Ahhhh! A poker post! It has been a while but this was what was likely to be a once in a lifetime this… after all, I don’t play in non-tournaments games in casinos very often and you need to play in cash games to qualify for the jackpots…
This was easily the most exciting event to happen to me in a casino (and that includes the night we had the Las Vegas police department show up at the hotel door, responding to a complaint.)
Jolene and I went up to Snoqualmie Casino the other night. We went after dinner but still early – got into the poker room just after 6pm and I sat down at a 2-5 table.
I usually play tournaments to keep a limited amount of money on the table… the truth is that tournaments are risky things. You put up a small amount of money but then you have to play for a long, long time to get into the money. Say 40 people enter – maybe only 5 get cash back. You could play for hours at a time and not get a dime. The flip side is that of a cash game, but the tricky part in that is that you need money to make money. Well, it works out in that the bigger your stack at the table, the better your chances are to make money – more chips mean that you can push people around and that often means more success in the game.
As with my previous times of playing at a cash table, I put $100 on the table. This usually starts me out as the Short Stack. In my experiences, the people around the table usually have anywhere from $300 to $3000 in chips either because they came stacked to play or because they’ve won a lot… either way, I’m almost never in a position to push people around – it means I need to use luck and skill to win hands.
And so I sat down at this table where the Small Blind was $2, the Big Blind $5, making the “standard raise” was $15. On the second hand, I’m looking at AKo in my hand. By the end of the third hand, I’m down $50. Yes, I chased that which I should not have. Yes, I jumped right into the table, instead of seeing how people played. I paid the price for both things and slowed down, quickly. Won a hand or two and hovered at $75 and then slowly slid down.
After about 30 minutes I found myself at a table with five other players, stack reduced to $45, and looking down at Pocket 8’s on the Button. I thought “people have won with less crap than this” and raised to $15. Small blind calls; two others did as well.
The Flop comes up with a Rainbow 8TT. Only one word in my head: “Jackpot!” The first three players check; I bet out $15. The Small Blind insta-calls. Two other guys fold. I look at the Small Blind and think “Ah, well, if he has Tx I’ll make bank – if he has T8, then it’s an honorable loss… painful, but I could live with that.”
The Turn is 5s. Small Blind says “Well, I see that you only have $15 behind the line… I’ll put ya All-In.” I say, “I call – I’ve got a boat [full house]: 8’s over 10’s.” Small Blind says, “Ah. Well. I just hit in the Monte Carlo,” and flips over Pocket 10’s.
In a casino, most Poker Rooms have jackpots… bonuses, in a sense. Almost all rooms that offer such an offer has at least one: royal flushes. They often run four different amounts, one for each suite, and they grow on a daily basis. If they are hit, they reset to the lowest amount, and the process starts again. At Snoqualmie, they offer a jackpot for four-of-a-kind, also known as Quads. And the Small Blind just hit the jackpot for Quad 10’s.
Of course, this leaves me drawing dead. There’s no way for me to beat Quad 10’s with my hand. Nothing. If this was a Poker TV show I’d have a 0% next my name – my opponent would have 100% with a check mark, as the winner. I pushed back from the table and got ready to get up, when the guy across from me says, “wait – if he gets an 8 on the River, it’ll be a Bad Beat!”
That’s when I remembered that most Poker Rooms have two jackpots. The first being the Monte Carlo; the second being the Bad Beat Jackpot. You see, it’s a nice bit for the players. It’s for situations where two players go up against each other with two awesome hands and one hand slightly edges out the other. This way, the winner of the hand wins the pot but the loser get compensated for losing. It helps ease the pain of a bad loss and can often generate excitement for the room. It’s the ultimate Get Out Of Jail Free card for poker players. For this hand, if I had Quad 8’s and someone else had Quad 10’s, I would have been dealt a Bad Beat and that triggers the jackpot.
As I stood up, everyone else around the table got up as well. The three guys across the table are chanting “EIGHT! EIGHT! EIGHT!” The Small Blind is watching with disbelief. I’m just waiting for the last card so Jolene and I can leave. The dealer pulls the last card and puts down the River…
Eight of spades.
The place erupts! While the other guy won the hand, the most he could have gotten out of me was $45. If this was against one of the other players, this guy would have cleaned him out as well but for a whole lot more money. He also got the Monte Carlo. But so did I, since I also had Quads. I also got 50% of the Bad Beat Jackpot; the other guy got 25% and the other four players at the table split the other 25% four ways. The only losers in this hand were me and the casino!
\Some people at the place told me this was the most exciting Bad Beat they had ever seen because it all happened on the River – this was the only one I’ve ever seen, much less have won… even so.
I couldn’t agree more.