With A Little Bit O' Luck

Well, maybe just a tad more than a little bit.

My most recent session in Ventura wasn't going so well.  Another session where I was totally card dead.  Up to this point I had had a total of two pocket pairs.  Both times it was pocket 7's.  BTW, is it just me or does it seem like whenever you get so few pocket pairs that you notice how few it is, they always seem to be the same pocket pair?  Anyway, those two hands didn't pan out.  I never saw Ace-King or Ace-Queen or any big cards where I could play them.  No suited connectors (well, I think I might have gotten 3-2 suited under-the-gun once). 

I did manage to win a very small pot early when I was in the big blind and no one raised.  My King-9 caught a 9-2-2 flop.  I bet something and didn't get a call, even tho six of us saw that flop.

But that was it.

So after a several hours, I was about ready to call it a day.  The table at my 2/3 game had started off fairly juicy, with a few aggros putting chips into play.  I never had anything to battle them with.  Then the aggros left and the game got dull.  A lot of chopping the blinds.  We were short for awhile but another game broke and we got a player from that table.

That new player had a short stack, around $55-$60.  For the first few hands, he shoved every time he entered a pot.  After a few times doing this, he managed to get enough chips so he started playing more seriously.  He got his stack close to $100 and then up over $100 when this hand happened. 

I had decided to play no more than another two orbits after posting my blinds.  And on the button I looked down at a couple of Aces.  Finally a pocket pair.  And it wasn't any damn 7's, either.

The fellow I just mentioned who came to the table shoving his short stack was under-the-gun, and raised to $15. By now his stack was over $100, but not much over.  After a few folds another guy called the $15.  His stack was over $300.  It came to me, and I was sitting behind around $220 at this point (down from my $300 buy-in).  I made it $60, which I thought was the right size.  My assumption was the initial raiser didn't have enough to call, he'd either shove or fold.  And my money was on shoving.  Since he had stopped open-shoving, it didn't appear to me that he was opening light.  I couldn't imagine him having a hand good enough to raise with that he would let go easily, especially since he had demonstrated a willingness to put his chips in play.

The guy on my left, the small blind, had me covered at least three times over  He had been one of the aggros when the other aggros were there, but once the others left he had been fairly quiet.  So I was a bit surprised when he cold called a $60 from the tightest player at the table. 

Now it was back to the initial raiser, who did what I expected and shoved.  The other guy folded instantly.  It was back to me. I asked for a count of the shove, and it was $111.  I thought that was enough for me to be able to raise, but I have to say, I've seen some weird rules interpretations in this room (really all CA card rooms) so I asked if I could raise.  The dealer did some math and told me I could indeed raise.  No one at the table objected.  In fact, the guy behind me, who had called me, actually said "yes" to my question before the dealer did.  Hmm….maybe he wanted me to raise?  Did he have Kings perhaps (or, a long shot, the other two Aces?)

Anyone think I should have just flatted there?  It didn't make sense to me.  And I couldn't really raise without shoving.  "All-in," I announced.

The guy on my left spent a good bit of time in the tank.  Finally he said, "I know you've got me beat," and reluctantly folded.  He did, however, show his hand.  Pocket 10's. I was thinking his initial call of my $60 kind of sucked, but what do I know?  I was grateful for the dead money.

The dealer put out the flop.  It was Jack-high, two fairly low cards.  At which point the other guy flipped over his hand.  Two Jacks. Yuck.

Fortunately I didn't have much time to dwell on my misfortune because the dealer quickly put out the turn card, which was a beautiful, gorgeous, smokin' hot Ace.  The river card was something or other.  I had started to turn my hand over at the sight of the Ace but I don't think I beat the dealer to putting out the river card.  Anyway, the guy with the Jacks groaned, I said something  like "Gee,"—you know to indicate that I was at least acknowledging my good fortune (after his initial good fortune).

Then the guy said, "One more Jack…..jackpot."  Huh?  Then I realized what he meant.  "And you would have had the bigger share, with the losing hand."  Yes indeed. The minimum hand needed to be beaten to qualify for the bad beat jackpot here (and in the other CA rooms I've played in) is Aces full of Jacks. Had he caught his one-outer to taken the pot from me, I would have been very happy.  The BBJ was worth $15K.  So I would have gotten a tasty $7,500.  He would have gotten $3,750. and the rest of the table would have split the rest.

Ordinarily I wouldn't even mention it, but this was probably the closest I've ever come to actually hitting a BBJ. And it was all set up for it too.  All that was missing was the case Jack.  Hey, it was only a 1-in-42 chance (counting the fact that we'd seen two 10's in addition to our own hands.  That's a better chance than I usually have, right?

Oh well, winning the pot with a little bit o' luck and turning a losing session into a profitable one would have to do.

I played another two orbits, just as I had planned, and called it day.  I cashed out up $92.