Crazy hand from both sides.

A great start to the night - an Ace high flush gets paid off, a position play or two. I raise up 6d7d from late position and get a caller - Mr. Pietzak. I C-Bet an all broadway board (with two diamonds) and he min- checkraises me. I call with my flush draw. We check the turn. Now I'm worried that we're drawing to the same flush, and mine is not very big.

No flush on the end, but I pair my seven. I don't think there's any value in a bet, so I check behind. Pietzak mucks when I tell him I hit the 7- not sure what he had.

Then a large hand vs. the same player - two black 8s in late position. I raise and he three bets, announcing "this is the best hand I've had all night". A tough spot - gotta watch out for the overpair, but this medium pair is too strong to fold. I call to see a flop.

And what a flop - 5s 6s 7s. I have an overpair and an open ended straight flush draw. Pietzak comes right out and fires - he wants to see where he is. I still smell overpair, but I've hit the perfect board to crack it. Let's run some numbers based on possible holdings:

AA without the As: I'm a 3-2 favorite, even though I'm behind now.

AA with the As: I'm a 2-1 dog: basically, I need to hit a set or my straight, but without a flush card coming. I also think I have some fold equity, especially if he has a different overpair like JJ with the Js.

AsKs: I'm in big trouble, nearly a 9-1 dog. But I don't think Pietzak has the nut flush right now, or he would have checked. I discount a made flush.

AsKh: 3-2 favorite again, and I'm ahead right now.

4s4h: If he somehow hit the other end of the straight flush, he's in big trouble as I'm a 4-1 favorite. I can pretty much rule out the 4s, though, in this 3-bet pot.

I can only find one hand that I'm a big dog - a made flush, and I feel like I can rule that hand out. I also feel like I have fold equity. I put Pietzak all in. He's not thrilled, but he doesn't think long, and makes the call. He reveals pocket 7s that hit their set. Holy cow! As the cards lie, I'm currently behind, but we're practically a statistical coin flip to win: Him 50.9%, me 49.1%. Let's look at his call from some of my possible holdings when I put him all in.

AsKs: he's a 2-1 dog to a made flush (he'll need to boat up or hit his quads, 10 outs total by the river)
Pocket sixes or fives: he's over a 9-1 favorite, set over set is the best he could hope for.
AsQd: a made set against a flush draw is nearly a 3-1 favorite.
AsAd: still have my flush draw, and aces as a couple more outs, puts me 35% to win.

His call is pretty good, too - it looks like. He's only a big dog if I have a flush, and he can't really put me on a made flush with all the other possible holdings I could have.

We decide to run the turn and river 3 times - this is the perfect hand to do it, as we're both pretty much even to win. I hit my flush on the very first card - the 2s, but the 2 pairs on the river and I lose to a boat.

On hand #2 - I hit my flush again.

On hand #3 - I hit the 10s. Three flushes! I take 2/3 of the final pot.

This hand puts me up $60, and it's still early. Sadly, that's the best I'll get to this evening. I can't really put my finger on a single theme of where my money went late. I lost a fair size pot with pocket jacks that I didn't play aggressively, but should have, had I known my opponent's holding (lower connectors), so I let him catch up to me.

Another hand - I raised up A7s and got a caller - KC, from the blind.

The board missed me. KC, who is known to often soft-play his big pocket pairs, checked to me. For this reason, I didn't c-bet the hand, which was a mistake. The turn is a ten, and now I decide to take a stab at the pot, but I get a quick call. The river pairs my ace. KC checks, and I lead out for $6. He immediately checkraises to $12. It's a small bet, giving me enticing odds to call, but I really don't think I can beat much here. KC is not one of those "non-believer" - if he had softplayed, say Kings, he would not checkraise when an ace comes on the river that I bet (he would probably check/call, actually). I'm thinking KC probably has AK/AQ, but the bet is small enough that I pay to see it. It turns out to be AT, two pair. He had nothing on the flop and a c-bet might have (should have) taken it down, so chalk another one up to a misplay.

Towards the end of the night, I'm like $8 in the black. My normal mode of operation would be to shut it down and wait for a big hand, and happily take a meager positive result for the night. While I'm thinking about it further, though, I decide that's not a what a poker player would do - shut down to achieve a net gain for the night. He would continue to play aggressively. So I made a couple of late shots that didn't work out. I called a bet from the blinds with KJ offsuit and lead into the preflop raiser on a whiffed, all undercard board. He raised my leadout, though, and I had to bail (this opponent definitely had a pair there). I also put Tony to the test with a solid turn and river bet on an ace-high board. I had nothing - a K8s that I had played from the button.

He had limped into the pot and I couldn't necessarily put him on an ace. He didn't look too happy to call, but he did, with AT.

I don't mind my play here. I have set myself up with a goal of playing more hands from the button. I'm not going to play 94o, but a suited king for a limp is worth a play. If you decide to play more mediocre cards, though, even in position, you're probably going to have to find a way to win some hands when you miss. K8s isn't going to hit a big hand that often.

So I lost a decent sized pot there - but I put a tough opponent to the test, and he ended up making a squeamish call a with top pair and a mediocre kicker.

My aggressive play late didn't work out, and I ended up down $15, but the effort was ok.