Mr. Lucky

Last night was one of the more entertaining poker sessions I’ve played in a long time. Not because the game was so great (though it wasn’t bad) or because I had a particularly profitable session (I won, but not a huge amount). No what made the night fun was the fact that F-Train was sitting on my right and that I put two different players on mega-tilt without trying.

Victim #1 was a local whose head almost exploded after I took down a $300+ pot with 7-9 off. The action started when four players limped into the pot on my button. I decided to come along for a cheap flop before my eventual victim made it $10 to play from the big blind. All of the other limpers called so I decided to stick around. A flop of A-8-10 with two clubs was a little scary, but not horrible, and I happily called for $10 before the big blind check-raised to $50. When action folded to me, I gave the situation a few seconds of thought before making the call.

The Jc on the turn gave me the straight I was looking for, but also brought the dreaded club flush, and I happily checked through to the river, which brought the 8s. When my opponent checked again, I bet $135 and he launched into insta-tilt.

“I flopped top two,” he said. “You caught the flush?” I said nothing and he reluctantly made the call, only to go nearly apoplectic when he saw that I hit the straight instead of the flush. He fumed as I stacked up the chips, and quickly donked off his last $40 before leaving the table.

A short while later, Victim #2 joined our merry band. He was obviously a tourist who had read somewhere that aggression is the key to winning poker. Unfortunately for him, he skipped over the word “selective” in his reading, and he quickly dusted off the better part of two buy-ins before we tangled for the first time. He had just lost another pot when I raised to $11 with A-J from early position. He was one of two players to come along and, when I continuation bet for $25 on a ragged board with two hearts,I got one call before he shoved for his last $65. I made the call and went heads up to the turn, which brought the Ad. The river was a blank and scooped another pot while he reloaded for $100 more.

We mixed it up again a few hands later when he shoved for $85 on an Ace-high flop while I held AK. I called and he showed me his Queen. “This is my kicker.”

“It’s not enough,” I said and his jaw nearly hit the table. “Really?” I just nodded and tabled my big slick as the board ran out. Steam started coming out of his ears as his chips were pushed my way. He continued to spew for a while, raising almost every hand pre before finally sucking out on an opponent to rebuild some of his decimated stack. By this time, F-Train was looking for any opportunity to get involved with this guy, while I continued to look for spots to take more of his stack.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t get him to take the bait in the next two hands I played with him. In the first, I called his preflop raise with Ace-9 off from the button and promptly flopped top two. I bet when action checked to me, and he quickly mucked. A couple of orbits later, I picked up Kings in the big blind. The tourist raised to $16 and the solid player in seat 1 made the call. I re-raised to $55 and the tourist started a speech about how I had shit and that he just donated $16 to my stack. I just smiled while thinking about how unlucky I had gotten by pushing him out of the pot.

Thankfully, I got one more shot at him on one of my last hands of the night. I found AK under-the-gun and raised to $11. Two players called before action got to the tourist. “Who raised?” he asked. I just smiled and he quickly made the call.

“I’ve got you now,” he said before turning to the dealer. “Give me twos and threes.”

He got part of his wish as the flop came King-2-5 with a couple of spades. I bet $30, drawing one fold and another speech from the tourist. “He has to bet big because he has nothing,” he said before making the call. The turn brought a Jack and a $70 bet from me. “Your Ace-Queen is no good,” the tourist said before calling again.

A river Queen made the board a little scarier and I made my only mistake of the hand by checking the action. When the tourist checked behind, I tabled my AK and scooped up another pot while listening to him bitch about how “lucky” I was. Meanwhile, I was kicking myself for missing a bet that I should have made. Still, taking his chips was reward enough, especially as the hand put me comfortably in the black for the night.

So, was I lucky last night? Sure, if you consider that I got the right cards  and the right odds at the right times against the right opponents. Call me lucky. I don’t mind.