Salami sandwich

Viv is *such* a bad influence.

After the DB game ended on Thursday, at 12:30a, Viv convinced me to go to the Salami club with her and Dennis. Well, I guess I don't have to go to work until 9:30a....

When I got there, there were two tables going, the main game and a must move table. Both table were playing 2-5 NLHE, which is the only thing spread at Salami these days. I took my seat with an anemic stack of $400 at the must move table. To my left was an old woman who is a regular there; I'll call her SG (Sparkly Glasses). My first hand, I get A9o in MP. For some reason, I think this is a good hand. Why? Maybe I'm retarded. Hard to tell. I raise it up to $30 and get 4 callers. Flop is J84. I make it $50 to go and SG calls. Turn is a Ten. I bet $85 and SG raises me all in! Um...no. I fold. Yes, my friends, down over $100 on the very first hand because I am an idiot. Then, I get rewarded for my idiocy, I think. I get KK on my very next hand and 'steam-raise' to $30 again. This time, SG immediately re-raises to $100. I push all in for my remainder and she insta-calls. You know what's coming, right? That's right, she has AA to my KK. BUT, the gods love me and a King falls on the river to scoop the pot. It's OK, SG, it was my money anyway!

I tighten up soon afterwards and manage to stack a short stack with a set of 8's later on. When I leave, 2 hours later, I'm up $290. Well, $290 and an omlette sandwich, which is it's own reward, let me tell you.

Last night, I went again. During dinner with my parents, brothers and my niece (for my niece's 14th birthday), I got a text from Viv. She was going back to the Salami club, this time with W, and would I want to come? Hells yes! I was already in the West Village so I wasn't too far away. But I hadn't brought my bankroll with me and due to a whole bunch of Citibank accounts having been recently been hacked by some guys from Brooklyn (true story), my ATM card didn't work while a replacement was being sent. No worries as it turns out. W lent me $500 to get started and I took a seat in my old familiar place.

I played tighter than a nun's....well, you know.

Seriously, I folded hands that most people would have played, waiting for the perfect hand to make big money on. As an example, I get 88 on the button to the following action. UTG+1 raises to $35. Three seats later pushes all in for $82. It comes to me and I fold. Why? Not because I think the all-in had me beat. No, I folded because I didn't think my 88 was going to stand up without hitting a set. Hitting a set is a 1 in 7 proposition. Which means that I'm going to need $82 * 7 ($574!) in the pot to justify the call. Now, 2 of those $82 (we don't count mine) will already make it in there which means I'd have to have another 5 of those bets make it in from my remaining opponent. I didn't feel that that much side action was possible, so I mucked. The all in had AK and the other guy had AQ. A Queen flopped to win and no 8 hit the board.

About an hour into this grinder session, I pick up KK, and the magic happens. I raise PF to $25 in late position and get one caller in EP. Flop is K84 with two spades. He checks to me and I bet out $50 and he waits a few seconds before calling. Ok, the fish is on the hook. Time to reel him in. Turn is 5c. A brick. He checks again and I come out with $120. I'm trying to make it look like I'm stealing the pot. He looks at me intently and I send out every false tell I can think of. I freeze in my spot, I hold my breath, I look right at the board. Thanks Mike Caro! After a full minute, he makes the call. The river is 3c, which completes a few straight draws that I'm not worried about. Whe the river hits, he moves all in. He's got me covered for the full $630 that was in my stack. I make the quick call and table top set of Kings and he looks like he's hit in the gut. He explained later that he thought I was betting a draw (spade draw I guess) and wanted to bet that I didn't have it. Scoop it up! I drink your milkshake!!! 20 minutes later, I tabled another flopped set of 7's against the same guy for $100 profit. It was a sweet 2 hours of poker. I was going to play longer but I found myself folding hands that I should be playing jsut to protect my profit, and that's no way to play. When I folded AQo on the button to a raise and a call, I knew it was time to stand up.

And so it was that I left Salami +853. Awe-Some.