I decide to get a three day tune up playing in the little games around town before going to LA. So I go to this gross club that I don't like very much. The biggest game they have is a 2/5 game, with pretty intolerable people for the most part: the young poker superstars, the crotchety old men, the frat-boy-business assholes who try to push the table around with a huge bankroll. The worst part of course is that all of these people perpetually discuss their supreme thought processes after any hand they've won... “I so knew you had that...” “I had to draw to my hand because I had the pot odds.” Of course their constancy of putting people on hands is marginal at best, and of course they would never be able to explain mathematically what it means to have positive pot odds, the closest they can get to that is “it was a big pot...” And usually it's not even that, it's “I had so many outs.” So, the major flaw at this level of play is the fundamental one of simply having no clue about the mathematics of the game. The risk/reward factor is also very skewed, while they aren't as proactive gamblers as the Yamakazi game, they'll make far more stupid calls than stupid raises... calling anything up to $50 with any suited or connected cards.
Anyway, I played this one pretty good for the most part. The first buy in, I sit for a long long time, and hardly play a hand. Get up about $100, down $50, up $100. After about three hours I'm about even. This kid to my right, is making these huge swings of being up like $2k, to being down $500. He's making some of the most insane, dumbest calls I've seen, wants to gamble with anything. So, I have AQ one hand. Flop = K7X. Bet $100. Call. Turn = X, bet $200 call. River = X, all in for maybe $300 more.. insta call.. he has J7!! Wow, ok, nice read by me, but, how stupid was I to think that he would fold anything? Yes, pretty stupid, but I was somewhat frustrated from not playing anything for like three hours, and couldn't help but bluffing off the last few hundred. I just say “nice hand,” and get up and walk around. This is my problem playing in smaller games, that I often can't help myself with hands like this, and to bluff away five hundred I can do in the blink of an eye these days. If I'd taken more than two seconds to think about it, I'd of course have realized that there was no chance he'd fold any pair, and I'd have slowed down.... Next one, I blow when I have JJ, same guy and Aggressive Donkey call for $50. board comes QXX, I bet. He calls, Aggressive Donkey folds. Turn = Q. I go all in, he calls, and he of course he called my $50 pre flop with Q7 off suit. Nice. I don't think I played this one bad, as he could have had any pair, and I really did think my jacks were good when I made the bet.
I'm somewhat on tilt from this, and I wind up making a way bad fold a few hands later with A2 on an AAK, 9, J board. I fold to this pretty tight player's $300 bet on the river, there were two other people in the hand, and I figured he at least had a straight, if not at least an A with a kicker that played. He had A4. When I see his cards, I let out kind of a scream. I jump up from the table, and walk around.
Ok, so it's obvious I'm steaming at this point. But, I have learned to calm down and play through this kind of thing. I start meditating at the table, which I've been doing a lot these days, breathing deeply, going through the alphabet, staring at a speck of dust. Through this I'm able to calm down and focus on the game. And knowing that the rest of the table thinks you're on tilt can of course be a huge advantage when you have a big hand... Which I get pretty soon after in the form of two red Kings. I bet $50, the Aggressive Donkey from the JJ hand, and a young tight poker super star dick-head calls. Flop = KQT, all clubs. Yay, set of kings, all clubs doesn't look so good, but what are the odds that one of these guys has a club flush? 70-1 to flop a flush with 2 suited cards, and what are the odds that their 2 suited cards that happen to be clubs??? I check, donk bets $125, dick-head thinks for awhile, calls. I go all in. Donk goes all in over the top. Dick-head folds. Donk of course has 94 of clubs, which he thought was just awesome for $50 pre flop, in a 2/5 game... Wow, ok. He refuses business, the board doesn't pair, I'm down $2000, in a 2/5 game. Wow.
Well, ok, it's getting late, but I'm actually rather pleased with my play at this point, as I know I just got a bit unlucky. Just a few hands that didn't go my way, that is the nature of variance.
So, I leave get $700 out of the ATM, and go to the game with the porn on. They're kind of empty and thinking about closing at this point. But they have a few players left for the 2/5 game, and when I show up, a few of them decide to stay and play some more. I put $500 on the table. I lose a couple small hands when I first sit down. Then I get AJ of hearts. Bet $35. Two callers. Flop = 226, two hearts. Bet $125, one caller. Turn = J. Rad, I've got like $250 or so at this point, so with $160 in the pot, I go all in, figuring that I either have the best hand or at least the flush outs. Dude insta calls with, 6's full. Niiice... Wow, sometimes the cards just make you look like an idiot.
So, I'm down $2500 at this point. I've got $200 left, and I put it on the table. Which I whittle down to $125. Ok, meditate more, try to relax. So, I get QT, go all in on a J9X board, and turn the K for a double up. Sexy, keep meditating. Get AA, same dude I just doubled through puts me all in on a board of unconnected shit. I call, he doesn't show. Even more sexy, keep meditating. Then I just keep beating up on this same dude. He's loose and way aggressive, and it feels really good to be able to bluff him out of a few small pots. Towards the end of the night I get 34, which turns out to be the the nuts of a 2-6 straight. He calls another all in from me with two pairs. Nice, now I'm only down $1500 on the night. It's way late, and the game breaks pretty soon after this hand.
Well, not the results I wanted, especially while trying to build a bankroll for LA, but I'm was pleased with my play overall, and very pleased that I was able to win the thousand back at the end of the night.
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