The hurt continues

Down a ton (not quite 2 full buy-ins) in $2-5 at nautica last night. Nothing is holding up. KK twice, JJ, and AK resulted in big losses. Lost with top-2. Flopped the stone cold nuts with 9-10, lost to a rivered full house.

The worst part is I was playing GREAT last night. Made laydowns when I knew I was beat, or I'd have either lost a lot more, or left much earlier. The $2-5 play down there is no better than the 1-2, they just donk it up with a lot more chips. I am looking forward to getting back there as soon as my roll allows. Will not be any time soon, I have to buy a new laptop. Ugh. I am hoping to get some $$ for the dead one on eBay. Fingers crossed.

Ouch

I'm down almost 6 full buy-ins over my last 3 $1-2 sessions. 2 at Nautica and the other at Colin's. Colin's was the worst. I got 3 sets busted and lost with KK twice. Beat after horrible beat.

Oh well, Nautica always pumps my roll back up eventually. Just need to hit some open-enders and flush draws, which I've had very few of lately.

Just a bad day overall. First, my iPhone crashed during an update and I had to wipe and restore it. Then I get creamed at poker. I get home to find my laptop almost completely fried. I think it may have been juiced by lightning. It only boots intermittently and even when it does it flakes out occasionally. Time to put it on eBay and get a replacement.

Win at TK's

Finished up $230 at TK's over the weekend, though I was up almost $600 at one point. Had a few hands cracked...another set of 2's, straight vs. bigger straight, and nut flush by a rivered full house. I did make a few great laydowns though.

At our 7-handed table, we had quads 5 times (twice for me) and a straight flush (Pyxis)

I should have left at midnight like my little man was telling me to do, but stuck around. A $500+ win is huge for a 1-1 game. Oh well, still a win. That puts me at 10 for 13 in wins lately.

Got in a couple of bike rides this weekend too. HOT outside! Took the dog swimming on Sunday as well. Tonight: Going to see Inception at Crocker Park with the gang.

Loss at home

Had a great table last night, but through poor play I managed to dump $370. Grayday brought a friend that was spewing chips left and right, but I paid him off at least twice. He was a complete racist that dropped N-bombs all night, got pretty drunk, and even lit up a smoke in my apartment near the end of the night. He didn't quite realize he had lit it I guess, but I asked him to put it out.

I made a couple other terrible calls against Chan and Mike K, and also got a few good hands busted. The first big one was my top-2 (AJ) cracked by Meats' flush, and later a set of 2's by Grayday's runner-runner flush with 10-2 sooted. Ugh.

The pasta with meat sauce turned out great, and Hip brought some donuts. We had 1 strong table until almost 2 am. Overall it was a good time. I need to get some more red chips for the set I bought off Danny C. We ran out pretty early.

After everyone left, I took my dog out for a break, and walking back toward the house I could hear a bunch of yelling/screaming. Sounded like a brawl. Suddenly, gunfire erupted from an area across the river over by a few bars over that way. Here's the story.

Something violent happens just about every weekend at one of the bars over that way.

Trivia night win

Me, MEATS, Caveman, Gross/Theresa, Slacks/Gail, and Laidman all went out for dinner/drinks/trivia at Parma Tavern and took 1st place. It was a total team effort.

Caveman and Gross celebrated with a warm embrace.

Limit poker

I forgot to mention that I played $2-2 limit on my last 2 Nautica trips, while waiting for a NL seat. I lost about $40 the first night and won $34 the 2nd. Those were factored into my wins too.

Either way, it's pretty excruciating when you can't get all your chips in with the nuts. You bet your $2, and get 6 callers though.

2 Nautica wins

Up $22 on Thursday and $243 on Saturday, with a total of about 5 hours play. I have now won 9 out of my last 11 cash sessions, going back to my blog hiatus.

Went out to see Patton Oswalt at HOB Friday night, which was a great show. The opening guy was also funny as hell. I have to find his name.

Thursday, I was $520 deep and not playing well. Made a few awful calls, and also got top-2 cracked twice by gutshot chasers. I did make a great read, calling out a guy's pocket 10's when I C-bet the flop with AK and missed. He was cool enough to show his hand. I did make another decent call, but don't recall details. Colin was at my table, and he was running bad too. I saw him miss about half a dozen flush draws and open ender's.

There was a guy overplaying every hand. I saw him re-pop with like mid pair/8 kicker! So I get AQ and make it $17 to go UTG. He calls, along with a couple others. Flop is Q34/rainbow, and I lead out with $25-30. Overplaying guy raises something like $50 on top, and I call. Everyone else leaves. I check-call $50 on the bricked turn, and check the river. He shoves with about $180, and I have him covered. I insta-call, and he gives me the blank stare. I say "I called you". He mumbles "I have a queen", and turns over 1 card. I wait for him to flip his other card, which is a 7. He's got a pr of Q's with a 7 kicker! I exclaim "That's no good...ship it!" and table top-top. Buh bye. He decided not to rebuy. Smart move. That got me back into the black, so I got outta there.

Saturday, I got $600 on the table and managed to cash $843, most of it during the last half hour I played. I chased a gutshot with over cards on 1 of them, and hit an open-ender on another. Got a guy to shove with just a pair. Cashed as soon as I got back into some profit. My play was better than Thursday's session, but still not top notch. I managed to fold a J-high flush to a nut flush, which wasn't easy.

So, I am thinking about a weeknight cash game this week at my place. Details will be on the board.

RIP Dad

My dad passed away last Friday, as many of you already know. He had been in the hospital for about a week, and we'd just moved him to a nursing facility for physical therapy. He was hoping to regain enough strength to come home, but he passed away later that night, his heart finally gave out. He had battled cancer for almost 3 years and was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. He had a quadruple bypass back in November. 50-ish years of smoking (and many years of drinking) are not good for you. My dad was only 67, but looked much older when he passed away.

Although he never played a huge role in my life, he was always fun to be around. He was a big influence when I was very young, and then also in my late 20's, when I got to work with him quite a bit doing side jobs for his drywall business. We got to do some great fishing as well. My brother and I got to see a lot of him over the last few years while helping out around he and my grandfather's.

We'll miss you dad.

Wed night at Dave's

Up $112 after a nice roller coaster ride. Found myself $230 deep after some poor play and a couple hands where I was out-kicked. Got back on top in the last orbit when I turned a set of 3's, which gave THE MEATS 2 pr with A3. I doubled up there, and won another pot before last hand. I even played props and didn't miss a card.

RISK! and dealer's choice at the Den of Sin this weekend. Should be fun.

Oh yeah, and check out Tony Bourdain's "Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook". Great book if you've ever had anything to do with the food biz. I LOVED Kitchen Confidential. Fantastic read. I've even loaned it to a retiring teacher that asked me for advice when considering opening a restaurant. He smartly decided against it.

Home field advantage

Hosted my first game at the apartment Saturday, and did GREAT. Cashed $1346 on a $120 buy-in. I seemed to hit everything, and made almost no mistakes as well. My stack just got bigger as the night went on.

Colin, Uncle Bob, MEATS, Fish, Steve, DP, Mike T, Chan...I think that was all. We had 1 solid table of 8 most of the night. I prefer 7-8 handed over a table of 10. We played until after 4. The jambalaya was pretty tasty too. Next up: spaghetti and meatballs or Coleman-style hot dogs slow cooked in a crock pot with 'kraut. I might host another cash game this Thurs night.

On a personal note...My dad's been in the hospital since Thurs or Fri of last week. Thanks for all the prayers from all of you. He spent the weekend in ICU and they found a blood clot that had been causing him a lot of pain, so it's better, but they also diagnosed him with congestive heart failure. Not a big surprise for a 50-year smoker. He was puffing away outside the emergency room before he went in last week. I just got a call from a hospice about getting him in there, but haven't talked to any of the doctors about his prognosis. He's really weak and has trouble breathing. Problem is, my 96-year-old grandfather lives alone and he needs help as well. My dad, up until a couple weeks ago, pretty much took care of him. My brother and I each stop in a couple times a week to help out, but it's tough to be there as often as needed. Either way, Gramps is still in better shape than my dad.

Craigslist find of the week...I got a 10-piece set of Calphalon hard anodized cookware for $75! Goes for $250+ new, and it's all in decent shape. Last week I got an HP DV7 laptop for $350, and sold it on eBay for $430. Not as big a profit as I was hoping, but still easy money. That's it in the pic.

I also picked up a new bike a few weeks ago, and sold the GT mountain bike. It's smooth as silk. Didn't get out much last week with dad in the hospital and all the storms. We had some killer lightning last night and a completely orange sky. Very cool.

Nuatica blues

Spanked for 2 1/2 buy-ins the other night. Got AA cracked by KK for $350-ish. Got it all-in on the Q high flop...K on the turn. Gambled the rest off during bingo hour. What can you do.

Pics

Enjoy a few pics from the past month and a half...

Back in business!

OK, posting will resume again! Been on a roller coaster ride both at the poker table and life in general. It's nice to be back.

I'll throw out some poker news here asap. Just wanted to let everyone know that the blog is returning. I never had any intention of stopping. Actually, I probably could have kept posting, I just didn't want to post dollar amounts for various reasons.

More to come!

I shoulda checked out Kennedy's new place instead

Down $150 at Nautica last night. Complete roller coaster. Bad cards, below average play. I was 3 buy-ins deep and down to my last $65 at one point, so I was happy with the comeback, most of it during bingo hour before closing.

The big cooler of the night was my 2nd nut flush crushed by the nut flush. I checked-raised the draw, hit the turn, and bet the rest of the way until the nuts check-raised me. Big pot. Well-played.

I did shape up near the end of the night and started to play a little better. I sometimes forget that no one folds anything down there. Lesson learned. I hope.

Great weekend!

Summary:
Friday at Colin's...up $874
Saturday at Dave's...up $303

Hit some hands and played pretty solid both nights. Spanked Eddie J on a couple decent hands, and stacked him once after smooth-calling his pre-flop raise with KK, then check-raising all-in on the J-high flop. He started to tank, and after about 30 seconds, I told him that since he hadn't called me by now, I surely had him beat. He didn't believe me. He had QQ. Got him later with AK vs (I think) KQ.

Got Prowest on a few pots as well. I used to think he was a solid player. I was wrong. WAY wrong.

I don't recall bluffing at all on Friday. Maybe once or twice at a small pot that nobody seemed to want. Didn't need to.

Took MEATS for a bunch after flopping broadway (which was the nuts). He check-raised me $75 on top of my $25, and I shoved. He had almost $200. There were a couple clubs on the board, and I put him on either the flush draw, a set, or 2-pr, so I told him he was beat. He asked me to show, so I did. He had top-top, and would have hit top-2 on the turn. If I'd known he was that weak, I'd have let him keep betting, but was happy with the size of the pot with so many big draws out there. I cashed $1074 on a single buy-in.

Colin's place is great...in a safe location, and he has plenty of room and a nice house. It was a big game, with a lot of money on the table. Glad to see he'll be hosting regularly. Gibran, Uncle Bob, Kris Rao, and Eddie J were all there...hadn't seen many of them in a long time. I met Kris and JC for some grub at Fathead's in N. Olmsted. Salad and chicken fingers for me. I clocked in at 176 lbs over the weekend, my lowest yet, and I'm now down 27 lbs.

The usual in Dave's tourney. Enough said. Had $14k at the break, then couldn't hit after that. All luck.

Was up well over $400 for quite a while in the cash game, but gave some back. Took Rob M for $300 when I turned the nuts against his flopped 2-pr. I had the double-gutter with 8-9 and he had 10-6 on a Q-10-6 flop. Turn...7! Rob is one of the luckiest players I have ever seen. He was playing crap like J5 to decent raises, out of position, and flopping trips, or hitting his kicker against top-top...stuff like that. But the luck always runs out. I was just waiting to hit a hand on him. Most of the time I don't.

Oh...and I actually bluffed Dave off a decent pot! I had nothing, but he had better nothing. Don't remember exactly...I think it was my A7 vs his AK. For once, Dave didn't hit his hand on me.

Cashed out after MEATS shoved with the nut flush draw/pr against my wheel and caught. (I think that was the hand) My little man was telling me to hit it much earlier, but I refused to listen and hung around a couple more hours. Oh well, still booked a nice win.

So, over the last month and a half or so, I have generally been playing fairly well AND my hands are holding up more often that not, so I guess you can say that I'm running good.

I picked up a decent table that I found on Craigslist over the weekend. Big wide full-size table with removable padded rail. 1 small hole in the speed cloth. I might add some padding and new speed cloth later on if I feel the need, but this table will do nicely when I start hosting. Now I have to check out Danny C's chips. He's offering a pretty sweet deal on them.