The Bat Cave

2:30 PM: Perfect timing. Walked into Palace as they are putting chips on the table to start a 7-handed $15/$30 game and immediately get a seat.

One limper and I’m setting the tone on the first hand with a button raise with 76hh and the big blind 3-bets me. 3-ways to 943hh flop and I cap with the big blind. My free card/value raising play doesn’t slow him down and I call on ten turn and fortunately my massive draw comes in with one of my disguised straight outs and I get a double bet from my opponent on the river.

Peaking!

2:36 PM: Today’s starting lineup: The Flea, bad semi-reg, new player that is obnoxious in a small sample, nitty reg, John Stockton (the assist leader!), Part-Time, and another Palace reg.

Early, favorable clash with The Flea as I open with ATss and he 3-bets from the big blind. Flop is KTTdd and he bet-calls and then donk-calls Jd turn. River is a blank and he says, “dang it, I missed,” and checks. He’s all about playing games so it’s up to me to determine if he’s trying to induce a bet with AQ or not; I’m positive he doesn’t have a flush but I could see him playing AQ this way. I go for the bet because checking back is pretty criminal, he calls and my hand is good.

But he evens the score pretty quickly. We cap pre when I open QQ from the cutoff and he’s in the big blind. Flop is QTx and he check-calls before leading out when an ace turns. I pop him and he calls and catches a magic jack river, leads out and I lose to his AK. He then starts blabbing about how he had the best hand the whole way and should have 3-bet me on the turn… standard Flea speak. I, of course, due my extensive mum poker training, say nothing.

The new player in the three seat that I said seems obnoxious is saying something about me “raising his big blind three fucking times in a row” and that means I will be raising his next big blind like 80% of the time because if I’m getting under someone’s skin, I’m going to stay there as long as I can.

3:53 PM: Here’s a standard Flea move that drives me nuts: I check and some absurd amount of time goes by and he finally asks the dealer if I did anything. Yes bud. I did something. I don’t need the camera to stop on me for 20 seconds every time the action is on me. Let’s fucking go. I would absolutely hate playing with this guy if i didn’t enjoy seeing him lose so much. It’s a delicate balance.

We are 7-handed now and it’s a weak seven. This game is on the ropes but this is a group I would love to play some 6-handed, no chopping poker with.

🙏🏻 Poker Gods

3:59 PM: Some fun pictures from this past week.

Here’s The Joker:

Can you even imagine what is going through his head when he picks that hat out and leaves his house? Or how he walked into a store somewhere and decided that’s the hat he wanted to buy?

Here’s The Riddler:

If someone said The Riddler rode a motorcycle I think I would have bet my entire bankroll on the NO. It’s not Halloween and April Fool’s Day was three weeks ago, so… this is an actual thing?

4:25 PM: Pretty amazing when two people I have never said a word to in my life are openly rooting against me in every pot I play. Can’t say I mind, I just don’t get it. Quiet, confident and aggressive must just be an annoying combination to some people. 🤷🏻‍♂️

4:51 PM: We have a cry baby! The two guys rooting against me limp in and I limp along on button with A9o. Flop is K9x with two clubs and the first guy limps, Flea pump fakes a raise and calls and I call behind. Same action on blank turn. Like exact same, pump fake and all. I don’t see a good reason to fold here so I call and spike the 9 on the river. Dude still leads, Flea calls, and I raise. First guy goes into a 60 second fit before calling and Flea folds KJ face up. Other guy hasn’t stopped crying about that hand since and immediately racked up his chips like losing one hand on the river was just too much to handle.

Thanks for not raising, Flea!

5:01 PM: Might have just broke the game with that A9 hand. Seat three racked up and is now MIA and Flea just cashed out.

That leaves us in special no chopping territory.

I open J2dd (👀) from the cut and John Stockton defends his big. He donks on the 832 one diamond flop and I have a debatable raise here but I just call. Turn is a pretty nice ace of diamonds and he still bets which is sort of comical. This is obviously a great card for both my range and my actual hand, so I raise it and he snap calls. River 8 of diamonds! He check-calls and I win the pot with my flush.

Sigh.

This game broke.

What to do…

These players are talking about starting a 2/5 spread game and the last thing I’m going to do is support the birth of that game from the ashes of my 15/30 game.

I’ve said many times I don’t want that game at Palace because it seems like it would hurt the 15/30 game and, well, the first time they spread it I was in a full 15/30 and half my table left for 2/5 and we didn’t even play another hand the rest of the night. Needless to say I was fuming and I resisted the urge to blast the staff on my blog but not so much on Facebook.

I’m sure the game is plenty profitable and it might be worthwhile to jump in it, but I’d rather just see it die and go away.

Seems like my current options are play 8/16 and hope 15/30 starts back up later, fight through traffic to play 20/40 at Fortune, or go home.

5:38 PM: Looks like +$610 for 15/30 and I’m third up for 8/16. I’m gonna leave my chips on the table in the hopes this game starts again later.

6:11 PM: Just sat down in 8/16. Lineup: John Stockton, The Man’s wife, decent 15/30 reg, three players I don’t know, and two Palace regs I know as 4/8 players.

6:49 PM: 15/30 is about to restart. I have to admit… the list looks pretty unappetizing.

On the bright side, some good news: apparently J.Cole has a new album coming out at midnight (9 PM Pacific) tonight. This is pretty notable because J.Cole is a top five rapper currently. Can’t wait to see what he has in store!

7:02 PM: Ugh. Rough game start here. Bingo Man flaked now six players, including The Queen 🤦🏻‍♂️, are sitting here twiddling their thumbs. If this doesn’t get off the ground, I’m going home.

7:07 PM: Restarting 5-handed. And it’s weak. Someone might need to find a real job.

7:19 PM: So here I am playing 6-handed 15/30 and Taz, His Airness, Bingo Man and four other players that have played in this game are all still in 8/16. Such a bad omen.

7:42 PM: Full game now and The Atom is on his way here to ruin my J.Cole listening party.

Missing flush draws like a boss today.

8:52 PM: Nothing exciting to report. Game is pretty subpar. The Atom is in the game now, sitting as far away from me as possible and J.Cole’s album should be available in about five minutes, so he should be seat-changing over my way any minute.

A hand: bad player limps, I try to iso from the button and both blinds raise me. Who knows what they have because everyone checks to me on KTx flop and the preflop capper check-folds. The small blind ends up calling me down after I fill up and I’m still up for a high hand with 5.5 minutes to go.

9:10 PM: Folds to me on the button with The Atom in the big blind. I look at him and he’s shaking his head no. I look down at JJ and shake my head yes. Raise it! He defends. Flop is 655 and he check-calls. Turn is a blank and I think I get check-raised a decent amount here so I’m not surprised when it happens. The dynamic here might call for a 3-bet but it has been a long time since I’ve played with The Atom and bluffing in this spot is something I haven’t seen much, so I give him some credit and call down. River is a 9 and he says “9” and I table my hand and it’s good.

John Kim just walked in and saw me typing and said he knows exactly what I’m doing every hand because he’s been reading my blog.

You know nothing, Jon Snow.

Also, Apple Music is picking a great time to malfunction. J.Cole listening party on hold.

9:38 PM: What. The. Hell. Tight-solid player opens and I 3-bet AJss on button, bad player calls from the blinds, and the nit caps it. Flop J95, nit bets, I flat, and so does the other player. Turn is a ten and they both check to me. I bet, call, tight player check-raises, I snap fold (?!), and the other player calls him down on blank river. He rolls AQ high and the loose player wins with 54.

HUH?

This is what I like to call a protected pot. Meaning, because of the presence of the loose player, bluffing in the tight player’s spot makes zero sense. You see what he got called down by. That’s why you don’t make moves like this in spots like this. You show the calling stations the best hand, not try to power your way through pots with fancy plays.

I know it’s my own fault for folding here but it’s a total boneheaded play that cost him two extra big bets and cost me the entire pot.

10:38 PM: Raise under the gun with AQss, next player calls, maybe a blind. Flop is AQx; I bet and he calls. Turn Queen; I bet and he calls. 8 on river and we have life! We wind up putting in four bets each on the river and he shows me… AQ. 😴😴😴

This one’s more exciting: bad player limps, I raise KQss on button, small blind 3-bets and the bad player caps. Flop is queen high with two spades and we cap it again. Turn jack of spades and the bad player is check-calling now and does so again when the queen pairs on the river. My flush beats his KK.

Scrappy Doo in the game.

12:14 AM: I’m running pretty hot. Flush draws coming in, getting free cards in raised multiway pots with 44 on K65 and going running 3-7. Running pure! Which is fortunate because I’ve been completely checked out of the game.

One thing I have noticed is that the tight-solid player seems to be on a different gear tonight. Not sure what’s going on. I’ve seen him drunk before and he’s not drunk, but he’s definitely playing like he is.

I saw him cap flop and cap turn on QT56 board with the table fish and couldn’t beat QT at showdown and then on the hand I had 44 on K6537 he bet river with A7 after five people put money in on the turn.

I feel pretty comfortable pegging him as a nit but he’s playing way outside the box the last few hours.

2:01 AM: Done updating for the night. Obviously using my remaining energy to focus on the hands I’m playing and not writing about them. I will post a final update when I cash out, which will be soon.

2:12 AM: Well this hand I have to talk about. Scrappy Doo raises, someone calls, drunk guy 3-bets, Part-Time calls and I defend 98hh in the big. Flop is T66 and I check-call a bet and three of us see the magic 7 on the turn. I check-raise and only Part-Time calls. 30/60 Overs now, 5 on river and he donks. WHAT?! I am perplexed. It’s an absolutely horrible lead if he has me beat. It makes no sense. So I have to raise, right? I pull the trigger and he snap-calls with 55.

What? How? Why?

Solid unbelievable runout at the tail end of my night. I mean wtfffffffff.

3:09 AM: Finished +$1258 for the day which seems good since I had a solid stretch where I seemingly lost every hand on the river, including that absurd 98 vs 55 (a $660 swing!).

We have a medical consultation in Kirkland at 1 PM tomorrow so it looks like I will finally put in my first session of 2018 at Fortune.