Low Limit Poker with the Family

About twice per year, the men of our family get together for some poker.  We play low limit to keep it “friendly.”  I say “friendly” because when you get brothers together, there is always a fair amount of competition…and it bleeds thru to our poker game.  There’s never any trouble, just a fair amount of name-calling and belching in the general direction of the person who took a pot from you.  “High quality family time” (read “happy hour”) begins at about 7 pm and continues until sometime between 3 and 5 am.  This particular game ran until 5am…which doesn’t make my wife too happy, but she generally understands it’s only twice per year. 

We typically play hold’em, pineapple, Omaha, Omaha hi/lo, 5 card stud and 7 card stud (with a stupid wildcard variant every now and then).  I’m not a huge fan of the wild card games like baseball…mostly because I always seem to get burned when I have quad aces, running into straight flushes like a champ!   This always brings out the name-calling: “cork soaker”, “farging icehole”, “c0ck block”, “f%^kstick”…you get the idea.  During these low limit games, I’m not there to make money, so I will see about 80% of the flops.  Nothing makes me happier than taking down a pot from my brothers with 59off.  

Here are some of the memorable hands:

Playing Omaha, I’m in the big blind, brother #1 raises, cousin #1 calls from middle position, father in-law calls from the button.  I haven’t looked at my cards yet, but I tell brother #1 “I’m calling blind cuz you know that I own you tonight.”  The flop comes 10♣ Q♥ Q♠, I still haven’t looked at my cards, so I check.  Bro #1 bets, cousin #1 folds, father in-law calls, I decide to look at my cards, squeezing them one at a time.  First card – 4, second card Q, third card 5, fourth card Q.  DAMN.  Is there a better feeling than knowing you have the nuts?  I call.  Turn comes 8♣.  Bro #1 bets, father-in-law calls, I raise, bro #1 re-raises, FiL folds, I cap it.  River is 3♣.  I bet, bro #1 raises, I re-raise, he calls and says “I suppose you have the one hand that will beat me, you have the full house, right?”  Me: “Well, I don’t have a full house, but I think I have another hand that will beat you.”  Bro #1: “Every f$%king time, you are the cooler.”  That’s right, Snapper, now slide those chips my way.

Later in the night, as the low limit stragglers bust out and don’t buy back in, we decide to switch it up and play some no limit hold ‘em.  By this time, I’m 3 sheets to the wind, feelin’ no pain and up a fair amount, so it was cool by me.  Two hands into NL, here’s how it went:  Bro #1 raises to 3x BB and gets 3 callers (myself included from SB with 10♣ 8♣).  Flop comes 4 Q Q.  I check, Bro #1 bets 3x BB, MP folds, FiL raises 5x Bro #1’s bet, I fold, Bro #1 says “I’m calling no matter what you bet.”  Turn comes J.  I’m thinking that at least one of them has the Q when Bro #1 says “I’m all in” for about 2/3 of the pot.  FiL looks at his hole cards and calls immediately (he has Bro #1 covered).  Bro # 1 flips over 6 6 and FiL flips over J J for the boat, river didn’t matter.  Bro #1 muddles something under his breath, then goes to crash on the couch.  66?  WTF?  Definitely not a move I would have made at that point, but what the heck do I know?

Four handed, I’m in the SB with AA.  Cousin #1 calls, FiL calls from the button, I raise to 10x BB.  Cousin #2 calls from the BB, cousin #1 folds, FiL calls.  Flop comes 4 A 10.  I hate this flop…hate it.  So, I move all in for about 2x the pot.  Cousin #2 thinks about it, then calls.  FiL folds.  Cousin #2turns over 39.  Huh?  I seriously did a full on Scooby Doo “RRRHUH?”  Ballsy, stupid, bonehead, whatever name you give him, I prefer Cousin #2 who politely waits for the perfect opportunity to dump his chips in my lap.  Turn was the 10 and that’s all she wrote.

Around 4:45am, we decide that we will only play until 5am.  Around 4:50 (playing 3 handed), the following hand takes place:  I’m in the SB with Q9.  FiL raises to 2x BB from the button, I call and cousin #1 calls.  All skate and here comes my dream flop: J 10 8.  Honestly, I had to look at my cards twice to make sure I wasn’t looking at them wrong from all the Coronas.  I check, cousin #1 bets 2/3 of the pot, FiL re-raises to 5x c#1’s bet, I think about it for a few seconds and then raise to 2x FiL’s bet.  Cousin #1 calls all in for about half of my bet and FiL calls also.  Turn is 7.  I push all-in for about ¾ of the pot.  FiL takes his sweet time counting out the chips then pushes them into the pot (he had me covered).  Cousin #1 turns over Q3 for an overcard and a prayer and FiL turns over JJ for top trips and I have to sweat the last card.  River is a freaking……………4.  I take down the biggest pot ever at our family game.  I have mixed feelings about this…I had no real desire to make money, but the competitive side has a way of taking over and making me try as hard as I can to win any pot whether it’s $2 or $300…I just want to win.