Bad Laydowns, Bad Bluffs and the 8 5 offsuit

Our Home Game Page is Here We play a No-Limit Texas Holdem tournament every Friday night. 10 - 18 people on average. $20 buy in with unlimited rebuys for the first hour. This is the blind structure.


On my drive to the game, a friend called me and told me to play tight. I didn't listen.

You know how I love to play the first hand of the night don't you ? I don't even remember any of the hands in the first 50 minutes but they were not great. I lost them all. I'm down to 260 chips already and the blinds are still a measley 10 - 20. It's 8:26pm, only 4 minutes from the end of the rebuy period and I get dealt Daniels favorite hand (10 7) in middle position. Jimbo and Bosey are in the hand with me in an unraised pot.

FLOP !!!! 7s 8c 9s giving me bottom pair with and open ended straight.
Jimbo sheepishly bets $60. The flop is perfect for me and I put it all in the middle. Besides, the rebuy period is over in 3 minutes and I'm not sitting around waiting to drive my dad, who will still be playing, home in 5 hours. I beg Bosey to call me so I can triple up and not have to rebuy. He says he likes me so he is gonna do me the favor. (I would return that favor laster in the night BIGTIME)

TURN !!!! 9c Great card for me since I now have an open ended straight flush draw.
Jimbo and Bosey both check.

RIVER !!!! Qc I lock up the flush and miss my straight flush by one card. Thanks Daniel !
Bosey shows ACH (he had a stashed) and jumbo shows some horrible hand I don't remember.
I triple up and I'm back in the game with almost $1000 in chips. But not for long.

The very next hand (THE 8 5 offsuit)

Wesley Ross, who is out of this hand on my immediate right, grabs my cards from the table and lifts the edges up to take a look. As he lifts them, I am just a little excited to see that I've got a pair of eights. I make a move towards my chips and toss in the $20 to call the BP. Uncle Bill on my left decides to also just flat call from the button. The small blind folds and Bosey goes all in from the Big Blind. Everyone folds around to me and I am in a tought spot. I just got back in the game again after all my bad plays and I should be happy enough to fold and wait it out, but I like my pair against what I figure is just two overcards at best so I call. And then Uncle Bill decides to call as well. Damn you Bill !

FLOP !!!! J 6 6. A good flop for me but I check, hoping to induce Bill to bet so can come over the top of him. And boy does he ever bet. " ALL IN " spouts the fisherman. I called immediately as watched Bill turn over his own pair of eights. WOW ! I chuckle and slam my cards down beside his and say "I've got the same thing !!" It is at this moment that the horror overtakes me as I realize that I really have 8 5 offsuit, not the pair of eights. I'm drawing dead to running fives which, of course, do not materialize. I'm out of the tourney.

Thanks Wesley. Now get off my cards please.
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REBUY !!! My first one ever.
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With a fresh new stack of chips I decide to play it a little closer to the vest for awhile. A good 45 minutes of folding and lots of really small pots later, I'm in the cutoff position and I pull one of my favorite tricks. I pretend to look down at my cards from behind my glasses and I watch the other players watching me instead. The blind structure are now 20-40. Bill calls from the Small Blind and Bosey checks the BB.

FLOP !!!! J 10 10 Bill checks. Bosey checks. I bet out $100.
Bill calls. Bosey folds.

TURN !!!! 7s

Bill says, "Fuck it, I'm all in"! Now it's time to look at my cards........AJ. Not bad at all. But Bill is a good player and he has a tendency to push with his good hands in hope of winning a big pot. I'm really torn. My gut tells me to call. Then discussion starts about the SB, and how Bill could possibly having anything like 10 3 in an unraised pot such as this. Damn it Bill. You seemed to be my Nemesis already at this point. So I folded it face up on the table for all to see. A massive laydown. Then Bill flips over QJ to put me on tilt. Great.
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9:30pm Major Suckout by Jimbo. With four cards on the board 10 J 5 7 and only small betting leading up to it, Jimbo unexpectedly announces "All In" with a motion of his hand. "No Show" Brian is the only other person in the hand but he seems just as thrown off by my dad's bet as the rest of us. Everyone is even more surprised when he calls.
He calls with "The Brunson". He has the middle pair of tens with a 2 kicker to go with it. When Jimbo drops the AQd on the felt and he knows he's in trouble with nothing but ace high and one card to come.
5-1 against. What else is the river but a miracle lady. He hit his 6 outer and the sucking sound is heard for miles.
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9:37pm I bluff off all my chips to Bill. He has my ass in a sling tonight and there's no escape. I had Motown (J5) and the flop had paired my 5. I checked it and Bill did too. The turn was a brick and we both checked again. The River is a Q and Bill bets $100. I move all in for $700 more and he calls with AQ.I had let him his for free. Lesson re-re-learned. C-Ya !

So I quit paying attention to the game for a long while and commence to cracking a beer.


9:59pm Bring on the losers game !!! I love the losers game. I'd love to play it first and then play the big game. I got an early chip lead with some aggressive play and I knocked out Sammy, Ronnie, and Jimbo. I was a one man wrecking crew. It got down to me and TJ for all the marbles and I have a 4-1 chiplead. Here's the final hand.......
I'm holding 6 3 offsuit on the button and I limp in the pot. TJ checks.

FLOP !!!! K 3 10 giving me a pair of threes. TJ checks and I do too.

TURN !!!! it's a 6. Now I have two pair. I pause and fiddle my chips. Then I ask TJ what the minimum raise is. He says its $40 and that's what I bet. Then he decides to raise me just another $40. I move all in and pray for a call. He calls quick and shows AK. The river is a brick and I pocket the dough. This puts me up $20 after dropping $40 on the main game.
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Back to the main game. 12:58am Saturday I repay Bosey's favor from earlier when hea called me upon request. He's heads up with FNG Tony and they have been at it for an hour. I wasn't watching the hand at the beginning but I heard Tony move all in and Bosey call so I sped over to see the conclusion I thought. Tony only had pair of Tens and Bosey had KQ for an open ended straight draw. Well, Bosey doesn't catch his straight or even a pair and he stands up to shake Tony's hand. I look closely at the board and I see a ton of red cards so I look a little closer. Well Well. Bosey had caught a runner runner flush and nobody had seen it. I pulled the muck apart and reconstructed the hands. Everyone was stunned and Bosey was delighted. Tony was visibly upset but announced that he didn't want to win "that way". they would play for another 45 minutes after that.

Final Hand 1:26am Saturday morning. A flop of Rag Rag Rag. With just ace high, Bosey moves in and Tony Calls with KJ. The river brings a Jack and Tony wins anyway.

Congrats Tony. See you all on Saturday.