no biggies

I ended up +$28 on the night - not too shabby. No big hands either lost or won, and pretty much ABC poker. Some highlights...

Early in the night with a free play in the big blind with K8. My kings hits but my kicker blows and I'm out of position. I lead out and Tony calls. We check a blank turn, and another blank river comes. I weigh my options. A bet may elicit a fold from second pair type hands, but a check will probably elicit a bet. All I have to do then is figure out if I want to play my top pair/meh kicker. I check and Tony makes a larger-size bet - which I read as weakness, so I make the call . My read is true and I win a nice pot from second pair.

In the small blind with 7dTd. Tony raises an early limper, but only raises to $3.50 - I smell a bigger hand. Unfortunately for him, nobody else seems to smell it, as he gets two callers before it comes to me. I'm right on the edge of calling and folding - when I look over at the original limper - he already has the chips in his hand to call. knowing I won't be raised behind me, I make the borderline call.

I hit the flop hard - TT5. I check and Tony bets close to the pot $15. Smells like Aces to me, and he's going to find out real fast if anyone has a Ten. It folds back to me. I've got around $43 bucks at this point - calling this raise would be over a third of my stack - and pretty much telegraphs that I have a ten. I'm not folding 40 BB in case he has a higher kicker, either - if he's got AT (or TT for quads), good for him. I choose the straightforward play and put all my chips in the middle, hoping it looks weak, and hoping Tony can't fold his overpair. This would have worked better with a higher off-card on the board, like a jack, then I could have held a much wider range of cards, including semibluff draws, or Ace-Jack, and he might have thought about calling. Shoving all my chips in the middle on a TT5 board pretty much telegraphs my hand, though, and Tony shakes his head and folds. Later he tells me he had Jacks (an easy fold even as an overpair, IMO).

Late in the evening, Mr Pietzak is running over the table with big starting hands and hard-hit flops, and raising with impunity. I decide to call a raise with 6s7s in the cutoff position even though my stack is just under $40 and I can't win much if I hit hard. It's more of a playing sherriff move. I had also made the conscious decision before the game to play more pots in position, and not worrying so much about my cards (still throwing away total crap, but taking shots with playable hands).

I hit a nice, but dangerous, two pair flop - 678. No flush possibilities. The table checks around to me, but as I'm considering betting, the dealer, named KC - who is also still in the hand, raps the table and flips over the turn card. I look up and tell him that I'm still in the hand, but it's too late - the card is exposed - a 9 of clubs - putting a four straight on the board.

It is explained to KC that he has to put the 9 back into the deck and reshuffle. He looks irritated by this, but complies. I bet $7 into a $12 pot - trying to protect. Now KC leans back - he is obviously irritated, and sneers "I call. I'm not going anywhere".

Why is he mad? I stop to think for a minute. I have to conclude that the 9 turn would have helped him - most likely he has a ten or a 5 and the 9 would have given him a straight.

He flips over a new turn card - a queen this time. No straight for a ten or a 5, so I make the same $7, this time trying to keep him in the hand. (perhaps a mistake here - a 5 gives him a nice open-ended draw, and his apparent tilted nature would have most likely made him call bigger). He disdainfully splashes the pot with his call again.

We see a king on the river. There are no flushes. Before I can even reach for chips - KC tells me the King helped him. He might be lying, but I don't think so. He's mad at something. Still, I have been burned on a 2-pair hand earlier tonight where I was out-two paired, and I'm out of position, so I bet $5 as a "please-just-call-don't raise-I need-value-from-my-two-pair-but-can't-afford-to-be-blown-off-this-hand" blocker bet.

He calls right away and shows King Ten. He hit his pair on the river, and the nine would have indeed given him the straight.

KC is really hot now. He exclaims "that was bullshit" - talking about the 9 that had to be taken off the board. Someone tells him - "you did it to yourself", but it doesn't help much. Before the next hand starts, he announces "I'm done - get me $44". I fufill his request and pull his winnings out of the kitty, and he storms off without another word.

Not much else to report. Tony ended up down quite a bit of cash. Mr. Pietzak ran away with 5 buy-ins - Tony's brother Fred made some cash as well. My modest gain was ok but I feel like I need to win a bit more often, especially when I don't have the cards coming.