A Run for the Sun

I'm annoyed. I had typed notes into my iPod all night, and deleted it when reviewing. So my notes won't be as complete.

Friday night I decided to hit Mohegan Sun again.

I really prefer Mohegan Sun. The poker room is smaller, but it is also less crowded. I got there at 6:30 and was seated right away. The entire night they filled empty seats quick, and there was not much of a wait and the list was never long.

The night felt weird. It felt like I as up and down, but in reality I was never down.

I bought in for 200 instead of the usual 100. I liked this much better. I felt like I could do things and not just wait. I was able to limp into a few pots early on. One paid off. Only a few hands in, and it limps around to me. I have AJ and decide to call. I don't want to go nuts with a mediocre holding and I'm really only 4 or 5 hands in. It limps all the way around. It ended up being 9 people into the pot. This became a regular thing. Not THAT many, but there were a lot of limpers. The flop comes A99. It limps all the way around. I really wanted to see what kind of action it generated. I doubted anyone had a better ace (even that early I figured AQ, AK would raise). THe turn was a blank, but put a flush draw on the board. It checks to me and I put out $15. It folds all the way around to the "guy" on my immediate right and "he" goes all-in.

I say "guy" because I thought it was a guy, until that moment, I thought it was a guy. Tall, quiet. Turns out... no. Oops. So much for observations! She has a small stack (lots of people buying in short). Only about 35 more. I look at my stack and think about folding. Smells a little like a 9. But because of the flush draw, I felt there was also a big chance that she had the flush draw. I make the call and she flips over AT. I think the flop check worked in my favor there, but probaly not a good idea.

I continue to build a stack. My favorite hand of the night was my call with Q high. Unfortuantely, this is where my lack of notes hurts a bit. Raised pot (raised to 6), I call with QJ. The board on the flop reads AT8. I check and the raiser checks, the turn is another A. I check and the raisor bets about 10. I just think he's trying to take the pot and think I might be good. I call. The turn is an 8. I definitely feel I'm good here. I check hoping for a small bet that I can call. He knuckles and I show my Q high. He says I'm good and I drag a small pot. It was nice to trust my read and willing to go with it. Though a big bet on the river and I would have folded, not trusting myself that much.

At one point, I get my stack to a postive $175. I'm feeling good, having fun and I start to throw the tips around generously. Redbirds, even if I'm just picking up the blinds and a couple of limpers. Redbird for the waitress. It was fun and I was trying to buy Karma. Unfortunately, with my profit, comes looseness. And next thing I know, I'm down to just above my original $200. It's 9pm and I figure it's time for dinner.

I take a 30 minute break, get a mediocre buffalo chicken wrap, some nasty pasta side dish. The break pumped my mood up a bit, I changed the music in my iPod to something more upbeat and sat backdown to play.

Four hands in, still at $200, I look down at AA. I raise it to 12, and 2 limpers. A guy pops it to $50 and I do a little flip. Folds to me and I raise it to $125. The limpers fold (one guy, an asian dude, really struggles with his fold, but he's been like that all night). The last guy tanks. You can tell he wants to fold. He doesn't have the discipline (I don't know if I would have), and pushes his stack in. He has me slightly covered. I'm glad he pushed and not just called. Even though it would have been more than 1/2 his stack. He might have gotetn away from the hand on the flop. He flips the obvious KK. The door card is paint, but turns out to be a Jack. Which is promptly followed by an A. I have a sick feeling he's going to go runner runner for a straight, but I dodge that get my stack to over double the buy-in.

The rest of the hands are escaping me. I know I lost about $100 on speculative hands, but built it back up on a lucky hand.

The asian dude who reluctantly folds, raises it up. I call with AsJh. The flop comes KsJs3s. 2nd pair and the nut flush draw. I look at the ADWRF's stack. It's small (around 80), another short buyer, who's taken a few beats. I bet out 20. He thinks for a few seconds and pushes all-in. I've seen him bluff before, and feel he can definitely be bluffing here. I don't think he has the flush because he pushed. I thought he would just call if he had the flush, and push on the turn if no spade came. He could definitely have a K or even a J here. If it wasn't for my Ace of spades, I definitely fold there. Most of this thought process happened before I bet out. I decided if he re-raised me I was going to push on him or even call. So the as soon as I said "All-In,"I insta-called. As I put all the thought into it already, I liked my insta-call even more, after the hand, for the simple fact it tilted the guy big time. Neither of us showed our hands. Which was a common at this table. No spade came, but an Ace on the river gave me 2 pair. He confidentally flip my 2 pair. He just stared as his cards and shook his head over and over. Mumbled to himself. After about a minute, he finally mucks.

For the next few hands, I hear him muttering about the insta-call. What made me even happier about his tilt, is that he is one of those guys that, after the hand, just stares at his cards. As if something is going to change. He did it to me, and he did it a plenty of times before and after that. Someone can show the nuts, and he'll just stare at his hand like he can somehow make it better. We have someone like that in one of our home games. It is annoying. Felting the guy, made it less so. He reached in for another $60 and would later lose that too.

In the end, I called it a night shortly after midnight and with a nice little profit. I was thinking about making another run Friday, but turns out a home game is coming around on Saturday, and I haven't been to one in a while. So I think I'll do that one instead.

Until next time.

-My name is Unimpressed, and I'm an donkaholic.