A Bad Night, A Good Day

After playing cards twice in the new year, I have come away from those games down $25.

The first session was at a friend's house in Weatherford. I ended up losing $300 in about six hours. Not so great of an evening, which the worst part is that this game is a place where lots of money can be made. In the last two times I've played this game I have made $750 and $350. So losing $300 was very disappointing, especially since the game only comes together once a month.

A surprising development for this month's game was that the table I was sitting at was extremely normal. By normal I mean the money in front of everyone didn't change hands at surprisingly fast and high rates. Most of the players at the table were above average and good, making it difficult to win a large pot from anyone. Since I wasn't getting the best hands or very many decent ones to make moves with, I didn't win much or often.

I started off pretty well, making my way to a $50 profit quickly, but from there on out it was downhill. I don't really remember a lot of the hands I played well, since there weren't too many. However, I can recall the hands I played poorly (whether I won them or not).

My first rebuy came after making a move with A-4 when an ace hit the flop. Sadly I did not just give my money to the better ace, whose kicker matched another card on the board, but I came in third to another hand with an ace, whose kicker was also better than my own.

I don't remember how I lost my second $100. I do remember though that when I was down to my third and final buy-in, I made back my second buy-in and some when my pocket sevens won me a large pot. I limped in for $2, along with about four or five others at the table. My buddy James raised from the small blind, leveling the playing field to three or four of us total. The flop came 10-high with no seven and two hearts. James bet $60 and I went all in for my final $44. The player on the button, whose name was Chris, called the $60. The turn and river were blanks with no other heart coming. I fully expected my hand to lose, but when both James and Chris checked it down to a showdown I had hope. James said ace-high and Chris missed his flush draw. I was an unlikely winner.

Sadly that money didn't stay with me very long. A few hands later I played J-10 against kings and couldn't get better than a pair of jacks. I also had a straight draw and with an ace coming on the river, that might have scared my opponent off his kings had I made a bet, but it would have most likely taken an all in bet. This was one incident where I played like a wuss. I felt confident I could have won the hand if only I would have made the bet, but I wouldn't pull the trigger.

Another time that I would have won a pot if I had made the bet I wanted to do was with A-9 offsuit. I was on the button with my hand and it was called by about six or seven players to me. I called the $2 and was ready to see a cheap flop when the small blind on my left raised it to $15. The big blind, who is a very tight player, called. Another two players called and it was back to me. So there was about $50 in the hand and to call it was another $13. I had $85 in front of me. I thought for about 30 seconds of making a raise that surely would win the hand. However, I was afraid of the tight big blind player who called the $15. He surely would have a solid hand, but would he call an additional $70?

Taking into account that I had already made this move once in the evening and shown A-J, I didn't know whether I could get away with it again. Every ounce of me wanted to move all in, but I ended up folding. After everything was said and done I found out that the small blind had A-10 and the big blind had A-K. Everyone said they would have folded if I went all in, so I was upset with myself that I didn't make the move.

My final hand of the night was with pocket eights. Four people paid to see a flop and the cards came 6-5-3. It checked to Chris, who bet $6. I raised it to $20, hoping to either win the pot right then or win the pot by doubling up. Neither happened.

The small blind then raised it another $35, making it $55 to go. Chris folded and I thought everything out. The small blind wouldn't make this type of move with the made straight. He also would have raised it pre-flop with a pocket pair, so I could rule out a better pair or a set. So the only thing left was either two pair or, at worst, top pair with an ace kicker. After betting the $20 I had another $65 left. If I was going to play the hand I had decided I was going to raise all in for the additional $30.

I chose to take the chance and try to catch up to his two pair. I went all in and he called. Sure enough he had 3-5, giving him bottom two pair. The turn and river didn't help and I was out.

I'll finish this post tomorrow. Until then.