Pay that man his money

Five hours ago, I had about $200 in chips stacked in front of me. 60 minutes later, I cashed out with $82 and went to bed. After about four hours of shuteye, I'm here to talk about it.

It was a friendly table in the Sunset Station Casino Poker Room. For awhile, I was the only one in the group of eight who didn't know everyone on a first name basis. That's usually not a good sign at a poker table, but there were no shenanigans going on. For a couple of hours, I hovered right around the break-even point. After a cold start, I hit a few pots to bring me back to my original $140, and then up to around that $200 mark for a quite awhile. A full house and a couple of flushes spiked my chip count to probably $250 or better at one point.

Then Bob joined the table. Bob is a lovable old man with an unassuming smile and no unfriendly bone in his body. Until you put a couple of cards face down in front of him.

The very first pocket dealt to me after he sat down was a pair of kings. We were playing at a *limit* table so the betting and raising is pretty much set. I raised appropriately and he was one of two other players to stay in the hand.

The flop came out 5-Q-8 rainbow. I bet the max, he called, everyone else dropped out. Fourth card up was a 2. No help for anyone. I bet the max, he called. I'm figuring he has a Q in his pocket. River card is a 10. I bet the max, he called. I turned over my fancy pair of kings which were dominated by his pocket pair of queens. Bob hit the set on the flop and I just continued betting into the teeth.

That hand cost me $28.

A few hands later, Bob called my bets all the way to the river again. I had top pair and had the leading hand after the turn card. The river handed him two pair, so he took another $24 from me.

About five hours ago, I was dealt Q-J. I didn't raise, and four players stayed in the hand. The flop came 3-5-6. One guy bet the $4 minimum and everyone called. Then a Queen hit on the turn. The players checked around, so I bet the standard $8. Two guys dropped, Bob stayed in the hand. Final card: 10. I had the top pair again. I bet $8. Bob called. I showed my pair of queens, then Bob quietly turned over a 10-6. Yeah, Bob called $12 worth of bets with a pair of 6s and then hit his two pair on the river card. Again.

That hand cost me $24. Bob made $76 off me in about an hour. I hate that Bob.

So now, even though I played poker until 2 AM, it's 6:30 and I'm wide awake. Only two days removed from Michigan, my body clock hasn't quite adjusted. Tomorrow morning, I will be out the door by 4:15 AM to catch a 6:00 flight. I'm sure my body clock is going to catch up by then. If you happen to hear an unusually loud 757 flying overhead Friday morning, that's just two big engines and someone snoring like a howler monkey in seat 30A.

Toodles.