-20 @ The Commerce Casino

Jennifer's out of town, so with no adult supervision to stop me I went to play some poker. I was in seat four at a new table with lots of old timers. The fellow in seat one was particularly crusty (complaining about the bad cards from the dealer, slamming his chips, calling for new players when the player who went for a smoke had been gone less than 5 minutes) and I was happy when he finally busted out and left after a couple hours. Slow cards for quite a while, then I finally caught some hands, though not all of them turned out great.

• K,8 as big blind. Board came out 6,Q,8,K,3. We all checked the flop and I bet the turn and got no callers when I bet the river.
• Red Jacks in late position with A,2,_,2,_. I didn't raise before the flop and that was a mistake. We all checked the flop, but I bet the turn and it didn't get raised, and the same was true of the river. The pot was mine.
• 10,7 suited on the button with 10,7,J,J,_. When the second jack hit the person who checked in front of me on the pre-flop and the flop became a better. I mucked.
• Pocket aces (my first in a very long time) and the flop gave us A,_,10 and with two diamonds as well. The board stayed a rainbow and I bet the entire way, but then a J showed up on the river and I got raised. Crap. I called to discover that my opponent did have a K,Q. That one hurt.
• Soon thereafter I had Ac,Js and the flop gave K,_,J with two clubs. The third club came on the turn so I stuck around. The river was another A, and I decided to call but sure enough my two pair was beaten by the flush. That last call was probably not smart.
• Qd,3d as small blind. I called and saw Ad,Kd,_. I checked then called, and
  did the same for the K on the turn. The river was another diamond so I bet it and was quite annoyed, but not terribly surprised to get raised. I reluctantly called (it was a nice pot at this point) and he did turn over big slick to beat my nut flush.

All this had left me down over $100, but in one hand a made a great comeback. I had A,Q in early position and I called to see Q,6,6. Great. Another pair on the board. Still, I bet it to test the waters and there were lots of callers but no raises. Another Q on the river and now I think that I'm way out in front. Again I bet it and this time I got raised. Huh? The guy didn't have a pair of queens, so maybe he had a pair of sixes. The river was A giving me Queens full of Aces. Once again I bet and this same fellow raised me. I thought about re-raising but in the end I got scared and just called. I was very relieved to see that he had only a single 6. This brought me back to just $16 down so I stuck around for another go round the table then took off.

+50 @ Chez Johnson

I played in three mini-tournaments and came in 1st, 6th and 3rd. Official rankings will be posted soon. The first place finish netted me $60 and I got my $10 entry fee back from the 3rd place finish. I was in pretty good form the first game and had some great cards as well. When it was down to just me and Jim, I had red pocket kings twice in a row and both times I went all in. He folded the first time, but his ace in the hole the second time made him come along. Thankfully the kings held up. During the second and third games the cards were just marginal and I spent most of my time trying to stay out of the way. The 6th place finish isn't horrible considering that we started with 12 people, and I was happy to eek out my entry fee during the third game. There were two times I had to go all in (due to the blinds) and my lone ace held up the first time while my pocket jacks held up the second.

-75 @ The Commerce Casino

And the session started out so well! After waiting for nearly an hour I took seven seat at a new table in the balcony section. To my right was a wonderful old lady who reminded me of my late grandmother, and a very happy go lucky guy to my left. I played three of the first four hands and won them all. The first was 9,10 suited in middle position and J,6,2 rainbow on the flop. It was checked all around, as was the 4 on the turn. When a 9 showed on the river I bet it and everyone folded. The second hand was pocket Kings in early position. I raised and got four callers. The cards came K,2,8, blank, blank and I bet it all the way through even though there was a possible flush on the river, but I only had the old lady as an opponent at that point. Send the money! Finally, my big blind was Q,7 and the flop gave a K and a couple rags. I bet the Q on the turn, and everyone folded. This left me up over $45 in less than 10 minutes. Again, I contemplated a hit and run but decided that I wanted to play some more.

After that I mucked quite a few hands but that gave me time to learn about my opponents. The pots weren't huge for the most part, but the play was somewhat erratic. As an example, at one point there was both a possible flush and straight on the board but two guys stayed till the end. The winner had a pair of eights and beat a pair of sixes.

Three times during the night I had K,Q but they only hit once. The flop brought a Q and a couple blanks, but the river brought the third diamond. I bet it and didn't get any raises and my two opponents also showed Qs, but with worse kickers. I did get big slick once, and seven players at the table capped it before the flop! The flop missed me totally, but with a pot like that I put in another two bets to see the turn. Another miss so I got out. The winning two pair took a monster pot.

Now for a couple questionable plays. With pocket 5s in early position I decided to call only to find it came back around as a raise. I called even though I would need a set to have a shot at winning the pot. I don't believe I should have come in in the first place, much less match the raise. So I played that hand but didn't play my 7,8 suited in middle position when it came back as a raise even though it had so much more potential. It didn't made a straight or flush but instead filled up on the turn with sevens full of eights. D'oh! Actually, 7,8 would have won three hands in a row. As I was leaving the old lady asked when I would be back. I told her I didn't know but promised to be on the lookout for her. She really was quite charming.

Finally, a remark about my future poker playing. Jennifer and I have decided to clamp down on the spending because this appears to be the year of both the wedding and the house buying. This means that I can't afford to be losing money at the tables and the best way to do that is not go as much. Of course if I win I'll go more often, but don't expect a new entry more than about once a month.