Northwoods Poker: Year 2

My folks have a lake house in northern Wisconsin that I visit every year.  [Total sidenote: Phil Hellmuth's parents also have a place up here.]  I’m up here every summer.  Since there’s an Indian Casino up here, I visited last year and got a chance to spend just one night there this last week.  Sadly the poker room is only open Thursday-Sunday–and I went last night (Sunday) and they had shut down the game for lack of interest (by the time I got there at 8 PM!)

It was good night of poker.  The table is all old guys, so the game is pretty slow and tight.  Here are the three hands that were interesting.

All hands $1/2 NLHE.

First hand after I sit down and buy in for $200.  I don’t have to post and I sit down on the button.  I love that.  I have 88 and I raise the two limpers to $12, BB calls as do both limpers.  Flop comes 8c Ac x.   Check, check, check, I bet $25.  Fold, fold, call.  Turn is the Jc.  Check, I bet $40, call.  The river is Tc.  He leads out with $65, I don’t hesitate to fold.  He shows his Kc Qc royal flush anyway.  I think my turn bet was a bit spewy anyway, the river fold was easy, but it was fun to see a royal anyway.

I end up losing a little more and add on $80 to top up my stack to $200.  I catch some good hands for an hour and I end up with a $300 stack, which matches most of the big stacks on the table.  This time I get 99 in the CO and I raise the three limpers to $15.  I get 2 callers.  The flop comes 2h 6d 9d.  Checks to me and I bet $35 and get a call.  The turn is something like Jc.  I bet $80, this time to protect, he calls.  The river is a 2, giving me a full boat.  He shoves in front of me for less than a half-pot bet and I don’t have any hesitation calling.  I show the 9s and he turns pocket 6s.  Boat over boat in my favor!  He had something like $150 on the table, so that was a nice pot to win.

I have some more success, nothing insane, but I stack up a little more even.  I’ve got a stack around $550 or so ( I could figure it out exactly if I weren’t so lazy).  They tell us that this is the last hand.  I instruct the dealer to make it the bad beat so we can take the $14K jackpot.  She deals me KK in the CO.  Early position bets $8 and gets a call.  I make it $25 and both call.  The flop comes something innocuous like 2x 4c 7c.  Early position shoves for $110ish, other player calls with $40 behind.  I shove to get the other $40 on the table and they both flip over small flush draws.  Early position has a gutshot to go with it.  Unbelievably my kings hold up and I take down the pot and drive back $450 richer.  Kings held up with 2 other players in the pot all in on the flop!

Wish I could play there again.