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…so, I sat down for a tournament game last night at a new place.  It was a tournament with an extremely wallet friendly $10 buy in.  It should have been an easy table to win at.  I'd played with a couple of them before and kinda knew what to expect from them.  Everyone (except me) was drinking and having a good time.  Nearly every hand was a limp-in for everybody, and there were LOTS of checks until the river.

I was the first one out.

What happened?  Well, I was throwing away a lot of hands that most of the other guys would have stayed with… like 10 and 8 offsuit, or 4 and K offsuit…  and while they were busy taking turns raking in small pots with hands like a pair of tens, I sat out and watched.

Then I got a hand worth raising a little pre-flop.  AJ diamonds.  So, on a big blind of 30, I raised it to 60 (and I was the big blind).  Everyone called.  I didn't hit the flop, and the guy to my right checked.  I led out like it didn't matter if I didn't hit the flop with a bet of 60.  Everyone called.  The turn didn't help, but I couldn't check or I'd give away what I was in on.  I wanted to represent a pocket pair that hit the flop or turn, so I raised up my bet to 150.  Finally a couple people folded.  Two stayed in.  After the river (which also didn't help me), I led out with 200.  One caller.  I had Ace High, but was bluffing.  I figured the guy who stayed had a big hand and would re-raise to see where I really stood, or fold.  He just called, and his 10 and 6 hole cards netted him a two pair.  He was in the hand for over 80% of his chips with a two pair that he caught on the river.

So, after that I took two more smaller hits, lost a pair of Aces to a full house and I can't even remember the last one.  I was all in blind on my last hand as the big blind with 3 callers and lost.

…(whistles): "it was a crazy game of poker, and I lost it all"… O.A.R.

And I pretty much don't like poker anymore… atleast for a day or two… I'm pouting…

Lesson: cheap games are not serious games.

… and for those wondering, yes – I made it through another night without drinking…

6 weeks and counting…

…so poker really sucked tonight.  4 cards to an open-ended straight flush draw on the board, the guy to my left is betting weak with checking and calling.  Any of 9 other spades would have a flush, and two of those would give the straight flush.  I'd been leading with $200 bets, so I upped my bet after the river to $500.  He raised to $1000.  I knew I didn't have it, so he must have caught it – so I folded.  Bastard had pocket 10's.  The river was a freaking 10!  He bet $1000 on trip 10's!

So, I didn't have it anyway – but what the hell?  Did he have a read on me?  Maybe he didn't realize all the outs there were.  Maybe he didn't realize what hands he was potentially playing against.

I felt better when I watched him lose a lot of stupid hands the rest of the night.

Well, the most important thing is that I made it through another night without drinking…

…so I had some chocolate and apple pie and played some of the streetchallenge game – and I feel better.  Not so bitter.  I feel better about my wife and marriage overall than I talked about in that last post.

I'll tell you what, moods are contagious.  If she's in a bad mood, then I will eventually be in a bad mood – though by the time I am, she's over her's.

Well, anyway… I'm headed out to play some poker.  Nothing heals differences like time apart to enjoy your own space…

I'm an asshole, aren't I?…