I just got back from an impromptu evening at the Bicycle Club playing 4/8 Hold ’em. I was tired after we put Zoe to bed and kinda sorta wanted to go play cards but couldn’t commit until Beth announced she was going to watch our Tivo’d What Not To Wear, which made the decision easy. Ten minutes later I was on the freeway, headed for the Bike.

I had a good night. I bought in for $100 and cashed out an hour and a half later with a profit of $250. I usually call it a night when I hit +$100, but tonight I was on a rush and my opponents were playing No Fold ’em Hold ’em and stayed in to the bitter end on every hand. Which only added to my stack. So I kept playing.

Best hand of the night was when I looked down to find AK and two people in front of me raised, so I re-re-raised it up to $16. Half the table called, which made the pot nearly $100 pre-flop. The flop came down King/rag/rag, giving me top pair with top kicker. Everyone checked around to me, I bet $4 and everyone called. The turn came a Queen, everyone checked around to me, I bet out $8, about half folded and the rest called. The river came another rag, everyone checks around to me, I bet $8, two people called, and they didn’t even bother showing their cards when I flipped up my AK. It took two racks to stack that pot, and I won the next one while I was stacking that one with A5 that turned into a straight. I was unstoppable.

After I cashed out I hung around for awhile watching the No Limit game. I really wanted to buy in to that one, but I’m going on the road for two week and I’m a little short on cash because registering my motorcycle cost me $1000 last week so I figured I’d better keep that $250 in my pocket until I get back. I’ll wait for my next per diem check and get into the game then. There’s definitely a chair with my name on it at that table, they’re just keeping it warm for me.

I didn’t do too well in the tournament at Hollywood Park today. I just wasn’t catching cards and I wasn’t playing all that well either. The low point had to be when I was holding the nut flush, bet out $200, was raised $900 by the guy behind me … and I just called instead of coming over the top at him and going all-in. I won the pot, of course, but it could have been so much more. He definitely would have called me and I would have knocked him out of the tournament. I don’t know what I was thinking. I guess I just wasn’t thinking. I ended up busting out pretty early, and the way I was playing it was inevitable.

Total cost after the entry fee and the multiple rebuys I did: $95. So I sat down in a cash game, 3/6 Limit Hold ’em, and won back the $95 plus another $60 just for fun. Busting out early isn’t so bad when you do it for free and then turn a profit on the trip.

I give up. I’m finished with poker, at least limit poker. I just got home from an afternoon of bad beat after bad beat, the crowning glory of which was:

I looked down to find AA. I raised.
Stupid called.
Board came rag, 6, 6. I bet.
Stupid called.
Another rag came. I bet.
Stupid called.
One last rag came. Stupid bet.
I knew I was beaten but had to see it so I called.
Sure enough, Stupid has called a raise and every one of my bets with 5/7 offsuit and the last card gave him a straight. He had total crap right up until the very last card fell. I had the best hand all the way, the way I was betting told him I had the best hand all the way, and still he called me all the way down. And then won on the river.

Un. Fucking. Believable.

I give up.

This is another one of those poker entries Beth finds so incomprehensible and boring. It’s basically an entry for me, so you might want to just skip it…

Took the day off today so I could play in a No-Limit Hold ‘Em tournament at 12:15. I was on my home by 2:30… Clearly, not a good day.

First of all, I wasn’t playing my game, I was very tenative and passive, which is just begging to get run over. On top of that I was getting crap cards — in fact, the hand I went out on was A3s. And then finally, when I did get good cards, they didn’t hold up.

I had AA cracked twice, by 3 Jacks the first time and 3 Kings the second; KK drawn out on by 3 Jacks; I had to lay AK down to a board of 355 when I tried to slow-play it; and the one time I tried to go in hard on my straight the dealer didn’t hear me and dealt the next card before I could bet. I won the hand, but the pot wasn’t nearly what I would have been if I’d gotten my bet in because the schmuck I was in against definitely would have called. Don’t even get me started on the hand where I put the guy all-in with K2 with 2 Kings on the board and we ended up chopping because he had something like K4.

Just a bad day all-around. Bad play, bad cards, no luck, 3 rebuys and an add-on and I go home early.

All you ever really need in NLHE is a chip and a chair, it’s true, but a little cooperation from the Poker Gods never hurts.

Speaking of playing poker… I played in two tournaments in the past two days, both No Limit Hold ’em. I think that’s my favorite variation on poker: Hold ’em is my favorite game, No Limit is my favorite way to play it. It’s not really much of a money game, though. I mean, I’m not rich, you know? I can’t afford to play no limit for cash — the first thousandaire I sit down with is going to eat my lunch simply because I can’t match his stack. So tournaments are the only place it’s safe to play it.

I was doing pretty well in last night’s tournament. We started with something like 19 tables (171 people), and we were down to four tables (36 people) when I got knocked out. If I’d held on ’til the final two tables I would have at least made a hundred bucks or so. But nooooo, I had to bet about 80% of my stack on a flush draw that never came and lost to a pair of queens. I was so short-stacked then that I couldn’t play effectively and I was out of the tourney about 20 minutes later. That’ll teach me to put my whole stack up on a drawing hand, won’t it?

Or maybe not. In tonight’s tourney we were down to five tables from 11 when I went all-in on an open-ended straight against two pair and missed. I was kicking myself all the way out of the club. Un-freakin-believable. You don’t bet your whole stack on something like that, at least not before the final table. Well, you don’t. But I do, apparently. Moron.

Star sighting, by the way. Joshua Malina was playing in tonight’s tournament. But don’t get excited, we were never seated at the same table. I outlasted him, though. He got knocked out about 20 minutes before I did.