The Bat Cave

I will have more info as the time comes, but it was confirmed to me today that Live at the Bike will take place on Wednesday starting at 5:30 PM, which I think means the stream will start at 6 PM.

The host told me his players usually show up early to play and drink before they get on the show, I’m guessing to increase the fun factor. It made me wonder if I told him I was eight and a half years sober if I’d still be allowed to play on the show?

I wonder…

$15/$30 Starting Lineup: Radio Mike, Ducky, Part-Time, non-reg, Flea, FanGirl, Master Splinter

14 names on the list and it looks like we are starting this game 8-handed somehow.

The Leak picked up AA vs KK on her first hand dealt in tonight and is still drawing live at the Coast-to-Coast Challenge. We are still waiting for our first completion.

I was under the gun for our first hand and Radio Mike was the big blind and we both lost after defending our blinds, so we are already out on the CtCC. Ducky is drawing live though.

4:25 PM: Ducky is out for The Challenge (it’s so hard!) but The Leak is still going.

Our game is full and the last player in is a maniac duck. I will refer to him as Daffy Duck for the remainder of this blog and maybe forever.

Just made top pair with a gut shot against Daffy’s AA and failed to improve so that was pretty nice.

I guess now is as good as time as any to mention that all nine players have Overs buttons for $25/$50 betting.

4:53 PM: Second round with Daffy Duck. I open with black aces, Ducky 3-bets in position and Daffy tags along. I decide to flat as is my custom when I get re-raised and I’m out of position, but with the hitchhiker, I should probably start capping in this spot more often. Maybe every time.

Flop is T84 with two hearts and a spade and I check-raise the flop and both players call.

The turn is a 9 of spades and this time I get check-raised by Daffy after Ducky folds. I call.

River pairs the 8 and I call his bet and win showdown against K7 of spades.

Maniac!

Very next hand I open with 77 with Part-Time and Flea calling.

Flop is A54 and Flea check-calls from the big blind.

He would raise an ace on the flop so when he leads on a queen turn, I’m not too worried about being beat. I ponder for a bit of raising is my best play as it denies equity to whatever he’s betting with and pretty much anything he can have has decent drawing chances against me, but I opt to just call down.

The river pairs the ace and that doesn’t dissuade him from continuing his ruse and I pick him off and he very slowly folds his cards face down.

5:21 PM: Dark Knight vs Daffy Duck, Round 3: You can never be too careful

Daffy opens and I defend with T7o. I fold this hand here against basically everyone else at the table, but against Daffy, I’m seeing a flop.

It’s pretty nice: QT7. I check-raise and he calls.

Turn is an 8 and we end up putting in four bets with Daffy capping it.

He’s definitely saying he has a better hand than me, so when the river puts a one card straight on the board with a 6, I’m in check-call mode. He shows pocket aces… because, you know, that is probably good here.

5:41 PM: One player limps, Radio Mike completes his small blind and I check with 86o.

Flop is A66 with two clubs, Mike leads right out, I raise and the limper cold calls $50 and three of us go to the turn.

The limper calls my bet with a 7 added to the board but Radio Mike drops out.

River fills me up with an 8, I bet and he pays me off wi- wait, what? He’s raising me? Tank time. I let a good 20 seconds go by thinking about this one and let him know: “this is a nit roll.” Even though my hand is super strong here, my instincts are leaning call . It’s weird he would open-limp any hand here from middle position but it’s not totally out of character. You’d think he’d raise hands like 88 and 77. I think limping any hand here is a mistake, but I don’t think he’s ever showing up with hands like K6 or Q6 suited here.

I can’t make sense of his range here, but he’s not a dumb player. I suspect he knows I have a six here so the fact that he’s raising me is cause for concern. I just call and he shows A6 suited.

6:11 PM: Coast-to-Coast update: The Leak is still going strong, sitting at +1.5 racks almost three hours into her session.

There’s been some debate on how many hours you have to play to qualify for The Challenge, with me insisting on 8+ hours and my friends with jobs saying that 6+ hours should suffice.

I’ve come up with a compromise. Tiers of completion:

Bronze Level: 6-8 hours

Silver Level: 8-10 hours

Gold Level: 10-12 hours

Platinum Level: 12+ hours

Six hours and never having less chips than you started with will qualify as a completion.

It’s worth noting that if you go 6+ hours without dipping below starting stack, but keep playing and fall below in hour #9, you have not completed The Challenge; no bronze medal for you.

But I get that not everyone can sit around and play poker all day everyday, so 6+ hours will get the job done.

6:54 PM: Created a page on the site for The Coast-to-Coast Challenge since I have a strong suspicion we are going to get our first entry into the club tonight.

The Leak is good to get it done. +3 racks nearing four hours of play.

7:51 PM: I am running pretty pure. My good hands are all holding up. I’m up two racks already.

What I really wanted to say is that we are almost four hours deep into this game and no one has left it since it started. Oh shit, right as I was typing this we lost our first player. Jinxed it.

Daffy Duck went to the felt and reloaded for $2k, so… it’s understandable why everyone is glued to their seats.

Daffy just defended his big blind and turned his hand face up before the flop… for the second time. He’s also dropping repetitive “F-Bombs” and the dealers are getting a bit frustrated because they have to police but also know that Daffy is the life of the game right now and no one wants to see him get booted.

Our first player leaving is replaced by… Mighty Mouse.

As I was typing this, I rivered a flush in a 3-bet pot with KThh and made aces full of threes after defending my big blind with A3o.

Running pretty decent.

9:04 PM: Free Throw has arrived and he’s pulled up a seat behind Ducky and myself and he’s been talking about, uhm, shooting free throws for a good twenty minutes now.

I lean in to Radio Mike and say, “how does this happen?”

And he replies, exasperated, “it can’t be stopped.”

There is an anti-Ducky free throw bet in place. Free Throw has $400 and I have $100 on under 81 out of 100 free throws made for Ducky. I don’t see it, but he seems to think he has a chance.

9:49 PM: I open AA, Ducky 3-bets, and Master Splinter calls 3-bets from the big. I know I said I should be capping in this spot more frequently but this isn’t the same as having the splasher in between. I call again.

Flop is K93 rainbow and Master Splinter leads right out. Yikes. I raise him up because I should still be ahead here, but I’m a little concerned. Ducky calls and so does Splinter.

Turn is a blank and I get raised by Ducky. Thad’s fine. I’m calling his ass down. Maybe even 3-betting. But then Splinter comes out with a 3-bet and we both fold.

Lol.

Daffy Duck just stood up and shook my hand, gestures to his chips and says, “Mike, all you can eat.”

10:46 PM: Okay, fine Daffy, you don’t want to be part of the assorted duck family? You will be known as The Buffet from now on.

11:25 PM: The Buffet is closed. Radio Mike was waiting in line all night and everyone kept cutting in front of him and he couldn’t get anything to eat.

Well, he finally got to the front of the line and went from -$1000 to -$200 in two hands.

Also, The Leak has completed the Coast-to-Coast Challenge and is the first member of the club enshrined with a Silver Level performance of 8 hours. Not only that, but she did it with a +6 rack performance! Wow!

Congrats honey!

I coolered Master Splinter with AQ on an AQ74A when he also had an ace and that got me up for High Hand with 10 minutes to go. I offered Ducky my HH for $200 and he rejected it… then I totally forgot about it and was kind of shocked when the floor came over with $400 for me.

I’m done blogging for the night. The Leak is sitting behind me now and I doubt she will be wanting to stay much longer. I’ll post a final score when I cash out.

Final Score: +$1570

A rare night where husband and wife both win over $1k.

Got em.