counts24
Rock Star
Silver Level
I have spent a lot of time on the road over the last fifteen years looking for the next great game of Omaha H-L. I have played in just about every card room in California and Nevada and when I die and go to that card room in the sky it's going to be the game that goes 24/7 at The Village in Chula Vista California that I will be playing in. The first time I went to the Village it was midnight and there was five peoples names on the board waiting to get in. That was the fewest I saw during the year I took up residence in that game. The game everybody wants is FL 8-16 Omaha H-L Kill. For those of you who don't know, "Kill" means the betting is doubled on hands following a hand when the pot is not split which is more than half the time. The game is also played with over buttons which means that if everyone still in the hand after the flop has an over button, the betting is doubled. Over buttons are given to players that want one and in this game most of the players had one. If you came in, put your name on the board and thought that the two hundred buck in your pocket would be enough all you would have to do is watch the game for a minute and you would realize it's not even close to enough. The game would go from 8-16 to 16-32 and about 30% of the time would be 32-64 after the flop. This game was usally out of control, almost every hand was capped before the flop,after the flop, on the turn, and at least two bets on the river. Scary fun is how most would describe it. The average pot would be over $1500.00 and would reach five times that. Every night someone would win or lose ten grand in that game. After eight months in the game I had become a regular, we almost all drank too much, we joked and talked trash on one another non-stop, and loud and obnoxious was the norm The table went silent the first time Ben sat down to join our game. He was unlike anyone that I, or anyone else at our table had ever seen. Ben was an Albino Phillipino, he had bright red skin, white hair, and dark sunglasses, and if you ever met Ben you would never forget him, especially if you played poker with him. The first night Ben left with four thousand dollars. After four consecutive days his total winnings were over twenty thousand. On the fifth day when Ben sat down we all got quiet but it wasn't because of how Ben looked, it was because we all were tired of losing our money to him and he was no longer a welcomed sight at our table. This day was different for Ben after two hours he was down over two grand a had less than a rack on the table. The cards were dealt, bets were made, and after the flop Ben threw in the last of his chips, said "all in " then out of nowhere the guy next to me in seat 5 stood up and started screaming at Ben, who was in 9 next to the dealer. "Are you pulling cards out of your sleeve? Are you Cheating?" could be heard throughout the building. Everyone at the table was stunned for a few seconds and then the majority of us started laughing. Someone said sit down and shut up, someone else said don't serve him anymore drinks... The dealer said he saw that Ben was opening a pack of smokes and that the player next to me was wrong. After a minute the table settled down and the game continued..When the turn card came Ben tossed his cards in the muck, said hold my seat I'm going outside to smoke, and left out the back the door that was right behind him. When the hand ended I leaned back in my chair, looked down at my feet, and to my surprise the Ace and Queen of diamonds were laying face up on the floor under the table. I reached down, picked them up, threw them on the tabe, and screamed that F****** was cheating. All at once everyone at the table stood up and ran out the back door. It was too late, Ben was gone. How was he doing it was the question. It was actually easy and Ben happened to be smart enough and ballsy enough to pull it off. There was no auto shuffler at the table and the dealer was only counting down the cards when the button passed her so there would be nine hands for Ben to work with. Video later revealed that Ben was palming a card or two on the first couple hands then using them in later hands. Because you have four cards in Omaha people don't notice when you throw a few less or more into the muck. As you would have guessed the dealers started counting down after every hand from that point on and Ben never returned. I can't imagine that Ben played his last hand of poker that night so if you ever see an albino Phillipino enter your local club you might want to tell who ever is in charge to keep an eye on him.