Starving Crazed Weasels, July

Pretty decent turnout. At my table I had Cassie to my left, then Kevin, then Emily, then Robin, then Pete.

Cassie is a loose/passive. She calls too many hands pre-flop and then pretty much check calls to the river but she will fold if she hits nothing on the flop. Kevin is a tricky player. He plays a wide range of hands, will raise with little, call with anything from the nuts to a made hand, re-raise if he thinks you will fold...Emily plays different every time out. Lately she has been loose/passive but with looser calling standards than Cassie has. Tends to make to many calls because she doesn't believe the better...but calls with nothing herself. Robin is a tighter player who will raise with her good hands. Pete is a loose-aggressive player who makes a lot of moves. Me? I switch it up ever game.

Early on there were 3 limpers, I limped with 9/10 Diamonds knowing Cassie would check in the big blind. Flop came down 8/J/K, 2 diamonds. I raised, everyone folded.

Then I went card dead. For a long, long time. Nothing I could play. Kevin, Robin and Pete were taking turns raising. So I had to pick my place to make a move. Finally won a couple small pots. Picked up K/2 diamonds. Randomly called a raise from Kevin planning to steal. Someone else also called...I think it was Emily. Flop gave me a pair of Deuces and flush draw. I called another raise, Em also called. Turn was a blank. I called anyway. River gave me the flush. Kev raised, Em called...I though about re-raising but weakly called. My flush beat their straights...Em had the low end, Kevin the high end.

By now Emily was getting low. She had about 5 blinds was all. I picked up the Cowboys under the gun, raised 5 blinds. Em called, everyone else folded. The Cowboys held up and she was gone.

A while later with a limper I completed from the small blind. Cassie had yet to raise pre-flop so it seemed safe. Sure enough, she checked. I had K/2 again. Flop came K/Q/2, 2 clubs. I raised. Cassie came over the top all in, everyone else folded. Since her raise was only 200 over the 500 or so I had raised it was an easy call. She had 7/8 clubs, flush draw. It did not get there and I had put out my second person. Funny thing is...I was doing it with horrible cards. I was playing really poorly.

With an action oriented table like this with frequent raises I should not be playing K/2 type hands...yet I had done so twice. Now we moved Phillip over.

Phillip is good when he is patient but he tends to get bored so he plays a lot of questionable hands. But he seldom re-raises or raises into multiple limpers. Having him on my left is good.

Soon after I picked up Queens under the gun and raised. Kevin called. Paint maybe? Flop came K/J/10, 2 diamonds. I had a straight draw, backdoor flush draw and 2nd pair. I bet. He almost folded, then he said, "if it is worth playing, it is worth a bit more" and called. He is not the type who does the act thing so I doubted the King. Either Jack or a draw. Or both. Bet again on the turn. Same thing. On the river he checked again.

Now, I had watched him against Pete several times. When he thought he had the best hand he would check/call to the river, then bet. So when he checked here I was pretty sure I had him beat. I thought about putting him all in but decided that would seem desperate so I raised the same amount. He hesitantly called...and rolled over the K/Q. Ouch.

That took almost half my stack. Back to tight mode.

Shortly thereafter we combined to 1 table.

To my left was Eric. Easy to read. More on that later. To my right was Joe...he plays tight/passive. Kevin was to his right, then Kenneth, then Pete and finally...uh...someone.

Ken hit a couple nice hands and built a huge chip lead. Meanwhile, I was hovering between 3K and 4K. By now the blinds were 2/400. With 3K I have an M of just over 5. When it was folded to me, just 3 people left to act I pushed my last 3100 in. Eric folded and Pete...came over the top all in. Kenneth thought about it. I actually thought he would call...the chip loss would not hurt him and he could take out me and Pete, 2 of the more difficult players. But he folded. I flipped up my A/J and Pete flipped up...2/6? What? Well, he had not been paying attention and did not realize I had moved all in. I doubled up to 6800...ironically, the highest point I would get to all night.

Up and down, no real playable hands and now Kenneth was raising liberally. With 6800 and blinds now 3/600 I could not play much. Say he raised to 1800 or 2400, both reasonable and typical raises. I call the 2400. Now there is 4800 in the pot (minimum...more if the blinds involve neither of us) and I have 4400 left. I better be pretty sure I am beat to fold there...which means if I call I am really playing for all my chips. So if I enter a pot I am only doing so with a hand and I am going to push either pre-flop or on the flop. Pre-flop I will know Kenneth is committed so that means if I play a pot he is in my chips all go in on the flop. So I was playing really tight.

Got down to about 3K again and pushed with K/10 suited. Got called by 10/J and doubled up again.

Got down to 4 players. Almost called when Kenneth and Kevin got involved but then decided to wait for a heads up opportunity. Kev went out. Now it was me, Kenneth and Eric.

Ken was playing much looser than normal...raising with q/10 type things. He was playing really well. Eric was still playing tight. I had seen him play 3 hands: A/Q, A/K and A/8 suited.

Kenneth folded on the button. I planned to raise and steal the blinds. Just as a matter of course I glanced at my cards to mask what I was doing and reached for my chips. As I did, out of the corner of my eye I saw Eric glance at his cards. He straightened up and grabbed his chips. All of them.

Now, I had seen him straighten up before. He had a hand he planned to play. I had NEVER seen him grab all his chips. I had a 10/5 off suit. I said, "Well, I am going to fold since Eric has Aces." And by his jerk and upset face I knew I was right. He wanted to double up. I said it before...at times, Eric is REALLY easy to read.

Of course, I thought I had more or less been on my game. Back at the first table there was a hand I laid down top pair when top pair was 10s and I thought Pete had Jacks or Queens. He later said it had been Jacks. I had a pretty good feel all night for what types of hands...made hands, draws, weak or strong...people had so it was not unusual for me.

Oh well. I just had no cards all night. Finally Ken took out Eric. By now he had almost 36K and I had just about 3. The first hand I picked up queens...and he folded the small blind. I doubled up once, then picked up J/9 suited, I had said up front I was going to play fast and push hard so I moved all in...and he called with A/K suited. He played really well and deserved the win for sure.

I played pretty well to get there with no cards most of the night and never getting over 6800...to come in 2nd was pretty impressive.

And it was fun so there you go.