Poker at the Oaks

I played limit hold’em at the Oaks for the first time in a month last night. I played from 5 p.m to midnight. I started off well, up around $100 the first 90 minutes. But after a big pot with AK, I was cold and lost nearly all the hands I was involved in.

I played well the first 4 or 5 hours, but not so well the last hour. I called the turn and river with QQ when I knew I was beat. I was on the button. A new guy at the table raised it up. There were a few callers. I reraised. Perhaps I just should have called. My thinking was the pot was already big and let’s knock out the blinds. That was my thinking. Anyway, the pot was capped with five players in (20 small bets).

Flop was TTx. There was a bet and a raise. I noticed the raiser had a very short stack so there wasn’t much left I could lose, perhaps 12 extra dollars. My thinking was I could drive out the other players and go heads up with this guy, who either had me beat with AA, KK or had JJ or one of the Tens. Anyway, another guy reraised and that’s when I should have seen the turn, then folded. There was so much in the pot that I donked off another $12. I didn’t play this hand properly. I didn’t need to lose $33 on this hand. $12 would have been plenty.
I have a tendency to push my good hands when it’s clear I’m behind.

There was another hand that got me. I had 57 of spades in the cutoff. I called and the flop was J99, two spades. Everyone checked. The 8 of spades hit on the turn and there was a bet and a raise. I was stumped. What was the raiser calling with? He could have been calling with a third Jack. A higher flush was more likely. A straight was unlikely. I re-raised though because I’m not good enough to fold a small flush (yet). Raising was better than folding beause everyone thought I had a full-house. As a result, the river was checked down. My 75 flush was the third best hand, and there were only 3 spades on the board.

I had AQ and raised it in early position. The flop was A4x. I bet and it was raised by a loose crazy Grandma. I reraised and it was capped. I should have just called here. I just have one pair, and who knows what Granny has. I lost to A4.

Every time I had AK, someone had two pair. It was freaky. The only hand I had trips, someone had a flush. It was like that all night. In seven hours of play, I picked up maybe five or six pots. Less than one pot an hour. My AK pot when the King came on the river was large, around 15 big bets worth.

Low limit poker is predictable. There are lots of folks in the pot, usually five or six. They’re gambling. The higher limits are different, like 10/20, 15/30. There was also a 30/60 game going on. At that level the rake is very small. A $900 pot can set someone up for the night at 30/60. $3,000 wins are possible. Wow. So nice. Stick with it. The luck factor should shift soon enough.

2 flushes, one lost to higher flush, one took a small pot.
0 straights.
1 set, lost to a flush.
AK, won with two pair, lost two other times.
AQ, lost to two pair.
KK won nice pot, full-house to straight draw.
QQ lost twice to 3 Ts and flush.

I was dealt around 250-300 hands.
At my highest profit point I was up $110 at 6:30 p.m.
At my lowest I was down $75, which was when I stopped at 12:05 a.m.