X-mas eve continued, and a New Years res.

So I finally get to play some poker. Or not, I look up and see the big blind is only a few hands away from my seat. Since I'm buying in as a short stack I want to see as many free hands as I can. I leave my rack on the table and go get a drink. It takes like 20 mins to finish 3 hands, damnit.

I'm pretty card dead for about an hour, so I'm down almost half my stack. The first real hand I get dealt is AKoffsuit. Its a kill pot (well 1/2 kill so we play 6/12 instead of 4/8) and I'm the big blind, so only 2 more to call since no one raised. Flop comes as J J 10. Probably one of the worst flops ever for a short stacked AK. Everyone checks, the turn card comes a Q. I just hit an Ace-high straight. I bet out $12, and this asian guy rasies to $24. Everyone folds to me and I only have $6 left. The river is a third club and I fear he can have a flush or even full house. I say "straight" and flip my cards, he's like "Thats bigger than my straight" and mucks. I think that was an $80 pot. I've doubled my buy-in.

Later on I get AJo in the big blind. I flop a pair of aces, so I bet out $4. Like 4 people call. (I'l tell you what this 4/8 game is pretty sweet, they will call you down with any pocket pair even dueces lol), I'm sure that I have the best hand, unless someone with Ace-rag has two pair. That was until my Jack paired up on the turn. Only 2 people call my $8 bet this time. The river was a blank and this red haired guy was the only one that called me. I'm pretty sure he had an ace, maybe A10 or something. Anyways, I've played with this guy before and I know he see me as being ubertight and only betting if I have something. This is really important for later because I have to be careful who I try to bluff against. The older people at the table are so much harder to bluff because they will call you down with top pair no kicker, whereas I know some of the thinking players there would never call ME down with that. Its just the table image I get when I buy in shortstacked because I only showdown really good hands.

The next hand in question is a kill pot again. The red haired guy from earlier is the one that has the $6 blind. I look down at pocket 4s. I raise it up to $12. Some guy near the button calls, as does the red haired guy. The flop is K J x. Redhaired guy checks and I bet out $6 pretty quickly. Button guy calls and the redhead guy calls too. I'm a little scared that one of them has a king, but I know that my tight image along with the larger turn bet is going to scare them. The older people especially play different in a kill pot. They play more scared since the bets are bigger. This impacts my play as well because I know that I can steal the pot away if they have a marginal hand. So the turn comes and its a 6 or something. Redhead checks and I bet out $12. Button calls and redhead calls again! Fuck, one of them has a king, and I suspect its redhead. River is another blank. Redhead checks again, he is playing so scared too. If he bets there I was going to raise him, but he just checks. I bet $12, button thinks for a second and folds. One down! Redhead says, "I can't call you... (He flashes a Jack) .. I can't call you." My kill pot bluffs are racking up :).


I cash out about $120 eventually. Won some small pots, folded a bunch etc. I don't really remember what happened next because I tend to block out the blackjack fiascoes out
of my brain. Blackjack is like the demise of my poker profits. All I know is I sat down with $35 and walked with $50. Once I realized what was happening I left blackjack. I've lost more on blackjack than I've made on poker I think. My goals for the new years is to completely stop playing blackjack. I'm also going to take a couple shots at 1/2NL. Last few times I played No Limit was pretty gross. However I did have a $500 day followed by a $300 1/2NL day. Both of those time I bought in short. I need to get in there with a full buyin and I know I can do some damage.

Lastly, I played this Saturday. Didn't go too well and I ended up down $100. I think I won maybe one pot. Had Aces cracked in a kill pot playing 3/6, he hit is third King on the river and was like "I knew you had aces." No kidding? Wonder why I 4-bet you preflop. >:( I then got Kings cracked by AJ in another kill pot, this time paying 4/8. I raised preflop to $12 and 3 people call. Flop is Jack high so I bet out and this asian dude raises. I was all-in and ahead. Turn is an Ace. Fantastic! The River is ANOTHER Ace. Nice hand sir.

I think I'm even since I started this blog for my x-mas eve session. Actually I may be up because I took $80 cash only on x-mas eve. And bought some presents and food for a week at work and I still have cash in my wallet. Another New Years resolution I have is to keep my poker bankroll separate from my living expenses. Thats it for now.

Nick