like a hockey game

I think I played pretty well. I overplayed a pair of 5's that lost to a pair of kings, but other than that I made really good reads and played tight-aggressive. At one point I hadn't played a hand in about 40 minutes, but I reaped the benefits of that as people respected my bets and raises in marginal situation later. The was one hand I was particularly proud of.

About 3 hours in they brought a new player to our table. At the same time I was about to be the big blind. As the guy( Mr. Orange) sat down I noticed, out of the corner of my eye, that he was counting my chips and the chips of the player to my left ( the small blind). " What the hell is this guy doing counting my chips I wondered ?" The cards were dealt and Orange, second to act, bet out $1000. Now the blinds were 150-300 with $50 antes....so this guy was betting 1000 into a $950 pot in early position....in his first hand at the table. The whole thing smelled funny. I though, if no one else calls this guy down, I'm betting back at him regardless of what two cards I have. In a turn of good fortune I looked down to see KJ offsuit, but it didn't matter. I was going to play back at him regardless and called out "raise to $2000".

Not wanting to show that he just got caught with his pants down, Mr. Orange reluctantly threw another 1000 chip into the pot and prayed that he'd catch something on the flop. Before the dealer even flipped over the flop and spread it out, I called out " bet, $2000", and threw two 1000 chips into the pot. This was half of my remaining stack...tempting Mr. Orange to put me all in....but it wasn't an all-in bet by me. This type of play lets him know that I want him to call...I want more of his money...that I'm not scared of him or the flop.

Mr. Orange was not pleased. He used the old poker trick of asking me " how much do you have left?" Now, at other times, I had fumbled around with my chips and miscounted once or twice...which I always do, as a policy, whether I have a good hand or bad hand. But this guy hadn't seen any of that as it had been his first hand at the table. I knew that if I showed weakness he might play back at me, but if I showed confidence that he'd have no choice but to fold.

One thing I should note at this point is that my table was in a corner and was surrounded on two sides by plexiglass. Behind me was a buddy and two of my uncles and their wives. They had been watching and when I checked my cards they could see what I had. They had to be wondering what the heck I was doing playing back at this guy and then fire out into a flop that was 9 - 8 - 2.

As tension hung in the air I put on the best act I could. I took a bite of my hamburger for effect, washed it down with a drink, then began to count slowly, methodically, and with a confidence voice. " $1000 in 100s.....that's $250 in 25s....another $250 in" Before I got to $1750 he had already mucked his cards..." take it down, it's yours" he conceided.

Before I could reach for the chips I was scared out of my seat by a roar and an excited pounded on the glass. " HOLY SHIT !" the guy next to me yelled, " What the hell is that ?" We turned around to see my uncles with broad smiles on their faces high fiving each other and pounding on the plexiglass.

" Have they been drinking ?" someone asked.

I replied, " you should see them when the STOP drinking"