A rare casino trip last night resulted in a nice profit for the week as I spent a good five-hour session playing $1/$2 No-Limit. I went to Rivers casino in Schenectady, NY and bought in for $200 (max buy-in was $300) and won a good sized pot with KK early on. I also made some huge laydowns that not a lot of amateurs would have been able to make. First, the KK hand. Guy two seats to my right straddled for $4. I raised to $15 with KK. It folded around to the straddler who called. The flop came 2-3-6. I bet $20 and he called. Turn was a K giving me a set. Straddle boy checked again and I bet $25. He called. River was a blank and straddler goes all-in. It took me a minute to call because I wasn't sure if he had 4-5 for the straight. He certainly played the hand as though he did. I asked the dealer for a count. The bet was $90 which I had covered. I took a deep breath and called. He turned over 6-6 for a lower set and I raked the pot. Needless to say he was pissed. Mostly because I busted him, but I also don't think he was happy that I asked for a count. Most players would have insta-called, but I had to be sure he didn't have the nuts and the count gave me an extra few seconds to think.
A couple of hours later after spinning my wheels a bit, I picked up A-Q in early position. I limped in and the guy on the button raised to $16. I called and a player two seats to my left called as well. The flop came A-9-3 and I led out for $15. The guy two seats to my left called and the button made a $35 raise. I tanked for a couple of minutes before folding and the guy two seats to my left called. I sensed one of them had A-K. My instincts were right as they got all-in on the river. The guy two seats to my left was bluffing with 5-8 of spades, and the button, who had to call his all-in river bet, had A-K! After that hand I knew I'd be ok. That was a tough laydown, but when you feel like you're beat, you have to let the hand go no matter how good it may look to you. I felt like I made really good decisions the whole session and it resulted in a decent profit. I was down as much as $35, and up as much as $150 so to walk out with a $97 profit was fine with me. I also played the Daily Bonanza five times last week cashing once. Here's where I stand:
Play Money: 10,906,000 Up 437,000
Real Money: $986.94 Up $97.65
Target for next Cash Game level: $1,000 ($50)
Target for next SnG level: $1,100 ($55)
Target for next MTT level: $1,100 ($22)
So even though I'm a bit shy of $1,000, I'm happy because Global Poker will give me $20 for taking a picture of myself in front of the casino with the Global hat a T-shirt on. As soon as they credit my account, I'll be over the $1,000 marker! We didn't have enough players for the home game last week so we will try again for this week. Things are about to get very interesting now as I try to get some insurance over $1,000. I will wait until I either turn a nice home game profit, or Global credits my account before I open things up and start grinding real money again. I also have the Bonanzas to play as well to try and make up the difference. It's an exciting time for me and I encourage you to follow along on this blog and my Twitter handle @BenRagusa for updates!
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