It’s been almost two months since I played any poker. I don’t think I’ve had that long of a hiatus from poker since I started playing three or four years ago! What’s kept me from the table has been a seriously intense amount of work from my real job, at least mostly. But I finally had the chance to visit a card room and learn whether or not I could still play.
For those of us who remember the “old” Greektown – pre-casino, that is – what they’ve done with that neighborhood is a bit … jarring. I recall shopping in that little brick mall with quirky, crooked bridges connecting the different sides. Well, that mall is now the casino. Except for a handful of restaurants on the first floor (some of which are vacant), it’s entirely given over to that evil vice.
I can’t say it’s not an improvement, however. The “old” Greektown was more than a bit tattered at the edges. It was desperately trying to recapture its glorious reputation the way an over-the-hill call girl tries to deny the ravages of time by applying too much makeup. So spicing the neighborhood up with a casino has definitely been a shot in the arm.
The cardroom had two hold-em games being spread amongst the five or so tables; a $3/$6 limit game and a $1/$2 no-limit game. The no-limit game had a buy-in of between $50 and $200. Given the sad state of the Detroit economy, it shouldn’t surprise you to learn that most folks were buying in for the minimum.
The players were atrocious. Some of them made me wonder whether they’d ever played poker before. I’ve been at some easy rooms before (Harrah’s flagship in Las Vegas and Agua Caliente in Rancho Mirage come to mind), but this one beat them all. It was one of those sessions where you don’t dare bluff; just value-bet your good hands and fold everything else. I ended up doubling up during my two hours there.
I didn’t play very many hands, and only one hand actually stands out, although it played itself so posting it won’t give you any idea about whether I am a good player or not.
I was on the button. Three or four players limped in from early and mid position, which was happening quite a lot. A player two to my right bumped it up to $10. He had a short stack – but then, nearly all of them had short stacks. I looked down at A©A§ and min-raised it to $20.
The player to my left, the small-blind, was a maniac, splashing around in just about every pot and intimidating the entire table (except me, since I wasn’t in too many hands). He was also the only guy at the table who had me out-chipped. He looked at his hand, grabbed a stack of red chips and re-raised it to $100. Given his range, he could have had pretty much anything and just been trying to make a move on the pot, with all that dead money lying out there. I was thrilled about his re-raise; it made it more likely that the rest of the table would fold out, and I could go head-up with the maniac.
Indeed, the table did fold, until it got to the initial raiser. He only had around $50 left in total, so he called the re-raise and was all-in.
I had about $150 in front of me, so I re-raised all-in myself. I think he realized at this point he’d been squeezed, but facing only a $50 re-raised on a pot with around $300 in it, he pretty much had to call, so he did.
He showed the Q©Qª. The initial raiser inexplicably showed J§6§. In fact, I actually said, “I think I like your hand the best,” pointing to the suited Jack.
The maniac shouted, “Give me a Queen!” He got his wish, as a Q¨ came on the flop. But unfortunately, it was accompanied by a Aª and a 2ª.
The turn was the K§. At this point, the suited Jack actually had a better chance of winning the hand than the Queens did; the Queens had only a single out, but the other hand could river a straight with any of the four tens.
However, the river ended up being the 2¨, and my Aces full defeated the Queens full. The guy with the suited Jack left the table; the guy with the Queens was completely steaming but continued to play for a while longer. Me; I just stacked up my chips and went on to the next hand.
No comments:
Post a Comment