Joe and I arrived at Harrah's pretty late. I think it was well after 11PM, but there was still a really long wait. We waited for 45 minutes or so, read Full Tilt Magazine and I broke even on some video poker machines. We finally sat down at separate tables. To my left was a middle-aged woman with her breasts popping out of her tank top. For our purposes, we'll refer to her as Boobs. Across from me was this Loose Loudmouth, who I took to be a regular given that he knew the names of the managers and seemed to have the poker vernacular down. Loudmouth liked to make this noise when he looked at his cards. You know the sound effect used in a movie when some treasure is unveiled? It's difficult to explain in writing, but it's essentially an "Ahhhh" in a sort of high-pitched tone? That was his trademark. What a schmuck. He had way too much cash for a 3/6 game, and he didn't mind betting and raising. He was on the 6/12 list, but unfortunately for all of us nothing opened up. He openly stated that he didn't care about the money, and he also informed us all that he much preferred sucking out on someone with junk to actually outplaying his opponent. He would periodically suck some huge pot out on the river, and spend the next 15 minutes spreading the proceeds around amongst the rest of us. One poor, Unlucky Sap across the table lost about $100 pretty quick. His major downfall was when Loose Loudmouth sucked a gutshot out on the river to crack his aces. This poor soul lost with aces on the river later on too. Next to Unlucky Sap was Self-Perceived Expert, who was fond of isolating Loose Loudmouth, and building a big pot with him. This guy also had the Sam Farha unlit cigarette bit happening. Cute. While Expert was certainly better than most of the players seated, I was never convinced that he was as good as he thought. There were also two quiet older ladies at the table, and a guy two seats to my left who I realized, as the night developed was Loudmouth's pal. When either of them won a pot (especially on a suckout) they liked to exclaim in tandem "Ship it!" Neat-o. I'd like to tell you that they were drunk or just turned 21, but I didn't notice any booze and they each looked to be at least 32. In fact, the table was not nearly as drunk as I'd hoped it would be. Nevertheless, I sat down confident that I was the only real player at the table. In the second hand I picked up the 56 of hearts. I limped from EP figuring I had odds with the limpers already in front. Boobs , directly to my left, raises. She does not have many chips left. I call, along with several others. Flop is a nice looking As, 7h, 4h. So I have the open-ended straight flush draw. I follow the checks in front with a check to Boobs, who bets. It folds to me (there was a good amount of folding to one bet after the flop, even when the pots were big) and I just call. Turn is the ten of hearts, flushing me. I check-raise Boobs, who looks none too pleased with my apparently unfriendly maneuver. River is a blank, I bet and Boobs calls. I flip the flush and she quite angrily shows AT for aces up, and storms off leaving her remaining $12 behind. Hey, I'm up $30. Four rotations or so later I've been blinded down, and have not hit another playable hand. There is enough raising to make limping from early or middle position hazardous. Finally, I pick up KJ suited and limp from EP. There were no raises, and I flopped trip jacks. I check hoping to check raise and build a pot. It checked around. I bet the turn, and Boobs was the only caller. She called my river bet too, and I won a small pot. Later on I had the J2 of hearts in the BB and was able to see a free flop. The flop came J high, and I check-called a bet from Boobs. The turn was a 4, and I again check-called Boobs. The river was another 4, and I called Boobs' last bet. She said "I was kinda bluffing my ass off, but I hit trips." She turns over Q4, and takes the pot. Sweet. This put me back to even. I never had AA, KK, QQ, or JJ. I had TT once, and had to fold it on a KQx flop. I had nines twice, and had to fold them once to a three-bet from Loudmouth before the flop. The second time they went nowhere and I folded on the flop. It was three-bet by Loudmouth to me in the small blind when I held 66. I folded, but I would have flopped a set and taken a big one. Loudmouth turned over (I could not make this up) K9 off on that hand. About halfway through the session, a young guy sat in who had a bunch of friends with him scattered throughout the poker room. We'll call him College, given that he had "I'm in a fraternity" tattooed on his forehead. Judging by the way he kept telling everyone that he'd never played before, I knew he'd logged some hours. College raised from EP, and I folded junk. He received several cold calls including one from Loudmouth in the blind. The flop was all diamonds, all under ten. College bets, it's raised, Loudmouth three-bets, and College caps. As a sidenote, when College raised, he said "Raisssseee", with a really long, pronounced 'ssss' at the end. He kinda had a lisp or something, and I really found it annoying. Everyone (yes, everyone) calls. The turn is an non-diamond junk card. College bets, gets a call and a fold, and I'm fairly certain that Loudmouth raised again. College re-raissssses , and gets two callers. I'm dumbfounded by the play so far. At least one, and maybe two of these guys are idiots. I put College squarely on the flush, and I'm not sure what these other guys are thinking. The river is a brick. I think there was some more 'raissssing' on this street too, but I cannot remember how much. Anyway, College turns over the KQ of diamonds to take a monumental pot and practically double up. He loudly announces 'Go fish' as he rakes in the million chips. This statement will become ironic later. Unbelievable. As my session was winding down, a younger guy sat in with only about $40. I think that $40 is the minimum buy-in. Personally, I don't think that this kind of stack can withstand even one bad beat. In any event, ShortStack does not play a hand for a long time. Finally, College raisssses his blind from EP and he defends. Flop comes AKQ rainbow. College bets. ShortStack raises. This is the first move I've seen ShortStack make all night. It was abig red flag from my perspective. College three-bets. ShortStack four-bets. College asks about the cap. The dealer informs him that there's no cap heads up (I didn't know this) so he five-bets. Wow! Then ShortStack six-bets! Again, I cannot emphasize it enough. I could not recall ShortStack raising, or even calling a bet up to this point. Finally, College just calls. The turn is a ten. College check-calls, and check-calls the river too. Can anybody guess what ShortStack showed. Obviously he had flopped Broadway. College told us he had AQ. I love the fact that he five-bet that flop with top and bottom pair. It cracks me up. He gave back a good deal of his winnings on that hand. I think he may have 'raissssed' more had the ten not turned. "Go fish!" I finally got involved with Loudmouth, when he raised and I called from the button with AQoff. The flop came J high with two diamonds. He bet and I called. It folded behind me. The turn was a brick. He looked at me (into my soul maybe?) and bet again. I called. I'd seen him bet and showdown too much junk to fold AQ high. It was a monster against this maniac. I called the river brick too, and he turned over A6 of diamonds, and I was up to $130 again. I blinded down to $121 before leaving at about 3:00AM. There is one other hand I wanted to talk about. I wasn't involved in it, but I'll recreate it as best I can. As I recall, one of the old ladies was in the big or small blind and saw a free or cheap flop with Loudmouth. Flop was K4x. The older lady bet, Loudmouth raised, and the older lady called. The turn seemed innocuous, and the older lady check-called Loudmouth. The river was K. Now the older lady bets, and Loudmouth raises. The older lady decided to reraise, and Loudmouth four-bet her. The older lady made it five (it's not capped remember), and Loudmouth thought about it and just called. He turned over his cards so that you can only see a four. I know immediately that he has fours full (he was a maniac, but I didn't see him three and four betting hands on the river with garbage; plus he had to know she had the king). The older woman turned over her weak K for trips, and this jerk slowly unveils the second four for the boat. The old lady gets up, as she's nearly broke. The table of dopes exclaims 'Wow!', and I'm still kicking myself for not calling this guy out for his behavior. Man what a jackass! He slowrolled grandma? This guy was some class act.

Source: Law of Poker