New Life Extended

Although this Web site is sort of dedicated to my trips to Winstar World Casino where I play poker and relay those stories to you, I changed things up today by going to Choctaw Casino in Durant, OK.

I was at the casino for five hours, but only played for four because the list to sit down took a while despite being third on the list when I got there. It was eventually decided to start a new table with the players on the waiting list, which was made up of six people. So I started out against five opponents, but we were eventually full after about 45 minutes.

One interesting note about this table was it had all local residents and regulars who are stable, conservative players, except for one young guy. This guy was hands down the biggest D-bag I have ever seen at a poker table. Of course he had the sunglasses and ipod headphones, but he also wore a blazer with his jeans and told us he would beat us all because he could read his opponents flawlessly. Real quote from him: "I don't want to say I'm arrogant, but I am from Dallas." This kid would make erratic raises ranging from $7 to $25 pre-flop and played a few of his hands blind. He always checked the flop in the dark when in the small blind. Everything about him oozed doucheyness.

He went broke in about an hour.

I hardly played a hand when the Cincinnati Kid was at the table, but once he was gone I opened up a bit. It helped though that I started hitting some hands.

I busted one guy for about $60 by flopping top set with nines when he held pocket tens. The very next hand I had pocket jacks, which I raised pre-flop, and they held up against three players despite two aces on the flop.

My final big hand was when I turned the nut flush with A-K of clubs. With six players putting in $7 in pre-flop and it checking around on the flop, I was able to hit my flush and nearly busted a guy. The opponent bet $20 on the turn, which I called hoping another person would call. They didn't and we went to the river heads up. My opponent checked the river and I bet $30. He called and didn't show the losing hand.

The only significant hand I lost was with Q-6 of hearts. I raised it to $8 pre-flop in late position and had three callers come along. The flop was A-9-6 with two hearts. It was checked to me and I bet $15 into a $32 pot. The player on the button called and the other two folded. This put $60 in the pot.

The turn was a black two. I led out with a $25 bet. My opponent called. We both checked the river that did not give me my flush and he showed 9-6.

After four hours of play I ended up with $250 of profit. A good day.