Home Game @ Justin's----Atlanta Eric's Last Hurrah

8-4-2005:

So--the usual suspects are probably not quite usual to most readers yet, but we are already losing one. The reason Atlanta Eric has the name he has is because he is leaving home (the Chicago suburbs) with his Wife Laura to head to Atlanta and get his MBA at Emory. Congrats to Eric! However, this will be his last poker home game with this crowd for a little while.

The night started out with the usual pungent mix of local cheap fast food. Taco Bell seems to be a favorite---especially since the re-introduction of a classic. More to come on that one for sure.

The players for the night:
Seat 1: Mike "Potty"
Seat 2: Justin "one more card"
Seat 3: Hoosier Jeff
Seat 4: me
Seat 5: "Mans man" Brett
Seat 6: Supple Haunches
Seat 7: Outgoing Atlanta Eric

In the first orbit, Justin raises from late position..."I've got 7-3" he proclaims. Of course, I already had him on mute, so I didn't hear a word he was saying. It was as good as the Mom from Charlie Brown: "Wahh wah wuh weh waaah". Oh well, nobody had the stones to call him, so his 7-3 steal held up.

Play seemed really tight for a few orbits...with 7 people playing, everyone must want to get their share of the larger than normal prize pool. What wasn't tight tonight? Everyones stomachs...especially those who visited Taco Bell. The re-introduced favorite? Well....this quote should tell all

"Mans man": Whoa! The Chili Cheese Burrito juice is dancing in my stomach!

Thanks for the visual of that one.....no TBell for me for a while

I finally decide to get involved in a pot and it looked a little treacherous. I bet out 4xBB with JJ, and the flop comes 10-6-4...but all diamonds (both my jacks are black). I made a potentially weak play, and checked the top pair...getting to see the turn for free, and catching my Jh. Trips looked nice, but the diamond still worried me. However--I bet out, and the river came 9h...phew, no 4th diamond. It was just Mans man and myself left to the showdown. I don't think he put me on a hand, because he smooth called my final bet. My trips held up, to which his response was:

"You just very nonchalantly took a lot of my money" Not bad for the first major pot I was involved in.

The very next hand I was dealt 8-9 UTG. I decided to fold em, and to my shagrin, the flop came 10-J-Q. Oh well, maybe next time.

I chose to get involved in another hand not too long after the trip J's (don't worry, most of the rest of this post wont be about me). I was dealt 6-6, and caught my set on the flop. I had 1 caller after the flop, and since the flop was A-3-6, I put Hoosier Jeff on Ax. Even 2 pair was solid for me...I had him beat. The turn came 2, which still didn't worry me too much...he called my pre-flop raise, so 4-5 or something of the like was probably out of the question. A river 5 came down...and again, not a terrible worry, but now there was something out there that would beat me besides AA. I bet marginally (but was nearly pot committed at this point because of all the past betting)...Jeff went over the top all-in on me...and I had no choice but to bend over and call. He showed his A-4, giving him the straight to the 6. DAMMIT! Well...this left me crippled. I had Jeff covered, but I was down to less than 20% of my starting stack.

Pretty soon after, I was dealt AQh, and thought it opportune to get all my chips in the middle...hoping someone would call. I got my wish, and Supple and I went head-to-head. My AQh looked to dominate his A8o pre-flop.......UNTIL the board became littered with spades...4 of them to be exact. AND his 8 happened to be a spade, so he beat me. We all did get a good laugh, however, when he flipped his hand and called out his hand as a pair of 8's (he did have a pair of 8s, but also had the flush). Too bad I didnt catch an A or Q.....I could have been a stroke and said that the took 8s as his hand......but no such luck for me. First out sucks!

I was bitter about my loss...but what can you do? These things happen---and too will pass. But now the question--how do I kill time while taking notes for the blog? I got really bored, really fast. Until...

Chaos ensued when Supple forgot that he was the BB, and folded pre-flop with no raise ahead of him. The cards were about to be dealt up when he noticed...and the table, almost in concert, yelled NO! They denied him his cards after he mistakenly mucked them when not forced to make a play. We can be dicks when it comes to $$.

Action slowed again, possibly stunned by how quick I managed to find my chips donated to the masses. But Justin and Eric decided to tangle...and for some reason, I decided to open my big mouth.
After raises and calls, they were the only 2 left in the pot...and the flop came 8-4-6 rainbow. Justin thought for a minute and went all in. Now--as you might have been able to grab from previous posts...Justin can be the bullshitter of the century. He might have easily have 27o here as AA. AND...I decide to talk Eric into calling him (maybe in some unconscious way to be able to see Justins hand). And that I did...Justin had 10-10, Eric K9. The turn and river came 7-9...actually giving Justin the straight to the 10--which he didnt need. Eric was now crippled.

I found another way to amuse myself. Most of us playing all play in the same hyper-competitive Fantasy Baseball League...and Justin happened to be logged into his team on the PC right by the card table. I was trying to convince Potty to drop all Justins best players (Justins running away with the league...) By the time we quit hemming and hawing, Justin was back from the bathroom, and logged himself out. Oh well---time to find something else to pass the time.

Another hot hand woke me back up...Justin makes a raise, and the table foldes to Supple----who smooth calls Justins bet. The flop comes 8-8-5, and induces Justin to go all-in. Supple looked him up, and as it turns out, had him pretty well dominated. Supple showed his KK vs. One More Cards AK. Both the turn and river were blanks, and Phil doubled up (leaving Justin crippled---$115 in chips).

The very next hand, with blinds 50/100, Justin gets dealt A2, and pushes all in, Supple called, and Eric was BB, so he was in the hand. It got checked down to the river, and when a 9 spiked, Eric's 9-2o won the hand. At least now I had more company on the outside looking in.

We managed to start more commotion not the least bit remotely related to cards. We used to have problems with people watching too much TV instead of playing their cards (Mike watching BC/Army football games, and Supple glued to the Presidential debates or anything on the History Channel). Well, tonight the problem was: WHAT TO WATCH. We had a channel monkey (forget who) who couldn't decide on what to keep tuned to. Over the course of channel flipping, we saw 4 options...: Flight of the Navigator (great movie!), Womens Professional Softball (with Jenny Finch), Senior Golf (Champions tour), and Tin Cup. This sounds like a great poll....CAST YOUR VOTE IN THE COMMENTS SECTION. We actually decided on Tin Cup...but let it be noted that it was close, and I think truth be told, Flight of the Navigator won. Oh well.

Action on the table again grinded to a halt...but there was one fun hand that wasn't. Supple Haunches folded 3-4d from the small blind (with no raise ahead of him)...and the flop came A-2-5....ALL DIAMONDS. Sorry Supple.

That must have fired ole boy up, because a big 3-way pot sparked up. Supple came in with a raise to 400, called by Eric---and Mike goes over the top for 1400. He got both to call, with Eric being all in (Supple was not covered by Mike). Cards were:
Supple: QQ
Eric: 66
Mike: AA
Damn---lots of pairs for a 4 handed game. The board came 8-2-4-9-4, giving it to the Aces up of Mike. Eric is out...down to 3 (sorry, I missed some action in here and people going out trying to amuse myself)

Mike proceeded to try to annoy everyone. He was determined to use the smallest denomination chips to make huge bets. "It prolongs the game, and I love y'alls company," he said. "I hate you" retorted Mans man...as he goes to sleep on the table.

We got down to heads up between Supple and Mike...and Supple pulled a few straight all-ins to steal quite a few chips from Mike. He obviously thought Mike was still alright, because he said:
"Its no problem, you've still got way more blancas than me"----except he was trying to say black chips---the highest denomination.
"You're dating a mexican and you don't even know how to say black in spanish, how dumb are you?" Mike commented.

The last hand was not much to write about---Mike won. AND, somewhere in here, I missed a beat Mike put on me where I had KK, and he flopped trips with 88 and beat me----bastard!

Mike took the winners portion of the prize pool....oh well, even a blind nut squirrel finds a nut sometime.

Farewell E----we're all coming down for Cubs/Braves games next year and sleeping on your floor.

All for tonight....maybe I'll have the chance to post our most recent home game tomorrow.