underground poker

i am in texas all week and i popped my underground poker club cherry! i sat next to this lady in a rio cash game in june and she mentioned she was going to be opening a poker room in houston. well, i checked it out and it was pretty sweeeeeet. [duuuuuuude.........sweeeeeeeeeet]. it was a former restaurant and it is a perfect spot. very spacious with satellite tvs, huge kitchen facilities, great tables and chairs, and professional dealers. all three dealers were just as good as you'd find in any vegas poker room. in fact 2 of them had dealt in vegas before moving to houston. the best part about the place though, was the inexperience of some of the players. i mean, some of these guys were so easy to read and/or so bad it was laughable. [hahaha -- that's me laughing]. in tune with texas spirit, everyone was very friendly and there was nothing shady about it.

i won a few nice pots, but then donked off some chips at the end and left up 1 buyin. i actually made the high hand of the night with Aces full of Queens with AQ in my hand. thankfully the chick made a straight on the river and check-raised me all in. they never learn with a paired board.

the one thing that was completely different than anywhere i've ever played was the "insurance" factor. if 2 players are all in, the person who is ahead can lock up part of the pot by giving the house insurance, which is calculated based on the number of outs the trailing player has. the trailing player can then take the insurance and forego the pot, or let it play out. if the player who was behind in the hand draws out, the house has to pay him. i was still trying to figure out all the details as it was kind of confusing to figure if i should take insurance when i got a player in with JJ vs. my KK. i took it on the turn as he picked up a straight draw in addition to his J outs. as it turns out, i gave up $100 for taking insurance, but locked up 80% of the pot. ehhh.

i had fun and ate a great steak dinner for free. and with the added excitement of a possible raid, how can you go wrong??

i needed that night after a brutal last 2 days trying to get to houston from san diego, and then trying to find my luggage. i'll leave that story for next time...