+115 @ The Commerce Casino

After the last couple bad nights I was feeling a little shy about going to play again, but since it was payday what better way to celebrate the check then by gambling it away? I made my way down to the Commerce Casino and was sitting down by 5:30. Unlike the last time I played there, I ended up at a nice table. Not too crazy, not too much turnover, people who occasionally
chat some but not too much...but the most amazing thing was that nearly two and a half hours passed before someone called for a new setup. Wow! I have to admit that I considered calling for a new setup at one point. Right before 7:00, the super jackpot hour, I recalled Mr. Johnson
saying that the first thing that happens after a jackpot is the house checks that all the cards are there. But in the end I decided that I didn't want to be the kind of guy who calls for a setup.

Back to the cards. It was a good night overall, not only with the cards but also my play. After deciding the previous night that I didn't know how to play poker, I went back to Winning Low-Limit Hold'em and re-read some sections. It was clear that I wasn't thinking about the odds enough even in the low-limit games so it was time to change my play. No longer would I limp in by calling in late position with my pocket tens. That's a raising hand. I tried to be more aggressive, and keep better track of the number of bets in the pot. I still have a long way to go, but I'm learning. Oh yeah, I also took some advice from Phil Hellmuth's book and tested the flop by betting. An example of this was when I had pocket K in middle position. I raised and 5 people came along. The flop came T,T,4. It was checked to me, and I bet. When there wasn't a re-raise, that suggested to me that no one had a T. Maybe they thought I did. The turn gave us another T. Once again I bet and a few people stayed in, but no one re-raised. The river was a blank. No one called my bet and I took a good pot.

The hands that held up for me were two-pairs. I took 4 pots with them. K,10 was one, A,Q was another, but the funnest one was 8,7 as big blind when the flop came K,Q,8. With any action I would have bailed, but it was checked all around. Hmm...I guess no one has a K or Q. The turn brought a 7 and I started betting. The river was a blank and I continued my betting and took the money from the two callers who stayed with me to the end.

While that was a good hand, the most exciting hand of the night was pocket Q in early position. I raised, was re-raised, and both of us worked to cap the pot. Three others came along. The flop was Q,J,_ and my bet was raised by the fellow who worked to cap the pot with me. We only got three bets in this time though and a couple folks dropped out. The turn was a J. I bet and he called. I figured that pocket J would have been worth a re-raise, so I felt good about where I stood. The river missed us both, and after a bet and a call he turned over a Q,J. A good hand, but my boat was just a little bit better.