Stopped by the Muck after work on Tuesday night, figuring in the middle of the week it wouldn't be quite so crowded and I'd be seated quickly. Not so. With the jackpot at $292,000 there's no such thing as a slow evening, apparently. Every table was full and I waited 45 minutes for a game.
By the time I sat in I was hungry and tired and not as sharp as I should have been -- or at least that's the excuse I keep allowing myself. I made a rookie blunder I haven't made in years ... literally gave away a pot.
First a little background. It was a comfy little semi-loose, passive $4-8 kill game -- usually four callers, and very few pre-flop raises -- but I wasn't getting any cards and didn't really play a hand except the occasional blind for the first 45 minutes or so. Finally I got KK in first position and worried that, if anything, a raise with my super-tight image would get me nothing but the blinds. So when I popped it I was shocked to see five callers jump in, and all without a reraise. Less shocking was the ace on the flop. I was smart enough to get out of the way while a couple of the cold-callers battled it out, and an AJ offsuit took it down. Fine. All well and good.
Fast-forward half an hour or so. I'm still card-dead, still tight, which maybe by this time makes me look weak. I decide to call under the gun with J-10 of hearts. As usual four other players including the BB limp in behind me. The flop comes 9-8-4 rainbow, giving me an open-ender, so I bet out, hoping my tight image might even let me take down the pot right away. Instead, everyone calls.
The turn's an 8, pairing the board, but possibly a scare card that works in my favor. So I bet again. This time I lose a couple, but the player to my left calls, as does the BB. Not good. The river's a 9, missing my hand and putting two pair on the board. Now almost anything that could call beats me, including ace high -- or even king or queen high, for that matter. So I prudently check, and so do the other players.
Here's where I embarrassed myself. The guy to my right mucks his hand, the caller to the left turns over his pocket pair, and seeing that I'm beat I toss my cards face down into the muck as well. ... But wait! Those are pocket 2s that guy has! He's playing the board: 9s and 8s with a 4 kicker! Argh!!! My jack high would have held up for about a $60 pot.
I was able to laugh at myself, which helped just a little since the rest of the table was laughing too, especially the dude stacking his chips with the worst possible hand.
Not surprisingly, I didn't get much respect after that. They chipped away at my meager stack and I went home $75 to the bad.
Hands in The Muck ... and other Puget Sound cardrooms
