The Deuce-Four Maniac

This session took place the night after this story took place.  And it was sort of a brief redemption of the dreaded pocket queens.  I was already down to about $130-$140 (from $200) and had only won one pot—I had raised preflop with Ace-Queen and taken the pot with a continuation bet.  So then I got two Queens, the first time I’d seen them since the previous night’s disaster.

There were a bunch of limpers and then a lady from Texas went all in—for all of $7.  I made it $22.  There were two callers, aside from the Texas woman.  The flop was King high, two spades.  Neither of my Queens was the spade.  I bet $55 and the other two players folded.  A second King came on the turn, a blank on the river and the lady showed Ace-rag.  My Queens held up—first time this trip they actually won for me.  The lady rebought, and she comes back into the story lady.

Then I got two ladies again and raised to $10.  Three callers.  King high flop, I bet $30 and a woman (not the Texas woman) called.  Another low card on the turn and I bet $80.  This time she folded.  I guess the secret to winning with pocket Queens is to play them only against women.

I lost $20 because of a string bet that maybe wasn’t.  I can’t follow my notes precisely here, but basically, on the river and I had top pair (Aces), mediocre kicker (Jack).  But there were three spades on the board and the way the hand had played out, I feared the flush.  The guy who had been calling my bets every street suddenly led out when the third spade hit.  He wanted to bet $60 and that’s what I thought he had done.  I can’t recall exactly his motion but the dealer insisted that he put out $20 first and then put out $40 behind it.  Now the guy was right next to me and I remember thinking it looked like a $60 bet to me.  I wasn’t at all sure what he did, but the dealer insisted he could only bet $20.  He’s one of the best dealers in the room, so I assume he was right even though I didn’t really see it that way.

And besides, I would call a $20 bet with my hand.  I almost definitely would have folded if I had to call $60.  I thought it was to my advantage.   So I called the $20 and he showed 10-7 of spades for the flush.  Damn.  Since I wouldn’t have called the $60, the dealer’s ruling in essence cost be twenty bucks.  It could have worked the other way, of course.  And besides, knowing he wanted to bet $60 should have convinced me to save the $20 anyway.  Unless he was angle shooting….

Then I got QQ yet again.  I raised to $10 and the Texas woman called.  The flop was 9-8-2 and she led out with a $15 bet.  My stack had dwindled quite a bit so I just shoved, and she called.  She had Jack-10 for the open-ender.  Fortunately I didn’t get my set, which would have completed her straight, and my Queens held for the third time this night.  Always against female players.

Aces, on the other hand, weren’t good this night.  I raised to $10 with them, and got one caller, the guy next to me who earlier had wanted to bet $60 but was told it was a string bet.  There were two clubs on the flop but both my Aces were black.  I bet the flop and he called.  Third club on the turn and I bet again.  He raised enough to put me all in.  I called because I had the Ace of clubs.  Could I get the fourth club this one time?

Nope.  It was a black 5, but spades, not clubs.  The guy had King-6 of clubs.  I guess I should start calling raises with K-6 sooooted too.

The only other really memorable thing for this session was the tattooed maniac.  Suddenly at our table, we noticed there was somewhat of a ruckus going on at the table next to us.  Two floor people were summoned and heated words were exchanged.  Our dealer noted that one of the players involved in the ruckus had been a trouble maker when he was dealing there.  I asked him which one, but the answer was provided instantly.  The trouble-making player was asked (or perhaps, “ordered” would be more accurate) to change tables and he took the just opened seat at our game.

You could tell by his demeanor that he was still upset, and he was complaining to the floor person about the guy he had gotten into it with.  This guy was covered in tattoos.  He really didn’t look like the type of guy you’d want to mess with.

Actually, she looks nothing like the guy in the story

He had a stack of somewhat less than $100 when he came over.  He open-shoved his first two hands and no one called him.  When he did it the third time in a row, he got a caller—someone with a shorter stack than he had.  The guy had a decent pocket pair, not sure what it was.  The maniac had deuce-four.  The flop had a deuce on it, and then the turn and the river were runner-runner deuces giving the maniac Quads.

He opened shoved again the very next hand and a guy who had him covered called him with Ace-King.  There was an Ace on the flop.  But a 3 on the turn and a 5 on the river gave the guy a straight! 

He had just shoved preflop twice in a row with deuce-four and caught huge hands with both times to win as the big underdog.

Well, deuce-four is the most powerful hand in poker.

The very next hand, he raised again preflop, this time not a shove (by now he had too many chips for that).  He flopped a pair and a straight draw and played it aggressively, of course, and got it all in on the flop or the turn.  He did hit is straight but ran into a full house and lost his entire stack.  Guy should have known by then not to play anything but deuce-four.

Actually, I seriously doubt the guy knew the power of the mighty deuce-four.  He didn’t look like much of a reader.  I’d be surprised if he had ever heard of Poker Grump.