Hammer Time

"...he's got a vibrating horseshoe lodged nineteen feet up his ass." - James McManus - Positively Fifth Street - talking about Chris "Jesus" Ferguson at the final table of the WSOP.

Yesterday was one of those days where I was just looking to push the bankroll that $10 I needed to move into the $1/$2 arena.  Nothing fancy.  Since it was my one day off in the 11 I'm working these two weeks, I figured it was a good day to tweak the bankroll up and make a shot at the next level.

After a nice shower and some Headline News over breakfast, I went to work.

An hour and a half later, I walk away from two $.50/$1.00 tables up an incredible +$52!  The deck simply ran over me.  I sit down at one table, post in the cutoff and get dealt T4o.  Okay, whatever.  No less the 8 limpers in the hand and the flop comes KdJs4d.  So, I'm ready to send this hand to the muck when, incredibly, it's checked around!  The turn is a Th giving me bottom two pair.  I'm not in love with it, but I have to assume that since it was checked around that either no one has anything or someone is slowplaying (yeah, Party rules).  BB wakes up and tosses a buck out and it's called 2 ways to me.  I pop a raise to see where I'm at.  SB mucks and the other three call.  12BB in the pot and the river?  An incredibly beautiful 4h, and my insta-muck pre-flop hand is now a monster.  In true Party style, late position bets out and I'm only too happy to pop a raise.  BB and UTG fold and late position calls and shows AdTc and I rake the 15BB pot.  I had found the perfect table.

 

3 hands later the Hilton Sisters pay a visit, call a friend on the flop, and charters a boat on the river for another 15BB pot.  A couple more 10BB pots and I'm sitting incredibly well.

The other table was, remarkably, better.  This one had the occasional pre-flop raise but it didn't matter.  I was en fuego hitting the draws.  No incredibly huge pots on that table, but just a nice steady diet of $6 and $7 wins.

Thrilled to be finally over the hump, I decide to unwind with a little no-limit Sit and Go action.  I really just wanted to screw around and not have to worry about winning it, so I logged into a $5+$1 sit and go.  After a rough start, I managed to bag a second place in that, for an additional $9 to the bank.

Later that evening, I decide it's time to make the jump.  Logging onto Party I see that we're again at damn near 40,000 people on.  I toss around whether I want to sit down at a full ring table or a 6 Max table.  Peeking into a couple of full ring tables and seeing the waiting list made the decision for me, and I sit down at a shorthanded table and prepare for battle.

Second hand I'm dealt QcAc in the small blind.  One guy limps ahead of me and I pop a raise.  BB calls it and the limper now raises it?!  I recognize immediately the Party Poker special, the limp/raise and call it down.  Flop is 6h9sQd, giving me top pair, top kicker.  I throw a bet out and limp/raiser-boy raises me again, so I go to check/call mode on the turn (Kh) and river (6c).  He turns over TT and I rake the $20 pot.

This is the kind of game it would be all day.  I can't tell you how many times I saw the feared "total river bluff" from these guys.  As I always do with the short handed games, I use PokerTracker's Gametime window, and it showed that of the 5 people at the table, 4 of them had VP$IP percentages over 50%.

An hour and 40 minutes later, I leave the table up +$84.50, and what I believe is my winningest day so far since I started this.  All told, the bankroll was padded an additional $145.36 after the dust settled.

The question though is, was the $1/$2 game a fluke, or have they gotten even SOFTER then they were when I was running them over a few months ago?  If I can keep finding tables like this shorthanded, there's no reason for me at all to ever go to the $1/$2 full ring tables.  I imagine, though, that the inherent variance on the shorthanded tables will rear it's ugly head.

For today, though, I'm feeling pretty damn good.

Oh, and just when you though the Most Holy and Apostolic HAMMER had lost it's punch...



Party Poker 1/2 Hold'em (6 max, 6 handed)


Preflop: The ICP is SB with 2c, 7s.
4 folds, The ICP completes, BB raises, The ICP calls.


Flop: (4 SB) 3s, 2d, 2h (2 players)
The ICP bets, BB raises, The ICP 3-bets, BB calls.


Turn: (5 BB) 5h (2 players)
The ICP bets, BB calls.


River: (7 BB) Jd (2 players)
The ICP bets, BB calls.


Final Pot: 9 BB
Main Pot: 9 BB, between The ICP and BB. >
Results:
The ICP shows 2c 7s (three of a kind, twos).
BB shows 5d Ac (two pair, fives and twos).
Outcome: The ICP wins 9 BB.