Hail to the chief

President Nixon loved poker. So did President Truman. So it seemed like the most patriotic way to spend President's Day was at the Muckleshoot, trying again for that juicy jackpot. On Monday it had ticked up to $267k. That's a lot of dead presidents.

I actually came one card away from winning the big end Monday night. It wasn't really all that close to being a jackpot, but it still felt like a bad beat. And it was one of several memorable hands on the evening.

This was in a $4-8 kill game, and I was already up a couple of racks when I was dealt pocket 3s in the big blind. A bunch of players called before the flop without a raise, so I happily checked along. The flop was an eye-bugger: J-J-3, giving me a boat on the snap. I checked, hoping to induce a bet, or even just give somebody a chance to make something. But everybody checked around, including the aggressive player in late position who I counted on to bet. The turn was a blank (too bad not a 3, as it turned out).

I checked, Mr. Aggressive bet, a couple of people called and I check-raised -- had him right where I wanted him. But now he three-bet, saying something about being sure he had the best hand but I'd probably come back over the top anyway. Which I did, of course, and happy to do it. So we were heads-up going into the river, which brought ... another damn jack! He bet with such joy that I knew he had the quads -- J-10, which meant his kicker would have played for the jackpot -- and I was one 3 off of a huge payday.

It was a great table, and that brought laughter and even some sympathy all around.

A few hands later I got most of my chips back in an eight-way kill pot that I limped into with pocket 6s. The flop was K-Q-Q, and if anybody had so much as looked at their chips I'd have mucked, but it remarkably checked all around. I'm thinking of a card, I said, and sure enough the turn brought a 6, boating me up again. Now a guy bet into me, and I made a big joke about how it's bad luck to slow-play, then popped it. Several people called. Then I got more action, including a raise and a reraise, when the river brought a third club. This time the boat held up (there as a flush and somebody had a Q for second and third place), and I scooped.

As will happen, the bad players ran out of money and left. We played short-handed for a while and I sloughed off a hundred or so trying to bull the game. Ended up with a $181 win.