Enter the Donkey

Bruce Lee was and maybe is the greatest martial artist of all time. As a child, I loved to watch his movies. One movie always stands out: "Enter the Dragon". This movie is a classic; no other movie of its type can compare!You might be asking yourself why I am writing about Bruce Lee and his movies. Well, I must confess that I might not have Bruce Lee mad skills. However, I do possess the power of the "Donkey". Just ask my friends!

I do not claim to be the best poker player in the world, but I like to think that on a good day when I am really focused on what is happening around me, that I can always win the event at hand.

Every Saturday I find myself playing a home game with friends that I have been playing with for years. I feel like I know how they play and why they play the way they do. With this thought in mind, I get lazy with my play and it shows. So, I decide it's time to play better, and I was having great success. I won one of our home tournaments, and then I went to a charity event the next day and took that event with ease.

But this Saturday I had in mind that I would play even better. I did a little practice run on "Full Tilt" on their "Matrix" game with a 10K buy-in (play money) and placed really well. Game 1 (1st), Game 2 (2nd), Game 3 (1st), Game 4 (1st) and over all 1st place. So, going into the night's event, my confidence is high.

It's now time to play poker, and we have a great Saturday night turnout. We have 21 players for this event. Everyone has brought a dish to share, and we can't wait for the first three rounds to be over with so we can start eating dinner.

I found myself doing very well the first couple of blind rounds, and I have a big stack compared to the table. The blinds are 30/60, so I decide to play my 4c, 5c because I was first to act and I had chips to spare. (Wow, what was I thinking?) We had a couple of new guests playing tonight and I had one of them at my table. She was the only unknown at my table. I felt I could out-play her, and if I hit a hard bump in the road, it should not be a big deal to lay down my hand if I needed too. She calls the big blind. The little blind folds and big blind checks

So we only have 3 players in the hand: me, her and the big blind. The flop comes out Ac, 3c, 5h. (What a flop for me, I am thinking.) I decide to make a stab at the pot. So I bet a little over 3x the pot, making the bet $600. The new girl calls and big blind folds.

I look at her, and I am thinking she has just hit her Ace. Do I need to back off a little? I only have a pair of 5s right now, with a Straight draw, a Flush draw and a Straight Flush draw. No, I am really not thinking that! I am thinking to myself I need to show weakness to get more money out of her for I have lots of outs.

The turn comes a 4s. My inner self wants to explode with joy! I got her on a high Ace and an unknown kicker, I have the opportunity to hit a Straight Flush, Flush, Straight and now a Boat. Plus I now have Two Pair! How can I lose?!

I lead out a $1,800 bid! I want this pot! I want it now! She thinks about it for a minute or so and CALLS! What is going on here? What is her kicker? Could it be a 3, 4 or a 5? No it can't be! But wait she's a new player, but how new is she to the game?

The River flop's a Js, I think about what to do for a split second and my inner voice said check! So I listen and check! She leads out a bet of $600, at this point I need the information on her and the only way to obtain that is to pay the $600. I make the call and what to my surprise she shows me Trip Jacks. All I can say is, "Good hand," and think to myself that my inner donkey needs to go back to the dojo!

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