Poker: Trip Report

Trip Report From the Burbs

This blog is seriously lacking in some poker talk. A trip report from the other, more bald Adam, aka "Chopenstein".

I arrive somewhere in the Pickerington vicinity – not your typical burb, cookie-cutter house. Ranch style home, living room front and center, wood burning fire place on the right wall, big flat screen right above. Table 1 to the left. Kitchen table straight ahead, labeled “Cash game”. Big giant yard behind (150 yards, I’m told – about an 8-iron’s worth for those with a little meat behind their swing, no offense CFO) with screened in porch, pool, huge deck... Did not even get to see the first floor extension of bed rooms or finished basement.

Between the living room and kitchen on the right was the door to the garage where tables 2 and 3 were located, accompanied with a wood burning stove and the sign-up headquarters to the far right and room.

Let’s digress for a moment – I was hungover. Bad.

Dizzy and nauseous most of the day, it was all I could do to shower and drive the 25 minutes for what promised to be a very uncomfortable evening of sitting and concentrating. What I needed was a couch and a nap. 14 hours of March Madness and Golden Tee the night before, combined with a throwback hour at Brewstirs proved to be a lethal combination. Fast forward....

$20 buy in, $5 bounty per person. 24 players. Blinds go up every 24 minutes, beginning with 5-10, 10-20, 25-50, 50-100, 75-150, 150-300, 300-600….. Starting stack of 1,400. Top four pay. $240, $120, $72, $48. I get my table assignment. Table 3, seat 5. Of the four people I’ve met before or know, none of them are at my table. Perfect. I can use whatever stored energy to figure out my opponents rather than feel obligated to engage in small talk with friends. The wooziness continued regardless. I found myself miscounting chips, spilling 7UP, knocking over my stack and flipping my cards over (folding to a raise) not realizing there was still action to go… Who brought the new guy?

First 20 minutes the woman across from me is running over everyone. Every time she bets, she peers over my shoulder to read the far wall, which has a sign signifying what each chip equals. There was one right over her shoulder, but I wasn’t going to break her bad habit. Three hands she won, she had her opponent dominated. Flopped straight, trips and two pair.

I get a hand, pocket 6s, limps all around and we go to the flop four ways. 10,3,2. (Blinds 5-10). Check, check, check, I bet 30. Fold, fold, aforementioned woman calls. Turn 9. Woman checks, I check. River blank. Woman checks, I bet 30, Woman calls with KK..... Not sure why she never a) led out or b) raised me, but in not doing so I wasted two bets, because I likely would have folded to her action. Blinds go up.

Before the first break I’m dealt 99, blinds 10-20. I raise to 60 with two limpers behind me. They both call – 3-way. Flop is rags. I bet out 120. call, call. Turn is a queen and I tuck my sack in by checking. Check-check. River is an A and I internally groan. I check. Calling station bets, bulldozer woman calls, I grudgingly fold but know I’m beat. They both had A8 and I’m now convinced that any A plays as it’s the third time A high has been taken to the river by at least four players at the table. Time to play premium hands only. Break time – good, I need fuel. Warrior is about to die....

Over the next 25 minutes I’m pretty card-dead. I see a cheap flop with 5,6 suited, but whiff. Things begin to look up as I take down a decent pot with AK after I push the bulldozer lady off with a 300 bet on the turn with a K on the flop. A couple hands later, I have the dreaded AQ. Raise. Bulldozer calls. Flop is Q,J,10. She pushes all in (short stack) and I insta-call. She has K,10 for bottom pair and the up and down - *sigh* a 9 on the river gives her the straight and puts me under 10x the blinds, which are now at 50-100. With just under 900 chips, I’m dealt A-10 suited hearts on the button – one limper behind me and I push. BB calls me with AJ… I have him covered by 10 chips, wohoo! SB informs me she had a 10. Guh. A two-outter 10 finds me on the turn and I send the father of the host packing. That can’t be good karma, but whatever; I’m back to just above my starting stack at about 1,600. We break to merge down to two tables and I feel like I have new life.

Our new table consists of the A-high calling station, Troy (who has been at the same table all night, playing a wide range of hands), the mom of the host, Andy whom I’ve met several times before, two random hot chicks and two others that don’t last long. Blinds at 75-150.

No memorable hands here, but I was able to knock out a short stack with 10-10 and push Andy off a couple of pots after he checked post flop. He had a good stack and didn’t seem like he wanted to risk putting a dent in it, so two all-in pushes were good enough to get my stack up over 3k.

The two random hot chicks were screwing up our table mojo, however. Blinds were clearly at the next level, but somehow they managed to deal themselves into an extra hand of lower blinds. That and they reversed the shuffling order, so that the player who was about to deal shuffled their own deck, as opposed to the former button…. FLOOR! No one said anything, as it was all we could do to keep the action flowing. Thankfully there were several short stacks at our table and the field dwindled swiftly.

Sooner than expected, we were down to 9 and re-drew for final table seats. One to the left in seat 5, on the other side of the host’s mother. Troy was in the same spot in seat 9 and Andy was to my right in seat six and a poker club dealer was in seat 7. Blinds 150-300.

More of the same, I stole a few blinds with raises, but was happy not to get any action against AJ, KQ, etc. So I treaded water as the blinds crept up to 3-600 while four players were sent to the rail, three of which were courtesy of Troy, who had the table dominated in stack size. Andy was second; poker dealer was third, I was about a blind or two ahead of the other short stack. Five to go. Troy and dealer chick kept raising and stealing blinds, which was fine by me as it meant I maintained my lead over short stack.

Finally, Troy predictably raises and the short stack tanks, then grudgingly calls. I look at my cards as a mere formality expecting to get out of the way but see A7. As I said earlier, Troy has been all over the map. Best I’ve seen him play was A-rag. He’s raised with 10-8, 10-9, Q-4, etc. Plus at 3x the blinds, I don’t have much choice. Of course, I’m saying this out loud and he shoots back a “thanks for noticing”. I say “I bet you woke up with a hand here, but I gotta believe my ace is good” and re-raise all in for another 800. He calls with AQ, short stack has Q9 and Troy takes us both out. Having the short stack covered, I squeeze my way into fourth place for $48 plus two bounties, totaling $58, more than double my buy in. Troy, who had an O’Shea's coin card-protector, went on to win over dealer chick, with Andy taking third. Great group of people, good times.

Next chapter: Cash Game; Table image, Drunky Mike and the Power Hand.