A Good Start To The Week

i hope all is well with everyone in az. besides a bit of near daily rain the weather is absolutely gorgeous in cr. the vibe is very chill. the people are nice. san jose proper is a bit of a dump, but still vibrant. i didn't realize just how much the homogenization of america bugged me until i got here. don't get me wrong there is still plenty of evidence of american cultural and economic influence here -- mickey d's, kfc, pizza hut, wendy's, tgif's, etc. it's just not so overwhelming. one thing's for sure. this is a small town/country. steven knows people everywhere we go and that is not limited to the poker world. so far, i am quite happy with the move. at this point, it is like being on vacation. i lose track of time and what day it is very easily.

since i arrived here on a thursday and started playing poker on friday we are considering friday to be the start of our week in terms of record-keeping. our final day of poker last week was a dud. we played at a tournament at the radisson with a $100 buy-in with just about 30 players. we started with T1500 and blinds at 5 - 5 moving up to 5 - 10. steven and i started at the same table and he accumulated chips early - he had about three hands in which he out-kicked the other player in the hand and another hand in which someone just gave them all of their money. steven had limped into a hand from the sb with about four other players when the bb (who basically played tight weak) made a small raise, one to which noone considered folding. the flop was Q J X. steven checked the, bb bet, everyone folded to around to steven and he called. the turn was a Q. steven check-raised the guy, pretty much announcing what he held. bb calls. at this point steven figures he's out-kicked (AQ). river J, steven moves all-in and the guy calls immediately with AJ. simply incredible.

when we broke to two tables i was short-stacked and steven was probably the chip-leader or close to it. i had several all-ins with no callers to pick up blinds here and there. i finally doubled up when two people limped in front of me and i moved all-in from late position with A9s. the 2nd limper (who was recently crippled when someone hit a three-outer on him after getting all-in post-flop) who had me somewhat out-chipped call with KJ. my hand held up and i had over T2000. i doubled up again shortly there after when i raised from middle position with 7 7. the sb who was the chip leader at the table pushed all-in. a fter about 20 seconds thought, i decided that if had the higher pp then so be it. i called. he had AK and my hand held up. i misplayed a hand a little later when the same guy limped utg. i raised with AQo and he called. the flop was rags and he moved all-in and i folded. i should have pushed all-in pre-flop to put the pressure on or made the more conservative call/limp. that cost me a significant amount of my chips.

i made the final table (of ten) as one of the short stacks and steven was the chip leader. i played like a wuss instead of trying to double up/steal blinds and antes. two people went out early and with them paying the top seven i thought i might back my way in. no such luck. the two other short stacks doubled up and i went out eighth. steven was the chip leader when they got down to five. with a combo of bad luck and i bad play he ended up fifth paying him $180. long work to lose $20.

no poker on friday primarily because we stayed out until 5:30am. saturday and sunday were excellent. we played for about six hours at the horseshoe both days. on saturday i won $298 and steven won $146. relatively early a nice hand for our table image came up. we see a flop three-handed and i'm holding AhJh. the flop comes A high with two hearts. i check, steven checks, the other guy bets out, i call, and steven moves all-in. the other guy folds. when i get over my initial shock since i was fully expecting to win this pot i started thinking about what to do. as soon as i started to give some serious consideration to folding i realized that this was a perfect situation to call and play a big hand with steven. i called and discovered that he had flopped a set of fives. no problem the 9h appears on the turn and i win.

steven played another big hand with tri (pronounced tree), a super nice vietnamese guy from l.a. steven flopped the nut flush and tri flopped the second nut flush. another player (monty) in the hand bets out at the flop. steven calls. tri raises. monty folds and then steven moves all-in in an attempt to drive out tri who steven suspects has a set or two pair. there is an extended period of thinking by tri and steven trying to coax the call after he realizes that tri has also flopped a flush. he finally makes the call and doubles steven up.

sunday, steven and i get to play another big hand early. i raise from middle position with QQ, steven re-raises, i move all-in, and steven calls with AQs. he hit his A on the flop to bust me. steven would almost never make that call if we weren't sharing a bankroll or trying to make sure that everyone knows that we will play hard against each other. essentially my range of hands is quite small in that situation -- AA, KK, QQ, and AK. steven is hurting in all of those siutations. i don't recall losing any other big pots, but i did lose a fair number of medium size pots. i originally bought in for $100 and then rebought for another $100. when i lost that, i rebought for $200. i struggled for the rest of the day. my most common hands were 2/3, 2/4, and paint/rag. at one point steven massaged my shoulders and whispered in my ear to remain patient because there were players at the table with lots of chips who will eventually just give them away. he mentioned greg, in particular.

steven obviously had a crystal ball. when i was down to about $125 in chips and thinking how was i possibly going to post a loss of $300 a key hand came up with greg. i was in the sb, there were a a handful of players in the hand for a small raise which i called with Ks7s. the was all spades, ace high. i flopped the nuts and checked. everyone checks around to greg, on the button, who makes a small bet which i call and everyone else folds. i check on the turn and he now makes a $35 bet. i remember steven saying earlier that greg will almost never fold a hand. i decide to mini-raise to $70 because i am thinking that if i don't get some more $$ in here my all-in on the river might be to large to call. he calls the raise. another spade on the river and i move all-in which he calls immediately. the spade on the river made him the second nut flush because he held the Qs. beautiful. i end up posting a loss of $136. steven had a huge win of $515. that puts us up $823 for two days of play so far this week.

there was this guy, roberto, at the table today from las vegas. he is a strong solid player who knows all the tricks. he makes a living in vegas playing poker - primarily 10 - 20, no-limit hold'em. he's the type of players that gets calls from dealers or floor people in the middle of the night because there is juicy game or a single whale playing. a total character as well which livened things up. even before it became clear from his play and chat that he was a strong player i could just tell he was good from the way he conducted himself at the table. i think he played looser than he normally would because of the stakes being lower than he is accustomed to and steven chatting awat with him for the entire session.