Garage home game

My first home game since moving to Hawaii took place around an octagonal poker table in a garage on the top of an inland hill. There were six players, and we played two rounds of 2/5 NL HE followed by one round of a 10/20 spread limit Omaha Hi/lo (if that makes any sense).

I got off to a quick start against a guy called the Jet when I hit a set of 7s. A little later, I got some more chips from a set of 3s against a spunky chick who kept forgetting that she had to use two cards during the Omaha round. She kept seeing two pair on the board and saying, "I have boat!"

The other guys seemed to be about average overall. There wasn't much bluffing, and I saw some shockingly passive play with strong hands. I couldn't believe it -- no one can possibly make money if they don't put in money when they're ahead.

Admittedly, I was getting great cards. Many of them didn't get to showdown, but that doesn't mean the pots were small.

Finally, a big guy who smoked cigarettes and played often in this game won a large pot with something like Kings or a straight. On the next hand, I picked up pocket Queens from middle position.

I raised to $20, and the big guy reraised to $80 out of the blinds. I felt like he might be playing his rush or Ax, so I made it $250. He quickly moved all in.

My first instinct was that he had AK, and I almost acted. But then I slowed down. It was about $300 to call in a ~$750 pot. He moved in very fast, and he looked comfortable. He stared at me and then glanced away. I was starting to get the idea.

"What do you think I should do?" I asked.

"I came here to gamble," he said.

That was about the worst thing he could have said if he wanted a call. He wasn't a very good liar.

"No you didn't," I told him. "I fold."

He flipped over pocket Aces, and I was happy I took the time to make what was in retrospect a kind of obvious fold.

I built my stack back up to about $350 over my initial buy-in when I started to get tired and decided it was time to leave. I played one more round, which is usually a mistake.

On my second to last hand, I decided to take a stab at a pot. Nobody had challenged me all night, and I had just been dealt a suited hammer. I think I gave off a couple of tells when I smiled to myself and almost folded, but I couldn't let it go.

I raised one limper with my 7-2, and he called. The flop gave me a pair of 7s with an overcard on the board. I made a $50 continuation bet, and the other guy went all in for $39 more. Ug. I had to call.

What an embarrassing way to end. The other guy had a set of 4s, and I didn't improve.

But that's OK. I made a little money, and it may take something like the power of that last hammer for me to get invited back to the game.