Monday, August 13, 2007

Can't seem to catch a break

I went last night to the Good Look club, my favorite as always. And three nights in a row, might I add. I bought in for my usual $160 though that was a pretty short stack at the table. A player, whom I will affectionately call TM, was very heavily stacked with about 1,400 in front of her. I've seen her play before and she's a great player. She's willing to stab at uncontested pots and she bets nicely when she's got the goods. But last night, she couldn't lose. Seriously, she must have made every single draw she tried at the table. Yes, she fluctuated a bit up and down but she left decidedly up with 2,000. I'm sad to say that of the many players she felted at the table that night, I was one of them (though I got away luckier than most). The 'luck' she was having was in getting the nuts vs. another player with the second nuts. This is how you get paid. A prime example was when she flopped the wheel (45o in her hand) vs. a guy with pocket 3's. The pot had $100 in it when the set of 3's bet $315. TM called with the wheel (duh) and the poor guy couldn't boat up. I was a victim too when I raised on the button with KQo. About 5 people called and the flop came AJT with two clubs. Hello Broadway! I represented an Ace by making a continuation bet of $25. TM was the only one to call. Keep in mind that at this point I had doubled my $160 to $320. Just a reminder. When the turn came with the third club and she checked, my alarm bells rang. I checked and Darko saw a look of disappointment cross her face (I learned this later). The river, cruel river, came with a Queen. Now I had a Queen of clubs in my hand, so her odds of making a flush were slightly diminished. When the Queen came, meaning the board would need a King to make Broadway, she moved all in! The Queen on the river convinced me that she had a King in her hand but had not made the flush. I called, of course, and she flipped 8c9c. She had flopped the OESFD, so given our relative stack sizes, even if I had pushed on the flop, she would have called. Of course, it's stupid to bet your whole stack into what was a $60 pot, but that's another story. The only thing I could have done was stick with my original instinct that she had hit her flush draw and lay it down when she pushed. It was a tough hand all around.

Luckily, I rebought for another $140 and was able to run it to $285 before I had to leave, so I was nearly even on the night. The ironic thing was that I won the majority of the money on two hands where I happened to be behind when I pushed. Hand one, I had KJ and I called a preflop raise to $17 because of insane pot odds when 6 people called behind me. Flop came J high and when it checked to me, I pushed all in for $110 more. The woman to my left, not TM, folded what she said later was AJ that she had gotten in the BB. She was *not* happy to hear she had me beat, but she gave me a compliment on a 'good push' anyway. The second hand was when I had KQ and the flop came with JT. A guy bet out a decent amount and I obviously called with two overs and the OESD. The turn came with another Jack and when he checked to me, I pounced by betting $40 and he mucked disgustingly. Over pair maybe? That's what it smelled like.

Oh, another example of TM's good luck that night. She made a preflop bet to $20 with QQ and got three callers. She flopped Quads, and it checked all around to a poor guy with AA who moved all in. Oh, one more example. She had 8d3d in early position and limped in. There was a raise to $15 and then a re-raise to $40. TM calls with the raisers and the flop comes...ah, it doesn't matter. The point is that she made her flush on the turn, I believe, and then felted another poor guy. Unstoppable, she was. (And cute too). Killer combo.

1 comment:

lj said...

where is this good luck club you speak of? could you email me the address? good luck and poker are two of my favorite things!