The Bat Cave

I really didn’t plan to blog tonight. It’s going to be a time-restricted session and I will probably be blogging all weekend but…

I’m not sure I’ve ever played in a lineup where every single player had a nickname.

Tonight’s PLO lineup: Animal, John Stockton, The Man, Mr. Baseball, The Riddler, Part-Time, Santa Claus, and The Crypt Keeper.

My oh my… as Dave Niehaus used to say.

Leggo.

7:00 PM: Well I didn’t make this post to not write any hands but the first hour has been a whole lot of whiffing for me. However, I am working on a trip report for the rest of our trip that I will copy and paste here shortly for everyone to read.

7:09 PM: So much for that. Just got in an awkward spot where Animal leads turn and everyone else’s ranges are capped after the flop checks through in a raised pot and I isolate him with a weak aces up hand figuring it will clear the field. He’s kind of short so my raise to $260 is more of a $180 call against someone that is super duper wide and reckless. Unfortunately he has the same hand, but with the nut flush draw and we only run it once and he binks the flush.

Very next hand I defend a UTG raise from John Stockton in a multiway pot with KQ32 double suited.

The flop is KK6 with two spades and he leads $40 and the field folds. I’m happy to get it in against him and after I check-raise him he 3-bets and I jam for a minimal amount and he says, “I don’t know if I even want to call now,” so for the briefest of moments I think I have him crushed. But then he does call and shows the AK94. I started the hand with $285ish, so we weren’t particularly deep. We run it twice and he wins both of them.

Reload!

-$600! Solid start.

Santa Claus has been replaced by John Stockton’s buddy that has never played in this game before, as far as I know.

Trip Update

In my last blog post I posted updates of our trip through our stay in Houston.

Thursday

We left Houston early on Thursday afternoon and started our drive towards Dallas.

Well, sort of. We were stopping off in Waco, Texas first to see the Magnolia Stores by Joanna and Chip Gaines. I don’t know anything about them other than that they are notable television personalities. But Magnolia was definitely high on my wife’s list of things she wanted to see.

The store had some cool things in it, but that didn’t interest me too much. The area around the store was really nice. Beautiful. They have done a nice job of making the store a destination stop, complete with iconic silos, great scenery and a play area and food trucks out back that create an almost fair-like vibe.

Here are some pics:

Also in the Waco area is the campus of Baylor University. Very, very nice. We drove through it three times and the pictures I took really don’t do it justice.

From Waco, we were on our way to Dallas to stay two nights and watch a Mariners vs Rangers MLB game in Arlington.

All in all, it was about five hours of driving on Thursday and we were pretty wiped when we got to our hotel.

Our first night in Dallas I believe we got some authentic Texas BBQ and it was amazing, but it is also the only time we didn’t take food pics our whole trip.

Even though I was exhausted I couldn’t resist the drive to Oklahoma to play some poker and I already blogged that session.

Friday

On Friday we made an effort to try some Tex-Mex cuisine for the first time and went to a place called Mia’s where they had mandatory valet parking.

As I noted in my blog post at Winstar the locals were saying the Rangers game was “100%” to be postponed. That means it is always getting cancelled and there is no room for error.

Fortunately they were wrong. Sort of. It was raining pretty hard when we got to the stadium area. Hard enough that I was pretty sure we were going to miss this game. But it stopped pouring as I was walking around the Globe Life Park area checking out the Dallas Cowboys stadium, an interesting place called Texas Live! and the site of the new stadium they are building for the Rangers, set to open in time for the 2020 season.

New stadium site

Cowboys Stadium

Texas Live!

I guess missing letters is a thing?

I made my way into the stadium and did a loop while The Leak was hanging out in the car still.

Here’s what the park looked like when I walked in:

Nolan Ryan:

Insane food:

With insane prices:

The Mariners showed me zero love before the game this time… because no one was on the field until ten minutes before game time.

Game on!

Rocksteady and his buddy actually joined us for this game. He is in the process of relocating to the Dallas area, permanently. R.I.P. to another blog regular. On the bright side, he can still play poker in Oklahoma and that is a short 75 minute drive away.

We saw another stinker. Mariners got crushed and it was never close. The coolest things we got to see were Adrian Beltre hit a 3-run bomb and Joey Gallo literally blast one into orbit.

And then the rain started. And it got heavy. Fast. I knew it was a wrap. The outfield had a lake in it with minutes.

We hung around for a short time, mostly just staring in awe and not wanting to drive in that mess.

Then I braved the drive home and drove 35 mph on the 70 mph interstate freeway like the locals.

The game still wasn’t called over an hour later when we got home, but they did eventually call it a wrap in the top of the 7th, making it plenty official.

I learned a fact that blew my mind: it was the first MLB game in Globe Life Park history to ever start, but stop short because of weather. 23 years… with sudden downpours like this possible… and… never?

Unreal. I got to witness baseball history.

Again.

Saturday

This was leaving day and we were pretty stoked about it. But we had a lot of time to kill after checking out of our hotel and we met up with Rocksteady again to do an Escape Room together.

It was Escape The Room in Dallas and we did The Apartment… with a group of six strangers. That was kind of lame and the first ten minutes or so were pretty chaotic as everyone went off in different directions and figuring things out in a very unorganized manner.

It mellowed our though and, with way too much help from the host, I participated in a successful escape for the first time ever, bringing my career total to 1 of 3! But it really feels more like 0 for 3. Not gonna lie.

Mark that up as another escape room I give a thumbs up to though.

After that we had a couple more hours to kill and decided to watch a movie in an abandoned mall and since the times for most of the movies I hadn’t seen didn’t work out, I watched Searching for the second time because I thought my wife would really enjoy it.

8:22 PM: Running brutal with top set here. I lost with it three times in a row before finally picking one up with a c-bet in a raised pot.

I was on a pretty short stack and feeling pretty punty when I called with the 6542 one suit on the button against a Crypt Keeper raise and multiple limpers.

Flop was 432 rainbow and everyone checked to me. I bet the pot which was $120 and almost my entire stack and figured it’s always folding around, but John Stockton gave me a play and a we got it in on the turn. I had turned a flush draw but so did he and I needed to dodge a diamond on the turn against his KT53 and I managed to do so and double up.

8:47 PM: I limp along in the cut with AKT3 no good suits and John Stockton raises on the button.

A few of us see the flop but Part-Time is the only caller of $40 on AT8 with two clubs and its back to me. I feel like I have the best hand, but I’m quite vulnerable and my opponent is wildly unpredictable. I decide to call.

Gin: an ace. We have the nuts. I would lead against a lot of players here, but not JS. I think he’s going to bet a lot of the time and he doesn’t disappoint by betting the pot: $170. Part-Time folds and I jam for $355 or so. He tanks and calls it off with QJJ9. He has the Q9 of clubs which gives him one straight flush out. We run it once, he misses, and I double up again.

9:01 PM: I open AA99 one suit under the gun to $15, there’s a call, Riddler makes it $65, The Man calls and it is back to me. Riddler and I have decent stacks and The Man is super deep. It’s a snap-4-bet spot but I am also aware of how loose The Man is in spots like this. I haven’t seen him fold much. Sure enough, Stockton and Riddler fold when I pot to $275 and The Man knows he should to, wants to even, but just can’t do it. He calls the $275.

Sheesh. I really might need to change his name to High Variance. Somehow, in our entire history of playing together, I have managed to avoid getting screwed in this spot. I think we have gotten heaps in preflop when I have AAxx and he has folded to my flop bet every time. This has happened at least three times now.

Flop is QT3 with two spades (I have none) and I bet $300 and he mercifully folds again.

9:34 PM: It’s been a while since this hand happened so I forget the preflop details but I must be in a blind because I’m out of position with AT87 double suited on a flop of J96 rainbow and it checks to Part-Time and he bets $25 and The Man calls. I don’t sense strength and I feel like I can barrel a lot of turns so I make it $125 and they both call rather quickly. Alright.

Turn is an ace. I am quite happy to bet this card. I still have all my drawing equity and I could easily have the best hand now too. I bet $300, Part-Time folds immediately, but The Man thinks for quite a long time before making it $600. Ouch.

Now it’s my turn to think. I’m not folding. But I have $800+ behind and I’m wondering if I should stick it all in here to get max value if I get there. I eventually conclude I will fold the river if I miss and save the $500+ I have back. I call.

And obviously I get there with a ten. And obviously he folds when I fire $300. I think my line is fine, maybe good even, but it’s just amusing that I would have maximized by taking the other route.

10:44 PM: This game has dried up drastically. We are down to 6-handed play: me, The Man, Crypt Keeper, Mr. Baseball, random and a tight player. Not great. Chops are happening. I was planning to leave at midnight or so, but 10:45 is starting to look like a reasonable option.

11:08 PM: Yep. That was a wrap. I decided that I didn’t want to grind out an hour or two longer in a 5 out of 10 game when it used to be a 10 out of 10 when I can go home early, play some PS4, and still get a good night sleep before tomorrow’s 10 AM start for the $200 Omaha 8 tourney in the Muck Series.

See you then.

Final Score: +$1115

Not bad for starting out -$1k.