SWINGS AT PL $100

On Tuesday my KK bit the dust to AK. The AK needs either an A or a QJT. The simple math tells me that 3 of 50 for his ace. The combination of QJT can't be easy either. I'm not sure the math without going back to Sklansky, but he was a pretty big underdog.

That same night I lost my QQ to AA. The combination of the two cost me $200.

On Wednesday Night everything went right. I've played enough now against the same guys that my pre-flop raises usually get walking papers from opponents. So I really decided to mix it up. I raised stuff like QJs in late position and let other people occasionally raise my big pairs for me.

I held KK against someone's TT. The flop came 986. He had a pretty decent draw. Over pair, gutshot straight and even backdoor flush. We were all-in after the flop and the Cowboys held up. This hand really gave me a stake to play ($300 or so) the next hand some 30 minutes later.

I drew AA on the big blind against two players that held ATs. The first AT raised it to $7. The second AT raised it to $12. I wasn't sure at this point what these scrubs had, but rather than jacking up my usual raise I decided to lay low. The first AT came back at $25 and the button raised it back to $37. Here I have the best hand of the bunch, a $100 pot with they both nearly have $100 of chips in front of them for me to go after when the flop comes.

What hurt them and was a Godsend to me was a T flopped and no card higher came. I checked into their power. By the time it got back around to me the two of them were all-in versus my larger stack.

It was a good example of how foolish it is to play hands like AT against a re-raise. There is something fateful about playing the wrong kinds of hands, hitting a flop, and going broke anyway. What was amazing is that I got both of these fruit loops jacking up the pot for me. They needed the case T to beat me. It was one of the five biggest rakes I have ever seen at PL.

My first week or so playing pot limit hand had me on KK and I ran into two players playing AQ when the Q flopped as top card. I was paid off like a crooked judge. Doubling up at this level is a rush, but tripling with this kind of money brings a smile that wears out my lips.

Ready for Vegas!