pulled out a winner

started stuck pretty quickly on saturday night at O11, but i loved my table. there were a couple of super loose bad players at the table, so i felt like it was just a matter of time. one of the guys played about 80% of the pots and raised preflop about every other hand. in one hand, he raised, got a couple of callers, and i called in the small blind with 88. i knew i could take it down preflop, but out of position, i didn't want to play a big pot with 88 if someone called. i checked the 9 high flop which checked around. the turn was a 4, but it put 3 hearts on board, i lead out with a decent bet. the crazy loose player min-raised me. i thought he probably had a flush draw or maybe had paired the 4. i called. whoops, there goes my strategery of not playing a big pot with 88 out of position. the river was a blank, and i checked, he bet $100, which gave me about 3:1. i called and he showed a queen high flush.

our 2/3 NL game broke and i ended up sitting at 5/5 for most of the night / morning. there was a mix of players with several tighties, and a couple of loose cannons, and some solid players. i picked up some medium pots with pocket KKs twice, but slowed down a bit from the 2/3 game and played a bit tighter.

i raised a couple of limpers to $20 on the button with 4c5c. there were 3 callers. the flop was 2c3cKd, giving me an open ended straight flush draw. when you raise on the button with a speculative hand like low suited connectors, i'm not sure what more you can ask for. an early position player led out for $25 into a pot of $80. i raised to $80. he called and we were heads up to the turn, which was the 10d. he checked, and i decided to continue my semi-bluff rather than check behind and give him control. i felt he would have a tough time calling with anything less than 2 pair as i had played the hand strong and fast the whole time. i bet $200. he called relatively quickly. as it turns out, i probably should have eyed his stack before making this bet. he had only about $150 left after making the call. i should have bet about $150 on the turn to leave him with $200 on the river, so that it would be easier for him to fold on the river. anyway, the river was another blank, the 8h. he checked to me. obviously the only way i can win the pot is to push him in. i had him covered so i quickly pushed my "All-In" pumpkin into the middle. he thought for a few seconds and laid down Kc6c. wow. dodged one there. i showed him my 5 high, which got an angry "Nice hand!" out of him. i guess he must have put me on AA, AK, or KQ, or a set to fold the hand.

a bit later, i re-raised butch (of O11 infamy) in the small blind with QQ to $100. both he and the button called. the flop was Q-10-10. ummmmmm......jakepot! i wanted my action to seem pained, so i waited it out and watched butch carefully before i checked. he checked and the button bet $200. i thought for a few and pushed it all in. butch folded instantly, and the button made a pretty easy fold too with AQ [sorry brett - i was looking for butch to follow up with a continuation bet]. he had about $400-500 left which was the size of the pot, but there is really no hand he could be ahead of, except if i was making a suicide move with JJ or AK. i showed my top boat to take down a nice pot. butch said he folded KJ, but i was surprised he wouldn't try to take down the pot with his open ended straight draw, even though he was drawing dead.

anyway, after being down early, i pulled out a decent win for the session with those two big pots. after checking out my spreadsheet i started on Aug 1, that makes 20 of 23 winners.