Back On Trappe

After a disappointing deep run but early final table elimination in the local league finals on Sunday, I got myself back to Riverchasers last night at the Trappe Tavern.

My initial table was just about the LAGiest thing I had ever seen. Thankfully, I was able to stay out of the crossfire. About 15 minutes in, I called a raise with 88 as did 4 others and saw a flop of 865 rainbow. After a bunch of checks, I fired out for 1/2 the pot and got 3(!) callers. I figured at least one of them for a 7 (maybe 77) but, at that table, anything was possible. Hopefully, no one was slow playing 97. We turned a 10 and it checked around to me again. I bet a little less than 1/3 of my remaining stack and 2 of the 3 stuck around for the river, a beautiful second 5. The pot is now bigger than the starting stack, so I shove for about 1/2 the pot with the 3rd nuts. First guy insta-mucks, second guy really wants to call but can't seem to pull the trigger. I'll take the double as I don't find another good spot for what seemed like an hour. I picked up a few blinds with nothing and speculated on a few hands but, for the most part, my stack just dwindled.

Thankfully, that table broke and I sat myself in the vacated SB of my new table. At this point, I'm down to T200 and blinds are 25/50. Fold once, fold twice. I'm UTG+1 and UTG shoves for 4x BB. I have A3o... and fold. UTG shows J9s. Best fold ever as we are about to commence deck to face slappage. Next hand, I'm UTG and find KK. I'm like, "I guess it's my turn" and push. MP calls with 33 and 82% is g00t! Back up to T475. I give back 50 of it in my BB when SB turns 2 pair and I refuse to pay him off. Then, in my SB (blinds now 50/100), we have a limp from UTG (33 guy) and I find JJ. Let's try it again, all in for 425. BB folds but UTG calls again, this time with A6s. I fade the Ace and the diamonds and am now sitting on T950. With just T175 left, BB throws his chips in the middle pre-deal and leaves the bar. Issues, sir. Get them dealt with.

Anyway, at this point, our table breaks and the final 9 are set. After a few hands, blinds increase to 100/200 and I chip up to T1000. Nothing in the BB, but find JTs in the SB after one EP limper. I complete, the BB checks, and the flop comes Q9x. This is basically the flop I was looking for (would have liked some spades, too, but not that greedy), so I pushed for my last 600. BB instacalls with A9o and UTG folds, so I have 14 outs twice and get there on the river. Up to T1800. I fold a bunch of garbage until, once again, I pick up KK UTG. Raise it 3x BB and MP reraises for 900 more all-in. Amazingly, the next player calls all-in for 800 and I have an easy call leaving 300 behind. KK holds up against JTo (reraiser) and AQo (caller) and suddenly I'm sitting on more than T4000.

At this point, I start raising frequently, stealing the 300 and then 600 in blinds. Pretty soon, I have the rest of the table covered collectively. When we get down to 4 handed, I start finding an Ace almost every other hand and can steal at will. We almost get down to 3 when the BB is all-in blind for 100 over his BB, I call with T8o, and he flips 94o. I pick up 2 pair on the turn, but he rivers a straight to survive, temporarily. The prior big stack busts him a few hands later, and then the new short stack pushes his K high into my A high and doesn't improve. Now heads up, I have about a 5:1 chip lead and just want to stay aggressive, but not do anything stupid to double him up unnecessarily. The hand that really crippled him saw me on the button with KQs and I raised 1000 on top of the 600 BB. He called and the flop came QJT rainbow. He checked, I bet enough to put him all in (about 2/3 of the pot), and he folded leaving himself less than 3 big blinds. Predictably, the match didn't last long after that as he pushed with KQo and couldn't catch up to my A4o and it was over.

Of course, I didn't get home until almost 1 AM and usually have trouble sleeping after playing poker. After a win, sleep was non-existent and I'm running on fumes. It's all good, though.

Reraising a pot committed opponent with JTo? That's a paddlin. Calling the reraise with AQo? You better believe that's a paddlin.