I went to play cards at my favorite location this weekend, the Horseshoe- Bossier City. I actually rented a room this time and was able to play some shorter sessions. I really like staying at the place where you are playing because it is so convenient to take a break. The hotel room was awesome, though I did get a smoking room instead of a non-smoking room.

The poker room was up to its usual high standards. They created a new $1/2 NL table for us when we got there around 7pm and soon enough the entire poker room was schooling with fish. The table this trip was much softer than the previous trip and a lot more talkative which makes playing that much more fun.

The only two big pairs that I had all weekend came semi-early. I had 9-9 and K-K, both of which won uncontested with my continuation bets. I know 9-9 isn’t a big pair, but when it is the 2nd biggest pair that you have all weekend is 9-9, you can call it a big pair.

I put in an image play early to try to break up the image that my card deadness was building. I raised 10s-9s UTG to $6, which didn’t deter anyone from calling. I think the hand was checked down and I flipped over a 9 at the showdown for a pair of nines for a losing hand.

Playing AK, especially from the blinds, is a very slippery slope. I see people taking it to the river unimproved all the time and losing their whole stacks with Ace high at the showdown. I play AK from the blinds in a very simple way, if it is limped around to me, I make a big enough raise that no one wants to play with me unless they have a very premium hand which they have slow-played. If they reraise my bet, I can get away from my hand pretty easily, since AK doesn’t play well into a 3-bet pot in cash games. In tournaments, it plays very differently, but in cash games, AK is usually behind to a 3-bet pf. I played one hand in just this manner and sure enough won the limps uncontested.

Up until this point I have just broken-even as all of the pots that I have won have been small ones. Then comes the tricky stuff that either makes you or breaks you. A LAG raised it up to $7 pf from UTG and I elected to call in MP with 6s-5s. A few more players called the smallish pfr and we saw a flop of Ks-Qs-5h. The raiser led out for the standard $10 flop bet and I of course call with my flush draw plus bottom pair. I might could have raised here, but I had a lot of people left to act behind me and I wanted good odds on my draw as well as information on what everyone else was going to do. Only the player to my immediate left called and the pot was good. The turn was a beautiful Js to complete my flush draw and once again the raiser bet out again, this time for $20. Something about his bet seemed strong and I still had another player to act behind me who has acted like he was on a draw so far. I elected just to call and see what the player behind me was going to do. Something smelled fishy about this hand and I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I’m not laying down a flush with this action and a non-paired board. The guy to my left, Jerry was his name, also called which really started to make me nervous. The river was actually a bad card for my hand as it made my flush much weaker. One of the two remaining 5’s fell off on the river and I now had to worry about full houses out there besides bigger flushes. Once again the pfr’r led out again, this time for $40. With the paired board and the gnawing feeling in my gut, I just called the $40 and held my breath as Jerry contemplated his action. I was very relieved when he just called. The UTG raiser turned over A-10o for a broadway straight, (I knew he had a little something) and Jerry turned over AK for two pair, Kings and Fives. I took down my first big pot of the night and was now playing with the houses money!

Not too much later I caught an auto-play hand, which worked out great from the SB. I love to check blind on the flop from the SB with all kinds of hands and situations as it conceals the strength of a slow-play when you flop a monster hand. It was once again a limped pot and I had 8s-4s in the SB, I completed for $1 and Jerry checked. I checked blind as the dealer was preparing the flop, and oh what a flop it was. K-8-8 and Jerry immediately pushed all in for $37. The other 3 players in the hand folded out to me and I insta-called Jerry’s push. He turned over Kx and I had him drawing to 2 outs. This wasn’t a big pot, but it does illustrate the value and uses of checking blind into the flop.

As my game has improved, I’m starting to play more hands from good position. In the past I have always folded A-9o and other similar hands because it is just so hard to figure out where you are at after the flop when an ace hits. It’s a little easier when 2 aces hit the flop because there is only 1 other ace out and high cards may fall on the turn and river to counterfeit any kicker trouble that you may be in. Also, if the board pairs then you are likely splitting the pot with the other Ace or you are taking the whole thing down yourself uncontested. If you are fortunate enough to hit your kicker, you are usually good.

One man had already left the table once due to a case of the busts and had just sat back down to try it again. It was another limped pot and the flop was A-A-Qr with me holding an A-9o in the CO. Mr. Busto led the flop for $10, which I was happy to smooth call behind 1 other player. I’m not sure if anyone else called, because I knew where the other ace was based on the way that Mr. Busto had bet his hand and reacted to the flop. The turn was a beautiful 9, which put me at ease about my hand being goot. Sure enough, Mr. Busto leads the turn for $20 and I value raise him to $50 even. He, of course, calls with his Ace and we’re heads up. The river was an 8 and Mr. Busto pushed all in on me, I called with out even counting the chips out and flipped my hand over to send him to the Busto stop for the 2nd time that night. I think that I netted about $150 on that hand and was now toting a >$500 stack.

I talked my buddy, BJJIII, into getting some money off the table because his stack was bigger than mine and he had quite a big swing to get there. You definitely need to read his session review if you want to hear about playing big pairs and flopping dozens of sets. We also wanted to look the El Dorado room over that was just across the bridge and this looked like a good stopping point to do it. I’m going to do a card room review of it, but I’ll say one thing about it right now, “It ain’t the Horseshoe-Bossier!”

I counted out a $315 profit for our 4 hours at the Shoe and we headed over to the El Dorado.
The tables seemed pretty soft at the El Dorado, but you definitely had to make a hand to win any money. I ended up flopping TPTK one time to split a pot with a short-stack, but other than that, there were no hands to talk about from the El Dorado. We only played for about an hour on the west bank of the Red River, and I dropped $40 in the process.

We headed back to the home turf of the Shoe and the table that we had left bare was now teaming with fish and had 2 new huge stacks harvesting a profit off its felt. The poker room manager tried to seat us at a different table, but with one look at the line up on that table, I didn’t even sit down to join the grind. I walked back over to our original table and fortunately a seat opened up just as I did. So, lickety split, I grab my chips and hopped back over into the softest seat in the room. I quickly opened with 3-3 from MP1 and took it down with a continuation bet, then tried it again w/ 5-5 and didn’t get any respect. The duo netted me $15, so I was happy with the results.

I had a very interesting fellow on my right, who I found out had been playing poker professionally for 3 years. He was disabled and in a powered wheelchair, which was a great cover for him, because his mind was as sharp as a razor blade. He was abusing these fish left and right and had built his stack up to $800 or so. He’d only been there 2 hours; in fact, he had just sat down when we were getting up to leave for the El Dorado. I don’t know if I should be upset at myself for taking my profit and running before these fish started spewing their monies or if I should be glad that I missed that guys onslaught. It could go either way I guess, but we made the safe play by cashing in a good profit, I’m never mad about that.

There was nothing very eventful that happened at that table, and when the other big stack at the table left along with a few others, we decided that it was time to shut it down for the night. I really hated to see that lady leave too; she was a big over-bettor and didn’t seem to have much game. I ended up losing $70 in that two-hour span, but was still hanging onto a $200 profit for the trip.

We took a six-hour sleep break and woke up to go at it again.

I started off on the wrong foot early, but was reading players well and playing well, I just made 1 big wrong decision and one case of bad variance. Early on I had picked out whom I wanted to play hands against. I knew the action players and was ready to do battle. I picked up Ac-7c in the BB and checked my option in a limped pot. The flop was a lovely Jc-6s-3c and I led into the field with the standard flop bet of $10. I made this bet because I knew it would get called by a lot of the loose players who wouldn’t have much of anything and I wanted to get some money into the pot before my flush hit and my action dried up. Sure enough, I get called in 2 places and by one of the players that I really want to play a hand against. The river was the As and I doubled my bet with my newly improved hand. The loose player calls and luckily the table big stack folded. The river was the 8s and I am all out of cards on my nut flush draw. Common wisdom says to check-call the river here trying to induce a bluff and also trying to keep the pot small with a one pair hand. I felt like I was good here since my Ace hit on the turn and my hand would be concealed, so I bet out $25 into the $80 pot as a blocking/value bet. The villain surprised me and raised the bet to $100. This screamed bluff to me but it was a very big bet to call as a bluff buster. I was getting ready to lay my hand down but I started paying attention to the demeanor of the villain. He had his hand covering his mouth and was from time to time rubbing his nose with his pointer finger. Joe Navarro calls this a pacifying gesture and this confirmed in my head that the villain was bluffing, so I reluctantly called. To my chagrined, the villain turned over the 9s-4s for the runner-runner flush. BBUUUIICCCKKK!!!

Later, I watched the villain once again rub his nose while covering his mouth and sure enough he turned over flopped trips, too bad the big stack on my right had flopped a boat. He used the pacifying gesture as a tell of strength instead of a tell of weakness, this was good information as I was able to take him for a ride on the value bus a few rounds later.

The table had degenerated into a pissing contest between the (Doctor), the villain in the previous hand, and the big stack on my right. Both men were of Arabic decent and appeared very well educated, but the Dr’s raises and reraises meant nothing. The big stack was simply bullying him around and he didn’t like it at all. The game was now $1-2-5-10 and lots of money was changing hands. I took the good doctor for a ride on the value bus w/ A-Jo, but unfortunately I tripped up on the river with another Ace that caused him to fold without paying me off. I needled him a bit because he had a big mouth and was talking much smack and I told him that I had just bluffed him off his hand. “You should have seen your face when that Ace hit!” and boy was he steaming!

I won a $40 pot off the doctor w/ J-10o on the flop on another $1-2-5-10 hand. It came a safe J-4-4 flop and I bet $25 to take it down uncontested.

I was sitting on a stack that left me even for the trip when this hand came up. I had A-Ko and had been card dead all morning, so my pre-flop raises were nearly extinct. The good doctor had been gone an hour or so and a group of locals who played in home games together had filled in the empty seats. I could tell that they were generally tight and straightforward, so mostly I would avoid them except with a big hand. There were 2 limpers ahead of me and I bumped it to $15. One of the locals called me from the SB and the two limpers folded. The flop was Ax-5h-4h and the old man led into me for $15. I really didn’t put him on a set, but thought that a flush draw or a smaller Ace was possible. As far as physical tells go, I got nothing from him when the flop hit. The Arabic man on my right said to me, “You better be glad that you didn’t let me see that flop, I’d have kicked your @$$ with it.” This sounded like 2 pair to me or a flush draw because he played his draws very aggressively. So that seemed to strengthen my read by discounting some of the flush outs and set possibilities. I raised $25 more on top of the donk bet, feeling like I was milking the old man a little. He thought for a minute and I hoped he would just fold, but he came over the top of me for $100 more. I have learned that all tricky-old men are capable of this play with virtually anything, it is just a good spot to raise because the person in my position can’t make the call with a top pair only hand. The player in my spot has to be a good player and very capable of laying down a hand for this play to work. I am very capable of laying down a hand and they of course pull this play on me all of the time.

Back to the action, I still didn’t put him on much though I didn’t have much information on him since he hadn’t played very many hands. I really thought he had AK like me or he had AQ and was drawing slim. And as much as I hate to call people when they’re on flush draws, I knew this was a spot that I would have to do it here. I rechecked my cards for a heart, and there was none. Mustering up my courage, I pushed $140 into the pot and declared that I was all in. He had to call the last $40 as a matter of principle. We both held our cards tight as the dealer turned over a 4 on the turn and a Jack on the river. That jack stabbed me as soon as it hit, I knew it was a kill card. The old man flipped over his A-Jo and I threw my AK face up into the muck to let everyone see how good of a play I had made and how unlucky I had been. Two people at the table announced that they had folded a Jack, what a crappy draw to lose to a one outer. It was still the right play that left me as a 96% favorite, he did have 3 tying outs, but I’ll take 80%-4%-16% every day of the week and put it all into the middle.

So, final tally of this weekends trip: Loser ($196.00) BOOOOO!!

I feel like I played well and was reading well, but sometimes you can’t help how the cards fall. Eli Elezra has said it best; “In poker you can only make the best decisions you can and let the cards take care of themselves, while understanding that the cards do not always take care of you.”

I’d also like to throw a shout out to Jerry who I played with on Friday night. He’s a member of the USAF and was in town for a brief period of time. I’d like to say that I really appreciate what you and all of the members of our armed forces are doing, you guys are really loved and appreciated as you protect our rights on whatever battlefield you are on.

A friend and I arrived at the Horseshoe about 5pm on Friday the 11th. We had called in 30 minutes out to put our name on the list and sure enough, we were close to the top of the $1/2NL list when we got there. It didn’t take me but a second to clear up an issue I had concerning the reward points from the last session that I had played here. I had played a 13.5 hour session last month and when I checked my players card online the preceding Monday I didn’t see the matching rewards dollars on my account. The PRM assured me that it would be taken care of and sure enough, when I ordered my food later that night, there was plenty enough points to order my buddy and I an excellent meal each.

Three or four tables were empty when we arrived, but within minutes the PRM had started a new table for us and we were off and running.

The room is still my favorite so far, but the tables are starting to shed a little. I had my small space picked off quickly though, so it didn’t bother me for very long.

I’m starting to recognize more and more faces at the Shoe, those that I want to play against and those that I prefer to avoid. Early on, there were a few weak spots at the table, but I knew one of them wouldn’t last long, I’d seen him before and he’d always gone busto really quick! He wasn’t there for more than an hour or two before he was broke, but unfortunately, I didn’t end up with any of his money. I made my best laydown of the night when I played 5c-4c on the button against this player and the flop fell 6-5-4. The lady at the table (I’ll refer to her again later) led out into this pot and was quickly raised by the early exit’er. He plays a very loose passive game, so when the tight lady bet and he raised her, I saw that the jig was up and I laid down my bottom 2 pair. The lady ended up folding and the raiser triumphantly showed his 3-2 off suit. I had dropped about $80 due to this hand and some middle pocket pairs not winning at the showdown (88 vs. 99 and such). I feel that I was playing well and aggressive, but the cards just weren’t going my way. I was quick to reload.

Before I knew it the table had gotten very tough with the addition of two regulars into the game. One of them wasn’t too bad because you could just avoid him, but the other was someone who put lots of pressure on you and wasn’t afraid to get his money in the middle. I was luckily very card dead in this time period when there weren’t any major weak spots on the table and I wasn’t in very many pots at all. I did catch AcKc UTG and I made my standard “UTG light” raise to $7. A loose player on the end and the crafty regular in the BB called me. The flop fell, Ad-10d-3d and the BB checked, I bet $20 into the pot and the LAG folded. Unfortunately, the BB came over the top of me for $60 total. This isn’t the kind of spot that I like to be in against a tough player, I thought of pushing my stack in on him, but thought better of it due to the all diamond flop and I tossed my cards into the muck. The BB claimed that he had 2 pair, but I really don’t think he had much of anything besides the knowledge that without a big diamond in my hand I couldn’t make that call.

My big boo-boo of the night came when I thought I had K-3o in the BB. The table limped around for me and I rapped the table to see a flop. The flop was a nice one for me, but scary at the same time, K-K-8. Being in the blinds, I just checked my trips hoping that someone would bet at the pot and get a few callers to build the pot. Sure enough the player to my immediate left bet the standard $10 on the flop but only got one caller. The turn was an off suit 4 which disappointed me because I was hoping for some face cards to improve my hand and generate some action from a floater. Once again I checked which was very passive, but I just didn’t feel good at all about my kicker. The tough player to my left bet out $15 which was big enough to get the other player to fold and small enough to keep me in the hand. The river was a blank and I made a defensive bet of $20 because I didn’t want to call a big bet with my no kicker trips. The old man called and I turned my hand over to reveal K-4o, not K-3o. The villain mucked his hand and I still hadn’t realized that I had a full house. I caught quit a hazing for this hand for the next 5 minutes.

Twice I played J-10 in late position and flopped two pair. The first time w/ a 7 on the flop and the 2nd time w/ a 9. On the first one, there was a bet and a raise ahead of me and I just smooth called on the flop. The turn was a 9 and the old lady led out again and the flop raiser folded. She was betting small so I just called her once again. The river was a total brick and she made about a $35 bet that I paid off. She turned over J-8s and raked in a nice pot. The 2nd time I hit 2 pair w/ J-10 I had called a raise to $5 in the CO. The table checked to me on the flop and I bet out $20 to see where I was at on this extremely coordinated board. 4 players called me and I could have puked!! The turn is a King and I wanted my $20 back, but the table checked to me again and I just checked behind. The river was a brick and we all checked once again. I turned over my two pair and everyone mucked. Then, some maniac new guy who had made the raise to $5 pf tried to pull his cards out of the muck and claim that he had accidentally folded his hand. The rules stood and I raked in a very important (as you will soon see) pot.

I was back to break even just before the first J-10 hand, which was about mid way through my session. That hand dropped me back to $80 or so down and I had to fight to stay there for most of the night as this table was so tough. After a long drought and getting down about $130 loser, the 2nd J-10 hand put me back up to only $30 to 40 down.

Enter the BIG PAIR!!! I hadn’t seen a big pair all night. So when I looked down to see pocket Kings, I’m sure my heart went to racing. UTG limped and I raised to $15 from 2nd position and pointed out to the table that I hadn’t raised pf in over an hour or so and that they had better all fold because I was playing uber tight! Three players called my pfr including the old lady mentioned above and both of the tough regulars. Ugghh! The flop was favorable one for my kings though, w/ a J-9-3 and 2 clubs. My Kings were both red. I definitely don’t like the clubs much but when the tough guys check to me I make a $35 bet into the $60 pot. This bet should accomplish 2 things: 1. It will under-represent my over pair and 2. It should draw out and string along any draws that are getting close but incorrect odds. My dilemma about the tough players in the hand quickly vanished as the old woman pushed a 20 stack of $5 chips into the pot for a raise. They both folded which left me a situation with a vulnerable over pair on a drawy board against a lady who has shown down the goods all night. I hadn’t seen her play a draw in this fashion and I really didn’t think she had a set. I was really hoping that she didn’t have a set, and my mind kept going back to A-J. Deciding that she had A-J, I reached for my original $35 bet and replaced it with a $100 stack of reds and declared the ever so scary words of “I’m all in!”

The 3 seconds after you utter these words are always the quietest and most stressful. If the villain beats you into the pot you might as well muck your hand, push them the pot and go home a loser, but if they delay past this period, you are usually a winner. She definitely didn’t beat me into the pot and I knew what her hand would be before she eventually called and turned it over. The turn and river blanked out for her and I drug a pot of just over $500, my largest to date. My hands were shaking and my heart was racing as I stacked red chip after red chip. I was swimming in them! I know it took me 10 minutes to calm down and get all of those chips stacked, I was so excited that I had to keep taking breaks and let my heart slow down.

The rest of the night was uneventful and I cashed out about 20 minutes earlier than planned so that I wouldn’t drop below the $200 profit mark. I had sat at the toughest table I have sat at out side of Tunica and come out a winner! Overall, it was a very good night at the Bossier City Horseshoe!

After catching 3 hours of sleep in order to rest up for the supposed 3am weakening of the tables at the $1-2 cash game this weekend in Tunica, I sat back down at the Horseshoe to see 2 Asian guys that were there when I had left at 9pm. The rest of the table was new and a few were drinking. I sat about an hour and was up only a little when the table slowly started to dispurse and the money started to come off the table. I decided to walk over to the Goldstrike’s cardroom to find a better table.

I walked up to the hostess and ask for a $1-2 NL table and she pointed me to the table in the middle of the card room. There was a little bit of money on the table and I felt that this would be a good seat. I walked to the counter to buy my chips and a crazy looking fellow with wild eyes walked over to me and ask me to come play at his game back in the corner. He said that there were 3 live ones sitting over there and that I needed to come cash in. This sounded like an even better seat.

I sit down UTG and immediately straddle. Someone raises and is called and I have to dump my worthless hand when it gets back around to me. The next hand is forgotten, but the third hand will be etched in my mind for eternity.

I’m in the small blind and the action limps around to the wild-eyed man in late-middle who bumps it to $10. I fold along with all but an early and middle position limper. The flop comes down Jd,4c,10d and the limpers each check to the raiser who bets out $20. The early position player folds and the middle player moves all in for $50 more (one of the obvious live ones as he was almost falling asleep at the table and very short-stacked.) The pf-raiser grudgingly calls. Mr. Sleepy turns over 8d-7d for a flush draw and a gutshot str8 draw and Mr. Crazy eyes turns over Kd-Qd for the Royal flush draw. (do you call this an open-ended Royal flush draw?) The table points out that Sleepy is drawing dead to a 7 or 8. The 7c falls on the turn bringing Sleepy into the lead.

Then the most surreal thing that I have seen in all my life happens. The most beautiful card in the whole deck falls off, the 9d!!! No one even realized it for a second. Then, simultaneously, people start to realize what’s on the board. “He’s got a straight flush! And look, he’s got a straight flush too!! Holy *&$%^!!! That’s a bad beat! You guys just hit the bad beat jackpot!!!” The table erupts and jumps to their feet. High fives go around the table and people start to hug like we had just won the Sugar Bowl! The room takes notice and soon the place erupts. The dealer asks everyone to please step back from the table. Play in the entire room completely stopped for 15 minutes solid as everyone walked by the table to check it out. The cards and chips on that table didn’t move for 45 minutes as everything was verified as legit. It took almost 7 hours for the Goldstrike to iron out all the legal stuff, which meant that I played longer than I should have to burn the time away, but it was worth it. The only down side was that there wasn’t a table share. The rest left over after the winner and loser got paid was spread equally throughout the room to anyone playing holdem. Luckily it was 5am in the morning and there were less people than usual. It was one of the most amazing poker moments of my life and I just thought that I would share it with you guys.

I sat down w/ a few buddies at the Horseshoe in Shreveport this Good Friday. Here’s a brief hand recap for this 13 hour session. I got down early and borrowed a bill from my buddy after dropping 1.5 buyins, I was able to recover but at the expense of a lot of time. I got some good fortune by hitting a promotion by the card room that put me up to even.

Early on (around 10am) the table was very LP, but past 5pm the table turned very LAG, even to the point of being maniacal. I should have changed tables, but didn’t realize this until I was almost ready to go.
All opinions are welcome because I really want to improve my game. This will be more hand overviews and not very math intensive, so I apologize in advance for the lack of detail. Please think in terms of macro-game, Shania and playing style and let me have it!

1. Sat down and limped w/ 22, flopped a set and was immediately up by ~$100

2. Limp-called w/ 99 in MP. The flop came A-10-9. My cousin led out for 7/8’s of the pot from the blinds, I called trying to keep the pfr in. PFR folds. Turn is another 10 and my cousin leads for 2/3 of the pot, I call once again trying to just keep the pot small. The river is a total blank, and I lead for the ¼ of the pot in an attempt to keep it as small as possible. He turns over A-10 and rakes a big pot. Coincidentally, this 9s full won the $200 for me that I wrote about above, which is part of the reason why I stayed w/ the hand.

3. I limped w/ 6c-9c. The flop was A-K-x 2 suited in clubs, the middle aged man to my left bet $10 (pot but still a small lead bet) after being checked to. A Hispanic man (who I had seen at the 2/5 NL table 2 weeks prior) smooth calls and I call. The turn is another club, the Hispanic man leads out for $15 and I raise it to $45 in an attempt to build the pot. The middle-aged man smooth calls (alarm bells go off here) and the Hispanic man calls as well. The river is a dud and the Hispanic man and I both check hoping for a cheap showdown. The middle aged man bets out $97 and is all in, the Hispanic man calls and after much deliberation I call as well hoping that my flush is goot. The middle aged man shows the nuts and the Hispanic man shows the flopped str8. [Spewing, I know]

4. The seat opens to the left of the middle-aged man and I jump in it as he has won several big hands and has run up to almost $1k. I have 6d-5d and limp from MP behind at least 2 limpers. The flop comes 5 or 6 handed w/ the 3-4-7, 2 suited in clubs (again). The middle-aged man leads out for $15, which I recognize as a semi-bluff from the hand above. I raise him to $45, which is about a 2/3’s of the pot raise. We’re heads up and the turn brings the 3rd club. He checks to me and I don’t take the bait and just check-behind. The river is a dud, and he bets out a smallish $15 which I have to call just in case. He, of course, shows the flush.

5. I complete from the SB w/ 9-9, the flop hits low and I win a decent pot on a low flop and turn. The river is a K and goes ck-ck.

6. I have a long streak of unplayable cards, then hit a wave of cards. Not sure of the order of this hand and hand 7, but they came relatively close together and influenced my table image and preflop action. I had been making a standard raise to $11 and getting some respect, winning some and losing some. I’m dealt A-A in LP and make my standard raise, 3 callers (including a calling station who I’ll refer to as the lady and a LAG who I’ll call the old man.) The flop hits a very safe rainbow 9 high. The lady makes her standard weak lead bet of $10 and I elect to smooth call on such a nice board trying to keep some bad players in the pot. The old man and the Hispanic man both call, BONUS! The turn is another weak card and I raise the ladies $15 turn bet to $45 and take the pot down uncontested.

7. I having raised the 2 hands prior to this one, I elect to keep up my momentum w/ Q-Jo and make my standard raise again, 3 callers. The flop comes Q-10-9 rainbow, I’m checked to and make a pretty standard $25 CB. 2 folds and an old fishy man pushes in on me. I don’t sense much strength from him and I flopped a big draw plus my TPGK. I insta-call his $35 AI and he shows 2nd pair with a mutter that he thought I was just pushing.

8. I have JJ in the SB, and just complete the bet vs a table full of limpers. I don’t like JJ in this spot against a large field of calling stations unless I flop a set or get a really good flop. The flop comes K-10-4 and I ck’d blind. It checks to the lady 2 places to my right who makes her standard weak lead of $10. I put her on a pair of 10s and just call incase someone behind me is trapping. Everyone folds. The turn is a blank, and I check to her knowing she will bet out weaker than I would bet into her whether she has a big hand or a weak hand. She bets out $20 and I just call again. The river is another dud, and I give her the rope again, but she surprises me and makes a very big bet. She doesn’t do this much w/o a big hand so I go into an info gathering routine of counting out her bet plus a hefty raise. She doesn’t give her “crap I missed my hand and he’s gonna bet tell” of holding her cards in a folding fashion which I have seen her do several times, so I put her on a stronger hand. I ask her some questions and she answers strong so I fold my JJ face up and she shows K4 for top and bottom pair.

9. Raise pf w/ KQs and get 2 calls from some young guys who have just sat down. I take it down on a whiffed flop w/ a standard CB. About this time the table dynamic has changed with the addition of a drunk and a maniac.

10. I raise pf w/ QQ and get called by the drunk who I bluffed out in the hand above and the lady. The flop comes K high and they check to me. I make a standard CB and the drunk comes over the top of me and shows K-2 when I fold.

11. Standard raise of $16 w/ AQ from ML position. The old man on the button is the only player to call me to see this flop (I really wish that drunk guy or the maniac would have been in on this pot). The flop falls QQ6 and I know that I have a hand that won’t get much action unless my opponent catches up. So I give a little act and ck-ck, the flop and ck-ck the turn. The river brings a beautiful 6 which looks like a great bluffing card. So I grab $100 in $25 chips and fling them out into the pot like I am buying it. The old man unbelievably calls the $100 bet into the $32 pot. He shows a 6 for a smaller boat. (I didn’t bet those $25 chips all day long either, I always used $5 chips when making bets. I still can’t believe that guy called here!)

12. I raised w/ KJs from LP after several limpers. A fish in the SB reraises AI for $17 more and gets 3 callers. He had shown K-6s earlier when he reraised AI but got his money back due to a dealer error {dealer mucked his cards}. So I elected to call with huge odds despite my holding. Missed the flop completely and dumped my trap hand.

13. I had KK in MP, raised to $15 after some limpers, 2 callers. The flop comes A high, the drunk cks, I bet $25 and the old man raises all in for $37 more. The drunk folds and I fold my Kings face up. He shows A-2.

14. It’s a limped pot and I call w/ J9s from the cutoff. The flop hits 9-3-4, 2 suited with hearts. The drunk bets $20 and the maniac calls. I don’t figure them for much and feel that a raise will take the pot down, so I make it $50 to go (a bit small I know). They both call. The turn brings another heart and they come out swinging, I of course, fold. The drunk shows a pair of 3s on the hand but is trumped by the maniac’s 4s. Not sets, pairs…

15. I called a small pre-flop raise w/ 77 and flopped a set w/ the 6-7-10 board. The lady makes it her standard $10 on the flop, the maniac calls and I make it $50 to go, they both call. The turn is a horrid 8 and the lady goes all in for $65 total and the maniac just calls. I’m tired and on tilt at this point and decide that I’m getting enough odds to call for full house odds. The river is a worthless K and I make a huge error of thinking the hand went ck-ck and show my set of 7s. The maniac mucks his hand and the lady shows 10-6 for 2 pair. I don’t feel that this hand was played well, but it had a good result.

16. Finally, I feel that my biggest leaks for the day were set-mining, calling pfr’s w/ AQ and AJ hands. It’s not so bad when the A is suited, but these are leaks otherwise.

17. I raised w/ AK off and got reraised, but still elected to call w/ plenty of pf callers and the size of the reraise wasn’t huge. The flop missed and I had to dump Anna.

All criticism is welcome, please comment on aggression and plays. This is a $1/2 game, so I don’t focus as much on the math since the other players don’t have any idea what a shut out bet is anyway. Mostly it’s reading players and showing down the best hand. I recognize now that all of my reraises were quite small. That is probably an area to improve in.

Thanks in advance,
Landlord79