Oh dear. That's about all I have to say about my last trip to the casino.

I literally played for about 6 and a half hours. I saw exactly four playable hands (other than the occasional pocket pair and TJs), AQs, AKs, TT, and QQ.

Each time I would raise to the normal $10, on the AQ and AK hand, nothing would flop and since there would be four people in the pot each time, I would fold to the bet in front of me. In the TT hand, I made it $10 to go, two people called, then the BB who just sat made it $45 to go and I decided to fold. Then the QQ hand I made it $12 to go (there was a limper) and I got called by 3 people. K73 on the flop, two checks, I check, guy to my left checks. Turn is a blank. Checks around to me, I check, guy to my left bets like $10 into $40, I call. River is a blank, we check it down and he shows KJ. Sweet.

The big hand of the night came when I was in the big blind. There were about three limpers, SB calls, and I check 88. Flop comes QT8. SB bets out $10 into $10. I reraise to $25, everyone folds to the BB, who makes it $50 total. Now, I paused and thought this through. It's incredibly difficult for me to put him on QQ or TT. He MIGHT just call preflop with the TT, since there were so many limpers and he was afraid to play TT out of position against four people to the flop (and trust me, if he raised people don't fold preflop). Anyway, from the way this guy was playing at the table (pretty loose and aggressive) I decided that he did not have QQ or TT. I honestly put him on QT. I reraised all in for another $100 to him. I started the hand with about $280 in chips, so I was actually putting him all in. Anyway, he insta called and showed J9 for the flopped straight. OH YAY. I did not boat up and he took down the monster pot.

In retrospect, I really don't think I could lay that down on the flop. I thought about maybe just calling the flop, and seeing what he does on the turn. The problem with that play, is that if I truly put him on QT, which I think he has about 50% of the time in that spot (rather than TT, QQ, or J9) I should push all in and put the decision back on him. Unfortunately for me he had the nuts :(

Anyway, I ended up losing about $150 on that hand. Other than that I was not involved in any major pots. The way this game was being played (very loose preflop, tight post flop but still fairly loose where you could get paid off if you cbet (a cbet is a continuation bet after the flop) the flop) you need to have a hand to play. People will call you down with mid and bottom pair, call off their $200 stack with a draw, etc. All I needed was a FEW big pairs and for one or two of my AQ or AK hands to hit. Oh well, maybe next time.

I ended the night down $240 for about 6 and a half hours of play. Not looking too good at live play in the last few sessions. Hopefully my string of bad cards will end in Oklahoma so I can get some good cards in Vegas, where it truly matters.

So, my third trip to the casino. First trip, I played $4/$8 limit, and was down $100. Second trip I played $1/$2 No Limit, and was up $350. Third trip I played $1/$2 No Limit, and was down $440. So in total I am down $190 from my live play at the casino. That bites.

My third trip that I took yesterday was horrible. I played for about 5 hours. The highlight was having my AdAc cracked by AsQh all in preflop. I was all in for about $120, so it was about a $240 pot. Let's run some numbers on this one, before the flop, I am a 91.5% favorite. Ok, that's pretty good. The flop was Kd 9d 4d. Now after the flop, I am a 99% favorite to win. The turn was the Ten of clubs. Ok, now I am a 93% favorite to win. The river brings the lovely Jack of spaces where I am a 0% chance to win. The guy gets perfect perfect (ie: he had to get those exact cards, a Ten and a Jack, or a Jack and then a Ten, to beat my hand). Great. Down $120.

Three limpers and I limp on the button with 33. SB calls and BB checks. Five to the flop. Flop comes KQ3. Check, bet $5 (pot is about $10 before the $5 bet), call, I reraise to $20. Initial better calls, and so does the guy on my right. Pot has $70 in it now. Next card is a 6. Check check, I bet $35 into $70. First guy calls, second guy folds. Next card is an Ace. He checks. Now, that is a horrible card. I put him on an openeded with TJ, which means he just made his straight. Also, if he was slowplaying AA (horribly) then he also has me beat. Who knows, maybe he has QQ or KK and just was playing it very passively. In any case, I did not bet the river because I honestly thought he had TJ and had me beat with the straight. I check, and he screams "Oh man I wanted you to bet! I have AA". Oh, sweet, nice hand sir, you piece of trash. Down $57.

Four limpers, and I limp with AJo from the SB. BB checks. Flop is 99J. ($10 in pot) I check, check, same guy from above bets out $5, same guy on my right calls, and I reraise to $20. This reraise was mainly to see if I was beat by a 9. Better folds, and guy on my right says, "I'll see one more card." and calls. Next card is an 8. AWFUL. When he called and said that I immediately put him on an openended. Naturally, QT was his most logical holding there, and the 8 just made his straight. I was honestly going to check and fold to a bet. I checked, and he checked behind. Ok, please put a jack or 9 out there dealer. Next card comes a Queen. OH YIPEE. I check, and he checks. (WTF?) I tell him I have a jack and he says he has a Ten. He shows T8 for openended on the flop (like I said, but not the same openended), he hit pair on the turn and then I let him see the river. My guess is that he would have called a bet on the turn, especially after hitting that PAIR on the turn. In any case, down $22.

Now, here is the fun one.

Guy raises from UTG+1 to $10 (this was normal, sometimes $12). Crazy cowboy calls $10, I look down and see KK on the button. I reraise to $40. They both call. OOOOK. Flop comes 247 rainbow. UTG+1 checks, cowboy checks, and I bet $60 into a $120 pot. UTG+1 folds, and cowboy goes all in for $100 total (raise of $40). Naturally I call, seeing as how there was $240 in the pot and it was only $40 to me. He flips up 45 and I show my KK. Naturally based on the previous days experiences, the turn came a 4 and I was drawing to two cards. The king did not come on the river and cowboy took down a $280 pot. Down $140.

Ok, so maybe my first hand I talked about was worse, but those five hours at the table were my worst ever in a live session. It's a good thing I've taken swings like that online, if not, I don't think I could have handled it as well as I did. After I lost the AdAc I just walked out of the poker room, and took a stroll around the casino. Did not blow up. Did not say anything. I think I handled it really well. My brother and one of my friends was at the table with me, they were in utter shock just as I was. LOL.

The rest of the night was spent folding my double down hands (ie: 83, 74, 65, etc). I called a few raises with PP and never hit a set (and as you see above, when I hit a set I got outdrawn). All in all, still a worthwhile trip, I learned that there are some incredibly bad poker players out there, and I guess if they never won they wouldn't keep coming back, ya know?

Even after the horrible night of poker I still had a good time. I am definitely going back there this Winter Break though. $40 preflop with 45o???? Count me in, sir.

Since my last post on December 9th, I've played five sessions of the $200 buyin. +$300, -$70, -$280, +$245, +$280 for a net of +$475. Not too shabby for the last week.

I'm really trying to get a lot of hours in before Vegas in early January. I want my brain in tip top shape for Vegas. Why you might say? Well, I do plan on playing $1/$2 while in Vegas, but some casinos the lowest NL game they offer is $2/$5. Therefore, I need to build a bank roll so I can play the occasional $2/$5 session.

Hopefully by the time January 4th rolls around I will have the cash to play a $500 buyin game.

Finals finished up last week, so I can dedicate most of my time to poker. I plan on going to some Oklahoma casinos in December. My last experience there was a pleasant one (profit $350 in about three hours.)

I just realized I do not think I mentioned this but I booked my first trip to Vegas about three weeks ago. The dates are January 4th - 8th, 2007. Should be an interesting time. I think I'll try and play one large multi table tourney along with many cash games.

Schedule is as follows:

Thursday - mid afternoon, check in to hotel and check out poker scene at hotels around the one we are staying at.
Friday - play poker. Friday night go to club/show
Saturday - play poker, Saturday night go to club/show
Sunday - play poker, lots of poker
Monday - leave for Dallas mid afternoon

Sounds like a quick trip, and it is. Hopefully my first trip to Vegas will be both entertaining and profitable. We shall see.

I played some more HU matches last night (or rather this morning at about 1am.) I played two $20 and one $50. This seems to be a pattern, I win one $20, lose one $20, then win the $50. Not too bad I suppose, as that puts me at a good profit for about 45 minutes of play.

Then I decided to step up to the $200 buyin and three table that. Started off not so hot when my 76 (I was in BB and called small raise from mid position raiser) and I hit the flop of 762. He had 22 and I lost $100 right there in my first hand. Naturally, I reloaded and proceeded to turn a profit of $450 in about two hours time three tabling. Woot. I finally made good money on Full Tilt! (KNOCK ON WOOD)

Hope all is well with everyone. Almost done with my classes for the semester. Once I finish I think I'll be playing lots more poker, both live and online. Time will tell.

I've always loved Heads Up (HU) play. I remember freshman year of college I would always play heads up with my roommate for laundry money. Good times.

I recently started playing Heads Up matches on Full Tilt. They offer many different buyin HU matches. I've played three $20 and two $50 HU matches. I am profit $120 (I lost two of the $20 but I won both my $50 HU matches.) Obviously this does not say much about my HU ability because it is so few matches. I don't think I will stick with these as my main source of income, but HU is definitely a great way to spend a few hours when I am just not in the mood to play full ring games.

Finals are coming up so I do not know how much time I will have to play poker. This is the last week of classes and finals start next week. Wish me luck.