Home game

In my last post I mention that I'd posted about the home game before. Glancing though my posts, it looks like I failed to mention it.

A friend of mine hosted a home game. He lives about an hour's drive away. Three of us carpooled to his house.

There were 13 players, who ranged from very experienced, to one who didn't know she could mix her hole cards with the cards on the table until I pointed it out to her mid-way through the first game.

On hand #1 a ton of people limped in, including myself. On the flop everyone checked until it got to me, so I raised with *nothing.* I didn't even have paint. Several people folded, a couple called.
On the turn they checked so I raised again, this time several big blinds.
One guy folded, one called.
On the river he limped in again so I fired a larger bet at the pot. I still had nothing.
He folded, and I won. (Chip leader!)

Hand #2 was pretty similar. I had nothing but was able to bluff everyone off the pot.

On hand #3 someone fought back so I folded and started playing a bit more conservative.

I ended up getting knocked out of the first game about half way through. I wasn't playing my A game. I completely forgot to look for tells. I pretty much just played my cards, and played according to people's moves. It was early and I just didn't have my head in the game.

Half way through game #2 I started looking for tells, so I made a few good calls to keep me in the game. I was still gambled too much, but I wasn't as bad as in game #1.
The woman on my right won a *monster* pot. Several people got knocked out at once, giving her half the chips at the table. By the end of the game there were three of us left. I had about 2 big blinds, and the woman to my left had 1.5 big blinds. We only paid first and second place so it was pretty much a game of waiting, and Russian roulette between the other short-stack and I. It was a battle for second place.
I survived an all-in first.
She survived the second.
I folded a big and small blind.
Then, thankfully, she went all-in and lost. Whew!
I went all-in the next hand with King/rag. The chip leader called with 10/rag, and there was a 10 on the flop. The turn and river were uneventful, so she won... not that I had much of a chance anyway.

In game #3 I forced myself to pay attention to reading people. I was going to hunt for tells if it killed me. And you know what? I picked some up!

The guy who had been beating me up all night (he took me out of the first game, took half my chips in the second came, and took half my chips in the third game when my pocked K/K didn't beat his river flush) had a big tell. I didn't see it until I slid over to across the table after the guy to my left was knocked out. But there it was, as plain as day.

We were in a hand together, I noticed that he gave a classic "I missed the flop" tell, and I re-raised him with my second pair. He re-raised me all-in and I called, much to his chagrin.
I doubled up that hand.

A few hands later the same thing happened. I won with second pair when I saw that he was bluffing.

A few hands later I saw he was weak, moved him all-in, and he called. I felted him!

By the time that game got heads up I had a 3/1 chip lead on my competition, my designated driver. It was 1:00am and the host had fallen asleep on the sofa. Everyone else had left, so I offered to split the payout 50/50, which he accepted.

I made a profit for the night, my friend (thanks to the split) broke even, and the other carpool buddy was down for the night. But combining our wins and losses, as a group the three of us broke even.