Hella Hold'em

Randy and I headed over to Armando and Kathie's last night for an impromptu version of the JackHammer game. We were joined by Dusty, and Jen made six. My notebook was again notably absent, so I don't have much in the way of a write up. I've got to get better about that.

The first game was a quickie $5 tournament. We were waiting on another couple who was yet to arrive, so we wanted to play some cards while not getting into anything too big in case the couple showed up while our game was in progress. They never showed up, so our early frugality was in vain, but oh well. We played no limit hold'em, with Armando's new Kem plastic cards. Damn, were they sweet. They're the same type of cards I bought (which I have yet to use), and they just shuffled like butter. Slid across the table smooth as a baby's bottom. Damn sweet cards.

I hit some nice hands early on. First peek in the pocket showed me Big Slick offsuit in the big blind. I slowplayed, figuring that most people try to play their "A" game early on in a new tournament and my opponents were likely to be playing tight. With a flop of A-J-x, I checked and called down Randy's bets to the river. I got a lot of shit for slowplaying that hand. But, I managed not to get sucked out on, and took the pot.

I picked up a couple junk hands that hit trips early on, and won those pots. I also got mighty lucky with a K-8 when I rivered two pair to the paired Ace in Randy's hand.

I returned some of the shit-giving to Randy when he won a nice pot voluntarily playing 10-7 on the button. "But it was sooooooted!" He hit trips onboard and took the hand to showdown (was it against Kathie? I think so?) Ten seven. Yeah. Uh huh. Nice hand. :) I was secretly commending him though for the nice display, since it was early in the game and I'm sure he planted seeds in people's minds that caused them to question what kinds of junk hands he played from there on out. It's like the Full Tilt commercial where Jesus bluffs a guy with the hammer and then explains that you're setting your opponents up for later. Maybe that was Randy's strategy. I'll give him credit for that, because if he was REALLY playing 10-7 because he thought it had positive expected value.... He claims it is Daniel Negreanu's favorite hand. I don't know about that, but even so. That's like me playing 8-6 suited because it's our friend Ed's favorite hand (which I've been doing lately, for some odd reason. Must stop).

There were some crazy river suckouts going on. One hand saw Jen all in against Randy. He held pocket 8's, which are nothing less than cursed with evil at Armando's house (and anywhere within a 10 mile radius of Armando's being). Jen called all in after the flop with her diamond flush draw. The turn was harmless to Randy, and then he called it: "Here comes the 8 of diamonds." Sure enough, the river brought the 8 of diamonds, giving Randy a set but Jen the diamond flush. We all wondered if Randy was psychic, but I think that the episode just proves the extent of the curse of the snowmen on Armando's house. It follows his soul around, I think.

Poor Dusty seemed to be living a curse of his own against Randy. Twice (including one of his knockout hands), Dusty went to somewhat passive showdowns against Randy, only to discover that his pair of two's were beat by Randy's pair of three's. The three's were out to get Dusty. But, there may have been some foreshadowing there, as when Jen later made it to the final clutches of game 2, she sucked out a monster on Randy with those same 3's. Poker and justice aren't typically used in the same sentence, but the three's made sure to associate the two concepts last night.

I exited the game with less than one big blind left, when I pushed on the button 3-handed with KQo. I think I played the hand heads-up against Armando in the big blind, and to my recollection he held something like Q-5. I rooted against a 5 on the flop, but with each turn of the cards, Armando picked up more draws, and the river brought the 5 to beat my high card King and knock me out.

I'm having an awful time trying to remember the finishing placements from the first game. Kathie and Armando chopped 1st and 2nd place so that we could get a second game going. I think I bubbled in third. I think Randy went out in fourth, and Dusty went out fifth, because Dusty was upstairs putting his son to bed while Jen played his cards (and went out against Randy, I think). Jen, I believe, was out in 6th place.

Game number 2 - we upped the stakes to a $10 buy in. Same game, same blinds (10 minute blinds). I have less recollection of this game (actually, the hands described above could have come from either game - I don't really remember which was which). I know that I went out of the game against Randy, when I hit top pair ten's with my Ace kicker. He bet out most of my stack and I put him on a ten with a weaker kicker and pushed all in. Actually, he held ten-six for two pair on the flop, and I didn't catch an Ace. My unimproved TPTK bought me a ticket to loserville.

I'm going to screw up the finishes in this game even worse - here's my best effort:

In the money:
1. Randy
2. Jen

Losers (I have no idea of the order here... I suck):
3. Kathie?
4. Shelly (me)
5. Armando?
6. Dusty?

Awww hell I dunno. It was something like that.

Thanks muchly to Armando and Kathie for hosting this very chill poker night out. Good times, good cards.