Wednesdays is the busy night. Sixty plus like minded
souls converge on the Merrion Club in the centre of
Dublin to chance their luck on the weekly game of No
Limit Texas HoldEm.
In recent times the Wed night Texas Holdem game has
grown rapidly from the thirty something to the sixty
something in numbers and the faces just keep getting
younger and younger. Students are really beginning to
see the benefit of gambling away the €23 buy-in and
maybe supplementing their grants to the tune of €1000 in
winnings.
I blame it all on Late Night Poker and the recent TV
phenomenon on US TV the World Poker Tour. But why should
I complain? The more the merrier!
Tonight I’m at table 1 seat 5. The usual suspects are at
my table along with the students. “Stormin” Norman is to
my right where I can keep an eye on him. Shaun “any two
cards” is two seats to my left and “Mad” Mike is in seat
9. Far enough away from me not to worry about!
The
Texas
Holdem
game
begins with 1000 points each. There are a maximum of two
further buy-ins or one buy in and a top-up. Each costs
€20. The most you can spend on a Wednesday night is
therefore €63.
My early skirmishes were with Norman. The classic player
who’ll try and buy the pot with big bets. Sometimes
he’ll have something… sometimes he won’t. That’s what’s
so great about his play. You just never know. “Six
Hundred”, he says as he splashes the pot with his chips.
It’s passed around to me and I call with 8h 6h. In the
end its heads up. We see a flop (first three cards). 8s
9d 4s. “All in”, states Norman and puts in another 300
in chips. This is the time where you need to get lucky.
Either he has good cards or he doesn’t. I call, leaving
me with 210 points if I lose but a nice few chips if my
8h holds up to be the best card with a pair of 8’s.
Norman turns over Jc 9h and I’m fed to the fishes as no
help comes to save my chips!
Ok. So 210 left. A couple of hands later I’m dealt KK.
“All-In”, I announce and push my weedy pile of chips
into the centre of the table. I get 4 callers!! Flop = K
7 8. There is further betting but when another 7 falls
on the river I scoop the 1100 in the middle, with a
full-house, and I’m back in business.
It’s shortly after this that I get a hand that will see
me, in chips, through for another 3 hours of play. In
early position I’m dealt 99 and smooth call the 100 in
ante’s. Three players call before there’s a raise to
500. “All-In”, announces Mike and puts in 1000 in chips.
Now at this time I have worked up to 2000 points after
getting lucky in a ‘heads up’ so decide to try and shut
out all those still to call. “I’m all- in as well”, I
state and my entire chip pile goes in the middle. Call.
Call. Call. Feck!!
In all situations where there is no more betting the
cards are turned over and we see what everyone has got!!
From my immediate left, in order, we have Jc 9c, KhQh,
Qs Qd & finally “Mad” Mike and his Ac Ad. Oh dear!!
My despair turned to joy as, on the flop, the case 9
falls off in a 9 7 6 flop. That’s followed by a 3 then a
4. My three 9’s take EVERYONE’s chips and I’m chip
monster after an hour of play.
Being chip monster means you have certain
responsibilities. These include calling with crap hands
and generally doling out your chips to anyone that plays
against you. I took these responsibilities seriously.
Holding AQ I call another “all-in” bet from Mike.
Vernon, a player of good repute, was getting bored and
went “all-in” also as did the player to my immediate
right. Cards over boys! Mike had AQ also, Vernon held K5
(as expected) and player to my immediate right K3. As
usual the flop contained a card not part of my
repertoire, in this case a 5, and Vernon, who’d stood up
to leave as is the custom when you’re about to scoop a
pot, sat back down again with a grin the size of his
face. I proceeded to call him a fat so and so and we
played on.
By the time the break had arrived I held around 5000
points. This, and my top-up of a further 2000, gave me
some decent ammo for the 2nd half of the game and with
no further buy-ins permitted it was time to get serious.
My strategy changes in the 2nd half of the night. Before
the flop it’s a ram-jam fest of activity as all cards
have a chance of winning. After the break it’s a
different game when only good cards count…or should!
I hold Ad Tc. With ante’s now at 200/400 I raise to 800.
“All-in” comes a voice from my left. All pass to me and
I fold also. The raiser shows KK and I’m happy.
As players get knocked out they’re replaced by others
with ever larger chip stacks. Vernon goes soon after.
His AJ fails to beat a pair of 6’s when no Ace or Jack
or anything else for that matter falls to help him and
his entire chip count disappears into someone else’s.
Again I raise, again someone goes all-in and again I’m
forced to fold! But then it happens.
“Mad” Mike, whose chip stack has been similar to mine
for a good while, goes all-in. I look to find AK. I
can’t pass and call his bet. It leaves me with 1 100
point chip left if I lose. He turns Ah Th and we’re off
to the races. Seven, Nine, TEN…aw feck it…Six, Jack and
I’m gone. I throw him the extra 100 point chip and leave
the table in 30th place.
It’s a lonely walk to the door. Mike scoops the chips
and I’m left with nothing but another empty pocket and
memories of a bad beat.
Never mind. There’ll be other Wednesday nights!
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