The Hammer Strikes!!!

What a truly amazing run of cards I had last night at my home game. Let me just preface this post with a hint that The Hammer was unleashed in full force.

I had a feeling I'd be doing pretty well, when during the very first hand of 3/6 Hold 'em I was dealt K,Q clubs. The flop was Kxx and I bet out. By the end of the hand I was up against a guy who'll chase anything, most likely having an A this time. This guy's an accountant and great with numbers when it involves banking. When it involves real math, like calculating pot odds and outs vs. cards left, he's a calling/chasing station. He calls me down to show A,10 offsuit. Meanwhile, my Q paired up as well so it looks like he was chasing the straight as well.

The next hand is 7 card stud, high only. We play a lot of hi/lo games, but as it's dealer choice, the high only option was chosen. I'm dealt K,K down with a 4 showing. The calling station from the previous hand shows an A and bets out. I call, 4th street brings me a 3rd K and pairs the A's for the calling station. At this point, my hand is so well hidden, I decide to just call and see what happens. I also don't want to be betting into trip A's. 5th street brings me the case K. Unreal. As it's still only 5th street, I decide to again just call. The last two cards see me raise for all I'm worth. Turns out waiting a bit seemed to help pay me off as another player drew his straight and raised me during the showdown. Sorry Charlie, 4 of a kind beats a straight. After the first 2 hands, I'm up close to $60.

There were a few more memorable hands. In an Omaha/8 game, I'm dealt nothing super, but decide to see a flop. J,J,2 arrives and lo and behold, a 3rd J actually is in my hand. I simply call the betting at this point, but when 4th street brings the case J, I'm amazed at my luck. I begin to raise, and to my surprise, am called by 3 people. I'm thinking that this is Party Poker come to life right in front of me. Turns out, 2 others were holding A,A and K,K respectively and understandably thought nobody had the 4th J. Oh well, I get to sweep up another huge pot.

Then, it comes.

Hold 'em 3/6 and I peek down to see The Hammer. "Self," I say, "this is a great hand to just bluff big time." I hadn't needed to bluff a hand all night, but with what I've been showing, mixing it up now seemed like a good idea. The guy in seat 4 brings it in pre-flop with a $3 bet and I bump to $6. One more caller including the original bettor see the flop. I'm very curious as to how well I can play The Hammer post flop. Well, it turns out to be really easy. I see a 2, then a 7, then an unbelievable second 2. I flop a boat with The Hammer! Now, let me say that usually, well maybe almost all the time, whenever I'm pre-flop raising at our home game, it's no surprise that I'm usually holding a high pair or A,K through A,J. So when the 2,7,2 flop hits, nobody, and I mean nobody, is going to put me on 7,2. I max out the betting whenever I can, and 1 caller shows me AK after the hand is over. I say "Well, I normally don't raise this hand pre-flop, but...." After I show my 7,2, the table is in shock. Both at the fact that I raised pre-flop with 7,2 and with the fact that I flopped the boat when I did it. It was truly my night.

A couple of other unlikely hands earned me more cash. A J,9 offsuit that I limped into flopped 8,10,Q. Sweet. An Omaha/8 game where I held A,2,7,10 flopped J,9,4. Runner, runner of 6,8 let me take both the high and the low.

All in all I won $267 at my home game. Now here's my connondrum. How to split it up between giving money to the wife to buy clothes vs. getting lap dances this weekend. I've always been told that life is full of tough decisions.