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.