Flopping good stuff

Hmm, I forgot about my resolution to ‘play happy’ last night, but - looking back - I think I did it anyway. I had a nice shortish session, and was happy with myself over game selection and my play.

The Omaha line-ups didn’t ring my bell, so I sat in a $1/$2 five card stud game and found rich pickings. I certainly ran good, picking up more paired openers than you could reasonably expect, but I also played really well and felt completely ‘in the zone’. I honestly cannot think of a single significant mistake I made in the hour I played, which is great because I do have a tendency to miss bets in limit poker. Not last night; I got every bet I could, made the right calls, the right raises, the right reads – for instance, drawing a bluff on the end from one guy who I knew could not call if I bet but liked to have a pop if you seemed weak.

I started a PLO sit and go during that game, and ended up coming second to follow yesterday’s win. I probably played better this time, turning on the aggression when we hit the money, which resulted in me going heads-up with a 2-1 advantage. Unfortunately I got cold-decked on two consecutive hands, flopping good stuff when my opponent flopped the mortal nuts, and I had to settle for second. Still, a 1st and 2nd in consecutive sit and goes has renewed the confidence.

Finally, I played three heads-ups. I lost two of the three, which was a bit galling. In the last one, with a small chip advantage, I had the guy all-in with A9 versus my AQ only to see him hit a 9 on the river. His provocative showing of a couple bluffs after that irritated me a little.

What else? My blackjack bonus got paid into my account very promptly last night, so that’s nice. I either take it and run, which means I forfeit any future promotions, or I have to spin it four times and risk losing it. Maybe I’ll just bet on black on the roulette wheel until I have done the requisite staking. How bad can you run on coin tosses? (Answer, as all tournament players know, is ‘pretty damn bad’!)

Thanks are due to JD of Cheap Thrills, who has pointed me toward a good blogger interface which I will download onto my laptop at home. So I should soon be updating this post and the last one with links etc.

Current favourite song: ‘Givin’ Up’ – The Darkness