Sloe Times

So I'm basically killing time to stave off going to bed (I was up late working and have to be up in a few hours for work) and figured I would while the hours away playing cards. After promptly losing my buy-in at $0.50/$1 I figure I'm probably a wee bit too tired for anything serious and wander off to play some 5+1 on Paradise The first game I sat down at, I sat around too long and too passive trying to get back into the feel of SNGs and got busted out. Ok, now that I'm warmed up, lets try that again. Game two, I come out shooting, I'm getting decent cards and the I'm also getting people to play into me.... All until I decided to get cute and backed off at the wrong time.

It's level 4 and I've got T2027, am just behind the button, and the dealer kindly hands me Ah, 9d and the table is still pretty weak so I raise it up to 160 and get one call for heads up, I'm pretty happy with that. The flop comes 5h, 8h, and 3d. Nothing spectacular but my opponent checks and I put him on a low pair and definitely not a flush draw. So I repeat the first bet, T160 and he calls. The turn brings 6h and so there is this straight possibility, if he stayed on something like 4x, not very likely since he's called two 3xBB bets so he must have a pair of fours to be in with all the over cards showing and just calling on a straight draw. He checks, I've still only got high card, but the board is all red, with an Ace high four flush for me and I'd rather this fellow just went away so I bet it at T525 and again he calls. The river brings me 8d pairing the board with 8s and leaving me with basically a high card to what I've guessed is a low pocket pair. He checks and at the time I think to myself, why throw good money after bad, and I check. This is where I think I should have been on him (on reflection) because he probably didn't have the straight, and with 3 hearts on the board and a substantial bet by me I would have been thinking flush or top pair on the turn and bailed. But then again, I've got another great top pair story following this one so I'll wrap up. So I check and he shows his pair of fours (4c, 4s) and I take away the consolation prize of having put him on his hand accurately and congratulate the player on his bravery. I lost T845 on that hand and probably couldn't get over it because while I was able to make some plays after that, I never came back and ultimately busted out 6th.

Aw well, on to the next table. $6 later I'm sitting with T1000 in the first hand of the game I'm UTG+1 and the dealer hands me Ah, 2h so I'm thinking... Hey, they're suited, connected and it's hand one, I'll limp in on the cheap with T10 and see what I see. The fellow to my immediate left has different ideas and bumps it up slightly to T20 he gets one caller and the BB and I decided to prod a little bit and make it T40 to go. That woke the dragon and the fellow to my left makes it T200 to go. It folds around to me and I think to myself, why not. This thought of course has been the downfall of many a fine session but I'm here to have fun and I'm not having fun if I'm not playing, so full steam ahead. The flop comes 6h, 4c, and Ac. I check to see where my fellow is at, and he checks. He fears the ace. The turn brings 5h and before I consciously think I've made the decision I'm shoving all my chips into the middle. On reflection, I think it was the right call, I've got an Ace high four flush, top pair, and an inside straight draw. Plenty of outs I think so I'm good. My neighbor blinks for a bit and then quips "unbelievable" before calling my all-in with his Kowboys (Kc, Kd). The river quickly comes with a 3s giving me my straight 2-6 and a double up with change on the first hand of the tournament. At this point I'm not sure what he thought was unbelievable, that I would go all in on him in the first hand against his Kings, or that he would call with second best hand knowing he was beat if I had an Ace?

The upside to this was that it got a lot of the table talking, especially when A2o (not me) took down the second hand of the game.
Oddly, I like a chatty table, it breaks some of the boredom while waiting to get a hand, and it gives me one of the aspects of the game that I enjoy most about home games, the social content. I came in 3rd in this one after a couple of aggressive moves on and after the bubble that didn't hit me on the flop and paid someone else off on the river.

The only other event worth noting is that in tournament two, I got A7 in various combinations (A7o, A7s, A7o) one hand immediately after another. The first time I took down the pot with trip 7s, the second time with an Ace high flush, and the 3rd time the dealer decided he had had enough of that and missed me entirely with the flop. Either way though, I was a force to be reconned with during this game which is why I'm still stummped over the guy hanging around with a pair of fours.