On stroke and liking it

My first day off in the month of May turned out to be a pretty Good one. Was able to catch up on some much needed rest, and then head out to Irish Jim's for some hold 'em. Got lucky in a few spots, but also played some solid poker and ended up making a nice comeback to pull off a victory. Nice size pot in an 8 handed game too, so it was a good night. Dragged a few small pots early, doubled through when I spiked a river Q to make a broadway straight--raised preflop too, and still got called by K-7 suited--but (thanks to the rebuy policy in the first 5 levels), I played a little reckless and I ended up having to reload. Here is the hand that did it to me.

Blinds are 25-50. I'm in SB with J-3 suited (spades) All sorts of limpers in this one (I think there were 5 limpers, only 1 fold). I complete the BB and the BB checks.

Flop:J-3-7

Bingo-2 pair. I lead out for 100 (a tester bet, maybe a shot to induce a raise from someone with a bigger J...like KJ, QJ, J-10) Get 1 caller. Everyone else folds.

Turn:6

Nope, didn't see it out there. I check, caller (Irish Jim BTW), bets out. I check raise all in. He calls, and shows 45. I still had outs, albeit 4 of them.

REBUY!

I couldn't put him on that hand. It's not really like him to limp on small suited connectors...well, at least it wasn't like him in the past....file that one away for the future.

After the the rebuy, I played fairly tight, raising with good to premium holdings, and then after a sick run where my buddy Jason became a freakin card rack, we were down to 4 handed play. The bust outs came fast and furious to get to 4 handed play--Jason busted 2 players on 1 hand when his 5-3 suited flopped a set of 3's and then boated on the turn. He beat one hand of AQ and a K-7. Wow.

Paying top 3 players, I figured i would have to wait for a big hand to shove the chips in and gamble, but when our pal Dan went out in 4th, I monied. Happy. Now to climb the ladder. Made a few plays to build the stack a little, then Joe goes out in 3rd, leaving Jason and I in heads up. I drag a couple of nice pots, and then I have the chip lead. When we were 4 handed, I was on life support. Now I got chips. Last hand of the tourney went like this:

Blinds 600-1200, 200 ante.
I'm the button with 33. I make it 3000 straight. Jason calls.

Flop: A-8-9, all spades. We both check.

Turn:3 of hearts.

Jason goes all in.

What do you do? Did he slow play a flush, and now wants to over bet the pot to steal? The only hand I can't beat is a made flush, and I still have ways of beating it on the river. I call.

He flips up A-6, with the 6 being a spade. He has outs, but they are only spades. Another A on the board fills my boat, and beats his set.

River:2 of hearts.

Whew. Had to sweat the last card, but in the end, I felt very good about my play. Hope I can keep that going in the TOC next month.

Speaking of next month, once the calendar flips to June, I will be eyeing July in a big way. Vacation time is coming, and I will be heading out to Chicago and Las Vegas. I can not wait. The Main Event of the WSOP will be underway, and I am definitely heading to the Rio to check things out, and maybe snap some more pictures of the pros. Not playing in a WSOP event this year, but I hope to be back in the tournament next summer. Going out with several folks from the league, and it should be an awesome time. We had a nice group go out last summer, and it was a blast. Hot, but a blast. We'll likely be playing tournaments at the casinos when we aren't checking out the WSOP, and there are some dandies I want to check out. Just hope my confidence gets on the plane with me.

Good luck and good cards,

~M