The last time I tried to sit down to play poker with a group larger than 2 was 2 weeks ago. I’ve organized a poker league for the men at church. Yeah, yeah, I know, poker and church? But it works. It’s a game we love, and it gives guys a chance to hang out, play some cards, and watch some Monday Night Football.
So 2 weeks ago we had our practice tournament, in order to get the newer players used to how the game works. I, however, didn’t get to play, as I spent the evening in the E.R. with my son, who performed an impressive faceplant in the backyard which managed to jack up his bottom row of formerly perfect baby teeth. He’s fine now, but that meant by the next time I played live poker, it would have been a month since the last time.
So, Monday night, we kicked off the league in glorious fashion, as the Broncos/Ravens defensive tilt was on the tube and the cards were flying freely. I may or may not have chosen card decks with orange and blue backs as subtle support for the Broncos.
All in all, I ended up taking 5th place, which wasn’t bad. I went out on a ridiculous hand, losing to set over set (me with sevens, opponent with nines). I mean, I lost fair and square, and it wasn’t a bad beat at all… but I played it correctly, and had the other 3 involved also played it correctly, I would have won the hand. It went down like this:
Blinds - 100/200, 5 players remaining
SB: JB (chipleader)
BB: NA (second short stack)
UTG: HERO (short stacked, bubble just burst 2 hands ago)
UTG+1: BH
Button: BK (second in chips)
I’m dealt 77… short stacked, running up against our time limit (we have a time limit rule - long story). I figure now or never, this is likely the best hand I’ll see the rest of the night. I push, BH who has double what I have in chips, only calls, BK folds, JB calls, NA calls. I didn’t want to see a flop with a low-middle pair against 3 other hands, but oh well.
I think I hear angels singing as the flop comes down Q97 (rainbow). Now they’re betting into a sidepot, and BH instantly goes all in. I’m not afraid of a set from him now, because he would have checked it. JB instantly calls, which scares me. NA pushes all in for his remaining 400 or so chips, and JB calls that as well. So three of us are now all in, and BK is sitting back enjoying his instant jump to the top.
BH flips over KK. Not an unreasonable hand to play, but with the overpair, should have pushed right behind me to isolate me. JB had enough chips his calling range at that point was HUGE. So I’m feeling good about my sevens, NA flips over a drawing hand (I dont’ even remember the draw, I just know it was such a longshot that I’m amazed he ever put a single chip in on it), and then JB turns over 99, having hit a set over my set.
JB never would have called my all-in with BH going all in behind me… i don’t think. Maybe he would have due to the time and deep stack he was working from, but I should have been able to come away with a good sized stack after that, but the turn and river were bricks, and all three of us dropped in one single hand. So as you can see, I certainly didn’t suffer a bad beat, because JB got his money in good, and BH gave him the odds to do it. I never think much about how I could theoretically play a hand perfectly and have someone else’s mistake cost me. Now in that hand, there was nothing to play perfectly, it was push or fold in my opinion, and I made one move, all-in preflop, and I think it was the best move. I just got clobbered.
I still feel very good about the way I played over the course of the whole evening. If I could just learn to trust my reads against the more familiar players, I could probably save myself a few chips. NA had a few hands that I had a read on him, pegged him on a hand, just couldn’t act on it. Second-guessing yourself is dangerous.
It was good to sit and play again. If any of my few loyal readers are ever in the Portland/Vancouver area, let me know. We’ll throw together a game.
peace.
–j.
ps: i have an article brewing in my head on the online poker ban stuff, i hope to get it out in the next week or two.
