Mean Gene

Off the hook

A frustrating night at the table. Played about 2 hours, and for the first half-hour or so I didn't get a decent hand. Well, that happens. Then, in the course of about 5 minutes, I was dealt pocket aces, pocket queens, and I flopped an ace-high flush. Hey, what's to complain about? Well, I got no action on those hands. None. I raised with my pocket aces and had everyone fold--this at a table where we regularly had 5-7 preflop callers. I had one caller with my ladies, and when a trio of rags flopped we both checked, and my bet on the turn was enough to see him gone. My flush? Flush it--one caller, folded at my first bet.

After that I won four or five small hands and lost two big ones. Once my jacks with king kicker were beaten by an ace kicker, and on another I had A-5 in the big blind and saw the flop come A-5-J. The turn showed a K, and I couldn't chase the guy. The river was a 10, and wouldn't you know the guy held Q-9. Nothing to do there but shrug and move on.

At my lowest point I was down about $20, but I started winning some little pots with some aggressive play, and then I played a lousy hand but learned something along the way. I had KQo on the button, and 4 other folks joined me in the pot. The flop was junk, 2-7-3. We all checked. The turn was another 3. I checked, and the guy to my right bet. I didn't think he had a 3, but the other players did, and they folded. So it was up to me. I didn't think he had a pocket pair or a piece of the board, because so far he'd been a pretty conscientious contributor yet had checked the flop. I called the bet and hoped I might see some royalty on the river.

Nope, the river showed a 9. So there's no straight draw, no flush draw. Just those damn treys. That's when I made a mistake. I checked, and regretted it the second I did it. I played chicken and handed the intiative to my opponent, who promptly bet. I was pretty ticked at myself, because I didn't think this guy would re-raise me, so I blew my chance to win the pot with my bet. I knew a re-raise wouldn't chase this guy, so that option was out. Call or fold is not the way to play poker, but that was the situation I found myself in.

So, did he have a piece of the board? That 9 might have paired him. There was only one way to find out if my King was still the best kicker. I thought it was, I really did. There was like $10 in the pot, and I certainly thought I had better than a 1 in 10 chance of winning. So I called.

No, I didn't win the pot. But I didn't lose either. My foe also had KQo. I came this close to laying down the same hand my opponent had--all because I ceded the initiative.

Alas, things didn't go well after that, and I ended down about $12. But that's still up $12 for my PartyPoker prowling. Go look for some more fish tomorrow.

I do plan on writing and posting about more than my own piddling poker adventures. I'm a fan of the game and I love to write, so I hope you'll keep coming back. I'll be changing the look of this site in the next day or so, right now it looks like my other blog and I can't tell them apart. But now...bedtime.

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