Home game debacle…

I play a juicy home game about once a month. We usually play when my two ex-bosses are available. He bets on every flop that he is in and shuts down on the river if he has nothing. She only bets when she has the goods, but calls gutshots all the way to the river. The other players are very much calling stations, ‘just wanting to see one more card’ all of the time. It’s wonderful.

The one problem is that when you raise, 6x or even 10x the BB, you get at least 3-4 callers. When you flop the goods, you are going to get paid off all the way to the river. But if you are holding AA and the flop comes 368, you have to wonder if you have the best hand anymore.

Last night’s game can be summed up in just a few hands:

Hand #1: I have 66 in the BB. We are about 20 hands into the game, and no pot has been over $20. (We are playing $1/$2, everyone buys in for $200) I keep talking about getting some fireworks going, and that if everyone limps to me, I am going to raise. Of course, almost everyone limps to me in the BB and I raise to $15. 4 people call. Ahh, nice pot brewing. Flop comes T64, 2 hearts. Niiiiiiice. I lead out for $30 and get 2 callers. Turn is a K. Not a bad card, not a heart, I still have the best hand for sure. I lead out for $60 with about $100 behind. Everyone folds to the last guy who hums and haws for a minute, and says, “I just can’t fold this hand…” I put him on a flush draw, maybe with top pair, maybe two pair. He finally calls. River is a Q. I push and he insta-calls. I show my set, he shows AJ, no heart, fuckin’ gutshot runner-runner BS. REEEE-BUY.

Hand #2: I have QQ, raise to $12 and get 4 callers. Flop come QT8 2 clubs, I lead out get 2 callers. Turn is a low club, I bet, 1 caller, and the guy beside me goes all-in, I fold, they both have flushes.

Hand 3: I have AA, I raise to $17 after a lot of limpers, 2 callers. Flop is J62, I bet $50 and get 1 caller. Turn is a 9 and the villain insta-goes all-in for $400, I fold, he shows J9, what a bad push.

Hand 4: I fold to a $6 raise with Q8 which would have made quads and watch 2 other guys get it all in for a $500 pot, each having an A on a QQTQA board. Gay.

Hand 5: The only good one of the night for me. I have rebought again and I have $300 in front of me. Again, I make the comment about fireworks and that I am raising if it comes around to me limped. I get 44 in the BB and a lot of limpers, I raise to $12, 1 caller, another guy who only bets with good cards raises to $35, and I know I am behind now, but I call, other person calls, $120 in the pot. Flop comes 843. I check, and the 2nd caller insta-pushes for $250, re-raiser thinks about it for 2 minutes, he is wondering what I am going to do, and finally re-raises all-in to isolate, I actually thought about this for a while, as the insta-pusher could have 88, would be tell-tale of my night for sure. I finally do call, insta-pusher has 33 for a set of 3’s, re-raiser has KK (obviously) and I have my set of 4’s, which by some miracle of the world hold up and I take a $800 pot.

Somehow, through all of this $hit, I end up down only about $250 on the night, one of the guys was up $1,200.

Anyways, was a shitty night, thank goodness for my set of 4’s near the end of it, took away a little bit of the pain.

Won’t play any more live poker for a few weeks, and internet poker will be limited until next week. I hope to have another update mid-week next week.

Good luck at the tables everyone. Talk to you all soon.

Ryan