Badger Poker...A new season begins

It is a brand new season of Badger Poker. New locations, new prizes, and new players. I even have a new feature below. And please remember, names are changed to protect the innocent. Any inferences or similiarities to real people is purely coincidental (wink,wink). I tag these characters as I see them and how they play the cards. So if you see a guy playing poker and you think he is going to write something about you, hey, don't beat him up, just buy him a beer. You could become Bought him a beer guy. But on to the report.

I stopped in to the Bay View Bowl to see if I could start the season with a victory. The crowd was sparse as is somewhat predictable since the local sports team was "playing" football. Note the quotes as while they were playing, the other team came to win and laid the smack down good! The expectation was only about 40 some people. It appeared I could get points just for attending. Sweet! Problem was, there were some of the betters players there. C was there. Raiders fan, Cubs hat, State Visor and Smoker Chick. I sat down at table with Smoker Chick and one other guy I recognized. Everyone else was new. To my left was Bet on Anything guy. To my right was Packer Fan who was all decked out (if he is such a fan, why is he playing cards and not watching the game?). Next to him was the quiet Asian guy. There was Coldman. He must have been sick and all he did was sniffle and cough. Slow Bus (to be explained later) and another no name round out the table. No name would be gone soon and thus, doesn't deserved to be named. Bagman shows up late and darnit sits at a different table. Someone even called him "Bagboy" which he apparently did not care for and sniped back "you can talk to me when you beat me". Down Bagman, down! He like the Asian guy needed poker bandages as they bled out chips to Bet on Anything guy and Coldman. I found the table to be a bit tricky at first, but also realized it wasn't going to be that tough. I didn't get much to play to begin with. I did win an early hand that I had raised up with just an A. I bet out the flop and the turn to take down the pot uncontested. But I believe that was all I won over the first hour. I played my blinds and maybe limped in a one or two more hands. Bet on Anything was trying to run over the table. He won a good sized pot early and played just about every hand. When he did, he well, bet on anything. His aggressiveness was paying off for a while until Coldman took down a good size pot on him. Playing Q 4 soooted, he made a set of 4s and got paid handsomely. I sat there trying to figure Coldman out. Between his sniffles, he kept asking questions. I didn't know if he was not too bright about poker or was acting it up. I sensed it was a bit of both. He knew what he was doing but thought he would play it up a bit. Smoker Chick held her own. She is a tough player and will hang in some pots whether she has it or is still drawing. It can be hard to put her on a hand. Slow Bus was a talkative guy. He tried to downplay his abilities early but played some good poker. Good, not great. Slow Bus just about went out and he fed Bet on Anything guy most of his chips. He called a couple hands down to the river just to fold. He finally made a push and went all in with his last 2700. Coldman called as did I as I looked down and saw J J staring at me. I knew I was going to be behind but if I caught the flop, I could get a number of chips off of Coldman. With a small crowd, it didn't take long as 3 people got knocked out early and we consolidated tables.

The next table started out tough. I was just above 10k when I sat down. That table had Addidas, State Visor (though he didn't wear the State visor, he had another one. Does he have a closet full of visors?), Smoker Chick, Doo-rag, and flannel man among others. Things got interesting because every pot was being raised up preflop. No limpers allowed! I bled some chips trying to limp in or defending my blinds but that didn't work. I think I won one pot at this table too when I raised up with A K and had no callers. There was huge pot taken down by flannel man when he took quickly called a all in semi bluff. When the flop came down K high, a guy pushed with 9 9. Flannel man had the K. No 9 and he was done. Flannel man was in good position. It seemed everyone else was doing good except for me. I was still hanging around the 10k mark and not doing much. And then they moved us again.

We were down to 20 and the blinds were only 300/600 (hey I said it was a small crowd!). I got moved to the table under the lights along with Smoker Chick and another. At this table was Coldman who had a good size stack in the rack. Flannel man was moved there as well with Doo-rag. Then there was King Tut. Remember the old Batman TV series? Of course you do. Well, this guy reminded me of the King Tut character. I swear he is a body double. Ok, back to poker. I think I folded pretty much each hand for half hour. Got the worst cards imaginable. Q 8 seemed to be my favorite. I can't tell you how many times a got a Q matched with a crappy low card. But there was some action at the table. Flannel man got taken out by King Tut when Tut raised preflop and Flannel went for the ride. Tut's two pair were higher and Flannel was gone. I sat back and played tight because I was curious to see how long I could last with pretty much nothing. Plus there were two older guys at the table that were short stacked and playing no hands. I wanted to simply last longer than they would. King Tut had a huge stack and must have been chip leader. Coldman helped feed Tut with a couple hands as his stack was quickly dwindling. But Tut would get crippled by Smoker Chick. They went to battle with an all diamond flop. She checked the flop as did he. A fourth diamond hit and she made a small bet. He moved all in. She called and turned over the nuts A Q diamonds. Tut was devastated. An all in bet with just a 3??? WTF? He had about 8k left- damn still more than I had! One old guy goes out and the other table seems to get smoked. We take a break and I am done to 5k. I need to make a move somewhere.

When we resume, we are sitting at 11 people left. Blinds are now 1000/2000. I am in the small blind. Before the cards are dealt, I decide to push with any high card. I think I can steal Coldman's big blind. And I was right. Saw K 7 off and pushed when it was folded to me. He thought a while. I told him that folding was an option and I could start to deal the next hand as soon as he mucked. Muck he did and deal I did. Next hand I get A J and push in from the button. Smoker Chick had limped in from mid position. She thought for a bit and called. Showed J 9. Flop gave me an ace and I doubled up. Actually with the blinds I moved to 17k, high point for far for me. Coldman gets knocked out at 11 and we consolidate to the final table. Yes, once again I get some pretty crappy hands and luck out to the final table! Slow Bus comes over as does Buffalo girl. They are pretty much the only ones to note. OK so I can't quite recall who else but I know there were only 9. I dealt the final blow to King Tut when the Hilton Sisters visited and he called with a K. The last old guy was gone when he was blinded down and out. Table got kind of funny as Slow Bus tried to run over it. But Buffalo girl would have none of it. She called him evil and they went to battle a couple of times. This is where he got his name. At one point he didn't know it was his play and when he snapped to, he joked to excuse him as he took the slow bus to school. I think he meant the small bus but Slow Bus stuck. The dealer kept calling him that and now he is tagged. Back to poker. Doo-rag gets knocked out by Smoker Chick as he pushed all in with A J. She had A 9 and the race was on. She rivered the 9 to send doo-rag to the cleaners. We got down to 5 now. I was pretty much the short stack at the table. One other guy was right around my level of 18k, but Slow Bus and Smoker Chick had huge stacks. Buffalo girl had about twice what I did. I stole some blinds with A 7. But gave the chips back as Slow Bus continued to raise the pot when he had something suited or connected. The Q 8 hands kept coming again. I did win a pot when I bet out a weak board and Smoker Chick folded. Finally I pushed again with A Q. My 18k went in and was called by Slow Bus. Even though he was sure he was beat, he didn't want that preflop raise to go to waste. He showed K 3 of clubs. Flop came A 4 5 with just one club. I am looking good here. Turn is a 6 hearts. Now he is open ended on the straight and fills it with a 2 on the river. Damn! I wanted to win the hoodie!!! Oh well, I get a nice visor instead for finishing in 5th. Well, actually I got a coupon for a visor. Maybe I can make a deal with State Visor and see if he wants to expand his collection.

And now the new feature I have promised....

Words of wisdom from Bagman. This new feature will highlight some of the stupidest things heard at the tables (and not necessarily from Bagman). I dedicate it to Bagman as he seems to supply a lot of the comments. Last night came this gem: Bagman said that the girl he was seeing wanted to break up with him, that they didn't have the same interests. She is a Harley Davidson calendar girl and thinks that he just wants her physically. So, to win her over, he was just gonna have to write her some poetry. Best yet, he found the tranquil setting of a poker room the ideal spot to work his muse. He asked the waitress for a pen and paper so he could get the magic going. I couldn't help but notice that once he was done that there was little on the paper. Actually, it looked like a shopping list.