Poker and Liquor

Monday, February 05, 2007

Been a While

It's been a while since I wrote in here. It's been a while since I played poker on any kind of regular basis.

I've been very busy at work. We've been creating a nature TV show called Expeditions with Patrick McMillan , which is now airing on South Carolina Educational Television. It's been a ton of fun and hard work. For those of you who can pick up SCETV, it airs 7:30 Sunday nights. We've done shows on Shell Rings, Snakes, Carnivorous Plants, Bats, SeaTurtles, Volcanoes & Fumaroles, Rainforests, and Salamanders so far. Not all of these have aired yet. We hope to have it picked up nationally by PBS.

But busy at work is no real excuse, it's that I've been lazy at home.

I did make a Poker appearance at BadBloods Annual New Years Tournament, and managed to take first place before being totally overcome by the amount of alcohol I had consumed.

Most recently I missed a game at BadBlood's but got the jones so bad that I went to the Spring Hotel (a local underground poker game) the next day. Playing 1/2NL, I started out doing fairly well, and chipped up from $200 to around $350 when I ran into a hand I am now asking advice about.

After a 45 minute cold spell, in middle position in the 5 seat, I take a look at KJ spades after a fold and two limpers. I bump it up to $15. Fold, fold, then Guy in the 8 seat pops it to $40. 3 seat calls and I decide to call. Flop comes 5TK two spades. I gotta like that flop, so I bet out $60. The 8 seat stands up to contemplate. After deliberating (possibly for show) he raises me $100. I don't know him too well, but my read is that he is a solid player, not likely to bluff outright, but could possibly semibluff a nut draw.

I have $250 still in front of me, and $100 in the pot, looking at a $100 raise. To me it's definately a push or fold situation. Top pair, good but not great kicker. 2nd nut flush draw.

I go in the tank, and figure he has AK to beat my kicker, a pair of Aces, or maybe two spades including the Ace, to beat my draw. I guess it is in my nature to put him on a better hand than me, but he did bump it to 40 preflop, so he has to have something. My reasoning goes this way: he either already has me beat, or he has a better draw, most likely the former. I fold face up.

He flips out that I could possibly lay that down. The dealer turns the last cards for show, and I see another T and K to give me a posthumous full house. Judging by his reaction, I think I woulda won if I hadn't folded, which ruled out Big Slick as one of his holdings. But was the fold the right decision at the time? Even if he does have Aces, should you push here? Other than playing KJ in the first place, did my play here seem reasonable?

Some guys there who know him better than I said later, they were 95% sure he had a pair of Aces. Although I thought I made a good laydown, I then went on some kind of wonder-if-I-did tilt for a while, and never really recovered. Ended up the night flopping a straight to someone elses set and pushing. Of course, he boated on the turn and IGHN.