"Table change, please"

6 seats filled for the Thursday night cash game - which was mostly like trying to get the milk out of coconut. Tough table. Everyone sensed it, too, and the game skill level went up about 2 notches. There was no betting your top pair and getting 3 streets of value from second pair here.

My cards were good early, and I may have even started the fun with some limper raises and three betting (with pocket kings, so hey). Then Mr. Pietzak and I got all in - him with bottom set, me with the old 15 out straight + flush draw. We ran it three times - I hit one of my outs on all three - he hit his boat redraw twice. A fine result, everyone played great on a 60/40 flip and got some money back.

Later my cards went kablooey and I tightened way up, my opportunities vanished. I maintained some semblance of order with a couple steals and one light three bet out of the blinds, but not much was happening.

2 hands worthy of note in the later hours. A raised up a limper with AQ. Wiley 3 bet my raise out of the blinds, and I had a big decision to make. Basically, it came down to whether I thought Wiley was three betting light. There was evidence to support this possibility - I had raised up limpers two or three times already on this evening, so he might be thinking it likely that I'm making a move. This was also a tougher game than our usual Thursday game, and three betting was overall more frequent (though not necessarily by Wiley)

We were not deep here, so calling was not an option with AQ. Basically, I had to decide right now if he was light, and either shove it in, or fold. After quite a bit of thought, I decided that I simply didn't have enough evidence that this was a light three bet, and my AQ wasn't quite good enough to felt. I folded.

I didn't have a problem with my play here - it was the second time around that my play irritated me. This time, I raised from the button with KcQc and Wiley three bet me again. Slightly worse hand, but sooooted. And of course, now I have more evidence of the possibility of light three betting. Another big difference this time around - the stack sizes were a bit bigger, and I could simply call this three bet and play a flop.

However, as some recent off table study has taught me - if you feel that someone is light three betting - you do not not not call a three bet for the purposes of trying to hit a hand. If you do this, you will leak money from your bankroll like a busted pipe, and you will get run over. If you call a three bet from someone whom you suspect is light three betting, you do it with the intention of taking the pot away on the flop. And my problem on this play was that while I did make an attempt at the pot, I didn't make the best play. My cards and situation made for an easy shove all in - as a semi-bluff, mind you, but with good fold equity once you've made the decision that you're up against a light 3 better.

It's funny because after the game I found out what I was up against with my KQ, and the chances are good that my postflop shove would NOT have worked, and therefore would have had to suck out to win that pot. And you know what? I'm still not fine with the way I played it. I think I would have rather made the right play (based on my read) and lost than made a non-optimal play that saved me a few bucks.

we counted out the stacks at the end of the game and I was plus one dollar. That is one hard-earned dollar.