Weatherford (February 11)

Following my putrid gaming at the Horseshoe Casino in Shreveport, I bounced back in the monthly Weatherford game but not without some drama of its own.

Due to some budget cuts in my playing after the $360 loss in Shreveport, I could only take two $100 buy-ins with me on Saturday night.  I normally have $300 in my wallet during these games and can find another $100 from someone at the game to borrow from if needed, but this game wasn’t going to result in more than $200 lost in a worst-case scenario.

I started well by winning about $70 in the first hour-and-a-half, flopping a king-high flush early in the night.  That lead didn’t last though, as I lost to an all-in player when his A-K sucked out on the river to my A-7.  I had flopped two pair and all the money went in at that time.  A king came on the river giving him a higher two pair and leaving me with $35.  I opted to use my second $100 and add-on at that point rather than trying to double that small amount up to get back to a reasonable chip stack.

The add-on didn’t help much because after about another two hours I was again down to a small amount.  The lowest I ever got was $39.  However, I made an aggressive move on a check-raise all-in that wasn’t called and got me in the $60 range, and then made a complete bluff on the river with king high when my opponent seemed to be drawing throughout the hand.  I don’t recall exactly what was on the board, but I had been going for a straight and didn’t get it.  At the river, my opponent, who was a timid player, had $35 remaining and I had $36.  He checked to me and I decided to either win the medium-sized pot with an all-in or call it a night.  I said all-in and he quickly folded.  From that point on I started winning my fair-share of pots and was able to make some moves with a good-sized stack.

At one point in the night I made a foolish bluff on the river when I bet $45 and was quickly called.  I didn’t even require the guy to show and threw my cards in the muck.  The bluff came at a poor time when I was upset about letting a guy suck out on me a few hands previously.  I had turned a set with pocket kings and checked.  I was in early position and with an ace on the board I was hoping somebody else would bet it.  It checked around and the third spade came on the river.  I bet, was raised by a player I don’t particularly like, and paid off his flush, even though I was sure I couldn't beat him.

Because I slow-played my set I then lost the bluff hand later, but after that I was able to compose myself and get things back on track.

I ended up winning $195 for the night and played for seven hours.  This resulted in a $27.86 hourly rate.  I am still down $115 for the year, but hopefully I can get some wins in to get things back in the black.