being the world famous poker blogger Robvegaspoker. While Emily was still quizzing Will about his vlog, and kept asking, “are you gonna put this in the vlog?” I spoke up.  “You know, I’m internet famous, too.”  She asked who I was and I told her.  And I said, “I used to have a pretty popular blog.  A written blog, low-tech, not video like Will.”  She went searching the web for it immediately and found it.  I said, “I’ve only done one blog post this year but I have to blog about the quad Aces for sure.”  She took a screenshot of the blog and promised to look for the blog post. I told her Lightning also had a blog (or maybe he told her himself) and she took a screenshot of his blog too.

So she asked me if I was “Rob” or “Robert” and I said “Yes.”  She must have thought I was being a smart ass so explained, “My legal name is Robert but I go by Rob.” Then she went on about how Robert is a great name, explaining that in England there are some strong names and Robert is one of them.  She also liked the name John.

I took issue with that a bit. “Are there any Roberts in England?  I’ve never heard of an English Robert.  There’s never been a King Robert, has there?”  But she insisted it was a good English name and then told me it was the name of her dear father who had passed away a few years ago.  I don’t recall if she said I reminded her of him or if she could see me as her father substitute, something like that.  She asked me what year I was born.  I was taken aback by that but I finally told her and she expressed a bit of surprise, which I took to mean she thought I was younger than I am but I could just be flattering myself.  She told me her dad was born a few years after I was.  

Yours truly with the delightful Emily

And that’s where I’m going to leave this part 1.  I haven’t written up the rest, so it may take some time to get more posted, but please check back.  In future installments we discuss Robin Hood, the player who actually complained about hitting quad 6’s, Emily’s favorite poker app (PokerAtlas, of course), Lightning’s Academy Award winning performance, the American Revolution and of course, the 2nd Amendment (really)!  Check back early and often!

NOTE:  PART 2 IS NOW LIVE, FIND IT HERE.

F*ck Me Sideways

This is the second part of my recent visit to The Bike.  Be sure to catch part 1 here.

The main thing I want to tell you is that the game was really, really fun.  As different as night and day from my last game at the Bike.  Now I know some of this is just luck of the draw, and it might not be entirely due to the lack of masks and the lack of the plexiglass (and also that one or two players were drinking beer).  Maybe I just got a really bad table last time and a really good one this time. But I feel certain that the lack of masks and plexi had a lot to do with it.  Everyone was laughing and talking and having a good time (no more than two players wore masks at my table the entire time I was there).

I was having a good time too.  And then the table got really, really good.  Sadly, I don’t mean that in the sense that the game was great poker wise, or that I was able to win a shitload of money.  I’ll get to my poker hands later.  I mean the table became a total blast.  Because of one bloke who joined it.

Let’s just call this fellow “Hugh” because his real name is not Hugh.  I first noticed him when he was at a nearby table.  It was hard not to notice him.  He was loud and he was ridiculously talkative.  I couldn’t really hear what he was saying, I was just hearing him talk a lot, it seemed like he never shut up.  And he had a rather annoying voice.  It was high and squeaky, and it seemed strained.  He sounded like maybe he’d had throat surgery or perhaps had damaged vocal cords.  From a distance, it was kind of painful to hear.

So when I saw that he was table-changing to our game, and in fact was going to sit on the seat to my immediate right (that I had just vacated so I could see the cards better), I was not happy.  Hearing this guy talk with that strained voice up close and personal, right next to me?  I figured my fun was over.

I was wrong.  This guy had me laughing almost non-stop the entire time he was there.  Somehow, when he was right next to me, his voice was a lot less annoying.  And when I could hear what he was actually saying, it turned out that he was funny as hell.  The guy had an English accent and said he was from London.  Never did figure out if he was visiting from there or he was now living in Southern California.  One thing for sure I can tell you, he was losing money hand over fist.

I guess you could call Hugh a human ATM.  I can’t count how many times he got felted and bought more chips.  At various times, while he was complaining about his luck and his results this day (almost always in an entertaining manner), he claimed to be down $900, $1,200, $1,300, $1,000.  The figure he said increased and decreased even though he was steadily losing.  He used his losses as an excuse for some wild play. When faced with a tough call, he would say, “Well, I’m already out $800 today….I call.”  This would be a situation where it was obvious he didn’t have a chance to win the pot.

One of the first pots he played when he arrived, he had raised, there was a three-bet all-in, and he was covered.  So he had to risk all his chips to call (it was around $200 I think).  He agonized for a long time, kept talking about how much he was losing, and finally called.  I don’t think they showed until the board was filled, and the other guy had pocket Aces.  Hugh showed his pocket 9’s in disgust.  It was pretty easy to figure out why poor Hugh was losing!

He was telling us, however, how much better our table was than the one he had just left. “The biggest pot over there was $23.  I’d win a pot and it’d be $15.”  He repeated this several times.

A few hands after the pocket 9’s, (and after he bought more chips) a virtually identical situation happened.  Hugh called all-in preflop and this time he lost to pocket Kings.  What did he have?  Pocket 9’s again!  He said, “Damn 9’s again. I had to call.”  Then he whined about getting pocket 9’s.  I didn’t have the heart to tell him that about 10 minutes before he showed up, I had pocket 9’s and flopped quads (I’ll get back to that).

He was muttering about those damn 9’s all through the next deal. I think this hand he folded preflop, and of course there was a 9 on the flop.  He bitched mightily about that.  “There’s the 9, there it is.  Where was it last hand?”  And for a while, almost every flop thereafter had a 9 on it! Everyone in a pot against him would comment on the 9 and joke that he finally had his set of 9’s.  As far as I could tell, he never was dealt another 9 the rest of the day, but it was sure a fun running gag.  Especially later when there were two 9’s on the board.  And when he folded to a bet (yes, he did sometimes fold) he said, “There, I’m folding my quad 9’s.”

As I said, at first he was mostly bitching about how much money he was losing.  But then he started telling us that he had been divorced three times.  So when he got annoyed at something or someone (can’t remember what), he said, “That’s just like my ex-wife.”  I asked, “Which one?”  He said, “All of them.”

Then he faced a big bet on the river on a board that had four spades.  He claimed to have two pair and didn’t know whether to call or not.  I’m pretty sure everyone at the table knew the guy who was all-in had a spade.  Hugh probably did too but he just couldn’t get away from his two pair.  He tanked, but he was hardly quiet.  “He’s got a spade, doesn’t he have a spade? Do you have a spade?  Just tell me if you have a spade.  I’ve got two pair.”  Then, he actually flipped over his hand.  He did indeed have two pair.  But no spade. At this point, the dealer called the floor, I’m not sure why.  The floor came over immediately but did not warn him not to show his hand, since it was heads up and the other guy was all in, there was really no problem with him exposing his hand.  He did warn the guy…..he said he would have to start the clock if he didn’t make a decision soon.  But it was all in good fun and the floorperson left before Hugh acted.

Hugh kept talking and I don’t think anyone really minded that he was holding up the game, we were enjoying his act.  Finally he said, “I’m out $1,200, I’m divorced three times…...F*ck me sideways.” A few seconds later he repeated the exact same thing (although he might have changed the amount he was out—but he never changed the number of times he was divorced) And after a few more seconds, he said, “I call.”  Of course the other guy had a spade.

Now, however much he had lost, he was starting to run out of money.  He telephoned a friend and tried to get him to give him some cash.  His only solution was if he could find someone who had Venmo, who would give him $500 if his buddy sent $500 to that someone’s Venmo account.  No one was willing to do that, understandably.  Somehow though, Hugh lasted at the table past the time I left, so I dunno what happened or how he kept playing.

Now with all this crazy action, with Hugh being a human ATM machine, you must be thinking I cleaned up at this game.  Sadly, that is not the case.  By the time Hugh got to the table, I was mostly card dead, and whenever I did get cards worth playing, he was either away from the table or had folded preflop (it did happen)  The whole time I never got into a hand with him.  And as should be obvious by now, there was no way to bluff this guy.  To get money out of him, you actually had to have a value hand of some kind.  And the other players at the table, when they played against him, were pretty solid and always showed up with a hand.  It was quite frustrating, but at least I was laughing the whole time.

In fact, there were only two hands I played that are worth talking about.  And both happened before Hugh showed up. I had been playing some hands without much success, but I was actually getting some cards to play.  I was down to about $250 from my $300 buy-in (remember, the game is 2/3).  Under the gun, with Ace-Jack of clubs, I open to $15.  I only had one caller.  The flop was just awesome, 8-6-5, all clubs.  Yahtzee!  Of course I did think about the straight flush possibility, but that’s worrying about monsters under the bed, right?

I checked.  Fortunately (or so I thought), the other guy bet.  But he bet big.  You would think a reasonable bet there would be $20-$25, right?  But he overbet the pot and put out $75 or $80.  I didn’t bother asking for a count.  He had over $400 so I was covered.  Just seeing the stack he bet, I realized that I couldn’t really raise there without shoving.  I mean any raise I could make would have me committed, and besides, I wanted to get it all in.  So of course I did indeed shove.

He snap called.  I asked, “You have a straight flush?”  No.  He said, “I have a set.”  We didn’t show but I believed him.  And groaned when the turn was another 8.  I don’t remember the river but it didn’t matter, I was drawing dead. I re-bought another $300.  He had flopped a set of 6’s and on the turn had the full house.

Any other way I could have played that?  I mean, I guess I could have just called, but then, even after the board pairs on the turn, am I really going to fold the nut flush? 

A little while later I was dealt pocket 9’s and called $20.  It was three-way.  Talk about good flops.  How does Jack-9-9 sound?  The preflop raiser bet $30 and of course I just called.  The last guy went all in—but it was for only $24. The turn was a 10.  Unfortunately he checked.  I checked behind.  In hindsight, I should have bet. If he was on a draw, he’d call something, but if he missed on the river he wouldn’t.  As I’ve often said, you don’t get a lot of practice playing monsters.

The river was another Jack.  Well now, my first thought was, oh if only he had pocket Jacks!  That would mean the Bad Beat Jackpot, with me having the losing hand.  That would be one pot I’d love to lose.  I dunno what the amount of the jackpot was, but it’s typically between $10K and $40K, something like that.  Of course, my opponent had not played the hand like he had pocket Jacks and had flopped a boat. He checked. I put out a bet of $75. He tanked for a long, long time.  Finally he said, “Well, if you’re bluffing……” He was really agonizing about calling, but he finally just folded.  Damn.  I decided to show my hand because how can you not show quads when you get them?  He was startled.  He said he folded a straight.  Then he said something odd. He said he would have called if he had a Jack.  No kidding!  The second nuts?  Of course he’d call.  But that damn paired Jack killed my action.  With only one pair on the board, no way is he folding a straight.  Two pair made it a lot easier.

What about the all-in guy?  Well, he mucked his cards as soon as the other guy folded so he didn’t have pocket Jacks either.  We talked about the possibility of the BBJ for a few minutes, I won a fairly small pot, and that was that.

And as I said, I didn’t get much to play after that; won a few small pots.  I left down $320.  But it was nice to have fun playing poker again.  Can I say the entire difference in the fun quotient of this game was due to the lack of masks and plexiglass (and the fact that I was dying of thirst the entire time)?  Certainly not. But it didn’t hurt.

No Royal For Me

You can play a lot of poker and never get a Royal Flush.  I know, because to this day, I have never had a Royal, either in live poker or online.

So it caught my attention recently when someone on twitter copied something off the South Point Poker Room Facebook page.  It was a picture of a woman with the caption to the effect that she had gotten two Royal Flushes within a half hour of each other.  Not one, but two!  I've been playing live poker for going on 15 years and never had one. And this woman gets two in the span of half an hour?  It doesn't seem fair.  Or even remotely possible.

I responded to that tweet with the only logical thing I could think of.  "Live poker is rigged."

A few days later I was at PC Ventura to play my usual 2/3 game.  Their Bad Beat Jackpot had grown to over $50K so it had been quite some time since it had been hit—it resets at $10K when it does hit.  I couldn't recall ever seeing it that high. I've rarely seen it reach $20K.  Aces full of Jacks beaten by quads or better is the requirement, so it's not as hard to hit as most of the BBJ's in Vegas are.

Well, I was at the table and we started talking about how long it had been since it was hit.  And someone said that when it hits, it will likely hit again a day or two later because that's what usually happens.  Someone mentioned that they could recall a time it hit twice in one day a few hours apart.

That reminded me of the lady with the two Royals, so I related that story.  Of course, everyone was amazed and a few of the players told their stories about Royals they had hit.  As I mentioned, I had no such story to tell.

Well, about 10 minutes after we stopped talking about Royals, a player in our game tabled a Royal Flush!  Yep, on the board was the King, Jack and 10 of diamonds.  The 10 was the river card.  And this guy, an older gent, showed Ace-Queen of diamonds.  Nice.  Sadly for him, it wasn't a very big pot.  There hadn't been much action and when he bet a modest amount on the river (a pot sized bet would have been modest sized), the lady next to me proudly called.  Apparently she was friends with the guy who had the Royal.  She even said to him, "You remember what my favorite hand is, don't you? Jack-5!"  And very proudly tabled Jack-5 offsuit for two pair..

The guy showed his Royal and we all ooohed and ahhhed and I pointed out how it was funny that we were just talking about Royals and not 10 minutes later this guy showed up with one.  Coincidence?  You be the judge. 

Aside from the smallish pot, the guy won nothing else for his beautiful hand.  No high hand bonus. Generally speaking, the poker rooms in CA don't have high hand bonuses.  Although this room does….on certain days of the week.  But not on Saturdays.  Oh well, it's still a Royal.

Honestly, I can only remember seeing two or three Royals at my game over the years.  I do recall one time in a limit game a guy beat me with a Royal.  I don’t remember what I had but it didn't cost me much to make the call and I must have had some kind of hand, even though I was obviously concerned about the scary board.

As for my session, I managed to win a few pots, but no monsters for me.  In the small blind with 5-4 off, I completed.  Four of us saw a flop of 9-6-2, two diamonds. I checked and then called a $10 bet with my gutshot. We were now heads up.  The turn was a beautiful 3—isn't that the way it's supposed to work?  I was fairly sure the guy would bet again so I checked.  Sure enough he put out $15.  I made it $45.  He called.  The river was a third diamond so I just checked.  But he checked behind and all he had was a 6.  No diamonds.

In the big blind I had Ace-Jack off, and just checked after six players had limped in.  The flop was Jack high, I bet $10 and got two callers.  The turn was a blank and I bet $35 and got one caller.  The river was blank and I just checked, as did he.  He didn't show when I tabled my Jack.

That got me up over $100 but then poker occurred and I managed to drop to below $50 up. In the big blind with Queen-Jack off, there was no raise and four of us saw a flop of Jack-9-8, rainbow.  I bet $6 and got two callers.  Another 8 on the turn and I bet $10 and got one caller.  I bet $20 on a blank and he folded faced up, showing that he missed his straight.

That was it.  I booked a $75 win and headed home.

The Answer to Life, The Universe, and Everything

My session at Ventura was a real roller coaster ride, full of craziness. I mean flopping quads should make for a profitable session, right?  Except—then I got pocket Kings.

After a few weeks of high winds and deadly fires, it was an absolutely picture perfect day in Southern California.  In fact, it was actually too hot.  Definitely unseasonably warm for November.  I mean, I made my usual pre-poker session stop at the Costco food court, which was extremely crowded.  This food court is outside, and the lines were backed up into the parking lot, highly unusual.  I was standing in the direct sunlight, and the sun beating down on my back was actually bothersome.  Still, I was able to obtain my traditional pre-game meal (call it my version of a tailgate party, if you will) of a jumbo hot dog and a slice of pizza.

The poker room was weird.  The parking lot was fairly empty.  There were a bunch of games going and long lists but they weren't opening any new tables.  My thought was that they had sent too many dealers home because it was quiet, then got busier, but I overheard  them say that five dealers had called in "sick". I bet they were just sick of staying inside and wanted to enjoy the great weather.  I guess maybe unlike Vegas they can't call in extra board dealers.  So I had to wait over 45 minutes to get seated.

The table I finally made it to was a rather fun table.  I got a big surprise from one of the dealers—a dealer I was seeing for the first time, I believe—early in his down.  A player had put out a bunch of chips to bet, which included some $5 chips and a couple of $1 chips.  The other player asked for a count.  The dealer broke it down and said, "42—The answer to life, the universe, and everything."  OMG.  I couldn't help cracking up and smiling at the reference.  In all the times I've played poker, I never heard anyone—dealer, player, anyone—make that reference about a $42 bet before.  Admittedly, $42 is not a very common bet, but still.

If you don't know that reference, you need to familiarize yourself with The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by the late, great Douglas Adams, in at least one of its many forms (radio series, TV series, movie, novels, you name it).  Just brilliant science fiction humor.  I have to give a shout out to my long-time pal Norm, who I made infinite Vegas trips with back in the day, for introducing me to this brilliant series.  At least one of our drives to Vegas was taken up with the two of us listening to the original radio series of Hitchhiker's Guide (it's original format).  We laughed all the way to Vegas, I assure you.

The dealer gave me an acknowledgement for getting the joke, and said, "Only one gets it huh?"  The player on my right had initially acted like he didn't get it, and questioned how 42 could be the answer to the ultimate question and the dealer, while smiling at me, just repeated that 42 is the answer to life, the universe and everything, and made some reference to the other guy not knowing the origin.  Then the guy said he did get it, he was just protesting that the it wasn't really the answer.  But I suspect he was just trying not to look ignorant, since no one who knew the reference would dispute it.

Another time, a player was about to get up to use the restroom.  "I have to pee," he said as he stood up.  But the dealer slid a "missed small blind" button to him.  So he said, "Well, I better wait then."   But he reiterated that he really did have to go and it was not easy.  So a few players and the dealer started making amusing references.  "Did I ever tell you about the time I went to Niagra Falls?"  "Yeah that water is really impressive." Other players having been to Niagra  Falls too.  "There was the time I couldn't fall asleep because of this really bad leak in the bathroom.  Drip, drip, drip."  One guy made "woooshing' sounds.The guy was struggling to laugh while he strained to hold out….and unfortunately for him, he liked his hand and played it all the way through.  But he managed to avoid having an accident at least.

There was one other funny thing at the table.  At one point (still the same dealer this whole time), a player made a big bet on the turn.  The King-Queen-Jack of spades were all on the board, with some offsuit low card.  The other player tanked and then folded.  I said to the guy who won the pot, "Show the Royal."  He ignored me and slid his cards to the dealer face down.  I said, "No Royal?"  He said, "I wouldn't show even if I did have it."  The dealer said, "You wouldn't show a Royal flush?"  "No, why should I?  There's no bonus for it."  I said I would show it for sure….and take a picture of it.  I mean, I've still never had a Royal flush.  Another player said he'd had a couple but not in many years.  The dealer said he'd never had one and he plays poker nearly every day.  I asked him how many he's dealt.  He wasn't sure, but he had dealt some.

Well, I swear, the very next hand, after the turn, there was a possible Royal out there.  The dealer and I started laughing (after the hand was over).  He said, "Can you imagine if I dealt a Royal right after we were just talking about it?"  I agreed that would be sensational.  And I swear, for the at least three more consecutive hands, there was a possible Royal on the board.  It was incredible.

Anyway, on to the poker.  I was definitely not card dead. I called $15 with pocket Queens.  When the flop came Ace-high I called a c-bet but then there was big raise so I let it go.

Then I got pocket Jacks.  There was one limper so I made it $15. There was a call and a short stack shoved $39. I called and the other guy called.  The board bricked out for me—and everyone else.  The flop was King-high and both of us with chips just checked it down.  My Jacks held up against Ace-Jack (the short stack) and Queen-Jack.  Well, for sure I wasn't going to catch any more Jacks on that hand—but hold that thought.

I had Ace-10 off on the button—but because of the way they do it in CA rooms, I was also the small blind for this hand.  I just completed and six of saw a flop of King-King-Queen.  There was no betting.  An Ace on the turn caused someone to bet $15, which I called and we were heads up.  The river was a Jack giving me Broadway. It checked to me and I bet $30 but didn't get a call.

I was now up to about $340-$350 (from my $300 buy-in in this 2/3 game).  Then I got pocket 10's.  It folded to me in late position so I made it $12 and got a couple of calls.  The flop was 10-5-4, two clubs. It checked to me and I bet $25, both players called.  Another club hit the turn.  It checked to me again and I bet $45.  The next guy folded but the short stack (same guy who shoved into my JJ hand—he kept rebuying for $100) called.  He didn't have many chips left and I thought it was odd that he didn't just put them all in there.  I hated the river card which was another damn club.  Of course the guy put all the rest of his chips in.  It was only around $30 or so and I just couldn't fold for that small a bet, considering the size of the pot.  Besides, I did have the 10 of clubs, so I actually did have a flush.  Maybe it was good?

Nope.  He showed the Ace of clubs (and some other highish card, not a club).  Yuck.

I had been up some before that hand and now I was down to around $240 or so.

Then I got pocket Jacks again.  Before it got to me, a guy raised to $30.  He had a huge stack, had me well covered and hadn't really been playing crazy so his making a big bet like that seemed odd.  Then another guy with a somewhat smaller stack (but more than me) called.  Well it seemed like I had a pretty good reason to call so I did.  Another guy called as well and it was a $120 pot preflop.

So imagine my reaction when I saw the flop.  Jack-Jack-9.  Bingo!  Yahtzee!  Yabba-Yabba-Do!  I guess you could say the flop hit me.  I tried to act disinterested.  Now, I just had to double check my cards to make sure I hadn't made a ghastly mistake.  As nonchalantly as possible I sneaked another look at my hole cards, just to make sure I hadn't mistaken QQ for Jacks, or perhaps I was thinking of my last hand.  Nope, those two other Jacks were still there. I've flopped quads before but it is very rare and very wonderful thing. Before I could give it much more thought, the preflop raiser kindly put out a $35 bet.  And the next guy called the $35!  Oh lucky day.  I of course just called.  The other guy folded.

Now at this point I had to start wondering if the bad beat jackpot was in play.  Maybe the first guy was just c-betting with an Ace-King type hand, but for sure the guy who called him must have something?  Something good enough to turn into a jackpot?  One could only hope.

Not sure if I've explained how they've changed the BBJ in this room.  Used to be it was always Aces full of Jacks or better beaten by quads or better.  It still is, but at odd hours, they make it a super-jackpot.  If quads are beaten by quads during those hours, the total payout is $100K.  It has to be quads vs quads.  If quads are beaten by a straight flush, no super-jackpot.  Of course, the "regular" jackpot is always on, which is a progressive that starts at $10K.  It was up to $23K when I got there this day.

And at this point in time, the super-jackpot was in effect.

So if someone had pocket 9's….well if somehow they hit their one outer, they'd still lose the pot but win $50K for the super-jackpot.  I'd settle for $25K (and the pot).  Now let's say the guy who opened to $30 had pocket Aces.  If he caught an Ace on the turn or the river, Ace's full of Jacks would qualify us for the regular BBJ.  And if by some total miracle, he caught runner runner Aces, I'd actually be on the losing side of the super-jackpot for a cool $50K.

Of course that was all just fantasy.  I certainly couldn't count on that and it really didn't affect my play, because if someone had a hand that potentially could mean a BBJ I really didn't have to worry about them folding.

Anyway, the river was a 10.  Wouldn't it be nice of one of those guys had King-Queen at least?  But they both checked.  Now I wasn't sure what to do.  As I've commented before, you don't get a lot of practice playing out-and-out monsters.  I decided to just check and make sure I gave them both a chance to catch up.  Was that wrong?  In hindsight, I think maybe a very small bet might have been better.  But I dunno—if I put out $35-$40, considering the size of the pot, it would sure look suspicious.

The river was another 9.  Now it truly was possible for that BBJ to be in play, if one of those guys had pocket 9's. But wouldn't someone with 9's full of Jacks on the flop and turn have bet the turn?  You would think so.  Or at least bet the river?  Because they checked to me, sadly.  I tried to come up with a bet they could call that would get me some chips but wouldn't look too suspect.  I put out $65.  The first guy (the preflop raiser) folded quickly but the other guy tanked for awhile….but folded.  Damn.

Well, unlike that guy who said he wouldn't show a Royal, I proudly (though somewhat disappointedly) flipped over my cards.  There was a lot of oohs and ahhs with everyone talking about the possibility of the BBJ, all the things I've mentioned already. Neither of the other players with cards revealed their hand.  I suspect the raiser had Ace-King, and the other guy had a pocket pair.  Maybe Kings or Queens?  But would he have folded Kings or Queens for $65?  Maybe a smaller pair, 8's or 7's?  I'll never know.

That gave me a nice $120-$130 profit.  So of course, I had to get the dreaded pocket Kings. I opened to $12 and it was three-way.  The flop was ugly.  Not only was it Ace high, but it was all hearts.  However, I was holding the King of hearts, giving me the nut flush draw.  I bet $25 and the next guy made it $50.  The other guy folded and I called.  The turn was a blank and I checked, the other guy bet $65.  Jeez.  My Kings were likely no good, but I still had the draw to the nuts.  I called.  No heart on the river, it was another brick.  I checked and so did the other guy.  He showed Ace-7 of diamonds.  So he didn't beat me with a flush, just Aces.

In the big blind, I got 7-deuce.  No one raised, six of us saw the flop.  It was Jack-7-7.  I checked and called $6, down to three-way.  I bet $20 on a blank turn and didn't get a call.

That was the last hand I played.  The trip 7's got me a little bit over break-even.  A profit of $10.  Seems like you ought have a better overall result on a day where you flop quad Jacks.  Oh well.

Quads Again!

This post is for all of you who like to complain that my posts are too long.

This session took place the night after the one I described here did—that was the session where I got quad 4's but due to bad timing I didn't get any high hand bonus for it.  You'll see why  I mention that previous session in a minute.

This time the venue was Planet Hollywood. If it seems like I played Planet Hollywood a lot this most recent trip, well, it's because it was the poker room where I did the best.  My success rate at PH was just a lot higher than anywhere else, so of course I kept going back there.

My very first hand I called $12 with Ace-Queen of diamonds, it was three-ways.  The flop was low and it checked around.  There was a low turn card and again it checked around.  The river put a pair of 6's on the board, still all low cards.  This time the preflop raiser bet $20.  The other player folded.  I thought about it and figured if he had a pair on the flop or the turn he likely would have bet by now.  It felt like his bet was just a bluff. My Ace-high just might be the best hand.  So I called and yeah, as soon as I did he said, "Queen-high."  My Ace was good.

Then I got pocket 5's in the small blind and called $8.  Three of us saw a flop of 9-5-4. The preflop raiser bet $10 and I decided to slow play it so I just called.  I was hoping the other guy would come along but he folded.  The turn was another 5, so that changed my plans.  Instead of betting, I checked and just called his $20 bet.  The river was a Jack and didn't change anything.  Now here I'm not really sure what to do.  If I knew he'd bet again, I'd check and then check-raise.  But I couldn't be sure he'd bet, and I'd feel like a jerk if I didn't at least try to get some more chips from him.  So I bet $40.  Unfortunately he folded.

But I knew there'd be a high hand bonus for the quads, so I flipped my hand over.  I got $50, and they also do a splash pot at the table immediately after someone gets a high hand payout.  Our next hand had $25 splashed on it by the house.  But whoever won that pot, it wasn't me.

How about that?  I'd gone a long time without getting quads and now I had just caught them in consecutive sessions.  Pretty sure I'd never done that before.  And this time I actually qualified for the high hand bonus!

I limped in with Ace-2 of clubs and it was four-ways.  I flopped the flush draw and called $10 and it was heads up.  I didn't note what the cards on the board were but on the turn, I missed the flush but picked up a gutshot to Broadway.  I called his $25 bet.  The river was the Jack of clubs, giving me the nut flush but also pairing the board.  He shoved his last $50 or so.  I called.  He had King-Queen for two pair (or actually, three pair, including the Jacks on the board).  My flush was good. 

Those were the only three hands I won all night, but it was good enough for a $165 profit (including the bonus for the quads).

Yes, It Is English Only At The Poker Table

Over a year ago, I got upset when a dealer wouldn’t warn a player about speaking a foreign language during the poker game.  You can find that post here.  Well on the night I'm about to tell you about, I found out that there are still some poker rooms, some dealers, and some floor people who definitely believe in enforcing the "English Only" rule.  Ironically, this new story took place almost exactly a year after the earlier one. 

This time the venue was MGM and I had been waiting a bit.  Finally they decided to start a new game and I got my preferred seat (it was a night the club was open so you can figure it out).  There were actually four foreign speaking people at the table, all of whom seemed to know each other, one woman and three men. I'm guessing they were speaking Spanish although I wasn't sure and since I live in Los Angeles, it should be pretty easy for me to recognize Spanish even though I can't speak it.  But honestly, they didn't look Mexican or South American to me.  While the dealer was selling everyone chips and swiping everyone into Bravo, these Spanish-speaking  folk were talking to each other in (presumably) their native tongue.  The dealer diligently told them that once the game started, it would be English-only.  The guy who spoke the best English said, "Right, whenever we have cards, we'll only speak English."

The dealer corrected him.  "No, it's not just when you have cards.  Any time you're at the table it's English only."  Hmm….not sure I heard that strict interpretation before but ok.

Anyway, the very first hand of this new table, the woman flopped a straight flush.  Yeah, she had Ace-3 of clubs and the flop came 5-4-2 all clubs.  Better for her, two of her buddies each flopped flushes.  I think she felted at least one of them.

Now, even though I wasn't in the hand, this turned out to have affected me.  The room has a high hand promotion. The four highest hands between 4PM and 10PM win money--$300 for first, $200 each for second and third and $100 for fourth highest.  I had already noted that the four hands on the board by the time we started (at around 8:30) were two different people with quad 9's, quad 7's and quad 3's.  So this put her in first place and knocked quad 3's off the board.  In order to be eligible for a high hand payout, you would need to beat quad 7's (or get quad 7's with a better kicker than the hand already made had).

So a short time later I had 4-3 of diamonds in the small blind.  There were a bunch of limpers so I threw in a buck to complete.  The flop came Queen-4-4.  I checked/called $5.  It was down to four-ways.  I was planning to bet the turn, but then I saw that it was another 4, giving me quads.  So I checked.  I called $20 and it was three-ways.  The Jack of spades put a third spade out there on the river.  This time I led out for $30.  I got one call but he mucked when I showed my 4.

It had been quite a while since I've gotten quads, so that was nice.  Now, I wasn't sure what the rules were for the high hand promo—did I need a pocket pair for my quads to count?  But then I double checked the board and it didn't matter.  The fourth best high hand was quad 7's so I was out of luck anyway.  But I figured I would check to see if it would have counted.  I asked the dealer who, disappointingly, had no clue.  "Ask my boss."

So when the boss came around for the rack count, I asked him.  Yes, it would have counted.  But my hand would have been quad 4's and a 3, not quad 4's and the highest card on the board.  Both my cards had to play, in other words.  If I had made quads with a pocket pair, then my kicker would have been the highest card on the board, but if you only make quads with one card in your hand, you have to use your other card to complete the hand.

So let's review.  After a long drought, I finally got quads.  I even got quads in a room where there's a high hand promotion going on.  I even qualified for that promotion despite using only one card from my hand to actually make the quads.  And yet, I still managed to miss getting paid any bonus money for my quads.  Just bad luck….bad timing, really.  You have to get your quads at the right time. 

The only other memorable hand from this night, for me, was flopping a set of 8's in a limped pot.  I got my $6 flop bet called by everyone (three players) and my $20 turn bet called by one.  But he folded to my $35 river bet.  By the time I left the game, I was able to book a solid $10 win.

But let's go back the woman who flopped the steel wheel.  By now two of her three friends had left the game but the other guy was still there, the guy who was most fluent in English.  He was also the most aggressive player at the table.  He loved to open pots for $20.  Anyway, apparently these two had been spoken to at least one other time about using "English Only" at the table.

So on this hand, I believe it was on the flop, she led out with a bet.  And this older guy shoved.  It was a sizeable amount (maybe close to $200) but because she had won that big straight flush hand, she had him covered at least 2-to-1.  And here's where things got interesting.

She tanked for quite a bit.  I had gotten the impression that she wasn't a very experienced player.  Finally she said something softly—in Spanish.  Her buddy, who wasn’t in the hand, said something back to her in Spanish.  The dealer spoke up immediately, "No, no, English only."  The guy was about to explain what they were saying when the player who was all in pitched a fit. "One player to a hand….they were warned before, several times."  The other guy said, "We weren't talking about the hand."  The player in the hand said, "We don't know that!"

He was very upset and the dealer asked him if he wanted her to call the floor and he said yes.  So the floor came over and heard everyone out.  The lady's buddy said that she had asked how much more to call and all he did was tell her how much.  Nothing else. 

So the floor said that this hand would be completed—obviously there was nothing that could be done about the illicit conversation.  But that after the hand was completed, the two Spanish-speaking players would have to leave.  Not just the table, but the room.  The guy asked if they could just go to different tables.  No, the floor said.  They were welcome to come back tomorrow but they were through playing there that night.

I was surprised.  I didn't expect him to be that hard-assed.  Not that I am saying the punishment was too severe, just that I was surprised.  I don't think I'd ever seen a player kicked out of a room for violating that particular rule.  Have you?

Anyway, the lady eventually folded.  I'm sure the guy who took the pot thought that he was cheated out of some of her money.  Perhaps.  My own best guess is that the guy was telling the truth about what they said during the hand.  But who knows?

Do you think the punishment fit the crime?