After taking a short break from cards (and I mean short. It was less than a week, but we skipped our usual home game, which felt kinda long), my husband and I decided to head down to Belterra for a change of scenery from our usual Argosy game. A friend of ours who apparently started playing cash games emailed me early last week saying he and his girlfriend were heading down there for a Memorial Day weekend getaway and that he was sure she'd be asleep by 9 pm and that he could hang out with us in the poker room. He had played there with a couple buddies the previous Saturday night, won about $300, and then went back Sunday and won around $375. Those were his first times playing cash games. I thought that was pretty good and told him so. Obviously, he was very excited. So excited that they booked the room for this past Sunday. His excitement was contagious. It took little convincing and my husband and I were off to meet up with him and play some cards Sunday evening.

We hadn't played there for probably 4 months. The last time we were there we both got chewed up and spit out. I was hoping that we'd waited it out long enough and that our luck there would change. I can't remember the last time I actually walked out ahead at Belterra, so I was wanting to give it a shot. We both really enjoy playing there, but Argosy is a 20 minute drive as opposed to an hour or so, so we don't get down there as much as we used to before Argosy's room opened in May of 2006.

Well, for me things started out alright. There were no seats open yet at the $1/2 NLHE tables, so reluctantly I sat down at a $3/6 FL game. I hate that game there. It's pitiful, but I only had a short wait, so I decided to give it a shot. Well, I missed the bad beat jackpot hand by one card! I flopped an open ended straight flush draw, and since it was a $3/6 limit game I hung in there until the bitter end, where the guy turned over QJ for quad queens. His J kicker would have played and we would have chopped up around $70k, but my hand just couldn't get there. It was the most exciting limit hand I think I've ever played.

Not long after, I got my NL seat. Things went alright. I had a few decent hands. I flopped a boat with pocket AA. The pot was around $60. That could have been much lower I suppose. The table was a bit tight, even by my standards and it started to get thinned out and boring. It finally broke up at around 1:00 am, so I moved to the open seat at my husband's table, where our buddy was also playing. Over there I flopped 2 straights, got action on one and doubled up. The same guy was in the hand with me on the second one. I guess he wised up because he folded that one muttering something about me flopping the straight again. :-) My poor husband was getting his teeth kicked in over there all night and ended up rebuying 2 times. He was getting his money in good, but seeing some unlucky river cards.

I was amazed at how much different the $1/2 game was there than the $1/3 game at Argosy. Up there, you play with people who do that for a living. I don't feel like I ran into any of those people at Belterra on this particular night. It was getting towards 3 am and I finally convinced my husband that we should hit the road for the long drive home. He ended up getting short stacked and busted out by none other than our buddy, and I ended up down about $20 for the night. Maybe I should have checked out after my straight flush draw hand. It should have been a sign. I know I could have lost considerably more money, but it was just a frustrating night. I imagine we'll be sticking with our home game and Argosy for a while until we can get some good energy kicking at Belterra.

Well, we went to our regular Thursday cash game last night. Not a horrible night for me, but it took a while to find myself with anything I'd consider playable hands. The first hour and a half were very slow going for me. Eventually, I picked up a lousy Q2 in the big blind. I was down to around $120 or so and checked my option. I happened to flop 2 pair, made a $10 bet and was eventually able to get the rest in on the river and doubled up. The guys who play there all thought it was hilarious that I won with such an awful hand. (I'd say I'm one of the tighter players.) Ah... breathing room.

Quite a while later, I picked up 88. It was limped around to me, and I followed suit calling the $3. I try to mix up my play, but usually end up limping or calling a raise pre-flop with small or middle pairs. I got lucky this time, flopping a set. It seemed like nearly everyone was in the hand still. It was checked around to me and I bet out $15. Picked up a couple callers. There was a flush draw out there, but the turn was a blank. I bet out again, I think it was $50 and picked up 1 caller. The river was also a blank and it was checked around to me again. Once again (like last week's blunders) I bet – too much – $100. The guy hadn't made his flush, I suppose, and he thought about it for a minute and folded. Of course I realized right away that I had bet him out of the pot. My husband reminded me that I should bet for callers there, when I'm pretty sure I have the hand. (I wish I could remember that when it's going on.)

Throughout the rest of the night, I was still struggling with decent starting hands. Occasionally, I'd pick up a big pocket pair and only manage to win the blinds. One hand I had pocket jacks and raised to $20 picking up 3 callers. The flop was a little raggedy straight draw. It was checked to me and I bet $40, which, afterwards, I thought was a small bet for that pot. I picked up 1 caller. This guy is an aggressive any-two-cards-guy. On the turn, which paired the board, he bet out $80. After the quick call on the flop and knowing the way this guy plays, I thought about it for a minute and layed down my jacks. Looking back, I really don't think he had any part of that board. There, I think I should have raised to really find out where I was in the hand.

The next big hand I was in was when I looked down at AA on the button. There were at least 3 limpers in the pot already. It came around to me and I raised to $20. I got 3 callers. The flop is 5-A-5. Hallelujiah! It was checked around to me and I meekly checked as well. I was thinking that I could make a lot of money in this hand. The turn is a 10. First 2 guys check. Any-two-cards-guy bets out $80. Now, here is the part where I should have smooth called his bet. He was bluffing (and even if he wasn't, I had the nuts!). But, I let my eagerness get the better of me. I raised him the rest of my stack which was around $95 or so. Nearly a min-raise, still... big mistake. Everyone folds immediately. I realize what I've done. Once again, I'm learning a bunch as I play. Now I have to concentrate on applying it correctly. I'm not sure he would have bet again on the river or not, had I just smooth-called his turn bet. He knows I'm a fairly tight player, so he may have checked it to me and who knows, I may have been able to squeeze a little bit more out of him, but I kinda doubt it. Next time I'll be sure to try.

We started playing around 8 pm and ended up leaving around 1:30 am. It was a strange night at the game. Over the course of the evening, 4 different people turned over quads to win their hands. It was insane. I've never seen anything like it. Last week it was the night of $1,000+ pots (none of which involved me and my short stack, unofortunately), this week was crazy card night. But, after all of my ups and downs last night, I ended up $105 ahead. I can't help thinking of what might have happened if I had just smooth-called that turn bet...

I guess I've been playing no limit hold em for a little over 2 years now. (This is my first blog entry ever, so forgive me if I ramble.) For the last several months I've been working to improve my betting skills. I really feel like that area of my game has significantly improved recently, although, I'll be the first to admit I was really bad at betting for at least the first year or so that I played. After lots of coaching from my husband and a couple other good players at our regular game, and reading various poker magazines and books, I thought I was getting it. Well, this weekend, I seemed to have lost my mind. I regressed for some reason.

The first poorly played hand for me was at Argosy's $1/3 NL game on Saturday night. I bought in for $200 and won a couple smaller pots early on in the session, lost a few bets here and there. I wasn't too bad off, really. I looked down at QQ, raised to $15, picked up 2 callers. The flop was completely ragged, no real draws or over-cards. It was checked to me, so I bet out $25. 2 callers. The turn card could have made a bad straight for someone and for some reason, I checked. I immediately regretted my decision. The next guy checks, the guy after him bets out $75. It was my turn to act and I sat there for a minute and mucked my hand. If I were to have called that bet, it would have left me with around $35. The kid after me also folded. As soon as I folded I knew I had that guy beaten. I don't know why I folded. I should have pushed. The guy with what I presume was ace-high would have had to call and barring an ace showing up on the river, I'm pretty sure I would have taken that pot down.

I played for a couple more hours and my stack was up and down. I got back to even at one point, but wasn't finished playing then. Fairly late in the session I picked up 7-8. At this point, I was right around $110. There were no raises and I limped in for $3. The flop was 7-8-x, giving me 2 pairs. First to act bets out $15. I think there were 2 callers between him and me. I thought about it for a minute and suspected the bettor may be on a straight draw. Since there was no raise pre-flop, it was entirely likely that he was playing something like 5-6 or 9-10. So, like an idiot, I smooth called. Yeah, great move. But it gets better. The turn is a 9. First to act bets $75, gets a caller before me and then, being the brillian player I was being that night, I push the rest of my stack in with 2 pair up agains what I know now is a made straight. Of course they both call the additional $15 or $20 and away goes my stack for the evening. I was disgusted with myself. Any other night, I would have rebought, but in light of my donk-tastic moves, I decided that I should probably just call it a night. I got up and went over to my husband's table and let him know I was ready to go when he was. Thankfully, he was having a good night and he more than made up for my $200 loss.

Sunday we went to our regular cash home game. There always seems to be lots of money flying around there and it's a fun game with mostly good players and a couple any-two-cards people mixed in for good measure. I was down just a little bit when I picked up QQ in the small blind. I raised to $15 and got 4 callers. The flop was 2-3-9 with two s. My husband, at the opposite end of the table, bets $25. I'm not sure what he has, but I call along with a couple others. The turn card was a blank and it was checked to me where I bet $50. I got one caller, who I suspected was probably on a flush draw. The river, also a blank. I bet $100. He folded fairly quickly. I was happy enough to take down a pretty good sized pot there, but everyone was teasing me about my big bet on the river and they said that if I was worried about the flush, I should have raised the $25 bet on the flop. I decided they were probably right and moved on.

Another hand I had 8-9 o/s and limped in with $3 and there were at least 4 other limpers. The flop was Q-J-10, giving me the straigt. My husband bet out $15. The guy after him called, and I called. I can't remember if there were people after me who called, but I realized what a huge mistake I had made after the ace showed up on the turn. Oye! He bets out $40, next to act folds. I thought about it and ended up laying it down. I was sure he had a king and I turned over my lower-end straight and mucked my cards. One guy told me it was a good lay down, then my husband told me I should have raised him on the flop when I had the made hand. I agreed. I don't think I'll make that mistake again anytime soon.

Case in point: I limp in with K-J o/s, with a bunch of other limpers. The flop is x-A-Q. No one bets. I'm thinking, "cool, all I need is a 10 on the turn!" Low and behold, it shows up. I bet out $10 into a pot of about 18 white chips. Next to act min-raises to $20, husband calls. It's folded around to me and I grabbed a stack of reds and raised it to $120. Fold. Fold. They were dying laughing at the table. Actually I was too. What a move to raise everyone out of the pot with the nut straight. Once again, there was a flush draw on the board, but, still they thought my bet was too big. And it was, I'm sure of it.

Well I think that about covers my weird hands for this weekend. I ended up cashing out $451 last night, which put me up $51 for the weekend. Not my best showing by far, but at least I made up for the night before plus a tiny bit of profit. I guess I need to get a little deeper in the bet-size chapter of Sklansky's "No Limit Hold 'em Theory and Practice". Okay, I need to re-read it.