Bloated Fish

Little luck never hurts

Fish December 11, 2008

If you read my previous blog post you would know that yesterday I kicked it at the Oceans 11 card room after work.  I ended up staying for 3 hours playing 1-1 no limit hold-em.  I started the day with the max table buy in of $40.  The first table at sat at I immedietly looked around at the people sitting and their chip stacks.

The first guy I looked at had 3 full racks of chips so $300.  The second guy I looked at had 2 stacks of red chips and about 40 blues so he was sitting at around $240 and the guy right next to him was hovering around $140.  I then checked out everyone else and noticed pretty much all stacks over the buy in so they have been feeding off the new blood that sits down.

I played about 10 hands before transfering away from that table and to one that included 3 older guys and a lady that deals there at the casino.  I figure this is probably a table I can see flops pretty cheap and maybe walk away with some money in my pocket.  To my delight, this did happen as I walked away up $40 on the day.  I am usually pretty happy if I leave even because I consider every time I play as a learning experience and with most teachings, nothing is ever free.

I made my money pretty much on 2 hands.  The first I was dealt in the BB an As8c and there were no raisers so I got to see the flop for the $1.  Flop comes 7h8d3h and since I was first to act I immediately threw $5 at the pot hoping everyone would just fold out and I could scoop the $4 pot and move on.

This wouldn’t be much of a story though if that happened.  I ended up with 2 callers, this Asian lady who would re-buy every 2-3 hands for $20 and this older guy who plays a pretty tight game but will occasionally through money at suited cards.  The turn comes 8h and even though there were 3 hearts on the flop I was banking that neither one of them was on a flush draw so I threw $5 more at the pot.  The Asian lady in turn raised it to $10 and the older guy called.  I am thinking to myself I just lost as at least one of these bastards just got me but I call the raise anyways hoping for my ace to fill me up on the river.  The dealer burns a card and bam a 3c hits.

What happens next is I make a stupid move and go all in, realizing the lady only had 4 more chips and the guy had about 30.  She calls and he folds, I flip over the 8 for the boat and she flips over an ace high flush.  The older guy tells me he had a flush too, I believe it to be queen high.  My mistake was not making a reasonable enough bet for him to stick around.

The 2nd hand that I made the rest of my money on was against the same Asian lady.  I am dealt pocket 10’s in middle position, I didn’t raise and no one else did either so I got to see the flop again.  I wondered to myself though if I should of raised pre-flop,  I thought I should have but sometimes I get gun shy when my raises don’t pan out.

The flop comes K82 and I check as well as a couple other people.  The Asian lady bets $2 and I am considering folding because I know she has the king but I say what the hell, I am a fish right, let’s see the turn for cheap.  Well the turn comes a 10, she is first to act and bets $5, I raise to $10 and she calls.  Turn is a K which gives her trips so she goes all in with her last $6 and I call.  I have the boat and she has trips so I take all her money.

This actually put me up probably $55 for the day and I ended up throwing the rest back in on losing hands.  I seen pocket 6’s probably 5 times during this 3 hour session.  I also had pocket queens that got ate up by pocket aces, luckily I only lost about $10 on that hand.

I walked out a winner because for once, luck was on my side.

- The Fish