Toby is a lucky ass

Last Friday was a mixed bag. I was out of the Holdem Tourney before the final table because I suck at tournament poker apparently. My KK,66,33,88 and 1010 made me nothing and the KK actually lost me a big pot when Tommy flopped two pair on me and nearly broke me. Bosey finished me off when I was short stacked and It was losers table time :)

There were five of us playing dealers choice which means 7-27 when Jimmy deals, Follow the Unelected Queen when I deal, PL Omaha When Ronnie Deals and a you never know whats coming when Jason F. or Big Mike has the deck in front of them. I only lost one $20 buyin in the Holdem Tourney so I still had a nice chunk of change for the sidegame and I bought in for $60 to start. Jimmy started us off with 7-27 as usual and he dealt himself a 7 which seems to happen all too often, but I won the high hand with 27 so I didn't mind so much. Stack now over $80.

I stayed out of trouble and avoided big pots for awhile until we played some PL Holdem dealt by a new addition to the table, Jack F. my former poker nemesis. I got dealt the ugliest hand I could imagine, J 7 offsuit in middle position. There were only antes and no blinds so I saw a free flop with it and what a flop it was. 7 7 7, the slot machine. It is checked to me and I check it of course. Jimmy makes a bet on my left and everyone calls back to me and I raise it. Were only playing dollar bets this hand so I can't do too much damage or so I thought. Jimmy raises me back, "bump it" he says and everyone calls back to me and I just call this time. The turn is a great card, the ace of Hearts, putting a flush draw on the board for any idiot that wants to chase it and a losing FH for some other unlucky soul. It gets checked to me and I check it to Jimmy. Jimmy bets and everyone drops out of the hand except for Ronnie who calls. I see my chance to win a big pot and I raise it back to Jimmy again and he re-raises me yet again. Ronnie calls it quits and folds. I push Jimmy back for another dollar and he caps the bets for one more. The river was some awful card like a 5 or 6 (don't recall) and I make a bet into Jimmy and we end up capping the betting again. Jimmy turns over AA for Aces full of Sevens and I slow roll the quads with joy and a warm bubbling in my chest. That's what happens when you don't raise preflop with aces.

There were two other blog worthy hands that night. One was PL Omaha with Big Mike dealing three seats to my right. I got dealt 7c 8c Kh 8h. The flop was Ah 10h 6c giving me the nut flush draw, an open ended straight draw, a backdoor club flush draw and even a runner runner straight flush draw. Bets Bets folds folds calls calls later. The turn is another club and the river gives me the but flush when the 3h hits the felt. Ronnie bets $5 in a desperate steal attempt of a $40 pot and Chris raises it $10 more. I have the nuts so I am wondering just how much I can make with the hand. I lean over to Ronnie while peering at the board and ask him what the nuts were. He says if you got the Kh and another heart, you're golden. Ronnie folded his hand out of turn and that only left Chris in the pot so I asked Chris how much I'd have to bet to make him fold. He said, "whatever you want" beacuse he was calling. I thought..........COOL. I grabbed two twenty Dollar bills and tossed them in the pot. He called immediately and showed the 5h 6h for a weak flush and I felt bad about betting so much. Guess I'm too nice for poker.

It wouldn't be the Bad Beat BBQ without a hard luck story I guess so here goes. It's PL Omaha again and I get dealt Ad 9d Jc Qc. Of course all five players see the flop which looks good to me. A gutshot Royal Flush draw, back door club flush draw and an open ended straight draw to boot. Kd Jd 10c but I check it because I'm only on a draw. I was totally content to call the $5 opening bet when it came my turn and three others did as well. (pot $25). The turn was the Kc giving me the nuts with a broadway straight to the ace. It's checked to me and I take the oppoptunity to push a few players out, hoping to get just one caller. I toss out a half pot sized bet of $12 and Big Mike and Ronnie both call. The river is an awful card, the 10d, giving me the nut flush but pairing the board for anyone holding trips for a FH. I make a $15 feeler bet into the pot of $51 and Mike instantly raises me another $20. I only saw $5 in front of him and we were playing Table stakes poker so I wondered where the $20 bet idea came from. He pointed to his wallet which lay to the side of his few chips and a couple of dollar bills. I was a bit miffed because he had not pulled money from it until now and all of a sudden he wanted to go leather diving. With everyone else folded in disgust I got no backing whatsoever for my complaint. I called of course and he flips JJ for JJJ1010 FH and I went on minor tilit. I pulled $250 from my own wallet and spread the bills out for everyone to see. Next hand, who's deal is it ? NH btw Mikey, you suck ass :)

I gathered myself up and played tight for the next 2 hours and rebuilt my stack to where I took home $160 or so and I felt accomplished. No poker for a few weeks, the BBQ is moving and we got boxes to pack. I'll be whitewater rafting this weekend in WV so all you folks that pray, pray for me. All you that don't pray, send The Demon Drink $. It's gonna be a rockin good time yall. Anyone seen this movie Deliverance ? I can hear the twang coming from over that hilltop. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee ! WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE !! You sure got a purdy mouth boy.