Having a drunk at the table can be a good thing. They usually do little more than throw chips in the pot, chasing longshot after longshot, although they can also increase variance at the table because their response to someone raising is to re-raise.
But a bigger drawback is the incessant noise they make. One characteristic of drunks–at or away from the tables–is that they think they are funny, or engaging, or interesting. They are none of the three, of course. And I was lucky enough to sit down just to the right of one tonight at an $8/$16 game.
The time spent there soured my mood, and almost led me to the point of asking for a table change. Fortunately, before I acted on that, he left the table.
Unfortunately, I made a bad read early that took an out-of-the-box small win from my stack and more. I had been able to limp in with A-6 offuit in the big blind after several callers and got a decent flop: A-J-9. It was che3cked to me and I got several callers, including the small blind. I was a bit worries, but the turn came a dream: a 6. Another bet took out everyone except the small blind, right next to me.
The river brought an 8. The small blind checked and I had this little voice in the back of my head say “Watch out for the straight.” I hesitated, but not quite long enough for me to listen to that little voice, and my bet was met with a check-raise. I was pretty sure, even though I’d not been at the table that long, that he had made the straight, but the pot odds left me with calling, considering that he might have also been slowplaying or have made two pair. My call indeed confirmed my fears; he’d played Q-10, not at all unreasonable from the small blind.
I hit a slow patch at the table where I got lots of small hands, or hot nothing with big hands. I got healthy when I was down to a bit more than my last $50 (from my $300 buy-in) and limped in with two black 7s. It got raised after I and several others limped in, and everyone called.
The flop was both good and bad: 7d-5d-4d. I’d flopped top set, but with a very connected board. Yet short stacked, there was little I could do but raise the player to my left who had bet out. Amazingly, several players cold-called, and then the initial better 3-bat. I was able to almost cap; I was one chip shy. I was thinking, with all the raising and calling that at least one person must have flopped the flush, and at least one more must be on a big draw.
The river brought my perfect card: another 6. There was still some betting, but with the second nuts, I took down a very large, more than $300, main pot. (Yes, the initial better had flopped a baby flush, and one of the callers had the Ad.
Shortly afterward, the table got too shorthanded, broke, and I ended up at a somewhat less wile game. First hand, in late position, I found A-Q, raised, and flopped TPTK, which held up. Shortly after that, it was time to go home. After paying for what seemed to be the longest time with a short stack, I left up, not a lot, but not a little either, and the drive home, although wet, was still pleasant.