Of maniacs and heart attacks

Darko went to Toronto for a long weekend, but when he got back to New York, he was itching for some real poker. So he texted me last night and got me to come to the Good Look club. We showed up at 6:30 and sat down at a table next to each other with $160 each. My second hand, I lost $70 when my KhJh hit a Jack high flop and an AJ took me for a ride. 3 hands later, I get KK and play it great, getting a JJ to go all in after a junk flop. He sucks out on me, but not by hitting a J. He hits running clubs to make a flush! Grrr…. I reload for $200 and 6 hands later get QQ. I flop a set with 2 spades on board and min-raise a $30 flop bet. The raiser calls and I think he’s on a flush draw. I know I’m in the lead and he checks a blank turn. I bet another $60 and he hesitates for a while before calling. The river is the spade and he puts in his last $40. I have to call and he shows Js3s. He called a pre-flop raise with that crap and went all the way with it! Oh well. I’m down $360 in a matter of 10 minutes. I reload for another $200 and finally catch some luck when I more than double up after flopping a set of Jacks and they finally hold up to a flush draw. John, the very hand before, said to me that I’d probably fold a top set of Jacks if I get them and I got them the very next hand! Funny… I left down $150 and John left down about $200 when we went to go get dinner and hit the Salami Club. We sat down to Salami with the place in full swing and 3 full tables going. Two of the tables were 5/10 and a juicy 1/2 table. I bought in for $200 and played a few flops but couldn’t catch anything. John, meanwhile, got felted twice more and kept having to reload. It was brutal. Finally, John gets JcTc and calls a pre-flop raise with a few other callers. He flashes me the cards and says, “I wonder if these will stand up”. The flop is AA3 with two clubs. John bets out on the flush draw and gets one caller. The turn is a blank 6 and John checks. About a millisecond goes by between the time that John checks and the time the caller moves all in. John would be all in for $130 on this call and he thinks about it before saying, “Fuck It” and calling. Clearly a frustration call. John shows and the other guy shows QJ for a bluff! It happens to be leading at this point but it was a stone cold bluff and a good read from the guy who knew John didn’t have the Ace. Meanwhile, there’s still one card to come and it’s a club! John make his river flush and drags a $500 pot. Crazy… A little later, I have only $120 in front of me so I can’t afford to see any more expensive flops. And since they’ve all been raised pre-flop by Bryce, a maniac player on a ridiculous rush of cards (boat, boat, flush, straight was one sequence), I have to sit tight. My patience finally pays off when I look down at KK UTG. I limp for two, knowing *somebody* will raise and Marcello, a silver haired loud Italian gentlemen obliges by raising to $25. John calls, unfortunately, and I move all in, hoping to give John the signal that I’ve got the monster. Marcello calls and John, ignoring my non-verbal communication, calls too. The flop comes as a bunch of low blank cards. Marcello checks and John bets heavy. Marcello folds. I immediately offer John to run the cards twice and he accepts, showing 88. Neither run helps John and I win my hand, going up about $80 for this Salami session. I would be witness to one more hand from John before having to leave at midnight. John, with QQ, raises pre-flop to about $125 after some heavy betting by Bryce. Bryce, ever the maniac, calls and the flop is 334. John immediately moves all in for his remaining $219. Bryce thinks for a good long while, asks somebody for a coin and then flips it on the table. It comes up heads. “Call,” he declares. He flips up AhJh. Ace high with no flush draw! John’s QQ is good but Bryce wants to do business and John accepts. Bryce wants 3 runs but John wants 2. They run it and an Ace pops on the river on the first run! John wins the second run, chopping the pot. If John hadn’t offered to run the cards, he would have lost the entire pot! In hindsight, it would have been better to run 3 times because John would most likely have won 2/3 rather than ½ of the pot, but if he hadn’t run at all, it would have been a bleak moment with a $1000 pot.

A crazy night. The burgers at BURGR are killer.