Badger Poker....Only one card can beat me

I didn't feel like playing poker on Monday night. Having been gone for the weekend, I had some errands to run. There was no food in the house. Worse yet, no toilet paper. I had to get to the store. But after talking with a friend and figuring, hey you don't have any food so you have to go out to get dinner, why not go play for a bit. So I went down to the Lava. Very small crowd. Not surprising as there was a football game on. Only 60 had signed up. Could be a good night for points.

Sat down at the far table and sized up the competition. Scrubby guy on my right was an ok player. I knew he liked to bluff so I was ready for any strange play from him. One thing I also notices was that he liked to show his cards. Usually if the flop didn't hit him, and he had raised preflop, he wouldn't protect his cards when looking at them. Many a time I saw his cards. He gave his play away to me. File that one away on Scrubby. Across from me was Gus Hansen. Dude looked just like him except a tad younger. And he acted like him too. Big bets, straight ahead stare. Good player. Brewers hat was there. Hadn't seen much of him before. On my left was the guy that beat me at Gametime. Cowboys fan was there. I like his aggressive play. Usually good as a chip distributor, but can play well when his game is on. On the far side was Ken, guy I had played with at the Pot and just before we started the Ultimate Fish sat down. I have seen him around and have heard others talk. He thinks he is a great player when he really sucks. Last week at Gametime, I remember someone saying how he is always out within the first 15 minutes. Sure enough, he was done in 11. At Lava, he would last about 25.

Play started out slow enough. Caught Q Q on the second hand and raised it up. The limpers went away but Cowboys fan called the 800 raise. Flop came A high. I fired again and he folded. Nice to win a pot right away. Next hand I get A J in late position and raise 500. Gus Hansen calls me. Flop comes 10 9 8. Open end straight draw. I bet 1500 and Gus raises 3000. WTF? I tried to size him up. He stared straight ahead. Didn't even blink. I mucked. Too early to try and draw out. A bit later, I would catch A K and raise it up again. Had Gus in the hand with me. Flop came K high and I fired out 2000 (roughly pot size) out there. He called. Turn was a rag. I fired 3000 and he mucked after thinking. This would add a strange twist to the game. Next hand, Gus raises 3000 pre flop. 3000 pre flop! Cowboys fan would do the same thing soon after. 2500 pre flop raise after losing a big pot. The signal was sent that no limping would be acceptable. Took down a good pot that set Cowboys fan off. I limped in with A 8 hearts. Two callers. Flop came J 8 4. Check, check, Cowboys fan bets 1000. I think and call. I know Cowboys fan could have just about anything, but I put him on a small pair. Turn is an A. I bet out 1500 and both call. River is a J. I bet out 2500. One caller as Cowboys fan folds but shows his 5 5. Caller had 10 10. Take down a nice pot just before the break. At the break I am at 20700. Not bad. Ultimate Fish had busted out without me taking many chips off of him. That sucked. I found it funny that he made a raise with me in the big blind. Someone asked him why he raised and he commented that the big blind could easily re-raise as he has played with me before and knows I would do that with a big hand. Me and my 10 4 suited mucked quickly. He had raised with K 2. Huh? No wonder he lasted all of 25 minutes.

Made 2 big mistakes in the next round. One of the first hands I get A K in late position. Cowboys fan raises to 1200 (this was typical of him. He raised preflop on a lot of hands but would bail if it was re-raised). Ken re-raises to 4000. I called. I probably should have mucked as I felt he had me beat before the flop. Cowboys fan bailed. Flop totally misses me- 10 6 4. Ken bets 4000 and I fold. I should have stayed out because I had no plan for the flop. My choice was to either re-raise or fold. As I did, I asked how big his pair was. He wouldn't say. I still think he had me beat. A couple of hands later, I went for a knockout. Had raised the pot to 1500 with A J. Guy on my right went all in for about 4700 more. I called (again, should have folded as he had complained all night about not getting cards) I called and he showed K K. Shit! No help and suddenly I was pretty short stacked at 5300. Tried to limp in with A 9 but a raise of 3000 had me folding. I was able to steal some blinds by going all in with K K from an early position. Thought I was going to get at least one caller but no. So I had a bit of breathing room but had to find a spot to push.

I would get it soon. Funny thing happened. I was the cut off. UTG raised to 2000 (blinds are 500/1000). Faggy dude (yes, this is an accurate description of him. He had an earring in each ear. When he was moved to the table, I had to take about 10 minutes to figure out whether this was a guy or some really ugly chick. Seriously, I had this debate with myself) doesn't say a word and places his 5 red chips out (2500) and then goes back to grab his black chips. I tell him he can't do that as it is a string bet. He mumbles "don't be a dick". I laugh a bit and tell him to play by the rules. Announce what you are doing. He says mockingly, "what, do you think I was going to raise 500?". I tell him "yes, I have seen stupid play like that already". People at the table tell him he can't do that, but we will let it stand. It didn't really matter. I look down to see the Hilton sisters and I push my 4300 in. New guy who was dealing called my 4300 as well. Gus Hansen, who raised initially, folded. We flipped it up. Dealer had J J. Faggy dude had Q J clubs. My Q Q looked great at this point. I had to be a 90-95% favorite? It had to be huge, as only one card can beat me. Flop came out rags. Turn was the f*#@ing J of hearts! The one card that could beat me came out and I was done. I would have been in a good position having tripled up but my night was done. What can you do when the cards go against you that bad?

Even worse, I went to the food store after playing and this morning realized I forgot the toilet paper. Crap! (guess I have to do that at work)