I woke up this morning in a hotel... big surprise since I've been living in hotels for 4 months... and I had Vegas on my mind. I noticed that the time I spent living there feels like a dream, as if it never actually happened. I'm not sure what sparked these thoughts. Maybe it was an association with the precise temperature and humidity level in the room, but I felt like I was outside the starbucks at the corner of Eastern Ave. and Horizon Ridge Parkway. That's where I got most of my coffee for the first 6 months. The view from the tables outside was magnificent and the feel of the air was something else during the winter months. I loved it. And even while I was there, the place felt like a fairytale, like a fantasy land. It was eerie. The sky seemed weird, the air felt strange, the whole atmosphere felt unreal. I felt that this morning.
A week ago I was craving non-electro poker. I wanted to touch cards and chips and have a dealer pitching my hands and pushing my pots to me instead of a computer. I decided to spend the weekend at the closest real poker room, Tri State Gaming Center in Nitro, WV. I drove up on friday and stayed as cheaply as possible at the Motel 6 right next to the casino. I'd heard some guys got busted running a meth lab in one of the rooms, I just hoped that it was over. The hotel sucked by the way and I'll never stay there again, I'd rather sleep in the streets.
The poker was ok but I ended up losing a little over a hundred bucks for the weekend. I was up most of the time but the key hand came near the end of the last night and that $500 swing would have left me up nicely. I had taken a walk and when I came back I was UTG. Rather than wait one hand I posted a straddle and after 4 limpers I looked down at KK. I popped the action by $20 and 2 called. Long story short, I bet $80 on the 9 high flop and got called by a flushdraw/idiot-end-inside-straight-draw. The board paired on the turn but that didn't deter the guy from calling my $129 all-in bet and getting there on the river. Bye-Bye pot.
I played hard all weekend putting in 30 hours for the three days. I didn't fool around much, I just got in there and put in hours. I did spend a bit of time searching for a birthday gift for my newfound, long lost daughter Drew though. That was an emotional experience to say the least. I mean, to most people it's just her birthday, but as I thought more about it, the meaning of the day of her birth engulfed my mind. I went through a flurry of emotions and feelings. The regret and the sense of loss was heavy. I may never get over the heartbreak of that.
My heartache was in good company for the weekend though. It was strange, but everywhere I turned in the poker room there was a sad story. I couldn't get away from it. It started early on saturday with a kid who was sitting at my table in seat one. I mean, his story isn't so sad now, but he was wearing a neckbrace and said he'd been in it for 3 months. The sad thing though was that when he was first injured, by what means I didn't catch, he was paralyzed from the neck down for three days. The doctors told him there was only a 50% chance he'd ever move again and he told us of the day he finally moved his arm. A nurse was holding a can of sprite for him to drink through a straw and witout warning his hand reached up for the can. He told of how he cried when it happened. The thing that touched me was the three days of horrific fear he must have lived through. It must have been tough.
On Sunday I sat in seat 9. They play 9 handed by the way. Across from me in seat 6 was a kid with a funny voice. He seemed like he struggled to talk and as a result stayed mostly quiet. I barely noticed it but he was wearing a scarf. After I'd played for about 30 minutes, a new player came into seat 7. He was an older man and he had a mechanical larynx, you know, one of those hand held devices that he holds against the top of his neck to talk. I guess he had cancer or smoething. But if he didn't hold the thing under his neck and tried to talk, which he did often, it was a pitiful sight, and sound. All that came out was a strained, harsh whisper. But get this, that's not the sad part of the story.
A new dealer came in and noticed the electrolarynx on the table. Because of a strict rule of the room that doesn't allow anything to be on the table, the dealer asked what the device was. The guy said that it was so he could talk and the dealer, embarassed, said, "Ok, I'll just shut up." Just after that, the kid with the scarf turned to the old man and said, "I used to have one of those. I had my trachea repaired last year in Boston." Upon saying these words, he pulled his scarf down to reveal an aweful scar on his throat. Then he just looked at the man, gave an understanding nod and said, "So I know." As he spoke I could read the pain on his face. He gave the old man a look that demonstrated to me that he was acknowledging to the man a secret type of pain that only they knew. I felt really sad for them. I don't know why they had this problem or why they shared this bond, and it doesn't matter. Seeing it punched me in the stomach. The beauty of poker however was demostrated clearly a few hands later when the two of them went hard after each other with the kid holding KQ against the old man's KK on a KQ flop. The stark contrast with the personal bond they shared versus the battle over a pot in poker was a thing of sick beauty.
There were other things I saw that weekend that for one reason or another I don't want to speak of here. One guy in particular, very quiet, looked like he had had a hard life. He was listening to a certain complaint from other players and he spoke up about how badly he missed what they were complaining about. He had a load of regret in his face that said the latter years of his life were heartbreaking and miserable. Regret was the overshadowing notion.
I guess the point of all this is that with each sad person I saw in that poker room, and there were many, I just couldn't stop thinking about my regrets. I couldn't stop feeling lost. I couldn't stop thinking of how life cheated me, although I played a large role in what happened years ago. It was all I could do to not tear up while browsing the mall, brainstorming a birthday gift for Drew. I couldn't stop thinking about the fact that I owe her 16 other birthday gifts. I won't take you further down this road right now. Suffice it to say that my soul is crushed by the loss of time and experience with Drew. I feel as though I'll cry, even if only on the inside, every day for the rest of my life.
On a brighter note, I returned to Cherokee on the following monday night and then on tuesday morning I hurriedly drove to Columbia to have lunch with Drew. By chance, her birthday fell on a day that school was closed so I picked her up in her driveway and we went to have our favorite burgers for lunch. Though I was worried about my gift, her eyes lit up and she seemed excited. She also seemed excited to see me which is hard for me to believe. She seems to really like me and that makes me feel great. Of course the double edge on that is that it makes me even sadder about the time I missed with her. Recently I told her that I was so sorry for the way things went down 17 years ago. Her response put things into a brighter prospective for me. She said, "Stuff happens. I'm just glad I'm here!" Believe me, I'm glad she is too.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
SNBulls
Geez, time's a flyin'. If you guessed that I'm still on top of the mountain, you'd be correct. I'm still here, pretending I'm in Vegas. Ahhh, Vegas. It's hard to live in the holy land and then not live there anymore. Cherokee, NC is far from the Mecca, but for now it has to do.
Life outside of poker is driving me bat shit. But inside my poker cocoon, all is calm. I'm still struggling a little with the roll, but what else is new. The good news is that the players in Cherokee, with the exception of a few that are really trying, have no clue as to how to handle a SNG. Tuesday is SNG day now. The buy-in is $100 + $15 (steep juice, I know) and the starting stack is 1500. The blinds start at 25/50 and go up every ten hands. This isn't as bad as it sounds. It's a little faster than a turbo, but not quite as bad as a super turbo. They pay 3 spots with 3rd getting $150, second $250 and first taking a top-heavy $600. I really feel like my edge is enough to overcome the 15% juice and make a profit. I mean, these guys are really bad. I watch as the most classic SNG mistake is made every single twirl with players limping during early levels with all sorts of KJ's and Q8's and so on. That's a killer, especially with this fast structure. After a few limps and one blind increase they find themselves severly short. More good news is that I hear them all talking about hop there is no skill involved and that these are just crap shoots. Weeeee, need I say more?
So last tuesday I went in with a strong attitude and a wish to win my very first SNG of the day. I arrived at the electro-poker room at around 11:00am and sat 1-2 while waiting for enough players to kick off the SNG. While in the cash game I doubled my $100 buy-in and when the tenth player signed up for the SNG I had a profit of $115 exactly. Well, upon reading that you know good and well that I had to have won the first one. I played as perfectly as I could and took it down for $600, a profit of $485, which put me up $600 for the day so far.
I ended up winning another one, taking thrid in one, and busting out of three. When all was said and done I was up $750 for the day. And believe me, I needed it. I then played SNGs again yesterday and after playing six with two third place finishes and chopping for first once, I was up a mere $35. I lost $19 in cash games so for the long, ten hour day I was up a whole $16. But that's the way these things go. I was very dissappointed in my last one when my KK got shot down by A8 to send me rail-bound in sixth place. Between fatigue and outside-of-poker stress, I just couldn't handle any more poker for the day.
The cash game has been hanging in there ok as well. Monday night saw me uptick $407 and the weekend brought small wins averaging $100 per day. I'm still managing free rooms and I'm keeping other expenses under better control than before. I still feel pressure and I'm struggling outside of poker, but the good that may come from it is worth every bit of the struggle.
I'll try to update more often here, I know I've been slack.
Life outside of poker is driving me bat shit. But inside my poker cocoon, all is calm. I'm still struggling a little with the roll, but what else is new. The good news is that the players in Cherokee, with the exception of a few that are really trying, have no clue as to how to handle a SNG. Tuesday is SNG day now. The buy-in is $100 + $15 (steep juice, I know) and the starting stack is 1500. The blinds start at 25/50 and go up every ten hands. This isn't as bad as it sounds. It's a little faster than a turbo, but not quite as bad as a super turbo. They pay 3 spots with 3rd getting $150, second $250 and first taking a top-heavy $600. I really feel like my edge is enough to overcome the 15% juice and make a profit. I mean, these guys are really bad. I watch as the most classic SNG mistake is made every single twirl with players limping during early levels with all sorts of KJ's and Q8's and so on. That's a killer, especially with this fast structure. After a few limps and one blind increase they find themselves severly short. More good news is that I hear them all talking about hop there is no skill involved and that these are just crap shoots. Weeeee, need I say more?
So last tuesday I went in with a strong attitude and a wish to win my very first SNG of the day. I arrived at the electro-poker room at around 11:00am and sat 1-2 while waiting for enough players to kick off the SNG. While in the cash game I doubled my $100 buy-in and when the tenth player signed up for the SNG I had a profit of $115 exactly. Well, upon reading that you know good and well that I had to have won the first one. I played as perfectly as I could and took it down for $600, a profit of $485, which put me up $600 for the day so far.
I ended up winning another one, taking thrid in one, and busting out of three. When all was said and done I was up $750 for the day. And believe me, I needed it. I then played SNGs again yesterday and after playing six with two third place finishes and chopping for first once, I was up a mere $35. I lost $19 in cash games so for the long, ten hour day I was up a whole $16. But that's the way these things go. I was very dissappointed in my last one when my KK got shot down by A8 to send me rail-bound in sixth place. Between fatigue and outside-of-poker stress, I just couldn't handle any more poker for the day.
The cash game has been hanging in there ok as well. Monday night saw me uptick $407 and the weekend brought small wins averaging $100 per day. I'm still managing free rooms and I'm keeping other expenses under better control than before. I still feel pressure and I'm struggling outside of poker, but the good that may come from it is worth every bit of the struggle.
I'll try to update more often here, I know I've been slack.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Lost and Found
It's strange. I find money all the time. I find it on the ground and it's almost always what I'd consider unreturnable. I think I have a very fine tuned perception of my surroundings or something and so I see things that most people just walk by. For instance, I found three $5 bills rolled up on the casino floor the other day. Then, late a couple nights ago I was walking through the parking lot to my car and I saw a cold, wet $20 bill laying on the ground against a fence. I'd never be able to find the rightful owners in those situations so I consider that lost treasure and the finders keepers rule would apply. Today, however, I found something quite a bit bigger.
I woke up this morning in a king size bed inside room #220 at the Holiday Inn in Cherokee. After showering and moving out of what felt like my thousandth home in 11 weeks, I pulled out onto the road in route to Tribal Grounds Coffee for my morning usual. For ritualistic reasons, I didn't want to arrive at the coffee house as quickly as I was about to and so I made a right turn onto 441, drove across the bridge, and then made a U-turn to continue towards my destination. As I crossed the bridge for the second time I noticed something in my lane that looked like a wallet. I made another U-turn and drove back to take a closer look. I drove back by slowly and this time it didn't look like a wallet at all, but instead a book, like a day planner or such. As I made yet another U-turn, I said aloud that I'd stop anyway, snatch it up and try to find the owner.
I stopped in the middle of the highway, opened the car door and reached down and plucked the black, leather-like book from the asphalt. It had been run over by a few cars but all the contents appeared to be in place. And those contents were not what I expected to see. Right off the bat I saw $20 bills, but there were only 4 of them together with a few fives and ones. The I saw the bank envelope and I inventoried seven $100 bills. Yikes! This was no ordinary find; this was $800!
The thought of keeping the money and throwing the wallet over the bridge never entered my mind. I had the lady's drivers liscense, her social security card along with another person's social secuity card, a few credit cards, some business cards, insurance cards and so forth. It was then that I realised that today held a purpose for me, to get this lady back her wallet.
I pulled into the parking lot of Tribal Grounds and started my mission by taking a more detailed inventory of the items contained within the wallet. I was looking for a phone number. The last thing I wanted to do was to turn it in to the cops, fuck that. This was my case and I intended to solve it with all this lady's cash intact and accounted for. Once I couldn't find a phone number, I decided that Google would be my starting point. I tried to find the lady's phone number by searching her name and address but instead I found her Facebook. The trouble there was that I wasn't her friend so I couldn't see her info. I went beyond her to her friends but they all had their info hidden too. Damn, it was a dead end.
The next thing I did was call the casino. I figured the lady must have been there, especially since the bank envelope had "$1400" written on it and as I said already, it only contained $700. To me, that was a dead give away that the casino was involved, but when I spoke to them, they had no record of any of the names I had associated with the wallet. I gave the representative my name and number and she said she would continue to dig around.
I then went back into the wallet and found some business cards. One particular card would turn up a nice lead. It was for a title loan company and when I called I explained the situation and the lady told me that the wallet's owner was indeed a customer of hers. She wouldn't give me the lady's phone number but she got my info and said she would try to contact her. I hung up and waited.
In the mean time I thought about it more and figured the owner of the wallet must have been on a motorcycle. From that point on I kept an eye out for motorcycles in my vicinity with GA tags and I knew what the lady looked like from her ID and her Facebook profile pic. I also called Capitol One from the card in the wallet, but they weren't able to do what I wanted which was to contact the lady asap so I could return the items. They only wanted to fill out a lost card report and contact her later. Worthless.
About 30 minutes after talking to the lady at the title loan company I called her back. She said that she had called the wallet's owner and left a message, but knowing that the nature of her business leaves her with plenty of ignored phone calls, she decided to give me the phone number. I immediately called the number. She answered her cell and I asked if her name was Ms. X and she said yes. I asked if she lost her wallet, she said yes and I told her I had it. She was right around the corner and she and her companion drove right over and I returned the wallet safely and accepted a hug from Ms X.
It turned out that she was in a pick up truck, not on a bike. They had not been to the casino but were in fact looking for somewhere to elope. They had stopped at a gas station and were both on cell phones when she left her wallet on the tool box in the bed of the truck. They had gotten all the way to Maggie Valley before realising that the wallet was gone and then driving back to Cherokee in search of the wallet. The guy told me they had been praying for a good samaritan since they realised it was gone and I was glad I could be that guy.
The lady tried to offer me $40 but I wouldn't take it. It was a fun hour and a half for me. I served a purpose for these people and it felt good. And as I've learned, the reason for doing what I did is not to get something in return, I don't expect the universe to reward my good deed. I did it because it was the right thing to do. Mission accomplished.
I woke up this morning in a king size bed inside room #220 at the Holiday Inn in Cherokee. After showering and moving out of what felt like my thousandth home in 11 weeks, I pulled out onto the road in route to Tribal Grounds Coffee for my morning usual. For ritualistic reasons, I didn't want to arrive at the coffee house as quickly as I was about to and so I made a right turn onto 441, drove across the bridge, and then made a U-turn to continue towards my destination. As I crossed the bridge for the second time I noticed something in my lane that looked like a wallet. I made another U-turn and drove back to take a closer look. I drove back by slowly and this time it didn't look like a wallet at all, but instead a book, like a day planner or such. As I made yet another U-turn, I said aloud that I'd stop anyway, snatch it up and try to find the owner.
I stopped in the middle of the highway, opened the car door and reached down and plucked the black, leather-like book from the asphalt. It had been run over by a few cars but all the contents appeared to be in place. And those contents were not what I expected to see. Right off the bat I saw $20 bills, but there were only 4 of them together with a few fives and ones. The I saw the bank envelope and I inventoried seven $100 bills. Yikes! This was no ordinary find; this was $800!
The thought of keeping the money and throwing the wallet over the bridge never entered my mind. I had the lady's drivers liscense, her social security card along with another person's social secuity card, a few credit cards, some business cards, insurance cards and so forth. It was then that I realised that today held a purpose for me, to get this lady back her wallet.
I pulled into the parking lot of Tribal Grounds and started my mission by taking a more detailed inventory of the items contained within the wallet. I was looking for a phone number. The last thing I wanted to do was to turn it in to the cops, fuck that. This was my case and I intended to solve it with all this lady's cash intact and accounted for. Once I couldn't find a phone number, I decided that Google would be my starting point. I tried to find the lady's phone number by searching her name and address but instead I found her Facebook. The trouble there was that I wasn't her friend so I couldn't see her info. I went beyond her to her friends but they all had their info hidden too. Damn, it was a dead end.
The next thing I did was call the casino. I figured the lady must have been there, especially since the bank envelope had "$1400" written on it and as I said already, it only contained $700. To me, that was a dead give away that the casino was involved, but when I spoke to them, they had no record of any of the names I had associated with the wallet. I gave the representative my name and number and she said she would continue to dig around.
I then went back into the wallet and found some business cards. One particular card would turn up a nice lead. It was for a title loan company and when I called I explained the situation and the lady told me that the wallet's owner was indeed a customer of hers. She wouldn't give me the lady's phone number but she got my info and said she would try to contact her. I hung up and waited.
In the mean time I thought about it more and figured the owner of the wallet must have been on a motorcycle. From that point on I kept an eye out for motorcycles in my vicinity with GA tags and I knew what the lady looked like from her ID and her Facebook profile pic. I also called Capitol One from the card in the wallet, but they weren't able to do what I wanted which was to contact the lady asap so I could return the items. They only wanted to fill out a lost card report and contact her later. Worthless.
About 30 minutes after talking to the lady at the title loan company I called her back. She said that she had called the wallet's owner and left a message, but knowing that the nature of her business leaves her with plenty of ignored phone calls, she decided to give me the phone number. I immediately called the number. She answered her cell and I asked if her name was Ms. X and she said yes. I asked if she lost her wallet, she said yes and I told her I had it. She was right around the corner and she and her companion drove right over and I returned the wallet safely and accepted a hug from Ms X.
It turned out that she was in a pick up truck, not on a bike. They had not been to the casino but were in fact looking for somewhere to elope. They had stopped at a gas station and were both on cell phones when she left her wallet on the tool box in the bed of the truck. They had gotten all the way to Maggie Valley before realising that the wallet was gone and then driving back to Cherokee in search of the wallet. The guy told me they had been praying for a good samaritan since they realised it was gone and I was glad I could be that guy.
The lady tried to offer me $40 but I wouldn't take it. It was a fun hour and a half for me. I served a purpose for these people and it felt good. And as I've learned, the reason for doing what I did is not to get something in return, I don't expect the universe to reward my good deed. I did it because it was the right thing to do. Mission accomplished.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Pulling Out of a Tailspin
I've been a grump lately. Last week didn't go so well. I melted down a little and got so distracted that my roll took quite a dip. But I'm back; back at the grind. One of the hardest things in poker is to take hit for multiple buy-ins and then try to get your head back together and play knowing that the next week or so will be spent just recovering the losses. I had high hopes last week for upticking to a more comfortable level. I also wanted to build up the funds to drive to Vegas to gather the rest of my belongings that currently sit in storage. But to steer directly into a nose dive and stare directly into the face of oblivion was the order of the week and now I have to deal with it. I won't reveal the details of the meltdown, let's just be glad it's over. I bailed just in time. I descended the mountain, spent a little non-poker happy time, and then hit the boat in Little River for a night of 2-5 on the high seas. I then took another day and a half to not play and monday I drove back up to Cherokee and, feeling somewhat refreshed, got back on the horse.
Let me just say that if you haven't played poker on the SunCruz casino boat in Little River, don't bother. Oh my God, the dealer was HORRIBLE. The rake is maxed at $5 but I saw this dude double cut the pot more than once. I'm pretty sure I saw him forget to cut it a couple times too, but I mean, how hard is it? If the pot was big enough for the max rake on the flop, he would grab a red chip, place it on the slide, and then drop it immediately. Then, after the river came, he'd do it again. What the fuck? The dealer should never drop the rake until he pushes the pot. But the guy had all sorts of procedural problems. He just sucked really bad. I didn't say anything (surprise) but if I planned to ever go back I would have. I played so few pots that it didn't affect me that much. I got myself stuck about $230 at one point but managed to grind it back with a $47 profit. Nothing to write home about, but it sure was better than staying stuck. The other big problem, by the way, was that smoking was allowed. Enough said.
Monday night I played a hand that still baffles me. The cards brought a cooler but it was the play of one opponent known as King Kong that had be confused. There was a lot of limping going on and I don't mind that because most of the players don't consider it when they play the flop. They don't know just how bad top pair can be on a 7 way limped flop. Anyway, King Kong limped on my right and with about $120 I limped from the button with A6o. The flop came A86 with two diamonds and the action checked to Kong. He bet out $13 and I raised it to $30. I know this guy. He's solid. He always has a big stack. I heavily considered A8 as I put in my raise. And this guy knows me too. He called me "scary" the other day. He knows I don't fuck around and that I'm there for the money so I figured to find out really quickly how my A6 was doing. Surprisingly, the kid who was in the SB on my left called. I immediately gave him diamonds. It was the only thing the guy could have other than a set, but even this guy would have raised here to protect against the flush draw possibility. With an overcall on my left, I fully expected Kong to either fold or re-raise. When he called, I was confused a little, but one thing I did was take him off A8 immediately.
To further my confidence that I wasn't being coolered by A8, an A hit the turn. At this point I knew I was good. I knew the kid on my left had diamonds and I figured Kong, based on his earlier play with AJ, had a big A or even a diamond draw himself. They checked to me and I bet $25 knowing that I needed the draws to keep paying. The SB called and Kong suprised me with a raise to $60. AJ or AQ was my best guess and I shoved the rest in and the SB called again. Kong called.
When the diamond hit the river, the SB shoved and Kong called so quickly that sparks flew off his screen. I was dumb struck when his A8 appeared. I'm still confused by it. People playing in the next state knew the guy on my left was drawing to diamonds. How in the world could Kong flat call my raise on the flop? I guess he was just gambling on not seeing a third diamond. But then, when he made the nuts on the turn, he pulled a check-raise and risked losing the draw. Maybe I'm just pissed because if he'd re-popped me on the flop to protect his hand like a sane person I could have dumped my top/bottom pair. My stack was short and I know it would have seemd crazy to dump it, but not against Kong, who also knew he was playing against me. Oh well, it caused a losing session. But I would not be discouraged.
So here I am at Tribal Grounds, the coffee shop in Cherokee. It's raining outside. The sky is grey and the clouds are hanging very low. I can almost reach out and touch them. I love that. I only wish it were snowing. I sank $167 that first night, but yesterday I pulled in $282. I seem to have my confidence back; it had waned somewhere in the smoke and confusion of last week. I was in a very special mindset last week. I lost all control and I even had one foot in the car ready to drive directly to Las Vegas. It was cloudy and dark inside, but I'm back now.
I played three sessions yesterday. Considering the latest state of my bankroll I've been hitting and running a little. I feel it neccessary at the moment and I have to do what I have to do. If I were to go broke right now, and I don't plan to by the way, I have no idea what I'd do. But let's not talk about that because it isn't going to happen. I own this game and my little puppets shall continue to pay me for a long time to come. I just have to keep the war against myself at bay and play the game the way it needs to be played. Get the money, that's it.
Let me just say that if you haven't played poker on the SunCruz casino boat in Little River, don't bother. Oh my God, the dealer was HORRIBLE. The rake is maxed at $5 but I saw this dude double cut the pot more than once. I'm pretty sure I saw him forget to cut it a couple times too, but I mean, how hard is it? If the pot was big enough for the max rake on the flop, he would grab a red chip, place it on the slide, and then drop it immediately. Then, after the river came, he'd do it again. What the fuck? The dealer should never drop the rake until he pushes the pot. But the guy had all sorts of procedural problems. He just sucked really bad. I didn't say anything (surprise) but if I planned to ever go back I would have. I played so few pots that it didn't affect me that much. I got myself stuck about $230 at one point but managed to grind it back with a $47 profit. Nothing to write home about, but it sure was better than staying stuck. The other big problem, by the way, was that smoking was allowed. Enough said.
Monday night I played a hand that still baffles me. The cards brought a cooler but it was the play of one opponent known as King Kong that had be confused. There was a lot of limping going on and I don't mind that because most of the players don't consider it when they play the flop. They don't know just how bad top pair can be on a 7 way limped flop. Anyway, King Kong limped on my right and with about $120 I limped from the button with A6o. The flop came A86 with two diamonds and the action checked to Kong. He bet out $13 and I raised it to $30. I know this guy. He's solid. He always has a big stack. I heavily considered A8 as I put in my raise. And this guy knows me too. He called me "scary" the other day. He knows I don't fuck around and that I'm there for the money so I figured to find out really quickly how my A6 was doing. Surprisingly, the kid who was in the SB on my left called. I immediately gave him diamonds. It was the only thing the guy could have other than a set, but even this guy would have raised here to protect against the flush draw possibility. With an overcall on my left, I fully expected Kong to either fold or re-raise. When he called, I was confused a little, but one thing I did was take him off A8 immediately.
To further my confidence that I wasn't being coolered by A8, an A hit the turn. At this point I knew I was good. I knew the kid on my left had diamonds and I figured Kong, based on his earlier play with AJ, had a big A or even a diamond draw himself. They checked to me and I bet $25 knowing that I needed the draws to keep paying. The SB called and Kong suprised me with a raise to $60. AJ or AQ was my best guess and I shoved the rest in and the SB called again. Kong called.
When the diamond hit the river, the SB shoved and Kong called so quickly that sparks flew off his screen. I was dumb struck when his A8 appeared. I'm still confused by it. People playing in the next state knew the guy on my left was drawing to diamonds. How in the world could Kong flat call my raise on the flop? I guess he was just gambling on not seeing a third diamond. But then, when he made the nuts on the turn, he pulled a check-raise and risked losing the draw. Maybe I'm just pissed because if he'd re-popped me on the flop to protect his hand like a sane person I could have dumped my top/bottom pair. My stack was short and I know it would have seemd crazy to dump it, but not against Kong, who also knew he was playing against me. Oh well, it caused a losing session. But I would not be discouraged.
So here I am at Tribal Grounds, the coffee shop in Cherokee. It's raining outside. The sky is grey and the clouds are hanging very low. I can almost reach out and touch them. I love that. I only wish it were snowing. I sank $167 that first night, but yesterday I pulled in $282. I seem to have my confidence back; it had waned somewhere in the smoke and confusion of last week. I was in a very special mindset last week. I lost all control and I even had one foot in the car ready to drive directly to Las Vegas. It was cloudy and dark inside, but I'm back now.
I played three sessions yesterday. Considering the latest state of my bankroll I've been hitting and running a little. I feel it neccessary at the moment and I have to do what I have to do. If I were to go broke right now, and I don't plan to by the way, I have no idea what I'd do. But let's not talk about that because it isn't going to happen. I own this game and my little puppets shall continue to pay me for a long time to come. I just have to keep the war against myself at bay and play the game the way it needs to be played. Get the money, that's it.
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