Sloe Times

My Party bankroll really is not in a shape to play the Bad Beat tables but that's only a minor cautionary flag if you are willing to play solid and not get caught up in the craziness that seems to afflict people who are trying to put bad beats on one another. The last few days I've been catching a stream of cold cards while playing $.50/$1. After annihilating about half my bankroll ($70) there, I opted to take a break and change things up a bit. I played a SNG that laid some evil bad beats against me (and the rest of the table for that fact). The fellow to my right was playing very aggressively and betting into pots when he had nothing or bottom pair. After the table pretty much figured him out, his bets didn't get any real respect, but he must have tipped the dealer pretty nice because in looking back through the showdown history, there were 4 All-ins against him after he bet to try and steal the pot where his trash hand caught runner and at least once, runner-runner to knock people out. I busted out on the bubble when he shoved against my raise with JJ and I called his 88 putting me all in. Ah well, maybe hold'em is not my game right now. I figured I would give omaha hi/lo a shot and sat down at a 5+1 SNG. It was fun but I busted out 9th. <yoda>Much to learn of Omaha I have</yoda>. After that triumphant attempt at poker for the last two days where I set myself back I figured I would sleep on it and give it another go today.

Hey, how about playing the bad beat tables? The reasonable side of me would never suggest someone move up in limits just to make up for losses, but I rationalized it by figuring that if I was going to get pummeled by bad beats, then I was gonna play where it might pay me off anyway, and if I had gone back to the $.50/$1 or even the $25NL tables I was likely to play scared. So, I took it all to the $2/$4 bad beat table and planned to win or bust, but definitely not play scared. I sat down with my $60 and contributed my blinds for the first couple of orbits and caught my card rush in the 3rd orbit. The first winning hand was one of those trusting your parachute plays. I've catch 88 in the BB. The flop came down 6c,3c,Kc. One over card, very likely that one (if not more) of the 4 other people in the hand have a K at least and possibly a club flush but, I put a cheap feeler out there to see. So I lead out with $2 UTG and it called all the way around. Ok, no raise so either someone is slow playing their flush, or they have a weak Ks. The turn is an 8h giving me the set, and I'm no longer worried about the Kx, but what about a slow played flush? Probably a weak area in my game is that I'm aggressive when I probably shouldn't be. I lead off UTG again with the $4 bet to see who gets froggy. I lose one but have 3 callers. Hmm, Kx and a weak flushes that just won't let go? The river pairs the board with a 3d and I'm figuring my house is golden so I lead off again lose one player but get the other two to pay me off with exactly what I figured, Kx. The one I couldn't figure out, he was playing K2o, WTF? Yes, the 2 was a club, but he couldn't possibly think that would allow him to scrape if a 4th club hit. The other one was only slightly more reasonable in that he had K6o (no clubs) and had nabbed two pair on the flop. The next hand was J4s and I was the SB. Easy enough to get away from when the flop missed me completely. It didn't go so well for the guy who caught his gutshot straight on the turn and ran into quad 5s on the river.

The next hand was a fluke, I would say I was click happy and accidentally called on the button with J8s but that wouldn't explain what came next. The flop came down 7c, 8s, Ts (I have hearts) and there are 4 of us looking at this thing. It checks around to the guy on my right (the same knob who played K2o earlier) and he bets out. I'm not sure why I decided trying to push him around was a good thing but I raised it up to $4, the other two guys call, and he raises to $6. I am claiming temporary insanity because I called with my middle pair, and oddly enough, so did the other two players. The turn brought a 3s (remember I have hearts) and the guy to my right leads off again. Ok, so my options here are a gut shot draw to a 9 to catch a straight that can't beat the spade flush. Maybe the 3rd 8 that would give me a set that could also not beat the spade flush. This is clearly a folding situation, so I call and so do the other two guys. The turn drops Td on the board pairing the high cards and it checks all the way around to me. Somehow sanity reasserted itself and I also check and end up scraping with my two pair, Ts and 8s. Hopefully, I have described this accurately enough to show the MANY mistakes that were made by me. Yes, I scraped but from beginning to end I shouldn't have been in that hand with my short stack against 3 other people with no outs that could beat what appeared to be an obvious flush.

However, if I ever needed a hand like that to set up a big scrape, it came at the right time. The very next hand I've got A8s (hearts again) in LP and I call a small raise just before me as do 4 others putting us 6 handed going to the flop. I must have paid my dues because the flop gave me the nut flush with 6,7,3 and being in late position really let me take advantage of it. The guy to my right leads off and I go ahead and raise getting two callers and losing two players before it gets back around to him and he must have read my mind and raises it up just so I can cap it and keeping the other two callers. Can you say "payday?" I knew you could. The turn is a 2s and the guy to my right is still betting into me, so I oblige him by raising and we cap it again on the turn. I'm thinking at this point he's got a set and is going to be pretty unhappy if he thinks I'm still suffering from the insanity of last hand. And just to turn that little molehill of a thought into a mountain the river pairs the board with a 3d. Can you say, "Sheeeee-it?" That's a movie reference that I just can't remember the name of right now... has Edward Norton in it and he's getting busted by the DEA because he's got drugs in his couch. Anyway back to my real nightmare, he leads off again and I figure I'm making my crying call into an $88 pot. Turns out he was holding KJs and I scraped $93. WTF was he thinking? I mean even if he did have me pegged as a maniac from the last hand, even maniacs catch cards and he was content to bet into me and cap it out with less than the nuts.

All of this is to say, that I had a bit of a roller coaster experience the last few days, I'm back up and above my goal for the week, and that if you're not playing them you should seriously consider the bad beat tables. If nothing else you can come take my money when I have my lapses in sanity.