Collusion, Justice, and the Triple Flush (a home game trip report)

[MDoranD]

It was mostly the usual cast of characters at Kevins ($1/$2)home game last night although I was expecting a bigger showing. No more than 12 or 13 people were on hand at any one time, compared to the usual two full tables theyll get going at least for part of the night. I bought in for the maximum $200, told a few people about my recent trip to Vegas , put my muave (not pink) earpieces in on my MP3 player and decided to have a good Saturday night of poker.


Is postmeditated the opposite of premeditated? Because thats an adjective id like to use to describe a situation that happened after a few hours into our session. Postmeditated collusion.


I was squeaking by...not getting involved in too many pots...winning some small ones, losing some small ones, but not really getting many decent hands to play. After a couple hours, two new players showed up to play. Both were obviously drunk...judging by the slurred speech, paper neon bands on their wrists from the local bar, and general loud behaviour. The first guy, Leon, Ive played with before. Generally hes a big time donator who likes to splash pots and see flops. The second guy, Jed (i believe his name was), was a first timer to the game. It was readily apparent that Jed did not have much practice playing poker. Jed would pick his cards up off the table, scrunch them in front of his eyes, and then put the cards down in his lap. He did this every hand. Even after being warned multiple times by our dealer. Jed also had his own poker phrases that he used. For one, he would say, "go" whenever he wanted to play a hand. Wether it was limping in, calling a raise, or checking, he just said "go". Then if we were lucky he might toss a $1 chip out...regardless of what it was to him. Jed also had a habit of saying what his cards were when he looked at them. Hed pick up his cards...scrunch them reaaaaall close to his face so noone could see what they were, and say "Queen Four". Loud.


One particular hand came up that I think was noteworthy. Leon had been raising almost every pot and losing most of them and was down to about $70 of his buy in. He started off this hand under the gun. He quickly announced he was all in. I was in MP and looked down at A [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]Q [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]. I figured it was definitely way ahead of Leons range and elected to call. Then we had to wait again for Jed to be told what had happened and what it would cost for him to call and yada yada...but while thats going on...I see Leon and the BB (another player...fairly solid) show each other their cards. Of course Leon was allin, but the BB was yet to act. As i listened in on them, i could tell that those two had decided preflop to go allin against each other this hand, without looking at their cards. The dealer was distracted with Jed, and Im about certain im the only one who saw/heard the exchange.


Finally Jed understands that it would be $70 for him to call and he folds. It folds to the BB, and he looks at Leon and says, "I guess I call?" and tosses in his $70.


I dont like this at all, but im not sure what to say/do. The dealer deals the flop of 5 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]6 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]8 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]. BB takes a moment and moves allin for about another $200. Bb stands up and Leon is standing up, and they are both telling me to fold..."fold your AK or 44 or whatever...youre beat." I think theres a chance im ahead actually but play it safe and fold my hand. BB flips J7, and Leon flips Q8. Leons hand holds up and he takes the pot. I dont like what just happened...but i eventually decide that making a big deal of it will only result in pissing off one of the donators of the game...so I dont say anything.


Have faith in the justice system . Maybe 20 minutes later, Leon is down to about $80 in his stack. He again announces "All in!" when it gets to him, and it fold to me in late position. I look down at A [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]10 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], and seeing that his coconspirator of a few hands ago had already folded, I decide to try my luck again. I call. It folds around.


Leon says "you again? Im gonna double thru you again!" I tell him that is very possible. The board comes 8 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]4 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]4 [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]2 [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]A [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] and i table my cards. Leon looks sick and flips K [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]K [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]. The dealer slides the pot over to me and I smile on the inside. Leon sits out.


An hour or so later and the game is slowly dwindling down. We are down to 5 players, with Jed on my immediate right, and a decent but tight asian man(who never spoke) on his right. Im under the gun with A [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]2 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] and decide to limp in. it folds to the asian man in the SB who calls, and Jed then tosses in $2. Well, thats good usually for him to do that on his own, but see, he was the BB, so he already had put out his $2 for the hand. The dealer announced "$4 to go" and it was back to me. Jed looked a little confused but didnt seem to really care. I just call the $2 and so does the asian man.


The flop comes 9 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]3 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]7 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]. monster flop for me. Now to let Jed bet it because he will bet if hes anything, and Ive got position on him. Asian dude checks, and Jed puts out $15. Now at this point let me say that Jed had stopped announcing his hole cards to the table...the dealer had finally got him to stop doing that. I decide to smooooth call the $15. Now Asian dude wakes up and announces "Im ArrrIn!!" and pushes out his whole stack of about $180. Well, Jed, after being told 3 or 4 times what had happened, says, "ok, go." The dealer clarifies that he wants to call and Jed says yes. Jeds stack is slightly less than the asian guys so hes covered. I have them both covered and quickly announce "CALL!" and flip my cards.


Asian guy slams the table with his fist and tables the 8 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]5 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]. Jed turns over the Q [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]10 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] and says "Do we split?"


With everyone standing up now the dealer gets the pot right and im just hoping for no more diamonds. The turn comes the K [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], and the river is the 4 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] and i had managed to avoid any straight flushes and win a $600 pot!


One of the other players in the hand admitted to having a diamond in their folded hand meaning 11 of 13 diamonds were accounted for in a 5 way hand. lol variance? Anyways it ended up being the final hand of the night as Jed and the asian were broke and leaving. On the way out I here Jed say hes got a bunch of friends who will come and play here too...I smile on the inside again.