“The Great J.P.” Sings on

In the late-1980s and early-1990s, when I was a young, up-and-coming poker play card games in Madison, the big game in the state of Wisconsin was a $5-$5 blind pot-limit Hold’em game.  The buy-in was only $200, but by the end of the night everyone would have many thousands of dollars in front of them.  Most of the players in the game cards would put on the “live blind” (“live blinds” are put on without looking at your hands; each one is double the last) for $10, and  almost everyone would also put on the $20 live blind as well.

            I have fond recollections of both the game and the players in it.  It was the kind of game where, one night, we all moved in $200 apiece on the first hand!  We had the $10, $20, $40, and $80 live blinds on! The next thing we knew, everyone was all-in limit stud!

            The lineup of players made this game a lot of fun: the regulars included Dewey Weum, big Al Emerson, Freddy Wakine ( a tough player who owned a huge bar and restaurant in Layne Crosse), Tom “Bomber” Anderson (another tough player who owned bars and restaurants in Wisconsin Dells), Gary Miller  ( a tough pro poker player), J.P. {“The Great J.P.” Havenor  (who owned a bar and finance company and was the biggest the winner in the game), Matt Cooney (a tough player and businessman), Lauren Persons (another tough player and businessman), and many other part-time players (like Bill “Porky” Dearth, all-in “Triple A” Anderson, bob Servan, and “Bowser”), and me.

            It was a tough crew to play against, and I’m sure they helped me hone my pot-limit omaha and no-limit poker skills.  Late one night, when the stacks of chips were massive, the following hand came up.  J.P. had the $10 live blind on; Lauren had the $20 live blind on.  Bob Servan made it $65 to go from the opening position with K-K, Dewey called on the button, I called in the small blind with 8d-5d, and J.P called in the $10 live blind with 9c-7c.

            Lauren raised it $315, which made it $380 to go ($65 + $315) from the $20 live blind with A.K.  In turn, bob smooth-called the $315 raise with his kings, Dewey studied and called, and I contemplated making the call.  Eventually, I called, because I figured that everyone had at least $3,000 in front of them, and that my call would bring in J.P.  When J.P. hesitated, Dewey and I said,”C’mon, J.P., let’s gambling game with the boys!” (It was ok to say stuff like that in this game.)

            J.P. eventually called, and the flop came down 9s-9h-9d! I checked, and J.P. checked with quads.  As Lauren made a $1,300 bet, he said, “Well, at least I know that no one is in there with a nine!” Bob now moved in for about poker $2,800, a $1,500 raise.  Dewey and I folded very quickly.  J.P. now called $2,800 cold, and Lauren called the raise all-in (about $1,500 more) with almost the exact same number of chips as Bob.  Of course, the four nines held up (a three and an eight came off), and J.P. sang as he won the pot.  Singing by the winner might offend the losers of a big winner in the game, and he was, and is, loved by all.

            Let’s take a closer look at the action during this hand first wpt.  I like Bob’s raise pre-flop, but why did he smooth-call Lauren’s $315 reraise?  If Bob had come back over the top of Lauren’s $315 reraise with his kings, then he might well have doubled up against the A-K.  I remember that Bob had been extremely unlucky that day, so maybe he was waiting for a non-ace flop before he moved all-in.  still, he had too many chips in front of him to mess around and slow-play pocket kings bad beat poker.

            I like the calls that J.P. and I made before the flop, because we’d had a chance to win a big pot if we’d hit our hands.  That $315 sounds like a lot of money for 8d-5d or 9c-7c, so it’s important to take a look at the pot odds.  With three or four players already in the pot, and the possibility of busting someone with $3,000 in front of them, let’s go! I don’t like calling a $315 bet if your opponents have only $1,400 in front of them.

            I like the reraise ($315) that Lauren made before the flop with A-K.  I like J.P.’s check with quads on the flop, and I love Lauren’s bet of $1,300 on the flop.  Lauren’s bet is both a semi-bluff ( it would be very hard to call with just  two eights in the poker) and an “I need to protect my hand”type bet.  Lauren’s bet was also a good one because he knew that Dewey, J.P., and I had garbage pre-flop (as evidenced by our lengthy pre-flop calls).  What Lauren did not count on was that Bob had slow-played a big pair.

            But what’s up with Lauren’s call of roughly $1,500 more on the flop?  What had did he think that J.P. had check-called $2,800 cold with?  J.P. would not have slow-played pocket aces in this spot.  In fact, Dewey and I had had to talk him into calling pre-flop.  Yet he lobbed in $2,800 cold fairly quickly on the flop.  It looked like-and smelled like-four nines.  With what hand did Lauren think Bob had raised $1,500?  Obviously, J.P. and Bob were not drawing! It looked like a clear fold on the flop for $1,500 more.

            Of all the poker games that I’ve played, pot-limit Hold’em poker is one of the most enjoyable.  It is so much fun to move stacks of chips around, and I love to bluff, to pick off a bluff, to move all-in, to flop a set, to have my hand stand up for a mountain of chips, or even better, to draw out for a mountain chips! The combination of playing pot-limit poker and playing it with the great group of guys that I used to play with-well, that was a treat.  Thanks for the great memories, boys!