The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

Split my session up into three parts today 1/5/06. Started at 5pm at the MGM, not much to tell here I played three hands in a hour, my big hand was JJ in a raised pot with the flop 10-8-10, 8-6 went broke in the hand. Man I love tourists.

Now it was on to the Aladdin. I had spoke with Mike earlier and he told me this calling station was going to be there as AJ had called him and told him to come down. When I got there the calling station was not there and the game was average. Mike & AJ were at the same table with me, and usually when the three of us are at the table were attempting to play for the same fish's chips, no pun intended.

A second game broke and some players were moved into our game. One we knew and a obviously very drunk Eagle fan, his name was Mike, but we will call him "Michael The Great" for the rest of this blog. It was easy to see he was going to play every pot to a showdown with what he thought was anything. This mainly consisted of A high.

While I was on the button with $230 in front of me this hand came up Michael the Great raised to $20, folded to me & I had Kh Ks, I re raised to $60 and it folded back to our fish. He thought for a few minutes then announce All In and I called. He said "I have an Ace" and I turned over my Kings. The river was an A and he showed the As 9s. So my chips were pushed to this Donkey and I was left in awe. I had gotten the situation I wanted, but Oh well.

About 15Min's later I picked up Ah Kh in middle position, I limped and to my amazement Michael the Great announced all in, in a unraised pot out of the Big Blind. I decided to call my $180 I had in front of me right now. We flip over our hands, he shows the Ac 10c, I was in a good spot again after the board double paired we chopped this pot, WTF twice now the guy has escaped.

I took off exactly 3 hands when an aggressive player raised to $15, the field folded and I looked down in the Small Blind and had two black aces. I just smoothed called knowing I would at least get him to bet the flop, what a flop it was I flopped top set. I checked and he bet $15. I thought for a few minutes then I called, the turn was a blank I checked again, he bet $25 and I raised to $50, he went all in for $100 more and I called. He had Ah Ks and I showed him the bad news.

Now just like the day before with the guy that I kept running over, I think this kid that had AK was in the same situation. About 45 Min's after the set of Aces, I was in the small blind. He had won two big pots and had almost $400 in front of him, I had a little more like $430 or so. He raised to $15, and it folded around to me. I had two black Kings so I decided to just call with only one player behind me to act. We went heads up to the flop, the flop of 9c 8s 4d came down. I checked and he bet $35, now I checked with the intention to just call, and then bet the turn, but I stopped and thought for a minute. When he had AK top pair, he had lead out for $15, in that hand there were two spades on the flop. This bet of $35 made me think he had a hand he was trying to protect from an Ace, likes QQ or JJ possibly KK also. This prompted me to check raise as he would not put me on an over pair larger then his. I raised to $75, he thought for a minute then raised me again $100 more, I had him right where I wanted him, I knew he had QQ I was positive. He now had about $250 behind. I did not know if I could get another bet out of him if I just called, so after putting on the show I went all in. AJ and Mike were in amazement, here were two of the big stacks pushing at each other. He thought for a long time, finally he said call, and as soon as he did I said out loud "You have Queens'" he looked at me and flipped over QQ, I showed him my Kings, my hand stood up and I took the pot. It felt good to know exactly where he was in the hand, and I am now playing better where I am figuring ways to get players to put their chips in the middle when they are behind. I finished the second leg of 3 1/2 hours of play and cashed out $845, up $445 for the session.

Finally after I went and Dj'd at V Bar I was still not tired and ready to play again, I returned to the Aladdin, where most of the table lineup had not changed. I will not get too in depth on this part of the session (for more details read http://www.highwaytime.blogspot.com/, "Set Over Set with the Educated Donkey").

All I have to say is that it was uncalled for for Mike to push, I have folded huge hands for him, not played hands in situations with him, and have checked down more then my fair share of good sized pots with him. I think he was just feeling like maybe I was trying to steal the pot, maybe he thought it was his pot, and honestly, I know he was frustrated from his long session. Oh well, it happens, but I will make sure I do not have set over set three days in a row, because I will not be playing on Saturday, I am taking the day off from Poker.

Overall for the day I was up $605, decent day of Poker. I will be playing a lot next week, I am going to try to play 30 hours next week and see how things go. The week will start Sunday for me.