Getting Back On Track

Yesterday was the first time since starting to play poker frequently again that I made a trip to a casino two days in a row. On Tuesday I went to Choctaw, and on Wednesday I went to Winstar.

I ended up profiting $150 for the day after playing for eight hours. That equates to $18.75 an hour. Not bad. For the year I am only up $25, but since starting my records back on Nov. 18, I have profited $1,640.

Hopefully I can remember all the hands of significance from yesterday. I should have typed this up last night, but once I got home I was so tired from the day of play and driving I just went straight to bed.

In about an hour I was down $70 after misplaying three of a kind on the flop. I had K-10 and the flop came out 10-10-8 with two hearts. I was first to act and checked into four players. The guy on my left bet $10 and I simply called with no others playing along.

The turn was the seven of hearts. I checked again and the guy bet $15. I called again.

The river was the three of spades. This time, thinking I had the best hand and he hadn't bet on hitting his flush on the flop, I was going to check-raise him. He bet $20 and I raised him the minimum. He insta-called and said flush. Dang it.

I usually don't slow-play trips when there is a flush draw on the flop, but this one time I decided to play sneaky since it was going to be heads-up play. Learned my lesson there.

I quickly got that $70 back though, and then some, when I flopped a set of eights and rivered a full house against a guy who had turned a straight. The only thing that stopped me from making more money off the guy was the turn card that made his straight also made a flush and he thought I had that hand. Had a flush not been possible, I don't think he would have even seen the possibility for a full house and I could have made lots more.

The big hand of the day for me was actually a split pot, but since another player (the old man who beat my three tens with his flush) came along with me and the other winner, we made some good money.

I was at about even (maybe a little above), when I received K-Q of clubs.  Seven of the nine players at the table limped in to see a flop that came out K-10-9 with two clubs. The fourth player to act led out with a $10 bet. A tattooed lady, a young guy, myself, and the old man (who was the small blind) called the bet. The other two players then folded.

The turn was the two of hearts. It checked around to me. With top pair and the second nut flush draw, I can play this a couple of ways. I can take the free card and see if my flush comes, which if it doesn't then hopefully a showdown is done and I get to see if my pair of kings with a queen kicker is good. My other option is to bet. But then there are more choices to make regarding the size of the bet. I can make a bet relative in size to the pot and trim down my competition in case I don't hit my flush and need a showdown for free, or I can bet a small amount to bring people in for less in the hopes I hit my flush and there are enough people in the hand that having a good hand will get paid off.

Against four players I doubted I would get the luxury of another check down to hope for the best. For that reason I ruled out taking the free card. So it was down to betting. I opted to make a pot-size bet and hope to either win it there, get called by only one player who will check it to me on the river if I miss, or get called by everyone and hit my flush so I get paid big.

I bet $50 (pot was at $60). The old man called my bet, the guy who bet $10 on the flop folded (he said he had 10-9 which was bottom two pair on the flop), and the tattooed lady folded. This is where it got interesting. The young guy then moved all in for another $66. It was now to me for $66 with a player behind me.

Now if I were this kid and was playing the way he had played this hand, my cards would either make a straight or a set. To play it this way I would have to be crazy to have nothing since I'm going to likely be called by at least one of the two players still in the pot. However, I was not the one playing his hand. After paying close attention to this kid for about a minute, I was pretty confident he didn't have a huge hand. So, now I had to decide how big his hand was. Did he have two pair, was he overvaluing top pair, top kicker, or did he have a big draw that he was semi-bluffing like I had done with my $50 bet.

I finally decided I was playing this hand. So with $140 in front of me, I pushed it all in. I wanted to get the old man out so I could have a better chance at winning the pot against the young guy. But to my surprise the old man called for all his chips, leaving me with about $30 left over should I lose.

The young guy said, "Well I'm beat." To which I replied, "Eh, I wouldn't be so sure just yet, but I have outs to get better." I flipped up my K-Q of clubs. He was genuinely happy to see me have that hand and flipped over another K-Q, but he realized I had my flush draw and again became concerned. After saying I had outs to get better, the old man realized it was the flush I was talking about, to which he said, "Oh no you don't." He flipped over A-4 of clubs. So now I am begging for no club or ace to come (unless it was the jack of clubs to give me a straight flush; but I was later informed that the tattooed lady had folded that).

The river was a blank and the young guy and myself split the main pot, while I got all of the side pot.

This put me up somewhere between $150-190. At my high point I was at profit of $194. But then the old man cracked my aces with K-10 when he rivered a 10. He had flopped top pair with the king and I bet the flop and the turn, which he then raised all in and I immediately called. The horrible river came and I lost $100 on the hand. That started a horrible trend of losing for about two hours and my low point came at down $130. I even had to go into the pocket for another $100 to keep me afloat.

For the life of me I don't remember the hand that put me back to even. I know something happened to get me back to the $250-300 range and I hovered there for about three hours. For probably an hour-and-a-half of that three hours our table was short with only six or seven of us at the table at any given point. During this porition of the day nobody was winning or losing money. We simply were putting out our blinds and folding to any aggression. Once we finally filled up again the money started flowing. I broke out of my $250-300 spot when I won a decent pot with a set of fours that I hit on the turn. That put me up about $50 and I was close to calling it quits. However, then my last big hand came.

The hand that got me up the $150 was when I turned a straight with 10-8. It was the second nuts by the end of the hand (only K-10 beat me for a higher straight) and when the guy check-raised me on the turn and led out for $50 on the flop, I made the mistake of playing it too cautious and simply calling the final bet. I could have easily made another $50 by raising the minimum since he had two pair that he thought was good, but my wary play cost me. That is one of the pitfalls of playing for money I really need is that I will occassionaly (maybe once every four or five sessions) make a bet that is abnormal to how I would usually play because I don't want to risk losing the money I have in front of me.

Until next week.