Her Name is Rio and She Finances Me for a Grand

It has been an interesting few days. I had trouble sleeping Friday night. There was no really good reason, just insomnia. I felt like playing, but I decided to take it easy, just in case. I went over to the Venetian to play 1/2NL. I beat that game for a full buy-in. I also won a $10 prop bet from Miami Don. There was an obnoxious drunk at our table. The first one to bust him gets $10 from the other. I get the drunk in before the flop for his last $50, me with QQ, him with KJ s000ted. As the dealer is running the cards, I am a little nervous about him sucking out. Not because I care about the pot, more because I want Don’s $10. The drunk whiffs, the dealer ships me the pot and Don ships me the $10; w00t!!

Sunday I start off at the Venetian; there are no cash games running at the Rio due to huge field in day two of event two. I win one big pot. Here is how it went: I pick up JJ UTG, several limpers to the cut-off who really loves to raise. He raises and it folds back around to me. I re-pop it hard, and it folds back to him. He just calls and we see the flop heads-up. It comes 883, I don’t remember the suits. I jam for his remaining $300. He calls, the turn comes J, the river comes K. I show my boat and he mucks. I ask him if he was ahead on the flop, he says he was.

Now here is the interesting question: Was he really ahead? I think he would jam pre-flop with AA. He didn’t have kings or he would have claimed the pot. QQ is possible, but he didn’t look at all upset about the apparent beat. I think he was lying. I lie all the time about what I mucked, don’t you? He probably had AK, possibly suited if he had the flush draw.

I have had enough and I head back to Don’s; I am thinking about playing The Big Game and I need a rest either way. When I arrive back at Don’s, I am on the fence about playing. Don twists my arm hard so I play. Four hours later, I take fifth for a $400 win. I am feeling too pumped to sleep so I head over to the Rio for a quick late-night session. I crack someone’s aces and pick up with a modest win shortly thereafter.

Yesterday I wake up early after five hours of sleep. I feel okay as Don and I go out for breakfast. I feel really worn when we get back. I take a two hour nap, which is really unusual for me. I get up, laze around, cook some pasta, eat, shower, pack a sandwich and some snacks into my lunch box and head off to work at around 5:00 PM.

When I get there the Rio is jamming. There are seventeen 2/5NL games and ten 5/10NL games. I sit for 2/5NL, but discover that the first table is intolerable. You want bad players, but not ones that are so bad that each hand takes forever. This one donkey had his reds, blues, and whites all mixed together randomly. He would take forever to count out each bet and he just generally pissed me off. I know I could have had the floor-person make him stack the chips properly, but the table was just not worth the trouble, so I grab a seat change card, head back to the table to grab my chips and my lunch box, and head to my new table.

The next table was filled with tight regulars. Boring. I grab another seat change card and head to the next table. It is a lively game filled with donkeys, ones that can count out bets quickly. So I settle in for a while. I don’t get involved much, but there are lots of bad plays and big pots. I finally get involved in a pot and it was huge. I have 33 in the big blind, late position (LP) raises to $30, the button (B) calls, and I call. The flop comes QJ3, rainbow. I check, LP bets $65, the button calls and I make it $165 to go. LP jams for about $300 total. B re-jams for $600. I had $490 to bet at the start of the hand. I feel I may be up against a bigger set, but I can not fold in that situation. So I call. The dealer runs the cards and I show my set. B shows his top two and mucks and LP shows his aces and mucks. I drag a monster pot.

When the big blind (BB) gets back around to me, I sit out. I pull a sandwich and an icy cold water out of my lunchbox and have a little meal. When I am ready to play again, I pull out my dessert and wait for the BB. I play a few more orbits and pick up one more small pot. I am feeling a little worn as the food kicks in, so I pick up and put my rack in my box for a net win of about $1000.

I am pretty happy now; I have had a modest work week and I am up about $2,400, including on-line play. It is time for a day off. I might read a poker book, blog a little, and play on-line a little. I still think it is a day off.