The Mighty Jack-Six

Good afternoon everyone.  Today's post is bound to get me into trouble in the sense that I will probably forget that I told you some of these stories and will inevitably end up reposting them at a later date.  These are hands that I can recall playing as I sit in my computer chair right now, without the aid of looking back in my notes, and my hope is that these short stories will help you fondly remember poker hands that you have played in the past.

Jack-six...  I can't even think about this specific hand without smiling.  I was at the Mirage in Las Vegas playing at a 3-6 limit table (the 3-6 limit game at the Mirage is where I did a lot of my undergraduate work in the game of poker).  This hand occurred during the time when I was still playing SUPER-TIGHT, which just makes the story even better.  Let me also say right now that there have been many times after I have been sitting at the poker table for hours that I have just got 'the feeling' that I should play a hand.  I usually haven't acted on this feeling, as the hands have been less than stellar (or I would have played them anyway), but in this case...  :)  I was dealt the jack-six (offsuit no less), and I wasn't even in position, but I just felt like I should play it (and again, this came during a session where I was folding many, MANY hands...  I put my three one-dollar chips into the pot and waited for the flop...  Six, Six, Jack...  :)  I still remember sitting in the two-seat, and how INCREDULOUS the guy in the five-seat was that I even played the hand, ESPECIALLY after I said, "yeah, I was gonna fold it, but I just had a feeling..."

Pocket eights...  This hand occurred on New Year's Eve at Green Valley Ranch in a 4-8 limit game.  I was sitting the three-seat and the victim was sitting in the six-seat.  One drawback to playing tight is that you don't make as much money in many cases when you hit a good hand because if you bet out, your opponents will fold.  So sometimes you have to slowplay your hand and just check and call...  Ha ha ha...  So I'm dealt pocket eights and the flop comes 8 x x.  The turn is the case 8...  The river doesn't matter of course...  :)  I don't even remember how many players saw the flop, but the man in the six-seat, who was at least in his 50's, and probably his 60's, is the player who matters.  After the flop, I check, he bets, and I call.  After the turn, I check, he bets, and I call.  After the river, I check, and he checks.  When I flip over my quad-eights, I say (in all honestly), "I thought you were going to bet again..."  I didn't mean to make him mad, but when he saw my hand,  he was just STARING DAGGERS at me...  What made it worse is that while he's staring me down, the dealer is doing NOTHING (by this I don't mean I expected the dealer to take a bullet for me, but the dealer isn't killing the man's hand, or pushing me the pot, etc...), so this staring goes on for literally 10-15 seconds...  :)

When I was very new to the game of hold 'em, I played two of my first sessions of 4-8 limit at the Golden Nugget, in both sessions it took me over an hour and a half to win my first hand, and in both cases I won the hand with pocket queens.  During this time period I also thought that king-jack and king-ten were excellent poker hands because I seemed to end up with a full house every time that I played them...

I have been dealt pocket aces in back-to-back hands several times since I began playing poker, and once at the Mirage in a 3-6 limit game I was dealt aces 3 times in a row.  I won 2 of the 3 hands...

I hope that this entry brings back some memories for you poker players out there, and I will see you again on Friday.