Ass, meet dragging

Got done with the dance concert last night, then had strike. Ooohh, fun. head over to Arranger for more details if you wanna hear me whine about striking a dance concert. Then cruised of to K's house for a little pokery goodness, at least until he got tired and decided to kick us all out, which would be an indeterminate time in the future.

I bought in for $50, the max at our little home game, and quickly realized that it was going to be a little difficult. Warbucks had just won a huge pot, which meant he would call almost anything, and Brian had a big-ass pile of chips, which meant that he would be raising more than normal. T was short, and K was short, but both of them still had close to $50 in front of them. I farted around a little chasing an open-ender that missed and seeing flops that were more expensive than anything I should have seen, when I got the action I wanted on a hand, just not the result.

I pick up 88 (I don't remember position, but I wasn't a blind). I pot it, get a couple callers.Flop comes down 10h 6h 8c, Jim leads out $5, and I repot it for a raise of $18. Jim does exactly what I want him to do, which is call with a flush draw, then does exactly what I don't want him to do, which is hit the flush on the turn. It's another $18 for me to call his obvious flush and hope for the board to pair, so I even comment to the fact that I'm not man enough to fold to his flush, and call. Board does not pair, and I'm on my first rebuy. I add about $20 to that buyin by the time the night ends to put me down just a touch for the night. Jim ends up big winners for the night on the basis of a big hand he made before I got there, his flush on me and a two-outer he got on Brian, that went down something like this.

Brian raises pot preflop, Jim reraises pot, Brian calls the extra $5 or $6. They're heads-up, flop comes down JTx and I don't remember suits because they were irrelevant. IIRC, Brian led out with a pot-sized bet. Jim flashes QQ to me sitting next to him, and I shake my head a little thinking "he's gonna call and he's way, way behind. Brian doesn't call a reraise preflop and then lead out on that board without at least two pair, more likely a set." Jim calls.

Brian gives him a huge Christmas gift right here.

He checks the turn and Jim checks behind. River is a Queen and Brian leads with $20. Jim raises to $40 and Brian makes the crying call. Brian is steaming hard, and I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from asking why he checked the turn. We chatted briefly afterwards and he admitted that he might have been able to take the hand down with a pot-sized bet on the turn. It's not a given that he could have pushed Jim off the hand, but I don't know if he woulda called another $40 - $50 with just a pair in his hand and no redraws to anything.

It was good to hang with everybody for a couple hours after the stress of the dance festival week, even if I did continue to pay for the privilege, as has been my tendency the past couple weeks. Might be able to have a game at the house next week, but I'll be heading to Atlantic City this weekend. Call me if you're up there.