Aces "Cracked".....a good thing?

…… I was moved to the main game at the Horshoe Casino in Council Bluffs, Iowa when I looked down and realized I had pocket AA on my big blind. 5 people limped in and I raided it to $20 more. Three of us saw the flop come 9, Q, 7 (rainbow) I bet out $75 and only one person calls. The turn comes 3 and I decide to end this because I am sure he has a queen and I don’t want him to get a second pair with it. I shove all-in $175 more and he says “I don’t think you have AA or KK I have you on Jacks. He calls showing QJ. I calmly state I have Aces and turn them over. The river spikes a J to the audible gasp of 3 or 4 players at the table. He had a horrible read, a worse call, and he pulls in the pot of almost $500. I turn cold inside, calmly stand, and choke-out, “lock my seat, I’ll be back, “ and I walk away because I feel like I am going to “throw-up”……..

Before I finish telling you about this game at the Horseshoe, let’s go back to the night before………

It was cold in the Colorado Mountains. The furnace came on many times that night even though I had set it to turn on only when it dropped below 50 degrees inside. Our RV is well insulated, and usually our body heat keeps it above 50 unless it gets real cold outside. It was real cold outside. A check on the Internet indicated the overnight low was 37 degrees at the altitude we were sleeping.

The next day we started up & down Colorado scenic highways again and at 11,000 ft my cell phone beeped, indicating I had a message or two. We had not had cell coverage all night. There were two voice mails from my sister. The first one indicating my sister-in-law had gotten worse. The second one requesting I call as soon as I could!

It seemed so surreal, sitting here in the Rockies enjoying the beauty of the snow-capped peaks, against the backdrop of a beautiful sun shining day speckled with white fluffy could, knowing I was going to hear she was dead.

I called my sister.

My sister-in-law had died at 12:03 A.M. last night.

I consulted the map and decided to redirect us on a more direct path to Chicago. After a few phone calls to family, we found out the funeral would be on Saturday. We would have plenty of time to make it.

I did quite a bit of driving as we talked about things we remembered about my sister-in-law. It took awhile to get out of the Rockies. We passed Denver right before “rush hour”, and made it almost to the Nebraska border. We needed to stop for gas and supplies. We saw one of our “favorite road side attractions: A Super Wal-mart. Since we had about 1200 miles of hard driving to do, we had the RV lubed, oil changed, and checked over, while we shopped. Then back on the road again. I drove about ½ the night and we went to sleep in another Wal-Mart Parking lot in Kearny, Nebraska.

The next day we drove scenic byways, (Some people think there is no scenery in Nebraska or Iowa..grin) and reached Omaha in the mid-afternoon.

It has been 20 years since I have driven through Omaha. I was quite impressed with the West side of the city. We stopped at a nail salon because Caren needed a manicure, pedicure and treatment before we saw the family. (It’s a girl-thing) Pokey and I napped in the car, (“It’s a old-guy & dog thing”)most of the time Caren was in the salon.

We crossed the Missouri river and found Harrah’s Casino. I was planning on playing poker until I was ready to go to sleep for the night. We found a beautiful spot right next to the river to park. I showered and then went in to the Casino Riverboat, only to discover they no longer had poker there. They directed me to The Horseshoe Casino a few miles from there.

About 30 minutes later I was sitting at a 3/6 hold-em game waiting to be called for the 2-5 N/L. After 40 minutes of play, I had made $1 and was ready to get to the No Limit game. A new game was called and I took my favorite seat only to be moved to the main game after folding 5 hands in a row.

At the new table I was the very short stack with my $200 buy-in. There was a lot of money on the table. The stacks averaged about $800-1200 (I thought these “chip owners” of a late of players who came and have already gone from this table leaving their chips behind. These players must be fairly good or at least very lucky.

I played very tight for a while and watched some fairly decent play. The button’s were always raising and doing big continuation bets. There were usually one two players beyond the flop. When hands were showed down, they were very good hands.

I paid my blinds for an hour or so looking for a chance to win a pot when the AA hand I mentioned at the start of this blog occurred. After walking “aimlessly” around the casino I stumbled out into the Iowa night. I called Caren in the RV where she was watching a movie. I didn’t want to whine, but for some reason this beat was “really hurting”. Some of my feelings about the loss of Donna must have gotten mixed up in my poker feelings. I needed comforting. She was great. She was comforting, sympathized with my “bad beat”. Asked me what I wanted to do? When I said, I am going to go back in there in a few minutes after I settle down. She asked me if I could let it go and play my best poker. (What a great supportive wife. I am so grateful to have her as a life-partner.)

I walked back in, bought another $200 in chips and resumed my seat. I turned to the guy next to me and nicely asked if he had any more great catches since I was gone. He told me about a huge pot he took down when he flopped a flush while I was gone.

I waited till my blind came to me to take Cards and then folded 9 hands around one circuit. When my button reached me I saw I had A4 suited and gave it a raise. The flop came A,7,8 (none of my suite) There was one medium size bet and one call. I raised it ½ stack and both bettors called. The turn came a 3 and I was checked to. I pushed my last $75 in to a $200 and both other players took a long time to think about it and folded.

Then like an Epiphany, I realized this was a table of mid-western players. Hard-working, tight rocks, smart, “waste no-money”, tight-fisted, no bs kind of guys. I knew my game plan. I could make some creative plays. I could bluff at a few pots, because I knew almost everyone of these players were capable of laying down good hands. Well, that is exactly what I did. I ended up with a couple of creative hands I bluffed for small & medium size pots. Then I had pocket 2’s & pocket 3’s in early position “triple up” on the flops and I made two large pots with those hands. A couple of hours later, I was able to walk away about $600 up.

It is hard to believe, but the best thing for me that day was to get the AA beat after playing like a rock for an hour and then taking a walk to have to “re-think” my strategy at this table.