Thursday at Nautica

Seemed a little slow there last night. Not many CPMG'ers either. Hip left early with what looked like a decent stack. My bottom line: up $462 after 6.5 hours.

I tried something last night that I haven't been doing in a while...bluffing! It worked beautifully after I had shown a couple of good hands. After a couple hours I found myself up about $220, but my little man wasn't screaming for me to leave, so I stuck around. A few hands later, disaster struck. I flopped top-2 with AJ or AQ, after making it $12 to go preflop. There were 5-6 in the hand, and I bet big on the flop to narrow the field. I get one caller. Flop was AJ (or AQ)-6. Turn is a 7. I ship it and get called. My opponent had proven earlier to be a complete donk, so I was pretty confident. River is a 4 and he shows 8-5 for the straight. Ouch!!! Stacked me for my first buy-in plus a couple hundo in profit. Nice call on the flop donko.

The calling stations were in full effect last night. I made it $15 with QQ at one point and got 7 callers! I think I took that hand down with a big bet on the flop if I remember right.

So anyway, I start to rebuild. I managed to stay completely off tilt last night. Somehow I knew that this table was going to provide for me. I get my 2nd buy-in back to about $300, and check my BB with a 2-5 of hearts. Flop is 2-2-5!! (I had actually hit trips 5's with the very same hand earlier) I am first to act and check of course. Guy next to me had just sat down, and this was his first hand. He was piss drunk. He was loud as hell and talking about how he just got back from Vegas...blah blah blah. He was still pulling chips from his rack, and shoves $198 into a $12-14 pot. Folds around to me. I dont think I can lay this one down, lol. CALL!! He says nice hand and flips A-4 off for nothing but a gutshot. Turn is an ACE, river is an ACE. Unfuckingreal!!! NH fuckstick. I add-on a hundo, so now I am in for $500.

Even after the monster beat, I didn't blow up. I played patiently and kept focus. In fact, this was one of my best sessions in a while where I really played well and considered every move I made. I did see as many cheap flops as possible (as always down there), and did a good job of picking my spots. I got a guy to fold 99 to my 77 on a 6-high board, I made stabs at pots that no one seemed to want, etc. I even folded AQ on a board of AQKK7. Another guy called with AQ, and the winning donkey showed K7. It may seem like an easy lay down, but really wasn't the way it all played out, which I don't exactly remember.

I was back to around a $400 stack and called a small raise ($10-12) with a Q-10 during the last hour, and flopped the joint. Rainbow board of K-J-9. This was already a big pot because there were 6-7 callers preflop. 2nd to act bets $30, 2 other people call, and I flat call. Turn is a blank, like a 4. Bettor makes it only $35 this time, and everyone folds but me. I make it $85 to go. He calls. River is another brick and there's no flush out there. He checks to me and I get him to throw in his last $92-or-so. Ship it. He showed 2-pair. That's where I think my game really excels...getting max value for my good hands. Inducing the bet/call/raise is a fine art. :)

So now I am back on top, I think I was up almost a hundo again, and was thinking about leaving, (just happy to be even) when a guy sits down that I know is hyper-aggressive. He raises every other hand, and continues to bet no matter what. He did this a few times, and then made it $45 to go after someone else made it $15. There were already about 4 callers in for the $15, and most of them had called the $30 raise, so I came along with my J9 suited. Flop is JJx. It checks to me (aggressive guy hasn't acted yet) and I make it $25, throwing some bait out there. Aggressive guy makes it $75, everyone else folds. I call. Turn's a brick (7), and I shove. He has a bit less than $200 and calls, saying my jack is good. River is another 7, and I boat up. He shows AA...oops! How do you put a guy like that on AA? Especially when he does stuff like that with pocket 4's. So I caught a lucky flop and cracked AA, and cashed $962 at 11:30.

A bit of a roller coaster ride, but I think I minimized some of the mistakes I often make and worked on focusing on each hand, and adjusting to the style of each opponent. With the money I won last night, I was able to pay for a class my wife is taking to become an STNA. TY Nautica donks!! I have also nearly recovered the money I lost during that bad run a couple of weeks ago.