Home Game and Some Live Play

I took Friday afternoon off and played a $1/$2 NL live session at Tampa Bay Downs. I got there right before the cards were in the air and bought in for the full $100. The table was in absolutely gross condition. Something went wrong in the room overnight and the tables felt wet to the touch. It was like someone took a hose to it and let it dry for around 8 hours. The rubber below the felt started to rub off and was all over the cards. We asked to move but they said no. Just terrible. I got up every 1/2 hour or so just to wash my hands.

Nothing too exciting early on. I was up as high as $120 and worked it down to around $55 when I bought in for another $40. I took that down to $60 and bought in for another $40. I have around $85 in front of me when the hand of the day comes up.

I am on the button with Qs9s. There are 4 limpers in front of me. I limp, the SB calls and the BB checks. We take to the flop 7 ways. The flop comes J,9,8 rainbow. The SB leads for $5, 3 people $call and like the odds and call.

With $35 in the pot the K falls on the turn. The SB bets $5 again, two people call and now I love the odds and call.

$53 in to pot to the river when the 10 falls for a final board of k,j,10,9,8. The SB leads for $50!!! A MP player calls and it up to me. I think its pretty safe that neither player has A,Q here. I'm guessing the would have raised before the flop. I am thinking that 905 of the time its gonna be a 3 way chop and the other 10% of the time someone will be holding A,Q. I decide to call and this is when it gets very interesting. The SB shows 8,7 for the idiot end. The MP shows 7,6 for another itiot end. I end-up scooping the $203 pot. Guess I should have shoved on the river.

I ended up posting a $85 profit on the night.


Friday night was the monthly home game at Gambit's house. I think I may have hit a key moment in my game. I actually called Omaha Hi/Lo. I used to despise this game but i have had quite a bit of practice in it lately. In the cash game I ended up losing $3. I played tight most of the time and made some loose calls to post the loss.

We had a full table of 10 people for the tournament. You start with 1500 and blinds at 25/25 with 15 minute levels. In the first 2-3 levels I was able to increase my stack to 2500 without showing down a hand (that I can remember). I dont think I could have played any better considering I didn't have much for cards. I was able to pick off some of the weaker players in the game to increase the stack. After that I played super tight. The first really key hand came up when we were down to 5 people.

I think the blinds were around 75/150 and I was in the BB with Q,6 off. Its folded to the SB who calls. I raise to 700 leaving me with around 1100 and the SB calls. The flop comes A,K,x. Its checked to me and I need to take a stab here. Instead of shoving I decide to bet 600 to make it look like a value bet. He folded and I showed the bluff. He ended up having Q,J so there was no way he could call there.

The next big hand we are still 5 handed and I pick-up 10,10 from the button. I can't remember if the player raised or limped but I shoved for $3400 on the button. After a couple minutes he ends up calling with J,K. The flop gave him a gutter and the turn gave him a flush draw. Everything missed and I crippled him. We get into the money and me and Chris have close stacks with me covering him by a few hundred. He shoved on the button and I called with 9,9 from the BB. He had 7,7 and my hand held.

Goind into heads up I held an 8:1 chip lead and was able to increase it to around 10:1 after about 5 hands and I won it shortly aftert that.

With the bounties and the cash game I ended up $87 on the night. A good day of poker overall.