An Early Xmas Gift

Am easing back into playing following that bad run a couple of weeks back. Just brief sessions here and there amid the gift-wrapping and last-minute shopping. Was at a $25 max. pot-limit Omaha game yesterday and had kind of an interesting hand come up. The hand actually illustrated something I had come to recognize in my own play during my bad run, namely, an overly passive, oh-dear-what-if-my-opponent-has-the-nuts kind of style that is destined to lose you money. Especially at PLO.

The hand was at a full ring PLO25 table. A couple of orbits before, I had been involved in about a $30 pot against a player I’ll call TinyTim. In that hand, I’d picked up in middle position and open-raised pot (to 85 cents). A couple of players folded, then TinyTim reraised pot (to $2.90), leaving himself about $12 behind. When the table folded back to me, I decided I liked my other two cards well enough to go ahead and gamble, and we reraised each other until TinyTim was all in. Turned out he had , and when a third club came out on the river, he took the pot.

Such is life. I wasn’t felted, though I only had a few bucks left, so I rebought, and after a while had a stack of $30.65. Meanwhile, TinyTim had gradually slipped back down to $28.75 when the following hand took place.

I was in late position where I was dealt . Kind of an iffy hand (be a lot nicer with the ace instead of the king), but good enough to try to see a cheap flop with it. Three players limped, and I did as well. So did the player to my left. Then TinyTim raised to $1.25 -- not quite a full-pot raise. The button called the raise, as did the small blind. The big blind folded, a couple more players called, then the short-stacked player to my left decided to push all in for $4.20 total.

So much for the cheap flop. I debated a moment, then called hoping to we were about to see a nice, big family pot here. A sketchy move, really, as TinyTim could very well be primed to repop it. But he didn’t. He just called the raise, as did three other players. When the preflop action had completed, we had six players in the hand, two of whom were now all in, and an overall pot of around 26 bucks.

The flop came . I had a king-high flush draw, and some faint backdoor possibilities. We all checked to TinyTim who made a frightened-looking bet of $2. The sort of bet that looks like he has a couple of kings or queens, or maybe something that completely whiffed like J-10-9-8. The other two players still with chips both called, and sitting there looking at 16-to-1 or whatever, I called as well.

The turn was the . Now I had two flush draws, plus a wrap straight draw. I was almost interested enough to bet out at this point, but when it checked to me I checked as well, mentally gauging what size bet I’d be willing to call in this spot. TinyTim again made a bet of $2, and again both of the other players called. With $38 or so in the middle, I was more than glad to part with two more bucks to see the river.

The river was the . I’d made a club flush, though the highest club in my hand was a seven. And with five other players involved, I wasn’t confident I had the best hand. It again checked to me, I checked, and TinyTim checked behind.

Showdown. I show my flush, and one by one all of the other players muck. God Bless Us, Every One! I’d won the $40-ish pot!

What about TinyTim, our preflop raiser whose small bets on the flop and turn we all called? What did he have?

.

That’s right. With that big crowd forming preflop, TinyTim had just called the short stack’s reraise with his double-suited aces. Then, after flopping top set and the nut flush draw, he bet just two bucks into a $26 pot. Then, after the turn put a possible straight on the board, he’d kept on with the tiptoeing, betting just two bucks again.

Any post-flop aggression at all -- from anybody -- and I’m almost assuredly outta there. But in his effort to keep the pot small, TinyTim gave it all away.

I’ll be honest -- after a not-so-hot couple of weeks, I was more than glad to accept TinyTim’s early Xmas gift. Like I say, I’d been feeling snakebit to the point where I, too, would get a little antsy any time I’d be dealt aces or flopped strong hands/draws versus multiple opponents like that. (Of course, I certainly wasn’t hesitating quite so much after flopping top sets & nut flush draws!) So it was nice to fall into one like that, for a change.

Think I’ll go pour myself a cup of Egg Nog to mark the occasion.