Mon night we played again at one of our favorite places, Jay’s Family Diner on North Washington at 78th. The food is really good and we get a good crowd, some pretty good players as well. I had the Chicken Cordon Blue (sp?)and it is excellent! I’ve been opting out of the soda for Tea and I don’t know if that is helping but maybe.

I continued my streak of fourths into the first game. The last hand was questionable I had Q9h and was in the BB, I hit the Q on the flop and had a gutshot straight draw as well. I bet out 2x the BB and get called by 1 player, wild unpredictable, or is that crazy, sometimes both. The Turn helps my draw slightly but I am still trying to put them on a hand so I check. They bet 2x BB so I decide to triple that to see where I am at and hopefully take it down. No such luck they came back over the top all-in. Not sure why in retrospect but I thought the over bet was the sign they were still drawing and my Q with ok kicker might be good so I called. Nope KQos and IGHN.

Since I didn’t have a good read I should have lain that one down and waited for a better situation. There are a couple of tips on Cardplayer.com that I should have remembered and since I didn’t know exactly where I was at should have just called and seen another card instead of raising. Turns out if I would have hit my Straight I would have been out to a higher one anyway but if I missed I might have gotten way from it, hard to say. Still another 4th is good. I may have held on to be 3rd but only 1st and 2nd get you into the weekly and I was getting short stacked. Almost forgot I dropped “The Hammer” early on in this one. I was on the button against two conservative players in the blinds so I figure a standard raise would get me the blinds. I decided on 4x and got two callers, oops! At least I had the button. The flop was mid to low cards and I actually had a gutshot draw. Check, Check, well maybe a pot size bet here would work, given I put them both on bigger cards and the checks seemed to indicate they missed I fired out and fold, fold! Yes! I decided to show with the “I had a straight draw” as my excuse. Now I had to play good since my raises wouldn’t count for much 😉 It did pay off later and why is it when I do that I see “The Hammer” alot in that game?

We had time between games and we played a mini game, kind of a turbo where the blinds go up every 10 min and also when a player goes out. I won a couple of the early pots then went card dead and decided to play tight. Given the nature of the game there was alot action and I soon found myself no worse than 4th again. the blinds were getting up there and it was an all-in fest, no cards to play so I ended up sliding into 2nd by sitting back. That one doesn’t count for the weekly but got me some extra points , exactly the difference between 4th and 3rd in the previous game.

The last game of the night was a small one with only nine, a single table. I had a good player to my right and two wild players to my left, who had been drinking woot! I decided that I needed to practice my patience and play solid since, at least in the early rounds a 5x or 6x, possibly even 10x the blind wouldn’t mean much. I could also work on trapping since I was playing tight and we had a lot of limping into pots. To my left were playing alot of week K, Q, and A even coming in raising. I was a little above average in chips and was really tuned in to the game. Late in the game I had AQh and decided to se if I could trap with it in the BB. UTG did his usual raise , which meant one big card and one weak one most likely, hopefully. A couple of late position callers gave me good odds to call. So I ‘begrudgingly’ called trying on my acting hat as well. Bingo KJT, flopped a straight! Ok how to play this one, I can be pretty sure UTG hit a piece of it but I want to keep the other limpers in, but I could be giving them the draws to split. I think the check is the best hoping they put me on a medium pair or nothings. UTG bets out a min bet, two callers, I call to represent a draw. Why did he bet so little still on a draw? Has Qx and worried about the K? Both possible. The turn is a 9 giving any Q a straight, I check again, yep must have had Q rag, UTG is all in. Other two fold and I call with less chips. I ask: “Have a Q ?”. Yep Q8 I rake a big pot and get close to the chip lead. To quote the A Team “I Love it when a plan comes together”.

Final three: I catch a couple of good hands and am now poised to finish at least third. It is me, Debby and one other player that must be feeling the Vodka and Red Bulls since she is pushing with alot of different hands. She is catching and is a big chip leader. I’d really like to get heads up with Debby so we both make the weekly. Unfortunately she is all in in the BB and we both call. I have Ah7d not bad three handed, would much rather see it suited.

The flop is As3h6d, Top Pair weak kicker. I check, as you should with one player all-in, try to eliminate the player and move up. In this case to the coveted final 2. Turn is a 7h giving me two pair, I check. Chip leader bets, don’t remember the exact amount but enough that I decide to push, I an 80%+ I have the best hand and they are still drawing. They insta-call. “I have the Flush” Uh, No you need 5 of the same suit, which there can’t be, yet, and a KhQs you don’t even have a draw. Huge pot to me but Debby turns over pocket 5’s and the river is a blank. I’m a hug chip leader and a couple of hands later I check my QQ and get an all-in to me. Qx to me and I take first! WOOT!

I was really focused and tried to move to level 3 poker and I now really like drunk people 😉 We will have to see how this weekly thing works out. Ciao …

Posted: 01|10|07 at 2:24 pm. Filed under: Poker.

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