5th, not to shabby...

It's blog time once again, peoples. I'm back and I've got some more juicy poker stuff for you to wrap your heads around. Pull up a chair, grab some popcorn, and hit the lights 'cause here we go...

Like I posted in a blog last week, I took last Friday off from Jim's. I needed to just get away from poker for at least a week. Anyways, I enjoyed not concerning myself with poker for one Friday. Playing every week was taxing my mind to the breaking point. So a break was much needed. Needless to say, I was ready and amped for Kurt's this past Friday.

The first game started out alright, not great, but alright. I was sitting at a decent table, a good mix of aggressive and laid back players. It was freezing outside and it didn't help that we were in the garage. Anyways, I was quiet for most of the first coulpe rounds, I won some pots and stole some as well. I had a big hand with Moe, where I ended up crippling him. Here's how it went...

I was in middle position and the blinds were $40 - $80. I got dealt pocket 7's. I just wanted to see a cheap flop and I just called. Moe who was directly to my left raised it to $300. Everybody folded back around to me. I thought for a little bit and called. The flop came up 10d - 5s - 7c. I hit my set and I knew Moe would bet at it at, so I checked with the intention of coming over the top if Moe bet. I was right, Moe lead out and bet $500. I went all in without really counting my chips. It ended up that I had about $340 more, and Moe was pretty much priced into calling. He had pocket J's. The turn came up 10h, giving me a full house, 7's over 10's. Moe could still win if a 10 or jack came up. The river was a 3c and I took a pretty big pot. After that I was up and down throughout the game. I got to the final table severly short stacked. The only saving grace was that I had a little more than 2 rounds of blinds left in my stack and the button was half way across the table, so I knew I had some time to catch at least some decent cards. It was going to be at least four hands before I had to think about acting and another two hands there after before I was blinded out. Lucky for me, it was an aggressive table and people started making moves early. I ended up finishing in 5th place, not bad considering I barely hung on for most of that game.

The second game was a different story. I lasted only one hand before hitting the rail. I had Qs - Jc. I was in middle position and I just limped in. Steve was the small blind and just called and Paul was the big blind and he checked. The flop came 4c - Qh - 4d. Steve checked, Paul checked, and then it was up to me. The pot had $60 in it, and I led out and bet $80. Steve raisedme to $150. Paul folded and it was back on me. I raised it to $300 and Steve went all in. I messed up and I really didn't think to hard about it and I called pretty quickly. He turned up pocket A's and I was pretty much toast. I was the first one out of the second game.

I know I should have taken some more time to think about what he had, but I don't think it was all that bad of a call. After all, I did have top pair with a pretty good kicker. He only had me beat if he had kings, aces, a four, or a queen with a higher kicker. All in all, it was still a good night, and I got some points to help my cause. At least I'm not dead last anymore. Tomorrow Kurt is hosting a "high stakes" game at his house. I ,of course, will be in attendance. Wish me luck. Until next time everybody, later!

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