Well my poker esults since returning from Vegas have been less than stellar, until last night. I visisted JR last Wed and had a pretty unremarkable bleed away session for 2+ stacks. Nothing at all notable, just couldn't hook up with anything.
I needed to kill a couple of hours between work and another function on Thursday so I decided to nurse a rack at the Slime's 3/6 game. Not surpsingly, very brutal. I actually hit a few decent hands early on, but then went into the "nothing hooks up except for those that get thumped" rut for the last couple of hours. The table I was originally seated at was an ATM just waiting for the PIN number to show up. The main table was much more aggressive, which I was forced to move to after about 30 minutes. My second hand there I got AA and the preflop action was capped about 6 ways. I got 3 or bets in on the flop and a few dropped out. The other raiser finally backed off his AK on the turn and folded on the river for a no show-down win of about $100. That was the end of that.
The hand that I'm still shaking my head about was about an hour later. Couldn't find anything worthy of getting involved with (most hands were raised pre-flop "just because") until I decide to call one extra bet on the BB with A3o. I know, terrible call, but I was a litle bored. There were 2 or 3 other callers. The flop was something like 247. Gutshot draw? OK worth calling the one bet on the flop. Turn is a gogeous 5. I know I don't have the nuts, but in a raised pot, I gotta figure my hand is good. Got a check-raise in on the turn, was called by the raiser and this fishy lady who had earlier called me all the way to river with a K7 after I had rasied pre-flop with AK and flopped K high. I was happy to get her call. River is a Q. I fire and fishy lady raises me! Pre-flop raisere give up. I was about 85% sure she hooked up with some silly 2-pair or even just top pairwith the queen, but luckily, the little voice told me to just call. She flips up 63o for the second nuts. I was steaming pretty bad inside (a little on the outside too) and I never realyy had any chance to get anything back after that.
Saturday was fun, but pretty miserable from a poker results standpoint: Busted out of the tourney very early on a very marginal hand and sucked hind-tit in the cash game. My poker spirits have been a little down all week. So when I decided to head up for my weekly NL session yesterday, my guard was up, expecting the worst.
I waited about 30 minutes before they opened up a second 1/2 game. Their tourney had just combined down the final table so some players were busting out and ready for some action. We finally got 6 seated at our table and we got started. The players at my table included 2 newbie kids, 2 other kids (that I've played with before, who have a little savy) and an old fish that I watched get real lucky to win their tourney last week. I was pretty happy with the table comp.
Didn't get much to work with early, so I just had to watch one of the savy kids take most of the newbie kids' chips and most of the oldf fishies first buy. I drug a few small one's here and there, but pretty much floated around even for the first few hours, maybe a little up. As the table filled out, we got an assortment of mostly kids and a couple of old poker dogs. I think I've played with the poker dogs before, but didn't have a definite impression registered, but was pretty sure one was solid and one was weak.
I sat and watched as one of the "better" kids got fleeced when he couldn't lay down his AJ that hit top pair on the flop. He was raised in 2 spots, but still put $90 in to call the second raiser. First raiser flopped top set, second raiser flopped 2nd set. Everyone but the AJ kid knew there was at least one set against him. Pretty bad play. He ran to the ATM and managed to recover most of his money a few hands later.
I was up about $100 several hours into the session, when I ran into a set myself. I was in early position with JT and called a small pre-flop raise. 3 of us watched a monotone 8 high flop hit. The pre-flop raiser checked it around. Turn was a J. I still checked from my awful position and the preflop checked yet again. River was another J. I was pretty sure I had the goods, but there was a lot of danger on the board. I fired $15 at a ~$30 pot - a call I could handle, a raise would put me on the spot. The first old dog called (which I didn't like) and the other fishy old dog (preflop raiser) folded. Old Dog 1 flopped a set and rivered a boat. He didn;t raise hoping that the guy behind him would jump up and try to take control. Whew. That could have been really ugly. I wouldn't have gone too far, but he probably could have got another $15-$20 out of me.
Slowly started to rebuild and, as a rule, I made a gradual steady climb up. I floated around between +20 and + 70 for a couple hours. I went and got some lunch. After I got back, I went into about 4 orbits of cold cards. At least some of the guys around me were payin enough attantion that my rep bought me half of a pretty good pot. I'm in the SB with AQ. One of the EP guys was getting bored and shoved his last $33 blind. 2 calls ahead of me, I decide to just call and the BB comes in also. I must have had about $120 at this time. The flop came KQx. I just decided to put my rep to the test and shoved my last ~$90 at the pot. The kid to my left started moaning and scratching his head. Looking me up, looking at his cards, agonizing over a tough call. He finally decided to let it go. The rest got out of the way and I drug a pretty healthy pot. WHen I showed my hand, my neighbor siad he had exactly the samething. He clearly was concerned that I hadn't played a hand in the last hour, but I was suddenly in this big preflop pot and betting big at the flop. Yay me!
That got me over $200 for the first time and I pretty much never looked back. I got lucky on a couple of ocassions for a couple of pretty decent pots. The first one was a little fishy, but the guy who was driving had a bit of a loose rep, so I decided to play sherriff at the right time. I was in the SB with KQo and called his pre-flop raise. The board came AQx. I checked, he bet $25, I called. Turn was a J and there were 2 diamonds on the board. Raiser bet $25 again, and I just wasn't convinced he had me beat so I called. River brought another Q. Probably a bad card for me. 3 diamonds, 3 cards to broadway - I'm not thrilled with my 3 Qs right now. The raiser was as afriad of all the crap on the board as I was and checked it through. I snapped off his AK on the river. Wow, I never do that!
A few orbits later, I was sitting on AKs on the BB and just checked for the free flop. Flop was AQ8. I fired $15 at the pot and everyone but the tight kid to my right folded. Turn was a Q which spooked me and I checked through. The river was an Ace. Sweet. The kid clearly hadn't thought things through and fired the last of his ~$60 at the pot. I just grinned and said "I call - we're chopping this up, right?...." Looked down and saw that he held a Q. I just rivered him. It actually took him several minutes to realize how he didn't drag the pot, so I'm thinking he got a little tunnelvision on his hand. I apologized and he just sulked for a bit until he ran to the ATM to get back in. After a bit of table discussion, I realized that he held Q8. He flopped 2 pair, turned a boat and then made a better boat on the river. He slow played himself into trouble. I doubt that I would have been able to get off an unraised AK on an A high board for his chips, but he never evne gave me a chance to have to think about it. I guess that's the danger of trying to milk the cash cow with the "nearly unbeatable" hand. It was just a good break for me on a night when I was getting more good breaks than bad for a change.
Drug a few more, lost a few more and finally decided to head out at about 8:00. I cashed out at $480 for a $380 profit on the 7+ hour session. Thanks, I needed that!
I needed to kill a couple of hours between work and another function on Thursday so I decided to nurse a rack at the Slime's 3/6 game. Not surpsingly, very brutal. I actually hit a few decent hands early on, but then went into the "nothing hooks up except for those that get thumped" rut for the last couple of hours. The table I was originally seated at was an ATM just waiting for the PIN number to show up. The main table was much more aggressive, which I was forced to move to after about 30 minutes. My second hand there I got AA and the preflop action was capped about 6 ways. I got 3 or bets in on the flop and a few dropped out. The other raiser finally backed off his AK on the turn and folded on the river for a no show-down win of about $100. That was the end of that.
The hand that I'm still shaking my head about was about an hour later. Couldn't find anything worthy of getting involved with (most hands were raised pre-flop "just because") until I decide to call one extra bet on the BB with A3o. I know, terrible call, but I was a litle bored. There were 2 or 3 other callers. The flop was something like 247. Gutshot draw? OK worth calling the one bet on the flop. Turn is a gogeous 5. I know I don't have the nuts, but in a raised pot, I gotta figure my hand is good. Got a check-raise in on the turn, was called by the raiser and this fishy lady who had earlier called me all the way to river with a K7 after I had rasied pre-flop with AK and flopped K high. I was happy to get her call. River is a Q. I fire and fishy lady raises me! Pre-flop raisere give up. I was about 85% sure she hooked up with some silly 2-pair or even just top pairwith the queen, but luckily, the little voice told me to just call. She flips up 63o for the second nuts. I was steaming pretty bad inside (a little on the outside too) and I never realyy had any chance to get anything back after that.
Saturday was fun, but pretty miserable from a poker results standpoint: Busted out of the tourney very early on a very marginal hand and sucked hind-tit in the cash game. My poker spirits have been a little down all week. So when I decided to head up for my weekly NL session yesterday, my guard was up, expecting the worst.
I waited about 30 minutes before they opened up a second 1/2 game. Their tourney had just combined down the final table so some players were busting out and ready for some action. We finally got 6 seated at our table and we got started. The players at my table included 2 newbie kids, 2 other kids (that I've played with before, who have a little savy) and an old fish that I watched get real lucky to win their tourney last week. I was pretty happy with the table comp.
Didn't get much to work with early, so I just had to watch one of the savy kids take most of the newbie kids' chips and most of the oldf fishies first buy. I drug a few small one's here and there, but pretty much floated around even for the first few hours, maybe a little up. As the table filled out, we got an assortment of mostly kids and a couple of old poker dogs. I think I've played with the poker dogs before, but didn't have a definite impression registered, but was pretty sure one was solid and one was weak.
I sat and watched as one of the "better" kids got fleeced when he couldn't lay down his AJ that hit top pair on the flop. He was raised in 2 spots, but still put $90 in to call the second raiser. First raiser flopped top set, second raiser flopped 2nd set. Everyone but the AJ kid knew there was at least one set against him. Pretty bad play. He ran to the ATM and managed to recover most of his money a few hands later.
I was up about $100 several hours into the session, when I ran into a set myself. I was in early position with JT and called a small pre-flop raise. 3 of us watched a monotone 8 high flop hit. The pre-flop raiser checked it around. Turn was a J. I still checked from my awful position and the preflop checked yet again. River was another J. I was pretty sure I had the goods, but there was a lot of danger on the board. I fired $15 at a ~$30 pot - a call I could handle, a raise would put me on the spot. The first old dog called (which I didn't like) and the other fishy old dog (preflop raiser) folded. Old Dog 1 flopped a set and rivered a boat. He didn;t raise hoping that the guy behind him would jump up and try to take control. Whew. That could have been really ugly. I wouldn't have gone too far, but he probably could have got another $15-$20 out of me.
Slowly started to rebuild and, as a rule, I made a gradual steady climb up. I floated around between +20 and + 70 for a couple hours. I went and got some lunch. After I got back, I went into about 4 orbits of cold cards. At least some of the guys around me were payin enough attantion that my rep bought me half of a pretty good pot. I'm in the SB with AQ. One of the EP guys was getting bored and shoved his last $33 blind. 2 calls ahead of me, I decide to just call and the BB comes in also. I must have had about $120 at this time. The flop came KQx. I just decided to put my rep to the test and shoved my last ~$90 at the pot. The kid to my left started moaning and scratching his head. Looking me up, looking at his cards, agonizing over a tough call. He finally decided to let it go. The rest got out of the way and I drug a pretty healthy pot. WHen I showed my hand, my neighbor siad he had exactly the samething. He clearly was concerned that I hadn't played a hand in the last hour, but I was suddenly in this big preflop pot and betting big at the flop. Yay me!
That got me over $200 for the first time and I pretty much never looked back. I got lucky on a couple of ocassions for a couple of pretty decent pots. The first one was a little fishy, but the guy who was driving had a bit of a loose rep, so I decided to play sherriff at the right time. I was in the SB with KQo and called his pre-flop raise. The board came AQx. I checked, he bet $25, I called. Turn was a J and there were 2 diamonds on the board. Raiser bet $25 again, and I just wasn't convinced he had me beat so I called. River brought another Q. Probably a bad card for me. 3 diamonds, 3 cards to broadway - I'm not thrilled with my 3 Qs right now. The raiser was as afriad of all the crap on the board as I was and checked it through. I snapped off his AK on the river. Wow, I never do that!
A few orbits later, I was sitting on AKs on the BB and just checked for the free flop. Flop was AQ8. I fired $15 at the pot and everyone but the tight kid to my right folded. Turn was a Q which spooked me and I checked through. The river was an Ace. Sweet. The kid clearly hadn't thought things through and fired the last of his ~$60 at the pot. I just grinned and said "I call - we're chopping this up, right?...." Looked down and saw that he held a Q. I just rivered him. It actually took him several minutes to realize how he didn't drag the pot, so I'm thinking he got a little tunnelvision on his hand. I apologized and he just sulked for a bit until he ran to the ATM to get back in. After a bit of table discussion, I realized that he held Q8. He flopped 2 pair, turned a boat and then made a better boat on the river. He slow played himself into trouble. I doubt that I would have been able to get off an unraised AK on an A high board for his chips, but he never evne gave me a chance to have to think about it. I guess that's the danger of trying to milk the cash cow with the "nearly unbeatable" hand. It was just a good break for me on a night when I was getting more good breaks than bad for a change.
Drug a few more, lost a few more and finally decided to head out at about 8:00. I cashed out at $480 for a $380 profit on the 7+ hour session. Thanks, I needed that!
