Live Poker is Rigged

Holy Shit, got invited to play a home game yesterday evening with some real estate guys from town. The play was so bad. There were 10 players, structure wasn’t too bad, Start with 75BB, blinds double every 45 minutes. $50 buy in, optional rebuy for the first 2 levels. Of course, after the first 2 levels were over, ½ the guys were very drunk and begging to buy back in at a 50% premium, as they said, “just to have a chance!”

The play was extremely slow. I am sure that I see more hands per blind level in a turbo SNG on Stars. Took forever for guys to make decisions, they chased gutshots until the river. On one hand, where it was obviously 1 guys had a big pair and 2 guys were on draws, when the turn completed neither draw, they guy with the big pair checks. Huh? Of course, the river made the straight and the flush, and the guy with KK still called a huge bet from the flush that bet and the straight guy called as well. So bad.

As far as it went for me, got nothing for the first hour (which was probably only 20 hands anyways) dwindled down to half my stack, and I was in the BB, and told myself that if I saw anything better than AJ, I was going all in and rebuying if necessary. 7 people call around the table and I look down at 55. All in! The shitty part was that 5 guys called. I push for 20ish BB and 5 guys called. WTF?? Anyways, so there is a lot in the middle for me and for some wonderful reason, there is a 5 on the flop, and I quintuple up to 2nd stack.

As we neared the bubble, guys with 2-3 BB left in their stack were folding left, right and center. Nobody wanted to go out. I was lo win chips, and ended up going all-in with AJ vs. AQ, and hit a J on the flop and one on the turn. Lucky there. With 5 guys left, I went all-in twice, once with KT (I was getting low again) and the big stack called me with 55. Luckily I hit a K and survived. About 5 hands later, that big stack had dwindled down to less chips than I had, and called my all-in re-raise with AQ when I had JJ. A king flopped, but nothing else, and he was knocked out. 1 from the money.

I knocked the 4th place guy out with my 88 vs. his AK (I hit another set) and the third place guy got knocked out when the big stack called the shorty’s all-in re-raise, shorty had AK, big stack had AA. Now, we are heads up. I was raising basically every decent hand, and he was folding. Slow-played AA on one occasion and he called my all-in after the flop with top pair and I was inches from victory. I had a 9-1 chip lead. Then, disaster.

Next hand, I’m he’s all in with JT suited, I call with AQ, I hit an A on the flop, he goes runner runner flush. Next hand, he goes all-in with 43 suited, I called with AJ, hit an A on the flop, he goes runner runner flush again. Ick.

I slow down a little, slow play the nut flush to take some chips off of him, and eventually get back to a 5-1 chip lead. I then go all-in with 99, he calls with T8, flops a flush draw, turns a T and river the flush. How gay. Next hand, he goes all-in with TT, I call with AK, he holds. He now has the chip lead, and I am steaming. The next hand, I go all-in with KT and he calls with QJ, flops a J and it’s over. All those bad beats at the end cost me the $200 difference between 1st and 2nd. But, for my one $50 buy-in, I made $300, not bad for a night’s work. At least my wife was happy when I got home extremely late.

As for online poker, I have banned myself from Stars for the next 30 days to appease my wife. Apparently, I am playing too much. And really, I am playing a lot, so it is probably goo for me. Only live for the next while. She says it’s ok as long as I am being social and not curled up in a corner staring at my computer. I agree with her a little bit, but 3 days into this ban, I am already itchin’ to play more. How am I going to last 27 more days? Lots of live poker hopefully.

Anyways, my roll online is about $2,300, and it will stay that way until April 11th. My live poker money, I don’t have a roll, as last night’s money will go to pay the nanny for the week and send my wife off for a pedicure and manicure. Hey, if I give her some of my winnings, she’s happy, and lets me go out and play again. It’s a win-win.

Thanks for reading guys, good luck at the tables, virtual or otherwise.

Ryan