Live Poker @ Harrah's New Orleans - Part 3

After my successful session the night before I was pumped to come back to the Harrah's poker room on Tuesday before my flight back home. I had a few hours to kill and since I was back to even and feeling confident I wanted a second chance at taking some fish money.

To my dismay most of the characters from the previous day were not in attendance and I settled down at a table with a whole new cast of characters (by seat):

1. Blinged Out Black Guy. He showed up mid session and was playing loose and passive. Not much to tell.
2. Queen of Hearts Card Protector lady. She also showed up mid session and had a big ring with the Queen of Hearts on it to protect her cards with. I started a conversation with her about where she got it and what it meant and she liked me enough to show me all her hands before she folded. She played pretty tight and I knew I could push her off a pot if I needed to. She was getting very unlucky and could not hit a flop to save her life. She wouldn't chase draws and would lay down her hand on the flop if she totally missed.
3. Our hero.
4. Retired Louisiana State Legislator. This guy was a 71 year old southerner who is either in the casino or at the gym, so I figured he must spend a LOT of time at the casino based on his round physique. He played pretty tight and was very chatty. We talked about a the other people at the table and he also showed me most of his hole cards after he made a laydown or won a pot without a showdown. We actually chopped the blinds at one point when it got folded around to us. Since he was on my left and was tight/aggressive I didn't play too many pots against him. The only I did play I gave up on the turn and he showed me his pocket kings.
5. Butch. Butch was 93 years old and would shake whenever he had to put chips in the pot. He would count out the chips and then raise his arm while shaking violently until he let the hand drop on the felt and let the chips roll out. I liked Butch because he was a quiet and funny guy. I beat him out of a couple pots and didn't take pity on him even when I rivered an Ace with my AKo that I bet on every street. He got some of it back when he chased his AK and hit the King (or as he called it, the "Kakaroo") on the river. Some other old guy came by and asked Butch how his love life was going. He just shot him a big smile and said "better than yours"!
6. Bee Keeper Card Protector Lady. She played tight and when she was in she would look at me through her horn bifocals. She had a cool little card protector that looked like a bumble bee.
7. Random Tight Guy. He didn't play in any pot I was in past the turn. Respect!
8. White Haired Flush Chasing Lady. She also looked at me all the time when she was involved in a pot I was in. I made a big mistake against her in one hand when she was in the BB. I was in LP and got J8s and decided that since I had not played a hand in a while and it had folded around to me I would raise, but she called. I then hit the flop with top two, but didn't see that both cards were spades. I actually thought one was a club. She checked and I checked hoping to trap her. The turn was a blank and we both checked again. The river was an King of spades and she bet out. I though she might have hit the King and so I re-raised. She re-re-raised and I called. She turned over AQs in spades and for a second I didn't understand why I lost. I had to stand up and look at the board until I saw that there were actually three spades there. Mistake! I guess I lost less than I would have had I bet the flop turn and river. She would never have let that nut flush draw go. Lucky for her she hit it on the river and got all those free cards.
9. Big Black Chick. I swear she almost took up two seats. She also showed up mid-session and chased her way to lose a pretty big pot to me. I raised in MP with 88 and she called in one of the blinds. The flop was rainbow queen high and she check-called. The turn was a glorious 8 and she check-called again. The river was a second 6 that also completed a flush draw, but gave my eights full. She bet and I re-raised. She raised it again and I capped it. Instead of calling she just mucked. I still showed her my hand. She didn't play another hand with me.
10. Mister Miyagi. When this guy showed up (he asked to move from another table to ours) the Legislator, Bee Keeper and Random Tight Guy all started to grumble. I asked the Legislator what was wrong and he said this guy was loud and obnoxious. "We come here to have fun and relax, not to get yelled at" he said. I knew I just had to bust this guy. He was an older Asian guy who had a striking resemblance to the late Karate Kid mentor. He loved to slam his cards down at showdown and yell out his holdings when he thought he won the pot. I saw him do this a few times including one time when he yelled "Straight! Oh no, I made a mistake". I got my chance a few hands later when I decided to play a limped pot from late position with 85s. I knew that if I hit it hard someone was going to pay dearly. The flop was ace high and gave my an OESD. I just called Miyagi's bet so that I could start building the pot. I made my straight on the turn when a 4 showed up. Once again I only called Miyagi's bet and got two more callers. The river was a blank and now after Miyagi bet and got one call before me I raised it. He re-raised and I capped it. It was just us to at showdown and he jumped up, slammed his cards and yelled "Two pair! Aces and Fours"! I slammed down my own cards and yelled "Straight"! On the inside I actually yelled out "Straight Suckah!" but that would have been a little too much. As I raked in the massive pot I saw the entire table crack up.

I sat at this table for about 3 hours and was up about $100, but then gave it back playing way too loose. In my whole session at the table nobody had Aces cracked. Nobody even got Aces, period. This was quite puzzling as this was Cracked Aces Tuesday. It made for a bit of a funny strategy play. Don't raise with Aces because you want them cracked. Jump limp call, call, call and hope that someone cracks them so you win the $100. But nobody had them which was a shame. The previous day I had them cracked twice...

So that's it for my Harrah's New Orleans trip report. It was a really fun time and I enjoyed my live poker tremendously. If anyone has any questions or comments, let me know.