From $5K to $39K: A Wild Night in the High-Stakes Limit Poker Trenches

They Say I Have Main Character Syndrome

It’s been about a month, but after a couple of really solid sessions, I got that itch to write again. I just felt called to share this one. But before we get into the nitty-gritty, a couple of things to get out of the way.

First, some people have accused me of having a bad case of 'Main Character Syndrome.' They say my posts are long and that I write like I’m the protagonist in my own story. This always confuses me. I mean, from whose perspective am I supposed to write? My dog's? I don't get it.

Second, and more importantly, this all went down in the $100/$200 LIMIT game at Bay101. It’s a monster of a game with $50/$100 blinds and a mandatory $200 straddle. For anyone who scoffs and says, “Limit poker is checkers, not chess,” I invite you to sit down in this game and see how quickly that theory crumbles.

The Insanity of 'Team Game'

This session took place during a non-stop “Team Game.” What the hell is that, you ask? Well, we break the table into teams—three teams of three, or four teams of two. You play hands like normal, but if your team wins a pot, you get a point. First team to 7 or 8 points wins, and the losers have to pay out, sometimes thousands of dollars.

Why do we do this? It’s simple, really. It completely torches any idea of playing 'optimal' poker. It forces the tightest, most 'mathematically solved' players to loosen up, gamble, and play like absolute maniacs. It gets A-players to play like C-players.

This game has evolved. It started at $80/$160. Not enough gamble. We added a straddle. Still not enough. We bumped it to $100/$200 with a mandatory straddle. Then came Team Game. But even that wasn't enough. We added a prop bet: win a hand with 7-2, and it’s worth two points. Still not enough! So we added two more bonus hands, 7-4 and 5-4. Finally, the action was sufficient.

A Table Full of Snipers

Sometimes I get lucky and find a donkey or two at the table. Not this time. The whole damn table was full of deadly snipers. To protect the not-so-innocent, I’ll use nicknames. We had Carlos Hathcock, the deadliest sniper in Marine Corps history. We had Chris Kyle, the Navy Seal. And we had Simo Häyhä, the Finnish “White Death,” maybe the greatest of all time. These guys are just that deadly at the poker table.

The Obligatory Bad Beat Story

Alright, let's get into it. I’ve got AQs on the button. Carlos opens, and my teammate Simo caps it at $400. I call, and a few others join. We're five-handed to a flop with $2,550 in the pot.

Flop: Ad Ks Qd

I’ve flopped top two pair, which feels great, but that board is ridiculously connected. Someone could easily have flopped the nuts with JT (what we call 'Asian Aces'), and there are sets and diamond draws everywhere.

Action explodes. It gets checked to Simo, he bets, I raise, and Carlos check-raises. Simo 3-bets, and I cap it. The pot is massive.

Turn: 5h. A total brick.

In a normal game, this action might thin the field, but not in Team Game. Carlos bets, Simo raises, and I make it three bets. Everyone calls. The pot is now almost $7,000.

River: Jc

My eyes close. I can feel the bullet. A jack on the river is the absolute worst card in the deck for me. It completes the straight for anyone holding a ten.

Carlos, who has been firing away, checks. Danger! The action checks around, and Carlos flips over... T7 offsuit. He rivered the straight with garbage. He just laughs, “For the TEAM, babayyy!” while his teammates celebrate. The rest of the table just heaps abuse on him.

Go home and get your fuckn shinebox!

I told him he just triggered an apoplectic response in me. You know that Key & Peele sketch? “You done messed up A-A-Ron!” I vowed right then and there that revenge would be mine.

Revenge is a Dish Best Served with Aces

A few orbits later, I pick up red Aces in the big blind. The pot is already capped four ways when it gets to me. Four of us see a flop of Jc 7c 2s. An ugly, draw-heavy board.

I bet, Chris Kyle raises, Carlos 3-bets (he has 7-2, going for the bonus!), and I cap it. Both call.

Turn: As

The Ace from Space! Tony G would be proud. I just made top set, and without that card, I would have been in a world of hurt. The betting gets capped again, three ways. The pot is over $5,000.

The river is a brick. Chris Kyle and Carlos both check to me. I bet, and Carlos, bless his heart, check-raises me again. I click it back, and the reality of his situation finally hits him. He just calls.

My pocket aces beat his 7-2, and the world makes sense again. The $6,400 pot slides my way. It was a great feeling, but honestly, it should have been bigger. It reminds me of that line from The Wolf of Wall Street:

“The year I turned 26... I made $49 million, which really pissed me off. Because it was 3 shy of a million a week.”

The Catalina Wine Mixer of Beats

Then came the soul-crusher. I’m teammates with Carlos and Chris Kyle, and we’re on game point. One more win and we take it down.

I have A5 of clubs. I cap it pre-flop, and we go six ways to a flop of As Td 9s. A wet, scary board. It gets checked to me, I bet... and everyone just calls. No raise. I almost fell out of my chair. “Is everyone feeling okay?” I asked.

Turn: 5d. The fuckn Catalina Wine Mixer! I just made two pair, crushing anyone holding AT or a hand like T9. Action erupts. It gets capped four ways and the pot swells to $6,000.

River: 4c. Looks safe to me.

But how was I to know that Simo was chasing me down the whole way with 2-3 of diamonds? He called a bet on a scary flop with nothing, then called four bets cold on the turn with a gutshot and a flush draw. He hit his straight on the river. How can you ever know that? That's information you can never possess.

“Did you know the human head weighs eight pounds?!”

The $7,800 pot was shoveled over to Simo. I was... rankled.

The very next hand, I flopped a set of sevens and turned a full house. Simo had top pair and we went six bets on the river. He was pissed. I just thought of that line from Glengarry Glen Ross:

“Don't say a word to me, Sidney, don't say a fuckn word to me. I'll get up and I'll bury this telephone in your head.”

The Final Tally

There were more hands, but that’s enough for one story. After all the chaos, the swings, and the movie quotes, I came out way ahead. I snapped a picture of my stack at the end of the night. I’d already loaned out $5k from it, but the profit was real. All told, I walked away with a profit of $34,125 for the session. It's nights like these that keep you coming back for more. Seeing that mountain of chips in front of you—whites, reds, greens, and blacks all mixed together—is a beautiful sight. It makes all the brutal beats and questionable calls worth it.

As another great movie character once said, “Sidney, siddown, relax, have a sandwich, drink a glass of milk, do some fuckin' thing.” It was a good night.