Live... from the Bike! (but not live as in now)

Over the past weekend ( a few weekends ago.. ) the in-laws came down for a visit. Normally, most people cringe when they hear that the in-laws are coming for a visit, or at least that’s what Hollywood wants you to think. For me, it’s excitement. I love my in-laws and my in-laws like to play poker. Added bonus, my mother in-laws brother, loves to play poker and lives 10 minutes from The Bike. Guess how I spent my Saturday night?

After some lovely food from Chris and Pitts, my first stop at The Bike was the restroom. After that, it was to the welcome center to get me a new fangled players club card. Mine is nice and shiny, while my uncle’s is tattered and torn. My uncle, who is called Uncle_Columbo by the rest of the family because he looks like Uncle_Columbo (Peter Falk kind and not WPBT Columbo), has been playing poker for over 40 years. My mother in-law has never played at a casino before and I wasn’t bankrolled to play too high, so Uncle_Columbo slummed it up a bit and we all signed up for the $1/$2 limit tables. Eventually the list got big enough to open a new table, so all 9 players names were called and we all took our seats, with 4 of the 9 players being family. I took the #4 seat, my mother in-law took seat #5, Uncle_Columbo took seat #6 and R took seat #3. Let the games begin.

The table was quite loose pre flop with 6.5 players seeing each flop. Cold calling a raise and re-raise was the norm. The loose table tightened up a bit after the flop. Then there ware Newman. This guy hit on my wife while she was looking for her Dad and when a new tabled opened up that we all were to be seated at, he slithered his way onto the table, most likely seeing fresh meat since half of the table have never played at the Bike before. Newman was an over-actor. He would always call bets to the river, with the nuts and only raising on the river. He would wait to see what you had and then he would pout, cry say “What do you have as a kicker? Awe man.. I HAVE THIS!” I saw him do this twice before we got into a pot together.. I was holding AJs and with a J high rainbow flop, bet out and he called, same with the turn and river, where he raised. Now, there wasn’t a flush and a possibility of a straight, but I had top pair to I called and flipped over AJ for a pair of Jacks, Ace high. Newman stands up and asks, “What’s your kicker? Ace.. awe man. I have ACES!” As soon as he started his act, I knew I was beat. Newman was also a prick. Not once, but three times he threw his cards at the dealer when a bad card came on the turn or river. Instead of mucking and moving on, he just treats his cards as bullets and tries to shoot the messenger. Prick.

Uncle_Columbo didn’t like slumming at the 1/2 limit tables and moved to the 1/2 No limit tables and did rather well after a roller coaster ride he left up a few buyins. I opted to stay at the limit tables to enjoy a game of cards with my mother in law. She loves the game, but non of her neighbors like to play and doesn’t really want to visit the nearby casino’s, so this was a real treat for her and myself. While neither of us left on a positive note, we had a lot of fun. My mother in law lasted the longest out of all of us playing for 3.5 hours on the same buyin and leaving with 1/3 of her buyin. I left with 1/5 my initial buyin.

One point to note, after I played a hand with a lady who was uber tight where I made a bet on the river with Ace high, she thought for a bit and folded. Two hands later, she leaned over and asked, “What did you have that hand that I folded?” I told her that I had Ace high and she frowned. I assume she had me beat. She told the dealer that she wanted to sit out for a while and watch me. Holy shit. I do not claim to be a good player, but this lady wanted to devote her full attention to watch and study my actions. That shocked me, but I continued to play as normal and an orbit and a half she started to play again, but never took a pot from me. I do not think I played very well, cashing a lot oh hands that never hit by the turn and folded most of my buyin away. I plan on hitting up the Bike again, but I think I’ll donk it up at the no limit tables.