Wednesday Night 15/30 (7/23)

Ahh today was pretty good. Slept in, got some stuff done around the house, washed my car, and planned on going to play by 7pm or so. Well I rolled into Cap around 9:30pm (standard) and was first on the waiting list for all of seven seconds before being called over to the game.

A couple quick thoughts:
- The table was ridiculously passive for the majority of the night
- The regulars were running awful when I sat down and moved away to the 1/3 NL table before I got through a couple orbits

The table was pretty good, just different from what I was used to seeing at 15/30. At 15/30 I'm more familiar with aggressive monsters spewing chips, instead this table was full of passive Cache Creek-like players check/calling everyone to death. Quick rundown of key players at the table: Seat 1 - Taggy Asian guy getting sucked out on most of the night; Seat 2 - Older Black man, really LPP, just awful most of the night; Seat 3 - Middle aged reg named Bill...pretty LPP, he always seems tight at first to me, but turns out to be really passive/loose; Seat 4 - Old white man, really LPP, saw him hit three backdoor flushes tonight, and two of them I had flopped a four flush (wtf right); Seat 5 - Really annoying Korean guy, somewhat laggy; Seat 6 - Maniac white guy, late 20's, said he played a lot in the Los Angeles area cardrooms (and it showed). Really nice guy aside from all of that, sounds like he plays a lot; Seat 7 - Taggish chubby but brutally sexy Mexiwegian, smelled a lot like Dr. Pepper and In 'n Out; Seat 8 - Reg named Sing...stayed in his seat the majority of the night this time, easily my best opponent at the table.

I'm not going to lie...if I had the option of playing against Spewtards or Passive Stations all night, I'd definitely take the stations. They're much easier to guide through a hand and make the game much less stressful. Then again, spewtards make the game much more exciting/fun...oh well, both are win/win as long as the players play bad...

Okay so I know you guys are bored by now, so onto the hands. The first hand I won was 99 on a KT3 board with two diamonds. I was in position and HU with Bill (seat three). He check/called me on the flop, the turn was a lower card than my nines, a five I think. He check/called again, and on the river an eight of diamonds hit. He checked, I checked behind and he showed AQ for a missed gutterball and two overs. I really like my bet/fold lines I took on the flop/turn...I really don't want to check behind a turn and let my opponent get a free ride to hit his draw, bluff me off my hand or value bet my ass with middle pair on the river. I keep the pressure on, and if I get called on the turn, I check behind and showdown if I don't improve on the river. If I have AQ on the other hand, I like a check behind on the turn because bet/calling or bet/folding the turn with this board and AQ would make me cry. Of course, if your opponent has been floating a lot of flops and shutting down against turn bets, by all means continue firing.

Okay so after that hand I get dealt a couple hands I like to call "roadmaps." That is, even Stevie Wonder could play these hands.

Hero is dealt AK of hearts in the hijack. Limped in a couple spots, Hero raises, called by the button, the blinds and the limpers. Six to the flop (weeeeee). Flop: K73 with two spades. Checks to hero, hero bets, called in two spots, folded in two Maniac white guy raises (aww crap), Hero 3-bets, two folds after my 3-bet (sweet), maniac just calls (double sweet). Turn: Ace of clubs (this isn't even fair), check/bet/call; River: Nine of diamonds, check/bet and villain folds 75 of spades face up. Thanks for not letting him get there. Sweet pot.

Very next hand I get dealt AJos, two limpers, I raise. Flop comes jack high, turn is an ace, and I get called down by seat four (old man; lpp) who pays me off with A9. It's fun to remember those times where I have KK on the J-high flop and the old man turns me with A9 there, so this time I need to be thankful I turned Aces up lol ;-) Back to back Aces-up hands, and my chipstack is somewhere close to +$500.

Well, it's that time of the night where I'm incoherent and can barely keep my eyes open, so I guess I'll have to blog about how I shipped $350+ back to the table over the course of the next couple of hours either tomorrow or sometime later this week, because I'm falling asleep.

Basically all I have to say is I thought about leaving as soon as I was up a rack, but realized that the potential (i.e. the game was really good) to be up another rack was there. Part of playing this "high" is understanding that in reality, I'm only up a rack of chips, and I shouldn't leave just because my "luck might run out." Of course, the situation where three and a half stacks later I'm cashing out +$150 and feeling like an ass might get me to at least think about leaving when I'm plus five, but I'll still know I'd be wrong to leave.

No big deal, in a way, it felt good to ship back the money. To feel human again. To be reminded that I'm not always going to flop TPTK and have it hold against five people on a super drawy board. Also, it felt good to be reminded that sometimes I play bad and have things I need to work on such as missing a few raises in LP with some strong cards (yes I know, I missed a raise...wtf?) and I even missed my fold button a couple times and showed down a bit light (whoops). Live and learn I guess. Sorry for rambling more than normal tonight, thanks for reading.