Badger Poker...Runner Runner

The snow came down on the last day of November. The downtown area was packed and parking limited as every headed down to play poker at the HAND. Ok, maybe they were really going to the Bucks game and had no clue about Badger Poker but it may be just a matter of time. I started the night at BW3s, eating wings for only 35 cents. I discovered the Blue Moon may be the perfect beer to compliment wings. At the very least it was the fuel to get me going in poker.

The table started with some of the usual cast of characters. Granny was to my left. To her left was tweed jacket, an aggressive guy I had encountered a couple of times before. To my right was T and a wide eyed dude next to him. Frito Lay and Doo rag started there as well. Kool from Kool and the Gang was to Frito's right. He had the 70s big hat on which was cool. A guy who just looked like he was scared all the time was on the far end. And finally the really drunk guy who showed his cards all the time was there but he was sober. He was cool because at first he thought no one at this table knew he was that drunk guy. But then I recognized him and he took a good ribbing. He didn't last long but he was cool while he was there.

Having had some good beer in my belly, I was loose and ready to go. Starting in the small blind, I let the first hand go on the flop. Two hands later, after noticing that no one was really playing, I decided to see how tight this table might be. When it folded around to me on the button, I raised it to 800 with 8 6 off. They both folded. Funny part was the big blind talking about stealing his 200 blind. That was not going to be the first time I did this. I looked forward to taking advantage of this table. With Granny on my left I knew I could push her. Now it appeared I could push tweed jacket as well. A couple of hands later, I get K J and raise it up. They all fold. Once in the big blind, 4 players saw the flop. After they checked around to the river, I bet the pot to take it down uncontested with J high. That is how tight this table was playing. I chipped up quite nicely in comparison to the rest of the table. T on my right was taking the wide eyed dude's chips and I was avoiding any real confrontation with him. The scared guy had collected some chips as well. The rest weren't really playing much.

Through out the second session I continued to use my chips well. Getting in pots with some good cards and betting on the weak players. Only major problem was that I wasn't getting any real progress compared to other tables. Whereas 15000 might be good at my table, that couldn't be good compared to other stacks. But I worked it as best as I could. Part of the reason I was able to do well was that I avoided showdowns. I don't think I had to show my cards too many times. I even had some good laydowns. One time, Frito Lay moved all in from his big blind on 4 limpers. I was one of the limpers, with A 9 off. I was tempted to call. I was sure he didn't have A A or K K. He had made only one move in the first session. I put him on Q Q, maybe J J or 10 10. I folded as did the rest. Once every had mucked, I told him his Q Q was good. He then showed them. I like my read.

They moved some new players to the table. One tough player I had lost to at Gametime, moved in. I dumped some chips to him playing 10 10 when a flop came A K 10, forcing me to fold on his re-raise. One annoying dude sat down and started yapping away. Thankfully I took him out only a number of hands in. I caught pocket rockets in late position. The Yapper had limped in. I raised it to 5000. The blinds folded and he called. Flop came K high. With a pot of over 10k, I was going to bet another 5000. Having just over 10k left, going all in seemed even better. I moved it in and he said something like "You don't have it". He called quickly with K J. No jack and he was done. I couldn't believe he came in and called pre flop with K J at a new table. He probably thought he hit the jackpot on the flop too.

With a number of short stacks now at the table, I quickly scanned to see who had chips and how many. The crapshoot was about to begin as slowly each one started to go all in. The Asian down at the end moved in with his last 5000. It folded to the small blind, T, on my right. He called. I looked down in the big blind and saw the Hilton Sisters. I called as well as my prior experiences with T gave me the impression that he possibly had A K. Flop came J 10 10, two diamonds. He checked as did I. Turn was a 6. I felt I had the better hand at this point and bet 5000. He quickly raised all in. Interesting. Feeling I had the better had still, I called. He barely had me covered as he turned over J 6. He hadn't planned on me calling and got lucky hitting his two pair. Mine were higher though. Until the 6 hit the river giving him the full house. Just like that I was done. Runner runner sent me home. To say that sucked is a total understatement. There was just less than 30 left and I would have been in a good spot with over 40k in chips. Even worse was the Asian guy turned over J 10 for a higher boat. He had 3 cards he could hit to beat me and caught one of them. Ugh!

I left the HAND slightly disappointed, but still feeling good. Over the last 3 days I have played some good poker. Yeah, it sucks to have two bad beats knock you out but you can only hope to get your money in with the best hand. On each of the bad beats I did just that. Next time, I will be the one drawing out to a win.

Bagman's words of wisdom- Today's words of wisdom come from the yapping guy. One of the stupider things he said when he sat down was about parking. He inferred he parked illegally somewhere and didn't care if he got a parking ticket. To him it made no difference if he paid the city or paid someone to park in a lot. Fifteen dollars didn't matter. Ok numbnuts. What are you going to do when they tow your car? He said they wouldn't tow his car. I asked why wouldn't they? You park illegally and they will tow the car and it costs you more to retrieve it. Of course, his clever response was that they could go ahead and tow the car. He doesn't care. What a dipshit!