The Unlikely Nit

This was another night of unsuccessful poker from my last Vegas trip. The session produced two interesting hands,

After about two hours, the only pot I had dragged in was a chopped one.  Somehow, I still had about $160 of my $200 buy-in.  Yeah, I was that card-dead.  The guy on my immediate left was an aggro German (redundant?).  More annoying than his aggression was the fact that he was coughing a lot.  At least we were separated by the dealer.  I was about to get up and ask for a table change when this hand happened.

I limped in with pocket 2’s. It was four-way, including the German.  The flop was 7-5-2, two clubs. I bet $8 and the German made it $20 and it folded back to me.  I decided to just call.  Based on his play, I had every reason to believe he would do the betting for me the rest of the way.  He might have been semi-bluffing with the flush draw, but I thought that was unlikely.  A blank hit the turn, I checked and he put out $31, which I called.  Maybe that was the time to get it all in?  I dunno, but it wouldn’t have mattered in this case.  The river was another 7, which I thought I liked. I checked, confident the German would bet.   I was right, he put out $58.  Of course I shoved my last $120 or so.  He snapped called and flipped over 7-5 off suit.  Ugh. I was ahead the whole way until he rivered a bigger boat than I did. 

I bought another $200, and was still thinking of asking for that table change when my German friend took a break.  I figured I hang around until the German and his cough came back.  Well, he was gone for a good 45-minutes and when he came back, he racked up his chips without playing a hand.  I wasn’t sorry to see him go, but seriously, I hope there is a special place in Hell for people who do that, tie up a seat for any length of time and then come back and leave without playing again.  Why the hell didn’t he just take his chips and leave the seat available in the first place?  That is just so damn rude.

Then suddenly there was brief period where I actually got some cards—and won nothing.  I had pocket 9’s, raised, and no one called.  Same thing happened a few hands later when I had pocket Queens.  Just a few hands later I got pocket Queens again.  I was in the small blind, it folded to me, so we chopped.  And then my “rush” was over.  That’s how I was running, folks.

Then came the strangest hand ever.  I had Jack-10 of clubs in the big blind.  There was no raise.  I repeat, there was no raise. There were four of us seeing the flop, including an Asian fellow on the button. He was fairly new to the table and hadn’t made an impression on me yet.  But to repeat, he was Asian and he limped in from the button.

The flop was 7-7-3, rainbow.  No one bet.  Again, that includes the Asian who limped in on the button.  A Jack hit the turn, so I led out for $6. It folded to the button, who was the Asian guy who had limped in from there, and he called. The river was a blank. I bet $10.  He called. I showed my hand.  He said, “No, you needed a 7.”  And flipped over his pocket Aces.

WTF?  An Asian who limped in with pocket Aces from the button?  And didn’t bet a flop like that? I won’t even get into his passive play on the turn and the river (since he let me get there so cheaply, he might have been worried that I caught something bigger than his overpair). I just couldn’t believe it.  He didn’t seem like he was a new player, he wasn’t that old, it just totally baffled me that he could play that so nitily.  Wow.  I think I almost fainted when I saw his Aces.  I would only expect play like that from a really old geezer playing in a locals room.

Did I mention he was an Asian?  Not that I’m stereotyping or anything.  I would never do that.

But yeah, he was Asian.

I did manage to win a few dinky pots after that.  One of them was when there were four limpers in front of me and I had Aces in late position.  I made it $16 and everyone folded.

It was just another bad session during a trip with an unusual number of them.

Did I mention the Asian guy who limped on the button with pocket Aces…….