Boo

Hoo

Sigh.

...Anyways.

It was the Player's Club, even though it didn't rain. I played my first live hands of Big O and Cr/Lazy Pineapple, hi/lo split style at the $3/$6 dealer's choice table. You thought Omaha was fun, try playing Omaha with five hole cards. I dropped $100 before getting called to the hold'em game, and considered myself lucky at that. gamb00l.

The regulars are very regular, the same crowd is there every time I come. A very odd assortment of retirees, young asians and toughneck white boys (who as I gather are all part of the local boxing scene), middle-aged businessmen, and a few colorful women. The dealers often cycle into the games inbetween downs, or take over hands for friends taking a smoke. It's a nice chance of pace from the Badbeat Jackpot asian madhouse that is Commerce. I only have a few stories from this place so far, it's more tame than the mix of people could lead you to believe... I haven't had my life threatened, nor watched someone attempt to urinate on a dealer. It really doesn't feel like live poker.

Also, you really get to know the playing styles of your opponents when they're so few and regular. One particular asian guy plays fairly straightforward ABC poker, until he's stuck, and then he gamb00ls it up preflop, raising any bet to him on seemingly random hands. I had just seen this guy bust out of the $6/$12 Big O game, and knew he was steaming, when he sat down at my table at the beginning of a kill pot (when the person who won the last pot wins a second time in a row, the stakes are doubled and that player is forced to post a double-sized blind). The kill was on the BB, a new player. Crazian was UTG+1, and I was in MP. UTG limped, Crazian raised, and it was folded to me in MP with KQo. Normally this is a very bad hand to play here against an early position raise, but the players acting after me were not going to call a three-bet in a kill pot without AK, AA KK or QQ, and Crazian had a very wide range of raising hands. So this was one of those few spots where three-betting KQo against an early position raise is clearly superior to folding (and calling the worst of the three). It got folded to the BB kill, who called, as did Crazian. The flop came Q 7 3 rainbow, and it was checked to me. I bet, and both called. The turn was a 9, same story. The river was a 6, again checked to me, and I had an easy bet. The BB called and Crazian folded, the latter tabling pocket tens and everyone at the table started egging me for three-betting KQo. Newbies.

Another guy had absurdly tight raising requirements PF, always QQs, KKs or AAs. I folded JJ to his raise, and sure enough, QQ. That may have been the second time I've folded JJs preflop in a limit game.