Humorous Home Game Hand

Even though we’d technically had our last game a few weeks ago, Logan invited some regulars over for $.50/$1 NLHE game on Wednesday with a $150 buy-in. I played really poorly and got kind of tilty towards the end, which I don’t usually do, and as a result I was pretty upset with myself, even though it was just a friendly game. I’m not going to do a whole write-up because there weren’t a lot of interesting hands, but the quick summary is that I was way too loose pre-flop and then tried to dig myself out of that mistake with stupid bluffs on later streets.

This one hand, though, was kind of amusing. I’m a little fuzzy on the details, but I believe Darren opened from to $3.50 from the CO, I called with A4s in the SB, and the BB called. Flop was Jc Js 4c. The action checked to Darren, who bet $6. On a board this dry, his range to bet is super-wide, even with two callers (like I said, I was pretty loose pre-flop that night). I called, BB, folds.

Turn was the 9d. I checked, and Darren bet $15. I don’t remember how deep we were exactly, but I’m sure effective stacks were at least $200, which means he’s always betting here with trips or better. We’re deep enough that he doesn’t have to worry too much about getting check-raise bluffed off of a club draw, so that’s a possibility for him, though I imagine he checks that sometimes. He’s also very capable of firing two barrels with air, and in fact I think that’s his most likely holding. I think generally he’s going to play pot control with an Ace, particularly a good one, and sometimes with pairs as well, though he probably bets those more often than not. After a long thought, I called him again.

We locked eyes as the river card game out. I glanced at it, saw the 5c, and checked quickly. He bet $35 so quickly I wasn’t even sure he’d looked. I thought it through, and I felt like he would correctly think I rarely play a flush draw like this, which means that he can both bluff this card and value bet a wide range. In general, though, his thinner value bets tend not to be so close to pot-sized on the river.

I called, and he turned over 52o. Though I hadn’t shown my hand yet, I must have looked disgusted, because Logan asked me, “Did he river you?” I nodded.

“Were you value betting there?” he asked Darren.

“I don’t even think he looked at the river card.”

“I saw that it was a club,” he laughed. “My plan was to bluff a club, and check otherwise.”

“But you wouldn’t have bet if you’d seen it was the 5c?”

“No,” he confirmed.

So not only did he hit a 3-outer to win the pot, but he hit the only card in the deck that also resulted in him collecting a pot-sized bet on the river, a bet which he wouldn’t have made had he actually seen the river card. Unreal.