Bookends
by Luckbox
If the UFP crew had to collectively select their favorite all-time band, I have little doubt that it would be Eddie From Ohio. After my last session at the Coushatta Casino, it was a little bit ironic that the song playing as I started my car was EFO's Bookends.
Between my first and my last hand, I racked up a cool $900 profit. The game is soft, as usual. But that doesn't mean there's no risk. The game is in the cards. And they don't always fall my way. I may be The Luckbox, but no one is always lucky. So why don't you tell me what you would have done?
First hand of the night... the very first hand... I look down at Cowboys.
"Alright," I thought, "nice way to get rolling."
I'm in the cutoff and, after one limper, I raise it from $5 to $20. I was more than disappointed to see the SB, the BB and the limper all call. I suppose it was the first hand, so I couldn't exactly expect respect just yet.
The flop comes down QJ8, two clubs. Not the greatest flop imaginable, but I had position, so I'd get to see how they all acted first.
The SB checked and the BB stacked $60 in the pot. It was a solid bet and I didn't know where to put the guy. What I didn't notice was that he only left himself $20 behind. The limper folded to me and I called. The SB also called. There was $320 in the pot.
The turn was the 10 of clubs. Like an amatuer, I had to peek at my cards. One of the Kings was a club. That meant I was open ended with the second nut flush draw. The SB immediately pushed for his last $120 and the BB wasted no time in callign for his last $20. With $440 in the pot, I needed to call $120 with no future risk to see the river.
Your thoughts? I'll get back to this hand in a moment.
***
My last hand of the night, I'm sitting in the BB when I look down at pocket 9s. UTG and UTG+1 both limp. The SB raises it to $30. He's relatively short. I call and both limpers call as well.
The flop is 679 rainbow. I've flopped top set.
The SB fires out $30 leaving him just about $50 behind. I raise to $75, hoping to isolate him, knowing he's likely just playing overcards and firing out a continuation bet.
"One seventy-five," UTG says.
That surprised me. Suddenly I have to decide what to do. He's got another $375 behind him. I've got him well covered. It's folded back around to me.
Your thoughts? I'll get back to this hand in a moment.
***
So it's $120 into a $440 pot. I could hardly fold at this point. I didn't figure I was ahead, but I had outs. I had to hope that any club was a win. It was a pretty long shot that an Ace or and 9 was a winner, too, but it was hard to count on that. If I was gonna be realistic, I had 7 outs, at most, and I might already be drawing dead.
I called and found out the BB was holding T9o and had flopped the mortal nuts. The SB was holding 76c and had turned the flush. I had my 7 outs, but none of them hit and I was down $200 to start the session.
My biggest mistake was, once again, not paying attention. Had I seen the BB had just $20 left, I likely would have raised at least another $60 and that may have pushed out the flush draw. It may not have, but after the turn, he wasn't going anywhere. That move may have saved me $100.
***
So I'm sitting on top set and facing a $100 re-re-raise to my $45 re-raise. With the pre-flop action, I had to figure I had the best hand at this point. Frankly, I wasn't sure how I was supposed to be afraid of 58 or T8.
I thought for a bit and put him on a range that included: 66, 77, 67s, 88 or A8s. With that in mind, there was only one choice. I put him all in.
He went in the tank.
"That's great news," I thought. There's no way he flopped a straight.
"Runner-runner spade?" he asked, "Will that do it for me?"
Huh? What the hell does that mean? It certainly eliminates 66, 77 and 88 from the conversation. I suppose he could have 67s, but I didn't think it as likely. I suppose that left just A8s. If that was the case, I really, really, really liked my chances.
Finally, he decided to flip his cards without mucking.
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Let me interject here for a moment that I detest this move. It's angle shooting. Period. It's designed not only to get a reaction from the other player left in the hand, but it gives a player a chance to get some help from the rest of the table merely by looking at them. I guess I could have called for the floor, but they wouldn't have done anything about it. The damage was done.
But I digress...
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He showed 85s. He flopped the straight. What the hell was the difficulty in calling? Apparently he thought I held T8.
He thought awhile longer before finally calling the clock on himself. All I could think was what a jackass he was. Obviously, he called. And the dealer failed to pair the board for me. I was out $580 on the hand.
It was a rough way to start and a rough way to end. Thank goodness things went so well in the middle. I'd take a $120 profit over a loss any day of the week.
