The story of "The Home Game" - TL;DR
11-09-2016
, 05:09 PM
Quote:
I took these bets with a friend of mine who teaches finance law at FIU in Miami back in early October. Will have to go over and collect the manies next week. The ironic part is that he voted for Trump, just didn't think he stood a chance in any of the battleground states.
Clinton was -850 in Vegas at 730pm, it had flipped to even money by 10, and Trump was -3000 at midnight......crazy.
Clinton was -850 in Vegas at 730pm, it had flipped to even money by 10, and Trump was -3000 at midnight......crazy.
Those who don't,teach...
11-10-2016
, 05:48 PM
11-10-2016
, 10:43 PM
Longggggg ass day today going through one of the oldest collections of rare plants in Florida. Trying to negotiate a deal for the whole garden and getting someone to take a piece of the action. I have plenty of plant pictures, couldn't get a good read out tonight but for sure tomorrow. My stories won't RIP until I RIP. 
11-10-2016
, 10:44 PM
Quote:
Longggggg ass day today going through one of the oldest collections of rare plants in Florida. Trying to negotiate a deal for the whole garden and getting someone to take a piece of the action. I have plenty of plant pictures, couldn't get a good read out tonight but for sure tomorrow. My stories won't RIP until I RIP.
11-11-2016
, 06:24 PM
11-11-2016
, 10:12 PM
I really wanted to get a post out today, I just have been busy as ****. I'm days behind on orders since I was out of town and have been trying to negotiate buying this large garden. Trying to spin up 165K into 500K might include a few trips to Texas, so L'Auberge and Beau here I come! I can answer any questions about stuff in general in the meantime.
I will give a little spoiler in the meantime, nothing too big.
I will give a little spoiler in the meantime, nothing too big.
Spoiler:
11-12-2016
, 11:07 PM
Quote:
I really wanted to get a post out today, I just have been busy as ****. I'm days behind on orders since I was out of town and have been trying to negotiate buying this large garden. Trying to spin up 165K into 500K might include a few trips to Texas, so L'Auberge and Beau here I come! I can answer any questions about stuff in general in the meantime.
I will give a little spoiler in the meantime, nothing too big.
I will give a little spoiler in the meantime, nothing too big.
Spoiler:
11-13-2016
, 08:44 PM
Milking The Stone
With two weeks to go, I had to get my money back from Mike in one form or another. I justified that any money that was given to me, items, etc. I would accept as payment, and anything he owed was just the price of doing business in this neck of the woods. I had Sunday free, so I headed up to the local cardroom to play the big game. The big game was run on random nights, and there was a whiteboard that was up so if someone wanted to get a game started they could start calling numbers. It was usually 5-5 PLO with a 10 rock, but sometimes was 5-5-10-25, 5-5 PLO/PLO8, and Big O as well. This game is actually a pro's dream, but the variance in this game was from my experience in the top one percentile of all PLO games I had played. It had generally been a tad out of my comfort zone, as I was a bankroll nit and liked having 50 full buyins in a 500-2500 game, which I didn't have at the time.
As I walked in, I notice the screen has a waitlist for the 5-5 game. When there is even one person on the waitlist, it can be locked down for hours. I was not looking forward to just sitting around and waiting, but then I looked across the room and saw Mike sitting at a 1-2 table. He had less than one stack of red sitting in front of him, so either all the money he had with him, or he was short buying. I went back outside to talk to a couple of friends out by the bleachers in the smoking area. As I light up a cigarette, I hear my text notifications go off - its Mike.
"I'll be outside in a sec, I need to ask you a favor."
I really just wanted to walk back down the stairs, get in my car, and leave. The best thing that could happen if Mike was going to ask me for money was that I would get it back - there was no incentive. Then again, Mike ran like god when it came to tournaments and there was the Sunday guarantee going. It was a $150 10K guarantee and had been having an overlay recently. By the time Mike had walked out the door I was ready to give it to him like an idiot. He hit up his usual 305 light and got his speech ready, but I preempted him.
"You want to play the Sunday Guarantee?" I asked him like it was the opportunity of a lifetime. This threw him off guard because his speech skills were what got him what he wanted and I wasn't giving him the opportunity.
"I just need to make like four or five hundred bucks. I only made 200 at Vito's last night and I can't come home to the wife like that, she'll just leave." He gave me the short speech.
I agreed on putting him in for 65% action and -EV or not, it was the only way I could justify getting money transferred from his hands to my hands. As I was handing over the money to the TD directly, the brush handed me a card for table 1. Tables 1 and 2 were inside the "high limit" room, which to me looked like an old conference room that was never updated. An old banquet table sat on the backside, and two tables on the other. Only table 1 was occupied, the other table had food sitting on it from Buffalo Wild Wings and backpacks, clothes, etc. This cardroom had a great kitchen but they let high limit players get whatever food they wanted and snuck it in the room. I always thought that was a terrible business model, but I guess if a whale wants chicken wings, then they just let him get what he wanted.
Like I always do, I bring my card to the table and then go to the cage. A lot of people will just show up with their chips, but I think it is a good idea to see how deep everyone is playing, then walk to the cage. If you are in a 2/5 game and the deepest stack is $400, there's no real reason to buy in for $1k. I looked around and saw the biggest stack was $1800, so this wasn't playing as big as it usually did, and I bought in for $1600. This was just PLO with a 10 rock for a little extra action. There were two pretty competent players at the table, both from the Netherlands, one rec player that was semi-competent but loved to get stacks in preflop, and the rest were retired business guys who just wanted some Sunday action.
I picked up A
A
J10
UTG+1 around the 4th or 5th hand and made it 40 to go after one caller. Only a LP business guy calls and we see a K
32 flop. I lead out for 70 and he instantly raises me to 225. "I got it," he kept on saying to me. I just didn't understand what that meant - he could have AKxx and be a dog, or he could have flopped a set and I'm in terrible shape. No draw, no position makes me decide to fold - I hate folding pretty hands.
I decide to stay out of the fray for a few orbits as they were just doing flips for a bit, and people started to get deeper. There were a lot of multiway 3-bet pots where whoever hit it the hardest would just pot it and take it down and the game in general was becoming less EV and more gamble. An hour and a half into the game I picked up AQJ8 and made it 50 to go in the CO with @1450 behind after some limpers, only to get 3-bet by the BB to 170. After one MP caller, I call and a 9103 flop shows up. I remember one of Phil Galfond's Run It Once sessions where he said that most aggressive action from OOP play on the flop in PLO is big draws. With 570ish in middle and a SPR of 2.3/1 in a 3 way pot my equity is usually pretty good here except against the strongest ranges of QJ1010, QJ910, etc. 3-bettor makes it 400 and MP flats which is odd considering the pot, but this is bingo PLO. I get it in and get called both ways, facing 791010 and dirty aces. Suddenly Mr. Dirty Aces wants to call the floor because he wants to run it 3 times. He is known to be somewhat of an entitled douche, he hit a six figure tourney score in Tampa and was dumping cash at this game. This was absurd because 1. Although we are often allowed to do whatever we want in the high limit room, one rule is they will never run it more than once 3 ways and 2. I don't want to run it more than once and neither does 791010, we both came here to embrace variance on this beautiful Sunday. While the floor is called Mike shows up in the room with the busto look on his face.
"There's 30 minutes left in late reg, can you get me back in?" He had a defeated look on his face."
"I'll tell you what, if I at least double my money in this hand I'll put you back in, come sweat your future with me." He seemed to be more concerned about the outcome of this hand than I was, even though I was only a slight dog 3 ways. The floor finally tells Dirty Aces that his point is moot and the hand plays out. The 2 hits the turn, and the K pops up on the river. 4000 gets shipped my way and Dirty Aces loses his mind over me calling his 3-bet. An orbit later he's still talking about it, and I tell him I would have done an equity chop with him. A few people start laughing and he starts to monkey tilt a little. He resorts to talking **** and would get loud when action was on me.
"You need to get over that hand dude, you lost, its over." I tried to be nice but firm.
"Don't **** around with me, I know people." This wasn't the first time I had heard this at the poker room, or anywhere for that matter. This guy was about 25, tall and dorky, I was curious who he "knew". What I did know was he was a small time Molly dealer, and he used to supply Drunk Mike's girlfriend and her friends with party favors, the same girl I had hooked up with for a little while. I found pictures of him on Facebook at Tomorrowworld rolling his balls off wearing a rubber duck inner tube around his waist and started showing some guys seated next to me, and they broke out in laughter.
"Rubber ducky, you're the one." I said, showing him the picture. He turned beet red and went very quiet, and the tone of the game went from happy to serious. I honestly didn't care, I rarely played this game and didn't mind if I never played again. I wasn't going to have some semi-pro wannabe Molly pusher threaten me over one joke he couldn't handle and call the floor who was a friend of his to get a favorable ruling. Maybe I was the villain there, I'm not sure. The game broke 45 minutes later, but people wanted to go home, it was Sunday and most of these people were older and had families to go home to.
I cashed out at around 3875 and tried to make sure Mike didn't see that I was way up. It would influence his decision to pay me back and I'd rather that not happen. There were 11 left, 8 paid, and 3K for first, which meant over 2k for me if Mike binked it. By the time I returned from the smoke break, Mike was walking out on a final table break. He was in the middle of the pack and seemed to be in good spirits. He wanted to talk strategy, so I walked back out with him.
"I really need that top 3 money, I need to walk out of here with at least 500." For someone who was basically freerolling, he was sweating this a lot.
"Just steal when you can and don't put yourself at risk, just play ABC." I was trying to get him not to play donkeyish and try to get lucky to lock up 3rd place money. I would be happy with a $300 score just to get half my money back.
After laddering a few spots, Mike got it in with AK vs. 55 and didn't improve for $750 in 5th. After cashing out, he went to see me and tried to ask for the entire amount, including the buy in. He wanted to play 2/5 and run it up.
"Here, I'll show you how we're going to do this. Give me the money." He gave me 750 and I handed him back $200. That was over 40%, and I only got $250 out of him. I told him the $250 would go towards what he owed me, and that it was more than fair. He again had this look on his face like he was getting robbed, when really I was trying to be as nice as I could given the circumstances, but that was Mike - always trying to find an angle to **** you out of your money! We parted our ways and he said he would see me tomorrow at Tim's. ****, I forgot about that.
As I walked down the staircase to the valet area, I thought about what I needed to do to keep my game on the DL while still playing/dealing at Tim and Vito's house. It was awkward because I was telling all the players but not anyone who ran the games. I headed home and stopped by Waffle House, got the usual. As I rolled up to my house, I saw Nicole' car there, and when I opened the door, she was in deep conversation with my sister, mom, and a few other people were there. I had no idea what was going on, but they all seemed upset, and I had been keeping them waiting.
"We have plenty of food, you didn't get our calls?" I hadn't checked my phone at all.
"It's Easter, you didn't want to spend it with the family?"
****......
With two weeks to go, I had to get my money back from Mike in one form or another. I justified that any money that was given to me, items, etc. I would accept as payment, and anything he owed was just the price of doing business in this neck of the woods. I had Sunday free, so I headed up to the local cardroom to play the big game. The big game was run on random nights, and there was a whiteboard that was up so if someone wanted to get a game started they could start calling numbers. It was usually 5-5 PLO with a 10 rock, but sometimes was 5-5-10-25, 5-5 PLO/PLO8, and Big O as well. This game is actually a pro's dream, but the variance in this game was from my experience in the top one percentile of all PLO games I had played. It had generally been a tad out of my comfort zone, as I was a bankroll nit and liked having 50 full buyins in a 500-2500 game, which I didn't have at the time.
As I walked in, I notice the screen has a waitlist for the 5-5 game. When there is even one person on the waitlist, it can be locked down for hours. I was not looking forward to just sitting around and waiting, but then I looked across the room and saw Mike sitting at a 1-2 table. He had less than one stack of red sitting in front of him, so either all the money he had with him, or he was short buying. I went back outside to talk to a couple of friends out by the bleachers in the smoking area. As I light up a cigarette, I hear my text notifications go off - its Mike.
"I'll be outside in a sec, I need to ask you a favor."
I really just wanted to walk back down the stairs, get in my car, and leave. The best thing that could happen if Mike was going to ask me for money was that I would get it back - there was no incentive. Then again, Mike ran like god when it came to tournaments and there was the Sunday guarantee going. It was a $150 10K guarantee and had been having an overlay recently. By the time Mike had walked out the door I was ready to give it to him like an idiot. He hit up his usual 305 light and got his speech ready, but I preempted him.
"You want to play the Sunday Guarantee?" I asked him like it was the opportunity of a lifetime. This threw him off guard because his speech skills were what got him what he wanted and I wasn't giving him the opportunity.
"I just need to make like four or five hundred bucks. I only made 200 at Vito's last night and I can't come home to the wife like that, she'll just leave." He gave me the short speech.
I agreed on putting him in for 65% action and -EV or not, it was the only way I could justify getting money transferred from his hands to my hands. As I was handing over the money to the TD directly, the brush handed me a card for table 1. Tables 1 and 2 were inside the "high limit" room, which to me looked like an old conference room that was never updated. An old banquet table sat on the backside, and two tables on the other. Only table 1 was occupied, the other table had food sitting on it from Buffalo Wild Wings and backpacks, clothes, etc. This cardroom had a great kitchen but they let high limit players get whatever food they wanted and snuck it in the room. I always thought that was a terrible business model, but I guess if a whale wants chicken wings, then they just let him get what he wanted.
Like I always do, I bring my card to the table and then go to the cage. A lot of people will just show up with their chips, but I think it is a good idea to see how deep everyone is playing, then walk to the cage. If you are in a 2/5 game and the deepest stack is $400, there's no real reason to buy in for $1k. I looked around and saw the biggest stack was $1800, so this wasn't playing as big as it usually did, and I bought in for $1600. This was just PLO with a 10 rock for a little extra action. There were two pretty competent players at the table, both from the Netherlands, one rec player that was semi-competent but loved to get stacks in preflop, and the rest were retired business guys who just wanted some Sunday action.
I picked up A
AJ10 UTG+1 around the 4th or 5th hand and made it 40 to go after one caller. Only a LP business guy calls and we see a K32 flop. I lead out for 70 and he instantly raises me to 225. "I got it," he kept on saying to me. I just didn't understand what that meant - he could have AKxx and be a dog, or he could have flopped a set and I'm in terrible shape. No draw, no position makes me decide to fold - I hate folding pretty hands. I decide to stay out of the fray for a few orbits as they were just doing flips for a bit, and people started to get deeper. There were a lot of multiway 3-bet pots where whoever hit it the hardest would just pot it and take it down and the game in general was becoming less EV and more gamble. An hour and a half into the game I picked up A
QJ8 and made it 50 to go in the CO with @1450 behind after some limpers, only to get 3-bet by the BB to 170. After one MP caller, I call and a 9103 flop shows up. I remember one of Phil Galfond's Run It Once sessions where he said that most aggressive action from OOP play on the flop in PLO is big draws. With 570ish in middle and a SPR of 2.3/1 in a 3 way pot my equity is usually pretty good here except against the strongest ranges of QJ1010, QJ910, etc. 3-bettor makes it 400 and MP flats which is odd considering the pot, but this is bingo PLO. I get it in and get called both ways, facing 791010 and dirty aces. Suddenly Mr. Dirty Aces wants to call the floor because he wants to run it 3 times. He is known to be somewhat of an entitled douche, he hit a six figure tourney score in Tampa and was dumping cash at this game. This was absurd because 1. Although we are often allowed to do whatever we want in the high limit room, one rule is they will never run it more than once 3 ways and 2. I don't want to run it more than once and neither does 791010, we both came here to embrace variance on this beautiful Sunday. While the floor is called Mike shows up in the room with the busto look on his face. "There's 30 minutes left in late reg, can you get me back in?" He had a defeated look on his face."
"I'll tell you what, if I at least double my money in this hand I'll put you back in, come sweat your future with me." He seemed to be more concerned about the outcome of this hand than I was, even though I was only a slight dog 3 ways. The floor finally tells Dirty Aces that his point is moot and the hand plays out. The 2
hits the turn, and the K pops up on the river. 4000 gets shipped my way and Dirty Aces loses his mind over me calling his 3-bet. An orbit later he's still talking about it, and I tell him I would have done an equity chop with him. A few people start laughing and he starts to monkey tilt a little. He resorts to talking **** and would get loud when action was on me."You need to get over that hand dude, you lost, its over." I tried to be nice but firm.
"Don't **** around with me, I know people." This wasn't the first time I had heard this at the poker room, or anywhere for that matter. This guy was about 25, tall and dorky, I was curious who he "knew". What I did know was he was a small time Molly dealer, and he used to supply Drunk Mike's girlfriend and her friends with party favors, the same girl I had hooked up with for a little while. I found pictures of him on Facebook at Tomorrowworld rolling his balls off wearing a rubber duck inner tube around his waist and started showing some guys seated next to me, and they broke out in laughter.
"Rubber ducky, you're the one." I said, showing him the picture. He turned beet red and went very quiet, and the tone of the game went from happy to serious. I honestly didn't care, I rarely played this game and didn't mind if I never played again. I wasn't going to have some semi-pro wannabe Molly pusher threaten me over one joke he couldn't handle and call the floor who was a friend of his to get a favorable ruling. Maybe I was the villain there, I'm not sure. The game broke 45 minutes later, but people wanted to go home, it was Sunday and most of these people were older and had families to go home to.
I cashed out at around 3875 and tried to make sure Mike didn't see that I was way up. It would influence his decision to pay me back and I'd rather that not happen. There were 11 left, 8 paid, and 3K for first, which meant over 2k for me if Mike binked it. By the time I returned from the smoke break, Mike was walking out on a final table break. He was in the middle of the pack and seemed to be in good spirits. He wanted to talk strategy, so I walked back out with him.
"I really need that top 3 money, I need to walk out of here with at least 500." For someone who was basically freerolling, he was sweating this a lot.
"Just steal when you can and don't put yourself at risk, just play ABC." I was trying to get him not to play donkeyish and try to get lucky to lock up 3rd place money. I would be happy with a $300 score just to get half my money back.
After laddering a few spots, Mike got it in with AK vs. 55 and didn't improve for $750 in 5th. After cashing out, he went to see me and tried to ask for the entire amount, including the buy in. He wanted to play 2/5 and run it up.
"Here, I'll show you how we're going to do this. Give me the money." He gave me 750 and I handed him back $200. That was over 40%, and I only got $250 out of him. I told him the $250 would go towards what he owed me, and that it was more than fair. He again had this look on his face like he was getting robbed, when really I was trying to be as nice as I could given the circumstances, but that was Mike - always trying to find an angle to **** you out of your money! We parted our ways and he said he would see me tomorrow at Tim's. ****, I forgot about that.
As I walked down the staircase to the valet area, I thought about what I needed to do to keep my game on the DL while still playing/dealing at Tim and Vito's house. It was awkward because I was telling all the players but not anyone who ran the games. I headed home and stopped by Waffle House, got the usual. As I rolled up to my house, I saw Nicole' car there, and when I opened the door, she was in deep conversation with my sister, mom, and a few other people were there. I had no idea what was going on, but they all seemed upset, and I had been keeping them waiting.
"We have plenty of food, you didn't get our calls?" I hadn't checked my phone at all.
"It's Easter, you didn't want to spend it with the family?"
****......
11-15-2016
, 10:32 PM
The Perfect Storm
After completely forgetting about Easter I tried to make it up to my family by taking them out for dessert, that seemed to hold things over for the time being. Nicole's daughter was on vacation with her parents, so she told me she could hang out all week. I was concerned and flattered at the same time. The fact that she already wanted to spend a week with me was excellent, I apparently had made a good impression on her. At the same time, I had business to attend to, and if she was going to be around, she was going to know about the business. She had already known that I played poker, but she didn't know I was running and about to start my own game. She knew the regular 9 to 5 world, but something told me that the wheels had come off and she would be okay with something out of the norm in the future. I just told her that I played and dealt games around the area, she didn't have to know that it was illegal or what happened behind the scenes.
With Tim having a game tomorrow, I had to tread a thin line between the players knowing about the upcoming game, and people like Mike, Vito, and Tim trying to snuff me out before I got up on my feet. The first weeks of a card game are so crucial - if there is no confidence in the game, or people don't show up, it is doomed. I was going to tell most people about it after Vito's game on Saturday but I told people I knew well like Sally as soon as I had gotten the chips. I let Nicole know that Monday night was going to be a poker night, and I had to work. She decided to come along and get a firsthand look into how the game operated.
After some back and forth with Tim, Mike was going to be dealing with Willy, something that pissed me off because I had been more loyal to Tim during this whole thing - I had negotiated him coming to Vito's game, and I always made him money. Mike was a liability to Tim, as he usually played when he wasn't dealing, and would leak money like a sieve only to beg for a few hundred to go back to his wife with. On the other hand, Tim gave me a similar deal to what I had with him last time. He would back me fully in his game and give me half my profits with no makeup, just to keep the game running. No one minded that Nicole sat behind me to watch me play, it was definitely -EV but then again it wasn't my money on the line. I didn't care if this game came out a wash, I had every incentive to gamble. I managed to set over set Nazi for a cool 300 and around 11 we all took a break. This was weird because Tim never liked the game breaking, but 3 people went out to smoke so he just said **** it.
I was outside smoking with Josh, Sally and others and it was a solid 10 minute break. We came back in and sat down, and Willy and Mike were in there, Willy sat in and cut the deck and dealt. I picked up A2 OTB and was facing a raise to 15. I called and so did everyone and their mother. It was a 6 way flop - me, Tampa John, Carlos, Tim, Josh, and Mr. Navy. Somewhat of a character but not enough worth mentioning. The flop was KQ9 and Tim led out for 80, Mr. Navy moved all in for 275. I had action behind me (a few checks in EP) and had just a butt naked flush draw, so I folded. Josh tanked, then folded, then Tampa John went all in and Tim called. TJ flipped over KQ, Tim flipped over J10 for the nuts and Mr. Navy had Q9. Board did not pair and no clubs, and Tim scoops a 1k pot between the 3 of them. Everything seemed fine and then TJ asked Josh to come outside, and they were gone for like 20 minutes. Tim seemed flustered and had been starting to get texts from TJ that the deck was rigged. Tim had the game stop and he got up and walked outside.
As I thought about what was happening, I realize I too had clubs and could have gone broke had there not been significant action behind me. Carlos said he had clubs, and Josh texted me that he had clubs too. TJ wasn't someone to care about a few hundred bucks. He had an 80K Ford F350 all setup, a condo on the beach, a 150K fishing boat, and about 100k in guns he had shown me. It was the principle and he was 100% convinced. I wasn't entirely convinced at the time, but then Josh texted me that he had clubs as well. Tim was screaming outside at TJ in his truck and it was getting more heated by the second. Sally and Nicole are sitting there looking at me with a "should we go" look and I told them not to worry. Tim proceeds to run back in the house, into his room and comes back out with one of his 16th century katana swords that he collected and ran back outside. This was something I had to see myself.
From the front door, I see a 400 pound man run towards TJs car and try to take swipes at it as he drives off. TJ wasn't scared, he didn't want his car damaged. We go back inside and start talking, and everyone was saying that they just didn't believe it. Willy started to explain himself and Mike was backing him up. They claimed the deck was shuffled, even though it was brand new, but I don't remember it happening. Sally decided she wanted to leave, and the game quickly broke. As it was breaking, TJ texted me that I had to leave and come talk to him or he would think I was in on it. I'm not one to be intimidated by others, but I did believe it was best if I went and talked to him. I told Tim I had to go and do something with Nicole, and I met up with TJ and Josh at Perkins down the road. TJ ordered a ton of food for the table and we discussed it. I said it was very possible it had happened, Josh had 79cc and Carlos said he had low clubs as well. To this day, I am not sure if it was a set deck, but if I had to guess, I would say yes. Tim was butchering his game and he just pissed off TJ who had a lot of pull in the underground poker community and the money to back it.
This was great for my game's inception, but at the same time players were concerned about the integrity of home games in general. Tim wasn't going to have a game for a while and my game was going to be a mile away. Nicole was surprisingly not bothered at all by what happened, which was a good sign for the future. I was curious if this would affect Thursday's game, and I also wanted to know if Mike had any part in it. Then again, Mike was pretty good at ****ing **** up himself.
After completely forgetting about Easter I tried to make it up to my family by taking them out for dessert, that seemed to hold things over for the time being. Nicole's daughter was on vacation with her parents, so she told me she could hang out all week. I was concerned and flattered at the same time. The fact that she already wanted to spend a week with me was excellent, I apparently had made a good impression on her. At the same time, I had business to attend to, and if she was going to be around, she was going to know about the business. She had already known that I played poker, but she didn't know I was running and about to start my own game. She knew the regular 9 to 5 world, but something told me that the wheels had come off and she would be okay with something out of the norm in the future. I just told her that I played and dealt games around the area, she didn't have to know that it was illegal or what happened behind the scenes.
With Tim having a game tomorrow, I had to tread a thin line between the players knowing about the upcoming game, and people like Mike, Vito, and Tim trying to snuff me out before I got up on my feet. The first weeks of a card game are so crucial - if there is no confidence in the game, or people don't show up, it is doomed. I was going to tell most people about it after Vito's game on Saturday but I told people I knew well like Sally as soon as I had gotten the chips. I let Nicole know that Monday night was going to be a poker night, and I had to work. She decided to come along and get a firsthand look into how the game operated.
After some back and forth with Tim, Mike was going to be dealing with Willy, something that pissed me off because I had been more loyal to Tim during this whole thing - I had negotiated him coming to Vito's game, and I always made him money. Mike was a liability to Tim, as he usually played when he wasn't dealing, and would leak money like a sieve only to beg for a few hundred to go back to his wife with. On the other hand, Tim gave me a similar deal to what I had with him last time. He would back me fully in his game and give me half my profits with no makeup, just to keep the game running. No one minded that Nicole sat behind me to watch me play, it was definitely -EV but then again it wasn't my money on the line. I didn't care if this game came out a wash, I had every incentive to gamble. I managed to set over set Nazi for a cool 300 and around 11 we all took a break. This was weird because Tim never liked the game breaking, but 3 people went out to smoke so he just said **** it.
I was outside smoking with Josh, Sally and others and it was a solid 10 minute break. We came back in and sat down, and Willy and Mike were in there, Willy sat in and cut the deck and dealt. I picked up A
2 OTB and was facing a raise to 15. I called and so did everyone and their mother. It was a 6 way flop - me, Tampa John, Carlos, Tim, Josh, and Mr. Navy. Somewhat of a character but not enough worth mentioning. The flop was KQ9 and Tim led out for 80, Mr. Navy moved all in for 275. I had action behind me (a few checks in EP) and had just a butt naked flush draw, so I folded. Josh tanked, then folded, then Tampa John went all in and Tim called. TJ flipped over KQ, Tim flipped over J10 for the nuts and Mr. Navy had Q9. Board did not pair and no clubs, and Tim scoops a 1k pot between the 3 of them. Everything seemed fine and then TJ asked Josh to come outside, and they were gone for like 20 minutes. Tim seemed flustered and had been starting to get texts from TJ that the deck was rigged. Tim had the game stop and he got up and walked outside. As I thought about what was happening, I realize I too had clubs and could have gone broke had there not been significant action behind me. Carlos said he had clubs, and Josh texted me that he had clubs too. TJ wasn't someone to care about a few hundred bucks. He had an 80K Ford F350 all setup, a condo on the beach, a 150K fishing boat, and about 100k in guns he had shown me. It was the principle and he was 100% convinced. I wasn't entirely convinced at the time, but then Josh texted me that he had clubs as well. Tim was screaming outside at TJ in his truck and it was getting more heated by the second. Sally and Nicole are sitting there looking at me with a "should we go" look and I told them not to worry. Tim proceeds to run back in the house, into his room and comes back out with one of his 16th century katana swords that he collected and ran back outside. This was something I had to see myself.
From the front door, I see a 400 pound man run towards TJs car and try to take swipes at it as he drives off. TJ wasn't scared, he didn't want his car damaged. We go back inside and start talking, and everyone was saying that they just didn't believe it. Willy started to explain himself and Mike was backing him up. They claimed the deck was shuffled, even though it was brand new, but I don't remember it happening. Sally decided she wanted to leave, and the game quickly broke. As it was breaking, TJ texted me that I had to leave and come talk to him or he would think I was in on it. I'm not one to be intimidated by others, but I did believe it was best if I went and talked to him. I told Tim I had to go and do something with Nicole, and I met up with TJ and Josh at Perkins down the road. TJ ordered a ton of food for the table and we discussed it. I said it was very possible it had happened, Josh had 79cc and Carlos said he had low clubs as well. To this day, I am not sure if it was a set deck, but if I had to guess, I would say yes. Tim was butchering his game and he just pissed off TJ who had a lot of pull in the underground poker community and the money to back it.
This was great for my game's inception, but at the same time players were concerned about the integrity of home games in general. Tim wasn't going to have a game for a while and my game was going to be a mile away. Nicole was surprisingly not bothered at all by what happened, which was a good sign for the future. I was curious if this would affect Thursday's game, and I also wanted to know if Mike had any part in it. Then again, Mike was pretty good at ****ing **** up himself.