Sunday Morning Prayer Meeting: Part 3

It's now well past noon and suddenly people start coming into the poker room. Shouty Black Guy has left, but  his seat is quickly filled by a balding thin middle-aged guy with an abundance of nervous energy - he looks like Billy Collins after fifteen cups of coffee. The table soon fills up:

Seat 1: Mr. Twitchy
Seat 2: The Iron Lady
Seat 3: Don't Mess With Me (Very big, bald, goatee-d,..biker gang type)
Seat 4: Crazy Chinese Gambler
Seat 5: The Unibrower (A young guy who seems very comfortable at a poker table)
Seat 6: Me
Seat 7: The Colour Commentator (new to the table, he will keep a running analysis going on each hand.)
Seat 8: Too Much Cologne Boy (Please, please, please let me get into a hand with him!)
Seat 9: Giggles (a very young Asian who quickly strikes up a bromance with TMCB)

Isn't poker great? Where else can you sit down with a group like this? Some of these people are very serious poker players, some are life long gamblers, one barely knows what he's doing. Some are friendly others grouchy. What could possibly be more fun than sitting down against a table full of characters like this and try to take their money while they try to yours?

Once the new configuration was established we settled in, then one of the weirdest hands I have ever witnessed took place. To make it easier to follow for you (and it was very confusing!) I will let you see everyone's hole cards - just like the do on TV!

The Unibrower, under the gun, limped in with 5c 4c.
I folded something crappy.
The Colour Commentator called with 6d 4s
TCMB and Giggles both call with mystery cards.
Mr. Twitchy folds.
The Iron Lady calls with Jc 10c
Don't Mess With Me calls with 9c 9h

Seven players are in. The flop comes: 6c 4d 3c. Fireworks!

The Unibrower is the first to act. With 5c 4c hole cards he has an incredible hand - a flush draw, an open ended straight draw, two outs to a straight flush...even though he currently has only middle pair, it is actually more probable than not that he is going to hit a monster here. As an experienced player, he knows how strong he is too. He bets $15 hoping to build the pot.

Next to act is The Commentator, who with 6d 4s has hit the top two pair. He figures (correctly) that he probably has the best hand at this point, but is afraid of the straight and flush draws so he raises to $40 hoping to scare the others away.

TMCB and Giggles fold.

The Iron Lady, with Jc 10c, has a fairly strong flush draw. She decides to call the $40 (probably a bad idea, given the pot odds and the number of players still in the hand) and then she does one of the dumbest things I have ever seen - she shows her cards to the player on her left, Don't Mess With Me, who is still in the hand! Showing your cards to a player still in the hand is a supreme no-no. Doing so, in any card room in the world,  will result in your own hand being declared dead. As you might expect, the table erupts in angry yelling. Several players are yelling that the Iron Lady's hand must be declared dead, The Iron Lady, just as angry, says she didn't know the rule and therefore she must be allowed to play her hand. The pit boss comes over and settles everyone down, hears what happened, and declares her hand dead. She is very angry and tries to pull the $40 she bet back into her stack, which causes the table to erupt again. Another five minutes of shouting and arguing ensue before the Iron Lady is made to understand her $40 is non-refundable. Totally unreal.

Don't Mess With Me didn't catch a piece of the flop with his pocket nines. He has an over-pair, normally a strong hand, and the extra $40 of dead money has sweetened the pot nicely. Oh, what the heck, he calls.

The pot is now about $150 when the action is back on The Unibrower, who with his massively strong drawing hand must be just delighted with the way things have gone. He has about $250 left in front of him and he pushed all of it into the middle.

This puts The Commentator in a tough spot. If I were him  I would fold two pair here, but he somehow senses he is the strongest hand right now - and he is right. He calls with his remaining $150.

With only an overpair, Don't Mess With Me has to know he is behind, and calling herewith his remaining $200 would be a very bad move. He makes a very bad move and calls.

The players now all in, flip their cards face up.

The turn brings the queen of clubs. The Unibrower is now ahead with a club flush. The river comes - eight....of clubs. There are now four clubs on the board, so the nine of clubs Don't Mess With Me has gives him a stronger flush than The Unibrower. An unreal bad beat.

Don't Mess With Me, who played the hand like an idiot, wins the $600 main pot and The Unibrower, who played like a pro, gets the $100 side pot - a net loss of $200 for him.

The Colour Commentator losses all his money, re-buys for $300, and spends the next twenty minutes explaining how he made the right call and should have won.