+39 @ Casino Arizona

After another long and mostly non-productive day of meetings, we got back to the hotel just before 7:00. I checked in back home, checked the state of the bank and then decided to spend a bit more time at Casino Arizona. I showed up at 7:20 and sat down at a good table. The only annoyance was the fellow to my left who would shout check and blab on about his adventures at other tables. "When I was playing $10-$20 the other night" would start many of his tales. He also was raising before the flop more often then not and I have a very hard time believing his cards were consistently that good.

The third hand of the night brought me A of clubs and K of diamonds. I raised before the flop and got two diamonds including the Ace. I bet the flop, bet the diamond on the turn, and the diamond on the river. Nothing like runner runner to make the nut flush and take a nice pot.

I hadn't had pocket Kings in at least 10 hours of play and was very happy to see the cowboys as small blind. I raised and then a pretty bad flop came out: 6,6,3 with two hearts and of course the King of hearts wasn't one of the cards in my pocket. With the possible trips, quads, and flush and straight draws staring me in the face I have to admit that I was annoyed. However, the smart move was a play it. A fellow who had a 6 would almost certainly let me know, and I had to make it expensive for
the draws to stick around. I didn't think that I could count on a check raise, so I bet and got half the table to call. The turn was a small heart. Crap. What should I do now? I still had a strong hand, but the board was very scary. I decided it was time to be firm so I bet it and everyone folded. I won the pot, but I'll welcome any comment as to how the reader would have played this.

Soon thereafter I misplayed a hand by not being aggressive enough. I still won the pot, but it could have gone badly very quickly. Pocket jacks in middle position and I just called and was happy that it was nearly a family pot. The flop brought J,2,6 with two hearts. I just called the BB, and I think that I should have raised. I needed to make a potential flush pay dearly for trying to get his draw. The turn was another heart, and it was checked to me. Just like with the kings I now found myself in a difficult position. It someone had already made their flush I was in trouble (even though one of my jacks was a heart), and if the A,K or Q or hearts was still live this pot could slip away with a final heart on the river. Once again I decided to be firm by betting and see what happened. No callers. Woo hoo!

I called with pocket 9s in early position and the flop came A,A,6. I checked and it was two bets when it came back around. I had a player with only a 6 beat, but I was sure that an A was lurking out there so I folded. Another A came on the turn and three players paid 12 dollars. A 2 was the final card and again three people were in the pot. None of these fellows had an Ace, and the winning hand was a fellow who started the betting and his pocket 8s. That chapped my hide, but I believe that I did the right thing in folding my 9s.

At this point I was up nearly $50 and I decided to pull a hit and run when it came time to put in as the big blind. However, before the button came around I got two decent hands (but missed the flop) and bled away a few bucks. I then cashed in and went home a winner (for this night anyway.)