Tao of Poker

NYC Home Game #3

Last night I ventured to Ferrari's place for some action. Alas, Ugarte was AWOL once again due to a trip to Paris and Pakistan, although that's his cover story. I think he's afraid to play with me!

The Monday Night Poker line-up:

Seat 1: Swish (sports writer)
Seat 2: Coach (arrived late)
Seat 3: Rick
Seat 4: Ferrari
Seat 5: Matt (options trader)
Seat 6: Anthony (architect)
Seat 7: Joel
Seat 8: Pauly!

Anthony and Matt were two guys I never played with before. Yes Rick was all fired up to redeem himself after getting knocked out very early in the Grublog Poker Classic. He came out firing and didn't stop reloading all night! Yep, Rick took down over $300 to prove his early exit was just a fluke and he'll be a force to be reckoned with next time! (Editor's Note: I could not help myself... I wanted to incorporate some Fat Guy speak into my blog... and "reckoned" was the best a Yankee like myself could muster up!)

Alas, early on I got schooled by Rick heads-up in a Seven Card Stud game. I forgot the specifics but he had a fullhouse and I had a weak two pair. Rick took $35 of my money that pot.

In a game of Omaha hi/lo... Anthony caught four 6s! He had pocket 6s and he caught runner-runner 6s on the turn & river to beat Ferrari in one of the weirdest pots of the night.

Big Pots!

Let me say that last night was only my third appearance at Ferrari's... but there were no less than 6 pots that were over $120 each!! A few were bigger. The Anaconda (the game where you pass 3 cards to your right... then 2 cards... then 1...) games got out of control. I won one with a full house 9s over 6s when Anthony had K-K-A-A showing... I had a feeling he was bluffing the fullboat and I was correct. Another time, I was attempting to lock up a low hand... and I passed three eights (one eight each time)... to Joel on my right. It was a costly mistake, because he had four eights!! Ferrari hazed me pretty good and the rest of the night I made sure I knew exactly what I gave away.

By 11:30 I was down $35 after playing 4 hours. Rick was on a huge run. He had stacks and stacks of $5 chips.

Coach came a little late and won a big Omaha pot with a straight. I had to split a low-pot with Anthony when we both had A-2. I lost money on that hand.

The crowd filtered out by 1am. And I was down a little bit. There were four of us left... here's the late night line-up:

Seat 1: Swish
Seat 2: Ferrari
Seat 3: Matt
Seat 4: Pauly

I called a round of $4-8 hold'em, which was the only game all night where I won some decent money. I am on the button, Swish bets and I bring in a raise with Ah-8h. The flop: As-9h-6h. I have top pair with a nut flush draw. Swish bet and I re-raised. On the turn: 8c. I now have two pair with one more card for a flush. Swish bet and I re-raised. However, he re-raised me back! Since there was no cap on betting between heads up we went back and forth, betting four or five times before he just called. I started to worry about what he had. The river: 5h. I just got my nut flush. Swish bet and I raised. He re-raised! I could not believe it... there's not a better feeling in poker than when someone raises you when you have the nuts! We went back and forth a couple of times re-raising each other. That's when Swish said, "Look, we're going to be doing this all night. How many chips do you have left? Let's just end this now."

I had $29 left. The pot was well over $100 at that point. I went all-in and he called. I turned over my nut flush and he flipped over A-7o. He caught a straight on the river and I had him beat the entire hand. He shook his head and said something like, "I didn't expect the flush!" Ouch. Now I went up $50! I was down all night and that swing put me into positive territory. It was all downhill from there.

Wild Card Games = Poor Pauly

Swish got his revenge on me. During a round of Seven Card Stud (with Deuces wild) I lost when I had three aces. Swish slow rolled his down cards and said something like, "You know that move Three Kings? Well... I got four of them!" He turned over two 2s and two Kings. Ouch. Fuckin' wild cards cost me $75.

I decided to call Seven Card No Peek... which is seven cards down and you can't look. The first guy turns over his card and he bets. The next player turns over his cards until he can beat the guy before him, etc... I lost a huge pot to Swish's higher full house. Here's how the game unfolded:

Swish: 10
Ferrari: ???
Matt: 4-10-A
Pauly: 9-9
Swish: 10-10
Ferrari: out
Matt: 4-10-A-5-A
Pauly: 9-9-x-6-6
Swish: 10-10-10
Matt: out

Now I knew I needed another six or nine to make a full house. I had 4 outs with two cards to come.

Pauly: 9-9-x-6-6-x-6

Yikes! I bet the max... $10 (in cash... I had to use pocket money) and Swish called.

Swish: 10-10-10-J

So far so good.

Swish: 10-10-10-J-J

Now fucking way! That was the exact order of his cards... a set of 10s then two consecutive Jacks to end my run. Swish took back all his money. I was pissed.

Yes, I never had to rebuy before at Ferrari's. My $100 buy-in was smoked. And I already lost $10 in pocket money. I bought in $40 and got smoked playing Follow the Queen. No wonder I have serious issues with women. My three Aces were no match for Swish's hand. He called three aces (he had an ace with 2 queens) but he realized that he had a straight somewhere.

I lost all my money! $150 total loss for the night. I had a $200 swing take place in less than ninety minutes. I should have left when Coach and Rick took off. Yeah, I should had went home to watch movies with Haley. Instead, Swish took all my money!

Final Tally:
Rick +314
Swish +80
Matt +15
Coach +13.50
Ferrari +2.50
Joel -100
Anthony -100
Pauly -150

I was the big loser. Ouch. I hate wild card games. I left around 2:40am. Matt, Ferrari & Swish played untill past 3am!

What did I learn last night?

There's an old punchline to a joke:

Teacher: What is the moral of the story, Jimmy?

Jimmy: Don't fuck with Uncle Ed when he's been drinking.

I didn't want to bore you with the rest of the joke. Bottom line... I have not been playing well the last two weeks. I should have played more passive in the wild card games. Alas, I will sit down and plug the leaks in my game and blog my progress report as soon as possible. Until then... see ya, Pauly!

Oh a special P.S. for Swish... I'm coming to get you!