I play in a home game just about every Tuesday now. The guys have been playing it for a few months, I just got in a month ago, thanks to a guy I work with that is one of the regulars. We play 1-3 spread holdem with 1/2 blinds. Kind of a weird structure to get used to, but lately everyone comes in for a full $3 raise if they want to pop it.

I have yet to lose money in this game, even though I've had pretty crappy cards the last couple of weeks. I have seen guys drop in excess of $150 in one night, the average player loses $40 or so. There are 2 semi tricky guys that I worry about, the rest are just that bad.

One of the tricky guys plays pretty solid ABC stuff, but has a tendency to turn into a calling station every so often. He's not afraid to chase a gutshot if he has a high card or 3rd pair to go with it. I try not to bluff him too often, but because he almost never bets his draws it's pretty easy to get away from him when he does bet. He almost never raises without a good hand, at the very least he'll have top pair with a good kicker.

The other tricky guy (Joe) is partially psychotic. At least I think he is (I'm not a psychologist by trade, I just play one on TV). He is a semi-maniac type, probably an SLAA in PT. He will play relatively tight for a while, then just try to buy a pot (or bunch of pots if he can't buy the first one) by raising with anything and continuing to raise throughout the hand. He will bet the max on almost all his draws and will bet the river when he misses, no matter how obvious. I like playing against him for a couple of reasons. He will pay off my hands as long as his draws don't hit, and it is easy to get in his head and get him steaming.

I am probably a dick for this, but I really, really enjoy pissing off people like this. It's more fun to watch his blood pressure rise than it is to win his money (although the money part is nice too). It's not too often that we get heads up, but when we do it's always interesting.

Case in point - last night Joe was being about as reckless as I've ever seen. Played 2 hands blind (capping every street) and lost a bunch, chased and missed, and got sucked out a couple of times. So he was pretty ripe for the picking. I was down about $40 and we were getting close to wrapping it up when I look down at K5d in the cutoff. I don't like the hand and was all set to fold it when he raised from UTG. His raise was much more subdued than his normal actions, so he might have a hand this time. I still thought I smelled a steal so I flat called, along with the SB and BB.

Flop comes Q55 rainbow. I like this one a lot, of course. SB and BB check, he bets 3. I hem and haw (doing my best Johnny Chan vs Erik Seidel impression) and call him. SB folds, BB calls. Turn is a 9, with another diamond, so I now have a flush draw to go with my trip fives. BB checks, he bets 3. I look him right in the eye and raise 3 more (not my normal style, I tend to stare at the pot during a hand). BB folds and Joe says, "I know you would never play a 5 to a raise, so I think you're full of shit." and reraises. I say, "Well, it's gonna cost you a lot more to find out." and cap it. I am really liking the way this is playing out, he might have a Q, but he definitely does not have a 5 or an A high flush draw.

River is a blank (maybe an 8 or something) and he bets again. I raise. He looks like he will reraise me but I might have given the strength of my hand away when my hardon smacks into the table so he just calls. As he is prone to do (he hates to show his cards first) I ask him what he's got. He shows AQ with a cheesy grin....a grin that turns to a look of upcoming homicide when I flip my K5. Then it starts:

"How the f*ck can you call my raise with a freakin 5?"
"King f*ckin 5???? Are you shitting me???" (My reply to that was "Dude, they were suited you know.")
"I would never expect you to pull that crap on me, I freakin raised!!!"

At this point, as much as I hate to give lessons I just had to tell him. "Dude, you have been raising all night with crap. You raise all the time with crap. Do you really think that we should all fold whenever you raise because it might be the first time you actually have a hand? If you want to buy pots with junk then be prepared to lose them once in a while."

He was pretty quiet for the remaining half hour or so till we left. He ended the night down $120 or so.

I fell asleep with the same shit-eating grin, and think I woke up with it still stuck to my face this morning. I love poker sometimes!

I mean, i got no sympathy when i lay the smack down on someone with crap, because i get beaten by crap all the time- I lose to crap a fuck of a lot more often than i put a beat on someone with my own crap, i can pretty much guarantee that.

I remember a hand where a LAGgy guy had raised in EP and i 3bet him from the button with K3s, and he four bet me. I flopped 335 and we went to five bets. He wasnt stopping, and i honestly worried about pocket 5s or A5 so i just called.
The turn was a K, so even though 55 still beat me, i could beat A-5, so put in 4 bets, and when he 5 bet me AGAIN, i started thinking 55 again or maybe even KK, so i called. River was a 3, and this time I put in the 5th bet and HE just called, and turned over KK. He was like, WTF, K3 suited?! (He was manaical enough to appreciate it though, as something he himself mightve done, but still couldnt help himself from being like, OMG, what the fuck, etc. etc)

I was like hey, suited connectors right? I playem everytime!

Man that was a monster of a 20/40 pot. But i lost to an almost identical beat recently though, with my QQQ33 ending up getting beat by running 3's. Balance in the universe is always maintained...so nice hand-- but better watch yer back!