A Couple Big Hands Is All It Takes

Over the past day I have played in a few different poker games, almost all of them being profitable.

The most memorable one was at the Fitz downtown. It was a 1-2 NL game where nobody took it too seriously. I was doing fine when an inebriated gentleman sat down. He had seen the game on "TV" and he thought he'd give it a shot. All of us looked at each other and the it was pretty clear that we all had a target. He was happy to be involved in pretty much every hand that was being dealt, and if you had even marginal cards, his cash was yours. He did get lucky one but I was one of the fortunate three that were able to win big pots off him before he left. It took him less than an hour to drop $300 into that game.

I had another session at the Cortez when things were turned around by a monster hand. I was down in the session, getting ready to leave when I was dealt two Aces, in late position. A whole bunch of people called and I raised the maximum. This wasn't a No Limit table so your bets and raises are limited. Almost everybody called and we saw the flop. The flop was 9 6 K with two spades. The first player to act bets the max and after a couple callers I raise. She re-raises me and one other person calls. At this point I'm not 100% confident in this hand because she could have two pair or three of a kind. The turn, an Ace! Now I have the best possible hand and I just need to hope that she doesn't get lucky. She bets, and I raise. She re-raises and now I have a tough decision. I know I have the best hand but if I raise again I may not be able to get any more chips from her. I decide to call and hope that another spade doesn't come. The river, a spade. What's worse, she bets out the maximum straight away. My decision is simple now, call or raise. I can't fold this hand. After thinking about it for about 15 seconds I decide to raise. She slowly makes the call and I flip over my three of a kind. She shows JK, for second pair, middle kicker. I didn't like the way she played this hand since she should have known that a simple pair, even top pair would probably not be the best hand. She said she read me as having Queens, but if that were true, I would never raise when the Ace comes on the turn since my hand would then be dead.

Anyways, that final hand let me leave with a healthy profit and the whole table stirring over the play. I'm just glad I had enough guts to force through the final raise.

So that's about it for now. Things are good and I'm leaving shortly for the Strip.