Starving Crazed Weasels, September

Had 9 players this month, a decent turn-out. We started with double chips and slow blinds, 6000 chips with 45 minute blinds to allow for plenty of play.

Early on I picked up the Cowboys. I bumped it up. I think there were 4 callers. I would have liked fewer, but...well, sometimes other people pick up hands as well. Flop was all low, no straight draws but there were a couple of spades out there. With 4 callers, I was probably behind but I wanted to see to who so I raised, Emily re-raised. Right there I knew I was in trouble. When she re-raises, she has something good. The question was...trips, or 2 pair? I elected to call. Turn was another spade. I checked, she bet. I checked my hole cards...yes, the King was a spade. She was ahead, I had a better draw...I did not believe she had Aces so was not afraid of the higher flush...I called. Sure enough, the river was another spade. I now had the King high flush. No boats on the board...only an Ace High flush could beat me. I made a large bet, she called. She had flopped 2 pair and ended with the 8 high flush but my King high was good and I had a nice stack going.

A couple hands later I picked up the Rockets under the gun. I raised to 4 times the blind and got a couple callers. One stayed with me to the river with top pair on the board so I took another nice pot.

A while later I picked up j/9 and the flop came jack high. It was checked to me on the button so I raised it. Alan folded. Phillip stayed with me to the river, when I showed the Jack/9 he groaned...he thought I had him out-kicked but he had j/10.


This hand did let me know he has a GREAT read on me. Earlier he had called the cowboys, here he knew I had the jack...I am giving off information somehow, but not sure how.

Just a couple hands later I had J/9 again and the flop came 10/8/rag, rainbow. I thought about it for a bit and decided to build the pot. I bet...and all 4 other people folded.

Weird. On the one hand, they aren't respecting my pre-flop raises; I got multiple callers of 4 times the blinds on both my cowboys and rockets. Then, post-flop, they all lay down on a non-dangerous flop? I would soon take advantage of that.

I limped in with A/2, then called a minimum raise. Flop came 2/6/9, 2 clubs. My Ace was a club. Phillip raised, I put him on the 6 or 9. I should fold, I knew I should, but I talked myself into calling since I had the Ace and backdoor flush draw. It was a HORRIBLE call. He checked the turn and I decided to get in his head. I counted down his last 4600 and raised that exact amount. They were convinced I had an over pair and he laid down his nines. I showed the bluff. That got them fearful. I had showed pocket pairs, King high flushes, straights...and now a brutal, huge bluff.

I had put Tim out earlier and several times Bob, Roman, and Phillip had been all-in but won, some of them multiple times. Meanwhile, I had a nice stack and was hitting a lot of hands.

With blinds up to 3 and 6 hundred (and only 1 person out...some very nice playing!), people folded to me on the button. I looked at pocket 3s, bumped it up to 2400. Bob, in the small blind, went all in for 4600 more. Roman folded and it was decision time. I needed to call 4600 to win 5400, a little better than 2 - 1 on my money. Should I call?

If Bob has 2 overs...which is what I put him on...I am a slight favorite, maybe 52-48 or so since he is almost guaranteed to have 2 overs. On the other hand, if he has a pair I am behind. What are my odds there? Well, I have 2 outs, 5 cards to come; about 20 %, so I would be a 5-1 dog and it would be wrong to call. So then I have to figure out how often he will have pockets versus how often he will have a pair.

Then I remembered how just a couple hands earlier Phillip folded to Bob, pointing out how tight he had been playing. This made the current situation rife for Bob to be on a bit of a bluff...I raised from the button, prime bluffing position, and had been playing a lot of hands so he knew I had a wide range of hands...so he would need less of a hand to make a move. I called.

He flipped up K/7 suited. I was ahead and a favorite to add a nice chunk of change and put out a dangerous player. He got no help and was gone.

Alan was not a huge fan of my call and I really had to think about it before making it but I think it was the correct call. More analysis to follow later.

We narrowed the field a bit, then I raised with pocket 6s. Almost everyone called, the flop brought A/K/10. Someone was ahead, I got out of the hand. Someone hit a straight.

For some reason, I was upset with myself. I thought I had not raised enough to get rid of people...but seriously, in retrospect, the hands that called were all worthy of calling. But I was on tilt anyway, so shortly after I made a TERRIBLE play.

4 players left. I picked up pocket 9s. I was going to raise, with the blinds I would be bumping to about 3200. If someone re-raised I would be priced in, more or less, so I decided to take advantage of my fold equity. I went all-in.

Emily called almost instantly. She had taken a LOT of chips from me and our stacks were close. Phillip, the short-stack, almost called...he thought and thought and thought and finally folded. I flipped up my nines, afraid she had queens...but she had A/4. It later turned out Phillip also folded A/4...well, I dodged the Ace, though she did have a gut shot by the river...and she was left with 600 chips.

I had had more than enough chips to justify playing the hand correctly but was on tilt over losing with 6s. Terrible play, I just got lucky that she made a loose call (because, as she said, "sometimes I get competitive against you") and did not hit her Ace. Now I was chip monster.

Next hand Josh put her out when the big blind put her all in.

From there it was smooth sailing as Phillip and Josh took turns being short stack and I picked off the blinds here and there until I caught a hand when Phillip did, took him out, and shortly thereafter Josh was all-in via big blind, so I blind called...and my 4/5 beat his q/3 when the 4 paired to give me the win.