Session No. 54 Capitol Wednesday Night (10/10)

9/18: TP = +100 TSP = 5 Hrs

So after a couple friends of mine took me out to Bucca de Beppo (nice Italian restaraunt) for my B-day, I decided to head on over to Capitol and see if they had any games going. Much to my suprise, I saw it was only three or four deep for the 4/8 games, and the 9/18 game had an open-seat!

I take my seat over at 9/18 where it is short-handed (stayed around 6-7 players for 30 mins or so). I start off the session pretty much card dead, and got down to two stacks ($120) in no time. I buy in for a rack, which is $300 in $3 chips. Anyway, here's a big hand which takes me down to those two stacks.

Hero is in the CO wth AK of hearts; 7-handed. It gets limped in a couple spots, hero raises, Button cold-calls, Blinds call, limpers call.

Flop: A:c:T:h:8:h:

Such a huge flop. It gets checked to me, I bet, Button raises, SB (uber-donk old asian lady) calls, folds to me, I 3-Bet of course, Button calls, SB calls.

Obviously I'm feeling pretty good at this point. The SB could have any assortment of hands, but she usually goes nuts when she has at least two-pair, so I know I have her beat. The button is relatively new to the table at this point. He seems kinda tight, but I still think I'm ahead when he calls my 3-Bet. I remember thinking he either had AQ or some kind of flush/straight combo draw.

The turn is a four of spades. I'm guessing this card helped absolutely no one. SB checks to me, I bet again, both players just call.

The river is a nine of diamonds. SB checks, and I opt to check. At this point I only have top-pair, and while it's probably good...I don't want to get raised. Button ends up betting, SB debates forever and calls, and I overcall.

Button shows a set of tens (WTF???!!!) and takes the pot. SB showed A6 (donk) and I muck my hand whilst saying "wow man nh, I can't beat a set of tens unfortunately." Wow did he play that hand bad...and why the hell do I keep running into monsters?!

Anyway, I get a lot of chips back in the next orbit after I turn the nut straight with KQ and a ton of players in the pot. After that hand, I went card dead again abnd hovered around -$60 for most of the session. About three hours into my session, I get called over to the main game.

The main game was much different from the side 9/18 game. Capitol has this "must-move" system in place where they keep the main game ~full at all times. When you sit down at the second 9/18 table, your name is put on a list, and when it's your turn to go, you must move to the main game. It's a good idea I think.

So I get to the table and one East-Indian guy named Essan recognizes me from Cache. He asked me if I play the 4/8-Kill game alot, and I say "yeah, I thought I recognized you from somewhere." It was a bit of a lie...as I remember the guy a little from seeing him at Cap, but I really don't remember ever seeing him at Cache. Whatever, it doesn't matter.

So things don't change too much at the main game, as I found myself folding a ton. I wasn't being a nit, my cards were just terrible. I finally get a playable hand sometime in my third orbit.

Essan is UTG+1 and open raises. I look down at AA (club/diamond) and three-bet out of seat four. Seat five quickly folds, but seat 6 takes a long time...obviously debating between capping or folding. He finally folds and after that it is folded around to Essan. The BB in the hand (seat 1, cute 35 year old Asian woman) comments that she'd call, but she hasn't seen me play a hand yet. Essan only calls my 3-Bet and we see a flop of...

Flop: T:d:8:h:3:h:

Essan checks to me, I bet, and he Check-raises. I'm about 95% sure I'm ahead here, but I opt to just call in order to raise his turn bet.

Turn: Q:s:

Essan bets and I raise. He think for awhile, and finally just calls.

River: 3:c:

Gooood card. He checks, I bet, and he thinks for what seems like ages before finally calling. I show aces and he mucks. Seat six then tells the table he folded 88 and said he knew we must have had pocket pairs and we'd probably flop set over set against him. Whatever...but good fold on his part I think. I folded for close to three orbits in a row, so if I was in his spot, I'm folding those eights pretty easily. Good thing I didn't get cute and just call Essan's raise (I saw it happen twice when people had Aces).

After that I had AK win a small pot, made a nice little button play with T8s that I might post tomorrow, won with Aces one more time, and then lost a capped pre-flop pot with AKos. All in all I'd say I played pretty well considering the hands I was dealt, but so did the other players. There was maybe a couple weaker players (donks) at the table, but then everyone else was pretty decent. Not spectacular, not necessarily "winning" players, but they were definitely better competition than the 4/8 players out at Cache.

So after my bad run in September, I had been debating on taking an extended break from poker. In all honesty, it'd be good for me to take a month off and spend the time I would spend playing poker on getting into better shape. Aside from the annual Thanksgiving "Turkey Bowl" my grocery store gets together for every year, I really do need to lose some pounds. Unfortunately I'm much too lazy to do both...but then again, I like playing poker...so we'll just see I guess.

Sorry for the rambling, spelling mistakes I'm too lazy to go find, and boringness of a couple paragraphs up there. Thanks for reading, check back in the next couple of days for more hands. Peace.