I played very little poker this month. I had 2 sessions at the zoo and 2 sessions in Shreveport. My first session at the zoo started with a $110 tournament. I finished 5th which was the bubble. I then played 2/5 for 1 1/2 hrs and made $600.
In Shreveport we got there late Friday night and I had a huge up and down session to cash out for $13 profit. I got there about noon Saturday and played 2/5 until almost ten and cashed out up $471. I was down 1,000 at one point. I did win a $2,300 pot with QJh when I flopped open ended and a flush draw against a middle position raiser and the button called after me. It was $40 to see the flop. The flop came 9,T,5 with 2 hearts. Original raiser bet’s $60, I call, then button calls. The raiser is a very tight player and the button is an inexperienced high roller. The turn is a non heart 8. Raiser checks and I bet $100 and the button raises to $210. I have a little over $1,000 left. The original raiser goes in the tank and then folds. I re-raise it $300 more. The guy then asks me how much I have left which was a little more than $900. He thinks forever going back and forth between what looks like folding to pushing in all of his chips which was more than $800. He goes from his chips to his cards and peeking and then looking at me. He finally pushes in all of his chips and of course I call. The river was a deuce and he mucks when I show him the nuts. He said he had a J so he was just open ended? Not sure, he might have had JJ or J7 but we will never know.
I did fold a set on the flop in another hand that drew ire from everyone at the table when I showed it. It was an A,4,5 flop with 2 spades. I had 4,4 utg and 7 people saw the flop. I was about to bet but the woman to my left was arguing with the gentlemen to my right and she check out of turn and the next guy bet $20 so I said I guess I check then. Turned out to be a blessing b/c a couple of people called and raised it up to $80. The guy(Bill from Austin) then reraises it to $220. The others fold and I ask him how much he has left. He pushes out $400 more like it’s already in the pot. He was very confident. Normally I would take that posturing as a bluff but in my experience when old guys do that it means they are not bluffing. I can rule out AA since he didn’t raise preflop after 3 limpers. 2,3 is out of the question. So it’s A,5 or 5,5 and I’m leaning towards 5,5. Of course there is no way of knowing for sure. He might play A,5 or A,4 the same way. I decide there will be better spots so I fold my 4,4 face up. He gets angry and asks me why I would check a set and I say it was b/c they acted out of turn and he claims he only had a weak ace but was tired of me pushing him around. He is visibly upset so now I know he had 5,5 and was mad b/c he didn’t get paid off. I saw him later and he told me he had 5,5. The table couldn’t believe I folded it and one guy said, “you folded the best hand!” I said maybe but I just didn’t like the spot. I turned out to be right.
So the lesson is saving money is the same as winning money. I saved about $600 on that hand by folding.
In my last session at the zoo I played for about 4hrs and made $265
My final session for the month at the zoo was a loss of $579. I lost most of it when I flopped a pair and a flush and gut shot draw. Mr. Lott turned the str8 and my flush didn’t come and we were allin on the turn. I didn’t play well and most of the table was short stacked and I don’t feel that I adjusted well to that.