APRIL 09, 2008

I bought into three tables at $300 per, resolved to wait for profitable situations before getting involved so that I wouldn't burn through any buy-ins before winning a pot. The strategy worked, as I built slow but steady gains at first, then hit a few monsters and never had to rebuy, turning a profit at all three tables.

The big score was in the $2/4 PL game in which I was rewarded with the magical A-A vs K-K on an all-baby flop. There was a third player involved pre-flop which is vital for PL pots to get monstrously huge. He folded to the inevitable re-raise and when the flop came eight-high, there was no doubt it was all getting in.

Another big hand was a blind vs blind confrontation in which my bb was raised and I defended with 5-5, taking a flop of K-K-3 with two clubs. He bet and I called. The turn was a red five. He checked and I bet. I didn't necessarily have a king, so he put me to the test by re-raising with his A-T of clubs. He had plenty of outs against a pair of sixes so it was a nice play unless I have trips or better. I did so I pushed over the top of him. He thought for awhile and figured it was worth the call since I probably had three kings and he was drawing to a bigger hand, but he was drawing dead and I scooped my second huge pot on my way to a $725 profit at that table.

At a different table, my biggest hand was a bit uglier. I called a raise from the bb with K-T and the flop came T-x-x. He lead out with a pot-sized bet, which suggested over-pair, but I got stubborn with my top pair and overcard. Rather than merely calling, I went ahead and stuck it in (about $240) since it was shove or fold time. He had the Q-Q but I still had my 20% longshot and it came through with a K on the river. I took some grief for that in the text box. I finished that table $360 ahead.

The final table was my roughest, though I still managed a meager $35 profit. Just before quitting, I lost a couple hundred with Q-Q vs K-K. I did manage to not stack off, which is a positive. He limp/called from early position and quickly checked the seven-high flop. I checked behind him to keep the pot small, figuring I was okay winning or losing a small one rather than a large pot so close to quitting for the day. When he checked again on the turn, I went ahead and put in a $30 bet. He raised it up and I no longer knew where I was in the hand. The high card on board was an eight, so he could still have 9-9, T-T, or J-J. I called the raise and called another $75 on the river. I was sad to lose, but happy I checked the flop since the hand tailor-made to bust me couldn't pull it off.

My most difficult hand of the day was Q-J in the bb against a raise and a call. I called and the flop came A-T-5. It checked around. The turn brought a K to fill my gutshot. It checked to me and I put in a strong bet which was called by both players. The river was another K, not my favorite card, but it was checked to me, so I put in another strong bet. The original raiser went into the tank for a long time and came out pushing his entire stack, which was my bet plus another $300+. I decided to fold. We could have had the same hand or he could have been vastly overplaying trip kings, but I went ahead and put him on K-T or A-K and let him have it rather than pay and pray.

I played four tourneys on the day without cashing. One was a $5.50 turbo that I played just for fun. I got it all in early with 3-3 vs A-J and lost the race. I also played three events at $109 each. The first saw me suffer a bad beat with A-A vs 8-8, all-in pre-flop, when he caught a straight to bust me. The second was another race gone awry with A-K falling to T-T. The third was the most painful, as I made it nearly to the payout. The big stack was raising every hand; once I pushed with A8 and he folded, then a few orbits later, I pushed with 66 but he played his A-T and caught a ten on the river to end my day, up around $800.