On Friday afternoon I met my older daughter in the driveway, after she'd stepped from the bus. Before she chould toss her backpack into the pile of shoes in the corner, I'd whisked her off to Barnes and Noble. I wanted a copy of the Bonds book "Game of Shadows" and I like for her to get excited about new books.
Oh, and I picked up a copy of "Bluff" magazine. It contains the following DIRECT QUOTE: "The debonair and handsome G-Rob, who is also a local G-Vegas Celebrity."
Let me just say, Pauly is the single greatest writer working in America today. I've mentioned the article to my wife a few (fewer then 40,000) times and each time she reacts the same way.
"Well, I always thought you were handsome... but debonair? I think Pauly does drugs."
For the record, he does.
BIG UPS
Helluva shitty week in the real world, but a damn good one in poker. Funny how that works. I needed to spend time thinking about NOTHING but cards, and doing so makes me a better player. I cleaned up at the "Spring Motel" winning about 4 buyins there. I was up 7 buyins after one hour at the "medium game" the next night.
Here's why...
SPRING CLEANING
As Otis mentioned below, the raked game was packed on Wednesday night. Otis and I found seats at table 2 which was just starting when we arrived so we all started with the same $200 stack. It was totally frigging strange.
1 seat: It was first occupied by the owner of the house who then rents it to the guys who run the game. He's a fairly tight-passive type. On one hand I caught him raking $20 from a $220 pot. I asked how much the rake was. "Well, I know you just saw me take $20," he said, "it's 5% with no max."
$20 is a lot more than 5%. I complained and he dug into the tank, fished out $5, and tossed it to the guy who won the pot. He still took too much. C'est la vie in the underground games.
Later, the big fella who RUNS the game sat down in this seat and seemed to rake it fair.
2 seat: A guy named "George." He appeared, and sounded, like a guy of middle eastern descent. I didn't ask. When he sat down I was sure I was about to get taken. The big guy in seat one said, "Be easy on George, he's never played hold-em before!" Yeah right, I still say that at almost every game. As it turns out, this was almost certainly true here. The guy was AWFUL and I stacked him twice.
3 seat: Debonair and Handsome.
4 seat: The absolutly most incredible calling station of all time. He never once folded to a preflop raise once he'd limped into the pot. NOT ONCE in 5 hours. I saw him drop at least $900.
5 seat: The guy in the 4 seat only brought $200. He borrowed the rest from this guy, who also finished down.
6 seat: A fairly solid tight-aggressive type with thinning hair and self-deprecating humor. He called himself "Otis," because that's who he was.
7 seat: A guy who raised with position EVERY TIME. Then he folded to almost any action at all post flop. I called him "Friendly."
8 seat: I met this guy at theMark's Friday game. A restuarant employee with a very Tight style. Not great, but at this table, one of the best.
9 seat: Otis just wrote about this cat. Lemme just say, he was one of the worst players I've ever had the dear pleasure of meeting. He'd open raise, in a $1/$2NL game, UTG, for $75. I'd call with any ace. He did it twice with small pocket pairs and lost both times. I took more than $100 from him after I checked in the BB and blind checked the flop. I had Q3 off and the flop was Q36 rainbow. It was checked around.
The turn was a jack and I checked again. He bet $25 which I checkraised to $50. He said, "Damn, I KNEW you had a queen." Then he called.
The river was another blank and I bet $50 more. He said, "It's obvious to everyone here that you have a queen. You're not fooling anyone."
Then he called.
He had a Jack. For a pair of Jacks. My 2 pair was, obviously, good.
All night I kept saying, "If I keep getting cards, I LOOK like a good player." What I meant was, "If I keep playing with people like you, I'll be able to retire at 40."
MIDDLE GROUND
By comparison, the bi-weekly "medium game" is a shark tank big enough to make David Blaine sweat. I caught cards, and won pretty big. Here's how...
1 seat: We don't have a dedicated dealer at my house, thus, I am the one seat.
2 seat: Shep Tiltstein. Shep has been recovering from pneumonia. For a year. Really, the only time Shep doesn't sound like he's suffocating is when he's smoking. I busted Shep with TPTK on a K Q 4 7 10 board. Shep pushed on the river and, after I called and turned over my cards, he said, "I have the straight." Turns out he had A-10. For a pair of 10s. I told him, "To be fair, I didn't put you on the hand you thought you had."
3 seat: Randy. True to form Randy saw 4 flops in 5 hours. He won at showdown. If Randy is betting on the turn... you're beat.
4 seat: BadBlood. He finished up for the night. I never won a hand against him. He's a better poker player.
5 seat: TeamScottSmith. Scott came late and played his first hand. Raised in fact. I called with position and 3-6c and flopped 2 pair. He pushed with his pocket 10s and he rebought.
6 seat: Rankster. More on busting him in a bit.
7 seat: Teddy Ballgame. I took one buyin from Ted. He raised, I re-raised with QQ, and he popped again. I pushed and won a race against his AK. On the bright side, Ted made Shep feel a lot better with his Level -1 thinking. We're in a 5-way limped pot after the flop and it's checked to Teddy who goes deep in the tank then says, "Awww no fellas, no free cards for you."
He then bet $7.
We read it for a bluff, however.
Teddy had already folded pre-flop.
8 seat: Clot. He's a friend of Blood's. I think he finished up. I never played a big hand against him.
9 seat: Trey. He's a neighbor of Ted's and a first-timer at the "medium game." He now has a permanant invitation. In a hand with he and Rank, I was in MP and Rank was the button. I limped with 8-8 and Rank raised, Trey called and so did I.
I flopped a set and busted both players. Rank had AK on an ace-high flop. Trey had middle pair. I also busted Trey when my AA flopped a set. He pushed... with an inside straight draw.
10 seat: The Mark. He took a big pot from me when I flopped a set of 4s on a 3,4,7 board. Mark held 5,6.
For the night, I finished up a little more than 4 buyins.
Mark won 3.5 buyins.
Blood won a buyin and a half.
Teddy won a buyin.
Clot finished up.
So did TeamScottSmith.
Again, Trey is ALWAYS welcome.
VEGAS
I can't get to Vegas until LATE July. I'll probably pick a late WSOP $1,500 tourney and play that. I wonder if any other bloggers, besides Otis, will be there. If so, and if you're planning to play, drop me a line. I still haven't picked the dates.