Tao of Poker

Monday Night Poker Night... $12 Loss

I played at Ferrari's place on 34th Street here in NYC. He's got an amazing view of the city from the 19th floor of his apartment. He's friends with Ugarte and Rick from Ugarte's Poker Grovel. Check in with Ugarte to see what he had to say about the game!

Typical home game rules with Dealer's Choice and a $60 buy-in. About 50% of the time we played Texas Hold'em. 25% of the time we played Omaha 8/b or Hi/Lo and the last 25% of the time we played various seven-card stud games, like Hi/Lo and Razz, etc., and played some other games like Crazy Pineapple and Mango. Ferrari has a set of clay chips that were really nice. I still play with plastic ones!

The line-up...

Seat 1: Mike Wise
Seat 2: Sugarta
Seat 3: Rick (Mike)
Seat 4: Ferrari (Tom)
Seat 5: Ugarte
Seat 6: PAULY!
Seat 7: COACH
Seat 8: Christian

Overall, I lost $12 in 6 hours (loss rate of $2 per hour). By the first hour I was down $40. Yes, Pauly wanted to show up and play tight, but there were only six of us for the first ninety minutes and as usual I played too many hands! My first big win came during Anaconda. I had the Wheel and locked up the low. By 10pm, I was up $20. Then I went on a nice rush over the next hour! I was up $120 at one point early in the evening after I nailed a huge win -- winning both the HIGH & LOW hands in an huge multi-way Omaha pot. I had A-2-3-5 and called a raise in front of me. The flop: A-5-9. I have two pair and I'm hoping for a low card! I raise and re-raise to cap the betting. King falls on the turn. It's not looking too good but I jam the pot anyway. On the river... my low card appears. A seven of hearts! And now I have the low locked up: A-2-3-5-7. But for some reason I think I have a shot at the high and with three people still in the pot (Christian and Wise) I'm re-raising when I can. The betting gets capped and I end up winning the entire pot with Aces and Fives for the high and the nut low! I beat out an awful low hand and a Kings and Nines for the high! It was a huge pot, one of the biggest up to that point. Omaha was kind to me!

Over the next hour, I played loose since I had most of the chips. By midnight I was still up $80 and happy that I was not the sucker at the table! Then it got ugly! And I fuckin' got killed playing more Omaha. I had A-A-2-3 on the button, brought in a raise and when all face cards hit the flop, I was doomed. Thinking that my Aces and Kings could win... I lost to a friggin' baby flush!

Bad Beat of the Night: I had a bad beat too during Texas Hold'em when my pokcet Kings got cracked by A-7 when Christian sucked out a straight on the river. In middle position I bring in a raise to make it $4. Christian re-raised me. I re-raised him back to cap out the betting pre-flop. I made him for an A-K or possibly pocket Queens. The flop: 9-J-8 rainbow. Kind of scary flop... all undercards, no flush draws, but I'm praying he's not holding Q-10. Would he bring in a raise with Q-10? I think not. I check, he bet quickly, and I decided to raise. "Raise or Fold!" echoed through my head. He re-raised me and I cap it out. Whew. The river: 2. I check, he bet, I raised and we did the same dance until we capped it out. I have just K-K and if I think he's got Queens or A-K, then I must have the better hand, right? On the river: 10. Yikes. Maybe he has A-Q? I never thought about that. if he does, I'm fucked! I check, he bet. Do I raise or fold? I just call and Christian turns over A-7 for his straight... caught on the river. Pauly river'd again! I flip over my pocket Kings... and everyone thought I had the pocket Aces and Christian had the pocket Kings! I didn't say anything... about the bad beat. He had balls to re-raise with an A-7 off suit and he kept paying to suck out the draw. What could I do? I lost a huge pot and the majority of my stack. At 1am, I was only up $20.

The next hour was awful, I played almost every hand and was down $40 at one point. I took NY Times sportswriter Mike Wise for a huge pot winning both the HIGH and the LOW in a seven-card Stud Hi/Lo game (my pair of Aces beat out his Jacks) very late in the session to win some money back and only be down $12.

Whew! All in all, it was a fun time with some good players! Rick looked like the big winner with $210. I heard Ugarte dropped $140... he lost $50 on his first Omaha hand. Yikes! Alas, these guys were cool and I'd love to play again. I hope I get invited back!