Odds and Ends

Home Game

For those of you who have played in the same home game as I have draw your own conclusions. Limp pot with 5 players. Flop is 7-7-9 rainbow. The board is checked by everyone. Turn is a 10. Again the board is checked by everyone. River is a 6. Someone bets and two players muck their cards from the two blinds at the same time. One set of cards accidentally turns face up and is a 7-4. Both players vehemently deny that the exposed hand was theirs. One player is Tony and the other is Visor. Who is lying?


Tells

You raise preflop from middle position with pocket 8s. Everyone mucks except the big blind who calls. The flop is A-7-2 rainbow. The big blind looks at his cards and after hesitating he checks. What is your play?
In my opinion the very fact that he looked at his cards in that situation is a tell that he doesn’t have an ace and your play is to make a significant enough bet to end the hand at that point. When a player has an ace he doesn’t usually look at his cards when an ace hits the flop.


Straddles

A straddle is essentially a blind raise (a raise made before the player looks at his hole cards) and while it is only allowed in Atlantic City casinos as such, in home games the straddler is allowed to reraise after all the other players have had their turns to act. One of the players in my home game complained that when people straddle it brings the game to a higher level than he is comfortable playing. Surprisingly this is a player who knows the game very well and yet he doesn’t seem to understand that when other people straddle and re-straddle it is an advantage to the rest of the table because the straddler(s) are putting blind money into the pot. If a player is willing to risk putting a significant amount of money into the pot without looking at his cards, players should be fighting for seats in that game and anyone who is fearful of such an act shouldn’t be playing poker.


Sweating a hand

This term refers to having the player next to you looking at your cards if he is out of the hand, in order to bring you luck. Of course there is no validity to doing this but I believe that my record of sweating people is unsurpassed in the western hemisphere. One night I sweated Russian Lenny and he flopped two pair six times in a row. While he was grateful for the hard work I did for him, he was furious at me whenever I played a hand because that meant that I couldn’t sweat him. I offered to muck my hands for half his winnings but I guess he didn’t want my help that badly.

Lobster

I arrived at a friend’s home game and when he mentioned that Lobster would be arriving shortly I began to salivate. I haven’t been at a game where lobster was served since the days of playing at the catering hall. Imagine my disappointment when this skinny bearded guy sauntered in and Jimmy introduced him to everyone as Lobster. I was crying in my veal scallopine. Anyway another player whispered to me that Lobster should really be nicknamed “Fish.” I filed that away and watched incredulously as the crustacean hit hand after hand and built a considerable stack. When he felted Tiny and thanked him for the donation I knew that something had to be done. Of course normally when something has to be done the cards never fall right and nothing gets done. But on we played. Although Lobster was king I had built a considerable stack myself. He was now raising almost every hand and when I peeked down at jack-10 offsuit I decided to see a flop (as did 3 others). The flop came Ace-King-7 with two spades and Lobster made a considerable bet. There was no doubt that he was ahead of me but I eyed his skyscraper of black chips and after thinking about his continual loose play decided to call to try to hit the gutshot or perhaps try to steal the pot later on if another spade hit the felt. And suddenly – JACKPOT – a queen. I had hit the gutshot and was now holding the nuts. So many things going through my mind. I hope he has a big hand. I hope the board doesn’t pair on the river, I hope a third spade doesn’t hit the river. I hope he bets. I hope the veal didn’t stain my shirt.

First things first and I was delighted as his hand moved towards his black chips pushing some forward. And now the dilemma, how much to raise. Wanting him to call I raised just enough to insure that if he wasn’t on a total bluff he would continue to play. And he pushed in calling chips instantly. At that point I put him on ace-king or ace-queen. I held my breath as the river card fell. It was a 5 of hearts. No flush, no boat. I was holding the nuts. Lobster checked to me and I had to make a decision. Should I make a value bet which he would have to call or should I roll the dice. Every factor in my decision led me to the conclusion that I should go all-in.

First I could not lose. Second if he had at least ace-queen he would make the call. (Good players could lay ace-queen or maybe even ace-king down but Lobster would have to make the call). Third he could put me on a missed draw in which case he might even call me with a naked ace. So in went all my chips and into the tank went lobster. (get it?) He thought and he pondered and he pondered and he thought (okay I’m getting carried away). Finally he looked at me and said “Would you take 300 back?” I had no idea what he meant. Did he mean take 300 back and he would call or we each take 300 back and he would fold? Since the pot was way larger than that, the very question seemed designed simply to get information from me and so I sat stonefaced and unresponsive. Lobster then made a mucking motion with his cards as he stared at me to see my reaction. Once again he got nothing. Then he showed his cards to the other side of the table to see if I would react to their reactions. And on it went as I wondered whether there was anything I could do to induce his call, finally deciding that I just needed to remain nonresponsive. Finally someone called the clock and when the dealer announced 15 seconds left I had all but given up hope for a call when suddenly out of the cornber of my eye I saw the lobster claw shoving a stack of chips forward as announced his call. When I turned over my hole cards he mucked his hand which I later learned was king-queen a terrible hand to call with. I had won most of his chips and within 20 minutes he had lost the rest, rebought, lost his rebuy and headed out the door. No offense catering hall but Jimmy’s was the best lobster I ever had.