Glory of 519 and Oh What A Night

Oh yeah baby.

Waiting for a game to spread last night at the club, none other than Bill Phipps, the 519th best player in the world, or at least the 519th best player in the 2005 WSOP Main Event, offered me 60 against 50 in a heads-up freeze out. Well yours truly, obviously the new 519th best player in the world, knocked Mr. Phipps down to 520. What a putz.

Of course, I did refuse to take off my sunglasses.

Maybe I should come up with a snazzy new name like Ultraman.

Anyway, after knocking down Mr. 520, enough players trickled in to spread 6 handed and we got going.

I bought in to match the biggest stack at 300 and dinked and doinked myself down to 120. Feeling the need to get some more ammo, I rebought up to 420, particularly with some big stacks having accumulated, including for Scott, the man who scared me off of betting my TPTK last week.

Two big hands for between Scott and me pretty much defined the outcome of each of our evenings.

2nd UTG, I felt my 24 sooooted was worth a raise up to 15. Two customers, including the cutoff, a somewhat tight player and Scott on the button. Flop came A45 rainbow. My first thought was that this should be my pot. I just don't see a big ace here with the betting preflop and I think I can represent one. I checked.

Cutoff opens for 30 and Scott, who has successfully bullied this player several times, raises it up to 110. I have Scott on an overpair, big overs or maybe a small ace but I don't see him play those too often, and a quick glance at cutoff leads me to believe he ain't too convinced about his hand. It's time for the old check raise bluff.

Scott is a good player. Good players can raise tight players with moderate holdings. Good players can lay down hands. I'm all in. Yeah baby.

Scott's a bit surprised. He's talking to himself. His conversation is not encouraging to your humble narrator.

"I just can't put you on aces. You wouldn't have played them that slow."

Ruh roh.

He thinks, he counts, he calls.

Hand in the cookie jar and ready to leave stuck 540, I decide I might as well get my bluff value in table image and flip 'em over.

"He's got outs!" shouts the peanut gallery. 5 to be exact, but also giving 4 redraws as Scott flips over A5. Nothing like being a 7-2 dog with all your money in the pot. Turn comes a 3 and my wheel holds up.

Better to be lucky than good.

Later in the night, 900 behind me in the BB, Scott in the cutoff with 400 or so makes it 12 to go first in. Small blind with only about 200, calls. I look down and see those beautiful letters, AA.

Bell goes off. "You wouldn't play aces that slow." He's right, I wouldn't. Or maybe he's wrong?

Call.

36 in the pot, flop come AQ10, two spades. Check to me.

You gotta bet now, don't you?

Let's see. I'm really not a big fan of that ace. It may have killed all my action and I want a big pot. 36 is just not enough. Okay, so I'm going to slow play a set of aces with a flush draw and multiple straight draws on the board. Yes I am. But only by swearing to myself that I will lay down if a spade, K or J hits and I am facing any real bet.

Turn comes a non-spade K. This is it, the moment of truth. Can SoxLover get off his set?

SB opens with 25. Into a 36 pot, with that board. Well that's interesting.

Perhaps I don't have to lay down. $25 to draw for the monster, with one overcaller.

Let's see, assume for a moment SB has the J.

If Scott folds, I've called 25 to win 61 plus whatever SB will pay me off if I hit, up to his remaining 140. I've played with this gent a few times, and I'm thinking that probably means all of it.

If Scott raises, he's going have to raise big. And I'm probably going to have to fold. So that's 25 at risk. But he has got to have SB on the jack too, so he can most likely only do that if he has another jack.

If Scott calls, he has a draw, most likely spades, and I want him in the hand.

I call, and so does Scott.

River comes a 10. Bingo. Second nuts, and anyone who has played a set of 10s this far deserves all the chips they can get off me.

Thirty bucks I bet. It's a value bet. Or is it a teaser? Or is it a dessert topping? No, it's a floor wax.

Scott makes it 75. Ding ding ding, this is going to be fun for someone.

SB pushes his last 140 (I guess my estimate of being paid off was on).

What to do? All you can eat baby.

Sidenote: I guess I could call here for the overcall value here, but between a high probability of winning an extra 65 and a reaonable probability of winning 300, I'll always go for the 300 even with a slight probability of losing 300. Plus, I would never play aces that slowly...

Poor Scott had KK and no chance to get away.

I've been on Scott's side of a night like that, and it ain't no fun. He took it much better than I did--we even went for food and drinks afterward with his friend Eiki who sat to my right all night and for the record as a dissenting voice, thought my slowplay of aces was atrocious (he tilted more on than hand than Scott did).

Sometimes you make all the right reads, most of the right moves, and the cards slice you up anyway.