Card Night 29-Dec-2009

We were looking at a full table heading into tonight, but holiday commitments quickly reduced the number of players.  Luckily Warren was a last-minute addition, and Phil showed up shortly after landing at Lindbergh Field after a trip to Little Rock.  The table rounded out at a solid six.

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Paul managed to stop his December slide with a modest $9.00 win.

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Mark DeVol’s “goofy” games this week were Deuces Wild Guts, Super Pan 9, and Omaha Hi-Lo 3-2-1.

Omaha Hi-Lo 3-2-1 turned out to be quite a challenge.  The game plays like Omaha Hi-Lo, except there are three flops, two turns, and one river.  Players make their hands using one of the flops, one of the turns, and the river.  There were so many combinations that players often didn’t realize what hands they had.  On at least two separate occasions, a player had the wheel and didn’t know it!  The game was fun but played very slowly as players tried to figure out where they stood.  Even at showdown when all the cards were turned up, there was still several minutes of discussion about what hands people actually had.

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Glen finishes out 2009 as the big winner, thanks to some incredible winning streaks.  Congratulations, Glen!

Now, everyone’s slate is clean.  Have a great New Year’s, and play your best poker in 2010!

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Mark D	‑$31.00
Paul	+$9.00
Warren	‑$62.00
Phil	+$8.00
Mike S	+$38.00
Glen	+$33.00

Card Night 22-Dec-2009

Paul was the big loser for the night yet again.  That’s the fourth time in a row.

All night long, players were rivering him (which is what he usually does to them).  On one hand of $2-$4 Texas Hold ’em, the flop was Q-8-8, and Paul had an 8 in the hole.  He slow-played his trips all the way to the river, allowing Mark DeVol to catch up and make a flush.  (The board ended up with four diamonds, and Mark won with a measly 7 of diamonds in the hole.)

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Mark’s “goofy” game this week was Bloody Boy.  It turned out to be a pretty good game for Mary.  On one hand, she was dealt K-K-Q-Q-Q, giving her five-of-a-kind kings without having to draw.  (On the same hand, Mike lost after drawing to a royal flush.)

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We celebrated Phil’s birthday with a platter full of messy and delicious chocolate cupcakes.  Phil turns 50 on Christmas Eve.  Happy birthday, Phil!

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Mark D	+$84.00
Mary	‑$31.00
Paul	‑$84.00
Phil	+$54.00
Jason	+$22.00
Miguel	+$35.00
Mike S	+$20.00
Glen	‑$56.00

Card Night 15-Dec-2009

Paul’s losing streak continues.  Tonight he was the biggest loser for the third Card Night in a row, the first time that’s ever happened to him.

Meanwhile, Glen is once again on fire.  He’s got the best year-long record (27‑16‑0), he’s on a three-Card Night winning streak, and he’s up $835.00 for the year.  Glen’s lead for 2009 is almost $150 ahead of second-place Paul. With only two Card Nights left this year, Glen will be hard to beat.

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One of the “goofy” games Mark DeVol called tonight was Upside Down Texas Hold ’em.  In this version, the value of the cards are reversed (e.g., 2 is the highest card, 3 is the next highest, and so on, down to the ace which is the lowest card).  It took a little getting used to, but was kind of fun.

Jason decided to call the same game right after Mark’s deal.  However, Paul thought Jason had called regular Texas Hold ’em, and didn’t realize his mistake until the third hand when he called a bet with what he thought was the high end of a straight but was in fact the low end.  (On the first hand of Jason’s deal, Paul had won the pot when everyone folded to him, but, again, he didn’t realize it was Upside Down Texas Hold ’em!)

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Another of Mark’s “goofy” games was No-Limit Texas Hold ’em Hi-Lo Declare.  This game played much differently than limit Texas Hold ’em Hi-Lo Declare.  As Phil put it, it was a high-risk game with a low return.  That’s because in most cases, everyone would fold to two players who put a bunch of money in the pot, then they would just split the pot when one would go high and the other would go low.  Mark was really the only one who made any money on the game when he and Paul were the only players left in a pot, and they both went high.  Mark had a straight, Paul had two pair.

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Mark D	+$40.00
Paul	‑$46.00
Phil	‑$32.00
Jason	+$22.00
Mike S	‑$11.00
Glen	+$6.00

Card Night 08-Dec-2009

Tonight was Paul’s birthday, so we celebrated by eating cupcakes and watching the Miser Brothers sing their theme songs from The Year Without a Santa Claus.  (Alernative Huyser Paul Huyser lyrics were sung in lieu of Happy Birthday.)

Unfortunately, it wasn’t a very happy birthday for Paul.  He was the big loser for the second Card Night in a row.

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We ended up playing Razz for three rounds tonight.  (Razz is Seven-Card Stud lowball.)  Mark DeVol called it early on when we were short-handed, and it proved so popular that Mary and Glen called it as well.

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Mark’s “goofy” games this week were Seven-Card Stud Roll Your Own and Stud 8.

In Seven-Card Stud Roll Your Own, players choose each of their four up cards from among three hole cards.  At showdown, a player’s lowest hole card is wild, and all like it.

Stud 8 is simply Seven-Card Stud where the high hand splits with the low hand.  However, only hands that are 8-high or lower qualify for low.

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Phil had a question for Paul about Uncle Ike.  At Mike and Lynn’s wedding, Ike had told Phil that any time he drove to Texas, he would follow his mother’s advice: He stopped every two hours to take a break, and he ate all his meals standing up.  Phil wanted to know if Ike really did that.  Paul could neither confirm nor deny.

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Mark D	‑$29.00
Mary	+$33.00
Paul	‑$69.00
Phil	+$32.00
Jason	‑$20.00
Glen	+$34.00

Card Night 01-Dec-2009

On a hand of Buck ’em, during the three-cards-out-of-five round, Mark DeVol declared low one seat to the right of the button.  (No one had declared high or low on the two-cards-out-of-three round.)  Paul, who was on the button, thought long and hard about calling Mark off.  The pot was $38.75.  Finally, after much anguish, Paul decided to not call Mark off, but instead to declare high.  Action got back around to Mark who briefly considered checking Paul off, but decided against it.

After the deal, Paul revealed that he’d had 4-2-A for his low.  Mark had had 4-3-A.  Paul kicked himself for not checking Mark off.

(Mary ended up winning the game.)

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Traditionally, Mark calls “goofy” games during the month of December.  The deal only got to him once tonight, and he called Texas Hold ’em with a Mississippi straddle.

A straddle is a blind bet that a player voluntarily makes before the cards are dealt.  It is usually twice the big blind and is done by the player to the left of the big blind.  Action starts with the player to the left of the straddler, and when action gets back around to the straddler, he may raise.

A Mississippi Straddle can be done from anywhere on the table, with the button getting first priority to straddle, the player to the right of the button getting second option, and so on.

Everyone except Mike opted for the Mississippi straddle when he/she was on the button.  (When Mike passed his option, Paul, Mark, and Phil also passed their options, but Mary opted to straddle.)

Of the eight hands dealt, the Mississippi straddle ended up winning the hand four times.

It wasn’t all that interesting from a goofy game standpoint.  It was basically just Texas Hold ’em.  However, it did make for bigger pots, and bigger pot odds on the flop.

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Mark D	+$7.00
Mary	‑$5.00
Paul	‑$93.00
Phil	+$81.00
Bill	‑$15.00
Jason	+$84.00
Mike S	‑$78.00
Glen	+$3.00