Badger Poker...Free pretzels!

The rain fell on downtown Milwaukee Tuesday night. Good thing we don't play cards outdoors or the pretzels would have gotten all soggy. Yes, it the latest attempt to generate bar business, they had a bowl of pretzels on all of the tables. Supposedly, they even put extra salt on them to get people thirsty. Stupid, but funny. But you didn't come here to the Badger Pretzel report, you want to hear about poker so on with the show.

As you have read (or not if you have never been here before- and if that is the case, why not?), I have been running bad the last 2 weeks. Don't know if I am playing too tight or loose or just making some bad plays (like getting aggressive with a pair of 10s). But I had decided that if I didn't do well tonight, it was time for a hiatus.

For once I wasn't starting at the same table. I was off to table 6 with an eclectic group. Buckwear from the first season was there. I liked the sight of that as he was rather loose and aggressive. A good lady player was on my right. On my left was someone from Madison? We started talking about the bars around campus at UW and the drink specials they have on the weekend and how they changed the law and what not. Next to him was Photograph. Guy had a picture of his son/daughter on the table. Whenever he needed luck, he kissed his finger and put it on the photo and asked Maury/Murray? for luck. I bet the kid would like it a lot more if you didn't chain smoke. Around the bend was a somewhat serious/aggressive guy I had seen at Rock Bottom in the past. On his right was 15 minutes (yes, he lasted 15 whole minutes). The was the mute and a guy in red.

Play started out rather interestingly. Seemed like everyone except for me and the girl on my left wanted to be in every hand. Photograph would begin to amass some chips. As mentioned already, he took out 15 minutes with two pair, aces and jacks. 15 minutes bet 5000 on a pair of aces. Wow, what a stupid play. He played A 2 suited that hard? The two was going to be a factor, so I was surprised that he would actually bet it out. He should have checked as Photo would have bet only 2000 or so. That is why he lasted only 15 minutes.

Some loose play continued for a bit. The mute went out on two pair- second and third pair nonetheless on an obvious straight. I didn't play much but felt the need to get aggressive at times. The only hand I would bet out pre-flop was A 10. I got one caller and he folded when I bet a flop that missed me, but I had over cards. Photograph was doing a decent job of collecting chips as was Madison. Buckwear continued his aggressive play and had done a decent job of chipping up as well. We played the majority of that first hour at 7 players. At the first break, I as sitting at 7700.

I was still determined to finish better than I had over the last week. I felt I was playing a bit tight though. I still mucked a number of hands- A 6, A 3 that would have filled out full houses. In each case, I was in early position so I wasn't in a good spot to just limp. But seeing how the deck would have knocked me into a good spot, I decided to play some of these hands in the second session. Needless to say, they all missed me.

Two players were added in, the Marine and another quiet guy after the break. Suddenly the table got tight. Any pre flop bet caused people to fold. I hoped to get some cards to take advantage of it. Best I saw was K 7 suited on the button so I limped on in. Flop came A Q 6. It checked around to me and I fired out 2k on the steal. Everyone folded except for the Quiet Guy. He looked like he would fold but then called. Hmm...did he have the A? Turn was a rag. Quiet guy check as did I. River was another rag. He checked and I turned up my K high. Ends up he was on a straight draw and I take down a decent pot. I am at roughly 12500 now, which is still low. I don't play many hands at this point. I am not catching cards. I defend my blinds a bit. Do some stealing but my chip count is not going anywhere. Yet somehow, I feel like I have succeeded by hitting the second break. Amazingly, Photograph, who had been a table chip leader for most of the first two sessions had given them all away. He called down a lot of second pair hands. Buckwear was the major beneficiary of the generosity. Madison took a bit of them as well. The Marine had busted out as did the girl on my left. Only 3 of the original table had survived this far.

At the beginning of the third session, we were broken up. We dealt the first hand and were given notice. It didn't seem fair to the blinds. I thought they should have mucked the hands and let us move before we played. I got moved into the wind table. Sat down in a spot that had a jet stream of cold air blowing on my. Good thing I didn't have to worry about cooling off my cards. Table was a good group of players. Tigers hat was there but had substituted the Bosox hat. ATM was on my left. Madison came along and stayed on my right. Doo rag was there with a good stack. The Biker had a big stack in front of him. Worst Player Ever was there. Hadn't been at a table with him in a long time. I wasn't too familiar with the rest of the guys. One guy seemed to stay hidden on the bend of the table. Another was too busy smoking. When I sat down, chips were flying around. But things seemed to tighten up again. Blinds were 1000/2000 so I know I didn't have many cards to wait on. About the 5th hand, in the big blind, I saw K J. 3 players had limped on in. With only about 8k in front of me, I had to choose between pushing and raising. Why raise? Two reasons. One, the table had tightened a bit, and two, I wanted to see a flop and be in control. Bosox had made a comment that he was afraid I would raise it up, so that helped convince me. I bumped in 2 more and saw a flop of 10 6 2, two diamonds I believe. Naturally, I went all in. Biker thought a bit and mucked as did Bosox and Doo Rag. Worst Player Ever commented I had pocket deuces. I was tempted to show my cards but decided not too. Small blind was folded out. I limped in too see a flop with 8 9 spades, but caught nothing. A hand or two later, I looked down and saw A Q. Bosox had raised to 8000. He had done the same thing in the previous hand, but everyone folded. I put him on anything from a small pair to A K through A 10. I re-raised all in. ATM commented that he probably shouldn't call but he tossed his 6 or 8k in as well. Bosox called too and showed A K. ATM had 6 6. Flop came Q x x, but with two clubs. My Q was a club but Bosox A was a club. Turn was a club. River was the K of clubs. Bad enough it was a king but it didn't need to be a club.

I played better this time around and came out somewhere in the 30s. I am curious if I could have played that last hand different. To simply call down half a stack to see a flop had me committed. Would Bosox fold with 2 over cards? Possibly, but in early position, he may push to force me out if the flop missed me. I don't think he would expect runner runner to fill his flush. Any ideas on how you would have played it?

Bagman's words of wisdom- Sadly, Bagman was conspicuous by his absence. Haven't seen him in a while. Don't know if that is good or bad. Word of wisdom though came from the bar. All drinks were 3 bucks. Finally, someone is using their brain here. Don't know why there don't try this more often. If they want to boost revenue, slash the prices on the drinks. Dollar tappers would go over big. They are still making money on dollar tappers. Or make it interesting, have drink prices go up as the blinds go up. Anything but putting more salt on the pretzels.