Forgiven

Forgiveness is supposed to be good for the soul, right?  I mean, for the forgiver, not the forgiven.

On this night I got to tell someone that I forgave them.

It was fairly loose 1/2 game.  There was a guy in seat 7 who liked to open-raise to $25-$30.  The guy in seat 8 liked to call the guy in seat 7’s open raises.  Seat 7 was a maniac, but seat 8 was just a pretty bad player.  Speaking of bad players, I was in seat 9.

Early on I raised with pocket Jacks, got a few callers and hated the flop, Ace-King-King.  My c-bet was called by two players.  I folded to a big turn bet.

A bit later, after donking off more chips, I called a $10 raise with pocket 9’s.  I hit my set on a very wet board (Jack-9-8, two clubs).  No one called my flop bet.

Then “BSC dealer” came to the table.  To deal, not to play.  You last met BSC Dealer in the post here.  He’s the guy who, while playing, cracked my dreaded pocket Kings with King-Jack (two Jacks on the flop).  I just reread that post and realized I hadn’t mentioned in there that when BSC Dealer left the game (to start his work shift), I told the current dealer at my table what had happened and that I was never going to forgive him—or ever tip him again, for that matter.  The dealer, a nice woman, said she totally understood and didn’t blame me.  Anyway, whenever I see BSC Dealer, the first thing I think about is that damn hand where he cracked my Kings with King-Jack.  The first thing, the last thing, and the only thing.  Not that I hold a grudge or anything.

He dealt me pocket 7’s.  Seat 7 sat this one out but seat 8 raised to $11.  I called, as did one other player.  By now I had seen Seat 8 make a few crazy bluffs and bet really big on the later streets.  It was hard to put him on a range.  I think “any two cards” may have been his range.  Just a little earlier he had been talking on the phone to someone (wife?  girlfriend?)  about quitting the game and joining her back in the room for some room service.  He said something about losing all his money first, making it almost sound as he was eager to lose his stack so he could leave the table without having to cash out.  A bad player eager to lose his money?  What could go wrong?

The flop was King-Jack-9, rainbow.  And seat 8 led out for $20.  I was about to fold and then I reconsidered.  I was pretty sure he was betting with air.  Based on his play, if that was the case, he might not barrel again.  Or he might shove with his air. I just decided to take a flier and call the twenty bucks.  Let’s see what he does on the turn, I thought.  If I can get to a showdown cheap, my 7’s might be good.  Note: He wasn’t always playing like a guy trying to lose his stack.  He did fold, he did check. His play was erratic.

The other guy folded and BSC dealer put the turn card out.  It was a 7.  He led out for $50.  I knew 10-8 was in his range but that seemed so unlikely.  Besides, I’m not folding a set there.  I was down to $111 when the hand started, and I already intended to buy more chips when the button came to me.  So I put my remaining $80 stack out.

Now, I was using my PokerAtlas card protector, as always.  You can see a pic of it here.  Notice the $25K denomination on it?  Now, I actually have no idea why it says that.  I get teased about it all the time, people asking me as a joke if that’s really a $25K chip.  I guess that’s maybe why it’s on there, it’s a nice conversation starter.  But this guy looked at it and tried to raise.  Even though I had put all my (real) chips out and had said “all-in.”  He said, “I want to raise,” and when told I was all-in, he said, “Well look, he’s got $25,000 in front of him.  I want to raise. “ He had me covered by a couple of hundred but I actually think I noticed him start to reach into his pocket to get more chips.

He was told that it was not a real chip and he couldn’t raise.  He reluctantly just called, which was all he could do.  Now, I have to admit, this was a rather strange guy, and he was probably joking.  But I can’t be sure.  I didn’t really hear him say anything funny to this point, and it is entirely possible he was serious.  He might also have been kind of dumb.  I dunno.

As soon as he was convinced he couldn’t bet any more, he immediately flipped over his hand, 10-8, offsuit.  Sure enough, the 7 that made my set made his straight.  Ugh.

I didn’t show my hand.  So BSC dealer put out the river card.  It was a very handsome looking King, giving me the full house.  Very nice, Mr. BSC dealer, very nice indeed.

Before I made any indication that I would tip him, I said, “BD, that was great.  Your remember the time you cracked my Kings with King-Jack? “

He didn’t remember at first.  Makes sense, a hand like that, the loser of it remembers it much better than the winner of it—especially if the loser of it is me and the hand I held was pocket Kings.

He strained his brain and said, “That was a long time ago….that was last year.”  Well true, but it was less than four months ago at the time. Is that a long time?  “I’d totally forgotten about that.”  You mean he wouldn’t have known why I wasn’t tipping him?  Actually though, this was the first time he’d pushed me a pot since then (he only deals part-time).

I said, “Well I sure haven’t forgotten.   I’ll take that to my grave.  But now, you’re forgiven.” And with that I gave him a tip, and I tipped a little extra.  He laughed and thanked me.

Then he gave a drawing ticket for the boat and said, “Well I hope you win, so you’ll definitely forgive me.”

After BSC Dealer left, the new dealer gave me King-Jack suited.  I called a raise to $6.  I was paying homage to my new best bud, BSC Dealer, by playing the hand he played to crack my Kings.  The flop was Queen-Jack-10, two of a suit I didn’t have. It was checked around (three-ways).  Another Jack (off-suit) hit the turn, I bet $10, next guy made it $40 and the last guy called.  I didn’t like my hand tpo much then, thinking I was probably behind a straight or a boat if not both.  But for only $30 to close the action, I called.  An Ace hit the river, giving me Broadway, but I still feared the boat.  The first guy had Jack-8, the second guy had 10-9.  So I was happy to take down that one, and a bit surprised.

Those were the only memorable hands from the session.  I lost some money the usual way and also lost a bit calling some guy with a bluff-catcher, when it turned out he wasn’t bluffing.

I ended up around $75 ahead and have one less unsettled grudge to hold.