Before I get into the poker content, I just wanted to take a moment and mention that my friend Elizabeth (a former CPMG regular) is doing a charity walk for the Komen foundation this coming July and is looking for sponsors. If you're a regular at the games you can donate at Dave's (via the coffee can) or you can contact them via their blog: Hot Pink Warriors. I rarely do charity work, but this IMO is a good cause. Now on to poker content:



In A Poker No-Man's-Land

Haven't posted in a couple of weeks, been busy busting out of tournaments and lighting money on fire.

Played Dave's regular Saturday night two weeks ago. I bought short and was determined to play snug. The problem with the structure at Dave's is that playing snug early is fine, but the levels jump so much after the first break that you have to start getting lucky. I was up and down early, building a 7K lead (starting stack is 5k when you buy short). I blew that all doubling up a short stack. After that, I raised preflop with J9 suited and got one customer. Flop came 6-7-8. I bet the flop, he calls. Turn is a brick, I bet again and he hesitates. He clearly doesn't want to call but does. River pairs the 6 and this guy practically jumps out of his seat. I roll my eyes and check knowing I can't bluff him now and he snap shoves his stack in. I Hollywood for a minute and wave goodbye to my chips. I had to take the add-on (3k in chips). I get dealt KsKc and decide to limp/back raise. Well, shit. Everyone limps/checks and I take a flop four ways that's got an A on it and is all hearts. Surprisingly, the hand checks all the way down and I show KK and take it. I was sure I was screwed, and couldn't bet. By the break I am crippled, slide down to 3600 with blinds at 300/600. I get 33 UTG and shove. I get called by Danny in the BB who rolls over K8d and I turn a boat. I then hit my stride. I get QJ on the button. Colin open/shoves from early and everyone runs screaming. I decide I will either have chips or leave, so I call. I flop a J and his A-10 jobs to me. I then busted a short stack and was up over 15k. I get into a comical hand with Meats. I am BB, he is SB. Folds to us, he limps and I check with 8-3h. Flop comes A-K-J two hearts. He checks, I bet 2k and he shoves. I call. He says "I have the nuts" and rolls over Q-10. Turn is a heart and I say "Not anymore" and scoop the pot. I am still hearing about this hand two weeks later.

I get to the final table with 17k when the roll finally stops. Monsignor shoves from early position and I look down in the BB at KK. My first thought is to fold, but I am too stupid to fold kings and I call. He rolls over A-9 and I am drawing dead preflop. Sure enough, A in the door. Crippled, I blind off a round and then get QJ suited UTG+1. I decide to take my chances and shove. Meats tanks and then shoves over top. Fuuuuuuuuuuuuck. Everyone else folds and of course he has AJ. I flop the Q but he flops the A and I brick out. I played a few rounds of the Hold'em/PLO mix game but couldn't get any traction. I folded a hand I apparantly shouldn't have and then got stacked later. $1/1 PLO, I get Q-9-8-4 (suited Q) in the BB. Button min raises to $2. I call, as do a few others. Five take a flop of J-10-9 offsuit. I bet $10, short stack shoves for $19. Button over shoves to put me all-in. I show 2nd nuts and fold, and watch in amazement as the other two roll over K-10-9-x. Had I called I'd have scooped a $100 pot.

This past weekend I decided to hit Linda's $40 Friday. I stopped at Nautica first for some $3/6 limit. It's all players I know from my $5/10 days and it's super soft. Only won one big hand, flopped a set of 8's and got called all the way down and it held. I was up $80 at one point but I bricked a few draws and lost about $20 on the last hand flush over flush. I left down $1. Linda's was a bust. I never really got any traction. I had a favorable table but I kept raising and missing flops, and Ryan S. was playing very aggressive (and he was hitting a lot). The only big hand I won was defending by BB. Ryan button raised (as he had been doing all night) and I decided to defend. I shoved with 2-6h and he calls with AQc. I go runner runner flush to double up before break, but after the break it comes apart. I double up Kris Rao, then Silent Dave shoves blind twice on me and I call with the best hand both times but it doesn't hold. Finally I pulled a stop and go on Ryan and Dave, but ran into Dave's flopped set of 9's and stacked off. Boo.

Dave's tournament this past weekend didn't go so well again either. I short buy again and arrive in time to see Hacker lay down a sick bluff on TK. Blinds are $50/100, hacker makes it $300. TK three bets to $700 from the BB. Hacker four bets him to $1700. TK looks sick, declares he has two outs, and calls. Flop comes K-A-K and Terry open mucks QQ face up. Hacker smiles, rolls over 5-8c and scoops the pot. Sick. I take a few small pots early, but I'm not really making a lot of progress. I grind my stack up to 11k at break and take the add-on. I tried my one bluff of the night on Chas and I picked a bad spot. I had her convinced I had trip 9's but the river gave her Aces up and she called me down, I blew about 5k in that pot. I gave away another 3k to Dave O. when I raised with 99, flop comes 10-8-3 and he check raises me. He showed me a 10 and folded, he said later he flopped a set. From there I was short stacked. RR Dave shoves into me, I look down at 88 and shove over the top. Guy at the end calls short with AQc. Dave shows 88. AQ guy makes a flush and Dave and I chop the pitiful leftovers. Next hand Dave shoves again, I call with A5. He rolls over A2 and for the second hand in a row I chop an all-in pot with him. He busts on the next hand from the BB and then we hit break. After break I have 5k left and am in the BB for 2k. I shove with Q7, TK calls with 55 and Danny calls with J8. A river 8 kills us both.

I borrowed a buyin for the cash game and sat down at $1/1. I was down to around $60 when I get dealt 99 and raise from the SB. Flop comes 10-10-8. I bet out, everyone but Tony folds. Turn is a 4. I shove my stack in, Tony calls. River is a 9. I declare boat and roll it over, but Tony only had A-8 and was behind anyway. After that double up a $1/1 HA opened up. I sat down seven handed and was in the first orbit when I got dealt 10-9-8-8 double suited. I call a small raise and take a flop of J-7-6 offsuit. I check with every intention of raising but no one bets. Turn is a 2. I check again, guy on my left makes it $20. Guy across from me pots, which is enough to put me all-in. I think about it for a long time and realize I have too many outs to fold. I call and the inital bettor folds. River is an 8 and I make my straight against his set of Jacks. After that it was cruise control time. I was up and down a bit but I was determined not to lose my profit. By the end of the night I cashed out +$145 (I gave $25 back in 7 aces). We all ended up at IHOP at 6am eating breakfast and watching a car drive by with it's lights off, the front end smashed, and a flat tire that was driving on the rim. Good times.