From Rounders Underground Poker to James Bond Class
I woke up, made some eggs and transferred $15,000 out of my full tilt poker account. Just your usual Tuesday morning.
Later that afternoon I made my way over to the game, a luxury building with more doormen than any building should ever have. As I said, I’ve been to games all over the city and usually don’t feel nervous with doormen, but these guys knew why I was there and just nodded as I came in.
The apartment itself was entirely glass, floor to ceiling, with a view of NJ, the West Side Highway and the USS Intrepid. Unbelievable. No longer was I playing an underground poker game like in Rounders, now I was in a Bond movie getting ready to outplay the villain.
The game had been going for about an hour when I got there and the average stack was over $5,000 with my Dominican friend sitting on about $10,000. WooooEEEE! And as luck would have it there was a seat open just to his left. Seven players and I get the Jesus seat!
The first hand I’m in late position and the Dominican raises 10x the big blind (obviously). I call from the cutoff with a mid suited connector. Long story short I double up with two pair against a maniac 3rd pair bluff and after just one hand I’m up to $10,000. Wow, unbelievable!
For the next couple hours I nitted it up and barely played a hand, staying about even. Then this little doozy came up. I had 33 under the gun and raised 3x to $75. After one caller the maniac in the bb re-raised to $750 (yeah, I told you it was that kind of game!) I called (He had $12,000 in front of him and I had $10,000, a little more than the 10x the call that you usually want to have if you’re going to set-mine). The other guy folds and it’s just two of us in a pot now worth about $1600. The flop came out 9… 5…3!! rainbow! Bingo! Flop a set against a maniac. I liiikkkeee. Maniac bets the pot, $1600, and I think for a bit and smooth call. The turn is the a T and the maniac fires another $3000. I call again with just over $5000 left behind (and now about $11,000 in the pot). The river is the a 9 – I filled up – and the maniac immediately pushes all in. Of course I snap call, he proudly shows me his KK and I drag a $20k pot, my biggest ever.
I have never wanted to hit and run a game that badly in my life, but I stayed for another hour, folding everything I could and then left and ran home to see the new $15,000 in my full tilt account! (And I MIGHT have loaded up a 50NL game and shoved every hand for about and hour, managing to only lose about $300 while being Santa Clause to the rest of the table!)
