Heading South
So after a night of playing poker with friends in cheap tournaments on Friday night, I stayed over at Kendra's place and slept in, knowing it would be a long day on Saturday. We finally left her place at 2pm, and it took about an hour and a half to get to the Naples dog track. This was a place I was very familiar with and played at 3-4 nights a week back in 2012. I had become friends with a lot of the regulars then, but when I broke up with my ex who I was living with at the time, I moved back up north and had not kept in touch. It is overall a decent place, had a good 2/5, but it had more PLO games than any other cardroom or casino up until recently. It was where I had gotten most of my live PLO experience and moved up from playing 1-2-5 to 2-5-10. There was a 5-10-20 game that played super big, and would see big time players come in and get in the game for 30-50K regularly. This was a huge game for a relatively small poker room, and reminded me of the Boca Grande game, but much more public.
We took her car in case German came there and saw mine parked in the parking lot and got scared off. As we pull up to the parking lot and walk up the stairs, I get a feeling of nostalgia walking around the floor. At the time I lived on a farm in the middle of nowhere, and when I left the farm, it was to go into town, or to go to the room or to Immokalee. I see a few old guys I used to play with, not much had changed. I signed up for the 2-5-10 PLO list and Kendra got on the 2/4 limit list. Flashbacks of Jenny in my mind sitting with that dude at the table made me go over and look at who was sitting there. As I glance, it is just a 55+ crowd, no one under 40. I finally get called for the game, and buy in for 1200, as that seemed to be about as much as anyone had on the table at the time. This room was better in the fact that all the PLO games played 150+BBs deep, and you didn't have to be all in by the turn - I am always a fan of more postflop action and decision-making.
I sit down in seat 2, and Iceman is in seat 1 with about 1100. It had been awhile and I think he was shocked I was back. He was the only person I knew at the table, but he also seemed to be the only person I needed to worry about as far as skill level went.
I picked up 6
6
7
8
in the straddle and EP raised to 35. Iceman flats in the BB and I come along for the ride. The flop is a beautiful 4
5
K
. Iceman checks, I bet out 80, EP calls, and Iceman calls after a little thought. While my flush draw is very likely no good, I block other nut wraps and flush outs, as well as dirty flush outs. The turn was 10
and before I can consider a move Iceman bets out full pot at 350. I know that EP cannot be strong here unless he had KK with spades, but Iceman is not one to flat out bluff into two other players out of position, he was not laggy at all. Full pot for him was not a value bet though, and I don't think EP has KKxx here. I call, knowing I might face a hard decision on the river. The dealer turns over the Q
, actually a good card for me with less nutted flush combos out there. Ice checks, I check behind and his A
3
6
K
is no good. Against other people at the table, I would fold the turn - it was a player dependent decision.
"No fold button?" He laughs.
"You bet 150 and I press that fold button much more easily." I smiled back. I guess Iceman has gotten a bit more aggro.
As the hours went on, I was up and down a bit, but I saw it was getting around 6:30, and I figured if German was going to show, it would be soon. I get off the table and walk over to Kendra. She had run it up from 50 to 120, and I was proud of her. I had told her to bet more rivers in limit, and to play more disciplined and only with value hands. She must have listened or gotten really lucky, and I tell her let's go eat somewhere nice. We get out of the room and go to a hibachi grill, and she gets all excited about the chef doing his magic tricks while I am knee deep in sushi. I push her to try some sashimi and she finally breaks in. I hold it to her mouth, and instead of just putting it in, she starts to sniff it and lick it like a chihuahua.
"Ewww, it feels weird....."
"If you would stop licking it and just put it in your mouth it'll be over faster!"
She finally opened her mouth enough and I shoved it in, and she started to slowly chew. It got faster for a few seconds, then it just stopped and her eyes started to widen. This was not good. She got up quickly and ran to the bathroom for 10 minutes. I guess she didn't like sushi, oh well, more for me then. She came back with a red face and I started laughing, and she slaps me right in the face! We finish and head back to the room for what I had really come here for - German.
I pull into the parking lot again, and start going up and down the rows, figuring if I saw his Caddy, then I would save myself some time and get a jump on him. I started from the back and moved my way forward, and it was going to take a while because it was Saturday night in season. As I approach the second row, his unmistakable dark beige Cadillac STS with a German flag was visible. I found a spot across the way and pulled in. Now that I had the element of surprise, I couldn't let it go. Knowing German, he would be here all night, but what if he busts? I had to figure out my next move - I had already come 80 miles, I had to go the last 100 yards.