Last Minute Fine Tuning

I've gotten in some live poker action over the past week with 2 neighborhood games. I dropped a little last week in a single table game at my neighbors and had a break even session at Kajagugu's neighborhood game.

During the small game in my neighborhood, I just couldn't get enough value out of my hands. Kaj has seen me do this the last 3 times we've played together. Hopefully I can improve that for this weekend. I didn't think I was playing poorly, but I wasn't playing well enough for the win. I had a bad run of getting outdrawn when we were all in and letting my oponent catch their hand when I slow played a nice flopped hand.

Friday night's game was a little larger. My brother was visiting from out of town and I took him over to Bobby's. This gave us 17 players and we finally got to meet Mrs. Surf. Nice to meet you m'am. As we expected, she outlasted us and finished 3rd, nice job. For the first game, I played like a big ol' idiot. I was crippled early on because I insisted on running a bluff when I shouldn't have. It was too early in the game and I just didn't assess the situation correctly. I was able to recoup the loss and more in the cash game. I hit a couple of good hands and this financed my fun for the night. My performance in the second game was a little better, but I still made another bad bluff when I should have known better. After this, I went card dead and eventually pushed my A,7ish from the button into the pocket rockets of my brother in the big blind. He had me slightly outchipped but was still a short stack when his hand held up and went out on the bubble a few hands later.

Friday night had quite a few fun moments. My brother got the first game started by giving his table quite a chuckle. He is fairly new to the game and mainly plays for funny money online. He plays Texas Hold'em with real cards maybe once or twice a year. As we were walking in to Bobby's house, he confirmed with me that he was supposed to burn a card on the flop. This was the only piece of poker "advice" I gave him before play started. He was fortunate enough to draw the button and after "shuffle up and deal" was announced, he did what what he remembered last. He dealt the flop exactly as he was supposed to do. The problem was, he hadn't dealt the cards to the players yet. Kaj came over to my table to inform me that he was dealing Hold'em solitaire.

I head out Friday afternoon for a holiday weekend in Vegas with my friends. I am looking forward to seeing the WSOP for the first time, doing the rides at the Stratosphere and playing like a rock at the $1/2 games at different casinos. I am really hoping to leave my stupid play in Atlanta.