Poker nicknames

All the top players have one.

Some are better than others. Some are obvious in their provenance; others are a little mysterious. One thing they have in common, though, is that rarely were they chosen by the player. Nicknames are bestowed upon the player by others.

For a long time, I had to do without a nickname. The nearest thing to it was my online identity - pokersmith2

Then, suddenly, it happened. I was playing in the forum league (I think the first or the second game). I was using my trademark aggressive style, getting lucky and running over the game.

As another perfect card arrived and I knocked someone else out, one of the other players coined the phrase "H-bomb" in the chatbox and it has stuck ever since.

I believe another property of poker nicknames is that they are rarely changed. So, I have my poker-name for life. I'm pretty happy with it !

H-bomb stands for loose, aggressive and lucky. Those traits were in evidence on day3 of my Vegas trip when I finally made it down to MGM.

I had started the day with modest winning sessions at Mirage and Caesar's. It was getting pretty late in the day but I thought I'd better stick to my plan.

I arrived at MGM around 3:30am. There was no $2/5 game but there were 4 or 5 tables at $1/2 so I bought in for $200 (the max).

Almost immediately things began to go right. On the button with 9h7h I limped, then called a raise to $15 by the SB who I put on a big hand.

The flop was 99T - bingo ! I called a bet on the flop, then on the turn, I raised the next bet. "You can't have a 9 in your hand" declared the other player and re-raised all-in. Insta-call by me - I'm facing pocket Kings and double up to around $900.

After this, the table livened up considerably with frequent use of the $4 straddle. In one such hand, I made a raise from mid-position to $15, called by the BB and the straddler.

The flop came down Q87 with 2 clubs. Checked to me, I bet $30. The BB raised to $100 and I moved all in (confident I have the best hand). I was called by A7-clubs and avoided the flush to move onto about $900.

Next up .. AdQd. I bumped an initial raiser to $30. Four players saw the flop JdTd9s !! No made hand for me but a monster draw. I bet $100 and was raised all-in for another $280. Easy call. The unfortunate player has KQo for the current nuts but he was soon behind when a King turned me the higher straight.

Up to $1,400 and in danger of killing the action !

I followed this up with pocket 4s which flopped Quads, and 56 making the nut straight but I couldn't make much progress beyond the $1,500 mark and called it a night around 5:30 -- in need of some sleep !