-$450 - $630 = down $1080

Well, I booked another trip to LA for May 9-15, so I decided to take it easy until then and do anything that's not poker. Anyway, I'm going to play in town before I go to LA, so, more posts next week.

4/20 down $450
Yeah online poker. Wow, I'm a fool. The last live game I'm at Fashion offers to sell some of his money on Full Tilt to the table. For good reason, I haven't played online for about six months. And in the limpid afternoon of a sharp poker mind I can easily remember these good reasons and resist this offer. But, in the couple weeks I'm planning to have away from poker I of course start jonsing. I resist this urge until I get paid from the home game, and then the excitement of putting that money into paying off credit cards and a little back into my stock portfolio. And I come to the rationalization of how much can I really lose if I just go online, and play some very low stakes Omaha 8? I mean, I need to practice this game because I will be profitable at it if I keep learning more about it, right? Sure!!! So, I email Fashion, ask for $500, and in about ten minutes I have the money in my Full Tilt account.

So why am I a fool? Well, I always lose online. My first of about disaster in my poker life was a $10k online disaster. It went like this... I decided that I wasn't going to get a job, and just play poker for a living. I put a lot of cash that I had from working into Party Poker. I started winning pretty consistently at the 5-10 NLH game. Then I moved up to the 10-20 game, and had a huge win in my first session, for like five thousand. Soon after that, with about $7k in my online bankroll, I felt invincible, stopped thinking too much, started playing two tables at once, and went on crazy tilt from a couple suck outs, and in my first tail spin, that I couldn't recover from, until I lost everything I had on there. Although the recent US internet gambling ban is incredibly stupid, it was a welcome for me, because of it I wound up quitting online play as I wasn't able to get any money into my account easily.

So, I resist for a couple days, but then it kind of seeps into everything, as each time I open my Window's start menu, of course the only icon that I notice is the one for Full Tilt. And of I start to play a little. 50 cents a dollar, limit Omaha 8. I win a little, move up to 1-2, win a little more. My friend asks for some money online, I give it to him, and he starts to play. And then how can I resist playing at a holdem or PLO table with him? Impossible! So I play a few of those games with him and lose a few hundred there.

I come to the realization that I'm winning on at limit Omaha 8, so I say “why don't I move up to the 3/6 game to get my money back? In fact... Why don't I play two 3/6 tables at once!!!” Yeah... yeah..... So eventually I wind up at home on my couch playing late into the night, drinking wine, and losing, and losing. I played good for a little while, but then played until like 3AM and got too drunk and tired to care enough to play good. I think I kept rationalizing my stupidity with things like “it's shorthanded, I should be playing this many hands... These are the kind of swings you should expect...” Etc. I shut the thing off when I have $60 left in my account, (after $40 of bonuses), and feeling like a complete moron.

I don't think that I shouldn't ever play online. However, I figure out how to be as disciplined about it as I am in person. I go through a lot of stuff to get ready for a game, and the fact that I'm just playing so casually online, whenever I don't feel like doing something else is of course a complete recipe for disaster. I do like the Omaha 8 online though, and I think I could be good at it.

4/26 down $630
Well, I have a pretty nice apartment now, and so I was pretty psyched to have people over to have a home game here. Sent an email out to most of the crew who I started playing cards with like five years ago (man, I'm getting old...). It was a good game and a nice seeing the old gang.. I wanted to play low limit stupid games like Red Ass, Auction, GUTS!!! But, of course as all these guys who still play from back in the days have started gambling for real money at holdem, the small game I had planned winds up being almost entirely 1-2 PLO. And wow, do I suck at this game, and these guys aren't all that bad at it. I get a bit of bad luck, but for the most part, I just throw money away raising with the second nuts and other acts of complete stupidity.

Anyway, everyone who played reads this page, or is at least aware of it. So, hello everyone. I'm not going to tell you what I think your flaws are. But, know that PLO vengeance shall be mine...

$2,065 + $2,250 + $2,825 - $460 = Up $6,680

4/11 Up $2065
Playing at this other home game in town. Some of the Yamakazi's move back and forth from here to the other game. It's not as much action as the other game, but it's decent enough. There were a few bigger places in town that used to run a game during the day; but, one by one, as those places got busted, these small home games started. With a few exceptions what happened was that all the tight, whining, panzy assed players went to this game, and all the degenerate gambling maniacs went to the game from the other posts. So, while there are still a few action players in this game throwing their money around, about half of the dudes there are play extremely weak and tight, and can be easily bluffed. Also, it's only a 5/5 game with not much money on the table, so in order for me to win $2k I have to get hit in the face with the deck. And I do...

I buy in for $500. Like the second hand I get a set of 6's, on a Q high board. Dude keeps betting into me with the Q that he'd show later. I went all in on the river for like the last $250 that he couldn't resist calling. I made it a point to make eye contact with him as he was making his decision, not sure if this did it or not. Few hands later I'm on the right side of AA vs KK, and double up for another $1k. Then... Flush! Straight! Set! Boat! Set! Flush! And before I know it, I've only been there for like an hour, and have $3k in front of my from only a single $500 buy in. I think that a monkey could have played the cards that I had. But, no, these guys are the prime example of the flaw of not maximizing profits, and they would not have made this money. I leave after like four hours, as I've made some decent coin, and I'm not really concentrating that much.

As I'm walking out the owner of the house that the game is played at is sitting on his couch. I have to walk between him and the television to leave, and pick up my jacket next to the couch that he's sitting on. My biggest winning streak came from this guy's evening 10/25 game... $3k, $5k, and then a $10k night. The $10k night went like this... I came to the early 5/5 game at his house, when he woke up at about three, I asked if I could get a seat in the later game. He told me that they were full, and I asked if I could wait around to see if one opened up. To which he said something like “I guess so.” Not a “no” but maybe an implied no that I should have caught on to. But, I didn't have anything better to do, and I had like $10k burning a hole in my pocket, and so I decided to stay. The early game ended at 7:00, and there were no seats for the later game, so I wound up watching tv. Finally, at midnight, a seat opens up, and I sit down with $3k. Which I double up in my first hand on A6 flopping an A, and about 3 hands later on KK when a guy goes all in on me on a Q high board. I manage to take a few more pots after that and I leave after two and a half hours with a $10,600 profit. When I bring my chips downstairs, the owner, says “I don't think I can let you play here anymore.” “Why not?” “Because I have to protect my game.” So, he counts me out one hundred and six hundred dollar bills. He's a Chinese guy, and I think their culture of confrontation is to avoid looking at you in the eye, because that's what he's done in the three months since then. It was strange, I was euphoric from winning that much, but also feeling like I wanted to cry from getting kicked out of this game.

So, I wind up back in this apartment from time to time , but not in the big game that I'd like to be playing in, and of course just feeling awkward around this guy, who still won't look at me or acknowledge my presence. I kind of hate going there, but I have little choice of games of this size in this town. Every time I'm there, I think how I should just move to LA.

4/12 Up $2250
Back to the main Yamakazie 5/10 $2k game. I get a look at the sheet when I walk in.... Crazy Asian #1 is in for like $7k, Landlord is in for like $5k, and so I'm set for a wild one. One of the first hands I get AK. I bet, Crazy #1 calls. Flop = XXQ. Check, check. Turn = blank. Crazy bets $150, I make it $350. He calls. River = Blank. I'm pretty sure he has nothing. I go all in. I've bought in for only $1k, so it's only like $500 or so at this point. He almost insta-calls me, I say “good call.” He's got 55, no set, nothing. The whole table tells me what a good move I'd made and how they'd fold, and they're going on to him about what a fucking nutjob he is. Crazy: “I put him on AK, if I'm good on the turn, I'm good on the river.” Fireman: “He couldn't have had AQ?” Fashion, who's kind of a blow hard says something about how I'm “really showing us something.” I know that Fashion is fucking with me a lot of the time, and that it's just his game, but it really does make the game unpleasant for me a lot of the time. He's always talking about how he's one of the richest guys at the table, he owns some clothing line, is always at his factory in Hong Kong. But, his constant blowhard needeling me, is often a lot to take. Maybe it's because he tempers this compliments like announcing to the table that I'm “the smartest person I know. Usually when he talks, I just nod and pretend to understand.” Anyway, after the hand Fashion says something like “you'll have to blog about that one.” Which kind of freaked me out, I'm pretty sure that he was just talking out of his ass, as I think I would have gotten a wink or another comment.

Anyway, I play great after that hand. Don't remember a single hand I played, as the show was watching Crazy and Landlord go at it all day. Both stuck, and with Crazy getting sucked out a couple times he goes even more crazy. One hand he flops a set of 9's, and everyone thinks he's just on complete tilt at this point (which he is) and over playing his hand (which he isn't), and so you always get like five people in the pot playing with him. I forget who sucked out on him here (maybe Backgammon, I'm not sure though), but after he's felted again, he gives up his chips, sits in silence until the next hand is dealt, and lets out a gutteral scream after he folds it. It's kind of amazing to see someone that tilted, it's like a shark smelling blood in the water. Fashion is a bullshitter, and just doing his best to keep him and Landlord sitting at the table throwing their money around. He keeps his cloying sthick up about “how we're really playing poker now, baby!” He calls everyone “baby,” which I guess is somewhat of a hangover from his 80's hard drinking and drugging days. He gave up drink and drugs for gamble... $5k a hand blackjack, huge sports betting, playing in the biggest poker games he can find in town, or Vegas or where ever. Comes back with stories about how he won $30k off the Grinder in his last trip to Vegas, how he's comped this or that at any hotel basically because he loses so much at blackjack. He's not a bad player, and now that the game has gone to 5/10, it seems he's more in his element that there's enough money on the table that he actually cares enough to play good. Anyway, these two guys being on tilt is somewhat amplified by him, and I think their time at the table is also elongated by him.

On the night Crazy winds up losing $10k, as it gets to the point that any suited cards look good to him for any amount of money, including all in. Which I think he calls at some point with KJ, and of course loses to someone's AK. It's just completely retarded.

4/13 Up $2825
Main Yamakazie 5/10 game...
Buy in for $1500, lose that pretty quickly to Backgammon on my set of Q's to his nut flush. The turned Q, made his flush. It was dumb, I probably could have gotten off the hand when he went all in. I always think that he's bluffing at me, but he's yet to bluff a single hand at me. But, he bluffs so often, that I keep thinking that he's doing it to me. I'm not sure how to play against him. I sit for a while after with another $1500. I win a little pot and am up to about $1900.

I get JT of spades. I call a bet from Giggly Banker... He's a nice guy, some big time exec at a big time bank. He comes down on his lunch breaks sometimes, but it seems that he's not really working all that hard in general. He's kind of a giggly idiot, and doesn't handle being bluffed at very well, overplays his hands. But, isn't the most horrible player I've seen. Anyway, he raises to $100, like 3 callers. Flop = 89x. He bets $500, folds around to me. I go all in, for like $1400 on top of that. I was pretty sure that he had AA or KK after making that bet on the flop, but I guess I'd been watching too much high stakes, in thinking that I could go all in and make him fold. He hems and haws, and is kind of angry at me for making this bet, he's pretty sure that I have him beat, but because he's not good enough to fold an over-pair, he calls anyway. Or maybe I'm not good enough to realize that he's not good enough? We agree to run it three times, and of course, I hit the Q on the very first card, and miss on the other five. Bummer.. could have just called his $500, and taken his whole stack. Anyway, only wind up losing a few hundred on that one. Fashion says something like “is that your move for the day? Or you got something else lined up?” “I don't know, I haven't decided yet.”

Well, it sucks, the game is not as great as it was the days before, as no one is going really insane. Landlord is about even, and it's getting to the middle of the month, and he's running out of money, so he's playing on his heels a bit. But, but, but... University has been calling, and is en route. University is legendary... a 23 year old kid who just got out of college, routinely throws away $3k a game, bets thousands on sports, craps, whatever. He seems to have unlimited cash from his family's business of setting up malls or something. Often plays after no sleep, coked up, whatever. He actually can play well when he wants to, but in smaller games like this, he'd usually rather throw away a few thousand than actually concentrate. Especially this week, as in the big game above that I got kicked out of he'd won $300k. Everyone is tired actually from that game. I guess Crazy got back a lot of what he'd lost in yesterday's session by going there and playing all night.

Well, the table is full, but, we're scrambling to figure out how to get University in the game immediately, as if he doesn't have a seat, it's pretty likely that he'll get pissed and leave. So, we decide to rotate one player out each orbit when he gets there. Low card for who goes first... I draw a duce and it's me. So, he takes my seat, and I go in the smoking room to putz around with the Internet and make phone calls. I keep hearing screams through the wall “How does that get there!!?” “OH MY GOD!! That's so sick!!” Shit like that, about half of them from University, the other half to the background of University laughing his head off. I'm anxious to get back in the game, especially since I'm down like $1700 at this point. But of course with University there the hands are always contested and everything moves way slower, so it's like twenty five minutes for them to get through the ten hands until I get my seat back.

When I do get it back the only strategy that makes sense is to dig a fox hole to China, and sit back and watch the fireworks of University blast through people, trying to win every hand. He does a decent job of blowing people out of the water with unbridled aggression. Of course until someone has a hand, and felts him. To which he gets another $2k. Blasts through people... until someone has a hand and felts him. Lather, rinse, repeat. Eventually I get KK, and take a small pot. But a small pot with University on tilt, is like $400.

A few hands later, I have 55 in the SB. It limps around to University, who makes it his usual $100, six callers or so. Flop = 235. Which makes me somewhat nervous, as there's a lot of people in the hand, and a straight is possible. So, I check. Dude to my left makes it $500, everyone else folds University goes all in. I quickly call. Dude to my left is way surprised, and has to kind of force himself to fold, “I was calling University, but I can't call you.” University of course wants to gamble, so offering businesses is stupid, which I don't do. He's cheering for a 4, so I guess he had an A. No 4 comes, and I double up, and now I have a small profit. This hand, a monkey actually could have played.

A few hands later, I get AK. Bet $125, four callers, University and Crazy #1 among them. Flop = J high. It checks around to me, University is all like “come on you nit. Bet your aces.” To which I make a finger gun shooting gesture at him, which baffles and quiets him, and then I check. Turn = A! SB bets $800. Folds around to me, I just call. River = A!!! SB checks. And I sit there and talk myself out of betting. I didn't realize that he only had $1200 left, and if I'd realized that, then maybe I would have put a bet out. But, I start to think of all the boats that are beating me, and I think of very few hands that he could have that he'd call me with. And I don't bet, “I have Ace King.” He mucks. Crazy and Fashion start going nuts. “How could you not bet that!?” I reply “what's he gonna call me with?” To which Crazy and Fashion are like “An ace!!” I don't think that's true. Maybe it is, I don't know though. I wish I'd made him show his cards, because I could have made my case a bit better if he'd only had a J, but yeah, that was a lame mistake of me. Fashion then gets on me for not betting the flop. This I can defend though, as I mean, whatever, I didn't hit, anyone with a J is going to re-raise me if I bet. So why not see if I can turn an ace or king? That wasn't a bad play... but yeah, the $1200 I left on the table by not putting him all in on the river is.

Anyway, I decide to take the $2800 profit and leave at my blind. I'm still at the stage where it makes me nervous having $6k on a table, I'm sure I'm missing out on a lot of potential profit by not staying around to play with University, but, I wanted to stop playing, and hang out with people and talk about anything besides poker.

I get up to go, they weren't able to pay me here the day before, and of course they don't have it again, so I have to carry them at least over the weekend. I'm owed slightly less than $5k now. Which is obviously better than not being owed $5k, and I have no doubt they'll pay soon.

And so I go out to meet a few friends. And I'm realizing just how completely depressing this lifestyle of mine is. I mean, despite playing great, having money, getting back to the feeling that I am not only smarter than damn near everyone on so many levels. However this doesn't make for good conversation. I realize this, and get anxious, which gives me a desire to 1. get high, and 2. to write the session out in sentences that I find satisfying to read. So, drink two drinks, mumble some shit in conversation that no one understands, and leave. At home I smoke pot and turn Kid A on loud, sit in my easy chair and zone out. I find this to be the most enjoyable thing in the world, as my decent stereo sounds so fucking amazing in a large room with high ceilings and brick walls (as any decent stereo will). I revel in my glory, the only thing missing is the $5k in cash for me to fondle.


4/14 down $460
Get up at a decent hour. Drink some coffee, do not much, and go to a 15/30 Omaha 8 game. I have been reading about this game, and I've played at a profit a few times, but man do I stink at it. I only bring $500, planning to get a lesson and not lose much. Well, I play like 3 hands in the space of twenty minutes, and lose all of them. I'm glad that I only brought the $500 with me, as I probably would have put more on the table if I'd had it. But, whatever, I need to play this game online for way cheap until I can figure out how to really win at it.

I spend another day alone, buy some more sheets. Come home and set up my modded Xbox on my network, upload and watch a couple newer episodes of High Stakes, while eating a burger, and drinking beer.

Anyway, I think I'm going to take the next week, and hopefully two weeks off. “There's more to poker than life,” as someone once told me. And I think I need a couple long trains of thought on a variety of subjects that has nothing to do with cards. Hopefully I'll be able to collect on Monday, and then live the easy life for a little while.

down $981

Back to the Yamakazi home game. But it's Passover, and so the usual crowd isn't around this week. Also 5/5, $750 max buy in game has recently turned to a 5/10, $2k buy in. Which I thought should slow the pace down a bit, but wow was I wrong. The Fireman, a cartoonishly surly blue collar fireman who's conversation is always a half joke about how he hates basically all minorities. A Vietnam vet, so he has quite a few more pointed barbs for the Asian dudes who play and deal there. He plays it off as his sense of humor, and so we all laugh about it, but I think he'd be way upset if his sibling or child married a slope, kike, or shadow. You never hear the word “nigger” come out of his mouth, and maybe that would be the line of people thinking that he actually is a racist. I don't know. This one Asian dealer started calling him “my nigga',” as in “Twenty five to you, my nigga'.” This of course is about the most hysterical thing I'd heard, and cracks me up everytime he says it.

Yeah, so the first $1500 that I blow, I have 77, I raise to $100, a Crazy Asian calls, and Fireman calls. Flop = AKX all clubs. I make it like $250 on the flop, Asian folds, Fireman puts me all in. I'm like “Do you just have a club or did you hit the ace?” I put him on a club.. and I'm such a fucking idiot for not folding this fucking hand. Yeah, he had KxQc. So, I was beat before, but luckily a club (the 7... giving me a set.... barf) came on the river so I was able to sell to the table that I had an ace. Man, I should have folded, I wanted to be a fucking hero, and make the huge and stupid call. But, yeah, I mean, wow, you really need a good reason to call someone in that situation, and wanting to bust him is about the worst reason ever. I don't show anything, I have this look of disgust on my face, mostly from hitting the set and knowing I was dead anyway, I say nothing. I get sympathies from the rest of the table, but I refuse to tell anyone anything when asked what my hand is. Get another $1500, try to calm down, sit for awhile, observe for awhile...

The Landlord who loses at least $10k in these games has a predictable schedule. The third of the month he's there playing hard, bluffing every hand, laughing as he loses a few thousand, or even harder when people freak out when he hits some retarded one outer. By the twentieth of the month, he's developed a sour look on his face, nothing is funny, he doesn't bluff so much. By the twenty-fifth of the month he's nowhere to be found. By the third of next month, he's there playing hard, bluffing every hand, laughing as he loses... Of course what keeps him coming back, what gives him the most glee is sucking out on people.

So, yeah, my two hands with the Landlord in the space of about an hour.

• I have AQ, bet $100, 3 callers. Flop = A7X. Bet, raise, all in. He has A7 of course. He agrees to give me business, so we run the turn and river 3 times, I catch a Q on the 2^nd one, so only lose like $500 on that one.

• Not too long after that I have AK, raise $100 pre flop, he's the only caller. flop = Q99, one club. Check, check. Turn = Ac. He bets $200, I raise to $500 he puts me all in. I call, he has JT of clubs. Before I can offer business the river is out, and of course it's another club. I show my cards here, as I was getting ready to take the pot, or offer business. This gets me some condolence from the rest of the table, and Landlord who says “sorry.” Which is nice of him, but yeah, you really shouldn't say anything after you suck out on someone unless you're going to give them the money back.

Well, I'm in for $3k at this point. And I have $1500 on me, and another $1500 at home. So, I stand up, and talk to the owner of the place. I explain my money situation, and ask if I can get another $1500. I'm stuck, I'm tired, but, the Landlord has a big stack, and he's still stuck for about $2k at this point. Which is great, as it means that he's going to keep throwing his money trying to get even. So, I want to stay and play with him.

He is undoubtedly the worst player I've ever played with. I've never even seen a close second really... the other very bad players have either an aggressiveness about them that can allow them to win some of the time, or they have a tightness about them that keeps them safe from big losses (and wins). This guy has some of the aggressiveness, but it only comes out when he's losing and everyone will call him. The other huge factor that makes him so bad is that he'll call huge bets with almost any hand... bottom pair, under pairs, any gut shot, any flush draw.. pre flop any suited cards are a calling hand for almost any amount, any limped button is a raising hand. The game gets very different with him in it, the maniacs shift gears and sit quietly to try to get in a position to play in hands with him. It was odd seeing him play this way for the smaller stakes. But, now that all the old hats of those older games have come to play this 5/10 game, and the 5/5 before it, his play is astounding. He's been doing this for about twenty years, back when the only game in town was stud, and he hasn't learned anything.

Anyway, after sucking out on that hand he had about $3k in front of him which took him about fifteen minutes to lose. He of course has an unlimited credit here, his checks are like gold, and the owner never tells him that he can't have more chips. So he's in for about $5k at this point, rebuying for $1500 at a time, and within about two hands his money is always in the pot. Any ace at this point looks good to him, any suited cards for any money looks good to him.

And I get back to even nearly all from him...

• A9 of clubs goes runner runner to a flush, vs his two pair. Board was checked to the turn, where he made a weak bet on his bottom pair, that I had very positive EV to call.

• One hand he's not in.... I have JT, flop = AQ8. Checked to the river, where there is a beautiful 9. I make a small bet, but no one calls, but still take down a $600 pot, mostly from Fireman and a very good pro sitting to my left,who I think had at least an A, as it took him a long time to fold.

• He goes all in with AQ, and I have AA. He wants to run the whole board 3 times, and I win them all.

Ok.. so, just like that I'm down only $300. And I'm about ready to go to the gym, as I'd been planning to play the later game as well. And so I leave. Workout, shower, shave, feel pretty good...

The late game...
Well, there are a couple women there, so no porn on. Early in the game, I wind up being up somewhere around $1k. This one guy, who I think had me kicked out of this other game, I beat with KQ. I make a raise pre flop, and on the flop of nothing for me, which he calls. He checks the turn, I check. River = Q, and I bet it, and he calls. I show him, he's really pissed at it, he's like “ahh, I knew that card hit you.” Like in a way that he wants to beat me up. I'd taken like $5k from this guy in January on KK on a Q high board, where he decided to go all in on me, and I called him pretty quickly. This was en route to my biggest win ever ($10,600), which I wound up leaving the game after only about two hours of play. This caused someone, I'm guessing him, to complain to the guy who runs the game, and now I'm not allowed back there. Which sucks, as it's the biggest, most profitable game I know about in town.

Anyway, after winning this hand, I start to think that my shit must not stink as I've managed to come from down $3k to a small profit. But, of course, I get cocky and bluff off like $650....

I have 88, a quiet Indian pairs his ace on the flop. Check the turn. River = another A, I make a huge bet, and of course I get called. Raising him out of the blue like that on the flop wasn't so bad, but then not firing the turn, and then firing again on the river, I might as well have told him that I was bluffing. It was fucking stupid.

Then the guy from above busts my A5 with his AJ on an AXX, X, X board. And the same guy again delivers a nice cooler when I flop a set of 3's, and out of the bb, on an un-raised pot, turns a wheel. He's a moron for not putting me in for the last $300 I had on the table (and we see this flaw again). He shrugs to the rest of the table acknowledging this. I say nothing, sit there thinking about how I can either throw this $300 away, or I can leave. And I do leave, and I'm rather proud of myself for this.

Ok.. so, two losses in a row. On a bit of bad luck, but on mostly my own stupidity...
Bobby Fischer, despite being completely insane, had quite a few great quotes, one of which was "That's chess, you know. One day you give a lesson, the next day your opponent gives you a lesson." So, what lesson? On my spreadsheet, I made a front page, where I put my seven game, $26k disastrous losing streak, from the end of Jan to mid Feb. So, now whenever I open the sheet, I am forced to look at this. And now, each time I lose, I start to think about what's the similarties between this and that unparalleled disaster? What's the difference between when I win and when I lose?

Well, in the space between playing and sitting down to write this, I've come up with something that Greenstein mentions quite a bit... Sleep. It's not the abstract concept that I was talking about in the last post of degenerate gambling vs being a good player... In reading that again, I'm thinking that that idea is bullshit. It's quite simply sleep. When I've slept well is when I'm on my game. 99% of my shitty sessions are after I haven't slept well. It's simple. Bad sleep = bad play.

So.. I spent all of yesterday (tues) buying bedding, and putting up dark curtains, and setting up a fan to drown out the noises the creaky floors and old pipes make. And I finally got in eight hours of uninterrupted sleep in my new apt, and I'm feeling that I'm about ready to go and play today.

down $2015

Well, end of the winning streak, but more importantly for the first time in a long while, I played really bad for the whole session. I couldn't sleep I was so pissed at myself. Let's see the day went like this... My roommate and I moved into this amazing apartment in a great part of town. Moving is moving, and it took a day to pack, and a day to move. Exhausted, as we both busted our asses along side the movers, we met up with a couple of my other friends to see Grindhouse. It was only after the 3 hours of sitting in that movie, that I decided that I didn't want to go home to an apartment filled with unpacked boxes that and that I wanted to play. As I reflect on this, I get to thinking that this action, this feeling is what being a compulsive gambler is.. this desire to not want to do what you should be doing, and to find a game that you can idle away your time feeding on the adrenaline that gambling gives... This of course begs the question of what is a professional poker player? That's the calm, sober, and above all patient mindset of looking for opportunities to put your money in with the best hand. Of getting no thrill from winning, but rather a calm feeling of pride at putting your money in with the best hand more often than not.

So what did I do? Well, I blow my first $500 buy in, by trying to put a kid off of a hand who I thought was bluffing. He turned out to have two pair, and then I gave away my hand when I started answering his interrogation of me. Him: “Do you want a call?” Me: “I want to win the hand.” Him: “Will you show me if I fold?” Me: “Sure I'll show you.” This was the worst thing to say... I should have either said nothing, or used the “this isn't poker school” line I use a lot lately. In the private games I play in everyone has a shtick, everyone talks about their hands, about why they did what they did, about how smart they are, and how their philosophy is the right one. People show their hands way more often, people even ask to see other people's hands when they're mucking. When I'm not in the best mood to play cards, it can easily throw me off my game, and I wind up making mistakes from it. Because of this I used to wear sunglasses, mostly because people interacted with me less. I'm finding that while I don't need the sunglasses, I do need the same kind of calmness and callousness that I could project when I would wear them. Anyway, the kid calls, and I have top pair (9's) and a weak kicker, and he has bottom two pair. Turn and river blank, and he wins my first buy in.

The next buy in I blow when I just fucking know this guy has AA when he re-raises all in pre flop. And I make up all kinds of hands that he could have, so that I can call him with JJ. Fucking horrible... I lose about $1900 total at the first place. Then I decide to go to the 2^nd place.

The 2^nd home game, is a very odd one.. It's a 1-2 game, but with a $1000 max buy in. And the people there are more than willing to throw all their chips into the pot on top pair, or even just AK with nothing. The math of games like this works out to this.. try to limp with any two from any position. When you have a big hand pre, raise to whatever people are calling. When you have a medium hand, remember that it's still 1-2 and that a $15 bet in this game is still a huge bet, as you can see 10 hands for $3, so there's no reason to call $15 with a J9s. But, of course, I'm on tilt from the other game, and still tired, and still not playing well. And I just want to play every hand. Anyway, I wind up busting this dude for like $500 when my A8 turns into a 9 high straight, and he goes all in with his set of 7's. But, I lose that within about 4 hours, as I make stupid call after stupid call, and stupid bluff after stupid bluff. I wind up with only a $90 loss from here, but it feels like I'd lost $500, as I had a huge stack so early.

They also have the Playboy channel on in the background, which I find pretty horrible. When it's just R rated naked chicks taking showers, I could ignore it with some self control, but when it turns to hardcore XXX late at night, I couldn't not stare at it. And in poker when you have to look at other dudes faces, and you see this wide eyed expression of another man with a hard-on it is really as bad for me to try to play through as being drunk or stoned. And of course ten guys sitting together during a poker game is kind of gay in the first place, but ten dudes playing poker and watching porn together seems like one step away from fucking each other in the ass. If I go there again, I must get a seat with the TV to my back.

Up $735 Commerce (Mar 27)

Very few big hands, but played great again. My one mistake was slow-playing a set of Queens early on... I lose like a $1000 pot, as I don't bet until the river when some guy's gone runner runner to a straight on me. Of course he doesn't put in a big raise... I'm not sure what hand he could have put me on that was beating him. Whatever, I mentioned this flaw in the last post.

I battle back, with next to no hands, but a keen sense of the table and a number of really good pretty bluffs. I played like a pussy for the most part though, I kept realizing spots where I was probably ahead, but refusing to gamble with the two maniacs at the table, who were: This Russian dude to my right, who was talking about just having won $80k at some tournament at the Bicycle, and this older Asian guy at the other end of the table. The Russian went all in on the Asian in one hand with a lone Q on a Q high board, and the Asian called him with queens up. The all in was $4700 on the river, and maybe like $3k in the pot before that. Insane bet, maybe a more insane call? I don't know, they acted so quickly in the hand that there's no way either of them gave it much thought. Anyway, games like this get me kind of nervous, as it's hard to tell where people are at, and I had no desire to gamble on my last day in LA, and I just wanted to sit in my shell, and let the gambling happen all around me, and grind out a small profit.

So, I do leave with a small profit, a huge feeling of accomplishment, and a wad of cash somewhere around $11k. As I drive around I listen to metal at full blast. I keep replaying this song in particular which has this line that I keep repeating to myself: “we've come to an understanding. You lose. I profit.”

I fly out the next morning, thinking how I should have stayed for the full week. But also, realizing that the best trips are invariably the ones that you wished lasted longer.

Up $3980 Commerce (Mar 26)

Third day in LA... Dropped my friend off at the airport the day before and found a cheap room in Chinatown where I spent the day milling about, eating delicious $5 Vietnamese soup, and delicious $3 tacos when I walked downtown. Take a nap, watch some stupid television, keep telling myself I'm going to read the book I brought with me, but don't.

I get to the Commerce around three. I'm pleasantly surprised to be recognized by a couple of the hosts there, who put my name on the waiting list as soon as they see me walking in. I tipped them a little the other days, but I think maybe they noticed my wins and/or suck-out? I don't know. Manny "Pac Man The Destroyer" Pacquiao is there playing the 50/100 game, apparently to the delight of the players in that game as the floor guys tell me that "they love him... So he must be giving something away." A few people come up and shake his hand, but it seems that not too many people know who he is. I should have shook his hand when he was finished playing, as he's awesome, but I didn't, as I needed to focus on the game.

And wow do I focus. I play near perfect, with maybe only one small mistake. Despite winning the day before, I went to my hotel room that night, happy with my larger wad of cash, but so pissed at myself for blowing $3k during the trip on utter stupidity. So I buy in for $1500, and fold for 20 minutes straight. AJ? Fold. KQ? Fold. Small pair? Fold when no set comes. Just sit there and try to key into the game, figure out who's the fish, who's the pro, and get my own brain under control.

When I think I have a decent grounding I decide to get frisky with a JT of spades. I raise to $80, two callers. Flop = AsQsX. I bet $120, dude raises to $300, other dude folds. I think for half a second, and go all in for like $900 more. Good play? Mos def.... I have draws to a flush and a gut shot which gives me 12 outs (any spade or K), which is 1.2 to 1 against most hands, there's $580 in the pot, so I'm betting $1200 to win $1780... $1200 * 1.2 = $1440... so I've got $340 positive expected value if he calls... But I also have huge folding equity as he probably just has a weak to medium ace. He asks how much the total bet is, I count it out for him before the dealer can get to it. He doesn't look pleased, but calls anyway. Turn = 8 of spades. River = blank. I show the flush, he grimaces and mucks. I silently let the dealer count the money out, and take his chips for me.

Next I hand I play I limp with 44. flop = 49X, all hearts.
I bet the flop, one caller. Turn = blank. Check, he bets, I put him all in for the $600 he's got left. River = blank. He mucks after I show the set. I'm guessing he had Ah 9x.

My one mistake of the day...
I limp with AcTc. Flop = T6X, 2 clubs. I keep check-calling pot sized bets from this Asian dude. I thought he was this crazy Asian from the day before, but I would only later realize that he wasn't the same guy, not crazy at all, and in fact a rather conservative player. I kept thinking that if I hit a T, A or club, I'd win. But the forcefulness and the speed in which he put out his flop and turn bets made me start to think that I'm gong to need a club and a club only. I'm glad too, as there have been so many times that I've put all my money in with a pair and a flush draw recently to run into two pairs and sets, which of course take away a lot of the value of this hand as the two pair outs are gone, and even if I hit the flush, they have boat redraws.

Turn = blank, bet, call. River = T. And, despite my uneasy feeling of my trips being no good, I pick up a bunch of chips. But before I can put a bet out I see him reaching for his chips, which he quickly stops doing once he sees me reaching for my own. My play on the flop and turn wasn't so horrible, but putting out the $200 that I had in my hand was. Once I saw him going for his chips, I should have just checked and called a small bet on the river. But, I did put the $200 out there, and he quickly raised to $500. I call quickly. He has 6's full.

Whatever, shake the dust off. Not a huge deal, only lost $700 or so. $300 more than I should have, but $2000 less than I could have. The dude should have gone all in there. I mean, there are not many hands he's beaten by. One of the more common flaws at this level of play is people having such a fear of losing what they have on the table they don't maximize their big hands. Knowing the math of poker is not just about knowing the odds of AK vs 99. A big part of it is 1. knowing how rare it is for hands such as his 6's full to lose. And 2. from that knowledge to get a fearless, monomaniacal, thought into your head of "how can I get all of his chips into this pot?" Yes, it's possible I could have had quad tens, or some other unlikely boat, but the odds of this are so small, that in the long run he's losing a lot of money by not betting this hand heavily.

After that mistake, I played great, I got a perfect read on everyone at the table, and became completely focused, I was in the zone, most of the hands are a blur, my opponents might as well have been playing with their hands face up.

I didn't lose another big hand.

- I bluffed the tight players with nothing
- I went hard at the crazies with top pair
- I busted a dude for like $2000 with Aces up. He had a lower two pair I knew he couldn't fold

I walked in the casino with a little over $6k, I walked out with a little over $10k in two rubber bands of hundred dollar bills.

As I pull up to the hotel, I decide to drive around for awhile. Get lost on purpose, not a good area of town to be driving around with $10k in cash on you. But, I'm driving a shitty car, and I don't care. I find a nice little Mexican place off some highway, I eat some weird deep fried fish, and drink a Corona. It was delicious.

Up $2450 (Mar 25 Commerce)

Today it's the same story of yesterday's donking off $1500 in the first couple hours. I'm not sure what the fuck is my problem when I first sit down to these tables... Maybe the higher stakes make me nervous and stupid. It's frustrating.. Anyway, I over play: Pocket nines, a stone cold bluff, and AK. It's stupid.. Ok.. so... same story as yesterday, I battle back to not quite even, on really good play when I get my grounding.

The rumors about this place are true, the donk fest is amazing, and I think the fact that I can come back from two days of huge stupidity is a testament to that. Every table I'm at, all the time, there's at least two total retards throwing away thousands. I saw this one crazy Asian put all his money in with AK on the turn (with no pair or draw), thinking his A high was good, and dude calls him with QQ (I think he didn't show), and of course the Asian hits his A on the river for like a $5000 pot. Any guesses on how long it took the Asian to lose the $5k? Yes, that's right, about four hours.

Anyway.. two big hands..
I have 44. I'm one of two callers of a $70 raise from this pretty aggressive pro looking guy who I'm slightly envious of as he can do some chip tricks that I can't (and maybe also because he has $15k on the table...).

Flop = 4AQ, 2 clubs.
Pro bets like $150, I call, other dude calls. Turn is a blank. Dude checks, Pro checks, and I do my best to take some time, take some deep breaths, and then put out a bet of $400. Dude calls, Pro folds.

Dude checks the river blind, which is a T of not clubs. I think about the straight for a second, but decide that his check blind would be incredibly stupid if he has KJ of clubs. I'm pretty sure at this point that he has aces up, or maybe even just AK, and is trying to keep the pot small. It's possible that he has a better set, but the odds of flopping set over set is under 1%, and it is a position I'm willing to lose all my money every time it comes up. So.. what to bet? It's a rare player who can fold two pair on a not scary board, and it's a very rare player who can fold top two, so, I'm pretty sure that I'm going to get called on any bet, and so I go all in.

He has about $2k more in front of him, and I have him covered. He thinks for a long time, hems and haws. I sit with arms crossed on the table, looking at the pot, but more concentrating on him in my periphery, say nothing, have a completely blank face. He eventually calls. I show the set, he mucks. After leaving the table, and coming back with more chips, he says did indeed have aces up.

Next big un..
I have AA in early position, raise to $80. Dude from last hand raises to $200, one guy calls his $200. I am nervous about playing the aces against two people and am happy enough to take the $400, so I go all in for the $4k or so I have in front of me.

As I reflect on this, I think that I played this poorly. There was this one hand on High Stakes Poker where Esfandari took his sweet time thinking about what to do with his aces in the face of an Elezera call, and a Hellmuth raise. Because he took his time and made a reasonable bet, he managed to lure Elezera into the pot with jacks. Making the bet I did, and making it as quickly as I did, I might as well have put up a neon billboard that says that I have aces.

But, Dude is way on tilt from the hand above, and he can't fold any kind of a hand at this point. So he thinks and thinks, and calls! Then, instantly, the other guy calls too!!! I have them both covered! Wow!

I have an awful feeling that I'm sure that I'm going to lose, and when the flop comes QJX, and I see paint on Dude's cards I'm pretty sure I'm dead. But he shows KK!! And other dude said that he had no pair and was calling for pot odds... Errrr... what?? Whatever! Thanks for the money!!

Up $300 (Mar 24 Commerce)

The Commerce Casino... I'd kept hearing how it's the best poker game in the universe, and so I decided to take a trip out there. I spent the entire week before doing basically nothing: sleep, eat, tv, gym. Happy with the $2400 I'd won earlier in the week, bringing my wad of cash to $3700 that I'm feeling is pretty fragile. Anyway, my friend was working out there, so I had a bed at The Four Seasons, and free use of his rental car for a few days.

I went there with the intention of winning a few thousand in a 5/10 game, and moving to a bigger game when I can put together $5000 total. But the 5/10 game has a max buy in of $400. Which sucks, as in Atlantic city and Vegas, and everywhere else it's at least a $1000 cap. So I take a look at the 10/20 game, where the minimum buy-in is $600, and no maximum. And after sweating it for a little, I decide despite my huge anxiety, to put $1500 on one of the ten tables they have running.

So, I sit down and start to lose, and lose, and lose more. And before I know it, I'm down $1700, and I've managed to put every red cent I've brought with me on this table. I played horribly... over playing pocket tens and AK, bluffing too often, no patience, not really paying attention.

Eventually I settle down, achieve a calmness that lets me climb back to being up $100 after eight hours. I'm about ready to leave, but I decide that I'm going to bluff out a the next hand for a small profit and go home. That hand happens to be a 5/3 that I raise to $80, I get 2 callers.

The flop = 53T, 2 diamonds.
Wow! Nice, two pair. It's checked to me, I start counting out a bet, when a forty year old guy says something like "Don't make it too much... I don't know if I can call $200." He's a somewhat decent player, but he plays too many hands for too much money, but he's been getting lucky all day and is showing a decent profit. I count the pot to be around $250, and so I stupidly say "two hundred it too much? How about $180?" To which he says "oh, that's just perfect, I can go all in." And he pushes all in for $600 total or so. It folds around to me, and I insta-call. I had the right read, and dude of course has AX of diamonds... And of course he turns the diamond for the flush. Swell...

So, now I'm down about $800.

I'd been playing for about nine hours at this point, and my time limit is eight hours for reasons like the following hand. And as I'm sitting at this table, I'm very aware that I should have gotten up, and left with the small loss, and not turned it into a disaster. But, as I look at my stack it just chaps my ass that he turned that diamond and that I can't leave with profit.

A sixty year old woman (who the dude who just cracked me was calling "grandma"), who I'd busted twice earlier while getting back to even, was getting frisky for the past hour. She was constantly making a $200 pre flop raise. Which doesn't make much sense in this game, as she was usually winning the hands uncontested and taking the $30 worth of blinds. Anyway, she does the $200 a few hands after my suck-out, and I have 9T of hearts (ahh, this fucking hand...). I'd been waiting for a good hand and/or the balls to pop one of her $200's, and in my tilted head this 9T looked like an amazing hand and a great spot to do it. So I grab a bunch of $100 chips without counting and make it $500. She goes all in almost instantly!!!

Wow. Well, I'm fucking tired, and way on tilt, and looking down at my stack after throwing away that $500 makes me even more on tilt.

And then I start to do the math.. and I make a huge mistake..
As I have only a thousand left in front of me at this point, I keep thinking "It's $1000 to win $3000." Or 3-1. Which is wrong, it's $1000 to win $2000, or the pot of $1000, plus her $1000 that she'd match of my money... It'd be a $3k total pot but I'm only going to win $2k. Yes? Got it?

Then I make another mistake...
I figure, "well, against the AK that she pushed with before, I'm 3-2, so this is a great call." The possibility that she had a pair didn't even enter my mind.

Anyway, I put my money in, she has... AA

But...
flop = 99Q, turn = X, river = T, I have a full house, she has Aces up. I'm in such disbelief that it takes me a few seconds to turn over my hand. I can't speak, I sit back and let the dealer count my money out. The table kind of goes nuts.

The next hand I'm the big blind, I refuse to take it. As I'm stacking my chips, I say "I'm done. If I'm going to do things that fucking dumb, I have to go." And I get up and leave immediately with a $300 profit on the day.

Up $2390 (Mar 19)

Started the day out at the most insane “home” game that I've been playing in for about a year now. It's a single table in a small apartment, it runs every day starting at 1:00, and usually has the full ten people from the start until it breaks at 8:00. The game features a variety of insane people.. the “Yamakazis” who are a bunch of Ortodox Jews (get it? kamikaze and yarmulke) who have a variety of sinecures in the business their family has had for five generations. Also a bunch of crazy Asian (and a couple non Asian) financial dudes... day traders, hedge fund managers, etc. They either manage hundreds of millions of other people's money, or have semi-retired at thirty-five and only manage their personal tens of millions. The rest of the game is rounded out by a bunch of guys who own other successful businesses, a couple pros, and when the game is short the dude who runs it gets in.

Anyway, if I use the word “insane” another ten times to describe this game it would not be redundant... It's a 5/5 game, with a $750 max buy-in. On nearly every session I've been there I've seen at least one person win $4000, and at least two people lose $5000. I've seen wins of $10k, and losses of $15k. Remember, it's only a $750 buy-in, so in order to lose $5k, it means you need to lose nearly SEVEN (7) full buy-ins. It's madness. Today's game starts like this...

Crazy Asian 1: “I'll take $750.” Hands dealt, he turns to a Yamakazi. “You wanna do it on the first hand?”
Yamakazi 1: “Sure.”
Crazy Asian 1: “Ok, I'm all in.”
Yamakazi 1: “I call.” Everyone else folds. the Yamakazi said he JT, never showed though. The Asian had... K7 ....of spades... so they were suited, wow. Asian wins by turning two pair. As the chips are being pushed to Asian, Yamakazi yawns, adjusts his Rolex and then wipes his ass with a hundred dollar bill. “I'll take another $750.”

So, mostly in this game I dig a foxhole, and only come out of it come out with big hands and huge bets, bluffing is retarded. They will see flops with any suited cards, any ace, any two picture cards, most off suit connected cards. This strategy translates to something like... If I have pocket TT thru QQ, I'll either make a huge raise pre flop, preferably all in, or just call, and hope to hit a set. Why? Well, If I make it like $50, I'll get called in at least 3 spots, and there are very few flops that I'm going to feel comfortable with against 3 hands. If I make it $100 or so, then, hopefully I'll only be up against one player (hopefully a maniac on complete tilt), and then I can put him all in when there are no over cards, and hope that he hasn't hit some retarded 2 pair or whatever. High pairs, and high Aces are pretty easy to play though.. you make it $50, hope to get 3 callers, and hope to either hit the ace, or hope that the flop isn't too dangerous for AA or KK.

Anyway, I buy in for $500, and in the first two hours I play literally 2 hands and am up about $250. Ok, so, I have somewhere around $750 in front of me. Yamakazi 2 raises a reasonable amount, I call with 33, and am way surprised to see everyone else fold. I didn't even bother to figure the expected value of calling his raise, because I figured that my odds to flopping a set would have been easily covered by the other people in the hand. Anyway flop = 33K !!! I check, he bets $100. I try to look concerned... I take three slow and deep breaths, try to look at him in my periphery, and just call. Turn is, who the hell cares?? I have quads!! I check again, he also checks, balls. I sit and think on the river for a second, and then decide that if I go all in it's going to look like a stupid bluff and he's going to call.... or if he folds, I can not show the hand and tell everyone what a great bluff I made. So, I try to make the bet as stupid sounding as possible. And in a jovial voice somewhat reminiscent of my twelve year old sister, I announce that I'm all in. He's like “all in??? What? Do you have four threes?”

I change to a stern expression, give him a sideways glance, and say dryly, shrugging my shoulders, “man, this isn't poker school.” To which he keeps muttering to himself about four threes. Anyway, he calls, I show him. The whole table was going on about how they knew it for sure. Yeah, yeah, doesn't matter what you know, I know that I'm getting doubled up, and I also know that I'd probably get called by almost any donkey at this table with a king.

The next couple hours I wind up losing like $500 on pretty amazing play. Actually it's about the best I've played since before my $26,000 disaster in Atlantic City (more on that in later posts, I'm sure). The best hand during this time I have JJ on the button. I raise to $50. Both blinds call. I've played with Asian Dude in small blind for a couple of years. He's developed from a complete retard to a pretty patient and not horrible player. This particular day, he'd played great and gotten unlucky for like $2000, I felt bad for him (not that bad, he's in his late 20's and a millionaire). At this point he's only about half way into this, and so he's still got most of his wits about him, and isn't doing anything dumb. The big blind is Yamakazi 1.

flop = Ten high rainbow, no good straight draws there either.
Checked around to me, I bet $125. Asian Dude raises to $300, Yamakazi 1 raises to $600. I'm trying to decide if they're putting me on AK,and trying to get me off. Yamakazi would make his play with a ten, or maybe even just 66, putting everyone else on high cards. Anyway, I realize that Asian Dude hasn't put his money in with anything bad all day, so I show Backgammon my Jacks and fold. Asian Dude puts Yamakazi all in, he of course insta-calls, Asian Dude has... AA!!! Yamakazi studies the turn and river and mucks. I can't contain my fist pump I'm so psyched on this fold.

After a couple hours of losing more money on more good folds, I have AK and about $600 in front of me, I raise to $50.

Backgammon, this kid to my right, who I think is a pro now used to be a backgammon pro, raises to $150. He's also a maniac, wants to play every hand, pushes all of his draws. But, is pretty precise with the odds. While he can't read anyone for shit, his math and knowledge of pot odds is very good, and allows him to compensate his flaws a little. Anyway, I just go all in, figuring that he's got some bullshit hand, and at worst I'm racing. He calls, he has JJ, a better hand than I thought. I ask if he wants to run the whole board twice, he says “no, I don't think you're going to hit.” Board = AKX, X, X.

I win a couple more hands, on... I completely forget what, and wind up up $1400 by the time I leave for the gym at 5. As this game is all on credit, the owner can't pay me as he has no cash, so I have to come back later. Anyway, come back to collect, so that I can go to the 5/10 late game that I'm planning on. So, with some time to kill, I buy in for $500 and sit down for a few more hands.

AK.. Raise to $75 which is the normal raise on the table now, as everyone who's still there is completely insane because they have each lost at least $2000. Backgammon raises to $200, Crazy Asian 1 calls. As they're insane at this point I know that a middle pair for them is worth $200 now, and Asian will play almost any suited crap. So, with not much thought, I push all in for the rest of the $500. Backgammon calls, Asian calls.

Check, check on the flop. Backgammon bets the turn, Asian folds. I've hit nothing, Backgammon has... 9hTh.... which just happens to be the nuts for a 8-Q straight. Yeah, nice you fucking donkey. I think I said something shitty, I can't remember, we did have a conversation about how he was 3-2 on winning, and like I said, he's good at the math, but bad at reading people.. So, yeah, while his pre-flop raise was retarded, once he and Asian put that much in the pot, he was of course right in calling me.

Ok, so shake the dust off, get another $500. And a few hands later I get two red Kings. Make it $75 again, Crazy Asian 1 calls, as does owner of the card room (who's another crazy Asian). Flop = J high with three clubs. I go all in for about $400. Owner goes all in as well, and Crazy insta-calls. I'm like “business? Business? Anyone?” Neither of them say anything. Collections at the other end of the table starts making fun of me “please? Business?” I laugh, sit back, turn a King, and river blanks. Owner didn't show (let's guess top pair maybe with a high club to go with it) Crazy of course has the 2 of clubs and the 4 of clubs that he played for $75 pre flop. I think he was stuck for like $3500 at this point. After that punch in the balls of not just losing but hitting the set of K's on the turn I know I'm on complete tilt. So I get up immediately, tell the owner that he only owes me $400 now, and that I have to go.


The 5/10 late game
As a lot of the same dudes from the early game come to this, it's a big donkey fest as well. However, as it's a bigger game, with a $2500 max buy in, it's enough money on the table that these guys actually care about playing well, and therefore can be bluffed now and again, and their bluffs become somewhat more obvious from the pained look on their faces.

I start the game with two amazing calls.. One with AJ with a K high flop, and nothing for me, I called this commercial real estate developer down for like $250 on only A high. Another I called Yamakazie 1 down for like $150 with K3, and flopping a 3. I got such a good read in these small hands, and I am pleased at how I played them, keeping pots small, not letting it get to the point where they'd make a bet that'd make me uncomfortable going through with the reads.

Awhile later... I straddle for $25, because the dude to my left had been sleeping or straddling on every hand, so this takes away the sleeper from him, and forces his straddle up to $50, which he obliges me with. When it gets to me I find AA, I make it like $125. I get called by Collections, who is a nice late 40's guy who runs a collection agency, intimates that he's mob connected, but always goes out of his way to be gentlemanly and trying to show how he has such a high degree of integrity all the time. Whatever, while I like him, I think that everything he says is probably bullshit... dude runs a collection agency, people hire him to send big black dudes to knock on your door. I used to think that he was a decent player, but well, no....he's horrible, and he always has a shit ton of money on him. So I love him as much as I do everyone else there. Anywho, yes I have two aces and there's about $300 in the pot...

The flop = 882, 2 diamonds.
I bet $500, Collections thinks for a little, asks how much more I have. I count out that I have about a nine-hundred more, and he goes all in, I insta-call, show the AA, he tells me I'm good, refuses business... Turn and river are both diamonds, and I have the ace of diamonds. He mucks without showing, he has me covered, I have about $1500 in front of me at this point.

The rest of the night I try to do what Barry Greenstein said to do in his book about after you win big you should never cash out at your top, and just throw away a few hundred. Well, I try to do this and keep picking up pots, betting out with like JT and flopping 2 pair. I do manage to give enough action from the big stack that I'm hoping that it left a good taste in everyone's mouth, as I'm a little wary of pissing people off these days, as I don't want to be kicked out of another game (more on that later, I'm sure as well). I win a few hands of not much note, and walk away from this game with just under $2000 in profit.

In other news... poooooooooker