There's a little black spot on the sun today

Hey all, Jeff here. It’s my turn to spin the story. So far the trip has been a blast. Of course that’s coming from a man who is up for the trip. I can’t say the same for Dave. Talk about rat bastards, he ran into his fair share at Caesars’. More about that later.

The day begun with a Wynn buffet run. Those people know how to put together a spread. The other 100 people in line thought so too. We spent our time wisely in line discussing our poker strategies for the day, hoping it would translate into higher profits for the night. After breakfast we went to the poker room at Caesars. I was shocked to see the place was packed at 3pm on a Friday. We all ended up sitting down at the same table. This was my first real no limit experience. So I adopted the patented Lew / King style of power poker. The table was tight and mostly business. Before long Eric was using his skills to build a fairly sizable stack. Mat was up and Dave and I were holding our own. Then the table slimmed down to all but the four of us and some poor schmo. The game quickly turned into a home game style of play. I’ll call you one time! Your ace is no good. You’re playing that junk, I raise! Eric’s stack saw the flaw in this style of play. Before we knew it four brass and aggressive players sat down and changed the table. They were having fun and playing like this was a penny ante game. Everyone got his game face on, waiting for a hand. Unfortunately I was the first to stand up to an aggressive raise. I had AJ in late position. One yahoo made his frequent raise, so I figured I have to be good. That was until the reraise for most of my stack came out. He hadn’t made a move like this before, he was always the initiator. I wanted to think I was good enough to put him on a bluff and call, but my greenness won out and I mucked. He flipped over JJ, whew! Thank you poker gods. Dave was the one that actually got big hands against these guys. Much to his demise, however. His AA got cracked by J9s, KK got cracked by AQ (99 also in the pot). Well played good sir, unfortunately the yahoos won this round.

Hand Of The Day
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Okay actually this should be the hand of yesterday, but it’s the only entertaining analysis I can think of. This is the same 2/4 limit game Mr. C and Mr. L played in.

Pre Flop: Mr K. was playing good hands as always. Mr. C was in the big blind. Mr. K raises from early position with AJ. Mr. C has AK and before he calls looks up and smiles, you can’t steal my blind! Okay the interesting folly here is that no one ever tries to steal blinds at this low limit game and Mr. K wasn’t trying to do that, but it sets up the mood for the hand.

Flop: Kxx two diamonds
Mr. C bets 2, everyone calls.

Turn: A diamonds
This is where it gets interesting. Mr. C was getting his chips ready for a bet in the dark but in mid motion the Ace came out and Mr. C unwillingly hesitated before throwing the bet out. Mr. K took this as a sign of weakness, laughs and says: You didn’t like that card, raise! Mr. C reraises and Mr. Ks radar goes off and he calls.

River: Rag of diamonds
Now with four to the flush out there betting is scary when you don’t have one. Mr. C throws it out, Mr. K calls quickly. Uh oh! Mr. C says you got a diamond? Nope! Two pair wins it.

Mr. K later tells of the tell he saw. He was the unfortunate victim of masterful acting by Mr. C! (Actually Mr. C was lucky it was a diamond giving a possible flush to help give off the false tell)

This home game style of play is why I love playing low limit games.

May all your cards be live and your pots be monsters!