Bad Beat, Bad dining, Bad players....

Hello all. I've played a fair bit of poker since my last post. Including last night. I picked up $300. But I was up about $1100 at one point so it felt like a loss. I'll touch more on the session soon. But first, I wanted to mention that I was finally on a Bad Beat Jackpot table last Friday. I received a player's share of $469. I was on the must-move $2-$5NLHE game when I got called to the main game. I went straight there and was dealt in. On my first hand, Jackpot! lol. Two players flopped a set. They got it all in on the flop.. Running Quad, Quad. Sweet! The thing that really blew was the fact that the jackpot hadn't been hit in a while and was built up to $60k+. Then it got hit.... about 3 hours before we hit it. Shit! That would have been a sweet player's share. Oh well, can't be too greedy. Moose held the losing hand and Ray(not GCP Ray) held the winning hand. Moose tipped $700(About 10%), and Ray tipped about $300 or so. I was glad to see the two big winners tip well. And most of the player's share guy tipped also. So Darlene did pretty well. She made more on a $15K jackpot than we did on a $65k jackpot in Amelia.

Now onto bad dining. Lisa and I went eat at Stella! in New Orleans. A rather expensive, upscale restaurant. I was disappointed. Mainly at the menu. There was a wide variety. But nothing I was thrilled about. Our starter was some meat, I had no clue what it was but I decided to gamble. Turns out it was duck or goose liver. Oh well, can't fault Stella! for my decision. I tried it but didn't care for it. And it was a tiny portion. I won't go onto too much detail about the entrees and crap. They were probably prepared excellently, but I just didn't care for either. I'm just too much of a simple guy to enjoy this over the top shit. Service was good and the setting was romantic. I'll just head over to Ruth's Chris next time.

Now onto bad players. It's so much easier to play online. As far as setting. You can sit in your underwear and play $200-$400 if you want. If I want to go play at Harrah's, I have to shower up, get dressed, etc... drive 1.5 hours.... get on the list... etc. But I'm convinced now more than ever......... the live players are so much worse. There are definitely great live players. But there's almost always a couple of big fish at the table. My last 4 sessions have went -350, -1100, +2215 & +300 win last night. The $350 loss was annoying because I knew I couldn't play long and donked off $350. The $1100 loss was brutal. I loss with a set to a flush draw 3 times. It started to become funny. I can't think of too many big hands that I won during the big win. I won a bunch of nice medium-sized pots. I think my biggest win came from a call that I didn't want to make. I limp UTG with AdKd. I'm hoping someone raises. But nobody does. Great, now I have to play very cautiously. That is until the flop came 3 diamonds. It checks around. I think. The turn pairs the board 6's. I bet and someone moves all-in for $300+. Yuck. The bet is a huge one relative to the pot size. But here's why I called. The player moving all-in is a guy in his 20s who showed up at about 5AM, glassy eyed, with a drink in his hand and Mardi Gras beads around his neck. He has only been playing for 20 minutes. And has already shown down garbage. Oh well, I call.. he has 6-2. The board doesn't pair I won a nice pot.

Onto last night. A $300 "win". I was up $150 or so on the 1-2 game while waiting to play 2-5. While the dealer is dealing, I get a call to move to 2-5. Cool, this is my last hand. I look down at two black queens. I raise preflop to $15 and get min-raised to $30 by the SB. I call. The flop comes down 10 high. Now the SB leads up $15? I never have any idea what the hell this means. If you're ever in a game with me and want to make my head spin. Bet $10 into a $400 pot. Anyway, I decide to see where I'm at and raise to $50. Then he moves all-in for $75 more. Damn I hate the way this turned out. I called, praying he had jacks. No, aces and I fail to improve. I didn't like this hand at all. I should have folded to the shove I guess. It just wasn't for a lot more money. I wish he had $150 more or something.

Well I move to the 2-5 game virtually even from the 1-2 game. I won a ton early when I flopped a boat. I straddled for $10. A couple callers to Wayne H. who makes it $30. I'm assuming he's just trying to build a pot cause nobody is folding for $20. Including me from the straddle with 4h7h. We see a multi-way flop of 7-7-4. Two clubs. Nice. I check and it checks around. the turn is a red ace. I bet $65. The loose player behind me calls and Yee makes it $200. The table folds to me and I have a decision. I'm surely not folding. If you have A-7 or AA. Merry X-mas. I'm deciding whether to raise or call. I decide to call, hoping the loose player behind me joins the party, and he does. Three players to the river for $200. The river is the 6c. Completing straight and flush. I'm first to act. I stall for a little while before moving in for $405. The loose player folds and Yee eventually calls. I show my boat. He shows a 7 and mucks. Luckily Yee isn't tight and paid me off. I almost cost myself $400 by not shoving the turn. That 6c was a terrible card for Yee. But he still paid.

I ended up giving a lot back. I played AA a little different than I usually do by checking the flop behind. But the donkey I was in the pot with heads-up would have called with the gutter that he nailed on the turn. He held Q-J and the flop came K-9-8. Check check. The turn is a 10. He bets and I call. Take a guess at the river. That's right, ace. Now I have the 3rd nuts behind Q-J and J-7. He bets $260 all-in on river. Uhhhhhhhh. I call... you win.

Then later I reraised a small raise preflop with JJ and Yee shoves all-in. Lol. He's got several hundred. I fold. A little later Yee raises preflop to $25. I make it $100 with Q-Q. Gets back to him and he shoves again. lol. I'm thinking about it(not really) and he shows me AA. I guess I fold.

I went 0-4 on open-ended straight draws late in the night that cost me. Luckily I rivered a boat with Q-10 on one of my last hands. I over bet the pot on the river. And Yee paid me off with the straight he made on turn.

This post was not to talk much in detail about my hands. But just to touch on the skill level of live players. I have seen so much bad play in my last 4 or 5 sessions. I made a $200 bet with A-10 on a 10-10-7-7-4 board and got paid off by JJ. I only bet $50 on the turn. And then decided to go for $200 on the river. Because I knew the guy was bad enough to pay me off with a seven. Little did I know he'd pay me with JJ lol. I am just a little more inspired right now to play because of some of the bad play I have seen.

I work early the next week so I may go play soon. Good luck to all.