Still four players

I played for about 4½ hours at Palace on Monday morning, taking a nice spring vacation day. I played well in the tournament, but when the blinds were getting high and my stack was getting low, I got knocked out before the money when I called an all in bet with AKo against QQ.

I then went to the $3/$6 game, and played some of the best poker I've played in months. A big part of it, I think, was I was in a seat that didn't have a good view of a TV screen. I hate those things; they're so distracting.

I held my own for a while. Up $20, down $20, then hit a couple of big pots (like AJ on JAJ flop) to bring me up +$116. A few blinds and a badly played pair of pocket fives brought me back down to +$96, and I left when my brain felt exhausted.

The best hand of the day, though, didn't earn me a big stack. Nope. Here's the situation. I'm in the small blind, and I'm dealt A♦K♥. The big blind to my left only has $2 after he posts his $3 blind. The under the gun player, who seems to be a good player but plays his draws too long, calls the $3. A few callers, and it folds around to the button, who raises to $6. The button's a crazy old Asian guy who has built a pretty good stack by paying whatever it takes to see the flop, and then getting out quickly if the flop misses him, but winning big pots with hands of two random cards.

I re-raise it to $9, the big blind is now all in, the under the gun player calls, and it folds around to the crazy button caps it to $12. I call, the UTG calls, there's $41 in the pots already. Main pot is $20, side pot is $28. Four players.

The flop is K♦T♥J♠ I've got top pair top kicker, and I really only fear AQ. I bet $3, UTG calls, and the button raises. This tells me that he's got a hand, and that UTG probably has a face card. I like my hand though, so I re-raise. UTG calls again, and the button caps it. I call and UTG calls. $85 in the pots. Still four players.

The turn is a Q♣

I'm gleeful, thinking one of the players hit two pair, and the other may have three of a kind, losing to my straight. There's probably another ace out there though, so we'll be splitting the pot. That's OK. If we can keep the third player in, we'll split his money. I bet $6. UTG laughs "I'm good," implying that he's got the ace. He raises. The big blind, who has been sitting back wishing he had more money in the pot, says "I'm good, too." The crazy button laughs and calls. I raise, UTG raises, we all call, and I say "I'm good, too." No way that the four of us have all four aces. $156 in the pot. Still four players.

The river's a rag. We're all laughing now. I bet, UTG raises, button calls, I re-raise, UTG caps it, we all call, and the grand reveal:

It's a four way chop. We each get our money back. The money from the people who limped then folded pre-flop paid for the rake and the tip. I thought this kind of crazy hand only happened online.

(And I'm still not sure why the crazy Asian was calling instead of re-raising. The rake had already maxed out when the pot hit $30.)

Aggression and playing loony

Aggression wins bigger pots.

Case in point -- at a six-player $0.01/$0.02 no-limit table, I'm dealt A♥ K♣ under the gun. I raise to 6¢. A typical "I have a hand" bet is 8¢, so this might look a bit suspicous, but I want one or two callers.

The player to my left raises to 10¢, the next two players call, and the blinds fold. Back to me, I need some of these guys out of the pot, so I raise to 30¢. They all call, and four of us see the flop: 6♠ 7♥ 3♥

Time for the aggression.

First to act, I put in 30¢. I'm representing that I either hit a set, or have AA or KK. One player folds; the other two call. I really should have bet more, because anyone with two hearts is about 40% to make their flush, and the pot's giving them 5:1 to call the bet.

The turn is 3♣

Either I fold here, or I push. If I push, it's a complete bluff, representing that I had a set on the turn, and hit a boat or quad 3's on the turn. I've got the other two players outstacked, I think about it for a few seconds, then bet $2.69, which is exactly the size of the largest stack still in. I could have just gone all in, but by betting this amount, it's telling the other player "I see your stack size, and I'm calling you out."

They fold, and I take in a monster $2.13 pot (net +$1.43).

Playing loony wins, too

I'm dealt K♥ 2♣ in middle position. I limp in for 2¢, as do the seven other players who see the flop of

2♥ 7♣ K♣

Check, check, check, and the person to my right min-bets 2¢. I pop it up to 8¢, the two late position players fold, and the small blind goes all in for $2.33. It's folded back to me, and I go into the tank. The small blind had joined the table four hands ago, and won two of them on the flop, getting others to fold. He'd just seen me play the previous hand, where I took down a monster pot when I flopped a straight with my JTs, beating out AQs. I didn't know what to put him on, but figured he might have the hammer, or a couple of clubs, or a set.

I really discount that he's got a set of 2's or kings, because it's very rare that all four cards of a set would be in play this early. He's either got K7 or a set of sevens, which puts me way behind, or he's trying to protect Kx or AA, which puts me way ahead. I call.

He turns over J♠ 8♣. WTF what he thinking? Only runner-runner clubs, jacks, eights, or ten-nine can save him. When the turn is the 4♠, he's drawing dead. The queen on the river is irrelevant, and I take down the $4.82 pot (net +$2.27).

But in purple, I'm stunning

In contrast to the bad online $1/$2 play I've had recently, today was an OK day in brick and mortar land. Mainly, it's because I got to spend a day in brick and mortar land, but secondly, it's because I played well and cam out ahead.

At Palace's 8:30 a.m. tourney, I lost my $20 buy-in about 30 minutes into the tourney (10 minute rounds) when my AK of spades ran into pocket eights preflop, and never caught up. At Happy Days, I pushed all-in with AQo, and got called by... another AQo. And a pair of nines. The nines won it, two of us dropped at the same time.

But in cash game play at Palace, three hands in I raked in a monster pot (about $45, I think), when I missed my straight draw and flush draw, and only had a K♥ on the river. I continued to bet strong however, and the other two players who apparently also missed their draws, folded.

I took a small hit when I ran into a set of sixes, but came back with a win in the small blind with A9s, when I hit the flop (a 3, a 5, and a 9), then paired the ace on the turn, beating someone with A5.

In the end, I was up $70 at the $3/$6 game before I left, and won $10 with the Happy Days match play tickets, so subtracting out the $20 and $25 buy-ins, I ended up +$35 for the day. Vacation's great.

Weekend of tournaments, Event 6: Hawks Prairie 8 PM $40 buy-in

I arrived just after 7:00 to sign up for the 8:00 tournament, and the 30 spots were already filled; there was already a waiting list. I was second on the list.

As an idea of how tight this tournament was: 1) it started at 7:00; 2) I didn't get a seat as the second alternate until after 7:30, and 3) I didn't hear them seat any alternates after me. I played until about 9:15, and the three tables were still at 8 people each. I took advantage of the tight play a couple of times, building my initial 4000 chip stack to almost 7000, but had two bad beats which brought me down to about 2000 (the player to my right, with pocket fours both times, called my AQ and AK, hitting a 4 on the flop both times). Then, on the small blind, I made a donkey move, trying to win a battle-of-the-blinds with K7o, raising the big blind, who called, then bet, and I pushed all in to scare him off, and he called, winning with A4 (yes, his four paired. Fours were mean to me tonight.) My remaining 300 in chips weren't enough to live past the blinds.

Net: -$40

I could stay up and hit Happy Days' 2:00 AM tourney, but I think I'm pokered out for the night. And I've got to see about a Horse in Renton tomorrow morning.

Net for the day: -$90
Net for the weekend: +$86