A word about Caesar's first: Their poker room is one of the newest, and largest, in Las Vegas. Tucked behind the Sports Book and at the end of a long hallway, it consists of two big rooms. The front room is the main poker room; the back room (off to the left as you walk in) is used mostly for big tournaments I think. In the main room there is a short mezzanine up front where the big games are played. You walk up a couple of steps to this railed-off part of the room, and there are four or five tables there. The first time I ever went to Caesar's poker room, there was a game up there that had Todd Brunson, Mike Matusow, Shawn Sheikhan, "Eskimo" Clark, and some others. I don't know what they were playing but probably high-limit HORSE or something. Anyhow, I remember thinking, "Wow, I wonder if I would ever be able to play at a game so big that it would be on that mezzanine?" (Unfortunately, the answer would be yes!)
The most recent time I went to Caesar's -- this was last winter -- they sat me at one of those tables!! I think it was $2/$5 no limit, and the buy-in was $300 minimum and no maximum. I bought in for $500 and spent the next six or so hours card dead, watching my stack evaporate oh-so-slowly.
Eventually, some big loud tourist came into the game and sat down with these huge stacks of $100 bills. (They let you play $100 bills at this table if you wanted to, in addition to the chips.) He must have had $5000 there, and perhaps twice that. He was loud, loose, and frankly not a very good player. But he was very pleasant and a lot of fun. A bunch of folks were becoming the beneficiaries of his donations, and I was patiently waiting for my turn to be the same.
Finally, I was dealt King-Jack offsuit in the big blind. The preflop raise was small enough to entice me to jump in, and four of us saw the flop (including Mr. BigBills).
The flop was Jack Five Jack. Yahtzee!! Flopping trips with a decent kicker. I was first to act, and checked. The next player bet maybe half the pot. Mr. BigBills smooth-called. The button folded, and it was back to me. This was what I had been waiting for . . . I popped up a pot-sized raise.
The next player, who obviously saw how tight I had been playing, folded quickly. And then BigBills . . . re-raised. All-In! A huge, huge overbet.
I was absolutely baffled. I didn't say or do anything for a long time. Now, it is really unlike me to play so slow. I also did something else very unusual -- started talking. I said, "What do you have?" (Not really expecting an answer.) Really, the only thing I was worried about was Ace-Jack. But why would he have just smooth-called the flop bet? I was totally confused.
"I hope you have a good kicker," he said with a friendly smile. Probably the worst thing he could have said. I thought a bit longer, and then I said, "Do you have a good kicker?" He nodded gravely, and said, "I have an excellent kicker." Again, the worst thing he could have said, because I ended up not believing him. I looked down at my diminished stack, around $250-$300 by now. I thought, well, I either have him outkicked, or it's a split pot, or I can hope for an outdraw. I called. As I was turning over my cards, a player to my right said, "You must have King Jack."
BigBills turned over a pocket pair of fives for a flopped full house, which held up. I said "Good hand" and left.
I have thought about this hand, even had nightmares about it, ever since. Looking back, I realize that he was practically screaming that he had flopped the boat, I just wasn't listening. Even writing about it now makes me sick to my stomach.
So now I will talk about the other hand, with a happier outcome.
Los Angeles has a bunch of card rooms, and by last March I had been to four of them (Commerce, Hollywood Park, Hustler, Hawaiian Gardens). I decided to try the Bicycle Club for something new.
I had been thinking about poker lately, and wondering why it hadn't energized me as much as it had in the past. I decided the answer was that I needed to move up to higher limits to get the excitement back again. So that's what I did at the Bike.
I sat down at a $2/$5 no-limit table with a $500 buyin -- and promptly lost all $500. So, I rebought for another $500 -- and lost all of that as well. I rebought again for another $500, and lost all but around $100.
At this point, I'm down almost $1400 and trying to figure out why. I could practically hear my own voice saying "It's okay, you're playing good poker, you have a good game, just keep playing your game." I'd have QQ ... and lose to AA. Or lose set over set. That type of thing. So, even though I had lost so much money, I hadn't lost my confidence at all and I just knew that if I kept playing my game and not loosen up or start getting crazy or tilty, it would come back.
So I kept at it, I kept playing my game. And eventually, I won back to $500. Then I won another $500. Then I won another $500, and was back up to even. And then . . . well, I won another $500. And another $500. And another, and another. When I left, I was up $2000 on the session. I even asked a security guard to walk me out to the car, since I had around $5000 in cash on me by that point.
And here is the big hand of the session, the one that -- like the last one -- still gives me nightmares. And like the last hand, it features a big, loud, cheerful guy who played really loose and was seeing huge swings in his chipstack.
A rather tight player opened two off the blinds for a small raise. Mr. Loose called. Everybody else folded to me in the big blind. I looked down and saw King and Queen of Spades, so I called.
The flop came Jack of Spades, Nine of Diamonds, Eight of Spades. So, I had a gutshot straight draw and a second nut flush draw. Pretty nice, especially against the loose player. I decided to just check, counting on Mr. Loose to do my betting for me.
The player first to act had a short stack, and pushed it all in. (I never did learn what hand he held; only that it didn't win.) Mr. Loose was next to act, and he just called. I decided to call too, and see a relatively cheap card.
The next card was the Three of Diamonds -- a brick.
At this point, Mr. Loose went all in! I had him covered, but just barely.
So I ran the math in my head. I figured that nine spades would give me a winning flush, and three tens would give me the winning straight. Throw in the unlikely possibility that one of the remaining six King or Queens might also win it for me -- at least against Mr. Loose -- and I was getting roughly the correct pot odds. Calling makes puts the total pot to around $2000. Wow.
I called.
The river was the Ten of Diamonds, giving me the straight. I thought, "Oh, that's nice . . . but I would have preferred a spade. But it'll do."
At this point, Mr. Loose (who I had just felted) rolled over his Ace of Spades/Nine of Spades, for the nut flush draw. I had been drawing to only nine outs! And maybe less, depending on what the other players had. My heart skipped a beat. I said, "OMG, I will never complain about a bad beat ever again!"
Mr. Loose took it well, rebought and stayed in the game, but he was much more subdued at that point. I only stayed another couple button orbits after that.
Anyhow, make of these hands what you will ... like I said, I still have nightmares about BOTH of them!
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