Badger Poker...Oooh that smell

The second season of Badger Poker is slowly coming to an end. I think we are past the midway point and it has been a bit tougher than the first go around. More fish are in the seas with some very strange play. That was evident on Monday at Bay View Bowl. New faces and weird play. I saw some very familiar faces in the room and there was a couple at the table. Tigers hat was there as was the whiny guy (I should change his name because he isn't whiny any more and is a good guy). My friend Cor was there. I should call him Frito Lay as he was giving chips to everyone last night. Grape soda was on my left. He kept popping cough drops that smelled like grape soda. Gonzo, an older Mexican(?) guy was a loose player who seemed to play every hand. Granny, one of the biggest rocks that I ever saw was straight across from me. A really round faced guy was next to her. By Tigers hat was a squinty eyed guy. And to my right was DiCaprio.

I did like this starting table because I had a good feel for how some of them played. I knew WG would be aggressive and Tigers hat would push on big cards. I just needed to figure out the other 6. And that wasn't hard. Especially when you are not getting any cards. Hardly any pre-flop raising was going on. Nor was there much betting. Not until WG started to push the table a bit. He quickly doubled up taking out DiCaprio who played rather bad last night. Grape soda hardly played any hands as I didn't either. I tried to limp with an ace here or there, some connectors, and some suited since the price was cheap but was hitting anything. I watched Cor bleed chips and wondered what he was doing. Apparently he was getting a lot of little pairs and wasn't hitting anything on the board. Gonzo, as mentioned, was playing every hand and seeing some wild stack swings. He gave up a bunch of chips to the squinty eyed guy when he stayed with second pair. Granny played maybe one hand that wasn't involving her blinds. Funny thing was she always bet it heavy too. She would limp in, see a flop, and if it hit her hand, she would bet like 4000 into a 1200 pot. WTF? Round face guy was doing ok and slowly gathering chips.

I don't think I won a pot until the hand just before the first break. Blinds were 200/400. I think I may have been in the cutoff. WG raised it up to 1800. I looked down and saw the Hilton Sisters had come to visit. I knew WG could have any set of hands but my feeling was that he didn't have a big pair, maybe A K at best. I raised it another 3k. This is where playing with some of these guys has paid off. I raised with the thought that he was most likely to go over the top with his big stack. If not, I was going to push on the flop. Sure enough, he pushed with 8 8. Nice double for me as none of the limpers even thought of calling my raise, let alone his push. Grape soda commented how I missed out on his chips as he would have called the initial raise. I guess he doesn't understand how the skanks can turn your good hand into mush when too many people see a flop and that A or K hits.

After the break, things got a little interesting. People had noticed Granny hardly played. Suddenly she was playing some hands. Not well, but she was playing. She got crippled by the round faced guy. She called from the small blind and saw a fop of 4 6 7. She bet 5000 on it. Round face guy raised all in. Warning signs were oh so present. Lights should have flashing, sirens blaring not to call. But she did with A 10. He showed his big blind special of 3 5 for the flopped straight. She would lose her remaining chips just a bit later than that on another crappy hand.

Gonzo got lucky. His chip stack was moving up and down as he paid off many a hand. He quaded up on a pair of jack. From UTG, Cor moved allin with his last 3100. Gonzo had only 3100 left as well. I was in the cutoff and saw A K. So I called. Squinty eyed guy called as well from the small blind. I believe the flop came J high, two spades. I checked and Squinty bet 1000. I called with the two over cards. Turn was no help. I then bet 1500, feeling that he was on a flush draw and that my A high might be good. He called. Hmmm....didn't necessarily like that. River was a blank. We both checked. He had A 7 spades, missing his flush. My K kicker gave me the side pot. Cor had K Q and nothing while Gonzo had pocket jacks for a set. That may have been the only hand I played in the second session. Round faced guy was getting hot. He called an all in bet from Squity with another small stack. Squinty had the rockets with RF had K J. Flop came K K x and that was all she wrote. Going into the second break I was down slightly from the first break and getting cold decked.

Third session began with some new players. It was here I made a bad play and a good play. I tried to buy a pot off of one of the new guy. I had limped in with something like A 8. There were 4 people in the pot. Flop came with two hearts, with one being the 8. The first two guys checked. I bet out 1500. One of the new guys thought for a bit and called. The other two folded. Turn was another heart. I figured he was on the flush draw and that is why he had called. I bet out 3000. I should have checked but thought a decent size bet might have him thinking I caught the nut flush. He raised me back. I had no choice but to fold. Should have gone with my initial read instead of firing the second bullet.

A couple of hands later I would make up for it. One of the other new guys, Fivehead, had been talking with Grape soda earlier during one of the breaks. He was bragging that he was up and had bluffed a couple of times. Thanks for the info bub. He started playing every hand when he sat down and got busted up. He came with a stack of around 30k that quickly diminished to roughly 15. He kept betting aggressively and was called down on every one. I was able to take advantage of this. I limped in (blinds 1000/2000) with 9 10 spades, mainly because I had mentioned how this hand can be powerful with the straight combinations that are possible, plus with a flush possibility. It didn't hurt that there was a small stack in the small blind and two guys had already limped in. With 5 guys seeing the flop I got the monster I needed, 6 7 8. Fivehead was first to act. This was good and bad. Good because he immediately reached for his chips. Bad as he went all in, scaring out the two guys behind him. If he bets around 3000, I know one of them probably calls. Instead he pushed like 14000. I immediately called. He showed J 8 for top pair. Turn was a 10. Suddenly I thought I was gonna get screwed by a nine to give him a J high straight. Thankfully a 5 showed up and I won a nice pot.

That was basically my last hurrah. With 22 people left and us short playered, we were moved to two tables of 11. That didn't last long as a couple players dropped quickly. But on the first hand after moving, I look down and see 7 7. Being in late position, I raised it to 8000. The button called me and there was one all in. Flop came Q 10 5. I bet out another 8000 thinking that aggression was the way to go. Button quickly pushed all in. It was only another 5 to call and the pot odds were great. She had called with 5 5 and had her set. It stood up and I lost half my stack just like that. Next hand I get K Q hearts. WG had been put here and pushed all in from under the gun. Once again, having played with him, I knew he didn't necessarily have a good hand. I called my last 12400. However, the small blind then called as well. I had kinda forgotten about the players behind me. WG showed J 3 spades. Small blind had Cowboys. No hearts came or spades for WG and we were knocked silly. End result was 17th place. I was a little disappointed as I had a good read on WG but what a crappy time to have a big hand behind me. Worse, a Q had hit the river so I would have taken it down. Only two hands could have beaten me and one was out there.

Bagman's words of wisdom. This one goes to Gonzo. It is always strange when these gamblers get onto your table. They get too lucky at times. In this case, with a board of J J Q 7 3, someone pushed Gonzo all in on a decent sized pot. He sat there thinking and declared "I know you have the better hand". Upon hearing that, I said "And that is why you are going to call". Sure enough, he called and won with Q 9 over Q 8. His kicker held up. Amazing. You say someone has you beat and you call anyways. Stupid. Lucky, but stupid.