my exciting (drunk!) return to the poker table

[jasonmason 0]

Before this weekend, I haven't played any serious poker in about six months. Not for any reason in particular, I've just been busy and it hasn't been a priority. I've played small stakes tournaments with friends and blown a few bucks online, but nothing serious.I was on the road for work in Edmonton this weekend, we landed at about 11pm (1am my time) and had a few drinks with co-workers before getting back to the hotel. It was about 1:30 and I was exhausted, but there was a casino RIGHT across the street and I was only in town for two days. The second night I had plans to be out all evening, so this was really my only chance.I strolled over to an ATM machine and tried to withdraw some Moose Money but there was some sort of problem with my bank and Canada coordinating. It didn't look good. There was some ridiculous fee to get cash from a credit card. I had exactly $69 USD in my wallet, and the minimum buy-in was $30 for a $3/6 limit game (which was all that was kicking). The cashier gave me my rip-off of $75 CDN for my real money and I was on a waiting list, seated within five minutes.We were playing dealers choice, Omaha and Holdem, with a kill. I was probably the only one at the table that consistantly picked Holdem, everyone else threw it in every so often, but definately preffered Omaha. I'm decent at Omaha, but I still have a lot to learn.The game was loose and since I bought in shortstacked I decided to play conservatively. I was down to $50 after not winning a pot for a half hour or so, but I finally raked in my first pot after winning with a full house with 9s in Omaha, to get up to $85 or so.A few more big hands had me grinding away, confortably acquiring chips. I was at $250 in a few hours. I got outdrawn a few times, got caught value betting when I thought my hand was good a lot of times in Omaha. I made a few bad calls and finally got up around 6:30am bodyclock time, up $120. Confident in my skills, ability to read the table, adapt to a game I wasn't crazy about..I was very content.After two hours sleep, I worked all day and night, was exhausted, went out and spent most of my winnings and per diem money at the bar. A few tequila shots before closing time, and we got in a cab and stumbled back to the hotel. But oh those bright lights.. I had about $160 in my pocket and I only went up to my hotel room to take off my suit and throw on something more confortable.I got to the casino and the room was really alive. There was even a $1-2 NL game going (cool!). I was drunk and thought I couldn't play drunk, so I bought in for $100 so I could save some money, expecting to lose.I quickly unintentionally built the table image of drunk, loud, cocky, obnoxious American/New Yorker, who was obviously pissing away money on vacation. I think most of the table liked me though, I had everyone laughing the entire time.The table was really loose, the standard raise was $10 or $15 to steal $3 in blinds. It was seven-handed for most of the night. I stayed out of the way early and then decided it was time to make a stand. Maybe the fifth hand. lmaoI don't remember how, but I think I made a few really bad plays and I was quickly down to exactly $37 before I made it once around the table. Everyone had me pegged for a fish ****ing around, so when I looked down and saw pocket aces under the gun, I just pushed all in to open the pot (and steal $3 in blinds!!). I got two callers of course, one bet the other out post-flop with 3-3 and my hand was good.Back up to over $100, I continued making a fool of myself but got a nice suckout to really get me rolling. I had JQ and called a $10 raise with three others. Flop came J high, shortstack went all in for $55 or something, I made a donkey call and caught a Queen on the turn.After genuinely apologizing, I mocked myself a lot, and continued to unintentionally build my table image.A few hands later, I had AK suited in the big blind, and there was an opening raise to $20 (jeez) and two callers. I pushed all-in for $200 to steal it / see what happens / I can't misplay it if I push all in when I'm drunk right? The initial raiser had been doing that a lot and the other two guys were calling for pot odds. I just had some sort of vibe on the hand and thought I could take it down.I got the "oh hes drunk hes probably just making a play" call from a guy with AQ and my hand held up. A few other big ones, I busted a few people. I stayed cheerful and tipped big so everybody liked me, and everybody kept laughing. I turned my $100 into almost $500 in about 40 minutes at the table.I was thinking about getting up. I felt confortable, totally in command, had a read on everybody, and totally detached for the money. I usually play "scared", like the money absolutely means a lot to me and I can't play like I want to without that in the back of my head. But this was 'free money' per diem I was playing with, plus it was Canadian money so it wasn't worth as much. I was also on vacation and I was having a ball.Then "the hand" happened. We were six-handed and I got 4-5 spades on the SB. UTG raised it to $15, and two others cold called in front of me. I thought like I had odds and felt like splashing around in the pot, so I called too.The flop was gorgeous, all spades, ten high. I checked nonchalantly, the original raiser bet $20, and the two other guys called. I felt like the $150 in the pot was substantial enough, and wanted to protect my hand in case someone had a high spade, so I pushed all in.Sober, I probably would've called to trap and then get them on the turn as long as a spade didn't fall, but I felt like I might get a call here because of my reputation. I had pushed all in a lot because I felt like a lot of people were opening for too much with crap, and someone must be dying to bust me.Everyone folded to the button, who agonized and waited at least 5 minutes. He chatted out loud and I pretty much kept my mouth shut because I didn't want to influence his decision one way or the other. I was honestly content either way, I probably should hope for a call since I was way ahead no matter what he had.He hinted that he wanted me to pay him a few bucks to fold. I offered him a single dollar. He refused.He finally called and I flipped my cards. He sat shaking his head, didn't flip his cards. I started yelling obnoxiously "NO SPADE! NO ****ING SPADES!"... The whole room gathered around and looked on.The turn, a king of diamondsThe river, a ten of heartsI smiled that it wasn't a spade, but felt uneasy. He flipped over his pocket kings (one harmless spade) and yelled.I laughed it off, had about $100 left, but that didn't stand a chance. I made his night, and I probably would be too drunk to remember this painful moment. I tipped the dealer anyway because he didn't deal a spade. God I was on vacation and I was having a ball. And I was playing really good poker. I kept joking around and eventually busted.Stumbled to the hotel with empty pockets (I actually accidently walked into the cashiers room because I thought it was an exit, the idiots left the door open. I set off an alarm and apologized. The cashier, who obviously was within watching range of our game, made a wise crack comment "you cant do that here, this AINT BROOKLYN" in a really bad fake brooklyn accent. Thanks lady, great for a guy that just got out drawn on a $900 pot in a $1-2 game.)I laughed the whole way home, it was a $100 well spent, I really feel like I ran over that table and would've left with over a grand had the cards fallen my way.I'm planning on going to Atlantic City this weekend.

[SuperJon 175]

That's a really long post? I gave up? Sorry?

[WhiteSpade 0]

Glad to see you're back enjoying the game again - win or lose.

[CrackofmyACE_FTP 0]

Nice post man. Good for you to be able to take that beat in stride. I'm sure the booze helped though. I play my best poker when I am completely attached from the money also. A buddy of mine had a similar experience in Vegas at an MGM 1/2 game. He had about $675 in front of him after 6 or 7 hours of playing GREAT and only one other guy had him covered at the table. He limped in UTG with AA and the cutoff made it $20 to go after two other limpers (same guy with the big stack) CHA-CHING!! My friend calls. Flop was A 2 9 taken heads up.. check check.. Turn 9.. weak lead by my friend for $10... cutoff raises to $50... he reraises to $100 ... cutoff moves in.. friend beats him into the pot. Cutoff shows 22... RIVER 2. He took a 4 month break from poker after this hand and still refuses to discuss it. I dont blame him.

[MisterB 2]

I'm sure the booze helped though. I play my best poker when I am completely attached from the money also. not to be rude... and to avoid others seeing it... dont you mean "detached from the money"??Good story...OP

[Rude Dog 0]

Good story, and good story telling.Breath of fresh air around here.

[Dhall901 0]

Nice post man. Good for you to be able to take that beat in stride. I'm sure the booze helped though. I play my best poker when I am completely attached from the money also. A buddy of mine had a similar experience in Vegas at an MGM 1/2 game. He had about $675 in front of him after 6 or 7 hours of playing GREAT and only one other guy had him covered at the table. He limped in UTG with AA and the cutoff made it $20 to go after two other limpers (same guy with the big stack) CHA-CHING!! My friend calls. Flop was A 2 9 taken heads up.. check check.. Turn 9.. weak lead by my friend for $10... cutoff raises to $50... he reraises to $100 ... cutoff moves in.. friend beats him into the pot. Cutoff shows 22... RIVER 2. He took a 4 month break from poker after this hand and still refuses to discuss it. I dont blame him.

Hello? Badbeat? Jackpot!!!

[DaBruins 0]

no bad beat jackpots in most vegas casinos. As for the hand, i dont know if the results would have changed but he misplayed the hand.

[jasonmason 0]

Hah.How did I misplay the hand?With 3 players that obviously had (a) a high spade (B) an overpair © both?Going all in there, I would either take down a nice sized pot right there, or get all of my money in as a huge favorite.I love how people are so arrogant about the right and wrong way to play a hand. There are a million different scenarios with a million different variables. You have no idea if you weren't there. You have to consider my table image, how drunk / stupid everyone was, what kind of call someone is capable of making. . .

[GoStags92 0]

Hah.How did I misplay the hand?With 3 players that obviously had (a) a high spade (B) an overpair © both?Going all in there, I would either take down a nice sized pot right there, or get all of my money in as a huge favorite.I love how people are so arrogant about the right and wrong way to play a hand. There are a million different scenarios with a million different variables. You have no idea if you weren't there. You have to consider my table image, how drunk / stupid everyone was, what kind of call someone is capable of making. . .

I think DaBruin was talking about his friend's Aces v. the Deuces at MGM as the hand that was misplayed. Not yours.Enjoyed the post, BTW.

[vonteego3 0]

I strolled over to an ATM machine and tried to withdraw some Moose Money but there was some sort of problem with my bank and Canada coordinating. It didn't look good. There was some ridiculous fee to get cash from a credit card. I had exactly $69 USD in my wallet, and the minimum buy-in was $30 for a $3/6 limit game (which was all that was kicking). The cashier gave me my rip-off of $75 CDN for my real money and I was on a waiting list, seated within five minutes.

this paragraph put me on the floor. If you had only mentioned that the casino was actually an igloo, I'd have busted a funny fuse.Nice work.

[SpeedKills 0]

so the cards dont always fall your way?

[DaBruins 0]

Hah.How did I misplay the hand?With 3 players that obviously had (a) a high spade (B) an overpair © both?Going all in there, I would either take down a nice sized pot right there, or get all of my money in as a huge favorite.I love how people are so arrogant about the right and wrong way to play a hand. There are a million different scenarios with a million different variables. You have no idea if you weren't there. You have to consider my table image, how drunk / stupid everyone was, what kind of call someone is capable of making. . .

calm down, i wasnt even talking about you. Regarding your post, the only thing i would comment on is the fact that you said you would want someone to have called your big bet which just 1 big spade (say if the guy had KK with 1 spade like he did)....when i'm playing the no limit tables i'm usually on there for a couple reasons: a) i consider myself a very good and much better live NL player than any other game at any other venue (online) B) there are a lot of crappy players..........its because of those reasons that i play the game with a smaller bankroll than i should because i think i have a big enough edge so that i could bend the rules of bankroll management a bit, and over the last few years its all worked out great. It's because of these reasons that i wouldnt really want a call in this case from a guy with KxKs. The pot is big enough that i would be very happy just taking it down there, and if i do get my entire stack into a 1000 dollar pot i want to be an almost unbeatable favorite. Since my BR management is being bent, i sacrifice some EV and in return i reduce my variance substantially. My 2 cents.

[Dratj 0]

Hah.How did I misplay the hand?With 3 players that obviously had (a) a high spade (B) an overpair © both?Going all in there, I would either take down a nice sized pot right there, or get all of my money in as a huge favorite.I love how people are so arrogant about the right and wrong way to play a hand. There are a million different scenarios with a million different variables. You have no idea if you weren't there. You have to consider my table image, how drunk / stupid everyone was, what kind of call someone is capable of making. . .

you didn't misplay. it was a bad beat.

[jasonmason 0]

Sorry. I was drunk again when I made that post. As I am now.Looking back, I don't think I'd *want* a call there, but I certainly wouldn't mind it. At the time I think I wanted it because I was drunk and it would've been some awesome glory to rake in a $1000 pot with a bunch of onlookers, but looking back I really was pretty indifferent. I could care less if he called or not, which made his 10 minute decision pretty unpainful for me.