JPP - Minimum raises make baby Jesus cry

4th/10 -$20.00

KA-BOOM! We had a little excitement before the game began when a lightbulb in Jason's poker table hanging lamp exploded. Burning hot glass shrapnel flying everywhere. Thankfully, the poker gods were watching out for us and we were all still standing in the kitchen and no one was sitting at the table. Don't let anyone fool you, poker is a dangerous game.

I busted pretty early because Drew was 2 seats to my left and I felt like he was bullying back at me when I raised him a couple of times. I got 88 on the button and raised 3-4x the BB. He made the patented Drew "All-In" move which he never expects anyone to call, but I put him on 2 big cards and decided to race him down with my 88's and try to double up or at least send a message that he couldn't all-in re-raise me at will. Turns out he did have 2 face cards but they matched, JJ so I was a big underdog. Nothing on the flop. Turn, 8. River, Jack. The classic suck-resuck.

I rebought and doubled back up to $20 fairly soon after when I cracked Jason's Aces. I was in late position again and decided to keep applying pressure so I raised to 60 with J10. Jason re-raised to 120. Russ called so I had to call another 60 to stay in a pot that was now 300. I'm getting 5 to 1 so it's an automatic call. This is why minimum raises make baby Jesus cry. They do nothing to affect your opponent's pot odds. It is an automatic call. The flop came 10-10-x. Jason bet 400, I re-raised all-in and he called. The same thing happened later in the game when Eli min-raised his pocket Kings. I had 99's and called and flopped a set. He went all-in and I called to bust him. I didn't see AA but the one time I had KK I raised it up 4x the BB and took the blinds. Sometimes you have to be happy with that. Better to win a small pot then to lose a big one.

In one painfully memorable hand I violated one of my own basic rules and it cost me a double knockout that would have made me a massive chip leader. I had 10-10 in first position with 3 players behind me. I believe the pre-flop betting was 200 so the pot was 800. The flop came J-7-6 so only one over card. My general rule is to call a reasonable amount to see the turn if there is only 1 overcard and see if I can take it down on the turn. I checked. The 3 players behind me bet and called another 200. I had to call 200 into 1400 so I was getting 7 to 1 but figured I was behind and need another 10 to take the lead in the hand which was basically a 9 to 1 shot (and I was out of position) so I folded. Something was making me very uncomfortable about the 3 players behind me, I figured somebody had an overpair or at a minimum somebody hit the J. I folded, but I didn't feel comfortable about the fold either. I flashed the red 10's to Edy on my left which I almost never do but I guess I wanted a witness to validate that I made a good fold of a decent hand. Turn. Black 10. More betting. River. Black 10. 2 All-ins with a straight and a full house maybe, I don't really remember because I was too stunned seeing my quads fall. It wasn't a horrible fold, but since I would've capped the betting with just 200 more to see the turn I think I should stick with my general "only one overcard take it to the turn" rule.

I managed to grind my way to a slight chip lead with 6 players left just by applying pressure in late position. Sometimes with cards and sometimes not. At one point I dropped the hammer (7-2 offsuit) on Drew and made 400 or so with a full house. He folded on the river but of course I had to show and brag about it for 15 minutes or so...

It all fell apart for me when I was holding Q10 in a 3-way pot with Jason and Drew. The flop came QJ10 so I flopped 2 pair. I didn't put anyone on AK, but I called something like 1500 on the flop with Drew going all-in. Jason went all-in on the turn and I had to fold. He showed the K9 straight, don't remember what Drew had. It was a very expensive hand for me and I should have been able to get away from it. That hand cost me close to half my stack and with 4 left I had a slight lead on John in 4th. He raised All-in from the button. I thought he was full of shit so I called from the SB with KJ. He had Q7 and the flop came KQx. Turn. Blank. River. Q. Nice, the second time tonight I've been two-outted on the river. (of course the first time I had two-outted on the turn to take the lead but hell, it's still no fun...) That was pretty much it for me. The blinds were 300-600 and I tried to rally but it didn't happen.

I hate 4th. I played pretty strong though and just got unlucky in a couple of spots. I think the lessons learned for tonight are 1) pick a better spot than 88 to fight back if you feel like someone is being a bully. 2) call the flop if the pot odds are close and there is only 1 overcard to your pocket pair, even if you are out of position there's a lot of opportunity to maneuver and take it down on the turn, or get lucky and hit runner-runner quads ;) and 3) flopping 2-pair but on a dangerous board with a 3-way pot is often a good time to fold.