Love affair with poker continues

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 03/07/2011 (5236 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

I’m baaaaack! Actually for the first time in my life, I was more excited about coming home than the day I arrived in Vegas. Maybe as I am getting older and becoming more family-oriented (I live with my girlfriend and two dogs) poker doesn’t excite me as much as it once did.

Come to think of it, that is clearly not true, I love poker and Vegas and everything about it. I really do. Many years ago, before I had ever been there, my uncle used to tell me you haven’t lived until you go to Vegas. I have to agree with him in a way. The lights, the 24-hour lifestyle, the amazing restaurants and bars, being able to have whatever you want at your disposal. There really isn’t any place on earth like it, in my opinion.

Then why was I so homesick? In years past, I have gone out to play for the entire summer and was always very sad the day I had to return home. But this year, I only went for two weeks, and I couldn’t get home quickly enough. Maybe I am finally growing up.

As far as the actual trip went, I did all right. The last few days I played a little bit more hold ’em and found myself in a pretty amazing 5-10 no-limit game one night. As soon as I sat down, I knew there was going to be potential to make some money. Every pot had a Mississippi straddle and was raised, three-bet and many pots even had a four-bet pre-flop.

For those of you unfamiliar with it, a Mississippi straddle is a button straddle. Basically, the button puts $20 out there pre-flop, forcing the action to start on the small blind. This is a huge advantage, seeing as how the button will now act last even pre-flop making his position that much more powerful.

The maniac at the table was sitting two to my right, which gave me a perfect seat. I had position on him most of the time and when he would straddle I was in the big blind, allowing me to not get involved with him out of position.

On one of his straddles I reverted back to an old-school play (and one that I haven’t used in a very long time): the limp re-raise. The small blind called, and I looked down at AA. Knowing the dynamics of the table, I elected to just call. The reason I did this was I knew there were going to be some raises and three-bets, allowing me the chance to four-bet and build a bigger pot. By raising out of the big blind I would probably get a bunch of callers and end up playing a multi-way pot out of position, so I decided to limp re-raise.

Well, pretty quickly, someone raised to $60 and two players called. True to form, the maniac made it $240 on the button. The small blind folded and I had gotten what I had hoped for. With $460 in the middle and having a little over $1,200 behind, I decided to just move all in. I was expecting to just pick up the money pre-flop as everyone folded, but to my surprise, the maniac called an extra $1,000. The board ran out 965 2 6 which was a great board for my hand so I confidently said “two pair.” He wasted no time in saying “straight” and flipped over 7 8!

Have I told you how much I love this game?

For anyone interested you can follow me on Twitter @DontCryRebuy