First let me say that I met JD a few years ago and let me say that even though he lives in Detroit and I live in Vegas we have become as good of friends as you can be not living in the same area. JD is a Stand Up Guy!
OK let me set the stage for this story. Wednesday was RJ's bachelor party so JD flew in for the party. I'll fast forward through the party and just say I got to bed at 3:30 in the morning. Actually early by Vegas nite life standards but when you make your living as a Professional Capper Thursday is a work day and the alarm goes off early at 5:15 everyday. I actually set the alarm on this day for 5:30 (hope RJ's not reading this). So going to work on 2 hours sleep not fun at my age. I'll fast forward thru the work day to the fact that I decide to leave a hour early ( again hope RJ is not reading).
As I'm leaving the office I decide to see if JD is still in a coma or not because the last I saw of him Wednesday Night that was where he was heading. I sent him a text and said you up yet. JD calls me back and says he is taking a shower then heading down to play Poker till his plane leaves. So even though I'm running on fumes I don't want to miss a chance to play cards with JD.
JD and I get on the same table were Playing 2-5 No Limit at the Venetian. Being I'm so tired I buy in light just $350 I didn't want to blow a big stack by making a mistake from being tired. Both JD and myself are running good JD made an absolutely sick call of $200 on the river with just a pair of 9's. There was 2 over cards on the board and JD put the guy on a busted draw and as soon as JD called the bet the guy mucks his hand and says great call. JD goes how did you like that one Marco!
I answered nice hand sir!
Waking up with a Hand..
As I said we were running good my stack is up to over $1000 and so is JD but I'm running out of gas. JD had a table massage and I decided to get one from her when she was done with JD. Have you ever heard the saying "Waking up with a Hand" while as I was getting my massage I actually fell asleep for a minute JD says Marco, Marco it's your turn. I jump up and look at my cards.. I woke up with pocket kings!! Raise I say and get one caller. The flop comes AAJ, well you hate to see an ace when you have Kings but 2 Aces make it less likely he has an Ace so I bet the guy calls the Bet. There was 2 spades on the board so he could have been drawing to the flush. The turn is a Spade so I throw a defensive bet out there. I bet enough trying to freeze him for a showdown where maybe we can go check/check. The river is the 4th spade so I'm done with this hand as I have no spade I check he checks behind me and turns up A4 and takes the pot. All the spades saved me money on the hand as I lost the minimum that I could on the Hand.
The Hand..
OK lets fast forward to the hand as I will refer to it. I am on the button and decide I am playing one more round and calling it a night. I have over a grand sitting in front of me it's been a good day money wise and spending several hours with JD. A guy in early position raises to $20 and gets 3 callers so there is $80 in the pot and I look down at Pocket ACES!! I raise and make it $100 the guy who made it $20 calls one guy folds the next guy who has been calling everything all day calls and the last guy a young kid who just sat down a few hands ago calls. A four way pot against Pocket Aces that's how they get cracked, not what I wanted to see.
So there is $400 in the pot and the flop is Js 9s 3h. The original raiser moves all in for like $360, the next guy folds and then the young kid moves all in as well for less he had about 330 left. I figure one of the 2 has the Spade draw and I'm hoping the one has KK's or QQ's instead of a set. It's going to cost me $360 for a shot at a $1400 pot so I call. First Guy turns Over KK's and what I feared the most the other guy has a flush draw and not just any flush draw a open ended straight flush draw as he has Qs10s. This gives him 15 outs instead of 9. The turn is a blank which means I'm a 71% favorite going to the river for a $1400 pot. As the river is turned over I'm saying no spade it's a Club... Yes! ...wait it's the 8 of Clubs and gives the guy his straight and the Pot.. F**K!!!!!
Ok clearly I didn't raise enough pre-flop to thin the field and once the action got back to the to the Q10 guy he had pot odds to call. So I can't question his call. The really bad play came from the original raiser who when I made it $100 didn't bump me back to find out where his kings stood. The other bad thing was by flat calling me gave everyone else pot odds to call. Pocket King's don't want to play against 4 players any random Ace will beat you on the flop and by re-raising me the other guys fold and unless I have aces I'm probably folding or flat calling. If I re-raise him all in he knows I have Aces and can shut the hand down and save half of his stack.
So instead of walking out of the Venetian with over $2,000 I had to settle for $630. But it was a great day spent with a Great Friend!