A Night at the Beau

I wasn't planning on the making the trip but a little bit of arm twisting by southpawrounder and we were off to the coast Friday evening. We got there around 7ish and we wanted to eat before we starting playing so being the good Catholic boys we are we couldn't eat meat and ventured across the street to the Waffel House where I got some "pre-meat chicken"....which are eggs. This was our first of two WH experiences on the weekend. With very little debate SPR and I agreed that WH is prolly the state restaurant of Mississippi. It's impossible to drive more than 10 miles without seeing a WH sign of some type. After the meal we went to the poker room and were seated right away at different tables. I bought into the 1/2 game for $300 and the game was kinda weird. When I first got there I was in the one seat and a regular named Tom was in the two with a young guy in the three and an ornery old baster in the 4, there was also a lady in the 9 who was in EVERY POT. Well the guy in the two was one of these guys who was very sure of himself and just knows that it's not luck when he makes hands. Well I don't have a problem catering to these types of guys ego's b/c it can be quite amusing. And of course he talked to every dealer like he knew them and picked on every cocktail waitress and was "that guy" who has his wife sitting behind him while he plays and she's just as clueless as can be. He's showing her every hand and she's just thinking that her hubby is the best darn card player this side the Mississippi River. Well as he's just running over the table and playing almost every hand b/c he will eventually make the nuts on the river I start to make some conversation with him and his wife if for anything that maybe it might prevent him from running me down. Well I make my first raise and feel the wrath of Tom and his running good ability. I make it $14 with AcJc and he calls as well as a couple others. Flop is A,3,6 and I bet $45 and makes it $100 right behind me. I contemplate and wait for him to start talking as he does in every hand he plays. I feel like if I can just get him talking a little bit he will let me know that he's very strong or just seeing if I'm full of shit. He says to me, "I got lucky...You don't wanna call" thanks for the info and I fold and shows me A,3 for two pair. Now I'm pumped b/c I haven't played live in a while and the first time I raise and make top pair I get smoked. Now the goal is to not go into a shell and get gun shy.

I then finally make a hand to build some confidence and was never under my buyin after this pot. Grumpy old man in the 4 raises and I call with about 4 others and flop a set of tens on an Ace high board. I bet right into the raiser and he calls with another guy. I set the old guy in on the river and he folds to save his $50 and I won a nice pot. I then witnessed some of the most retarded hands I've ever seen. Tom in the two seat decided he was going to put on a show and had about $600 in cash $1200 in chips in front of him and of course they were all in stacks of $50....Ok guys, lets have some chip stacking 101. Whenever you see a guy with stacks of $50 chips, he's not a good player and usually a guy who plays too many hands and when he has a lot of money in front of him is very self conscious of this...the good thing is that he will hemorrhage. Well the bad thing about this guy is when he's running good he thinks he's superman and will run you down. Well I watched Tom make every hand he wanted to. A couple that just blew my mind went down like this. He raised to $20 and got reraised to $50. Guy who reraised bet the flop, turn, and river with $50 on every street and got called except on the river when the back door heart draw got there and the board double paired...Tom raised him $50 more and the guy called. Tom promptly turned over his FLUSH and the other guy mucked. Now that's balls when you minraise on the double paired board and get called and still know you're good!...maybe this guy knows something I don't know? Then the other hand of amazement was when someone made it $15 and reraised to $50 and got called by two ppl and flopped a set of 4's and snapped someone. I jokingly told him he needed to teach me how to do that and he said with a straight face and 100% serious that when you have played as much poker as has and play as often as he does then you just know when to make raises like that. Point taken sir, are those triple strap velcro shoes you have on?? So I then was curious and decided to be amused and keep egging him on while his wife said there so proud that her husband was mentoring a younger man in the game her husband was so finely skilled at.

Eventually he left and gave back about $500 and got up with around $1200 profit off the $200 he bought in for. I on the other hand grinded away and got my stack up to almost about 1k and then took some uneventful swings that and turned an ok profit. SPR moved games and played most of the night sitting next to me and had more hands to play than I think anyone would want. He worked his ass off to lose $30. We finished our little marathon and went for round 2 at the WH...this time just for early morning snack before finally getting some rest. Hung out with Wild Bill for a while and we all decided to play the tourney Saturday morning and this wasn't exactly the most fun I've ever had playing a tournament. I get to my table and the tourney starts and I think there was almost 90 players and in the level and a half we played before my table was broke we never played more than 8 handed and we busted 4 ppl off. That's pretty impressive. The hand before we all get moved I picked up a nice pot and was somewhere near 11k in chips. The very first hand at the next table I flop and opened ended straight draw and a flush draw and don't improve and end up giving some old guy about $2400....o well, not a lot I can do about that hand. The next hand I played was about 9 hands later and I was on the button with QQ and it folded around to me and I made it $350 (blinds 50/100) and the SB and BB both call. Flop was 5,7,8 and the SB checks and the BB just moves all in for over 7k and now I'm flustered. This guy wasn't a complete moron. I couldn't really talk to him too much b/c there was a guy behind me. The ONLY thing that made sense was that he had a pair and a draw. If he had a set or two pair or anything he would have tried to trap me, if not then this was a hell of a play with a ton of reward if he had a set or two pair or a straight. Well I eventually come to the fact that he's not strong and just wants me to fold, well I call knowing that I'm prolly against a draw and before he turns his cards over he asks me if I have Jacks and turn over my QQ and he then pats himself on the back b/c he knew I had a hand like JJ or QQ...well no fucking shit!...what else would I call u with right there..AK, pocket 2's??...I'm pretty sure if I had a set I woulda snap called. Well he shows his 6,7 and now it's time to pray I can hold up. Well a 10 on the turn and then a 9 on the river and congratulations for getting it all in with your pair and a draw. I couldn't hold my tongue on this one after he kept telling everyone he knew I had a big pair. I asked how he knew I had a pocket pair when I raised and he said he just knew. So from me putting $350 in the pot from the button after it was folded to me he knew I had a big pair...his response was that he said I had JJ or QQ...whatever dude, I'm pretty sure anyone with a half of brain would have guessed I had a big pair after I called a 7k bet into a 1k pot. Anyway, I wasn't out and had about $700 and now it was time to get lucky and pick the right spots. I find a way to hang in there and double up and get some chips and make it to the break with over 5k in chips. Well the first hand back I have KK and end up having to fold after I get outflopped. After losing a hugh pot early I managed to last and bust out with about 38 players left when I ran my 55 into AA. It was disappointing and I was one double up away from giving myself at least a fighting chance. The guy who got lucky early actually came shake my hand when I busted and told me he would have never made that move against me if he knew I was that solid of a player....haha, thanks for the compliment but at I would have rather you make the move and my hand just hold up.

Davey didn't fare very well and had a nice little stack until the first level ended and never won a pot after the first level. Bill didn't last too long either, I wish I woulda made a last longer bet with them. I made it back to NOLA and went to the Hornets game with the girl and watched Chris Paul just take over the game when he feels like it. The guy is sick, the refs were terrible and that's the only reason Oak.City hung around. How gay is the name "Thunder"...not sure who sold them on that as their mascot but it sucks. It was an ok weekend as poker goes even though I didn't cash in the tourney. As I write this I'm playing the 4k gtd. 6max. Hopefully this turns out ok for me.
Till next time.
Keep It Real Homies.