ship it!

i went nowhere in the free roll i had at pechanga a couple weeks back. i raised some limpers on the button with AK, the first limper min-raised me, others folded, i called. flop was K high. he check raised, and with half my chips in the pot already, i had to call, not liking it too much. obvy he had KK. nice hand.

i went to pechanga again last night, this time to purchase the main event seat from the guy who stole it from under me (kidding, doug). so the syndicate is the proud owner of a wsop main event seat (with my name on it!!!).

since i was there, i figured i might as well gamboool it up with some locals. it's kind of nice to be able to play in a room where i don't know 75% of the people at the table. plus i like playing in "casinos" vs. card rooms. i just seem to do much better.

so i'm glad i went last night. i played 5/5 NL and had one of my best nights ever. the players in that game were by far more gambly than the 2/3 at oceans. i more than doubled up at the must move table in less than an hour, then got a seat in the main game, which proved to have a much higher level of gamble than the must move table -- pretty amazing.

here's an example of a hand i witnessed soon after sitting in the main game: limps to SB who raises to $60, BB makes it $160. SB calls. flop is 8 high. SB moves in for $395. BB thinks for a minute, stacks and counts his chips, and calls. turn J, river 3. Showdown: small blind 9c9s, big blind AsJc. ummmmmm, shizzle my dizzle, mr. rogers! wtf?! such a crime that farha jr. left with $1200.

and for the most part, besides two full timers, most of the others were pretty bad. i did have the best seat in the house, i can't complain there. probably the worst player at the table had a huge chip stack ($3k) as he kept hitting draws and sucking out by making trip 6s on the river. it was like 3 times he was dead to a 6 which hit on the river, giving him winning trips. anyway, i was sitting to his direct left. i re-raised him preflop several times, and he called and then folded on the flop every time. of course i had him beat every time, but he was calling 15-20 big blinds preflop with like 65s and the like. it was brilliant.

i felt like i was in the zone and making the right reads and the right plays. in fact, i usually vividly remember the details of lots of hands, but today i can only remember a few select hands. i used to get that feeling in water polo, when i would score and then realize i didn't remember the preceeding minute of time. we called it "the zone".

here is one hand i remember: EP raises to $30 (fairly standard raise). three callers to me, including 1 player who is all in for the $30 bet. i call with Jd9d in the small blind. [i normally wouldn't play a drawing hand like that out of position, but with deep stacks later in the night, implied odds were there]. flop is K high with 2 diamonds. not a terrible flop for me. i check it, and it checks around. turn is another diamond. i lead for $50 with my J high flush, and the initial raiser makes it $115 more. now when 1 player is all in, the dynamics of a hand changes. there will be a showdown and the side pot is dry, so typically the betting is mild, unless two active players really like their hands. i call his raise. i'm thinking he might have AK with the nut flush draw. the river was a brick. i know jamie gold would cream himself for a J high flush, but i thought i would bluff catch with my flush. if he missed, there is a good chance he is going to want the side pot, which now has become significant. and i was pretty sure i would be calling any bet by him, since i would be getting 3:1 on his shove. so i check, and he shoves the river. i say outloud, "i hope you have pocket Kings.....i call." he shows KK for top set. bummer of a slow play for you bro. funny thing is, the all in player made the nut flush and won the main pot with all the $30 calls. glad he didn't have any more money on the table.

i felt like i was definitely getting respect from the full timers, like i was in their fraternity. one of them didn't believe me that i had a job. why would i lie about being an engineer?