By Matthew E. Milliken
MEMwrites.wordpress.com
Sept. 21, 2022
Minutes after getting stacked in a $1-$3 no limit Texas holdem game at Philly Live on Friday, Sept. 16, I rebought for $250. It was around 6:50 p.m. I kept the same seat and missed out on the chance to participate in just one hand.
I got involved in the very first hand after my rebuy.
The player in seat six, who had opening position, raised to $15, a standard raise for this table. I called. Seat three three-bet to $45. Opening position and I called.
The flop came out low. It was checked to me. I fired for $75 with pocket 10s and collected a pot of about $140. Not bad, but I had a long way to go to make back my initial $300 buy-in…
Not long afterward, I won a decent pot with A♣️Q♦️ in the hold when the board came 6-9-6-Q-Q. Unfortunately, my value bet on the river wasn’t called.
Immediately following that, I lost a bunch with A♥️Q♥️ when A♠️3♠️ rivered a five-high straight following a queen-high flop that gave me top pair. My opponent was the young woman in seat one. “That’s the second time you did that to me,” I said. She nodded happily.
Shortly afterward, the same woman stacked a young man in seat two. She had an ace and a face card and the board featured two aces. The man, a young Asian fellow wearing a hoodie with a fraternity event logo on the front, rebought for $300.
The woman in seat one left shortly after 7 p.m., having given none of her winnings back either to me or Steve.
Moments later, I won a small pot with A-9 off-suit when I bet $15 into a three-way hand with a boat of A-K-K-8.
Those were my last notes for nearly an hour.
Around 8:05 p.m., I raised to $15 in a limped hand in late position. Two players called and saw a flop with me: 9-6-5 with two spades. Villain 1 bet $14 and was called. I shoved for $85 and got two folds. My hand was 7♠️7♦️.
Collecting the pot of around $73 gave me a paltry war chest of $158. I was down about $100 on my second buy-in.
Twenty minutes after winning with sevens, I left the table.
In preflop action, I raised to $45. Beau, sitting to my left in seat nine, three-bet to $45. The man in seat for called, as did I.
The flop was A♦️9♥️5♦️.
I shoved for $98.
Beau re-raised to $200.
Seat four folded.
“I’m just trying to shorten the field for you,” Beau said.
The runout came diamond-diamond.
“Diamonds are good,” I said, tabling my A♥️K♥️. My hand combined with the community cards to give me a pair of aces.
“No diamonds,” Beau said. “Is ace-five good?” This, I believe, was a mild form of taunting, as I’d shown my cards and clearly could not beat his two pairs.
The man in seat four said that he hadn’t had a diamond and would not have connected with the board.
I patted the table and stood up. “Nice hand,” I told Beau.
My total on the day: Minus–$550 with two buy-ins. (I also tipped a server with a dollar bill, so that should be minus–$551 for all on-property expenses.) This was my biggest loss ever in a poker session by about a $200 margin.
I felt pretty miserable about this poker outing. I didn’t play terribly, but neither did I play well. I didn’t feel comfortable at what was a fairly aggressive table. I probably should have tried to get a seat at another table, where potentially I could have found some weaker players.
On the plus side, I don’t think I got sick. And that’s about all the plus side there is.
MEMwrites 
Leave a comment