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House of Rookies Part II

Somewhere in Reseda
(Part I, The importance of being clothed)

Last week Marco won the first tournament & I chopped the 2nd tournament with Marco's brother Darwin because the homeowners went to sleep while the rest of the guest wanted to leave. They said it was okay for us to finish the tournament which was a really nice gesture but I figured if something in the house went missing we're to blame so I decided to chop chop and take off.

On our next visit (Friday 9/30) it was Marco, myself and Kayler. Marco predicted one of us to win the tournament. I never really like to make pre-tournament predictions specially in a new venue full of rookies because these players although predictable are wild gun-slinger type of poker players. If you get caught in a crossfire you're chances of surviving unscathed is unlikely. There are always some plays that either make you laugh or depressed about actually being there, but hey that's the nature of the House full of Rookies. You cant really complain because you know what occurs in these poker rooms to begin with so all you can do is adjust and play solid. Joy said it best "you have to remember where you are", she is infamous for handing out bad beats with her chasing style of play which i became victim to, this night (I GIBE U BADD BEEET , she likes to say).

Marco went out first (lol) in the first tournament and I followed shortly (15 players). I was crippled in a big hand when I called Jeff all the way with this board "8 Q 2 5 7" with my pocket 10's against his Jacks losing almost 80% of my chips, I finished in 10th place. Kayler who had a slow start emerged as chip lead with three players left after winning and raising pots with his premium hands. But often with these big rushes a player makes a sudden blunder of a play. After just winning 4 or 5 pots in a row and taking chip lead from Jeff, Kayler raised almost 50% of his chips pre-flop with a K 4 of hearts. Joy who was next to act was in deep thought after checking her hole cards and I knew immediately that Kayler was in trouble. Joy moved ALL IN over the top which is 70% more of Kayler's remaining chips which left him with no choice but to fold. This swing gave Joy the chip lead which she never relinquished. Kayler ended up third place and a whopping $5 price money (yes $5 for third place with 15 players and $10 buyin) and money back for Jeff in second place.

Second Tourney:

My dumb play of the night. I called with bottom pair when some girl went ALL IN on a straight draw followed by another ALL IN from Joy with top pair which I had to call after committing myself in the pot. The straight draw won the pot pairing her Ace on the river.

I doubled up through Marco when this hand came up. I limped in from the small blind with Ace 6 of diamonds and Marco checked on the big blind. The flop came "Ace 5 9" with two diamonds, I checked and Marco bet out 1200 with two pairs "Ace 5", I went ALL IN for $700. The turn was a 6 to give me a higher two pair and the river gave me the nut flush.

Getting caught in the crossfire. Six players remaining and the blinds climbing fast. I went ALL IN with pocket 10's followed by another ALL IN from William with pocket 5's, a call from Jeff on the chip lead with KJ offsuit followed by an ALL IN from guy on big blind with a Jerome (2 3). So okaay... pocket 5's was an automatic call on the short stack, KJ was a mistake and 2 3 was getting 4-1 also on the short stack (I guess to make sense of this debacle). But Miraculously the best hand held up for a double knock out, maybe divine intervention or something. I then knocked out Kayler the very next hand after I raised with AJ suited against his A3 offsuit which gave me 2nd chip lead next to Jeff's gf (forgot her name) which I immediately relinquished with another dumb play on the Very next hand. After flopping top pair with this board " 8 7 4" with my J 8 offsuit I checked. Jeff immediately went ALL IN with his J 9 (yes gunshot straight draw) which I immediately called. He paired a 9 on the turn which held up to cripple my stack leaving me only 2600 in chips. On the ensuing hand Jeff gets knocked out in the same fashion he crippled me with. He raised pre-flop with pocket 9's which his gf called with "Ace 4" offsuit and immediately moved ALL IN again on the flop "Q 2 3" which his gf called in exactly two seconds (Yes looking for a 5 or an Ace) and rivers a 5 to make a straight. LOL. (If you're a poker player you must be shaking your head right about now) This gave the gf an almost insurmountable chip lead. I was ALL IN blind the next hand and I was pleased to see she had only a 4 2 against my 7 2, I had her dominated but Marco jinxed it coz he kept calling for CHOP CHOP and wouldn't you know it, we chopped it. I lost the very next hand... (and yes a measly $10 for 2nd place with 16 fuckin players)

We played another tournament at Joy's house afterwards which lasted until 5:30 am. I was tired but she kept giving us (the boys) a g-string shot so we agreed to drive to her house to play another tournament (God we're pathetic... bwuhahahha). This one was won by Kayler.

God i love this place, i'm not quite sure why. Maybe because it's such a contrast in style from my Tournaments, the Celebrity showdown atmosphere that seems to make mine so.. passe`... Maybe because it's a good looking half dressed woman giving me bad beats instead of... say, Jerome or Frank. Must be it...

Posted by: Marc Gabay
Sunday, October 02, 2005