+224 @ The Commerce Casino

The only thing that can make playing hooky from work better is when you head to the casino to play poker. I refused the first table that was open because a jerk I have played with before was there but it wasn't long before the next open seat came up. In the first 20 minutes I had some great hole cards with K,J, then A,J then K,Q of hearts but I had miserable flops to go along with them and I cut my loses. A couple guys were just pouring money into the table so I felt good about my long term prospects. However, after an hour I was down $60 and so I bought in for another $100. After another half hour my luck started to change but it was a bit bumpy.

A,K suited with A,K,10 on the flop. I made it three bets on the flop and got three callers. I bet the 9 on the turn and got two callers, bet the J on the river only to get raised. Yeah, I know that I should have slowed down on the river and probably checked then called but I didn't want to show weakness. Instead I showed that I was willing to donate $6 to the pot. I mucked while the other person called and paid to see (of course) the straight.

The first hand I won was a nut flush but since I had to go runner runner to make it, I wasn't able to get much money from it. However I followed that up by taking a pretty good sized pot with pocket queens and rags on the board.

But the hand that really made my money for the night was K,J suited as the small blind. The pot was raised before the flop and I was among 8 people who called. The flop came 10,Q,_. I checked then called as did 7 people. The turn was an A. I checked, it was bet by the guy who raised pre-flop. Many callers and I raised to get 5 callers. I bet the blank river and had 4 people call. Very nice pot.

After that I just had some nice cards that came through. No monster pots, no pocket pairs of note. I did mave a medium flush that held up, and since I was way ahead I losened up ever so slightly and with A,6 suited paid all the way to the end with 6,3,3,_,6 to get my boat.

Making over $220 in just 4 hours at a $3/$6 table is pretty sweet.