Page 10 - February 2006 • Southern California Gaming Guide

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAMING GUIDE
Hey Joe, Where’re You Going With That Flat Tire in Your Hand?
Here, Fishy Fishy Fishy...
Oby Jim Mercurio
n my last trip to Vegas, I jumped into a no-limit ring game at the Palms. e blinds were 2-5, but unlike at Hollywood Park, where I often play the same game, the buy- in was capped at $500, not $200.
I’m rst to act, so I check. Someone in middle position overbets the pot and puts in $75. Awada calls and I don’t want to give a free card to an overpair and there’s plenty of money in there now, so I want to either make more money or push o a draw. I raise $175. Other guy folds. Awada calls. What does he have — 56? Middle pocket pair? Big pocket pair?
A King comes on the turn. I am praying he has AK. I bet $200. He raises his last hundred or so. And as I’m calling to make it a $1,400 pot, it dawns on
me. Why am I expecting a rational hand like 56, AK or a pocket pair? He straddled. He probably has an awful hand like 27 or 36 or 4...ugh. He turns over a hand that has the nickname at tire. Why a at tire? Because what is a jack for? J4.
I thought I was being tricky. I thought I was trapping the pro. But he was trapping me. You know me, always the teacher. Let me try to impart some wisdom to you from my experience. I will try to be witty and pithy, too: If you are going to wade out of the shallow end, beware of sharks.
And J4 o suit.
Jim Mercurio produced the feature lm Hard Scrambled, starring Kurtwood Smith (That 70’s Show) and Richard Edson (Do the Right Thing) which will have its world premiere in March 2006 at the Cinequest Film Festival.
e Hollywood Park game’s players have stacks that average $3–400. I always consider it swimming in the shallow end of the pool. ere are the $2-3 blinds of the baby pool, and when you start getting into the $5-10 blinds, it’s adult swim.
But at the Palms’ $2-5 no-limit table, there was over $15,000 on the table and chips were ying. A player would raise to $20, another would raise to $50, and then there would be three callers who thought the implied odds warranted a call. A bet of $100 or so on the op and one caller means there’s going to be around $400 in the pot on the turn, where a minimum bet is going to be $200.
You see how some deep money and a few players willing to gamble can a ect a game. If you aren’t supporting two ex-wives and don’t have a taste for foreign sports cars you could make a living there. ree to four times a week, you would just have to come home on the winning side of a few of these pots. In fact, let me tell you about my favorite hand of the trip. Nothing too tricky. Just a lot of red chips coming my way.
I had about $700 in front of me. I raised to $25 from an early position with pocket aces. A loose player, who had over $2000 in chips, made it $80 to go. I re-raised to $300 and he called. Flop was K92 rainbow. If he had pocket kings (which was unlikely, because he would have just moved in pre-flop), then good for him. I bet the rest of my $3–400. He hesitated and then called. I put him on AK. He turned over AJ. AJ? Wow. No runner- runner badbeat story. My chips were up to $1,400, my heart rate 140.
Joe Awada, a semi-pro action player came over to our table. You may have seen him go all-in with his deuces full against Lee Watkinson’s 9s full on the WPT. He sits to my right with about $700 in chips. He decides to straddle (when the under-the- gun player posts twice the big blind and is given the option to act last and reraise pre- op) and puts up ten bucks. I limp in with 34, thinking maybe I will get lucky and take a big pot.
Flop comes 447. Woo hoo, I‘ve hit the jackpot.
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ATAM4317 SCGG ToDo.indd 1
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Page 10 Agency: Off Madison Ave • 80 E. Rio Salado Parkway #711 • Tempe, AZ 85281 • (480) 505-4500 • Fax: (480) 505-4501 • Contact: Ruben Muñoz • Contact Email: rubenm@offmadisonave.com February 2006
Contact Phone: 480-505-4562 • Client: Atronic • Job #: ATAM4317 • Pub: Southern California Gaming Guide • Trim Size: 10.25 in w x 6 in h • Insertion Date: February 2006 • Color: 4/C
Poker: Wired Aces and River Rats