A Profitable Weekend (Long and Rambling, sorry)

This is my one free weekend this month (no kids, no on call for work) so I decided to be as big a degenerate as possible for me. Kirsten and I hit Eddie J's on Friday night for some $1/1 NLHE. I've been staying away from NL for the most part due to the excessive beatings I've been taking at it, but she really wanted to go and I didn't feel like sitting at home alone, so I decided to take a couple buy-ins and just nit it up.

I lost half my $150 stack early on, guy raised with 10's preflop, I called with 58s and flop came 3-5-6 2 spades. I check-raised him all-in and he quickly called, of course I bricked out. I was hovering around $80 when I got moved to the second table. The table was playing very passive except for the guy on the end who decided to bet every hand when it was checked to him since people kept folding. I check-raised him for $50 on a stone bluff (my one try for the night) and he folded, bringing me back up to a little profit. That hand got me rolling, and then I started slamming the game hard. I limped with 2-2, no raises, flop comes Q-10-2 two diamonds. Dawn bets out $10, I raise to $25. She re-raises to $60, I shove. She tanks, and calls out my hand "I know you have a set of 2's". She turns her hand up, she has Q-10c. She talks herself into believing I'm on a draw and shoves in $150 more and my hand holds up. I then slid into that awesome zone where I was actually making hands and getting paid. I called a raise with AK and flopped Broadway, I raised preflop with J's and turned J's full of 4's, etc. I ran it up to about $500 and was considering leaving when we got merged to one table.

I continued to hit hands including flopping another set of J's against someone with KJ, and I put a couple of sick suckout beats on Aunt Patty. She got me early on with a couple of dumb plays (raises UTG with 78 off, I flop trip 9's and she turns a straight, etc). She was getting short stacked and opened for a $12 raise with 6's. I called with AK. Flop was 2-4-7. She shoves for about $45, I call. Turn A, I take it down. She got all mad, but she had what I figured her for (plus I was WAY up at that point) and putting a beat on Patty is just desserts. There was one giant clusterfuck hand with Eddie J that cemented my night. In early position, Jewish Andy (who, BTW, is not Jewish) raises to $8. I call with Q9h, Eddie calls, a couple other people call. Flop comes 9-9-8 2 clubs. Andy leads out and I pop it to $50. Eddie re-raises all-in. Guy behind him calls for $47. Andy tanks and folds (he said he had KK I think). I tank for a minute, but I decide that Eddie's range is open and he could be anywhere from a draw like J-10c to a 9. I figure in a cash game I really can't fold trips, so I call. Eddie tables 8's for a flopped full. Turn is a blank, river a Q for a higher boat. Eddie looked like someone shot his dog. Up to about $750, I hit cruise control for a while until it comes down to the very last hand of the night. I am in the blind with JJ, Eddie raises from the mid to $8. I pop it to $20. He thinks I'm making a move because it's last hand, he calls. Flop is 2-3-3 two hearts. I lead for $50. He tanks for a minute and just calls. Turn is a Q. I am concerned that he may be on overs like AQ or KQ, but I am not folding. I put $100 out. Eddie tanks again and finally shoves for another $40. I call and table my Jack's. River is a blank and Eddie mucks. I finally cash out $963 on a single $150 buyin.

Saturday night at Dave's did not go as well. I busted out of the tournament about halfway in, I had been floating and couldn't get any momentum. Tournament just isn't my game right now. I sit down at 8 game and for the first few orbits I can't miss. I get into a couple hands with Colin and I put a couple of horrible beats on him, and I run my stack up to about $400. I then proceed to give $150 of it to RR Dave on a stone bluff (my one of the night) and was of course picked off. I put a lot of pressure on him, but he couldn't lay down bottom set and I get snapped off. (I don't think he made a bad call, certainly I would've. I obviously didn't put him on a set or I wouldn't have bluffed at all). I spiral down to about $55 and get up to go play NL. The NL table is down to me, K, Mailman, Dave, Paoli, and Roland. It's a nit-fest, with everyone folding to $3 raises. I float there until Mailman flops a set against Roland's flopped straight and busts, breaking the table. I head back to 8 game with 15 minutes left to final orbit. I get into a couple of huge hands with Jeff Reigler (including making a wheel in Stud 8) and run myself back up to about even. When the table finished I was back up to $184, minus my tournament loss I profited $4 for the session. This was after I covered about $50 in prop losses, my Jack of Hearts really fucked me last night, I couldn't hit shit in the first round of props.

Today I'm going to go over and check out this Gemini Players Club and see what the deal is. Everyone says it's a berry patch, so I may end up liking it and it's pretty close. I will report back on it after I play a little and try it out.