Poker recap

So I played the usual Friday night poker game last Saturday. This one was particularly notable simply for the absolutely horrible night I had; half bad luck and half my fault. I finished second in our tournament and still ended up $5 down on the night.

We start off the usual $5 tournament with 7 people. I play reasonably well, better than usual for me. Living up to my reputation as the most unpredictable player in our little circle, I completely bluffed my way to two big pots. I was holding jack, (pair of 2's one time and high card jack the other) but since I rarely bluff, and was betting hard every time around, I bluffed everyone out. So, long story short, I make it to heads up with a 3-1 chip advantage over the other guy. Now, I knew he was a great heads up player, and had watched him take out someone else from a similar deficit last week, so I knew to be careful. But, as you probably guessed, he took me out, slowly but surely.

So I finished second in the tournament, made $5 plus got my $5 buy-in back, and was ready to make some money in cash games (where I usually make money.) Play a couple games, then we play some Chicago (I think) follow the bitch. (The reason I say "I think" is that I looked at the wiki page for Chicago poker, and it's something completely different.) For those of you unfamiliar with this game, Chicago is 7 card stud with the highest spade in the hole taking half the pot; follow the bitch means that queens and whatever follows queens when they are dealt are wild. The non-queen wild can change as another queen comes up. I'm holding shit, but I've got the jack of spades in the hole. The Ace and Queen of spades had already come up, so the only card that can beat me for half of the pot is the King. Joz is showing 4 of a kind. I start playing it pretty aggressively, and assume that since no one is calling me, I'm sitting pretty good for half of the pot. Last card (#7) comes, face down, aaaaaaand what does Ms. Joz pick up? The King. Of spades. Pissed me the hell off, because that's complete luck and a statistical anomaly.

So I bust out, and watch Batman Begins and Monty Python. (NOBODY expects the Spanish Inquisition!!!) Eventually I buy back in, around 1:30. We're playing some stud game, and I come up with full house, which is beaten by Travis' four of a kind. Being a complete idiot, I had failed to see that I in fact had four of a kind as well, between some wild cards and such. Four aces, to be exact. Ugh.

To top the night off, we play stud again and throw in assassins. The gist of assassins is that the player with the death card in the hole can, at any point during the game, flip over that card, point to any player, and tell them they fold. Long story short, I end up with five of a kind. Betting is over, and no one's killed anyone yet, so I think I'm sitting pretty good. Travis, who was sitting next to me, forgets that we're playing assassins and says, well, Mike wins. Dan then flips over the death card and says, no, you fold. Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiittt.....I wasn't particularly pissed at Travis, because the only other guy in the hand wasn't showing anything, so it was pretty obvious who Dan would pick to eliminate.

Just not a good night.