Poker night, live and virtual

I had eight friends over for Poker night on Saturday. Robb's blog and its responses describe the results fairly completely. Robb lost, I came close to breaking even, and DarthSlumlord walked away with three Jacksons.

Aside: Tres brought his girlfriend Kelly along for the first time. She's quiet (who wouldn't be?), but seems pretty nice.

I've written it here before, but I need to stop getting wedded to hands. It cost me a foolish $12 on Saturday, when I had a pair of aces clearly being beat by DarthSlumlord. He was already the big stack at this point, and my big bets were doing nothing to scare him out. I'm seeing the same thing in my recent online play ($15 buy-in at the 10¢/20¢ tables, up 25% this week), where I'm holding on to my pocket queens far too long when facing AKx on the flop.

Hometown paper report on Geocaching

The News Tribune has an article on geocaching today, and it's surprisingly positive and accurate. The only big mistake is that they say that geocaching is banned in national parks and national forests. While the former is true, the latter is not, as evidenced by the Trib's mention of my buddy GEM's late night hike through the Snoqualmie tunnel.

GeoPoker in Wenatchee

Geo: Saturday was the Wenatchee Cache Machine geocaching event. We had more than 100 people participate in some way, almost all of whom showed up for dinner on Friday and Saturday night. Wow.

I hit nine caches along US-2 on the way there. I was a bit worried about crossing Stevens Pass, but the snow was light by the time I went through at 2:00, and the road was fine, with just one small quarter mile patch of slush.

During the event, I found 68 caches, including my 1000th cache, which involved transposing numbers off of a historical railroad plaque, then scrounging around the underbelly of a full size caboose.

This doesn't include the two Honey Buckets that I logged into. They've got a logbook page next to the door, don't they? That's not what the sign-in list is in there for? Oh.

I also found a cache that I had unsuccessfully looked for two years ago. Ahh, closure.

From the logs, it looks like everyone had an outstanding time.

Poker: Near our dinner spot is Kegler's Bowling and Casino. Like every card room in existence now, they've got poker tables. Unlike most, they have a $1/$2 table (9 player; kind of strange); its clientele seems to be 18- and 19-year-old rocker wannabe's (one was actually wearing a circa 1984 Def Leppard T-shirt), 17-year-olds with fake ID's, and 21-year-olds who wandered in from the bowling alley and discovered cheap drinks in here.

I'd planned to buy in for $100 in $1 chips, but I was 8th on the waiting list, so played $3 basic strategy blackjack to pass the time. I did absolutely horrid -- 12 hands later, I'm down to $67 (won one hand, lost eleven, including one double down loss). No more of that -- bleaugh.

I hang out for another 15 minutes, and my seat opens up. My strategy at the table is to play tight, quality hands. It's quickly apparent that most other players' strategy is to pay to see the flop, then to figure out what to do from there.

I sit down with three $20 stacks of $1 chips and a $5 chip to cover my cards. A couple hands later, I can tell that the two kids in seats 8 and 9 are friends, and seat 9 asks his buddy -- not quietly enough, because I heard it -- "$60? Why would someone sit down with $60? Look at him."

Mind you, I've been out geocaching for about 14 hours straight, I forgot my hairspray at home so my mop top is a bit wild, I was wearing an old, slightly unraveled sweater over a black T-shirt, and I was staring mainly at my cards and still pondering my bad blackjack luck.

"He's broke," seat 8 kid says. Yeah, guy, that must be it. "I can't think of any other reason," he says. I'm liking this. Go ahead and think that, then give me your money.

The button circles the table a few times, and I'm down about $5; three blinds and two bad flops. I get dealt a Kd Td in late position, and the flop is 5d 3d Jc. A flush draw. I'm in, as is most of the table.

The turn is 3h. A few guys drop out, I stay in, and seat 9 kid in early position raises. I put him on a set of 3's with a good kicker. The pot odds are good for me, so I call.

The river is 8d. I've made my king-high flush. Seat 9 kid bets $2, two other guys stay in with $2, I raise to $4, seat 9 kid raises to $6, two other guys drop out, and I call.

Seat 9 kid shows 8c 3s for a 3's over 8's full house. I'm down about $20. Grrr. 8-3 unsuited? In early position? Yeah, there's some crappy players here.

Like a few hands later, the guy two seats to my left calls a bet on the river with 4-7, with a deuce and four unmatched overcards on the board. WTF?

Or when a late position kid mistakenly turns his hand over after the fourth street betting round to show pocket jacks. The river comes, and the other player still in the pot (with king high), checks. He checks!? Buddy, you know if you've lost or not, you don't need to pay to be the sheriff here, so you fold if you think Mr. Jacks will call your bluff, or you bet the $2 to tell him "I've seen your jacks, and my hand's better."

No problem, though. An hour later, I'm back in the black, then take a monster pot with a set of 3's, taking more than my $20 back from seat 9 kid, who feels real cocky with his two pair aces and tens. Shortly thereafter with noticably smaller stacks, seat 8 and 9 kid head home. Must be curfew.

In the end, too tired to keep playing, I end up leaving the poker table with $153, more than doubling the $67 I sat down with. It's a good feeling to take a few minutes having to get ready to leave the table, stacking my chips neatly in the plexiglass racks. Sure, it's not high society (.wav), but it's nice nonetheless.

Wow: Slow playing can work

While waiting for funds to transfer around between Neteller and Bodog last night (Bodog does not impress me, by the way), I played a play-money tournament at EmpirePoker (a PartyPoker sister site). I decided that I'd play a little more agressively than usual, which at a play money table will usually backfire, because it's tough to scare people off of fake money. I somehow end up winning the thing. The coolest hand: I'm dealt 44 in middle position, and the flop comes KJ4 with five players in. Mind you, I'm probably the worst slow-play guy in the world, but I decide (god knows why) to try it with my set of 4's. The blinds check to me, I check, the guy to my left checks, and the button bets.

The small blind drops out, the big blind calls. Do I check-raise here? Maybe I should have, but I want to disguise my hand to come back big on the turn. I call.

The guy to my left drops out, the button calls, and the turn comes out a 6. Big blind checks (he's probably got middle pair), I check (with the intent of check raising), and the button bets. Big blind calls, I raise. Button pauses -- he's gotta be thinking "how in the hell did the 6 help him?", then calls. Big blind drops out.

The river comes out with a 2. I bet, button raises, I re-raise, button calls and shows AK. My set of 4's beats his pair of kings. Very nice.

Wenatchee Cache Machine

I posted the first draft (.pdf) of the Wenatchee Cache Machine last weekend. The event's coming up April 2. Gonna be another fun one. Maybe I'll finally see a rattlesnake this time.

WPT: Poker By The Book

A few days off the blog, now I've got a bit of a backlog. Three things today.

First, I've Tivoed Wednesday's WPT episode, "Poker by the Book", and have watched the first hour of it so far. The six players at the table: Caro, Sklansky, Brunson, Hellmuth, Cloutier, and... um... Sexton. It's very cool to watch. I've read the first four of these guy's books, and I never realized that Caro's almost a big a jerk as Hellmuth is, but (and this should have been no surprise) is even better at playing with your head.

Case in point, Caro and Cloutier are left after the rag flop, and Cloutier's trying to put Caro all in. Caro's got pocket Jacks, and he stares at Cloutier and says, "I can tell you've got a pair, I just don't know how big. Sixes?" Pause. "Sevens?" Pause. "Eights? Nines? Tens?" Pause. Pause. Pause.

The left side of Cloutier's thin-line poker face begins to turn up in a smirk.

"Jacks? Queens?" Pause, pause. "I call," Caro says.

Cloutier turns up his pocket sevens. The turn and river don't help; Caro wins.

Is that an ethical way to play?

Random warning: Beach logs KILL!!

I was reminded today of those goofy signs on the coast of Olympic National Park, warning of the killer beach logs.

Every year people get killed on our ocean beaches by surf-tossed logs. Even on calm days the ocean surf is powerful and can be dangerous, suddenly moving or tossing a piece of driftwood or log. Enjoy our Washington beaches and visit us often, but PLEASE STAY AWAY FROM THOSE LOGS NEAR THE SURF.

I've added this image to my Kalaloch cache page.

Quiet for a while

Up to $300, down to $50. Looking over my game logs, it's just a streak of bad luck. It happens. A good time to take a breather, and that's what I'm doing.

Besides -- I've got no net access at home for now. We've just moved back into the house that was destroyed by fire in September 2003, and we're waiting for the final interior wiring to be done. I've got a patch panel, and all the wires, but no units to plug them in to yet.

A nice win

Last night in a $3/$6 Hold'em game, I was on the button, and was dealt 9s As. After PCWoo's raise in middle position, there's $27 in the pot with four of us playing.

The flop comes 4s 5h 7s. One person drops out after another PCWoo raise, and the small blind re-raises, we call so there's now the three of us in with a $54 pot; I'm on the nut flush draw.

The turn is 5s. I've hit the ace-high flush, but the nuts are 6s 8s for a straight flush. Odds of that are slim, though. Small blind bets, PCWoo calls, and I raise. Small blind re-raises, PCWoo is scared out. I come over the top with a re-re-raise. Small blind can't raise any more, so he calls.

The river is 3s. If small blind has a 6s here, I'm dead. He could also be playing a full house, but for some reason, I'm so focused on the straight flush possibility, I didn't realize this until later. He bets, and I, super nervous with my heart racing, take almost my full 20 seconds to decide to call instead of raise.

Small blind shows 6h 9h, for a 7-high straight. I win a $117 pot, a $72 net gain. After my bad beats earlier this week, this puts me back above my buy-in.

Don't get wedded to a hand

Holding As 7s on the button against a Js 7c 2d flop, I bet after the five players still in checked. Igot four callers, then saw 6s on the turn. Big blind checks, a few more checks, I raise (flush draw with middle pair gives me a lot of outs), and the big blind re-raises. Everyone else is scared out, but I re-raise. No way the 6s helped the big blind here; he's either bluffing or is on a second-best flush draw. Only pocket sixes would help, and he'd have folded that after the flop. If he had the Jack he'd have bet instead of checked on the flop or the turn. Big blind now calls.

The river is 3c, so I'm sitting on a pair of sevens with an ace kicker. Big blind bets. I raise to scare him off, because I'm pretty sure he's got nothing. He thinks a long time, taking up almost his full 20 seconds. I'm really, really expecting him to fold here, because if he calls, then it's probable that he has the jack but was scared that I had a big pocket pair.

He calls, my stomach drops, and... I win. As 7c 7s Js 6s.

Amazed, I go to the game log to find out what he had. He was playing Ac Ks, leaving him with Ac Ks Js 7c 6s. He'd gotten wedded to the hand, which cost him about $30 -- a mistake I'd made a few times Monday night.

I don't fold big slick nearly as often as I should. Not doing so can be a costly mistake.

Two bad hands. Help?

Two of the many hands of limit hold 'em last night that I lost are gnawing at me. How would you have played these?

-----

Hand 1:

I'm in the small blind at a $3/$6 table, and get dealt Jh Jc.

Two callers, the button raises, I call, big blind calls, the two callers call. Pot is $30.

Flop is 4s, 8d, Tc.

I've got an overpair, so I bet $3. Big blind calls, next player folds, middle position calls, the button raises. I call (I should've folded here I think), and the big blind raises out of nowhere. The other three of us call. Pot is $66.

Turn is Qs.

I check, big blind checks, and now the guy in middle position bets $6. The other three of us call. Pot is now $80.

River is Ah. It checks around.

I show my pocket jacks, ace kicker. Big blind shows his failed spade flush draw, 6s 7s. Middle position shows his failed spade flush draw, 9s Ts (pair of tens). Button shows pocket kings.

I think the pot odds favored me; should I have stayed in as I did?

------

Hand 2:

I'm in the big blind at a $3/$6 table, and get dealt Ad Ah.

Everyone folds to the button, who raises to $6. Small blind folds, and I call.

Flop is 3d, 2d, 7s.

I bet. Button raises. I re-raise. Button calls.

Turn is 5h.

I bet, button calls. This tells me that the flop probably didn't help.

River is 3c.

I bet, button raises. Only a 4 or a 3 could hurt, and the guy on the button has been playing like a good player, so I don't think he's got it. I call.

He shows 3s Kh. His set of 3's beat my pocket aces.

I played this one right. Didn't I?

---

Full details are below:

***** Hand History for Game 1453734657 *****
$3/$6 Hold'em - Tuesday, January 18, 01:31:03 EDT 2005
Table classic table (Real Money)
Seat 8 is the button
Total number of players : 9
Seat 2: jkim13_13 ( $175.5 )
Seat 3: geturdone32 ( $167.25 )
Seat 5: kpulliam ( $114 )
Seat 6: mitchteeney ( $124.5 )
Seat 7: ESKIMO_13 ( $113.5 )
Seat 8: kaashmir ( $157.5 )
Seat 10: herjn64 ( $282.5 )
Seat 9: laurict ( $128 )
Seat 4: SlickWillie ( $141 )
laurict posts small blind [$1].
herjn64 posts big blind [$3].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to laurict [ Jh Jc ]
jkim13_13 folds.
geturdone32 calls [$3].
SlickWillie folds.
kpulliam folds.
mitchteeney calls [$3].
ESKIMO_13 raises [$6].
kaashmir folds.
laurict calls [$5].
herjn64 calls [$3].
geturdone32 calls [$3].
mitchteeney calls [$3].
** Dealing Flop ** [ 4s, 8d, Tc ]
laurict bets [$3].
herjn64 calls [$3].
geturdone32 folds.
mitchteeney calls [$3].
ESKIMO_13 raises [$6].
laurict calls [$3].
herjn64 raises [$6].
mitchteeney calls [$6].
ESKIMO_13 calls [$3].
laurict calls [$3].
** Dealing Turn ** [ Qs ]
laurict checks.
herjn64 checks.
ESKIMO_13: this sucks...
mitchteeney bets [$6].
ESKIMO_13 calls [$6].
laurict calls [$6].
herjn64 calls [$6].
** Dealing River ** [ Ah ]
laurict checks.
herjn64 checks.
mitchteeney checks.
ESKIMO_13 checks.
laurict shows [ Jh, Jc ] a pair of jacks.
herjn64 doesn't show [ 6s, 7s ] high card ace.
mitchteeney doesn't show [ Ts, 9s ] a pair of tens.
ESKIMO_13 shows [ Kc, Kh ] a pair of kings.
ESKIMO_13 wins $87 from the main pot with a pair of kings.


***** Hand History for Game 1453903608 *****
$3/$6 Hold'em - Tuesday, January 18, 02:17:26 EDT 2005
Table classic table (Real Money)
Seat 6 is the button
Total number of players : 8
Seat 6: mitchteeney ( $249 )
Seat 7: ESKIMO_13 ( $268 )
Seat 10: herjn64 ( $319.5 )
Seat 9: laurict ( $99 )
Seat 4: SlickWillie ( $132 )
Seat 1: iH8realityTV ( $29 )
Seat 2: rivercoming ( $127 )
Seat 3: John1838 ( $300 )
ESKIMO_13 posts small blind [$1].
laurict posts big blind [$3].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to laurict [ Ad Ah ]
herjn64 folds.
iH8realityTV folds.
rivercoming folds.
John1838 folds.
SlickWillie folds.
mitchteeney raises [$6].
ESKIMO_13 folds.
laurict calls [$3].
** Dealing Flop ** [ 3d, 2d, 7s ]
laurict bets [$3].
mitchteeney raises [$6].
laurict raises [$6].
mitchteeney calls [$3].
** Dealing Turn ** [ 5h ]
laurict bets [$6].
mitchteeney calls [$6].
** Dealing River ** [ 3c ]
laurict bets [$6].
mitchteeney raises [$12].
laurict calls [$6].
mitchteeney shows [ 3s, Kh ] three of a kind, threes.
laurict shows [ Ad, Ah ] two pairs, aces and threes.
mitchteeney wins $64 from the main pot with three of a kind, threes.

I'm ahead, finally

On December 20, I bought in at Empire Poker, and ended the night down $30. Bad, loose play at the $2/$4 tables dropped me down to less than 50% of my buy-in. I dropped down to the $0.50/$1.00 tables, and tried to improve my game. Problem is, there's so many maniacal players at that level, you can lose a perfectly good hand to someone who hit his 27o on the turn and river, because there's always four or five people trying to do just that.

I've continued to play solid, conservative, tight games, and eked out a few winning nights. The frustration of the play at the cheap tables was taking its toll on my nerves, so I hopped up to the $3/$6 table last week. There's still a maniac or two, but they can be quickly identified, and played strongly against when you've got a decent hand.

Finally, a month later, I'm at 103% of my buy-in. Yay!

Yarrr!

We played 1000 Blank White Cards at our annual "camping" (cabin) trip to Flaming Geyser state park. Many others played Pirates of the Spanish Main. This led to the creation of this card:

Pirate!: All pirate cards in play (including this one) are worth 1 x the number of pirate cards in play.

Yarrr.

Gig Harbor Cache Machine gets press coverage

The Longview Daily News quoted Bruce Fischer (who was my roommate for the Vancouver Cache Machine) as saying:

"It's amazing the community that's out there." People chat on-line about their activity. Last weekend, Fischer attended a Cache Machine event in Gig Harbor, where 100 people searched for 60 sites. "You find as many as you can in one day. It's a little bit nuts. It's a lot nuts."

Bruce is a good cacher and a neat guy, and unlike many cachers I've met, he's mentally stable, too. Good stuff.

Dumb play, dumb luck

Here's the log from one hand last night. My annotations are in blue. ***** Hand History for Game 1434222038 *****
3/6 TexasHTGameTable (Limit) - Fri Jan 14 02:22:02 EST 2005
Table Table 11409 (Real Money) -- Seat 7 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 1: skottish ( $139)
Seat 2: srndpty ( $147)
Seat 3: OffSuit68 ( $140)
Seat 4: PokerSins ( $97)
Seat 5: crib1 ( $21)
Seat 6: giabizinc ( $31)
Seat 7: cashjunkie ( $170.5)
Seat 8: laurict ( $79) [This is me. I'm in the small blind.]
Seat 9: NYPokerClub ( $173.5)
Seat 10: badsaw ( $217.5)
laurict posts small blind (1)
NYPokerClub posts big blind (3)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to laurict [ 9c, Ac ] [A9 suited. If it makes it back to me without a raise, I'll call for $2 more; nut flush would be nice.]
badsaw calls (3)
skottish folds.
OffSuit68 folds.
PokerSins calls (3)
crib1 calls (3)
giabizinc calls (3)
cashjunkie calls (3)
laurict calls (2) [Good deal. Let's see the flop.]
NYPokerClub checks.
** Dealing Flop ** : [ Tc, 4h, Jc ] [Seven players. $21 in the pot.]
laurict bets (3) [Nut flush draw. Bet to scare out other players on a draw. Maybe not the best move.]
NYPokerClub folds.
badsaw calls (3)
PokerSins raises (6) to 6 [Hmmm... didn't want to see that.]
crib1 folds.
giabizinc folds.
cashjunkie calls (6)
laurict calls (3) [$36 in the pot. I've got two draws and 9 outs. A $3 call is the right move here.]
badsaw calls (3)
** Dealing Turn ** : [ Ts ] [$42 pot. Darn. Anyone holding a ten has a set now. I've got a 9/46 chance of getting my flush.]
laurict bets (6) [Pot odds say that with 9 outs and one card to go, the pot should be at least $31 to make a $6 bet. It is; I do.]
badsaw calls (6)
PokerSins calls (6)
cashjunkie raises (12) to 12 [I think he hit his set.]
laurict calls (6) [The pot's still more than $31. Another $6 is the right move here (I think).]
badsaw folds.
PokerSins calls (6)
** Dealing River ** : [ Ah ] [Giving me two pair, Aces over tens, which is worse than cashjunkie's set. My nut flush draw failed.]
laurict checks.
PokerSins checks.
cashjunkie bets (6) [Yup. He's got me beat.]
laurict calls (6) [What?!? At this point, I'm throwing money away because I don't want him to buy it. Stupid, stupid play. A fold is the best move here; a raise would be second best. My calling just is trying to make sure I lose. What was I thinking?]
PokerSins calls (6) [I'd put him on a flush draw at this point. I figured he'd fold.]
** Summary **
Main Pot: $102 | Rake: $3
Board: [ Tc 4h Jc Ts Ah ]
skottish balance $139, didn't bet (folded)
srndpty balance $147, sits out
OffSuit68 balance $140, didn't bet (folded)
PokerSins balance $70, lost $27 [ Jd Kd ] [ two pairs, jacks and tens -- Ah,Jd,Jc,Tc,Ts ] [He was playing high pair with high kicker after the flop, and was playing sheriff on the river. Same dumb play I made at the end.]
crib1 balance $18, lost $3 (folded)
giabizinc balance $28, lost $3 (folded)
cashjunkie balance $143.5, lost $27 [ Qc 5c ] [ a pair of tens -- Ah,Qc,Jc,Tc,Ts ] [Wow. He was on a queen high flush draw. His bet on the river was a bluff to scare me out.]
laurict balance $154, bet $27, collected $102, net +$75 [ 9c Ac ] [ two pairs, aces and tens -- Ac,Ah,Jc,Tc,Ts ]
NYPokerClub balance $170.5, lost $3 (folded)
badsaw balance $202.5, lost $15 (folded)
***** End Hand History for Game 1434222038 *****

I shouldn't have won that one. I'd have probably tossed the hand if I'd been anywhere other than limping in on a blind.

A table for 78, please

The Gig Harbor Cache Machine far exceeded my expectations this last Saturday.

I'd made reservations for 24 people at the Puerto Villarta mexican restaurant, but after Friday night's pre-gathering potluck, after a rough head count that showed me that that 45 of the 70 people would be at dinner on Saturday, I increased my reservations to 48 people.

When I arrived just after 5:30, all 48 chairs were taken, and another 20 of us were waiting in the lobby. Wow. This is the highest attended cache machine event yet. One person said he counted 78 people over the course of dinner, with people arriving and departing during the meal. I know of at least 15 more who participated in the event in some way but didn't make it to dinner.

I haven't logged any of my finds yet, but I think I got about 58, which puts me over the 900 mark. Almost without exception, all of the day's finds were creatively hidden, in great spots, were humorous, were in unique containers, or were some combination of the above.

And it didn't snow on us.

Snolympia again?

A year ago today, on my 33rd birthday, I organized and participated in the Olympia Cache Machine. Locals will remember that last year at this time we got socked with a good snowstorm that chased half the cachers away, and left the rest of us sliding all over the backroads of Thurston County.

That night, over dinner, the remaining participants decided to call it the Snolympia Cache Machine, and that's how it's been remembered.

The Gig Harbor Cache Machine is coming up on Saturday, and one cacher posted this slightly photoshopped graphic from KOMO4:

The three big local stations are in agreement -- it's gonna be cold, and probably snowing, for this winter event. I hope we're still able to get a good sized chunk of the route done before dinner.

Crappy hands or crappy play?

My stats from Sunday and Monday night's online play:

Sunday:
Hands played: 68
Hands won: 0%
Showdowns won: 0%
Flop percentage seen: 18%

Monday:
Hands played: 74
Hands won: 7%
Showdowns won: 0%
Flop percentage seen: 31%

My flop percentage on Sunday was pretty much where I like to see it, but I couldn't get a flop to save my life. Monday I played a little looser, and every hand I won I got because I scared out the other players. Counting the insane $0.10/$0.25 no-limit live game on Saturday where one pot topped $80, I've lost with big slick the last five times I've had it (including two suited).

Down $62.50 for the weekend. Ick. I was down further, but had a good bump at the end of last night's game (four of the five hands I won came in the last 20 hands).

After talking to Tres, I think I need to raise pre-flop a bit more, but more importantly I need to get out before the turn if the flop hasn't helped my hand, even if I'm holding two overcards.

The Danger of Queens

Back on November 20, I wrote that happiness is not a set of queens. Doyle Brunson, in Super System, wrote that he never plays AQ offsuit, because it's the kind of hand that can get you in a lot of trouble. I mentioned this at the 25¢ no-limit poker game at Trestin's last night.

Naturally, I get dealt QQ in the small blind a few hands later. Jon's to my left, in for a quarter. Phil's in for a quarter. Kevin and Trestin fold. I raise to $1, Jon folds. Phil calls.

The flop is A x K. Two overcards to my pair -- this is not good at all. However, I'd decided before I sat down last night to play loose aggressive, so I go in for another $1. Phil calls.

Fourth street is J. At this point, I think to myself, Phil has a pair of Aces or Kings, probably with a high kicker, or maybe the J gave him two pair. Just as likely, he might be bluffing (he does that a lot more than he probably should). Regardless, the only way I'm winning this pot is to force him out. I go all in for $2.70.

Phil thinks about it for a good two minutes. With my play, I know he's thinking I've got a high pocket pair to give me a set, or else I've got a blackjack. With the river still to come... he calls. We turn the cards over.

Phil has AQ, giving him a pair of Aces with a Queen kicker. I've got a pair of Queens with an Ace kicker. The only card that'll help me is the last Queen. A ten will split the pot.

The river's a King. Phil wins, AAKKQ to my KKQQA.

Happiness is not pocket queens, either.

(Oh, and I came out ahead 50¢ yesterday evening at the $0.50/$1 table online. I tend to do a lot better at a full table, but the one I was at was fluctuating between six and ten people for the whole 90 minutes I was there.)

Slowly, slowly

I only played poker a couple of hours over Christmas weekend, but ended up ahead another $15, plus I met the required rake hands, so I got my $35 new customer bonus.

It's slow going at the $0.50/$1.00 level, but I want to take it slowly until I get up to 150% of my latest buy-in. As I mentioned in earlier posts, I'd been playing some real crappy poker, and been getting burned on it, and consequently doubting myself. I need to do well for a while before I jump up a table.

Kim got me a Dealer button (and blind buttons) for Christmas. My parents got me an octagonal poker table top. Kim's parents got me a seven-foot long felt table cover. Krys got me cards. I'm sensing a theme :-)