Brutal

First hand of the 1/2 game at MGM.  I was dealt pocket Queens.  I raised, only one player called.  The flop was all low, my continuation bet took the pot. 

Easy game.

Folded some garbage the next hand, and then, third hand of the night, I looked down at pocket 10’s.  I am under-the-gun plus 1.  The big blind was a lady I recognized.  She had straddled the hand before and then forgot to put out her big blind on this current hand, so, thinking she was first to act, she tried to raise to $6.  The dealer corrected her and then she put out her big blind instead.  UTG folded.

I couldn’t remember exactly where I recognized the lady.  She seemed to know the dealers and the staff, but I swear, she didn’t seem like a regular in this room.  I suspected I knew from someplace else.  I think she might even be a dealer in another room.  But from the straddle, the under-the-gun raise attempt, and my vague recollection, I knew she was aggressive.  I therefore knew that if it limped to her, she would raise.  Since I didn’t have a feel for anyone at the table yet, I just limped in with my 10’s.  These days, I’m actually raising there more often than not.

But sure enough it was raised to $10 by the button.  The aggro big blind just called, as did I.  All told, five of us saw the flop.  Said flop was 10-9-8, two hearts.  Kind of a wet board.

The big blind led out for $20, kind of a small bet for the pot.  The action was on me with three to act after and already a big pot building.  There was no way I was going to slowplay this one.  I put out $80. 

So the guy in the hijack seat, with a huge stack, $400-$500 at least, announced, “all-in.”  It folded back to me.

I had about $120 left; there was no way I could fold, right?  I was hoping it was a set-over-set situation.  Perhaps he had one of the many draws out there.  I didn’t think he had flopped a straight, although Queen-Jack was certainly a possibility.  At this point though, I had no read on this guy.  Anyway, I called. I didn’t think I wanted to see a heart or a straight card, but I was hoping for the board to pair so I didn’t have to worry.

No such luck. I remember a King of hearts, which would have scared me except the villain said, “Oh no, did that hurt me?  That must have hurt me.”  The river was a blank.  And so as I showed my pocket 10’s, he turned over Jack-7.

Jack-7. 

Offsuit.

Yeah, he flopped the straight.  He limped in with Jack-7 off, and called a raise with it.

Brutal.

I took out another $200 and re-bought.  It didn’t take me long to figure out that the guy who won that pot was both aggressive and drunk.  He raised a lot and limped in when he didn’t raise.  If it was raised in front of him he almost always called.  And he usually bet big, often over-betting after the flop.  One thing he didn’t do much—if at all—was fold preflop.  Honestly, I can’t remember a flop he didn’t see.

Less than 20 minutes later, with my stack still around $200, I was dealt 9-8 clubs.  Although most pots were raised pre at this table, there hadn’t been a lot of three-betting. I figured someone was going to raise this hand and it might as well be me.  (Note, I’m almost always betting suited connectors now, unless they’re really low).

I made it $11 and four players called.  Yeah, it was that kind of table.  The Jack-7 guy from the earlier hand was one of the callers, of course.  So was the guy to my right, who also had a big stack, a lot bigger than mine.

The flop was 7-6-2, rainbow.  What’s the right move here?  Usually, I don’t bet my draws.  But that’s if I’ve limped in, or if someone else had raised.  This hand I had raised preflop, so I wanted to make a continuation-bet, right?  But…..do you c-bet with nothing (but a great draw) five-handed?

Well I did. I put out $30.  It folded to drunk/aggro/Jack-7 guy.  He raised to $100.  Now, I knew by now that he could be betting there with almost anything.  Top pair, overpair, draw.  Probably not a naked bluff though, not with so many in the hand.  As I was thinking about my action, it folded to the guy to my right, who thought for a bit and announced “all-in.”

Shit.  As I said, he had me covered.  So did Jack-7 guy.  At this point, I was as sure as I could possibly be that Jack-7 guy would call the all-in, whether I called or folded.  So we were looking at a huge pot and I had the draw to the nut straight.  After the $30 I had already bet, I had about $155 left. If I was right about the other guy calling, the pot, at least for me, would be $545 if I called off my stack.  I was getting more than 3 to 1 for my call, with two cards to come. The rainbow flop made me less scared of a flush.  The draw was to the top end of the straight, not the bottom end.  I might have thought twice if it was bottom end.

There was nothing to do but call, right? 

I called.

No one showed.  I didn’t get any help with the next two cards.  No straight for me.  The guy to my right showed pocket 7’s for top set.  Jack-7 guy didn’t show when he saw the guy’s set.

I had lost two buy-ins in less than half an hour.

Brutal.

Ordinarily, I would have called it a very early night.  However, on this night, Prudence, Lightning, Nick and Alysia Chang were all in the poker room with me.  So, you know, I had to be sociable.  I bought in for a third time.

In fact, the table, as wild as it was, and with Jack-7 guy still there, getting drunker and drunker, it was probably wise to stay. I should have been able to get my money back, or at least some of it. Jack-7 guy stopped running so good and began distributing chips back to the other players.

But not to me.  I was totally card dead for the next couple of hours. I played some extra hands to try to catch something. Couldn’t.  I eeked out a few small pots and managed to keep all but $25 from my third buy-in.

It was a brutal night.