Monday night is Reality Show Night at the Cosenza household, so I tend to play poker while Mrs. Ante Up watches her Dancing With The Stars and Bachelor. I'm still trying to get Shannon Elizabeth (pictured) on the show, but she must have a gag order on or something because none of my emails to her or her agency has been returned.
Last night I had one of those sessions where you just hang on for dear life and watch your stack go up and down more times than a ride at Busch Gardens. I began by playing NLHE heads up for cold hard cash. We exchanged a few jabs here and there and he kept rebuying for the full amount whenever he would dip below the max buy-in. What do you think of this strategy?
Anyway, the ultimate hand came when I had 7♣8♣ on the button and raised 3X. He called and the flop came with 10♣ 8♥ K♣. He checked and I bet pot. He called. The turn was a 7♥. So I had two pair and a flush draw. He bet out and I raised. He shoved and I was pot-committed. He showed Q♣7♣! I had him crushed at that point, but the river was a club and he felted me. Grrr!
Next I moved on to a $.10-$.25 NLHE 6-handed table. The player on the button during my BB kept raising when it got folded to him, and twice he did it with Ax. So the next time it happened I had K♣ Q♣. I decided to call his 3X raise and trap him. Flop came Q♦ 4♦ 7♥. I checked and he bet pot. I raised pot and he called. The turn: 2♥. So now there are two flush draws out there and I don't want him to get there, so I bet pot again and he shoved. I had to call (again) and he turned over A♦8♦. All he had was an overcard and diamond draw. Can you guess what came? I'm screaming at the computer: "NO BLUE!!! NO BLUE!!!" (Yes I have my screen set to the Lucky Charms colors, as you can now see in this post) A 5♦ on the river gave him the flush and just like that I was down $75 after playing at two tables.
I had been on such a fine streak online that I started to feel like the demons had finally decided to leave me alone. But alas, they returned.
I found another six-handed ring game ($.50-$1) where they were seeing a lot of hands and averaging about $35 per pot. I never really know if that last figure means they're maniacs or if someone just got stacked. But as soon as I sat down I knew they were there to gamble. I made it three-handed and my first hand on the button I was dealt JJ and raised to $3.50. The SB thought long and hard then folded, as did the BB. I think to myself that he's thinking I'm a stealer. The very next button hand for me I get 10-10. I raised the same amount and this time the SB re-raised 3X my bet. I just knew he had a middle pair or some sort of weak ace. I shoved and he waited and waited and waited. Then he called with ... 99. My 10-10 held up and gave me a profit for my session.
That's when Ante Up! National Rant2112, who was railing me and seeing all of these suckouts, said: Want to play heads up? I said sure. We decided to play a $5 HU-NLHE-SNG, and I got some great cards and opportunities. I beat him pretty quickly and then took a break.
When I returned I decided to play $.25-$.50 H.O.R.S.E. I started with $5, fell to $1.50 and then won a decent pot to get back to like $6. That's when another Ante Up! National, I Like Ike, joined the table. We chatted a little as I went on a huge rush, turning my $5 buy-in into almost $25. He wasn't as lucky and left down a bit. But it was great playing with him and chatting.
Finally I returned to heads up play again. I sat down at a $50 table with a guy who already had like $69. We went back and forth for a while, and I was getting the best of him when the following hand came up. On the button I got 9♦10♦. I raised to $1.50 and he called. The flop came K♦ 7♦ 8♥. He checked and I bet pot. He called. The turn was the 4♦. Now he bet pot and I shove. He instacalled with A♦A♥. I have him dead to a diamond and I'm screaming in my head "NO BLUE!!!! NO BLUE!!!" Can you guess what came on the end? It was blue, and so was I. Then he left.
Just like that, all of the profit was gone again, and I never got my money in bad. I was confident my reads of their styles and betting patterns were spot-on, so I continued playing. In my last match of the night I sat down with $100 vs. a guy who had $128 at a $.50-$1 NLHE HU table. In the beginning he was super-aggressive, raising every button, reraising my button raises, punishing my button limps. I started to think he was better than me and should get out of the table while I still had most of my buy-in. But then I adjusted and started trapping. The final hand we played came down like this: On the button I had K♥9♥. I raised to $3.50 and he called. The flop: J♥ 9♠ 10♥. He checked and I bet $4. He called. The turn: 7♥. I had the second nuts. Now he bet out $5. I minraised to $10. He reraised to $40, leaving him only $32 left. I said to myself, "If I shove here and he calls with a naked A♥ and hits, I'm going to throw this computer in the dumpster!" So I shoved, thinking he couldn't fold no matter what he had (hoping he had an 8). He thought and thought and typed in A8, then folded. So he had the straight, but likely not the A♥. I won $90 from him and called it a night, turning a nice profit during a very tumultuous session.
Let's see what happens tonight while Mrs. Ante Up! watches American Idol.
-- 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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