One of THOSE nights...

Yuck.  That's all I have to say about that night.  I went to the local casino the day after Christmas, a Friday night.  I had been there on Christmas Eve, as I had nothing else to do, and they had 1 table going.  This night, they had 4 tables.  There were 3 of the 1-2NL games, and a 1-2NL/1-2PLO mix.  The mix game got short-handed, and they broke it due to a long list for 1-2NL, so they had 4 1-2NL games running.

I met Lightning36 there, as he had texted me earlier mentioning he was going to be playing.  He stopped by to say hi to his favorite machine (Willy Wonka) and I headed up to get my name on the list, as I hadn't called in.  There were 5 names on the list, all call-ins who hadn't shown up yet.  As luck would have it, a seat opened up and I was seated immediately.  I had a little success early, raising preflop with AK and getting no callers, then raising preflop again the very next hand with QQ, getting 4 callers.  The flop was 10 high, I bet, got 1 caller.  I bet again on the turn, a K, and he folded.  Whew.  Then I had a log wait for decent cards.  I called a few times to see a flop, not hitting much.  Lightning eventually got into a game, and then switched over to the table I was at, sitting to my left.  Yes, I let him have position on me.

The rest of the afternoon/evening turned into a nightmare for me.  A lot of 2nd best hands, poor play, missed draws.  I never had a chance to eat dinner, which affected my play in some part.  As a diabetic, when I skip a meal, I get headaches.  This night was no exception.  The fact that I was aggravated with my play, and the missed draws and suckouts didn't help any.  This isn't to be an excuse, but just details into part of why I played so badly.  I can't remember how many open ended straight draws I had that missed, flush draws, and big hands that got beat in one way or another.  The last hand that did me in was a flopped 2 pair, that lost to runner runner flush.  There were 2 hearts and a diamond on the flop.  I had K-J for top 2, and called a bet of $35, as did another player.  Yes, I slow played.  I should have check-raised and I got cute against someone I was sure I was way ahead of.  The turn was a diamond, I bet $95.  Both players called.  The river was a diamond, and I shoved roughly $160, called by a player with J-9 diamonds.  As I expected, I was way ahead on the flop.  I got too cute and it cost me my stack.  I had bought in a 4th time and worked it up a decent amount, and a double there would have had me close to even for the session. 

So, I had had a miserable evening, and left.  The worst part was knowing there were spots that I could easily have taken advantage of, but I just couldn't hit draws, and couldn't get hands to hold up.  The one hand I really played badly was earlier, against a guy I know well.  He's a solid player, and just back from Vegas, where he claims to play bigger games.  I suspect he is telling the truth, but there's always a possibility with him that he's stretching the truth.  Anyhow, I limped in with A-10o, and there were a few limpers.  The flop was A-K-10, 2 clubs.  It checks to the guy I know, he bets $8, I raise to $20.  An older gentleman between us calls, and then the original bettor raises to $100.  This should have told me he had the straight, which is exactly what I put him on.  However, I called to see if I could hit the boat.  The turn was a third club.  I figured that wasn't a bad card for me, and shoved my remaining $160ish.  Both players called, and the straight took it down when I couldn't boat up.  I'm not sure what the gentleman between us had, as he didn't show.  Just another bad play for me.  I just need to refocus and play tighter I guess...and try to get my draws to hit and my hands to hold up!