The Anchor

It's never fun being the one to bring down your team. But that's precisely what I did last night in a session at Motor City Casino. First, let me explain "team". Me and my buddy Ryan were down there, and we were splitting equity 50/50, despite sitting at different tables, and different limits.

By the time I got there at about 9:45pm, Ryan was already in a 1/2 game, and I was waiting on both the 1/2 and 2/5 lists. I didn't get into a game until close to 11pm, and it was the 2/5 game. By that point, Ryan was already up 400, giving me a little bit of a cushion to work with.

First hand of significance

I was already down about 75 after a failed continuation bet, when I opened with AdQd to 20. I got called by 2 players, one of which was extremely loose and who I had pegged as a weak spot at the table, but he had position on me. The flop came Qx7x2d, really good for me, and I bet 40, and got called by the loose player who had position on me. The turn was about the best I could hope for, the 6d, giving me TPTK and the nut flush draw. Maybe I should check raise here? I decided I wanted to keep the initiative and bet 95 (pot was 140), and he folded to my disappointment.

Cooler

An EP player raised to 15, which tends to be on the small side for this game, and usually ends up being a speculative hand. There were two callers, and I called with JTo from the button. I actually think JT is the most overrated hand in NL holdem....maybe it's because I never seem to make a big hand with it, but I just tend to think it's overplayed. That being said, calling 15 into a reasonably big pot, with the best position seems like a no brainer. The flop came JhTd5h. The preflop raiser checked, next player checked, and the CO quickly bet 45. He was a hispanic player who had been flopping around quite a bit, and showing a good bit of aggression to that point. I elected to raise to 120, due to the draw heavy board texture. The other 2 players folded, and the villain decided to quickly shove for 380. I think there's a very good chance of him having a combo draw here, and TT and JJ are pretty unlikely. So the only real hand I am afraid of is 55. So I called reasonably quickly. The turn was a 9h, which just about guaranteed to me that I lost the pot. The river was a blank, and he slowly rolled over 55...obviously thinking he was beaten too.

After the hand, I considered whether or not I could have gotten away cheap by smooth calling the flop, since we would have both likely slowed down on the 9h turn, but I think that is just being results oriented.

Crazy hand in main game

After moving to the main game, I saw a crazy hand. Another player who just got moved to the game raised preflop to 25, and got 2 callers. The flop was 876 with 2 spades. The PF raiser (playing over 1200) overbet the pot for 160, the loosest player in the world who is also aggressive called (also playing over 1200) called, and another player went all-in for 185. The turn was the Kc. The PF raiser checked, and the loose player immediately declares all-in. The PF raiser SNAP calls for almost 1150. The river is a blank, and the shover shows AsKs, for TPTK and missed flush draw. Amazingly that is good, as the short stack had Qs3s, and the snap caller didn't show, though he said he had TT???

Valuetown?

The two loosest players in the game limp (the first one being the winner from the hand above). I raise KK to 30 (playing about 400), which in hindsight is small considering who the limpers were, as I was almost 100% sure that at least one of them would call. I should have raised to 40-45. The SB (stack of about 250) calls, and then both loose players not surprisingly call. The flop comes QsQc5s. They all check to me, and I decide to check, which I think is fine, since to get any real value from the hand I probably have to check at least one street in this hand. The turn is a 4h. They all check to me, and I think I make a mistake and check again....as I would never check a Queen on both the flop and turn. In hindsight I would bet 60-70. The river s a 3x, making the board QQ543. They all check to me again, and at this point I feel that I can value bet, and get looked up by almost any pair. I bet 60, the SB calls, and the rest fold. I roll over my Kings, and he rolls over AQ. No matter what I am pretty sure I lost as close to the minimum as possible, unless I check all 3 streets.

WTF?

After losing another hand, I am playing short, with about 275-300. One player limps, and I raise to 25 with AKo. There are 3 callers, and then the hispanic from earlier shoves for 125 from one of the blinds. I overshove all-in, and then the guy who snap called TT earlier in the huge pot goes all-in, and he covers me. The board comes out with a Queen on the the flop, and a T on the river. Obviously I know I am beat, but I'm not sure by what yet....the hispanic turns over AQ, the second time in a week where I lost with AK allin pre to AQ. Then the overshover shows JhTh, and rivered me for the sidepot, for a brilliant end to an ugly session.

Reload

I decided to give it another go at 1/2, and was up about 100 when this hand occurs. Very LAGGY guy who just doubled up with 66 after calling an all-in raise on a Q high board, raises a limper to 24 (only playing about 150). I have AKo, and 3 bet to 80, and he shoves for 150, which I obviously call, only to run into AA. I play a little while after that, but just mostly fold and decide to call it a night, down over a grand.

Aftermath

This is where the anchor part comes in. While I am getting my ass kicked, Ryan is taking names at 1/2, and is up over 500 since we were sharing (he also won 400 before I got there). So thanks to Ryan, despite losing 1100+, I only end up behind about 375. Of course I felt awful about this result, as losing someone else's money is even worse than losing your own. In the previous 2 times we split action, I won more than Ryan and had to give him some money, so this was bound to happen, it was just unfortunate that I got killed while he was doing the killing, so now I owe him a kick ass session.

Fortunately after I left, Ryan continued killing and ended up making over 1600 in his own session of 1/2.