Friday, September 16, 2011

Most Awesome Hand Ever

First of all, my employer has issued a new "social media policy," which I am going to endeavor to follow. To be completely honest I didn't read every word of it, but I'm pretty sure if I don't use any names or link to any websites of anyone in anyway affiliated with my employer I should be fine. At least that was the basic premise of the pieces I read, so I'm going to go ahead and just do that and assume if I cross some sort of line I'll get a warning from my employer before a pink slip is issued.

So anyway, today was a pretty weird day in the life of a prop. I showed up at 9:45am, got my chips, got my coffee and...no action. Me and another prop just sat there, her on her phone, me playing Carcasonne, just waiting for someone, anyone, to come in and gamble with us. According to my sheet my co-worker and boss showed up around 10:30 and we played 30 minutes of 3 handed...20/40....Razzdugi! Seems like a great idea, right? Except I lost almost a rack, losing the only big pot played where my boss called every street (there are like 14 streets in razz it seems) and then scooped me and I was sad. And my co-worker is needling me and I'm kind of on tilt, but it's OK, it's time for 20/40 texas poker....which we play for 75 minutes during which I win over a rack and get to run like God, as I always do in the 20 game. So now it's time for me to give up my seat because we supposedly have a customer on the way for the 40, so I give up my seat and play....15 minutes of Chinese Poker (deuce to seven in the middle), and 20 minutes of 40/80 Razzdugi with the same two guys before deciding to take a break to eat my lunch when a 4th guy comes in and decides to play Chinese with them. To be honest I wasn't very happy about losing my 20/40 seat (since like I said I always get to run like God), but I did just destroy the Chinese and the 40 Razzdugi, so what started off as a bad day is now going quite well, but I'm out of action and we don't start the 40 until....

...after 2pm. I was up from the 20 for 1:45, which is basically a catastrophe but whatever them's the breaks and I played some good Carcasonne against the warlock AI and then boom, a certain customer walks in and we have ignition on the 40 limit hold them....according to my sheet I got to play for 45 minutes before losing a flip to my co-worker to give up a seat. As I'm playing til my blind I realize there is a 20/40 seat open so I lock it up so I can continue to run like God, but before I can get a hand (I was going to multi-table) I pick up nines, flop a set, river a full house and win a big pot, but a casino executive snags my 20/40 seat. No biggie, the female prop who watched us play Razzdugi is going home, so I get her seat at 3pm and we're all good. So far I've played less than 2 hours of mid stakes limit hold'em and am going to be clocking out in 30 minutes; weird shift.

But wait, there's more. We are doing a promotion at 5pm and I blast-texted a bunch of buddies asking them to come out and play and some of them are coming fore sure (really just one guy that was already planning to come) and some more are considering it and I sorta have to stick around...so I punch out and put myself back up on the 40 board at 3:30 as a customer, and put up my buddy numbnuts as a call in. A seat opens at 3:35, but he's like 5 minutes away so I don't take it and let him have it when he shows up. He's not thrilled about the game (although 4/4 props agreed he was a fool to leave it 2.5 hours later), and exchanges $2K (with me) to play the game. So I'm still in the 20, which degrades into one of the worst lineups I've ever seen for such a small game, but I'm first up for what looks like a great 40 but...what's this? A customer sneaks in ahead of me! Curses, foiled again! So now I'm sitting in the 20 game looking around at a nitty pro who wins, 3 40/80 tag-props who are just very solid, and like 3 guys who honestly aren't that awful and just wow, no money in 20/40, everyone solid. I soldier on, and at 5:15 am rewarded with a juiceball 40/80 seat, thanks in no small part to numbnuts and the guy who played Chinese with us giving up the ghost (game selection nits imo). OK, but the button is in the wrong spot so it takes like almost 15 minutes for me to get a hand, and I run pretty and it's become clear that 3 of my friends aren't coming (I already had to text the big potato to tell him not to come because his mortal enemy is in the game, and Frond gets a note saying the 20 is horrendous, and tuna can't make it up because he started the day in San Diego and Jailyard wants to stick it out at another casino and what I'm trying to say is that a lot of shit is going in and out of my phone AND I'm playing Carcasonne with my co-worker while trying to eat Cioppinno) and then...My coworker gets into the game and at 6:30 a special customer comes in, one for whom a seat must instantly be made available. We're both off the clock, but one of us has to get up....I consent to let him have the seat, waste 15 minutes trying to figure out what to do, then eventually leave. My options were:

1. Drive to casino A
2. Drive to casino B
3. Play in the worst 20 game ever.
4. Drive to the Compton 24 Hour Fitness and work out
5. Sit around and hope against hope to get back into the 40.
6. Go home.

I eventually opted for driving to casino B, because I got great scouting that the games were off the hook. They were, but I couldn't get a seat in the big game for 30 minutes and when I did it was because 4 fish simul-quit, so I just said aw fuck it and drove home. So that was my day in a nutshell, except for the most awesome hand ever.....

I open close to UTG with the Ace and the King, and am called in only one spot. We see a flop, and it is:

AAA

Now for those of you who play in SoCal, this is obviously an exciting flop. The easiest way to hit the bad beat jackpot is for a board to run out like this, with someone holding AK and another player holding, say, pocket tens. Then you'll have aces full of tens beaten by four of a kind, the kicker will play, and in this case two tables will chop up over $60K.

So the table is audibly aghast at the flop....I bet and a few people mumble "jackpot" and my opponent says, and I quote "jackpot, yes, jackpot" and nods his head up and down. I say to myself "self, this guy is kind of loopy...don't do anything stupid, and 20% is yours". Somehow he raises me, and I just call. At some point I say to my co-worker "we've got it", even as the turn comes off:

AAA-J

That could be a problem if I didn't have a king with my ace, but as it is there is nothing to worry about. I repeat to my co-worker "nothing can stop it" and he smiles a big dopey grin. I check, my opponent bets, and I just call. He cannot be allowed to fold, and like I said, he's prone to doing strange things, as you're about to see. The river is...a card. It's small, it has pips on it, and I figure OK, this is safe enough, and just donk. My opponent calls. I table my hand and say "jackpot?" and he picks up his cards and....

shakes

his

head

I cannot believe it. I refuse to believe it in fact, the man nodded his head up and down saying "jackpot, yes, jackpot" and RAISED ME ON THE FLOP.... so I stand up and crane my head to see his cards...everyone wants to see his hand and he shows....King Ten. My co-worker, who has been playing poker professionally for almost a decade, turns to me and says "that could be the most awesome hand of poker I have ever seen."

4 comments:

D said...

Heh, I think you told me (and our table) this story at the C 20-40 game last night. I wish I knew that it was you!

jesse8888 said...

Pleasure to meet you; did I borrow your iPhone charger?

D said...

Heh, no. I was sitting to your left when you told the story. I look sorta like my avatar on 2+2, though i mainly post in b+m.

jesse8888 said...

At least you had a good seat.