A hit and run in poker occurs when you make a quick score and decide to leave before you give some of the money back. When I first moved to Las Vegas, I used to be what Daniel Negreanu refers to as a "Hit and Run Specialist." After playing hold'em for about a half-hour to an hour, I'd go home if I was winning. At times, I'd return to Bellagio a few hours later because I was bored at home. This was a terrible strategy because I never had a big win. Finally, I learned how to play Omaha, and my one-hour sessions turned into five-hour sessions. Omaha is a much slower game and seems to be less stressful for me. Many poker players believe it is more stressful than hold'em – and that is why they are hold'em players.
Recently I had a lunch meeting at Bellagio, after which I went to the poker room to say hello to a few friends. At the time, I was extremely tired and had no desire to play poker. For some reason, I had put my name on a hold'em list prior to having lunch, in case I wanted to play afterward. As I was on my way out of the poker room, five local grinders asked me to help start a must-move game. I admit that when I play with this lineup, I usually don't play my "A" game. These guys were trying to get a live one in the game – and it was me. Even though I was tired, I decided to play for 10 minutes to help get the game going. After two hands were dealt, they called me to move to the main game. I thought this was hilarious, because I was first up on the list and these guys were dying to have me in the must-move game. I moved my rack of chips, and posted the big blind behind the button in the main game. Immediately after I posted, I remembered that I was not in the mood to play, and had done so only to help start the other game. Kenny, a longtime Vegas pro, was under the gun, and raised. He is one of those players who makes others shake their heads due to his peculiar style of play. The fact is that he wins, and has for a while. I looked down at my 6-3 offsuit and told Kenny that as a favor to him, I would give him action (as he always gives me action). I told everyone at the table that my hand stunk, and that someone would not be pleased if I had to flip my hand over. Of course, I flopped a 3 and rivered a 3 to win a decent pot. Two of my friends thought it was as funny as I did. I could do only one thing that was funnier than that, and I did. I got up after one hand, thanked everyone for the action, and left. Now, that is a true hit and run.
Only one of my friends noticed that I didn't write a column in the last issue. As I told her, I didn't fire myself, I was just a little lazy. Here is what I didn't write about in the last issue: Peter Costa won the $5,000 no-limit hold'em championship at the Hall of Fame Poker Classic, and Bruce Corman won the $5,000 no-limit hold'em championship at the Four Queens Poker Classic. Chris Bjorin and Scotty Nguyen also turned in great performances in both tournaments. Good job, guys.