The new Soho room

Last night, I came home from work at about 5:30...and promptly fell asleep on the couch. What a great nap it was, too. Not one, not two, not even three hours. But 4 full hours later, I woke up to find the night mostly gone. I was going to complete the experience by going to sleep early, but I got an email from Darko that he, Wendy and Carol were all at the new Soho room, which I will call The Virginia room. Far be it from me to give up the opportunity to experience a new room, so I high-tailed over there.

There was a bit of confusion getting in. Darko had said to call him when I got there so he could come out and get me, so I did. But as i was waiting, another gentlemen, who looked vaguely familiar, possibly from the Good Look club, wandered up to the same address. At that exact moment, a guy opened the door, looked at the other guy and asked him in. Uh, oh. I think I've been overlooked. So I called up Darko again and sure enough, he had sent out the guy to pick up someone, "with glasses". Well, the other guy had glasses too. But the confusion was cleared up quickly.

I got into a small apartment with 3 tables awkwardly cramped into 3 different little rooms. The place had a very speakeasy feel to it, with the subterannean entrance and the guy at the door letting people in cautiously. But when I turned the corner and saw Carol's smiling face, all the anxiety melted away.

There were 9 or 10 players maximum throughout the whole night, just one table. But it was juicy. There were two guys in town from Colorado and they were playing the role of 'whale' for the night. Buy-in after buy-in came out of their pockets and it all went away. They bet strong on middle pairs with flushes and straight on board and it was beautiful. Or it was for someone else. I only doubled through them once, when I flopped top set. Then my money got frittered away on three big hands.

Hand 1: I have AQo. Flop comes Q42 with two hearts. I bet, I get raised and I look over at his stack. It's short, thankfully. I push and he calls. He's got Q4. Ok, it is what it is.

Hand 2: I have AhQh. Wendy leads out UTG+1 with a raise to $12. About 6 people call. Flop comes Q78. Wendy bets $30. I get one caller to my right. I consider raising, but I get suspicious. Right now, though, Wendy is representing a good Ace. I call instead of pushing. The turn comes a rag, maybe a 2. Wendy leads out $130. The first caller folds and it's to me. I agonize over it. Set? Two pair? The betting is still looking like a good Ace, so I make a call that's against my better instincts and we check down the river, which is harmless. She had 7s8s.

Hand 3: I have KQo and I limp from UTG+1 with a $6 straddle in effect. No one raises and the flop comes KJ8 with 2 clubs. Danger, Will Robinson. But I have to see where I'm at so I bet out $18, just enough to make someone lay down with nothing, I'm hoping. I get one caller, whom I put on a flush draw. The turn comes a 9 and I put out another $22. He raises up to $75 and I know he's got me. I lay down, but not before I'm able to talk him into showing me Jc9c.

So, I'm losing with good top pair hands. Meanwhile, some action fish in the middle of the table is getting paid off left and right with all sorts of trash. $125 pots won with King high are not uncommon. The sickest hand I saw was this:

I have AQo in middle position (*that* hand again). It gets raised to $15 and a few people call, including me. By the time it gets to the BB, who just sat down and is playing his very first hand, he raises to $75. Fishy guy in the middle calls. Carol, to my right, agonizes and folds 88. I also agonize and fold my hand. The flop comes down a sickening AQ5, rainbow. BB shoves all in for his remaining $210 and fishy guy calls! I figure for sure I'm going to be looking at two pair over set, but oh no. BB turns over 66 and fishy guy turns over...Kd7d. Yeah, that's right. He called $75 preflop with K7 and then called an all in with King high and no flush draw. I wanted to puke on the fucking table. Do I have to finish the story of who won? Oh, yeah. The Fish rivered a seven to take down the pot. There is no justice in poker. There, I've said it.

Other memorable hands that I can remember:

Darko, with AdTd flopped Ac8d6d. His opponent, Mr. Whale, had AA. When Whale shoved, John agonized but made the call, motioning to the dealer to stop after the turn so he could ask to run business. Well, the turn was a diamond and John showed his nut flush, but there were still boat draws. So he explained what doing business meant and they did, 3 times. Each time, the board didn't pair and John avoided a bullet.

Fishy guy and the guy with glasses got involved in a huge pot too. Fishy guy had Jd9d and flopped a flush draw. The board was 8dTdAs. There was some betting on the flop and the turn came a 7c. At that point, all the money went in. The fishy guy had the straight with the flush re-draw. Guy with glasses turned up AdQd for top pair with a good kicker and the flush draw. But most of the diamonds were out for this guy. 6d gives Fish the straight flush, so there are 6 more diamonds in the deck and that's it. That's about a 10-1 shot at best. but wouldn't you know it, it hit on the river. Fishy guy stormed out with a lot of frustration and the rest of the table was equally frustrated. One of the guys defended the fishy guy as being a "good player" and he *did* play that one perfectly, but this is the same guy who called a preflop raise to $75 with Kd7d, so I wasn't saying a word.

The last big hand was, fittingly, the last hand of the night. Carol and two other guys (Guy #1 and Guy #2 for the purpose of this story) all put big money into the pot with the board ended up being 356 on the flop, a 2 on the turn and a King on the river. Carol had 33, Guy #1 had 55 and Guy #2 had A4! Wow. Poor Carol. Her sets really weren't working out tonight. Oh, except for the time she rivered a boat playing 25o! Oh, yeah, The Darko scores again.

I ended up down $300, Carol about the same and Darko and Wendy scored big. King of the Mountain is going to be a quite a climb. {Sigh}