He Had a Horseshoe Implanted Up His...

This was a fun session from the beginning of my second week in Vegas in June.  And by "fun" I mean I had a profitable session (even if ever so slightly).  But it was also fun because Lightning was there.  This was the early part of his week long Vegas visit and the first time I'd seen him during it.  You can read about this session and his entire trip beginning here.  At least, that's his version.  Wherever our stories overlap and possibly conflict, you can always count on my version to be the accurate one.  Also making an appearance was Lightning's pal Mike an old-time poker blogger.  I ran into Mike a number of times during that week but I think we only played one hand against each other the entire time.

Now Lightning had been tweeting and texting about his good fortune ever since he had arrived in town. He seemed to dragging monster pots every few minutes. I heard a rumor that Bally's had to send out for more bills when he cashed out after his last session. One of his stories was that he had flopped a set of Aces and had two aggros push all-in against him.

Now I had gotten to the Mirage before him and he was sent to a different table but transferred over to mine before he had played much at the other one.  In fact I'm not sure if he had even taken a hand.  So on his first hand at the table, after the guy on my left opened to $15 and another player called, Lightning three-bet.  In his blog post he said he made it $40 but my voice notes say $60, so not sure how much but the guy called.  The flop was 10-high, he checked, Lightning bet $60, the guy check-shoved, Lightning confidently called and flipped over pocket Aces, only to see the guy flip over pocket 10's for top set.  Lightning said, "That's not good."

But of course, the turn was an Ace!  And the river was a blank and Lightning had a double up on his very first hand.

Seriously, who gets Aces on his very first hand of a session?  And then, who turns a set of Aces after getting all the money when he's behind on the flop?  And who gets a double-up on his very first hand?

As he was stacking his chips, I tweeted, "Playing @MiragePoker with @Lightning36. Since I last saw him, he's had a horseshoe implanted up his ass."

It was kind of a wild table, especially at the beginning.  There were these two guys  who I think were from England, both extremely aggro.  They appeared to be buddies and they liked to play at each other.  If they were both in a hand the pot would get huge.  Also the guy who hit the set of 10's against Lighting was aggro.  As such there were a lot of big pots and all lot of all-in pots.  I was mostly a spectator for this as I was card-dead.  And the big raises and re-raises kept me from playing more marginal hands that maybe I would have played at a different table. 

One hand that got my attention before Lightning joined me was a hand where the two Brits got it all in on the flop (maybe it was the turn) and all they each had was top pair, which was an Ace.  One guy had a King kicker to win it, the other guy showed an Ace but didn't show his other card.  There were no good draws and the two stacks were both $200 or more.

I had pocket Jacks and one of the aggros made it $10, I called and four of us saw the flop. It was Ace-Queen-x and it checked around.  The turn was a blank and this time I bet $20, only the aggro who raised preflop called.  The river was another blank, I checked and he checked.  My Jacks were good and he said he missed his draw.

I limped with pocket 6's, there was no raise and four of us saw the flop, which was 6-4-2.  I bet $8 and someone made it $16.  I just called not wanting to scare him off. It was now heads up.  The turn was a deuce giving me a boat.  I checked, expecting him to bet so I could check-raise but he checked behind.  I bet $25 on a blank river but he folded.

I called $12 with pocket 7's and it was heads up.  The flop was Jack-7-x, two clubs.  He c-bet $15 and I made it $40.  He folded pocket 9's face up.

By the way, although these last two hands were one right after the other in my notes, I'm pretty sure there was a fairly long time between them.  I didn't flop sets that close together..

I limped in from late position with 7-6 clubs.  The flop was 10-7-6.  Lightning led out for $5 and Mike called.  I made it $20 and they both folded.

I raised to $8 with Ace-Queen and saw a pretty favorable but scary flop, Ace-Queen-Jack.  I bet $20 and nobody called.

There was one good hand—probably my favorite hand of the night—that got lost in my notes.  When I was recording my voice notes the next day, I realized most of the details were missing.  Haven't had that happen in awhile, I am thinking that somehow I highlighted my notes for it and wrote over them. This was one of the early hands at the table. So I don't have the details but I called a raise from one of the aggros with pocket Jacks, it was multi-way (including Lightning).  The flop was Queen-Queen-x and there was no betting.  No betting on a King turn either.  On the river I think there were three spades or three clubs in addition to the overcards.  This time the aggro bet $27 and my inclination was to fold since there were so many ways I could be beat.  Lightning folded and I started thinking more and more about it.  I realized he didn't have a Queen, he would have bet earlier streets. I decided there was a decent chance my Jacks were good and I called.  He said, "I hope you have nothing, Ace-high."  He showed an Ace.  I showed my Jacks to take the pot and got a few "nice calls" from various players.  I wish I had complete details because as I am recreating it now it doesn't seem like such a tough call.

Anyway, I had to take off and call it a night.  I ended up booking a $50 win, not much but it broke a losing streak.  It was only $50 because the aggros made it expensive to play drawing cards. So I was happy grinding out the small win, unlike Lightning who had the horseshoe right where he needed it.