After a month of recovery from surgery (and then a week of work) I finally got to play some poker with the guys as Scott's home game resumed, and it was great to be back.
I lost almost half my buy-in after about 30 minutes (missed draws, TPTK vs. overpair). I stopped the bleeding for a while but then I kept making the second-best hand and was growing very frustrated. I had the guys laughing pretty hard when I dropped a few "Unbelievables!" and the occasional "Unreal!" But my ensuing expletives really got them rolling on the floor, and that's when I realized I was minus-$63, down from $100 at noon to $37 by 2:30 p.m. That's also when I knew they'd think I was on tilt, which I wasn't. I like to vent my frustration when I play, but it doesn't always make me play less than optimally. At this point I remember thinking that I was just glad to be there after what I went through and that I was determined to have a winning session. So I bought another $60 in chips and buckled down.
I went on a rush that got me almost back to even when the following hands came up, and they're partly the reason I'm posting. The game was Juarez (pronounced War-ehz). Not familiar with it? It's a hybrid of Omaha/8 and Double Flop Hold 'Em. We were taught this game by a dealer at Binions during our Ante Up! Meetup in Vegas last summer.
Everyone gets five cards and, like Omaha, you MUST play two from your hand. But here's the twist: There are two boards, four cards on top, four on the bottom, and then only one river card is dealt and it's used with both boards. There's just one high hand and one low hand overall, and you must play each board individually without combining cards. So here's an example and I won't use suits to keep it simpler:
Your hand: A-3-Q-Q-J
Top Board: 2-4-7-9
Bottom Board: Q-5-9-4
Community River: 4
You've made the nut low (A3 makes a wheel on the top board and there's no low on the bottom board to compete with it) and you've made the nut high, your queens full on the bottom can't be beat on either board. Now, there's just one overall high and one overall low, so you would scoop. If someone had the case nines in their hand they'd have a boat on both boards but neither is strong enough to beat your boat, so you win the lone high. Still confused? Sorry. Maybe we'll do a show on it someday.
So here's the first hand:
I have K♣ K♥ J♥ 10♠ 9♦. It's not a fantastic hand in that I can't scoop if there's a low, and in Juarez there's almost always a low because there are two boards. But I was in a blind and got to see the flops for free. The bottom board was inconsequential but did make a low. The top board came K-4-8 rainbow (or something similar). I flopped top set, and like I said the other board didn't have a pair or an ace so I had the nut high at the moment. I bet and I got a few callers. The turn was another 8 on my board so now I have the nut boat. I bet and again got like two callers. The community river card was an 8 as well. I made a mistake here and bet out. I got raised and then there was a call. So I knew someone had the nut low, but I was hoping the raiser had the low as he's apt to bet out when he has the nut low in split games. So I just called and said: "You have the 8?" And of course he did. One-outer. Cost me a bundle. I didn't know his other cards, so it's hard for me to criticize, but I hope he had something like a wrap or a low draw on the other board to stick around to catch the 700-1 shot to beat my high. I think I said "Sick!" at that point, which made everyone chuckle again. But I was cool because I was about even at that point and knew if I continued playing my game I'd be a winner by the end of the session.
One rotation later this hand came up, and again it's still Juarez:
I'm dealt A♣ 2♣ A♦ K♦ 3♥ on the button. This is a MONSTER hand in Juarez. I have two nut-flushes covered plus the nut low and a backup in case I'm counterfeited. So a few players limped and I raised. Why did I raise? Well, Scott mentioned it on Friday's show: You raise to thin the field or to build a pot. I did it to accomplish both of these tasks, and it worked. I got the blinds to fold and the limpers called. Then I got dream flops, and I may not have the exact cards right but it won't matter: 4♣ 7♣ 10♥ came on one board and I flopped a set of aces on the other board. That board never paired, however. Anyway, it got checked to me so I bet and got called in a couple of spots. The turn was the 5♣ giving me the nut low-flush-high hand on both boards and a chance at a steel wheel (A-5 straight flush). I can't remember if someone bet out or if it got checked to me again but the betting was heavy. The river was a blank so I had both nuts, or so it seemed. I said "I got the nut low and the nut high flush, both on this board." I thought I was scooping a huge pot and that's when Steve said "You have the nut flush? I have the nut flush." And he turned over the 6♣ 8♣. It could've been some other combination but he made a straight flush to beat my ace-high flush. I took the low and split it. Another one-outer cost me again essentially because if any other club comes I have the nuts, but that one club cost me half the pot. My set of aces on the other board likely would've been good for high even if no club came.
This beat was easier to take because (1) I still won half the pot, unlike the other hand and (2) I was just grateful it wasn't NLHE. But these two hands were brutal and could've set me off completely. Instead I just stayed the course and continued to play good poker. Ultimately I won $60 on the session, which isn't too bad considering my start and those brutal beats. There were some other beats and second-best hands that cost me pots as well (plus I had AA in the BB once when it got folded around to the SB and we were on automatic-chop mode all day) so it could've been an incredible session, but I'll take it regardless.
This is the type of session I'm most proud of because of a few reasons: In the old days I would've just donked off my whole stack and left. Or, I might've re-bought and continued to spiral down to an inevitable losing session. But I was able to vent, make the guys laugh, have fun and still turn a negative start into a positive session, and all of this while suffering some pretty horrendous beats.
I may not be a pro, but at least I'm still getting better.
Are there any sessions you're proud of? How did you do over the weekend?
-- Chris
Martha Frankel
Christopher Cosenza is co-host of the longest running poker podcast on the planet, Ante Up! He started playing poker seriously in 2003 and his favorite players are Phil Ivey and Kenna James, though he tends to act like Phil Hellmuth if you make a bad play against him.
Scott Long, Ante Up!'s other co-host, is the author of the monthly Bet on It column in tbt*. He began gambling way too young (don't tell the fuzz!) and in the seventh grade, named his state "Gambleland" for a school project (State Animal? Loan shark, of course).
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