History Part 1

Well here's the scoop... My bankroll is pretty much depleted, so I'm stuck at home, starting work tomorrow... while my friends are playing at the Beau Rivage... BRUTAL!! I am very determined to build up a bankroll and start playing regularly again. But for the time being, I'll write about some hands of my past. Some of these hands I wasn't in, just witnessed. And I'm sure some of the details may be a little off as most of these hands happened years ago. My friends will know these guys by name. Hope you enjoy:

My first REAL gut-turner: This hand occurred early in my "career". I played plenty MMTs up to this point and a lil cash experience before this went down. Our normal crew went play at Beck's Wednesday. Beck's is a bar in Raceland that held small buy-in tournaments, followed by some pretty soft cash games. Well at like 2AM(I'm guessing) the bar shut down, and we went play at Raceland Mike's house. I think I remember the game being Me, Joe Bueche, Chris James, Raceland Mike, Raceland Mike's wife Paula, James Arceneaux, and Kane. Well somewhere around 8 or 9AM I get involved in a hand. I don't remember how the action went down, but I was in there with Q-10. The flop came A-Q-10. Everyone checked to me and I bet out and was called by Kane. Btw, Kane is an Asian fellow who was wild(at least back then because I was pretty tight). I thought he always bet his hand.. especially because he bet EVERY hand lol. Anyway, The turn is a blank that puts 2 spades out there... Again, he checks.. and after not long I say "I'm all-in". Now the pot wasn't that big.. This was a horrendous play. I really thought he was just drawing and no way he could call. I almost did it as a joke meaning, "I know you're drawing Kane, get the fuck out of my pot." Oh he was drawing alright.. to the nut flush or a boat.. This fucker has As-Qs. It took him forever to call. Guess he thought I had K-J or a set. Well anyway, river.. no 10 and I'm bust. Now it was only for like few hundred bucks but that was A Lot to me back in the day. I remember the ride home.. I was sick. Lesson learned

WTF?!: This hand I was not involved in and it happens all the time. I just found it funny. It's kinda one of those "had to be there" type of things. Again we were playing a cash game at Beck's. I'm guessing $1-2NLHE. But the games we played seemed to be a little bigger than most $1-$2 games. Anyway, this hand involves Parfait and a woman named Allison. Now if I saw Allison today, I wouldn't recognize her.. We didn't know her, I just happened to remember her name. Well all night Allison was over betting the shit of the pot. Sometimes with not much of a hand. Well she bet the living shit out of one flop... like $40 into a nothing pot. Well Parfait flopped like top pair top kicker or something and new he might be able to snap her and called. Well on the turn she bets like $20.. Parfait was so fucking confused.. It was hilarious..Well he called. The river comes and she bets like $50 or something.. I'll never forget the look on Parfait's face.. like WTF?! Anyway, he called and she showed 2 pair to win the pot. She flopped top pair and bet the fuck out of it. Turn didn't help so she slowed down. And she rivers two pair and bets bigger again. LoL Parfait was so flustered.. I'll just never forget it.

Poor Georgia: This hand was sickening. It took place at our poker club in Houma. (My wallet and I definitely miss those days!) There was a full table going of $2-$5NLHE. Georgia was in the #1 seat and doing quite well this night. Well she got up from her seat and went do something and allowed me to play her chips for a while. Well she actually came back and dealt for a while and dealt the following hand. The new guy named Tim was at the table. This guy owns his own company and is a millionaire. He had no clue what he was doing at the table. In his defense, he was very aggressive. I guess if you're going to be bad, you may as well be aggressive. He was raising basically every hand preflop to $50. Well I'm in the BB with K-K. He was on the cut-off or button(not that he knew that was a strong position). Well sure enough, he comes through and pops it to $50. He's sitting with $1,200 and I(Georgia's money) have him covered. Folds to me and I pop it to $200. The table folds to him and he says "raise". Now normally I was be put to a decision to whether or not this guy has A-A or not, but his guy was bad and just put constant pressure on you with anything. Well he only raises to $500.. $300 more to me... I think for a moment.. I mean if this donkey actually has A-A, what an extreme fucking cooler. Anyway, I raise all-in. An additional $700 or so to him. There's not a chance he's folding. He says "call". I'm PRAYING he flips over QQ or A-K or something... But no, the almighty A-8o. WHAT?! Well the flop comes about as good as I can hope for.. no ace, no real straight draw or flush draw. There was however two spades and he held the 8s. The turn is another brick but a spade. Now he's got a flush draw to go with his ace draw. You all know what hit the river, the fourth spade... giving him an 8-high flush to drag a $2,400+ pot. The sick part is.. as soon as the flop hit I noticed the spades and said aloud, "No spades" and the turn of course came a spade and I was chanting even more until reality hit the river. I felt SO bad. Oh I was speechless. But I mean should I really? I got $1,200 of her money in as a 70% favorite. It was just sick overall. I did end up catching a good bit of it back throughout the night.. Thankfully.. Sorry Georgia

Damn Joe Bueche: Joe Bueche is my best friend in the poker world. He plays very often. We went to Vegas for a month together this year. He's a great guy and a good friend. That being said, I'm on the poker table to make money.. that's all. Yes I enjoy the comradery. But I'm hoping to make money. Joe knows this. I have had multiple conversations with him about this. If we're at the table with 8 strangers, we'll do our best to stay out of each other's way.. but I'm not altering my play because Joe is in the pot. Joe or anyone else. I've had friends cry and bitch about "Matt check-raised me." or "You called my preflop raise with that?" Yes I did and thanks for your money. Sorry but I'm there to play. This would bite me on the ass this time around. This hand occurred about a month ago at the Amelia Belle Casino, during my RIDICULOUS run of beats. We're playing $2-$5NLHE and I straddle UTG.. Quite a few people call and Joe is on my right in the BB and raises to $60. Now I know Joe has a minimum of pocket queens to make this play. Well I look down to see A-A. SWEET! Well the table wasn't playing that wild so I thought a call might put us heads-up. Also, Joe knows if I raise, I'm not making some bold-ass squeeze play. He knows I have an absolute monster. I don't want to raise and tip him off. I elect to call and the rest of the table folds. Flop comes harmless.. 9 high, two hearts.. I'm positive he missed that flop, no over cards to his pair and I have him right were I want him. Well he leads out $150. He's only got about $230 behind that. I say "OK I'm all-in" He looks back at his cards, and I ask "Looking to see if you have a heart huh?" and he calls. Sure enough he flips over Qh-Qc. Well I won't draw this hand out like I did the last one as it results in the same finish. He goes backdoor.. heart.. heart... to take down a $900+ pot. I know this sick shit happens often.. it just came at the worst time, in the middle of my worst run ever.

Tough one at Harrah's: This hand happened a couple of years ago at Harrah's New Orleans. I haven't been at the table long at all when I see R.L.(a terrible player who LOVES to gamble and outplay everyone every hand). I witness him put $700 in the pot open-ended and miss the previous hand. Don't think for a second he was priced in or committed. Listen to this one. It's $2-$5NLHE and I'm on the button with $500 with 6c-4c. A bunch of limpers and I limp. The SB decides to raise to like $25 and I know what's about to happen here. Of course EEVVEERRRYYYYOOONNEEE calls. I think the guy from the Lucky Dog stand wanted to call. Well we see a flop of A-6-4. Well now the SB elects to check along with half the table until R.L. fires $50. Now I say "fires". He bets $50 into like a $15o pot. But he bet none-the-less. Well I think the SB is done with the hand unless he flopped a set of aces. And anyone else with a good ace should have bet this flop as the preflop raiser checked first. Anyway, I decide to take a chance at this pot and raise to $200. I'm worried about the players behind me, not so much R.L. If I get called by them or raised by them I'm in trouble. (Btw this was earlier in my "career" and I see I may not play this hand this way now) But.. the rest of the table folds to R.L. who after a while says "I'm all in". He has me covered. Now usually I'd be in a bit of a bind but R.L. is a fish and tilting from the previous hand. Anyway, I call and flip over my hand. He doesn't flip his over. So I'm thinking I'm up against some fucked up Ace like A-9 or some shit. Well a 5 hits the turns and he kinda jerks.. I'm thinking great.. A-5 for two bigger pair. River bricks and he gives me this famous line, "You're gonna hate me." as he flips over 2-3o for the gutterball. Ouch... I tell him nice hand and reach in my pocket for a rebuy. I ended up cashing out for like $2,800 that night.. Winning about $1,800. I guess this is a reminder to keep your head up and play your best. Rarely do I go on tilt.

Here are a few short hands or notes from the past:

* Chris punching a hole in his wall after Slow Play busted him.
* Chris involved in a hand with a kid from Slidell. The kid flops quads and Chris moves all-in. The kid of course calls and flips over quads. Then Chris jokingly utters, "Run it out, let me see if I hit my flush."
* I remember Ruttley coming to the Rat's Nest piss drunk and calls a big bet from Alan on the river with a flush on a double-paired board..... Drag your pot Rutt.
* Fred and Chris get involved in a hand. At showdown, Fred says, "I ain't got nothing." Chris says, "I've got two pair." Then Fred says,"I've got a straight." and slowrolls Chris. Chris promptly gets up and knees the fuck out of the pool table behind him. (FYI: I have played with Fred recently, and he's still a fan of slowrolling.)


I have so much more to tell but I'll save it. This post is getting long. Hope you enjoyed.