O-Poker

On Tuesday night, I headed out to a fun home game. A lot of the guys at the game play regularly/semi-regularly with each other on Tuesdays. It is composed of mostly guys in their 30s and 40s that have money to throw around. They decided to run a bigger game this Tuesday. There were three tables that had the following games running:

Table 1 - 5/10NL cash game running all night (starting around 5 pm)

Table 2 - $1k SNG followed by a $500 SNG (starting around 7 pm)

Table 3 - $300 SNG, $300 SNG, then $2/$5 cash game (starting around 7 pm)

They had an awesome set-up. The guy that owned the house had recently moved in and done some major renovations. The house was huge - the three tables were all set-up in the same room and there was still plenty of room to move around. They had a buffet catered by a steak house and waitresses to serve drinks.

I arrived at 6:30 pm. The 5/10NL game was just getting going. I sat down and stayed there all night. The max buy-in at the beginning of the night was $500. (They moved it up to $1k later in the night.)

I finished up a disappointing $500. It would have been more but I lost a big pot with 2 pair to a guy that was on a straight draw. We got all the money in on the turn and the river made his straight.

To say that there were some bad players at the game would be an understatement.

Some of the highlights:

A Fight - I was sitting in Seat 7. Seat 2, 4, and 9 were involved in a hand - don't remember preflop action. Flop comes 10JQr. Seat 9 bets. Seat 2 goes all in for about 1,300. Seat 5 calls (about 550). Seat 9 doesn't know what to do. Seat 2 and 9 were involved a hand earlier and Seat 9 showed Seat 2 one of his cards when he was all in heads up. So now it was back on Seat 9 in this hand. Seat 9 says he has AQ and asks Seat 2 to show him one of his cards. Seat 5 immediately gets pissed off as Seat 2 shows a King. 5 and 9 start aruging about how Seat 2 can't do that. It escalates into, "You wanna take this outside?" A few seconds later Seat 9 walked behind the dealer and then jumped across the table and swung on Seat 5 - knocking chips and drinks all over the place. They eventually calmed down and the game started back up after the chips were sorted out, the spills were cleaned up and new cards were brought over. It was later in the night and definitely woke me up.

A few examples of how poor the play was:

Example 1
Me - KK UTG.
I open for $80 and get two callers.
Flop comes AA5. I'm pretty much done here.
I check
Mid Position bets $120 (obv. doesn't have Ace IMO)
Late Position raises to $240.
I fold.
Mid position re-raises all-in. Late Pos calls.
Mid position had 77 - Late Pos had A2.
I so wished I had a hand.

Example 2
Everyone at the table limps.
I am in the SB (Seat 7) and decide to just call and see a flop with AQo because the game is so crazy and I'm OOP.
Flop comes AJ2 rainbow. I am confident I am best here and check to let a weaker ace bet for me.
Seat 1 bets $60, Seat 3 calls, I call, everyone else folds.
Turn is a 6.
I bet $150. Seat 1 folds. Seat 3 calls.
River is a 2.
I am confident that I am best here and know that Seat 3 will probably call an all-in with any Ace, so I push. He thinks and says what do you have like AJ or A6 and then finally calls with J6. He turned two pair and somehow thought it was still good even with a AJ622 board.

Example 3
I folded preflop.
Seat 10 is check-calling some small bets throughout the hand on a board with 2 spades - obv. a flush draw.
The third spade comes on the river and he bets like $300 into a $150 pot.
A guy insta-calls with top pair weak kicker and Seat 10 obv won with the flush.

Crazy Hand of the Night
Three guys got all in preflop. AA vs. AK vs. KK - Flop comes AKx. I don't think that I have seen that one ever - even with as many hands as I see online.

A few interesting comments made by some of the players:

The $1k SNG had a pretty fast structure. The blinds increased every 17 minutes and increased pretty drastically. A guy that had busted out of it early was sitting next to me in the cash game and kept saying that it is ridiculous that it takes so long for the blinds to increase. He said they should double the blinds every time the deal goes around once (no matter how many players are left). Three guys agreed with him, but said they probably didn't do it that way because 1 or 2 guys would get pissed. I think the 1 or 2 guys that he was referring to both cashed in the SNG. hmmm.

I was dealt AA on the button and after several limpers I made it $120 to go. The SB raised to $250. Everyone folded and I made it $450. The guy to my right started saying how I couldn't raise to $450 and that I had to double the SB's bet. Before I had a chance to say anything, the SB went all in with KK and my AA held up. I then tried to explain the guy sitting next to me that I only had to raise him additional $130 becuase he had raised my bet by $130 ($250-$120). He said, "I'm just telling you so you know - if you ever go to a casino they are going make you bet $500 there. You have to double his bet." I replied with, "OK - thanks. That is good to know."

I had a blast at the game and will definitely go again.