Wednesday Evening Poker and blackjack

On Wednesday, February 25th, I decided to head to the local casino.  The main reason was to see an acquaintance whom I had met at the Cubs Convention.  He was staying at the casino hotel for business and had tweeted out a message asking if anyone was familiar with the casino and interested in playing some blackjack.  We met up that evening and played some blackjack.  After about 45 minutes, he was up about $40 and I was down $75.  He decided to call it a night, having had a long day of meetings with another day of meetings ahead, and I opted to stay and head up to the poker room.  Due to the poor weather (snowy, with 2-4 inches expected) and the fact that it was a Wednesday night, only 1 table was running.  There was 1 empty seat, and I sat down.  I had been in at the blackjack table for $200, so I placed my remaining $125 on the table to start.  I played for roughly 2 hours, with a couple of drunks and some players who were pretty solid.  One guy 2 seats to my left thought it was fun to needle everyone, especially after beating them in pots.  He tried it with me, but I've learned not to let it get to me.  Thankfully, although he was giving it to one of the drunk guys pretty good, the guy kept playing and challenging everyone at the table.  He was the source of one of my big hands, too.  All in all it was a good night, as I cashed out +345 in about 2 hours.

A few key hands:  2nd hand of the night, I limp in with Jc10c, along with 5 others.  We see a flop of 8s-9x-2s.  I lead out for $10, and get 3 callers.  Turn is 7d. Yahtzee!  I check, there's a bet of $25, 1 caller, I call.  The river is a blank, leaving me with the nuts.  I bet $65, leaving $23 behind, get 1 caller, show my hand, and have a little more than a double up already.

Later in the session, I lose a decent 3-way pot when AK can't hold up against 2d4d.  I know the grump is the most powerful hand in poker, but I never expect to see it played against me!  He called down to the river with a diamond draw, and hit a well disguised wheel on the river.  I had flopped an A for top pair top kicker, but it was no match of course.

I flopped sets with AA and 22, both getting me paid.  The AA had a flop of AhQh4h, and after my flop bet being called, it went check check and I was shown KhQx, for a pair of queens with the nut flush draw as well.  The top set held up.  I managed to check-raise the flop with the set of deuces from early position, and shoved a stack of about $110 into a pot of about $150 on the turn only to see a fold from the drunk guy who lead out on the flop and called my check-raise.

Another key hand was 3d4d from the SB.  The drunk guy 2 seats to my right was raising often and liberally, showing down a mix of decent starting hands as well as some that were not so good.  His raises were often from late position, and in the $15-$18 range.  Everyone had noticed and he wasn't getting anyone out of the hands, so there were often pot odds to go with the implied odds of hitting a hand against him.  I called his $16 raise preflop, as did 5 others.  The flop was 2-4-5, rainbow.  Not bad for my hand, middle pair with an open-ended straight draw.  It checked around, and the preflop raiser bet $100.  I figured he either had a big A, or possibly an overpair, and felt my hand was disguised enough to get paid if I hit.  I also had $300 behind before making the call, so I called, and everyone else folded.  The turn was ugly, a 3, giving me 2 pair but meaning an A was good for the straight.  I checked, he checked.  The river was a blank, it went check check again, and I announced and showed 2 pair.  He mucked, leading me to believe he did indeed have an overpair.  An orbit later I called it a night, deciding to navigate home through the snow and nasty roads.  All in all it was a good night.

After a slow start to the year, I've made some progress at the local casino.  I have 2 winning sessions and 4 losing sessions, but have only put in 17 total hours.  I am down overall but 2 of the last 3 sessions have been my winning sessions.  Only 1 individual loss has been bigger than either of my 2 wins, which I feel is a positive.  I hope to keep this positive trend going as I continue my play at the local casino.