Four hours of live poker in an icily cold air-conditioned poker room on a record-hot July day is more than enough.
So I was ready to call it a day. I was up early on a semi-dramatic all-in with pocket aces on an 10-9-6-A board with two hearts and two diamonds. I did have the heart ace blocker, but I was praying for a small black card on the river.
My prayers went unanswered. The river was the diamond jack. But the first all-in caller was obviously on a heart draw and missed. The second caller had made aces up with A-10. So the three aces held up.
Then the two soft players left. New players with serious faces sat down, many with the full buy-in of $500, and starting tossing around green chips like the U.S. government hands out grant money. I asked for a seat at another table and got it.
The afternoon drifted away. My chip stack dwindled. Raised once with Ks-7s, saw a J-x-x-Q board and double-barreled the flop and the turn. That got through and I stacked a little pot.
Also raised a $6 straddle to $18 with Ad-Jh — and got five callers (!). The flop came out A-2-5 rainbow. Bet it and got two callers. The turn paired the deuce, and a guy led into me for about 70 percent pot. Thought about that for about 30 seconds and tossed my hand away.
That same guy was sitting to my right and pretty much running over the game. A few laps go by, and I said to him, “I couldn’t really put you on ace-deuce.” He smiled and said, “I had three-four. Everybody else was calling so I called too. You had an ace, huh?”
I nodded.
So I was almost ready to pack it in for the day with a tiny profit when I looked at my hand in my big blind and saw 5-3 offsuit. Not exactly a monster starting hand. It was just me and the small blind and a guy I call Huey in late position.
Huey is not his real name. But I know quite a bit about Huey because I’ve talked to him. He’s a plumbing contractor by profession, has played many events in the World Series of Poker, and is in his seventies. He’s short and thin, and a strong gust of desert wind would probably blow his Barney Fife physique and a pile of litter down Las Vegas Boulevard. He also plays in the higher limit 3-5 games. Or he did. These days, I see Huey in the 1-3 games. So, either he got beat up pretty good and got tired of losing or he found that he can beat the 1-3 games more consistently.
Anyway, after most players folded, it was just me with 5-3 offsuit, the small blind and Huey. The 5-3 offsuit is not the worst starting hand in poker. That distinction belongs to 7-2 offsuit. But 5-3 is not very far up the list either. Regardless, the flop came out 2-K-4 of mixed suits. Which is a pretty fair flop for 5-3.
The minimum bet in the 1-3 no-limit games is $3. So I bet exactly $3. Huey called and the small blind called. Counting blinds, we have a monster $18 pot brewing.
The turn card is a beautiful 6. I check, and Huey bets $15. Does he now have kings up, a big king with a big kicker or does he have three of kind? It doesn’t matter because I have the nuts. The small blind folds, and I raise to a whopping $30. Huey quickly calls. Our pot, before the house takes its healthy cut, is now $48.
The river is an 8. It shouldn’t change anything unless Huey was also betting on the come with 7-5. I don’t think that is the case so I lead out with a $35 bet. Huey goes into the tank for almost a minute. He’s a smart player, obviously, and has to think about all the levels: How did this hand play out, what does he think I have, what does he think I’m representing based on the betting action if I don’t have a hand, and what price is my bet laying him (it’s roughly 2.25-1). He snaps his gum, shuffles his chips and looks like he’s about to fold. I avoid eye contact and lower my head. This is hardly the biggest pot of the afternoon, but it’s one of the more interesting.
Finally, Huey carves out $35 in red birds and calls for what is now a singularly unimpressive $118 pot. I turn up my cards, and the dealer instantly says, “Straight.” Huey mucks. She slides me the pot, I tip her a buck, and we go around one more lap before I get up to leave.
I’m tempted to say something to Huey, but I don’t. But deep down inside, I’m smiling, and it’s a big smile. In fact, I’m smiling all the way home.
