Felting Leo

Thursday morning found me back at the Ballys poker room logging some hours toward the March 2 free roll tourney.

I arrived shortly after 9 a.m., bought in for $100 and was lucky to get an open seat right away. Success came early and on my second hand I looked down to find A-A staring back at me. I took down a $50 pot and was off and running. After almost two hours my stack had grown to almost $300, thanks to a series of good hands. I hit a couple of straights and a full house during the streak.

A couple of those good hands took the chips from Leo, one of the Ballys regulars that I've played with several times this winter. He's a retiree and is usually pretty quiet. We've never really talked, but he seems like a good enough guy....until today. Leo sat at the opposite end of the table from me and would mutter little things about how lucky I was to win against him. Twice the day before I had taken the last of his chips. In poker parlance, that's called "felting" since I left him with nothing but the felt in front of him. Both times he had only $30 or $40 in chips when he lost them all to me. 

So I was pretty confident playing against him when I was dealt K-5, both spades. I called the $2 blind and was pretty pleased when the flop came K-6-5. I'd hit two pair and bet $20, hoping to get at least one caller who might have an A-K or K-Q. After two other guys folded, Leo raised it to $40 and I was the only caller. It was mano-a-mano between us.

The turn card was the 4 of spades, giving me four spades K-high, plus the two pair. I bet another $20 and Leo didn't hesitate before shoving his last $200 or so into the pot. What could he have, I wondered. Hoping he had A-K, I called. Leo smugly flipped over his pocket 6s, giving him three-of-a-kind.

Basically I was in trouble. With only the river card remaining, I needed a spade that didn't pair the board to give me a flush or one of the two remaining kings. A pot of more than $500 hung on the turn of the river card.... A KING!

Leo fumed quietly for a few seconds, then erupted with a verbal tirade. "How can you play K-5. How can you play K-5," he repeated several times. I just smiled and stacked my chips. Once again, Leo had been felted!

A couple of minutes later, a player who was sitting next to Leo got up to cash his chips. On his way to the cashier, he stopped behind me and tapped my shoulder. "You've really gotten into his head," he whispered to me. "He's on tilt, big-time. He's so upset, he can't even look at you!"

I left the game after 3 hours with a profit of $425. Stopped at the Albertson's grocery store and picked up a few things. I made chicken salad sandwiches for us for dinner and shared my profits with Helen, who spent the day relaxing and talking with Anna.

And so our adventure continues...