A Rush at Poto

This past weekend a friend of mine and I decided to venture in to Potowatomi's casino just outside of downtown here. We had called to get our name on the No-Limit Hold 'em list prior to going there, and upon arriving we found that they had six tables going. We were told that we were about 16 down on the list, so we surmised that we had time to get something to eat. What the joker running the list didn't mention was that he had just opened that sixth table and 10-11 names were getting cleared off the list, so we were a little surprised to see the 30-person list at about 8 when we got back from eating, and along with that our names were no longer on the list.

Another "brilliant" thing they do there is that they don't give you a pager when you're on the list. Most casinos offer a pager so that you can go play other games, eat, etc., while waiting to get paged. Once paged you usually have about 10-15 minutes to get to the poker room to claim your seat. So, after getting our name on the list a second time, we decided to head downstairs to try our luck at PaiGow Poker for a little while.

If you aren't familiar with PaiGow Poker, it's a game where all the players play against one specific player, which could be the house dealer or another player at the table who might decide to "bank" against all the players for a hand. Everyone is dealt seven cards, and you have to make two hands, a 5-card hand and a 2-card hand. You can split up your hand however you'd like, the only stipulation is that your 5-card hand must be higher in poker rank than your 2-card hand. Once all the hands have been determined, you showdown. If you win both hands, you win your bet (less a 5% commission); if you lost both hands, you lose your bet, and if you split your bet is a push. There is also one joker in the deck. The joker can only be used as an Ace or to complete a straight or flush, so it's not a complete "wild" card. The game ususally involves a lot of pushes. In fact, when in Vegas, an easy way to get drunk cheap is to find a cheap PaiGow table and take all the free drinks :) I had an 11-hour session in Vegas once where I was down a whole $5 at PaiGow, but I was pretty damn liquored up by the time that session was over!

This session of PaiGow was not nearly so kind. In about 45 minutes, I didn't have one win. I got swept four times, and every other hand was a push. Not the ideal PaiGow session. That included getting swept when I had trip Kings in my 5-card hand with a pair of 2's to put in the two card hand (the dealer made a straight and a pair of Jacks). Yuck! This led to me being down about $100 by the time I got seated at the poker room. My friend wasn't nearly as lucky at PaiGow, being down about three bills at that table.

My friend got seated in the poker room first, and I was seated about 15 minutes after him. I don't know a lot of players that play at Poto since I don't play there all that often, but I recognized no one at my table, and my friend had also commented on the same thing (and he knows most of the regulars). The table seemed a bit passive, so I was able to lean on the table a little bit. In the first half hour I had picked up $150, only having to show down one hand (which I lost, but it was a strong hand). After another 30 minutes, I was up another $150. The hand which made most of the chips was one that I'll detail. I was dealt pocket Jacks (this happened to be the third time I got them in this hour). I hate Jacks. The other bad thing was that I was in the Under-the-Gun position. I'll do anything with Jacks. I might raise, I might limp, I could just flat call a raise, and depending on the action, I'll even fold them preflop [easy fold if Rock or Pete are playing and have raised before getting to me...sorry, guys, couldn't resist. :) ]. In this particular hand, I decided to limp with the intention of calling a single raise if one came up, but no one else raised, so six of us went to the flop. The flop was as good as it can be for Jacks:

Tx-7x-4x (three suits)

The blinds checked, and I led out for $25. I guessed I had the lead unless I was unfortunate enough to have allowed a blind to make two pair by giving them the free flop. Only two other players called and neither of them were the blinds. The turn card was a Queen. I led for $45, the player two to my left called, and then the button moved all in for his remaining $125. This left me in a little quandry. This would have been an easy call if the player to my left hadn't already called. It's only $80 more to me, and the pot is well worth the call at this point; but I want to shut the other player out of the pot. If I call and he is drawing to a straight or flush, he's easily got the pot odds. If I raise and he's been slow-playing me, I just gave him the rest of my stack as I'll be committed. The only thing I had going for me was the fact that when the third player moved all-in the player on my left made a noise/sigh that sort of sounded like he didn't like the raise. I was thinking about it for a minute when I decided the flat call was best. The other player went in to the think tank and even declared "This would have been easy if you hadn't called", which indicated to me in combination with his initial reaction to the raise that he would be folding here. He eventually folded, and the dealer dealt the river, which was a nine. The other player flipped up King-Ten, and I showed my Jacks to win the pot. The third player said he had Ace-Ten, and also said he'd have called if I didn't. I thought he made a great read to fold that there, although I think the river goes check-check if he calls on the turn, anyway. An interesting hand to be sure!

My buddy came over to my table a couple minutes later, telling me he had gotten busted on a King-high flush after flopping top pair and the flush draw when another player called him all the way to the river with the Ace-high flush draw, and they both got there on the river. Yuck! Since we had driven together and I could tell he wanted to leave I told him I'd play to my big blind and then leave. I usually don't like to announce this since all the other players now know I've got a limited number of hands left. Well, I was very surprised; I never lost a hand after making that little announcement! I'll give a brief synopsis of the hands:

• dealt 7-7; preflop raise, two callers, one overcard on flop, lead out bet, everyone folds
• dealt A-J; preflop raise, one caller, missed board, checked all the way, win showdown against A-4
• dealt 9c-2c; just called preflop (playing the rush, not my normal play), flop the flush draw with an Ace on flop, bet it, everyone folds
• dealt A-T; preflop call, hit the Ace on flop, bet and everyone folds
• dealt Qd-Jd UTG; preflop call; the flop is Ten-high with one diamond, I check, player on left bets $25, there's another caller, I call with the intention of stealing on turn; the turn is Ad giving me both straight and flush draw, I check raise to $140 after a bet of $40 and a call, both players fold to check raise

Since the QJ was my last hand before the big blind and I was leaving, I showed the semi-bluff. That got some groans, and I'm sure it left them wondering how they might have been sitting in some of those other hands. I just couldn't believe how that table was playing! It was a fun little rush, and my buddy was getting to enjoy it a little as he got to see my hole cards to sort of play along. The Poto experience ended up being profitable as I got my PaiGow losses back and then some! Once again, just trying to slowly finish building that bankroll for the 2009 WSOP!!!