I Was Rude to Mike Sexton

The Aria WPT 500 2016
(Part 2 of 3)

Continuing where we left off (you can find Part 1 here.)….

Two more items before I get to my own tournament hands.  First, during the first or second level, they announced that they were giving away “Aria WPT 500” t-shirts.  I definitely wanted one.  Last year they had given me one when I registered, and then, in my funk after busting out so unceremoniously, I had somehow managed to drop it somewhere getting back to my car, never to be found again.  So I definitely wanted to get one (and keep it) this time.

They had a table where several women were handing out the t-shirts, you just needed to show up there with your tournament receipt to claim one.  I didn’t want to wait to the break, I wasn’t sure they’d last that long.  So I tried to make a mad dash over there between hands.  The trouble was that the tournament area was really crowded and the tables were rather jammed together.  I snaked my way through the tables, having to say “excuse me” on more than one occasion to people I bumped into, and then just as I got to the table, I noticed a  man just standing there, seemingly blocking my way, not doing anything, not talking to anyone, just there doing nothing as far as I could tell.  He was wearing a suit but I only saw him from the back. I needed to get around him to get my shirt, and I was in a hurry so I wouldn’t miss any hands.  So I said, loudly enough to get his attention, “Excuse me.”

He still had his back to me and I heard him say, “I’m sorry, am I blocking you?”  Gulp, even before he turned around, I realized the voice sounded extremely familiar.  Was it…oh damn, yes it was.  And as I got a good look at him as he starting facing me, I realized I had just been rude to the legendary Mike Sexton.  Damn.

I was rather flummoxed and so all I could say was, “Oh, Mr. Sexton, I’m very sorry.  It’s a pleasure to meet you.”  And I stuck out my hand and he shook it.  I’m sure he said something polite back to me, but I was too embarrassed to remember.  But he wasn’t at all annoyed with my asking him to move and for that brief nano-second, he seemed like a really nice guy. And he did move out of my way. He had done the “Shuffle up and deal” to get things underway and I recalled that he had played in Day 1A the day before.  I got my shirt and squeezed my way back to my seat.  Spoiler warning:  This time I didn’t lose my shirt (so-to-speak) and I was able to bring it back home with me.  A small victory.

The other thing was, during that first level, I heard a player ask if he could order food and he was told they weren’t serving food in the tournament area. Of course, in the Aria poker room, they serve food and have beverage trays for use.  But it wasn’t surprising they weren’t serving food in the tournament area, since as I just mentioned, the tables were crammed together pretty good and there was no room for food carts—or beverage trays.  So let’s see, a tournament that started at 10AM and there was basically no way to get food (like breakfast and/or lunch) without missing a lot of time during the actual tournament play.  There is no way you can get and eat food sold at the Aria during just a 10-minute break.  And if you got food and brought it back to the tournament area, there wasn’t really any place to put the food to eat!  Of course, I was prepared with my sandwich from home which I managed to stuff down my throat during the first break of the tournament.

So, on to the poker.  The starting stack was $15K, the levels were 30 minutes (increased to 40-minutes starting with level 9) and the starting blinds to start were 25/50.

I limped in with pocket 6’s and then called a raise to $200.  It was heads up with one of the blinds.  The flop was King-Queen-x.  He bet $250.  It was early, I had my full stack, and I decided to just float one street to see if maybe he’d give up if after the flop.  So I called.  I folded on the turn, an Ace, to a big bet.

I called $125 on the button with Queen-Jack, it was four-way.  I flopped a gut-shot and it checked around.  I hit my straight on the turn, bet $300 and took it.

I completed from the small blind with King-6 of hearts.   It was four-way.  The flop was King-high, I bet $150, one caller.  I bet $300 on a blank turn and didn’t get a call.

That got me to the second level (50/100) with about the starting stack.

It folded to me on the button and I raised to $250 with King-Jack of spades.  Both blinds called. The flop was Queen-Jack-4, two hearts, one spade.  I bet $500 and had one caller—the Bastard who busted Lacey.  The turn was the second spade and I bet $2K, he called.  The river was a third heart. 

My thought was that my Jack probably wasn’t good—he had at least a Queen—but that if I bet, it would look like I caught my flush. He might have caught a bigger flush, sure, but if he didn’t, he’d probably have to fold, fearing the flush.  By this time he’d seen that I wasn’t playing many hands—as opposed to him, who had played most hands and also played them aggressively.  He had certainly used the stack he’d gotten from Lacey to attempt to bully us, but I could tell aggression was his style anyway.  Even before he’d busted her, he was showing signs of being the biggest aggro at the table.

But he was definitely the kind of player who would have a read on me—and have read me as a nit.  Is a nit betting there with a weak or marginal hand?  I was thinking he would not think so.  So, I confidently put out $3,500.  He tanked for a long time.  I was starting to think my play had worked, but then he finally said, “Call.”  Damn.  It turned out he had flopped a set of 4’s.

I tried to figure out where I went wrong there—if indeed I had.  I didn’t realize he was so strong, but even so, with his big stack, is he folding any hand he has with showdown value to a $3,500 bet (he had over $30K to start the hand).  Maybe I should have bet more?  Or maybe I shouldn’t have gotten cute at all and just checked?  Maybe my play was ok and I just got unlucky because the flop hit him so hard?

That was a significant hit to my stack.  By this time I had seen how all these “TV pros” had played and I was starting to feel a little intimidated.  There was lots of aggression at the table, a lot more than I’m used to at my regular $125 tournaments.  Last year at this event, I didn’t really feel anyone was better than the usual players I see at the tournaments I usually play.  Now I was suddenly feeling that everyone there was a whole lot better than I was.  I suppose the comment the guy on my right had made about everyone being some kind of pro was affecting my thinking too.  I was starting to feel like I had thrown nearly $600 away and that I was in way over my head.

I raised to $250 with Queen-10 clubs, it was four-way.  It was a low flop and when it checked to me, I decided to c-bet, I made it $750.  The bastard called and then another guy made it $4,300.  I folded and only felt worse about my chances.  What the hell was I doing there?  Why was I c-betting a flop when it was four-way?  I almost never do that.  Ugh.

I limped into level 3 (25/75/150) with $7,700.  I felt so short-stacked I folded pocket 4’s to a raise to $350.  In fact, I wasn’t really all that short-stacked yet, I guess I was just mentally in a bad place right then.  Naturally, if I had called I would have flopped a set.  That didn’t make me feel any better, obviously.  In my mind I was already thinking I wasn’t going to make it to the first break—I had packed a lunch for nothing.

I tightened my range.  Only hand I played in that level was Ace-Queen.  I opened to $550 from under-the-gun and didn’t get a call.

Down to $7,400 at level 4 (25/100/200).  I looked down at pocket Aces.  It was raised to $550 in front of me.  I made it $1,300. It folded to the original raiser who called.  The flop was Jack-high, he checked, and I just shoved.  I just had no confidence in my ability to play the hand if I had bet smaller and gotten a call.  And he instantly mucked.

During the break, while I was gobbling up my lunch, I tried to give myself a pep talk to build my confidence.  It worked somewhat.  The trouble was I was heading back to level 5 (50/150/300) with only $8.600, which I felt did not leave me any margin for error.

On the button with Ace-King, there was a raise to $700 and a call.  I went all-in and took it down.

That hand seemed to help me out mentally quite a bit, I’m not sure why.  With King-Jack of clubs on the button, I made it $1,100 after one limper.  Only the limper called. The flop was Jack-high, two spades.  I bet $1,600, he called.  The turn was a third spade and I bet $2,500.  He called.  The river was a blank and this time I checked behind him.  He mucked when he saw my Jack.

Level 6 (50/200/400), $16K. I opened to $1,100 with Ace-10, there were two callers.  The flop was 9-9-2, two clubs.  I c-bet $2K and took it.

Level 7 (75/250/500), $17K. In the big blind, I had 8-4 off.  It was raised to $1,200.  There were a few callers so I decided to call there and try for the miracle flop.  It didn’t happen and I folded on the flop.

After a limper, I made it $1,700 with Queen-Jack. Only the limper called.  The flop was Ace-Jack-x.  I bet $2,500 and he called.  I checked a blank turn.  The river was also a blank and I folded to a big bet.

That got me to level 8 (75/300/600) with just $10,600.  I opened to $1,600 with pocket 8’s and had two callers.  The flop was Queen-high.  I shoved.  No call.

From middle position I opened to $1,600 with Jack-9 off.  Two callers.  The flop was 9-high and I bet $3K.  No call.

Back to around $16k for level 9 (100/400/800).  I opened to $2K with pocket 7’s, and folded to a three-bet from the Bastard ($5,500).  Then I opened to $2K again with Queen-9 and same guy three-bet me again and I folded again. Grr.

Figuring that I was down to just one move, I open shoved from the cut-off with King-10 and took it.

Level 10 (100/500/1000), $9,400.  I open-shoved from the cutoff with 9-8 of clubs, no call.

Then, the second most aggressive player at the table (after the Bastard) raised to $2,500.  I had Ace-Jack of diamonds.  I shoved.  He called, we flipped over our cards.  He had pocket 6’s.  Of course he had me covered by a ton.  As precariously as I had been hanging on all this time, this was the first time I was actually in an all-in situation for my tournament life.  The suspense was over early.  There were only three diamonds on the flop!  Sweet.  He did not go runner-runner boat to suck out on me. In fact, the turn card was another diamond, just for over-kill. It was a desperately needed double up.  As it happens, this player was the most unpleasant person at the table, a fairly nasty guy.  Earlier, he had refused to be the person who bought up all the green ($25) chips when they did the color up.  So besting him there was a win-win.

With some chips to play with, I raised to $2,500 with Ace-Queen.  One caller, an Asian lady.  The flop was all low, two spades. My c-bet of $3,500 was called.  The turn was a Jack.  With nothing, I checked.  She made a big bet and of course I folded.  She politely showed me King-Jack of spades.

And we leave Part 2 there, we will conclude the story next time, starting with one of the most incredible hands I’ve ever been a part of.  And you can find part 3 here..

Beauty & The Bastard

The Aria WPT 500 2016

(Part 1 of 3)

And we return to my recap of the tournaments I played while in Vegas last time.  This time we are up to the WPT 500 at the Aria.

I was really looking forward to this one—so much so that I planned my entire trip around it.  Then, when I found out that it had the ungodly starting time of 10AM—yes 10AM!!!—I got over all my personal objections to playing a tournament with that ridiculous starting time and arranged to play in it.  For more details about my thought process, see my post here.

I had played in the event last year and I really like the format and structure.  I thought I did well in it, and despite the high (for me) buy-in, felt like I was on my way to cashing in it when, right before the dinner break, I had my Aces cracked by a set of Jacks.  It was all-in preflop and you can read about it here.  I didn’t think the competition I faced was any better than what I regularly face when I play my normal $125 tournaments in Vegas, so I really figured I had a reasonable chance of cashing.

As I mentioned in my last tourney recap (here), I made a last minute decision to play the Golden Nugget $150 tourney on Sunday, the day before I planned to play at Aria, which was Flight 1A of the WPT 500.  Well, as per my original plan, when I made it past the dinner break that Sunday night at GN, I knew I would skip Flight 1A on Monday and play Flight 1B on Tuesday instead.

Knowing I had to be up bright and early on Tuesday, I decided not to play any poker at all the day before.  So Monday I worked all day and only went out in the evening to grab some dinner and buy my entry into the tournament for the next day.

Since the start time of the flight was so damn early, I sure didn’t want to have to get to the Aria even earlier just to buy my way in before the event started.  Last year, when it started at Noon, I got there at least 20-minutes early and had to wait in a long line, and missed a few hands. Not this year. I wanted that seat ticket in my hand before I got to Aria on Tuesday morning.

I figured I’d kill two birds with one stone and use this as an opportunity to try out the new burger place that Aria had opened right next to the poker room.  It’s called the Burger Lounge and it’s kind of a fancy/schmancy fast food burger joint.  It’s very pricey for what you get (thank goodness I had Aria poker comps to use), partly due to the fact that it’s in the Aria and partly due to the supposedly healthier meat they use.  They advertise “grass-fed burgers.”  I assume that the French fries come from meat-fed potatoes. 

Well, it’s pretty good but I actually ordered the wrong burger, because mine came without pickles (after the incident described here, I’m so beaten down I often don’t even bother to order “extra” pickles and onions).  I could have ordered a similar burger for the same price that came with pickles and I just didn’t read the menu properly.  Despite that, it was actually a very tasty burger.  Next time, I will not only order the right burger but I’ll order the double, because honestly, the burger barely looked bigger than a regular McDonald’s burger.  And at that, it was $10 for the thing.  Another $3 to get an extra patty is therefore a bargain.

I ventured over to the tournament area.  It was in a different location from last year and I wanted to make sure I could find it easily the next morning.  And once I saw it, I knew instantly why they had moved the time for this tournament from Noon to 10AM.  There were significantly fewer tables in the tournament area than there were last year—or the year before.  In fact, last year I recalled that for the last few Day 1 flights of the WPT 500, they even brought in more tables to accommodate the crowds (I did mention this in last year’s post).

But with only like 20 or so added tables, it only made sense to start early, before the cash games got really busy, and so they could free up tables for cash games earlier in the day.  The Aria cash games are crazy popular this time of the year, and they would lose a significant amount of business if the tournament extended two hours longer into the night.

Now, the great people who run the Aria poker room are too professional to complain to me (or anyone else) about this.  So this comment is not based on anything I heard from them, and comes strictly from my own knowledge of the poker & casino business.  But if I were a betting man, I would bet that the Aria poker folks were less than pleased with the number of tables the casino was willing to allot for them for the Aria Classic and the WPT 500.  It’s so sad that even a great and important poker room like the Aria can’t get the consideration it deserves from upper casino management. 

The limited number of tables for the event also explains the reduction in the guaranteed prize pool.  Last year it was $2MM and this year it was only $1MM.  They just couldn’t be sure they would have enough tables to meet a $2MM guarantee.  In fact, they didn’t quite reach $2MM for the event, but the WPT itself generously donated some money to round off the final prize pool at $2MM.

I bought my way in and then headed back to my room to rest up, relax, and retire early for the big day tomorrow.  Because I actually had to set my alarm to wake up the next day to play poker in Vegas.  Yeah, I set my alarm to wake up earlier enough to play poker.  In Vegas.  Outrageous.

But set it I did and I got up early that Tuesday.  I had to make my lunch to bring with me to consume during the first break.  I packed a sandwich, a few bags of peanuts and some Kind bars in case I need all that. And I got to the Aria in plenty of time for the 10AM start.  I wasn’t fully awake, but I was there.

The structure was the exact same as the year before, and the format was pretty much the same. I really liked both.  The structure was a really slow progression of the blind levels, and I loved the fact that the bubble would break for each individual Day 1 before they stopped the flight.  The final 12% of each day would get paid, and then the final 5% of each day would move on to Day 2, obviously already assured of a pay day.

So I found my table, took my seat and looked around to see if I recognized anyone.  Outside of the Aria personnel, I didn’t.  But suddenly a blonde woman taking a seat at my table had my totally undivided attention.  She was simply stunningly beautiful.

She was very fashionably, classily dressed. Her outfit was not sexy or revealing.  This woman was just drop dead gorgeous. The kind of woman you rarely see in real life, let alone a poker room.  It took every ounce of willpower I possessed to avoid just staring at her non-stop.  I can only hope my tongue wasn’t hanging out. Yeah, she was that striking.

Somehow, someway, I sort of knew that she was “somebody.”  She wasn’t just some random gorgeous blonde playing in this tournament.  I was sure she was a pro or a semi-pro, someone known in the poker community.  Someone I should know of.  I would have bet anything I would recognize her name when I heard it.  I just couldn’t get that name to come to me.

I was so sure that I should have known who she was that I didn’t want to embarrass myself by asking any of the Aria folks I knew who she was—at least not yet. By this time, there were a bunch of players seated at my table, so I asked the player in the seat to my right if he knew who she was. I phrased it like this, “That woman in seat 6, she’s a pro isn’t she?  She’s someone you see on TV, right?”  And he responded, “Yes….but everyone at this table is, to some degree.”

Oh shit.  I muttered, “I’m not.”  And I wondered I was about to be taken to the cleaners by the rest of the table.  I didn’t recognize anyone, though.  And he was unable to give me a name for the beautiful blonde.

So let me flash forward a bit to the moment after she departed our table (and oh yes, I’ll tell you the story about that in a minute) and the Tournament Director came over to ask the dealer what happened to her.  So I asked the T.D. who she was.  “Lacey Jones,” he said.  Of course I recognized the name.  I googled her.  I found some great pics of Ms. Jones.   And I can assure you that, although she was dressed a lot less provocatively at the tournament than she is in this pic below, no picture of her I found online does justice to just how stunning she is.

Now that I’ve revealed that Lacey Jones was at my table, let me tell you about the only hand I saw her play.  It was the first level, pretty early into it.  I doubt the tournament was even 15 minutes old.  The oldish, personality-less man on my immediate left had already made an impression on me as an aggressive, tough player. He got into a hand with Lacey. I can’t remember exactly how many raises and re-raises there were preflop, or who said “all-in” first, but there was an all-in and a call, both players turned over the cards.  Lacey showed two Aces.  And the bastard on my left showed the dreaded pocket Kings.

And guess what the card in the window was?  Yes, a dreaded King.  It was dreaded by Lacey and by me and by every other player at the table, I’ll bet (Lacey was the only female at the table). And the set of Kings held and the bastard had a few more chips than Lacey had, and thus Lacey was out and I was denied the opportunity to enjoy her beauty at the table for the rest of the tournament.  Did I call that guy who busted her a bastard?  That is way too kind. .Lacey seemed unemotional over the loss. I guess she’s used to it.

Now, after she was gone and I found out who she was, I heard the dealer telling the T.D. that he actually busted her out the day before in the first level as well. Seriously?  That time she had Ace-King. I didn’t get details but I’m thinking it was unlikely she was all-in on preflop with that hand (assuming she still had most of her starting stack).  Which brings me to a little tangent I want to go off on…..

Let me discuss Lacey’s Aces vs. Kings hand.  I’ve thought about it a lot.  In particular, I thought about the bastard’s play there.  I mean, very first orbit of a $565 tournament, do you really risk your tournament life with Kings? When you have a full stack of $15K chips—plenty to play with, for sure—and your intention is for it to be a long, full day of poker?

I suppose it’s possible since this guy is a “TV pro” and Lacey is well known in the Vegas poker community, they had faced each other many times, and the bastard had some kind of mental book on her that made him think this was a good play—that Lacey was just as likely to risk her tournament life early there with Queens and Jacks and 10’s and Ace-King and Ace-Queen.

I find that highly unlikely.  For one thing, the two gave no indication—verbal or otherwise—that they knew each other (although, honestly, the bastard was not even remotely friendly or chatty and didn’t say one word more than necessary to communicate about his play the entire day).

Regardless, with a tournament that has a $565 buy-in, are you willing to risk your tournament life preflop during the first level with anything but Aces (or, dare I say it, even Aces?).  For me, the answer is no, and I don’t say that just because of my well-known issues with pocket Kings. I mean not only am I already playing above my “comfort zone” with that buy-in, but I have zero intention of buying in again if I bust.

But the bastard may have a totally different perspective.  In fact, he almost certainly does.  For one thing, I’m sure he’s used to playing not only this level of tournament, buy-in wise, but ones much higher.  Likely he plays $1K, $2K, $5K tournaments.  Probably ponies up $10K for the WSOP main event too. Undoubtedly, he has a much, much bigger poker bankroll than I do.

Moreover, this is a re-entry event.  And seasoned tournament grinders at this level are prepared—both mentally and financially—to re-enter multiple times if need be.   He was probably planning on buying into multiple days anyway.  The format was such that you could play multiple Day 1’s and take your biggest stack to Day 2—and get prize money for each stack you forfeited.  So unlike me, with my one lone entry already used up, he may see those Kings and think, “Well, if they cost me my stack, I can buy right back in today at level 1. No big deal.”

So I’m guessing that’s his attitude.  But that brings me to my next thought—what if this was not a re-entry tournament?  Suppose it was a WSOP event?  Most of those, including the main event of course, do not allow re-entry.  You only have one bullet to fire.  Does he risk his $10K tournament life with Kings ten minutes into that tournament?  No idea, but I do wonder.

What do you think?  Do you put your $10K buy-in on the line 10 minutes into an event you hope to last for days with the second best starting hand in hold’em?

And that’s where we leave part 1.  Part 2 has now been posted and you can find it right here.

Taking Advantage of Being Invisible

Here’s a midweek cash game session from my last Vegas trip.  The venue was Caesars, the game was 1/2.  This was one of those tables where the players were changing pretty much constantly.  It seemed like, except for my buddy Don, who joined me mid-game, and no one was at the table longer than 15 minutes.  Some went to other games I guess, some just left the room, but it was a very unstable group.  Hard to get a read on anyone when they don’t stay longer than an orbit or two.

Early on, I limped in with King-Jack of clubs. Five of us saw a flop of King-Queen-2, two spades, one club.  The nice older woman at the table led out for $15, I called and it was heads up.  The turn was a 10 of spades we both checked.  The river was a blank and she put out $15, I called and she showed Ace-Queen off.  Better to start off winning a small pot than losing a big one. Great insight, huh?

In the big blind I had pocket Aces.  Some guy had raised to $15.  I made it $45. It folded back to the original raiser who folded instantly.

I had King-4 off in the big blind and no one raised.  It was six-way. The flop was King-high and I checked/called $10, it was now three-way. The turn was a 4, also the second spade on the board.  I led out for $20.  After a fold, the flop bettor gave me a good long stare before folding and showing a King face up.  I suppose I could have tried to check-raise but I wasn’t sure the guy would bet again and two pair is pretty vulnerable.

In the small blind I completed with 9-8 off.  Only three of us saw a flop of 9-8-8.  Yahtzee!  I checked hoping someone would take a stab at it.  But it checked around.  The turn was a 5 and I had to bet.  I put out a measly $5 and got one call.  The river was a 5.  I only bet $10…but didn’t get a call.  Shit. What a pathetic pot for such a monster.  What a waste.

This next hand was interesting because of the weird action on the river. That river action was one of the reasons I might have missed something recording the action prior to it. I’ll do the best I can.  I had Ace-5 of diamonds in the big blind.  There was a $4 straddle UTG. I called, the straddler didn’t raise and four or five of us saw the flop, which was, I think, 4-2-X, one diamond. The “X”: was a biggish card and either the 4 or the 2 was a diamond.  No one bet.  The turn was the 6 of diamonds and again no one bet (this part makes no sense if that’s right, as you’ll see).  Just as I was thinking that the 3 of diamonds would give me both a straight and a flush (but not a straight flush), the dealer actually did put the 3 of diamonds out there.  Since the board wasn't paired and I had the blockers to a straight flush, I had the nuts.

Now as I was trying to figure out how much to bet, how much would get called, the guy on my immediate left, the straddler, bet $5 out of turn.  The dealer of course told him that he was acting out of turn and that the action was on me.  Well, knowing the guy had to bet if I checked, I of course checked.  No point in chasing away business.

So I checked and the guy was obligated to put out his measly $5.  Well, the lady on his immediate left raised to $10.  Oh wow, this was getting good. Everyone else left folded to me.

And so while I was trying to figure out what my raise should be, the idiot next to me, who had already bet out of turn once this street, put another $5 into the pot to call the lady’s raise. Again, the dealer stopped him and warned him about betting out of turn.

Well, that made it easy for me again.  I knew he didn’t like his hand enough to re-raise. And I knew since my raising would change the action, he wouldn’t be obligated to call my raise or even put that extra $5 he had tried to call with into the pot.  I decided on making it $25, figuring they were both likely to call that—and perhaps the lady might raise again.

As an aside, I had to consider the possibility that I suddenly become invisible, since the guy on my immediate left had twice ignored me.  How did he miss me?  Was I actually invisible?  Perhaps instead of playing poker that evening, I should have tested my new super power of invisibility by visiting a few Ladies locker rooms at gyms around town?

Anyway, both players did indeed call. No more raises.  Still, the river had turned it into a decent pot.  The straddler had a straight, I don’t remember if he showed his hand or not, but I’m sure that’s what it was. And the lady showed pocket 6’s for a set.  That’s why I find it hard to believe she didn’t bet the turn.  I mean I suppose she might have been worried about a straight on the turn, but if she was going to raise (albeit a baby raise) on the river with her 6 out there which made the straight even more likely, you would think should would have wanted to bet her set on the turn.

But I think that’s the way it went down, and I had a nice pot, helped by the guy who didn’t see me.  Twice.

The next morning, when I was reviewing my notes, I got to thinking of a hypothetical where I didn’t know what the correct answer was.

I’ll ask my readers, perhaps some dealers or floor people can chime in.  Suppose after the lady made it $10, the straddler, still ignoring my existence, attempted to make a raise instead of a call?  In that case, again, I would then only want to call the lady’s $10 bet—assuming that is, the guy was obligated to put in the raise he attempted to do out of turn. Let’s say he tried to make it $25 before I acted.  If I knew that he was obligated to make it $25 if I just called the lady’s bet, it would make sense for me to just call, knowing he was going to raise.  The lady would do whatever she would do and then I would unleash my raise, with more money in the pot.

But I’m wondering if my calling the lady’s $10 bet would “change the action” significantly enough so that the straddler would no long be obligated to put out the raise he tried to make out of turn.  Anyone know?  I mean, it’s clear if I had folded, he’d have to make that raise, but what if I called?

Well, as I said, that’s just hypothetical, it didn't happen that way.  But I was happy to get what I did in a hand where no one bet the flop or the turn where I rivered the nuts.  And the guy’s betting out of turn sure helped me out.

I guess one of the reasons I was unsure about the details of that hand was that I hadn’t had a chance to enter it into my notes before getting into another hand. I limped in with King-10 of diamonds.  The flop was Ace-high, two diamonds and yes, the Ace was a diamond, giving me the nut flush draw. It checked around.  An offsuit Jack on the turn also gave me a gutshot to Broadway.  This time I bet $10 and had one caller.  The river was the Queen of diamonds, once again giving me the nut flush—in diamonds again—and a straight!  I bet $25 and he hesitated a long time, but finally called.  He didn’t show when I tabled my hand.  The dealer made a comment about getting two nut diamond flushes almost back-to-back.  And I pointed out that I also had straights both times.

Don raised to $10 and I called with Ace-4 of spades, there was one other caller.  The flop was Ace-high and I called Don’s $20 bet, it was heads up.  He checked the turn, which was a 4.  So I bet $30 and he folded.

In the big blind, I had Ace-4 off and no one raised.  There was no bet on the flop, which had a 4 on it and some paint cards.  The turn was an Ace, putting three Broadway cards out there.  Since it was a limped pot I bet just $5 and had one caller.  I boated up on the river with another 4.  I bet $10 and didn’t get a call.  Second full house of the night where I won a really dinky pot.

I raised to $10 with pocket Jacks and it was 4-way.  The flop was low and a guy donked out $10 in front of me.  I made it $30 with my overpair, the donker called and we were heads up.  The turn was a blank, my Jacks were still an overpair and we both checked.  The rivered paired a 6 and he bet again, this time $20.  Did he catch that 6?  I just called.  All he had in his hand was a 4, which matched one of the flop cards.

That was pretty much it .  I booked a nice little profit for the session, thanks to a couple of diamond flushes and the aura of invisibility.