Saturday night's all right for poker

Played in the tournament at the Goldstrike Saturday. Slightly different this week: They had 10K in starting chips and charged $135. I thought that would kill the attendance with the economy being shaky, but 79 runners signed up.

Early on I doubled up in this scenario: There were several limpers to me in the big blind. I had ♠A ♥K and decided to check. You can make a case for raising, but then a CB on a raggy flop is exploitable. I decided to play a small pot out of position.

The flop was ♦A ♣K ♠x and I bet the pot and got one caller. The turn was another rag (two spades on the board) and I bet pot again and was raised all in. It looked like he was on a flush draw, so I called -- if he had a set, so be it. He turned over ♠Q ♣J, WTF? Then I looked at the board again and one of the Xs was a 10, oops, he had a straight! The river was an ace, so my donkey full house took it, but it was embarassing to say the least.

After 2 1/2 hours, the blinds were getting high. 10K in chips sounds great, but they raise the blinds and antes so fast that you don't really get much more play than the usual starting stack. It folded to me in the SB (sorry, but I don't remember the blinds and antes, but they were significant). My stack was around 14K and I moved all in. The next guy (who had about half my stack) thought and thought and finally called and turned over ♥J ♦5!! Unfortunately, I turned over ♠6 ♠2, heheh. A ♦6 on the flop was good enough for me to win -- I won't repeat the naughty words the other guy used. That's the problem with a move like I made -- when the other guy is shortstacked, they are willing to gambool -- nothing to lose.

A few hands later I had another guy all in (he had me covered). I had ♠A ♠9, and he had ♦A ♦4. The flop was low cards, so my 9 would play, but there were two diamonds. The turn was another diamond giving him the nut flush, and my tournament night was finished. Serves me right for the early suckout and for getting caught with my hand in the cookie jar with the mighty 6-2.

I headed straight for the 3/6 limit O8 game with a kill. There was one seat open -- suhweet! I won three kill pots early and was up $200+. The game was agressive. One of the regulars (a good player) quit. He didn't like the volatility. In a game like that you have to be willing to pay off when your draws don't hit or they run you down.

My winnings dwindled down (to about $50) when this hand played out. I held ♠A ♠K ♠9 ♣A. It was a kill pot and someone raised so it was $12 to me. I'm still learning O8, so maybe I should do something, but I just called. The flop was ♣10 ♥9 ♥4. There was another bet and raise and a bunch of us donkeys called. The turn was nice for me:♦9 giving me trips. Again it was bet and raised and reraised making it $36 to me. I called. The river was sweet: ♥K giving me a boat and the third nuts (K-K or 10-10 would beat me). The first guy to act was an old man and he bet $12 and one player called. Can he really have a higher boat? I just called and he proudly announced he had the nut flush. The other guy folded and I showed my boat to scoop a ~$250 pot.

Can you imagine betting into a big pot like that with a paired board and only a flush? You can see why I loved this game.

I played until around 3 a.m. and quit. I hated to leave (the game was still juicy), but I was pooped. I wish they were all this easy.