+128 @ The Commerce Casino

The night started out pretty rough. 10s up getting beaten by a straight on the river, pocket K then get an A on the flop, but the killer was when my medium flush lost to a royal flush! Yowza! I was down about $90 in just over half an hour but felt sure that I could get it back. It was a loose table but wasn't insane. There was an occasional pre-flop cap (which sometimes I was involved with; pocket Q (they got busted by a K on the flop) and pocket A (which held up)) but it wasn't too too wild. Still, I was down nearly $140 after 90 minutes.

I started clawing my way back to even and the turning point was when I had A,4 of clubs twice in a row, then again just a couple hands later. I missed the flush the first time, but flopped the nut flush the next time around. I was in early position and checked the flop but someone else kindly bet it for me. Shortly thereafter AK held up with a board of A,7,2,7,7, and 8,10 diamonds as BB brought me A,5,8 (with two diamonds) on teh flop. I didn't make the flush but I did get a 10 on the turn. That was good enough.

This brought me to even. Then the hand I was waiting for appeared. With pocket 2 as SB, it comes to me as three bets but we know that a cap is almost certainly in the works. I was feeling pretty good so I decide to come along. I call. Of course it is capped. Flop: QQ2. Wow! I check. BB bets. Raise, Raise. I call. It gets capped. I call. There's nothing like having others do your raising for you. There were 4 players still in at this point! Blank on the turn. I check. Bet, call. call. I raise. 4 Callers, but two of them are all in. One caller when I bet the blank flop. I collect a $150 pot. Ka ching! Nobody saw that one coming.

+89 @ The Commerce Casino

First off, does anyone even read these posts? If not, I'll stop blogging about my poker experiences.

Very loose table with a nice mix of young punks and old grizzleds. Not much happened in the first 30 minutes at the table, then it got wild. With J,Q of spades in middle position, it was three bets by the time it got to me. I had been very tight until that point so I decided to play along and see what would happen, even though I knew that it would probably be capped. I didn't cap it myself because 1) The cards didn't justify it (three bets was already very questionable) and 2) I wanted to see who would cap it. It turns out it was someone new; not one of the guys who raised or re-raised. The flop was K of spades, J, blank. Hmm...middle paid with good kicker, and three to a royal flush. I'm still drawing to make a winning hand, but I have a tremendous number of outs. That's worth playing. Once again, it was capped. What the hell did everyone have? Q of clubs on the turn. Checked to me, I bet. Some folds, some calls, but no raises. Interesting. I may be ahead. However, with the 10 on the river I knew that I was sunk. I mucked when it was bet. The pot was split by the pocket A and the AK.

A few hands later I got black pocket K in middle position. I raised and many people came along. The flop was 4,5,6 with two diamonds. Sigh. I bet into it and got raised. I mucked. K of diamonds on the turn, but it wouldn't have helped, especially when a red 7 fell on the river. People three people showed their straights. Down $60 in 30 minutes.

I came back to even with 7,9 hearts as BB. I flopped a pair of 7s, but it kept betting better and better with a 9 on the turn and a 9 (which also made three clubs) on the river. Ka-ching! The very next hand I had A,J with 10,J,_ on the flop. I got raised on the blank turn, then I checked and called the river. I was in third place behind a set of J and pocket A. I of course should have mucked on the turn. The J raised before the flop, but the Aces never raised the entire time. My next three hands of note were AK, JQ and A7 and they all missed. Down again.

JQ made top pair on the flop then turned into trips on the river for a small payoff, but one of the big payoffs of the night was J,K on the button. It was raised by the time it got to me so I called. A,Q,10 on the flop. Nut straight. Cool. However, there were two diamonds showing. I smooth called the raised flop, raised the blank turn, and bet the river. No callers. Up $70 in an hour and a half.

I only had three pocket pairs the entire night and while the Ks and 3s didn't pay off, the pocket Q brought me to $95 up. A,K, raised pot-preflop and QQQ on the flop. Check all the way around. Blank turn, checked all the way around. Q on the river so I bet. I split the pot with another A who called. My last significant hand of the night was yet another J,Q with K,10,_ on the flop. 9 on the turn (no flush) and I get raised! Ok. I made it three bets. One player dropped out, one stayed with me. He bet the blank river and I raised again. He called. Eveyone else knew what I had, but he just had A,K.

-5 @ The Commerce Casino

Jennifer was out of town for the weekend so I decided to do the guy thing by heading to the casino. The cards during the first out were just out of control every which way. There were 4 four of a kinds and a myriad of boats. In the first 20 minutes I lost two big hands and was down $60 when my flush (which was actually 4 to a straight flush as well) lost to a full house (which he made with 7,2 unsuited as BB!) and my full house lost to four of a kind Jacks. I moved to seat one when it opened and was annoyed to see that the guy who took my seat 8 won two in a row in ten minutes.

My first winning hand was A,3 diamonds and A,_,3 on the flop. I raised it and only got one caller. Oh well. He mucked on the river but I did get a small amount of money. Not much happened for a while, but I then got a huge string of pocket pairs: 88,KK,55,44 and 77, all in the space of about a dozen hands. The KKs won and beat out a QQ, and I lucked out by being aggressive by betting my 4s on the flop of Q,3,5. I got two callers and they both mucked when I bet the 5 on the turn. I shouldn't have been playing like that, but I was in late position which helped. In one hour I was down $20.

I then hovered around even for a very long time, never being more than $10 up and never being more than $30 down. At the two hour mark I was down $10. Things were getting kinda boring at the table actually. It was pretty tight all the way around and my notes are mostly blank. I had AA but it was only against one other player by the flop. I did hit a nut straight on the river against two other players for a nice bit of cash. I never got a set, a flush nor any other straight.