Los Angeles Trip Report Part 5

by Nolan Dalla

This page is part of Ken's Poker Page

On 22 Oct 1998 00:48:29 GMT, in rec.gambling.poker nolandalla@aol.com
(NolanDalla) wrote:

OK, so when your hero last departed -- he was taking a taxi ride from the
Bicycle Club back to Crystal Park. Funny story now. The cab driver
apparently used to be a poker dealer (insert jokes here). He says he
dealt at The Bike for three years. Anyway, he asks me about the games I
play and so forth. I give him relatively little personal information --
after all, he could be "feeling me out" to get an angle on how to rob me,
who knows? The last thing I'm going to say to this guy is that I've got X
thousand dollars in my pocket right now and I'm just a dumb tourist
visiting Bell Gardens for the first time in my life.

About half way to our destination he recognizes me, I suppose from the
photo in Card Player. This comes as a total surprise. After all, that old
picture is not a good likeness, but apparently it was enough -- and he was
a dedicated reader of the magazine so that he recognized me. Funny
thought was that I wasn't recognized once INSIDE a cardroom during this
entire trip, but was identified by name by a cab driver in Bell Gardens.
Of course, since he recognized me and paid me the gratuitous comments
about my column -- he effectively doubled his tip. From $2 to $4. Next
time, I'll wear a hat and glasses.

It's late and I'm back at the Crystal. I sit in a $15-30 game for about
an hour with ROBERT TURNER, who is one of the tournament circuit's most
consistent players. I also see MARSHA WAGONNER and exchange greetings. I
also see several other notables, including MIKE PAULLE who is in town to
cover the upcoming LA Poker Open. Aside from being a superb journalist of
poker-related activities, MIKE is a wonderful storyteller and a very
dynamic personality. Like many in RGP, there are just not enough hours in
the day (or night) to spend time with people like PAULLE. I also see and
speak with CPM's most popular writer, MAX SHAPIRO. MAX has come to the
Crystal with his new fiancée, BARBARA ENRIGHT (coincidentally, she happens
to be a poker player herself). MAX wrote what I thought was one of the
magazine's finest columns when he described his engagement to BARBARA.
These two wonderful people belong together and I am very happy to see that
poker has literally brought them together in matrimony.

About the $15-30 game: I misplay a hand so badly it actually funny! Now,
listen to this: I am sitting in the big blind and catch Q-3 suited. It's
a mild game, so I see the flop without a raise. I manage to catch a 3,
with and Ace and another big card (can't remember). The board cards are
not important. Anyway, I bet out hoping to steal against two opponents.
ROBERT TURNER folds and a crazy Asian raises! Now, I've got a decision to
make. He's played very wild and raised with all kinds of crazy hands. I
decide a re-raise will accomplish nothing. He will simply call. I make
the decision to just smooth call him ALL THE WAY TO THE RIVER, knowing the
crazy man is on some kind of draw. I mean, I just knew it...don't ask me
how, but I had this guy pegged like a tinker toy. The turn comes, he bets
and I call. The river comes and again, he bets and I call. All I have is
a little pair of THREES, I think, and I just know this pot is mine! The
Asian announces, "Good call," and turns over a Q-9 with no pair! I flip
of my cards and am so damn proud myself I'm ready to burst with narcissim.
I mean, it would have been sickening to watch how smug I was. There's
only one problem: I flipped over my cards and it was a QUEEN-DUECE! A
Q-2! Ouch! Holy Jesus, that looked bad. So, Crazy Asian scoops a nice
pot with a Queen-Nine high over my Q-2......I am literally stunned and I
see 18 eyeballs looking at me like I have just pissed in the punchbowl at
the birthday party. I don't say a word and leave everyone wondering what
in the hell I was doing in that situation (If I had check-raised as a
pure bluff it would have been a brilliant play, and as it turned out -- I
had the opponent figured out perfectly and should have won the pot -- but
I simply misread my hand). The only redeeming factor about this incident
is that ROBERT TURNER had stepped away from the table and didn't see it,
but now that it's posted to RGP the whole world knows. Bad session.
Result: MINUS $565.

Time for rest. The day is over: Net win today of ~$2300. At this point,
I'm looking for the nearest California DMV to change my residency.

More to Come.......

NOLAN DALLA

Continue to Los Angeles Part 6

Published with the permission of the author.
Reproduction without the author's permission prohibited.

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