Hella Hold'em

Welcome back to the felt, Baz!

So, I hit up Empress last night for some poker, and who should come sit down about an hour into my session but the man, the mystery: Baz. At first I did a double-take, because - well, it was a Wednesday night. Yup - that's Baz alright. Cool! I said hi, but didn't want to make it obvious to the table that I knew him, so I let the boy settle in and see a few hands.

The table had been a bit grumpy, which means - the fish were not paying off bets, and instead did a lot of folding in disgust. A woman had arrived a little while before Baz, and was seated to my left. She was a very jovial type of person, and her chatter was helping to liven up the table a bit. Then, a kid from down south sat down. He was a self proclaimed bible-belter, and was up in Chicago for work. He was quite conversational, talking all about his work and his son and his ex-wife (though saying nothing bad) in a thick southern drawl. By now, the table was loosening up and things were getting fun.

When the woman to my left decided to leave, Baz got a seat change and moved across the table. One thing we marveled at was the frequency of which Hammer boards came out. I have never in my life seen a more Hammer-friendly table. I couldn't get my hands on a Hammer to save my life, but Baz was sitting in the Lucky Seven's seat, so I had high hopes for him. The woman that sat there before him literally won every single pot where a seven was on the board. She hit two full houses with K7, one with Q7, a boat with pocket 7's, and various other monster hands involving 7's. Twice, Baz was in hands where he raised preflop and Hammer boards came out, and I prayed that he had a Hammer to show down (since I was not in those pots!) Unfortunately, he didn't have Hammers, and the times he did see a Hammer in the Hole, he was not graced with a coordinating board. It sure would have been funny to tilt the remaining Grumps with a Hammer win, though.

I can't recall too many hands from last night. Pocket 3's hit a set for me, which paid off well. Big pocket pairs got crushed at every opportunity. I saw KK once, JJ twice (3 times if you count the misdeal... grrrr), and AA once. None held up. 'Twas brutal. Baz had similar luck with his large pocket pairs.

After playing for 5 hours, I was up $100 and decided to take my nice, even number and go home. Baz stuck around after I left, and if I'm not mistaken, he was up when I left, so hopefully he cleaned out the remaining Grumps before heading home himself. :)