Ain't We Lucky We Got 'Em

liquid's YTD: $5010.49

After an ignominious start, I ended up on an unusual heater last night.

First, the ugly. UTG and UTG+1 limp, I limp with QQ54ds, CO and button limp. Short-stacked idiot in BB raises pot to $7.50 with only $4 behind. UTG folds, UTG+1 calls. Easy isolation re-raise for me, but I choose the worst option and call (?). CO calls, and button naturally re-raises pot. Idiot calls, UTG+1 folds, I push at completely the wrong time, CO thinks for a while and calls. Button calls. I cover everyone. I go on to flop a flush, but CO, who apparently didn't want to be in the pre-flop lotto to begin with, flops a better flush. Poor decisions by me, although a decent side pot reduced my losses.

A couple hands later I flopped the nut flush, called an EP bet, then got it all in on the turn vs. the K-high flush for a $150 pot, with no pre-flop raise. This was a goooood table.

The very next hand, I limp UTG+1 with Ah8h65. Flop is Q54 with two hearts. BB bets $3, I raise to $11, BB calls. Turn is an offsuit 7, giving me the nut straight with a nut flush redraw. BB bets pot, I put him all in, and he shows bottom set. River doesn't pair the board, I win.

Later I raise in CO with QJJTss and get called by three foes, including the idiot from the first hand. Flop is 3K9 with two of my suit. Checks to me, I bet pot, idiot min-check-raises, leaving $3.60 behind (??), I put him in. He has 6433 rainbow. Nice hand! Turn pairs the king and he wins.

A couple hands later UTG raises pot, I call with AK66ss (meh, kind of iffy), two others call, including (of course) the idiot. Flop is 693r, PFRer bets $10, I raise pot to $43.80, idiot again min-check-raises, leaving $0.40 behind (???), PFRer folds, I put idiot all in for a total pot of $177. Idiot shows 6788, turns his straight, but the river pairs the board, and he gives me all my money back. Man does he choose some weird times to check-raise.

Very next hand, I limp UTG with 789Tds, a few others limp, BB min-raises, everyone calls. Flop of 382r checks around. Turn is a T, putting two diamonds on the board. (I have no diamonds.) PFRer bets pot, I raise just under pot, everyone else folds, PFRer calls. River is an 8, PFRer checks, I bet 1/2 pot, PFRer calls and shows AdAQd4 for the turned NFD and rivered two pair. I read hands g00t.

Very next hand (!!), I check in BB with AQ96. I flop broadway, bet pot, get called by short stack with about $25 behind. Turn is a blank, I bet pot, shortie raises all in, I call. River is an A, shortie shows flopped three pair, I scoop. Three nice pots in a row! I can't remember that happening before.

Likewise, I can't recall getting so much good action on one table. Felt pretty freaky, especially compared to the usual grind-grind-grind. Sure hope my heater continues in Vegas.

California Stars

liquid's YTD: $4705.49

How good am I running?

This much: $14.20.

That's my year-to-date on Poker Stars. That's right, folks. I'm in the black on the demon site!

Now granted I have a piddling number of hands on Stars this year. I played one day the first week of January and lost $80. And that was that.

Then I hopped back on yesterday to start clearing a bonus that's been sitting around for a while. And lo! I ran g00t!

My favorite sequence:

I open-raise pot in middle position with KQT4ds and get one caller behind and one caller in front. Flop is 3T4r. EP checks, I bet pot, LP raises pot to $43.80 and has $50 behind, EP uses a buncha time and eventually folds. I re-raise pot, LP folds (?).

Next hand I open-raise pot with AKJ7ds and everyone folds. I don't know why, but for me that was the good part. I think I hate money.

Been A Long Lonely Lonely Lonely Lonely Time

liquid's YTD: $3945.98

Long time no post. My playing time is definitely down this year, partly due to non-poker activities. I do have a Vegas trip planned for later this month though, which means I need to ramp up on my non-PLO games (although this certainly looks promising).

This past weekend I had a chance to visit Caesar's Indiana with Napalm for some frisky $1-$2 NL Hold'em action. This was my first visit to The Boat, and my first live NL Hold'em game. Here's a quick run-down of what this game is like:

- $1-$2 structure.

- $100 minimum buy-in; $300 maximum.

- Pre-flop raises range between $10 and $25.

- Alternates between being a nit-fest and a big pot donk-a-rama.

I lucked into a few big pots, but the medium ones were actually more fun. A few examples:

- I raise to $22 pre-flop with 2c4c, win with continuation bet. Twice. Later I limp with the same hand and curse my lack of faith when I flop a flush.

- I raise to $17 in CO with 7h9h; get called in three places. Flop is 234r; checks to me, and I check. Turn is a beautiful 9; EP bets $25, call and fold to me, I raise with the nuts to $75, fold, fold. Position is g00t.

- I raise on the button with AKs. Called in two places. Flop is low, draw-heavy, and misses me completely. Checks to me, I bet $35, they both call. Turn is very blank, checks to me, I bet $75, first player insta-raises all-in, I insta-fold. He had a set and was sure I had a big overpair, so at least I was convincing. :p

- I check my option (wow, an unraised pot!) with ATo. Flop is Q94. UTG bets, someone calls, I call. Turn is 9. I donk bet some random amount, they fold. Whee, scare cards are as much fun in NL HE as they are in PLO!

All in all, definitely more fun than I was expecting. I pwnz0r baby-stakes NL Hold'em.