+6 @ The Commerce Casino

I only ended up playing for a couple hours but in that time I had lots of fun and a great run of cards. I didn't always do so well in getting pots out of the cards, but that's ok. I tried to be really tight about what I played and would dump unsuited Ax (with x <=6) in early position. I had a couple suited Aces twice in a row and both times missed my flush. However, both times I had to call all the way to the river.

With red pocket Q in middle position I raised only to have everyone but the BB drop out. That was annoying. The flop was all clubs, she checked to me and called when I bet. The turn was a blank, the play repeated but this time she folded. Happy to take the pot no matter how small it was. Just a few hands later I had AA in late position. I raised and got 4,10,2 rainbow on the flop. I bet, many callers. 3 on the turn, I bet, couple fewer callers. The river was a 6 and a checked turned into a better. He clearly had a five, but I called as did a few others. Yup. He made his inside straight. Next time around the table I had AA again but everyone folded when I bet the rags on the flop.

Other hands included Q,10 suited with a flop of Q,9,Q. I was in late position so I bet and got callers. K on the turn, but no flush or straight possibility on the river so I felt pretty good. I'm happy to report that it turned out well. K,J in early position with a flop of an opened ended straight draw didn't turn out so well, but my jack paired on the river and that was good enough to win. Another hand that didn't turn out so hot was 5,7 suited as small blind and 5,6,7 on the flop. I bet it but checked the 8 on the turn. Someone else bet and I mucked. My two pair wasn't going to hold up.

Now for the two really interesting hands of the night. Pocket 2 in late position and 2,4,Q on the flop. After I raised the flop the turn and the river were checked to me. The turn was a blank, the river another 2! Wow! That was a nice pot and I was up over 50 dollars just an hour into the session.

Much of it drained away over the next hour and even though it was still early I was feeling kinda tired so I started to get ready to head out. Before I left I got some pocket K to send me off. Pretty cool, but the flop of Q,J,10 wasn't so cool. I'm now behind. Despite this I bet the flop and the next thing I know it came back to me as a capped pot. What to do? An A means that I'll split the pot by playing the board. Other than that I don't have a prayer. But you know the saying, confused players call so I decided to call. Then things got really interesting when a K fell on the turn. It was bet and I called time. What do I do now? I tried not to be confused and mucked instead. That was a bad decision. If I were going to fold the time to do it was before calling the $9 bet. After I had called it though, I needed to be going all the way. I wasn't thinking clearly and missed the fact that while the K certainly gave someone a straight, I also had a much stronger drawing position than I realized. I can still split the pot if an A falls on the river, but I'll also take the pot if the board paired. Figuring that there was at least one A (probably two) being held by the four other players, I could get some money from an A (2 of them), a K (one of them), a Q (three), J (three), or a 10 (three). That's 12 outs for a 25% chance of taking the pot. I definately should have called the turn. The river was an 8 and there was only a single A among the three players who stayed till the end.

-205 @ The Commerce Casino

Wow! I'm still reeling and, as you might expect, not in the mood to relate this miserable night. It will happen soon though. Promise.

Ok. It has been a little while since the night and I'm able to look at it a little more objectively. It started out fine with some good playable hands in the first couple hours: A9 suited, A7 unsuited, pocket 4, K10 suited. Not much happened though and I got my first pot after an hour with pocket K and a flop of 8.8,Q. Everyone folded when I bet. Another interesting hand that made me some money was A,J suited and a board of 10,10,5,10,_. The flop was checked to me. I bet and got a couple callers. The turn was also checked to me and I bet it. Fold, Fold and a time. Well, that told me she didn't have a 10 and probably didn't have a 5. She folded eventually. Both of those hands could have turned out badly, but I was lucky.

After another hour of some small losses and gains I was down a total of $15. Then a maniac joined the table and everything changed. He was betting anything and everything; raising blind, capping pre-flop. He loved all his hands. "Great news!" I thought after watching him call for another rack of chips after just 15 minutes. But the only problem is that even when you have a good hand but one capable of being out-drawn you couldn't get him out. That's why when I had a set of fours and made it three bets on the flop he stayed around with his inside straight draw. Which me made of course. When I had A,Q suited I got the nut flush draw on the flop. He's raising like crazy and a few of us are coming along. None of us hit our hands and he takes it with his pocket 3s. I know that I should have been tighter, but when all the pots become as huge as they are, it is hard to stay out with those pot odds.

The most amazing hand of the night was when I had K of clubs, J of diamonds in late position. 8 of us were involved with capping the pot! The flop came 3 clubs: J,6,7. The table goes wild and the pot is capped again. Why was I in this one? Well, the K looked pretty good and I had top pair with a great kicker. The next car was a 3 of clubs. That made my K high flush, but I'm in danger of the A being in play, and with all those people, it seems likely. One guy goes all in by making it three bets. The rest of us call. The next card is a Q of clubs. So there's a flush on the table, a possible straight flush and I have the K. I'm feeling pretty good in general. I bet the river and get no callers. I turn over my king and nobody says anything about an A. Instead, all eyes are fixed on the fellow who went all in. He had 4,5 of clubs for a straight flush. He took the largest $3-$6 pot I had ever seen.

As an experiment, I kept track of the number of hands that I payed for by calling or raising pre-flop. This includes putting money in when I was the small blind, but didn't include the large blind. The button passed me 11 times before I stopped keeping count and I paid for 20 hands. So that means I was in 20/99 = 20% of the hands. I think that's too many.