Players round the table: Top_jimmy, King_Tubby, The_Conge, Pokerhontasz, Valhalla.
The latest in our series of no-limit home games got off to an inauspicious start. An hour before kick off I had to bus it across town to check out P.A. equipment for my band and a couple of last minute drop outs left the attendance looking like it would be at most, 5 of us. It all came together ‘field of dreams’ style though because if you build it (a pot that is) they will come. In the balmy summer heat action was quick to ignite around the table and our first key pot was pretty much a hero call by TheConge: On a board of 10s,5c,Ah,(Tc,Qd) Conge bet the flop and was floated by Valhalla in the big blind. On the turn our hero was check raised by Valhalla who had picked up a flush draw with the arrival of the 10c. The river brought a small (blocking?) bet out of position from Valhalla who backed into a pair of Queens and TheConge called, showing down a winning Top pair no kicker with A4s.
Pokerhontasz showed her true colours as a trigger happy loose aggressive when faced with the assertive small-ball tactics of Valhalla. She responded to a preflop 3 bet and flop float on a Q,9,6,(J) rainbow board the only way she knows how; by insta-shoving the turn! Valhalla folded and charitably showed 88 afterwards but Pokerhontasz did not return the favour. Having observed her play on many occasions I can safely put Pokerhontasz on ‘any-two-cards’ for her to ship it in that spot! I must have been downing the cooking lagers pretty quickly by this point because my notes from the night get progressively messy and difficult to interpret. The next major pot was a total shocker which changed the dynamic of the match, decimated my table image and kick started KingTubby’s best performance so far in the series. On a board of K93 with two hearts TheConge bet, I donk-raised a crap flush draw and KingTubby called behind, prompting a Conge shove, then me (sheepish) fold, and all-in call from KingTubby. The Conge tabled top two pair with K9 and Tubby showed top pair crap kicker K10. The turn brought a Jack, and the river a heart piercing Q for KingTubby to runner-runner a straight and claim most of TheConge’s stack.
Not long after this sickener I got it all in against a slightly tilting Conge in an AQ vs his 88 race situation and in keeping with my insanely lucky streak (in all in pots) I spiked one of my 5 outs (an ace had already been folded) to leave him with about 8 big bets left. We discussed the merits of his shove afterwards and my reasons for calling and his shove is definitely more defensible than my call, but both moves are more or less ‘standard’ as they say given the rapidly escalating blinds. The game picked up loads of pace after this stretch and TheConge was inevitably first out to one of my magical all ins even though I held two pieces of cheese instead of cards. What surprised everyone was how quickly I then donked off my stack in one of my classic ‘blow ups.’ I forget exact board details but Pokerhontasz flopped the nut flush, played it slow and allowed me to make a double live gonzo mistake. I put her on top pair (don’t ask me why) and got it in on the turn with straight and flush outs, drawing completely dead since Pokerhontasz held the nuts, including my magic straight flush card. Whoops!
Valhalla hung on for a little while with around 4 big bets and then KingTubby lost heads up fairly quickly to Pokerhontasz’ constant min raise barrage. I got slightly annoyed when either of them folded the small blind and I went into my annoying ‘professor’ mode which is how these nights tend to end so sorry again guys. Pokerhontasz pulled a heinous Hellmuth style speech to ‘ensure’ that she got a call with her final AJ preflop shove but KingTubby was destined to call with KTs anyways. I called it a slow roll but in actual fact it should just be filed under ‘moody’ or ‘unsportsmanlike’ conduct. The best thing about this particular game is that KingTubby got a reward for coming in second, and Pokerhontasz won in such convincing style: true to form results for both playersJ
Glossary of terms-since I have been accused of being too jargony
Float-call a flop bet with no hand, usually with the intention to steal the pot on the turn or river
Blocking bet- a small river bet with probably (but not definiltely) the second best hand, that is likely to be smaller than the bet you would call if you check and your opponent bets (therefore saving money at showdown)
Donk-bet/raise- an out of position bet/raise with no plan for the hand, it is just fun to bet/raise yeah!Slow roll- to slowly reveal the nut winning hand
Out of position-having to act first post flop, which is a disadvantage in the order of play
Hellmuth-Phil Hellmuth Jnr 'the greatest no limit holdem player ever' (snigger)
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