When I left off, I was sitting with $260 or so in front of me. My memory on some of the other notable hands I played is a bit fuzzy, and the order in which they happened is just about completely lost. That’s what happens when I stay up all night playing, don’t take notes, and don’t write about it until a few days later. I’ll do my best. What I do know is I was folding a lot, and whenever I was in a pot it was usually for a raise. In fact, the guy in the 8 seat said at one point, “Don’t you ever limp?!” Next time I did, I made sure to point it out to him.

I had QQ in middle position, and came in for my standard raise to $20. This number increased as my stack did. My standard raise at the end of the night (or in the morning, I suppose) was $25. I got too many callers to be happy, but it was a nice pot. I flopped the nuts, Q9x, with two clubs. There were lots of draws out there, so I just put in a nice big bet and took it down. Then I folded for a while longer, my stack over $100 bigger.

I won two more nice pots with aces, both on scary flops that I bet out on. Normally, I wouldn’t really consider 855 a scary flop, but with 5 people calling my $20 raise, they could have had anything. My flop bet gave me that pot, as well as the the one where the flop was AQT. No one had KJ, thankfully. I had AK (offsuit and suited) a few times, and was hitting the flop pretty well with it, and taking pretty good pots. One hand with AK, I made it $20 preflop and got a call from the big blind (the same guy who asked if I ever limped). The flop was AQT, with two hearts. He checked, and I fired out $35. He quickly called, and I pretty much knew instantly I was beat. I put him on two pair. The turn was the 7 of hearts, and he bet out $35. I thought about it for a while, and mucked. Pretty much the only hand he could have that I should be calling there with was QT, as the pot was giving me good enough odds to beat that, even if he had a heart in his hand. If he had a flush, I was drawing dead, with no hearts in my hand. A straight and I was drawing to a split. AT or AQ, and I was drawing real thin. He said “nice laydown”, and I asked “AQ or AT?” He said QT, but of course, poker players don’t always tell the truth. Either way, I know I was beat and couldn’t call that bet.

Later, a pretty solid player with around $250 raised to $20 from early position. It was reraised to $50 directly to his left, by another decent player with around $300. I had them both covered pretty well. It folded around to me, and I looked down to find QQ. I called for time. I could tell from the initial raiser’s reaction that he had a pretty big pair. AA or KK? Possible, but I couldn’t know for sure. The reraiser I was sure had at least AK. If I just called, I had no idea where I was at, and couldn’t get away from it on a ragged flop, so I didn’t like that. If I raised, I’m pretty sure it would end up all-in against the reraiser, and I didn’t want to play a coinflip for $300. Plus, the initial raiser still could have had me beat. I decided to sit this one out, and folded the Hilton Sisters preflop. The rest of the action: initial raiser called, bet out on the ragged flop, and the reraiser folded. They had JJ and AK. Still, I feel just fine laying that down in that spot.

I was in late position with JJ, with an early position raise to $20 and a reraise to $40. I can’t tell you what about the situation was different, but this time I felt comfortable calling. The two raisers just didn’t seem that strong. The flop was KK8, and we all checked. The turn was a blank, and the reraiser bet $40. I was sure I had him beat, so I called. Unfortunately, the initial raiser reraised another $80, and we both folded. I wasn’t at all expecting that checkraise, and I think that was one of the few hands I didn’t play well over the night, and it cost me $80. I also think I might have had the best hand there, but I can’t be sure.

Several more hours of folding and tight play, and I had a very nice sized stack. It was probably around 9am now, and I made what I consider to be the only really close call of the night. When I got home, I had to run the numbers through pokenum at twodimes to see if I actually made good plays. As it turned out, I did. The action had slowed down a lot at this hour, and we had some new players who had come in early to register for the tournament. There were very few preflop raises, so I limped UTG with 33, hoping for a cheap flop. I got in pretty cheap. It folded to the small blind who made a minimum raise, the big blind called, and I did as well.

The flop was 234, with two spades. I was looking good. The small blind started counting out chips, rechecked his cards, and counted out some more. He bet $50, at the $30 pot. I knew right away he had A5, and had flopped a straight. I think everyone at the table knew. I was ready to fold my set faceup, but the big blind called. I didn’t know what he had, but figured at this point that I had to call, with all that money in the pot. The turn was an offsuit 6, so if he didn’t have a straight before, I was sure he had one now. He went all in for $95. I was again ready to fold, but the big blind called, so I did too. I made a mistake here: at this point, I was sure the big blind had a flush draw. I should have put him all in for his last $50 or so and at least get myself a sidepot if I missed my full house. The river was a nice looking 2, and I took down the whole $465 pot. The small blind had A5. The big blind had Q6s for a flush draw.

As I said, when I got home, I checked all the numbers, and I don’t feel like I played this hand wrong. On the flop, it was $50 to call. I was actually slightly favored of the three of us in the pot.

http://twodimes.net/h/?z=1091365
pokenum -h 3h 3d – qs 6s – ah 5c — 2s 3c 4s
Holdem Hi: 903 enumerated boards containing 4s 2s 3c
cards win %win lose %lose tie %tie EV
3d 3h 320 35.44 577 63.90 6 0.66 0.357
Qs 6s 277 30.68 620 68.66 6 0.66 0.309
5c Ah 300 33.22 597 66.11 6 0.66 0.334

On the turn, I was getting $370:$95 on my call, or 3.9:1. I needed 3.67:1. It was a close call, but a good one. Had the big blind folded in either spot, I would have had to as well.

http://twodimes.net/h/?z=1091374
pokenum -h 3h 3d – qs 6s – ah 5c — 2s 3c 4s 6h
Holdem Hi: 42 enumerated boards containing 4s 2s 3c 6h
cards win %win lose %lose tie %tie EV
3d 3h 9 21.43 31 73.81 2 4.76 0.230
Qs 6s 8 19.05 32 76.19 2 4.76 0.206
5c Ah 23 54.76 17 40.48 2 4.76 0.563

What I like best about this hand, besides the fact that I won a nice pot, was the thought that went into it, my reads on the players, and the fact that I knew it was a very close call when I did it. It feels really good to be thinking about my game at this level, and this is really the first time I can remember doing it.

The game was winding down, as the tournament was getting ready to start. We were playing our last hand, and I found AQo in the cutoff. I raised one limper to $25, and got called by him and the big blind. The flop looked nice, 9JQ, and I bet $50 when it checked to me. The big blind went all-in for $200 more. This same guy had called when I put him all in on a KQ3 flop with Q9 to my AK. I had never seen him get aggressive. I told him, “I think you’re on a draw,” and he responded, “I might be” in a way that made me think he wasn’t. I wish I could say what exactly made me think I was behind, but I eventually folded face up. He showed me his KT for a flopped straight, of course.

All in all, it was a nice ten and a half hour session. Losing a combined $165 on my first and last hands, I still finished up $950, my biggest win at this game so far. All it took was some tight, aggressive play, and a few decent laydowns. I have to keep playing this well. There’s nothing quite like walking away from a game with two racks of reds, and feeling like you actually earned it.

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